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Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road

358 points by xbeta 8y ago

hanging 8y ago
Note: "Volkswagen", not Volkswagon
hesdeadjim 8y ago
Out of curiosity, for those that have done the van life for an extended period of time (say a year or more), how has it affected the relationships you had before? A part of me fantasizes about trying this someday, but the thought of not seeing my friends on a regular basis sounds quite lonely in practice.
- nickthemagicman 8y ago
  Digital Nomaded for a while. I agree with you. It's pretty lonely 'after a while'. Everything starts to be kind of the same just with a different aesthetic. People fetishize travel but there's immense joy in the day to day things. Community, family, good food, etc. My preference is it's better to have a home base with a community and take trips. My preference would be to take month long trips once or twice a year and come home to a home base. That being said...I need to travel and get out of my head space and try to do it often.
  - timmaah 8y ago
    I've been a nomad in the US for 6+ years. What has kept me on the road has been the friends I've met and community we've created.
    - hesdeadjim 8y ago
      I guess it's going to be an individual preference for what counts as a meaningful relationship with friends. For me doing shared activities together on a regular basis is what brings me a lot of enjoyment in a friendship. I have long-term friends who I mostly only stay in touch with via the phone/internet, and it's just not the same. To be clear this isn't a value judgement, but perhaps a point to consider when thinking about trying this lifestyle.
- catherd 8y ago
  I did 8 months and it had no noticeable affect, but then I only see my best friends at most twice a year. I enjoy long periods of solitude so it wasn't a big problem for me, but I think most people would probably want to stay in campgrounds and hostels pretty often to get some socialization in. I picked up hitchhikers a few times, which was usually fun, sometimes smelly, and always interesting.
- rolph 8y ago
  its not for everyone espescially if your a social butterfly type. There is also stigma and elements of danger, if you go all out nomad. there are places where this lifestyle is tolerated, and others where you will be in a bad spot espescially if you have an encounter with some good ol boy trooper. Its a good "lifeboat" to have in the case of wildfire, volcanic events, or just simple job loss as long as you have a good cash reserve, or are not shy to do some handyman work for food and gas money. It comes in handy knowing how to procure and keep food and water when money or buying is not available. a small crossbow/slingshot and some outdoors skills go a long way and extend your range. its been 35 years for me so far and im still alive.
- SwellJoe 8y ago
  I've been living full-time in an RV off and on for nearly a decade. I just bought my third RV (first was a motorhome, second was a travel trailer, which I had for three years and grew to hate moving it, and now I'm back to another motorhome...motorhomes are just better if you travel a lot) and I'll be traveling pretty seriously again for the next year or so. Relationships suffer, for sure. I've always been a hardcore loner, and I'm mostly OK with that. I can make friends, and I don't have trouble dating, and I often do when I stay somewhere for more than a couple of months. But, realistically, I'm not good at maintaining relationships, and traveling a lot exacerbates that a lot. Traveling isn't the only factor in this, and it was true even before I started traveling. I'd get into a project or whatever and kinda forget about the rest of the world and the other people in it, sometimes for months at a time. I've been trying to alter this behavior somewhat, as I get older and recognize that real friendships come harder and harder every year. So..yes. It can be quite lonely in practice. If you don't value alone time very highly, it might be too much. It doesn't have to be lonely, though. Being a traveler is interesting to a lot of people, so if you're at all socially proficient you can make new friends (or romantic partners, if you aren't already satisfied in that area) relatively easily, as long as you do social stuff while traveling (I do social bike rides, tech events, activism, and art/music stuff, when I have social energy to spend). They will probably be fleeting relationships, however. It's pretty rare that I meet someone in my travels that I keep in touch with forever. Also, as much as I hate facebook and what it's been used for (and is being used for), it is nice to be able to connect up with people that way, since it makes it possible to run into people again later, maybe not even in the same city you met them in. Getting a cell number or email address just means I might contact them if I am back in the city I last saw them in; but with facebook, I might see that someone I know has moved to a city I'm going to, or whatever. It's sort of a live view of who I know, and that's really valuable. Sometimes, those old friends and acquaintances are happy to see me again, and that's nice.
MentallyRetired 8y ago
For those interested in the lifestyle, check out /r/vanlife on reddit.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 8y ago
  There's more people in /r/vandwellers but /r/vanlife is cool, too!
  - MentallyRetired 8y ago
    Good catch! I'm actually on vandwellers and not vanlife, was just mobile at the moment and had a brain fart. :)
rbritton 8y ago
I went a different route due to wanting to keep a home location. We purchased a travel trailer (25’, 80 gallon fresh water capacity, 40 each gray/black) just in time for the 2017 eclipse, and I’ve since built it out to function as a mobile office for work as a remote developer. I have a reasonably high battery capacity, solar, a whole-trailer inverter, an entire LAN complete with wired network cabinet, and the capability to bridge onto a WiFi uplink, cellular, or satellite internet. I’d estimate we live out of it a cumulative total of 2-3 months of the year, though I’d love to increase that.
- fyfy18 8y ago
  Do you have any pictures or plans of the layout? Most of the pictures I've seen of vans people have built barely have enough room for a kitchen.
  - rbritton 8y ago
    It’s one of these: http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/timber-ridge-25rds/ http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/timber-ridge-25rds/ While the length is easily 50% longer than a van and can exclude you from some locations, I feel the increase in amenities better enables using it completely in the middle of nowhere. At maximum conservation, I believe we could go two weeks without needing to refill or empty anything. This is my write-up of building out the network: https://ryanbritton.com/2018/02/working-remotely-in-the-true-sense-building-the-network/ https://ryanbritton.com/2018/02/working-remotely-in-the-true...
- stevehawk 8y ago
  i'm curious to see how you make it double as an office. I have looked at a few trailers with the thoughts of ripping out a bank of couches I would never use (some trailers are set up like you're going to be entertaining a dozen people) and installing a desk, but haven't seen anyone do something like that. Usually, I just see photos of people sitting at the dining table which isn't really going to cut it for me.
  - rbritton 8y ago
catherd 8y ago
As a counterpoint to this, which I find almost offensively fixated on the parts of it that post well on social media, you really can have a good time doing this without spending months and 10's of thousands of dollars getting ready. (OK, so there are certain forces involved if you want to support a blog, as this person is doing...) - Buy an older van (or in my case a crew cab pickup with a camper shell). - Add some storage space and a bed. This can be as simple as a few plastic storage containers and a foam mattress. - Add an inverter, a marine battery, and if you really want to get fancy a relay to disconnect it from the main system when the vehicle isn't running. No solar panels needed, just let the alternator charge it. That's it. Spend the rest of the time figuring out how to live with your self without social media. There are a lot of things you can do to simplify your life, if you don't have to bring your first world standards with you: - Don't use any electronics that need constant power. Don't buy stuff that needs to be refrigerated, but do get fresh fruit and vegetables if you can eat them within a few days of buying. - Piss in a bottle and figure out how to be near enough to either a bathroom or real wilderness for other situations. It's not that hard with a little planning. - Shower less often, mostly in campgrounds. You will stink more, but get over yourself. - Bring a lot of books/ebooks or something interesting to study. - Walmart parking lots are great places to park and sleep if you are en-route somewhere and just need some rest. They usually allow overnight parking and won't bother you (local ordinances can sometimes cause exceptions). - Learn how to brush your teeth and wash dishes without using lots of soap and water. You can actually clean and rinse a dirty pan with about a cup of water and a tiny drop of soap. The western US is great for this since huge areas of the desert states are easy to move around in without much planning or permits. Don't spend lots of time driving. Get somewhere and actually experience it. Don't plan too hard. Find some stuff you think would be interesting, get to good areas, then relax and explore. Schedules are only opportunities for disappointment and stress. Try spending a whole week without even taking pictures. Learn what is fun for you, not what you think makes your life look interesting.
