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So you only did this as an experiment? If it was a forced thing, do you think it would be any different? Also, this could be amazing to go camping or short vaca

• awjr 12y ago
  Well, I'd bought a camper van in the summer, and a contract came up too far away to realistically commute. So I could have stayed in a B&B during the week, however I felt that this would work out. My wife was not quite in love with the idea of the camper van as much as I was. It would save a lot of money which we needed at the time. So I went down there in September for a 3 month contract that got extended by another 3 months. The most complicated issue was that the Webasto diesel heating system (2kw heater and amazinf) required leisure batteries to be at a certain level to work safely and would shut down. So I started off with an 80w battery by the middle of December I had added another two 110w batteries and bought a industrial strength battery charger to enable me to top the batteries up within a 24 hour period. If I was living in the van permanently I would have mounted two 250w solar panels on the roof. Complete independence would have been worth it. One thing, having a home base also gave me a place to empty the chemical loo. Of note, it completely changed my view of sealed sachets of ketchup and coffee. As you are in a box, you can build up a lot of moisture during the night (easy to remove during the day) but just means windows are dripping or even frozen with moisture. I can remember firing up the heater and directing the heat into the driver cabin via a funnel to help melt the ice that had formed over night on the inside of the screen, leaving the van and going for a walk along the beach while it cleared itself.