Van Life Expectations!
I'm so excited to share the start of our #vanlife with Steemit! Courtney and I talked for months about how to simplify our lives. We wanted to be out of debt and to stop living in a monthly, paycheck to paycheck cycle. We wanted to see the United States by road, too! So we watched YouTube videos on how to build out vans to live in... lots of videos. We learned how to strip out and clean the interior, insulate and seal cracks, build lightweight but structurally sound framework and then how to build practical storage and life solutions! Then... we finally found our van! A retiree in Roanoke Rapids, about an hour's drive north, was selling a 2007 Ford E-350 V8 with 210k miles for 4000 dollars. I offered him 1000, two guns and a canoe. He gladly accepted the offer and we got to work!! We couldn't believe how a great vehicle like this former handicap van could be had for so cheap! So here she is!
Well... here she was. These pictures were taken on our first day with our new home!
The previous owners had piled upholstery on top of itself and there were weird smells everywhere. We ripped out everything pictured above.
I took her for a wash! Lookin fresh.
We installed solar panels! Two 100w panels for a peak production of 200w. The panels are attached to the fiberglass with 3m VHB tape and no mechanical fasteners. This tape is ultra strong and made for this application, amazingly!! We put in a 100ah battery and a 2000w inverter as a primary source of renewable power! We also have a 1000 watt inverter on standby that runs on the van battery itself. With this setup we can theoretically jump our van to start if the battery dies just off the solar! We plan on running a tiny chest freezer on the solar power. It is power intensive but we have some tips on how to maximize refrigeration power in a vehicle!
Some simple upholstery over the airline style overhead storage panels! Also, we cut pieces of Reflectix brand insulation to fit into the windows. This offers a little bit more heat retention in the winter and also reflects sunlight to keep the interior a little cooler in the summer! We have panels for every single window in the van. With all that glass, it is our primary battle against heat loss in winter and heat production when the sun strikes the window in summer. We also hung plywood on each door panel to allow storage, hide wiring, and also hang accessories like this nylon storage panel.
We went for a very "mandala" theme with the fabrics! It's pretty psychedelic huh!?
We hung a little locking box under the bed to store the propane stove. The stove fits very snugly with a wooden bar to secure it further.
This is the little kitchenette that reminds me of a preschool playhouse or something! It's so cute. It's unfinished; we still need to add some storage shelves and spice/oil holders but you get the idea! The propane tank sits under the counter as well as a grey water receptacle. There are LED lights visible over the counter. We also keep a mirror and cutting board under the sink.
Over the driver and passenger are our light controls and water/food storage area. The water is gravity fed to the sink from a simple quick connect RV water hose.
We even built a cabinet and kitty door for Java's litterbox! Ace likes to eat dirty litter so we needed a closed box so he couldn't intrude! We will also be adding a little vestibule with turfy carpet to catch litter as Java exits which will keep cleaning to a minimum. The greatest thing about cleaning the van is that the side doors are like a gigantic dust pan! We just sweep everything into the side, open the doors and sweep it out. A DustBuster gets debris and animal hair in the corners and crevices!
This is us! And we're so excited to get going on the road as our van continues to take shape in front of all our friends on Steemit! Thanks for checking it out and we would love to answer any questions you have about our van life beginnings!
That's so cool, can't wait to own a van like that. I have a friend who loves watching videos from Tiny Homes. It's really true that you can save and can travel as well and can visit other states. =)
Don't wait too long haha! Yea there is always another way and the "typical" lifestyle choices have been wearing us down! Tiny Homes are great too!
1000 and two guns hauiehaiuehiaue so funny to BRs (here weapons are prohibited) We are on the road too, living on North Short of Sao Paulo actually, and you post is very inspiring for us. Congratulations to the initiative and thanks for sharing with us. Good luck on the road guys! Hughs and Kisses from Ivan and Nathalie.
LOL I know that probably sounds crazy from a global perspective XD Americans sure love their guns (I don't really love em, but I own some because I understand their usefulness in times of distress, either for protection or hunting). We live in North Carolina so there's plenty of country folk looking for barter and good deals. That transaction never would have happened near the big cities haha! Thanks so much for the well wishes, and the same to both of you! Maybe we will hike our skirts up, lather on the sunscreen and come visit the coast of Brazil sometime :) Much love!
Ha! That's pretty great. Like what you did with the sink. Do you plan to do some heavier insulation on the roof? That's where the sun really beats down and brings heat into the van -- that and the radiant heat coming through the windshield. I've been vanlifing for a couple years ... so these are the first things I think about... lol.
We were actually still considering what to do about the roof. Do you have any specific tips for this situation? I really wanted to keep maximum head space but I think ceiling insulation of some type would help immensely. We do have a cut Reflectix panel to reflect rays for the windshield and for both front windows so that's covered pretty much.
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