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  +1 I'd add considering getting a chain gym membership for regular showers. AllPowers makes an 85W portable folding solar panel that can power a laptop and smartphone directly. I strongly prefer using solar when available instead of having to idle a noisy stinky gas engine at an extended stay site. Some of the most obnoxious campers are the ones who endlessly run generators, don't be that person.
yodon 8y ago
Seemed like an interesting and comprehensive site until the HN effect took it down
- 40four 8y ago
  Ha, it's crushed. I can't read it at the moment, guess I'll try back later.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
rynop 8y ago
https://www.vanlifeprep.com https://www.vanlifeprep.com is another good related site
flossball 8y ago
Be like motivational speaker Matt Foley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8 In all seriousness, it is cool as long as you have another place that is home. Traveling for a living gets too much after awhile.
prawn 8y ago
I'm fascinated by the lifestyle/community and follow it pretty closely. Even built https://vanspiration.com https://vanspiration.com to catalogue some builds, though I'm behind on updating a few. From what I can tell, this was the original vanlife-manual: https://thevanual.com/ https://thevanual.com/ The guy built out that site with Ryobi branding and then pitched it to Ryobi as a marketing thing. They gave him $15k or whatever it was, and it covered the costs of his vehicle and build. Modestly brilliant.
notatoad 8y ago
I understand that people enjoy the hashtag-vanlife thing, but if it's something you're considering please remember that it doesn't make you special. Too many people seem to think that #vanlife is somehow different from camping, and an excuse to ignore all the rules that apply to normal campers. Normal people camp in a campground or designated wilderness camping area, where there are adequate facilities to camp in a hygenic way, and you pay for a permit to get a spot for yourself for a night, and the campground is limited to the number of spaces that the area can support. Camping in a city park, street, or public day-use area is selfishly monopolizing the resources of that area for yourself, when they were designed for the use of people other than just yourself. Homeless people can get a pass on selfishly taking over public space for themselves because they need the charity, but when tech bros who want to live the #vanlife do it they're just being assholes.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  While I agree that people who "can" own/live in a house are making a choice to live in a van can "take up space", I think the amount of space used up by these people in nearly infinitesimal compared to the amount of space available. So, I don't think this is really much of an argument against this life style. Also, they won't do this forever, long term it's much more stressful than people realize. Therefore making the amount of space/resources used entirely a non-issue.
  - notatoad 8y ago
    It's not the space they take up, it's the fact that they're living in a way that the place they're living in wasn't designed for. My town has a parking lot where the #vanlife people park, and it smells like piss all summer because it's a parking lot, not a campground, and there's no bathrooms there. The actual campgrounds in the area fill up quickly, and people reserve in advance. The climbing routes, hiking trails, and other recreation facilities exist roughly in proportion to the available campsites. The #vanlife people are cheating the system by illegally camping, and using resources that aren't available. If the resources were available, permits would be approved for new campgrounds or residential development. Individuals don't do #vanlife long term, but there's enough of them that there's a consistent rolling population and the space and resources they use are roughly constant.
beezischillin 8y ago
According to journalist Tim Pool (I can't link his video, sorry, I simply can't remember which one of his this was in), these conversions are so popular that the companies that work on doing them have so many orders that the wait time can stretch into a year to get one done if you're looking now. (He wants to create a mobile reporting studio.)
walrus01 8y ago
I hate to link to what is quickly becoming the cesspool of the Internet, but http://reddit.com/r/vandwellers http://reddit.com/r/vandwellers is a community for this type of thing.
sbr464 8y ago
This was a pretty interesting build, I was looking to get one of the battery packs from Nissan when they become available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pREpjFETTXA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pREpjFETTXA
planktons 8y ago
Sleeping in your car is awesome. Last August my and my girl friend did a spontaneous trip across the US, we visited 45+ states. And we did the whole thing without a sigle hotel, sleeping instead inside of my Toyota Corolla. All I did was fold the seats, throw in a cheap Walmart mattress, get super heavy tint on the rear windows and signed up for planet fitness membership. It actually worked. The key thing here is that we did it in a corolla. You can park literally anywhere overnight in a corolla. We were never bothered in any way about sleeping in that car. I don’t think anybody even knew. We would park in hotel parking lots at night a lot because cars come and go at all hours, the lot is always full and there’s no pattern of any kind that we would be intruding on. So for example if we parked somewhere and the natives recognized all the cars except that weird corolla they eve never seen, we would kind of stick out. And if you are the only car parked inside a giant, empty parking lot at 3am you are kind of sticking out. Later on I tried sleeping in residential areas though, and I’ve never been bothered or asked about it once. And I’ve done it more than a hundred times probably. If you use common sense and don’t use the world as your bathroom, you will not have a problem. We slept inside that car with the windows closed for a couple months. Never had a problem with O2 or CO2 as far as I can tell. I now sleep in my car regularly. It’s amazing to me that it’s not a thing to sleep in your car. It expands your horizon immensely. You don’t get it until you have yourself gotten to the point where sleeping in your car is second nature. It’s a very useful skill to have. The camp fire is a really good example. If you were able to have a vehicle that you actually dedicated to sleeping in (I’ve kept my corolla stock, besides the tint) and were able to modify then you would be able to sleep anywhere at any time of year very comfortably. If you are interested in this then def read ahead. So we have a guy inside a car with the windows closed. Several things will happen. First, the entire car and the air inside it will become the same temperature as outside. Second, his breath will create extremely high humidity inside the car. Third, CO2 will accumulate. Fourth, O2 will go down. This has never been a problem for me but it’s true none the less. Ok, the only other consideration is what temperature it is outside and how humid it is outside. If it’s cold, we have the follwing to worry about. The humidity in the air inside the car will condense on the inner surfaces of the car. This is very bad because you will have moisture under your carpet and absolutely everywhere. You won’t be able to dry it and it will probably grow mold. Second, you will just be too cold. If it’s hot, the hot air in the car will retain the humidity longer, so condensation isn’t a problem as much. But even a little hot is too hot because your body heat will bake you in that car. Ok, those are all the problems and considerations for sleeping in your car. Here is how you handle them. Energy recovery ventilator. Panasonic makes some great ERVs. These are ventilation fans that have a special interchanging ducting that transfers heat and moisture from the outgoing air stream to the incoming air stream or vice verse. So what that means is that you are putting energy into keeping the humidity and temperature within a certain range, this device will allow you to replace the stagnant air with fresh air but not blow out all that energy along with the air. These units are whisper quiet and use only 25 watts of power. Every car has an air outlet somewhere near the rear bumper. If you could hook up this unit to draw air and vent air outside, you would solve O2 and CO2. You would also partially solve humidity. And you would partly solve being too hot. If you are in a closed space, you need good ventilation. Catalytic heater. I forget the name, it’s “wave 3” or something like that. These heaters use propane but are safe for indoor use because they are catalytic, meaning the produce no CO. They are also extremely efficient. Propane is cheap and it’s everywhere. This would solve being too cold. Air conditioner/dehumidifier. If the air outside is humid, you are going to have to dehumidify. There is no way around this. Installing a portable dehumidifier would solve this. A proper, compressor based one would be required to keep pace. These use 300 watts or more. If it’s hot outside, vent the hot part of the heat pipe to the outside. This solves the heat problem completely, as the dehumidifier is now also an air conditioner with no penalty on power or anything else. This would be trivial to implement. When it’s cold outside, you blow the hot end of the heat pipe back into the cabin and you don’t lose any heat, but humidity is controlled. Extremely recently a fuel cell was released for use in the RV market. It runs on propane. From what I can tell it’s real — some prominent RV brands are starting to incorporate it into their products. They have made many appearances at trade events for RVs. Needless to say, this will be a revolution. Adding a fuel cell like this would allow you to dehumidify/cool the inside of the car continuously all night. Charging several kWh off the alternator is just not really an option. So, add the fuel cell and a really good battery and maybe some solar and you have power for all I’ve menioned as well as charging phones and powering other electronics. Between all of that, you would truly be able to sleep anywhere you wanted in total comfort. The only thing I would add woul be some stealthy cameras all around the car and monitors inside so that I could quickly asses the situation if I were woken at night. Cheers
