Where to park while converting your vehicle?

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emmab

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Any ideas on where you can park while converting your vehicle (e.g. a box truck) if you don't own a garage or land and live in an apartment?
 
I am doing it at a friend's place.
 
I'm doing my interior at Wal-Mart parking lot. They have all the fabric and materials inside it's super convienent
 
Natgreen said:
At my storage unit

Or

In home depot parking lot

I wonder how safe it would be to leave it in home depot parking lot unattended.
Also how do you get power?
 
I have solar. I built it as I go. I don't leave it unattended. I work on my project then leave.
 
In Lake Havasu Arizona there is BLM land almost within walking distance of a Home Depot and a Walmart!
 
Go and find a remote spot. you will need solar and/or a generator. But don't make it so remote that it is a really long drive to a store to get stuff you forgot to buy for the project. To do it successfully you need to have the whole project or sections of the project planned out with a complete list of materials needed including the adhesives, fasteners, wires,paints, sealants, etc.

Of course I am truly glad I don't have to do this in a remote spot because I find myself running to the hardware store quite frequently.
 
Spent a month and a half doing work on van and trailer on BLM land. We used a three person tent as our "storage and parts garage".
Ted
 
If you keep it simple you can do it in a matter of hours. My entire conversion took 6 hours. I put in a platform which was one cut with a saw 6 legs for the platform 6 more cuts. And the interior was entirely purchased. Simplicity is best when you don’t have a location and you can always make modifications on the road.
 
Home depot parking lot then the driveway for the van insulation and floor and bed platform. Then out by the barn for the latest version of the van build where I had electricity and room to fit things up. Also some free wood there. Being near free stuff helps. I did plan it out but you will have unplanned happenings also. I had use of a garage but the van did not fit in it so was lucky the weather held.  I used battery tools except the jigsaw. All the wood was cut with a jigsaw or for the plywood sheets I had home depot cut them and they only messed up on one sheet which I was able to use elsewhere. crofter
 
while people get away with it, over staying the time limits on public land to complete a project are the type of activities that end up giving van dwellers a bad name and bring down harsher restrictions.

same can be said of working in a store parking lot.

if you do these things, keep a low profile and dont make our lives as nomads harder than they already are
 
I am doing my conversion little by little in a lowes parking lot under a shade tree. No one has said anything so far.
 
Home depot, they will do 2 cuts for free on wood and charge a quarter for additional ones.
They do have a safe size cut limit on wood , so do the small pieces yourself.
They also have a bargain wood cart, everything on it is discounted.
 
maki2 said:
I am doing it at a friend's place.

I did mine at a friend's place, too. After I was out on the road I did some additional work at my sister's place. Then, a few weeks ago, I did some more modifications at another friend's place.
 
I'm installing insulation right now in a RV park in the middle of a small town. I'm cutting it in a cargo trailer then taking the small pieces to the van to be glued in place.
 
glued in place.
What are you using for glue? I bought some pink polyiso for the ceiling but have not figured what will make it stick. The walls were layers with plywood covering.   -crofter
 
Iso board with foil or fiberglass on both sides is 7.2 R per inch & $16.95. I bought an ambo so it was done except for taking out things & have 40 acres & a 54'x84' hanger & machine shop to work in. We're selling & hitting the road in the spring.
 
Did two box truck conversions while staying in caravan parks and converted an old fishing trawler into a liveaboard cruiser on a swing mooring outside a boat house I temporarily rented.
 
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