
How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015) - pvsukale3
http://syntheti.cc/van-build/
======
grecy
I did something similar.

I wanted a vehicle I could explore the world with, so I turned my Jeep into a
house on wheels with fridge, drinking water and filtration, solar and dual
batteries, interior cabinets and a custom modified pop-up roof so I can stand
up and walk around in the Jeep.

I joked about applying for a home owners grant :)

The full pictures and story are in this album -
[http://imgur.com/a/OLK3o](http://imgur.com/a/OLK3o)

I'm driving it around Africa now.

EDIT: I'm a Software Engineer too, and I decided there is more to life than
sitting at a desk - a few years back I drove Alaska->Argentina, now it's
around Africa for 2 years.

EDIT2: I've hit my posting limit.

Yes, I'm still alive!

Follow along if you want to see if I stay that way!

Facebook:
[https://facebook.com/theroadchoseme](https://facebook.com/theroadchoseme)

Instagram:
[https://www.instagram.com/theroadchoseme](https://www.instagram.com/theroadchoseme)

Twitter: [https://twitter.com/dangrec](https://twitter.com/dangrec)

YouTube:
[http://youtube.com/c/theroadchoseme](http://youtube.com/c/theroadchoseme)

And my website: [http://theroadchoseme.com](http://theroadchoseme.com)

~~~
justonepost
Yeah, true story: I make 250K per year and live in a minivan. Wellll, ok, I
actually have a mortgage and a house but that's somewhere else :)

Pro tip: xfinity is your friend.

The reality is that everyone can do this. And why not? The big problem with
this model, though, is lack of property taxes. And parking spots.

I would happily pay for X per month for a nice parking spot though and my fair
share of property taxes. Ok, maybe not happily, I have to admit I do enjoy
free.

What will be really interesting for this model is when we get self driving
cars.

~~~
usaphp
How do you use restroom and shower during the night? I hope you are not one of
those who drain their urine and recycled water to the curb?

~~~
jsmthrowaway
I know of someone who does this and he uses Google's (his employer's)
facilities. Given the forum we are posting on, I'd wager it's a safe bet for
anyone making that much to have similar facilities accessible to them. Enough
employers have "apartment" amenities now that it's starting to become a cool
social experiment about urban living in some ways.

------
patcheudor
A couple comments for your own safety and the safety of the vehicle:

1) Those batteries should be in battery boxes. You can find them at any marine
supply store. Note that for boats where batteries are commonly stored like you
have them there, it's the law. For RV's it's a good practice and may be
required by some insurers and in some states.

2) H2S also known as hydrogen sulfide. It's explosive and it's possible for
even the best sealed batteries to have a problem whereby H2S is released. If
those batteries have vent ports, you need to ensure they are connected to a
vent tube and run out of the vehicle. If they don't have vent tubes, don't
assume they won't vent. I run sealed batteries in my boat and it came with a
H2S detector connected bilge ventilator. If the H2S detector senses a build-up
of the gas it sets off an audible alarm and kicks the ventilator on. I've seen
the aftermath of battery compartment explosions. Trust me, it's not something
you want to experience. The cheapest option here is to get batteries which
allow for the connection of a vent tube.

UPDATE: here's a decent article on the issue with a picture of a vented
battery box (I didn't know those were a thing - cool!):

[http://blog.rvshare.com/6-things-need-know-rv-battery-
box/](http://blog.rvshare.com/6-things-need-know-rv-battery-box/)

UPDATE #2: just went out and looked at my boat. This is what's in the battery
compartment attached to the bilge fan:

[https://www.zoro.com/macurco-fixed-gas-
detector-h2s-4-12inhx...](https://www.zoro.com/macurco-fixed-gas-
detector-h2s-4-12inhx4inw-tx-12-hs/i/G0461548/?gclid=CjwKEAjwuo--
BRDDws3x65LL7h8SJABEDuFRDL7zashd8oAO0Ju2_t5C5wiOXsETw4sJiBAYJKeXLBoCOuPw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)

~~~
mchannon
H2S is insidious, but it's not the primary reason for venting lead acid
batteries.

H2 gas itself is. Particularly when overcharged, batteries will build up a
pressure of H2, which specially designed vents within the battery will let
out. H2 actually needs a pretty high concentration to flash, but if your RV is
airtight, you can reach those conditions.