znq 8y ago
Two years ago I made a video about 3 years of living in a camper van. As of next months it's actually gonna be 5 years. https://optimizingforhappiness.com/3-years-of-living-in-a-camper-van-and-running-a-20-people-remote-business/ https://optimizingforhappiness.com/3-years-of-living-in-a-ca... My plan was to make a whole video series out of it, but just doing one video already took me so much time and with running and managing two companies[1][2] at the same time, I didn't feel that I wanted to spend more time in front of a computer editing videos. But maybe in the future I'll pick it up again and continue the series. [1] https://bugfender.com/ https://bugfender.com/ [2] http://mobilejazz.com/ http://mobilejazz.com/
- asymmetric 8y ago
  Downvoted for the unnecessary links to your companies, sorry.
  - znq 8y ago
    No problem :-)
oriettaxx 8y ago
why not a sailing boat?
timvisee 8y ago
We did it again HN! We broke the database! Here's a mirror: https://web.archive.org/https://divineontheroad.com/build-a-van/ https://web.archive.org/https://divineontheroad.com/build-a-...
- t0mislav 8y ago
  3 hours later, database still struggling.
skilled 8y ago
Everything looks great, but the Instagram photos make me flinch a little. This kind of lifestyle is far from all the glamour that the photos convey, which makes me think this has turned into one big sales pitch. I could be wrong. I'm known for being a pessimist, no doubt.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- alistairSH 8y ago
  You're not wrong. I have a passing interest in owning a van or camp trailer of some sort (for camping, not living). Many of the IG accounts are "influencers" who are pimping their own niche van-life business. "Look at me and my bikini-clad wife! (and please buy the solar panel kit I sell through my web store)"
rajangdavis 8y ago
Anyone have any tips for people who have friends entering the van life? I just want to see one of my best friends be successful in this transition...
- stevehawk 8y ago
  #1 tip I see on van life forums - van life is hard and won't make you magically instagram happy. any unhappiness you have right now you're probably just going to take with you on the road and end up disappointed about the difficult van living.
- doobiedowner 8y ago
  Flannel, yoga pants, and a cute dog or small child. Don't forget to show off your pearly whites!
redcodenl 8y ago
And... its gone. Database error. :-(
machinesmachine 8y ago
and site is dead
Freestyler_3 8y ago
Why do I see insulation only behind the wood and in a lot of places I still see metal.
josefresco 8y ago
So you're in your van, parked at the beach, or a beautiful park and you gotta poop - what now? Pack up your van and find a public restroom? Poop in some sort of composting toilet that you then lug around with you and dump ...where exactly? Drive to that gym you bought a membership to ... how close is it to the beach again and how badly do you need to poop? Yesterday's article on tiny homes, and this one make me laugh because we all get romanced by hipster vans and nifty solar panels but skip right over essential things like ... going to the bathroom! The tiny home article said (and I'm paraphrasing here) you can buy a home, pull it up to a spot of land and *just hook up the utilities!" - it's not that simple. Septic and water are not electrical plugs - hell even electrical is not as simple unless you're in an RV park. Edit: Just to be clear, I spend a good deal of time traveling myself. I now tow a 26 foot travel trailer (with kitchen and full bathroom) but before that towed a small utility trailer that I converted to a travel trailer for my kids and my office. We stay at campgrounds with septic hookups and showers (which I prefer over my trailer shower). Whenever we "dry camp" we then have to find a place to dump our septic, grey water etc. it's a real pain (Google "honey wagon" for a fun look at a "good" option for handling your own waste). Typically this is done at a campground (for a small fee), but I'm not sure how it would work for someone living in their van ("can I dump a bucket full of piss and poo?").
- a3n 8y ago
  > So you're in your van, parked at the beach, or a beautiful park and you gotta poop - what now? Well, if you're "parked," there's a good chance that there are restrooms. You can carry a portable toilet. Or a bucket and kitchen trash bags. I'm an over the road trucker, and in an "emergency" I have just closed the curtains, squatted down in the back and pooped into a 13 gal kitchen trash bag. Not at all comfortable, but workable in an emergency. Store the bag outside in the spare tire, until I get to a suitable dumpster/trash can. (And I doubt that my rare, once or twice a year "dump" compares at all to the daily disposal of diapers on the road and at home on garbage day.)
  - josefresco 8y ago
    Yeah so I've done the "shit in a bucket" thing. When I was towing an enclosed trailer I converted to a "camper", our only bathroom was a bucket (with a toilet seat). This is not sustainable! This works in a pinch, it does not, and should not work full time. Dumping your poo in a kitchen trash bag in dumpsters doesn't work if everyone, or even "a lot" of people are doing it. Towns and the townspeople do not want van dwellers dumping their shit bags in local trash cans.
jackcosgrove 8y ago
Wearing jeans with holes in the knees, wearing pants under your skirt, living in a van...what was once done out of necessity for those with less becomes a lifestyle choice and style signal for those who have more. Touring in an RV can be fun but #vanlife seems too much like class tourism to me.
- lm28469 8y ago
  Culture is often like that, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" seems to apply to a lot of things. When you're overwhelmed by tech, constant notifications of any kind, advertisement everywhere (in real and digital life), mindless media consumption, work and wantrepreneur culture &c. I easily get why people want a break from that, weirdly enough it seems that we're easily attracted by extremes.
god_bless_texas 8y ago
This brings to mind that recently someone posted in my city's subreddit questions about their visit and where they could park their van. The comments were outrageously unwelcoming and basically forced this person to consider the next city along their trip as the place they should stop. I think what works in one part of the nation doesn't necessarily translate to all of it.
_mrmnmly 8y ago
Here's another website related to this topic: https://www.mylittlebehemoth.com https://www.mylittlebehemoth.com
EGreg 8y ago
You can buy RVs online for $26K
- RankingMember 8y ago
  Hmm, oddly-specific number. Is there are a particular site selling a bunch of RVs for $26k each?
charliebrownau 8y ago
So its mod a commercial van for "Van life" Not actually BUILD an Van
cheesymuffin 8y ago
I lived in a van in the Bay Area for 8 months, then a totaled RV for 10. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise -- it's awesome. If you find decent parking spots (it's not hard, just use google maps) you'll find tons of areas that are quieter than those $2500/month apartments in San Jose with planes whizzing by. I got pretty good at sleeping with shooting range earmuffs. For a long time my routine was wake up whenever I wanted, bike to Starbucks or a library, read for a few hours, bike to the gym, work out, and read for the rest of the day. When I was in Pacifica I would get hours of sun, which you can't really do with a 9-5. The problem is that it's incredibly socially isolating. Very few of my friends treated me any differently, but I still got progressively more lonely. More and more of my "reading" became surfing Youtube and chatting on IRC or 4chan with people I'd never be able to meet in person. I spent a lot of time being mad at police. I'd meet girls on Tinder with the thought in the back of my head that they wouldn't find my sketchy RV as funny as I do. I'd prefer it to paying $2k/month for a studio with no heat and stressing out about money all the time, but I wouldn't be able to keep that up, either. It's not like you need a toilet to survive. We went without them for most of human history. You need a toilet to fit in.
- nradov 8y ago
  As a society we need toilets to survive. Diseases spread by human waste such as cholera are a major reason why average lifespans used to be short.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - cheesymuffin 8y ago
    Apologies if I made it sound like I was pooping on the beach. I wasn't. :)
    - coryfklein 8y ago
      Where were you pooping then?
andrew_ 8y ago
From the perspective of an avid saltwater fisherman (for which Yeti is one of the most popular cooler choices) I would encourage anyone considering a Yeti to look into the alternatives. I picked up an Rtic cooler for approximately $200 less, same size as the Yeti. Performance is identical. Other similar brands include Icer, Orca, Pelican, Engel. They all have different price points and all have sales. If you can find a scratch 'n dent sale, you'll typically save 25-50% for minor cosmetic blemishes.
deedubaya 8y ago
If you like the idea but lack the ability to build your own van, check out https://www.syncvans.com/ https://www.syncvans.com/. They make some really cool rigs.
arthurofbabylon 8y ago
Here’s my van story: I visited my parents one summer at age 19 and spent a single day and less than $300 building our old family minivan into a home. Mind you, that van would probably sell for $500-1000 pre-renovation. I built a small platform for a bed that still relied on the back-most bench. I also built a small shelf in the very back that held a propane stove and cooking supplies. Very, very simple. I lived in it for several years, traveling and rock climbing. You stand at the back of the van and cook, and only go inside the main cabin to sleep or read. Skilled van-residents generally don’t visit urban areas for extended periods of time. British Columbia, Montana, Utah, the Chihuahua desert, Baja, Sonora were the places to be. The whole point of a van is that it makes life really easy in more remote areas - no need to set up a tent or set up a camp kitchen. It was highly social, as I was immersed in the rock climbing community. I’d make friends and we’d share every meal and have bad ass adventures. Then I’d go to a new spot, be introspective for the 2-3 days of slow driving and staying in semi-remote wilderness, then meet new friends at the next destination. Pooping while living in a van requires a different perspective than that of most city people. First, there is no use of toilet paper - the water/left-hand method combined with soap is simply more hygienic (in these remote areas, people who poop like this are the only ones who wash themselves with soap and water on a regular basis). Second, ‘waste management’ revolves around ensuring other humans don’t have to encounter the decomposition process, which normally means burying the waste and always means that one has to consider biological processes, land-use/human behavior. Here’s the real selling point: living in a van in nature means being connected to every sunrise and every sunset. You’ll naturally get tired shortly after sunset, and naturally wake up 30-60 minutes before sunrise. Temperature and light fluctuations ensure a highly functional endocrine system that makes sickness/depression/anxiety nearly impossible to take root. It’s a very healthy and natural way of life. I absolutely recommend it - but not for people who want to be highly productive at crafting software/hardware.
- frosted-flakes 8y ago
  I think I'd prefer to use a disposable glove than washing my butt with my bare hand. That smell doesn't come off easily, and gloves are cheap.
jccalhoun 8y ago
I'm not really claustrophobic but as a tall person all these stories about living in a van or a tiny house just make me feel cramped.
adambware 8y ago
Google Cached version https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:2PvAxEiBg-UJ:https://divineontheroad.com/build-a-van/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:2PvAxE...
olivermarks 8y ago
To put some perspective on the romanticism of all this, shorten title to 'live on the road'. I grew up going on camping 'holidays' in the UK as my father was a great romantic, the reality in the US today is a lot more regimented anywhere near surburbia. There are trailer parks in the USA for a reason - a lot of people associate free spirited travellers as littering gypsies and in many areas you are going to be harassed by the police. I have a friend who has a great looking vintage truck with a vintage camper shell on it with sink, cooker etc. He has long hair and he and his wife are constantly harassed when on the road. The police can be extremely unpleasant. He owns 3 houses but is used to the police calling him a down and out. Adding to @josefresco's comments before you spend a fortune kitting out a van rent one for a month and live in it in the mild weather spring or fall to get an idea of what it's like and what you need. Also be aware a van can get stolen with all your possessions in it. I had a 26 foot vintage airstream I was going to restore stolen, apparently any sort of mobile living space is a great target for people who live in the woods to steal and hide off road. Be realistic about what you are getting into and install excellent security.
- driverdan 8y ago
  I can't speak to Europe but I've been living in my bus for over 20 months and have never been harassed by law enforcement.
  - olivermarks 8y ago
    what area are you mostly in? My friend is based in California but travels cross country a lot, says it's worst in the mid west and south for him
    - driverdan 8y ago
      My home area is Austin but I've traveled up the east coast a few times and through New Mexico. Many areas of CA are hard since there are a lot of NIMBY anti-homeless laws. The midwest has a ton of BLM land so it's one of the easiest places to camp, so long as you don't mind being in the middle of nowhere.
nothrows 8y ago
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ws23jjbfQxgJ:https://divineontheroad.com/ https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ws23jj... site seems slow or down here's cache
driverdan 8y ago
I discussed how I live in a bus yesterday in the tiny home post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19085244 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19085244 I converted a 25ft shuttle bus and have been living in it for over 20 months. I have everything you'd expect in a house, toilet, shower, 4 burner range, electricity, heat, AC, internet, etc. The difference is that I can take my home and dog with me when I travel. I'd be happy to answer any more questions here.
ohiovr 8y ago
At this time I am not interested in living in a van but for a long time I have wanted some kind of auxiliary heater for my minivan. It could be powered by diesel or a five gallon propane tank. I think it strange something like this is not off the shelf as unfortunately a lot of people live in their cars or vans because they have no where else to go. For winter living it would have to be better for the engine and for fuel consumption.
- mikestew 8y ago
  An under-rear-seat, gas-powered (got its fuel from the tank) heaters used to be an option on VW vans. Aftermarket offers Propex, but they ain't cheap. Plan on a couple of thousand if someone else does all the work. $700 for just the heater, IIRC. What we used in our VW camper in winter was an indoor-safe propane heater: http://www.mrheater.com/little-buddy-heater.html http://www.mrheater.com/little-buddy-heater.html
  - ohiovr 8y ago
    Thank you for the lead!
- brudgers 8y ago
  Depending on your expectations and how you travel, the easiest option might be a $15 electric space heater and an extension cord. Won't work when boondocking. Useful at campsites with electric. Made-in-China diesel heaters are <$200 on eBay and there are reasonable reviews on Youtube.
  - ohiovr 8y ago
    I didn't know something like it existed! Thanks!
dba7dba 8y ago
The camper van movement is pretty popular for sure. Sportsmobile has been converting vans to mini RV or camper van since 1965. Someone recently got a guided tour of the factory by the owner and here it is. https://youtu.be/p3X9UjNx9g0?t=123 https://youtu.be/p3X9UjNx9g0?t=123 He said there were about 100 vans at the factory at the time, in various stages of conversion. And they were sold out for 14 months. Near the end the owner shares stories of some of the customers. Some are professional nature photographers/athletes (?) who must stay outdoors for days, and need clean/dry place for equipment, eat/sleep etc. Having the van saves them much time required to travel to/from hotel to their work site. A lot of employees of Google/Apple also are customers of Sportsmobile. And some are even medical residents who basically need a place to sleep between shifts and choose to sleep in a camper van, parked at the hospital parking lot. So camper van is not just for people who want to travel for the sake of travel. I would love to have a camper van at my disposal so that I can go explore some popular sites like Yosemite, beach campsites etc. But $100,000 is big money.
AtlasBarfed 8y ago
This lifestyle will utterly explode once self-driving EV vans with decent solar cells hit reasonable price ranges. Drive overnight, recharge for a few days with or without a power hookup...
webninja 8y ago
This guide needs a section on how to get a women to ride and live in it with you. My Dad’s GF told him on no uncertain terms that he’d be a bachelor if he lived in an RV. Thus he gave up on the RV idea. Edit: It looks like we gave this website the loving hug of death. It says “Error establishing database connection” now.