------
gnarcoregrizz
This resonated with me: "Life is easy. Humans are fucking badass -- we
absolutely dominate our environment and are so smart and powerful."

I really understood that in the desert in Utah, where I got the feeling that I
wasn't supposed to be there, far away from any semblance of civilization, but
there I was surviving just fine with the help of our machinations.

I bought my RV for what you did, and its a perfectly comfortable home... a
home that goes 80mph! I've been to almost every state now, and lived on
hilltops with "million dollar" views, been in the desert under the stars,
worked from deep in the rainforest in the pacific northwest, all for less
money than rent for my apartment was. We can live comfortably for about a week
completely off the grid. I would have bought a smaller, more offroad capable
van, but I live in it with my fiance, so that was untenable.

I don't know how long you've been doing it, but there are definitely stressors
and downsides that accompany the lifestyle. My RV was broken into once and I
had everything stolen, and since then I've been constantly on edge when being
away from my vehicle, so I often wish it looked beat to shit to deter people
from messing with it. Also, staying in parking lots sucks and is sad if you're
doing it for any extended period of time. I definitely have a missing sense of
community and permanence, but its been a great journey!

~~~
prawn
Points for the great attitude and anything involving Utah's deserts, but kudos
to so many other species surviving harder with less also. Life is badass!
Watched a documentary in which lizards hatched in a scalding caldera and had
to scramble over the rim while birds were trying to pick them off. That's in
their first few seconds of life.

------
jdpigeon
This would have appealed to me about two years ago, but not that much anymore,
and I'm still close to a decade away from paying off my student debt.

I'm more interested in 'settling down' and 'getting to work' these days,
realizing that my sense of personal success is mostly dependent on quality
relationships, productivity, and a sense of community belonging. Now, I've
done my fair share of living life on the road, and I always enjoyed the
experience, but just like the comedown from a psychedelic drug high I was
always grateful at the end to be back home squared away in my "real world."

My issue is not with the self-determinism or the low-impact tiny house living,
just with the transience of it. Is he certain that he'll be able to be
productive working out of the back of a van or in random cafes around the
country? What about stimulating interactions with colleagues? Girlfriend??

~~~
tdobson
I live in a van.[1]

I started out in the van with a girlfriend, then our relationship came to an
end (the van probably helped it last a bit longer) and so I got back into
dating.

I'd say dating with the van was easier than before I had it.

You must lead with it. You have to make sure it's upfront with everyone - you
don't bring it up last - it said it all over my OKC profile - and you know -
nothing starts conversations like something unusual. It's not for everyone -
but the people who opt out - it would't have worked with anyway. The ones that
opt in, it's good. Probably the most dangerous people who fetishise your
vanlifestyle above the reality. Reality is that there are ups and downs, good
things and tradeoffs.

Anyway, I'm now happily in an awesome relationship - and yeah - the van isn't
a big deal. It kind of helps - cos she lives a good distance away from many of
my friends. :)

[1]
[https://www.instagram.com/tdobsonnet/](https://www.instagram.com/tdobsonnet/)

~~~
elliotec
I'd disagree with your statement that "the van isn't a big deal" in your last
sentence.

If you feel that you have to be upfront with everyone about living in a van,
it sort of becomes an enormous part of your identity, which I would call a big
deal.

~~~
geocar
I think he means that it isn't interfering with his romantic life.

Some people (especially programmers) use the expression "it's not a big deal"
to indicate something is straightforward (when you're thinking about it
correctly), not to quantify its importance.

~~~
tdobson
Yeah. It rules out some people. It's attractive to some people. Clearly rules
oneself out from others.

It doesn't really matter because with dating - you only need to win once.

------
jordanlev
I absolutely loved reading this. I liked how he went into it cautiously,
testing out whether he could get by with a small fridge, small bed, less
possessions, etc. And I also appreciate the web page design itself -- one long
vertically-scrolling piece, very easy to read through!

One thing I find ironic though is the attitude towards other people who make a
different decision about the worth of a home and the mortgage. Does he not
realize that his van was only possible because his _parents_ owned a home,
raised him there, and let him park the van in their carport for 40 days while
building it out?

~~~
mod
That's not exactly true. He could have done the build-out in plenty of other
manners, some less efficiently. With some extra money, he might have had it
done more quickly, even.