358 points by xbeta 8y ago

Note: "Volkswagen", not Volkswagon

Out of curiosity, for those that have done the van life for an extended period of time (say a year or more), how has it affected the relationships you had before? A part of me fantasizes about trying this someday, but the thought of not seeing my friends on a regular basis sounds quite lonely in practice.

nickthemagicman 8y ago
Digital Nomaded for a while. I agree with you. It's pretty lonely 'after a while'. Everything starts to be kind of the same just with a different aesthetic. People fetishize travel but there's immense joy in the day to day things. Community, family, good food, etc. My preference is it's better to have a home base with a community and take trips. My preference would be to take month long trips once or twice a year and come home to a home base. That being said...I need to travel and get out of my head space and try to do it often.
- timmaah 8y ago
  I've been a nomad in the US for 6+ years. What has kept me on the road has been the friends I've met and community we've created.
  - hesdeadjim 8y ago
    I guess it's going to be an individual preference for what counts as a meaningful relationship with friends. For me doing shared activities together on a regular basis is what brings me a lot of enjoyment in a friendship. I have long-term friends who I mostly only stay in touch with via the phone/internet, and it's just not the same. To be clear this isn't a value judgement, but perhaps a point to consider when thinking about trying this lifestyle.
catherd 8y ago
I did 8 months and it had no noticeable affect, but then I only see my best friends at most twice a year. I enjoy long periods of solitude so it wasn't a big problem for me, but I think most people would probably want to stay in campgrounds and hostels pretty often to get some socialization in. I picked up hitchhikers a few times, which was usually fun, sometimes smelly, and always interesting.
rolph 8y ago
its not for everyone espescially if your a social butterfly type. There is also stigma and elements of danger, if you go all out nomad. there are places where this lifestyle is tolerated, and others where you will be in a bad spot espescially if you have an encounter with some good ol boy trooper. Its a good "lifeboat" to have in the case of wildfire, volcanic events, or just simple job loss as long as you have a good cash reserve, or are not shy to do some handyman work for food and gas money. It comes in handy knowing how to procure and keep food and water when money or buying is not available. a small crossbow/slingshot and some outdoors skills go a long way and extend your range. its been 35 years for me so far and im still alive.
SwellJoe 8y ago
I've been living full-time in an RV off and on for nearly a decade. I just bought my third RV (first was a motorhome, second was a travel trailer, which I had for three years and grew to hate moving it, and now I'm back to another motorhome...motorhomes are just better if you travel a lot) and I'll be traveling pretty seriously again for the next year or so. Relationships suffer, for sure. I've always been a hardcore loner, and I'm mostly OK with that. I can make friends, and I don't have trouble dating, and I often do when I stay somewhere for more than a couple of months. But, realistically, I'm not good at maintaining relationships, and traveling a lot exacerbates that a lot. Traveling isn't the only factor in this, and it was true even before I started traveling. I'd get into a project or whatever and kinda forget about the rest of the world and the other people in it, sometimes for months at a time. I've been trying to alter this behavior somewhat, as I get older and recognize that real friendships come harder and harder every year. So..yes. It can be quite lonely in practice. If you don't value alone time very highly, it might be too much. It doesn't have to be lonely, though. Being a traveler is interesting to a lot of people, so if you're at all socially proficient you can make new friends (or romantic partners, if you aren't already satisfied in that area) relatively easily, as long as you do social stuff while traveling (I do social bike rides, tech events, activism, and art/music stuff, when I have social energy to spend). They will probably be fleeting relationships, however. It's pretty rare that I meet someone in my travels that I keep in touch with forever. Also, as much as I hate facebook and what it's been used for (and is being used for), it is nice to be able to connect up with people that way, since it makes it possible to run into people again later, maybe not even in the same city you met them in. Getting a cell number or email address just means I might contact them if I am back in the city I last saw them in; but with facebook, I might see that someone I know has moved to a city I'm going to, or whatever. It's sort of a live view of who I know, and that's really valuable. Sometimes, those old friends and acquaintances are happy to see me again, and that's nice.

MentallyRetired 8y ago

For those interested in the lifestyle, check out /r/vanlife on reddit.

bitxbitxbitcoin 8y ago
There's more people in /r/vandwellers but /r/vanlife is cool, too!
- MentallyRetired 8y ago
  Good catch! I'm actually on vandwellers and not vanlife, was just mobile at the moment and had a brain fart. :)

rbritton 8y ago

I went a different route due to wanting to keep a home location. We purchased a travel trailer (25’, 80 gallon fresh water capacity, 40 each gray/black) just in time for the 2017 eclipse, and I’ve since built it out to function as a mobile office for work as a remote developer. I have a reasonably high battery capacity, solar, a whole-trailer inverter, an entire LAN complete with wired network cabinet, and the capability to bridge onto a WiFi uplink, cellular, or satellite internet. I’d estimate we live out of it a cumulative total of 2-3 months of the year, though I’d love to increase that.

fyfy18 8y ago
Do you have any pictures or plans of the layout? Most of the pictures I've seen of vans people have built barely have enough room for a kitchen.
- rbritton 8y ago
  It’s one of these: http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/timber-ridge-25rds/ http://outdoorsrvmfg.com/timber-ridge-25rds/ While the length is easily 50% longer than a van and can exclude you from some locations, I feel the increase in amenities better enables using it completely in the middle of nowhere. At maximum conservation, I believe we could go two weeks without needing to refill or empty anything. This is my write-up of building out the network: https://ryanbritton.com/2018/02/working-remotely-in-the-true-sense-building-the-network/ https://ryanbritton.com/2018/02/working-remotely-in-the-true...
stevehawk 8y ago
i'm curious to see how you make it double as an office. I have looked at a few trailers with the thoughts of ripping out a bank of couches I would never use (some trailers are set up like you're going to be entertaining a dozen people) and installing a desk, but haven't seen anyone do something like that. Usually, I just see photos of people sitting at the dining table which isn't really going to cut it for me.
- rbritton 8y ago

catherd 8y ago

As a counterpoint to this, which I find almost offensively fixated on the parts of it that post well on social media, you really can have a good time doing this without spending months and 10's of thousands of dollars getting ready. (OK, so there are certain forces involved if you want to support a blog, as this person is doing...) - Buy an older van (or in my case a crew cab pickup with a camper shell). - Add some storage space and a bed. This can be as simple as a few plastic storage containers and a foam mattress. - Add an inverter, a marine battery, and if you really want to get fancy a relay to disconnect it from the main system when the vehicle isn't running. No solar panels needed, just let the alternator charge it. That's it. Spend the rest of the time figuring out how to live with your self without social media. There are a lot of things you can do to simplify your life, if you don't have to bring your first world standards with you: - Don't use any electronics that need constant power. Don't buy stuff that needs to be refrigerated, but do get fresh fruit and vegetables if you can eat them within a few days of buying. - Piss in a bottle and figure out how to be near enough to either a bathroom or real wilderness for other situations. It's not that hard with a little planning. - Shower less often, mostly in campgrounds. You will stink more, but get over yourself. - Bring a lot of books/ebooks or something interesting to study. - Walmart parking lots are great places to park and sleep if you are en-route somewhere and just need some rest. They usually allow overnight parking and won't bother you (local ordinances can sometimes cause exceptions). - Learn how to brush your teeth and wash dishes without using lots of soap and water. You can actually clean and rinse a dirty pan with about a cup of water and a tiny drop of soap. The western US is great for this since huge areas of the desert states are easy to move around in without much planning or permits. Don't spend lots of time driving. Get somewhere and actually experience it. Don't plan too hard. Find some stuff you think would be interesting, get to good areas, then relax and explore. Schedules are only opportunities for disappointment and stress. Try spending a whole week without even taking pictures. Learn what is fun for you, not what you think makes your life look interesting.

newnewpdro 8y ago
+1 I'd add considering getting a chain gym membership for regular showers. AllPowers makes an 85W portable folding solar panel that can power a laptop and smartphone directly. I strongly prefer using solar when available instead of having to idle a noisy stinky gas engine at an extended stay site. Some of the most obnoxious campers are the ones who endlessly run generators, don't be that person.

yodon 8y ago

Seemed like an interesting and comprehensive site until the HN effect took it down

40four 8y ago
Ha, it's crushed. I can't read it at the moment, guess I'll try back later.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

rynop 8y ago

https://www.vanlifeprep.com https://www.vanlifeprep.com is another good related site

flossball 8y ago

Be like motivational speaker Matt Foley - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8 In all seriousness, it is cool as long as you have another place that is home. Traveling for a living gets too much after awhile.

prawn 8y ago

I'm fascinated by the lifestyle/community and follow it pretty closely. Even built https://vanspiration.com https://vanspiration.com to catalogue some builds, though I'm behind on updating a few. From what I can tell, this was the original vanlife-manual: https://thevanual.com/ https://thevanual.com/ The guy built out that site with Ryobi branding and then pitched it to Ryobi as a marketing thing. They gave him $15k or whatever it was, and it covered the costs of his vehicle and build. Modestly brilliant.

notatoad 8y ago

I understand that people enjoy the hashtag-vanlife thing, but if it's something you're considering please remember that it doesn't make you special. Too many people seem to think that #vanlife is somehow different from camping, and an excuse to ignore all the rules that apply to normal campers. Normal people camp in a campground or designated wilderness camping area, where there are adequate facilities to camp in a hygenic way, and you pay for a permit to get a spot for yourself for a night, and the campground is limited to the number of spaces that the area can support. Camping in a city park, street, or public day-use area is selfishly monopolizing the resources of that area for yourself, when they were designed for the use of people other than just yourself. Homeless people can get a pass on selfishly taking over public space for themselves because they need the charity, but when tech bros who want to live the #vanlife do it they're just being assholes.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
While I agree that people who "can" own/live in a house are making a choice to live in a van can "take up space", I think the amount of space used up by these people in nearly infinitesimal compared to the amount of space available. So, I don't think this is really much of an argument against this life style. Also, they won't do this forever, long term it's much more stressful than people realize. Therefore making the amount of space/resources used entirely a non-issue.
- notatoad 8y ago
  It's not the space they take up, it's the fact that they're living in a way that the place they're living in wasn't designed for. My town has a parking lot where the #vanlife people park, and it smells like piss all summer because it's a parking lot, not a campground, and there's no bathrooms there. The actual campgrounds in the area fill up quickly, and people reserve in advance. The climbing routes, hiking trails, and other recreation facilities exist roughly in proportion to the available campsites. The #vanlife people are cheating the system by illegally camping, and using resources that aren't available. If the resources were available, permits would be approved for new campgrounds or residential development. Individuals don't do #vanlife long term, but there's enough of them that there's a consistent rolling population and the space and resources they use are roughly constant.

beezischillin 8y ago

According to journalist Tim Pool (I can't link his video, sorry, I simply can't remember which one of his this was in), these conversions are so popular that the companies that work on doing them have so many orders that the wait time can stretch into a year to get one done if you're looking now. (He wants to create a mobile reporting studio.)

walrus01 8y ago

I hate to link to what is quickly becoming the cesspool of the Internet, but http://reddit.com/r/vandwellers http://reddit.com/r/vandwellers is a community for this type of thing.

sbr464 8y ago

This was a pretty interesting build, I was looking to get one of the battery packs from Nissan when they become available. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pREpjFETTXA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pREpjFETTXA

planktons 8y ago

Sleeping in your car is awesome. Last August my and my girl friend did a spontaneous trip across the US, we visited 45+ states. And we did the whole thing without a sigle hotel, sleeping instead inside of my Toyota Corolla. All I did was fold the seats, throw in a cheap Walmart mattress, get super heavy tint on the rear windows and signed up for planet fitness membership. It actually worked. The key thing here is that we did it in a corolla. You can park literally anywhere overnight in a corolla. We were never bothered in any way about sleeping in that car. I don’t think anybody even knew. We would park in hotel parking lots at night a lot because cars come and go at all hours, the lot is always full and there’s no pattern of any kind that we would be intruding on. So for example if we parked somewhere and the natives recognized all the cars except that weird corolla they eve never seen, we would kind of stick out. And if you are the only car parked inside a giant, empty parking lot at 3am you are kind of sticking out. Later on I tried sleeping in residential areas though, and I’ve never been bothered or asked about it once. And I’ve done it more than a hundred times probably. If you use common sense and don’t use the world as your bathroom, you will not have a problem. We slept inside that car with the windows closed for a couple months. Never had a problem with O2 or CO2 as far as I can tell. I now sleep in my car regularly. It’s amazing to me that it’s not a thing to sleep in your car. It expands your horizon immensely. You don’t get it until you have yourself gotten to the point where sleeping in your car is second nature. It’s a very useful skill to have. The camp fire is a really good example. If you were able to have a vehicle that you actually dedicated to sleeping in (I’ve kept my corolla stock, besides the tint) and were able to modify then you would be able to sleep anywhere at any time of year very comfortably. If you are interested in this then def read ahead. So we have a guy inside a car with the windows closed. Several things will happen. First, the entire car and the air inside it will become the same temperature as outside. Second, his breath will create extremely high humidity inside the car. Third, CO2 will accumulate. Fourth, O2 will go down. This has never been a problem for me but it’s true none the less. Ok, the only other consideration is what temperature it is outside and how humid it is outside. If it’s cold, we have the follwing to worry about. The humidity in the air inside the car will condense on the inner surfaces of the car. This is very bad because you will have moisture under your carpet and absolutely everywhere. You won’t be able to dry it and it will probably grow mold. Second, you will just be too cold. If it’s hot, the hot air in the car will retain the humidity longer, so condensation isn’t a problem as much. But even a little hot is too hot because your body heat will bake you in that car. Ok, those are all the problems and considerations for sleeping in your car. Here is how you handle them. Energy recovery ventilator. Panasonic makes some great ERVs. These are ventilation fans that have a special interchanging ducting that transfers heat and moisture from the outgoing air stream to the incoming air stream or vice verse. So what that means is that you are putting energy into keeping the humidity and temperature within a certain range, this device will allow you to replace the stagnant air with fresh air but not blow out all that energy along with the air. These units are whisper quiet and use only 25 watts of power. Every car has an air outlet somewhere near the rear bumper. If you could hook up this unit to draw air and vent air outside, you would solve O2 and CO2. You would also partially solve humidity. And you would partly solve being too hot. If you are in a closed space, you need good ventilation. Catalytic heater. I forget the name, it’s “wave 3” or something like that. These heaters use propane but are safe for indoor use because they are catalytic, meaning the produce no CO. They are also extremely efficient. Propane is cheap and it’s everywhere. This would solve being too cold. Air conditioner/dehumidifier. If the air outside is humid, you are going to have to dehumidify. There is no way around this. Installing a portable dehumidifier would solve this. A proper, compressor based one would be required to keep pace. These use 300 watts or more. If it’s hot outside, vent the hot part of the heat pipe to the outside. This solves the heat problem completely, as the dehumidifier is now also an air conditioner with no penalty on power or anything else. This would be trivial to implement. When it’s cold outside, you blow the hot end of the heat pipe back into the cabin and you don’t lose any heat, but humidity is controlled. Extremely recently a fuel cell was released for use in the RV market. It runs on propane. From what I can tell it’s real — some prominent RV brands are starting to incorporate it into their products. They have made many appearances at trade events for RVs. Needless to say, this will be a revolution. Adding a fuel cell like this would allow you to dehumidify/cool the inside of the car continuously all night. Charging several kWh off the alternator is just not really an option. So, add the fuel cell and a really good battery and maybe some solar and you have power for all I’ve menioned as well as charging phones and powering other electronics. Between all of that, you would truly be able to sleep anywhere you wanted in total comfort. The only thing I would add woul be some stealthy cameras all around the car and monitors inside so that I could quickly asses the situation if I were woken at night. Cheers