Camping out during the build time, or getting a hostel/hotel for 40 days,
renting a room, building it ahead of time, etc. Lots of reasonable options.

I noticed on some page he mentioned "focusing on building less expensive
homes" and then pointed at tumbleweed homes, they build those "tiny homes" on
trailers. Those things go for like 3x the most inexpensive mobile homes.

We've already solved this problem, we're just changing the paint to avoid the
social taboo.

~~~
monknomo
I too have wondered at the tiny home thing. Regular single wide mobile homes
are small, cheap and standardized, and they even have "communal living" in a
park. I'm pretty sure it's just trying to tell bougie people that it's fine to
live in a trailer park

~~~
mod
I'm not really against it, even. I think it _is_ fine. Some of those tiny
homes are really nice, or inspiring, or liberating. I really appreciate hand-
made things, especially ambitious projects like homes. And I _definitely_
appreciate the frugal builds.

But when you're buying it pre-built, it's just a tiny, expensive mobile home.

If they catch on enough, they'll build them cheaper and more efficiently, and
we'll have smaller versions of normal mobile homes, with aluminum siding and
all.

I'm all for it, personally--there's no reason for the dream of home-ownership
to be expensive.

~~~
monknomo
Sure, variety is the spice of life, I just don't get it.

It feels like a cynical marketing exercise to me, and I have some other
personal issues probably tied up in millenial homeownership angst, but that's
me, not the tiny homes.

------
aresant
His "Can I live without my precious possessions?" answer is the most
engineering LOL thing I've read all day:

"Pile up my crap. Anytime I need something in the pile, take it out of the
pile and save it for later. Monitor usage."

Thank you for posting this.

~~~
zyxley
This but slightly more organized is pretty much the standard answer for anti-
hoarding: put all your stuff away, keep track of what you actually use over
the next week/month/year, and get rid of anything that hasn't been touched.

~~~
sliverstorm
I think it deserves to be slightly more nuanced than that. There is a category
of things that are small, used rarely, but very necessary. Medicine & tools
always come to mind. For me, if I don't use my screwdrivers for a year that
doesn't mean I should get rid of my screwdrivers.

~~~
dublinben
Arguably, it means just that. If you only use a tool once a year, you should
just borrow/rent them when you actually do need them. Our lives are cluttered
with occasionally used 'just in case' items that we really don't need.

~~~
et-al
That's minimalism taken to an extreme, which is just as thoughtless as
hoarding.

A screwdriver costs less than $5 and takes a minimal amount of space to store.
Yes, the slippery slope is when you have a thousand tools falling out of your
closet, but again, thought and moderation.

The "if I haven't used it in the past year" rule is a great idea overall, but
it's not appropriate for this example. Now if we're talking about a ball-
bearing extractor, yeah rent/borrow that unless your livelihood depends on it.

~~~
wonder_er
This calculus changes if you assign a cost to _storing_ possessions.

If there's no cost, great. Keep everything. If there is a cost, that once-a-
year item might not make the cut.

~~~
et-al
Yup, I think we're all in agreement that there's a cost to storing
possessions. The issue folks were debating is that the once-per-x rule isn't
appropriate for certain items because:

\- the item takes up a negligible amount of space (fractions of pennies), and
its usefulness is huge when you need it. Also, factor in the value of
immediate access (e.g. fire extinguisher).

\- some things you don't use, but are required to have (birth certificates)

Again, my main point was thoughtfulness with ownership. And it doesn't always
require breaking out an Excel spreadsheet and amortizing costs and calculating
expected values.

------
cko
I'm a full-time pharmacist working 50 hours a week, with several investment
rental properties.

Since April of this year I've been sleeping in my 2002 Toyota 4Runner in the
parking lot at work. Shower at the gym, infrequent laundry runs, hang out all
day at the library with all the other strange people. Pros: feeling of
simplicity and freedom; enough said. Cons: a mid-sized SUV is too small and
not private enough. I want privacy when I first wake up and put on my contacts
and get dressed. I want to wake up, sit up and meditate for 30 minutes without
anyone seeing me.

I'm getting a Ford E-150 van for $1500 next week. Going to put in hardwood
flooring, maybe insulation and plywood on the walls. Excited.

~~~
justonepost
Yep, I'm in a similar situation, except I have a house, mortgage, etc.