znq 8y ago

Two years ago I made a video about 3 years of living in a camper van. As of next months it's actually gonna be 5 years. https://optimizingforhappiness.com/3-years-of-living-in-a-camper-van-and-running-a-20-people-remote-business/ https://optimizingforhappiness.com/3-years-of-living-in-a-ca... My plan was to make a whole video series out of it, but just doing one video already took me so much time and with running and managing two companies[1][2] at the same time, I didn't feel that I wanted to spend more time in front of a computer editing videos. But maybe in the future I'll pick it up again and continue the series. [1] https://bugfender.com/ https://bugfender.com/ [2] http://mobilejazz.com/ http://mobilejazz.com/

asymmetric 8y ago
Downvoted for the unnecessary links to your companies, sorry.
- znq 8y ago
  No problem :-)

oriettaxx 8y ago

why not a sailing boat?

timvisee 8y ago

We did it again HN! We broke the database! Here's a mirror: https://web.archive.org/https://divineontheroad.com/build-a-van/ https://web.archive.org/https://divineontheroad.com/build-a-...

t0mislav 8y ago
3 hours later, database still struggling.

skilled 8y ago

Everything looks great, but the Instagram photos make me flinch a little. This kind of lifestyle is far from all the glamour that the photos convey, which makes me think this has turned into one big sales pitch. I could be wrong. I'm known for being a pessimist, no doubt.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
alistairSH 8y ago
You're not wrong. I have a passing interest in owning a van or camp trailer of some sort (for camping, not living). Many of the IG accounts are "influencers" who are pimping their own niche van-life business. "Look at me and my bikini-clad wife! (and please buy the solar panel kit I sell through my web store)"

rajangdavis 8y ago

Anyone have any tips for people who have friends entering the van life? I just want to see one of my best friends be successful in this transition...

stevehawk 8y ago
#1 tip I see on van life forums - van life is hard and won't make you magically instagram happy. any unhappiness you have right now you're probably just going to take with you on the road and end up disappointed about the difficult van living.
doobiedowner 8y ago
Flannel, yoga pants, and a cute dog or small child. Don't forget to show off your pearly whites!

redcodenl 8y ago

And... its gone. Database error. :-(

machinesmachine 8y ago

and site is dead

Freestyler_3 8y ago

Why do I see insulation only behind the wood and in a lot of places I still see metal.

josefresco 8y ago

So you're in your van, parked at the beach, or a beautiful park and you gotta poop - what now? Pack up your van and find a public restroom? Poop in some sort of composting toilet that you then lug around with you and dump ...where exactly? Drive to that gym you bought a membership to ... how close is it to the beach again and how badly do you need to poop? Yesterday's article on tiny homes, and this one make me laugh because we all get romanced by hipster vans and nifty solar panels but skip right over essential things like ... going to the bathroom! The tiny home article said (and I'm paraphrasing here) you can buy a home, pull it up to a spot of land and *just hook up the utilities!" - it's not that simple. Septic and water are not electrical plugs - hell even electrical is not as simple unless you're in an RV park. Edit: Just to be clear, I spend a good deal of time traveling myself. I now tow a 26 foot travel trailer (with kitchen and full bathroom) but before that towed a small utility trailer that I converted to a travel trailer for my kids and my office. We stay at campgrounds with septic hookups and showers (which I prefer over my trailer shower). Whenever we "dry camp" we then have to find a place to dump our septic, grey water etc. it's a real pain (Google "honey wagon" for a fun look at a "good" option for handling your own waste). Typically this is done at a campground (for a small fee), but I'm not sure how it would work for someone living in their van ("can I dump a bucket full of piss and poo?").

a3n 8y ago
> So you're in your van, parked at the beach, or a beautiful park and you gotta poop - what now? Well, if you're "parked," there's a good chance that there are restrooms. You can carry a portable toilet. Or a bucket and kitchen trash bags. I'm an over the road trucker, and in an "emergency" I have just closed the curtains, squatted down in the back and pooped into a 13 gal kitchen trash bag. Not at all comfortable, but workable in an emergency. Store the bag outside in the spare tire, until I get to a suitable dumpster/trash can. (And I doubt that my rare, once or twice a year "dump" compares at all to the daily disposal of diapers on the road and at home on garbage day.)
- josefresco 8y ago
  Yeah so I've done the "shit in a bucket" thing. When I was towing an enclosed trailer I converted to a "camper", our only bathroom was a bucket (with a toilet seat). This is not sustainable! This works in a pinch, it does not, and should not work full time. Dumping your poo in a kitchen trash bag in dumpsters doesn't work if everyone, or even "a lot" of people are doing it. Towns and the townspeople do not want van dwellers dumping their shit bags in local trash cans.

jackcosgrove 8y ago

Wearing jeans with holes in the knees, wearing pants under your skirt, living in a van...what was once done out of necessity for those with less becomes a lifestyle choice and style signal for those who have more. Touring in an RV can be fun but #vanlife seems too much like class tourism to me.

lm28469 8y ago
Culture is often like that, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction" seems to apply to a lot of things. When you're overwhelmed by tech, constant notifications of any kind, advertisement everywhere (in real and digital life), mindless media consumption, work and wantrepreneur culture &c. I easily get why people want a break from that, weirdly enough it seems that we're easily attracted by extremes.

god_bless_texas 8y ago

This brings to mind that recently someone posted in my city's subreddit questions about their visit and where they could park their van. The comments were outrageously unwelcoming and basically forced this person to consider the next city along their trip as the place they should stop. I think what works in one part of the nation doesn't necessarily translate to all of it.

_mrmnmly 8y ago

Here's another website related to this topic: https://www.mylittlebehemoth.com https://www.mylittlebehemoth.com

EGreg 8y ago

You can buy RVs online for $26K

RankingMember 8y ago
Hmm, oddly-specific number. Is there are a particular site selling a bunch of RVs for $26k each?

charliebrownau 8y ago

So its mod a commercial van for "Van life" Not actually BUILD an Van

cheesymuffin 8y ago

I lived in a van in the Bay Area for 8 months, then a totaled RV for 10. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise -- it's awesome. If you find decent parking spots (it's not hard, just use google maps) you'll find tons of areas that are quieter than those $2500/month apartments in San Jose with planes whizzing by. I got pretty good at sleeping with shooting range earmuffs. For a long time my routine was wake up whenever I wanted, bike to Starbucks or a library, read for a few hours, bike to the gym, work out, and read for the rest of the day. When I was in Pacifica I would get hours of sun, which you can't really do with a 9-5. The problem is that it's incredibly socially isolating. Very few of my friends treated me any differently, but I still got progressively more lonely. More and more of my "reading" became surfing Youtube and chatting on IRC or 4chan with people I'd never be able to meet in person. I spent a lot of time being mad at police. I'd meet girls on Tinder with the thought in the back of my head that they wouldn't find my sketchy RV as funny as I do. I'd prefer it to paying $2k/month for a studio with no heat and stressing out about money all the time, but I wouldn't be able to keep that up, either. It's not like you need a toilet to survive. We went without them for most of human history. You need a toilet to fit in.

nradov 8y ago
As a society we need toilets to survive. Diseases spread by human waste such as cholera are a major reason why average lifespans used to be short.
- deleted 8y ago
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- cheesymuffin 8y ago
  Apologies if I made it sound like I was pooping on the beach. I wasn't. :)
  - coryfklein 8y ago
    Where were you pooping then?

andrew_ 8y ago

From the perspective of an avid saltwater fisherman (for which Yeti is one of the most popular cooler choices) I would encourage anyone considering a Yeti to look into the alternatives. I picked up an Rtic cooler for approximately $200 less, same size as the Yeti. Performance is identical. Other similar brands include Icer, Orca, Pelican, Engel. They all have different price points and all have sales. If you can find a scratch 'n dent sale, you'll typically save 25-50% for minor cosmetic blemishes.

deedubaya 8y ago

If you like the idea but lack the ability to build your own van, check out https://www.syncvans.com/ https://www.syncvans.com/. They make some really cool rigs.

arthurofbabylon 8y ago

Here’s my van story: I visited my parents one summer at age 19 and spent a single day and less than $300 building our old family minivan into a home. Mind you, that van would probably sell for $500-1000 pre-renovation. I built a small platform for a bed that still relied on the back-most bench. I also built a small shelf in the very back that held a propane stove and cooking supplies. Very, very simple. I lived in it for several years, traveling and rock climbing. You stand at the back of the van and cook, and only go inside the main cabin to sleep or read. Skilled van-residents generally don’t visit urban areas for extended periods of time. British Columbia, Montana, Utah, the Chihuahua desert, Baja, Sonora were the places to be. The whole point of a van is that it makes life really easy in more remote areas - no need to set up a tent or set up a camp kitchen. It was highly social, as I was immersed in the rock climbing community. I’d make friends and we’d share every meal and have bad ass adventures. Then I’d go to a new spot, be introspective for the 2-3 days of slow driving and staying in semi-remote wilderness, then meet new friends at the next destination. Pooping while living in a van requires a different perspective than that of most city people. First, there is no use of toilet paper - the water/left-hand method combined with soap is simply more hygienic (in these remote areas, people who poop like this are the only ones who wash themselves with soap and water on a regular basis). Second, ‘waste management’ revolves around ensuring other humans don’t have to encounter the decomposition process, which normally means burying the waste and always means that one has to consider biological processes, land-use/human behavior. Here’s the real selling point: living in a van in nature means being connected to every sunrise and every sunset. You’ll naturally get tired shortly after sunset, and naturally wake up 30-60 minutes before sunrise. Temperature and light fluctuations ensure a highly functional endocrine system that makes sickness/depression/anxiety nearly impossible to take root. It’s a very healthy and natural way of life. I absolutely recommend it - but not for people who want to be highly productive at crafting software/hardware.

frosted-flakes 8y ago
I think I'd prefer to use a disposable glove than washing my butt with my bare hand. That smell doesn't come off easily, and gloves are cheap.

jccalhoun 8y ago

I'm not really claustrophobic but as a tall person all these stories about living in a van or a tiny house just make me feel cramped.

adambware 8y ago

Google Cached version https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:2PvAxEiBg-UJ:https://divineontheroad.com/build-a-van/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:2PvAxE...

olivermarks 8y ago

To put some perspective on the romanticism of all this, shorten title to 'live on the road'. I grew up going on camping 'holidays' in the UK as my father was a great romantic, the reality in the US today is a lot more regimented anywhere near surburbia. There are trailer parks in the USA for a reason - a lot of people associate free spirited travellers as littering gypsies and in many areas you are going to be harassed by the police. I have a friend who has a great looking vintage truck with a vintage camper shell on it with sink, cooker etc. He has long hair and he and his wife are constantly harassed when on the road. The police can be extremely unpleasant. He owns 3 houses but is used to the police calling him a down and out. Adding to @josefresco's comments before you spend a fortune kitting out a van rent one for a month and live in it in the mild weather spring or fall to get an idea of what it's like and what you need. Also be aware a van can get stolen with all your possessions in it. I had a 26 foot vintage airstream I was going to restore stolen, apparently any sort of mobile living space is a great target for people who live in the woods to steal and hide off road. Be realistic about what you are getting into and install excellent security.

driverdan 8y ago
I can't speak to Europe but I've been living in my bus for over 20 months and have never been harassed by law enforcement.
- olivermarks 8y ago
  what area are you mostly in? My friend is based in California but travels cross country a lot, says it's worst in the mid west and south for him
  - driverdan 8y ago
    My home area is Austin but I've traveled up the east coast a few times and through New Mexico. Many areas of CA are hard since there are a lot of NIMBY anti-homeless laws. The midwest has a ton of BLM land so it's one of the easiest places to camp, so long as you don't mind being in the middle of nowhere.

nothrows 8y ago

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ws23jjbfQxgJ:https://divineontheroad.com/ https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ws23jj... site seems slow or down here's cache

driverdan 8y ago

I discussed how I live in a bus yesterday in the tiny home post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19085244 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19085244 I converted a 25ft shuttle bus and have been living in it for over 20 months. I have everything you'd expect in a house, toilet, shower, 4 burner range, electricity, heat, AC, internet, etc. The difference is that I can take my home and dog with me when I travel. I'd be happy to answer any more questions here.

ohiovr 8y ago

At this time I am not interested in living in a van but for a long time I have wanted some kind of auxiliary heater for my minivan. It could be powered by diesel or a five gallon propane tank. I think it strange something like this is not off the shelf as unfortunately a lot of people live in their cars or vans because they have no where else to go. For winter living it would have to be better for the engine and for fuel consumption.

mikestew 8y ago
An under-rear-seat, gas-powered (got its fuel from the tank) heaters used to be an option on VW vans. Aftermarket offers Propex, but they ain't cheap. Plan on a couple of thousand if someone else does all the work. $700 for just the heater, IIRC. What we used in our VW camper in winter was an indoor-safe propane heater: http://www.mrheater.com/little-buddy-heater.html http://www.mrheater.com/little-buddy-heater.html
- ohiovr 8y ago
  Thank you for the lead!
brudgers 8y ago
Depending on your expectations and how you travel, the easiest option might be a $15 electric space heater and an extension cord. Won't work when boondocking. Useful at campsites with electric. Made-in-China diesel heaters are <$200 on eBay and there are reasonable reviews on Youtube.
- ohiovr 8y ago
  I didn't know something like it existed! Thanks!

dba7dba 8y ago

The camper van movement is pretty popular for sure. Sportsmobile has been converting vans to mini RV or camper van since 1965. Someone recently got a guided tour of the factory by the owner and here it is. https://youtu.be/p3X9UjNx9g0?t=123 https://youtu.be/p3X9UjNx9g0?t=123 He said there were about 100 vans at the factory at the time, in various stages of conversion. And they were sold out for 14 months. Near the end the owner shares stories of some of the customers. Some are professional nature photographers/athletes (?) who must stay outdoors for days, and need clean/dry place for equipment, eat/sleep etc. Having the van saves them much time required to travel to/from hotel to their work site. A lot of employees of Google/Apple also are customers of Sportsmobile. And some are even medical residents who basically need a place to sleep between shifts and choose to sleep in a camper van, parked at the hospital parking lot. So camper van is not just for people who want to travel for the sake of travel. I would love to have a camper van at my disposal so that I can go explore some popular sites like Yosemite, beach campsites etc. But $100,000 is big money.

AtlasBarfed 8y ago

This lifestyle will utterly explode once self-driving EV vans with decent solar cells hit reasonable price ranges. Drive overnight, recharge for a few days with or without a power hookup...

webninja 8y ago

This guide needs a section on how to get a women to ride and live in it with you. My Dad’s GF told him on no uncertain terms that he’d be a bachelor if he lived in an RV. Thus he gave up on the RV idea. Edit: It looks like we gave this website the loving hug of death. It says “Error establishing database connection” now.