Honestly, I prefer the minivan. The house, stuff, and 10K sq feet of
maintenance nightmare is such a PITA.

I will say though, shell out a little bit more :) 1500 is a bit tooo cheap and
undermines your stealth.

~~~
cko
I'd like talk to you about your setup and experiences. My email is in my
profile.

------
jws
Great article, small technical issue:

 _First, cut all the 0 AWG wire. Why 0 AWG? Because I had a 1500 watt
inverter, which meant I could be pulling 150 amps (1500 watts output / 120
volts output × 12 volts input = 150 amps input)._

That's nearly the right answer, but "watts / volts × volts" is not going to
end in "amps" as an answer. I'd suggest: 1500 watts / 12 volts = 125 amps.

I also whole heartedly agree with him with statements like _" By far the most
beautiful place I've driven through has been the drive from Butte, MT to Idaho
Falls, ID."_. I drive mostly across the country twice a year. I avoid
interstate highways. The evening routine is to look at satellite imagery for
interesting terrain, look at something like Panoramio to see where people take
pictures and of what, then piece together some travel for the next day. Pull
over and take a mini-hike if anything looks interesting.

~~~
Hydraulix989
I was wondering about that as well given that the dimensional analysis didn't
work out, thanks.

------
scarecrowbob
As cool as this, like a lot of folks here I don't see how a pickup and a
gooseneck wouldn't be a better (probably cheaper) option, even if you had to
renovate / shop around for the gooseneck.

I know a whole lot of folks who live this way, mostly itinerant musicians.

While this is a much nicer build-- I think it's quite beautiful-- it is a lot
closer to a custom conversion van most folks I know have much different, less
successful experiences with DIY RVs.

To the folks who cite "stealth" as a rationale here, there are a lot of
reasons why you might get kicked off a patch of ground... one persons "hack"
is another person's criminal trespass. There are a lot of great places that
you can camp out without getting hassled and without relying on other folks
footing the bill for your plumbing and pavement.

To the folks citing mobility, I still don't see how that kind of van is more
mobile than a pickup.

So while I think that it's really cool-- I gotta say that I think it would
have to be cheaper / easier / more reliable to buy a pickup and 5th wheel or
similar.

~~~
dougmany
I am a big fan of the pop-up campers that go in the bed of the truck. I loved
mine. I took three months off and traveled around the west coast in it. Had
some great adventures.

But calculating it all out, a Miata and motel would have been a lot cheaper.
My Diesel F250 with the camper got about 8 miles to the gallon. 300 miles a
day was over $100.

~~~
20yrs_no_equity
This is all about the ratio of travel days to productive or fun days I talk
about a bit in my longer comment below. And sure, do the math- if you would be
happier in a hotel anyway- and a lot of people would be- then it makes sense
to get hotel rooms.

But if you're parking the truck on BLM land for a week at a time, then that's
happier and cheaper.

Hell, you could go with a Miata and a camping tent, and just control the ratio
of BLM land time vs hotel time.

I think one viable strategy is 5off 2on. EG: Stay in a Hotel on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays (lower cost than weekends) and then camp on BLM land (or other
cheap places) the other 5 days.

State parks are 12-$25, while Motel 6 is $40-$60.

------
cassidyclawson
Awesome build!

I am a product designer working in tech in San Francisco. I also live in a
stealth camper van, mostly by the Whole Foods in Potrero. I ride a folding
bike to work downtown. Life is very good and I wouldn't trade this setup for
anything.

Here is my build out:
[http://wonderbywonder.tumblr.com/tagged/chrono/chrono](http://wonderbywonder.tumblr.com/tagged/chrono/chrono)

And here I am:
[http://i.imgur.com/s4ZpdaO.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/s4ZpdaO.jpg)

------
scotty79
Or you could just move to Poland. $33,750 could buy you studio in any medium
town in Poland, even in sub-million population cities.

You'd get: no mortgage, apartment with a toilet, clean running water, wifi and
all the electricity that you'll ever need. 5-10 times more area for your
stuff. Monthly cost of utilities, tax and fee towards building maintenance of
about $150 in total, access to a lot of young, English speaking people you
could hire for cheap to help you with your projects.

~~~
sAvi0r
What's considered a medium town in Poland? I was checking out housing in my
dad's hometown in Serbia, and it's like a shitty agricultural town pretty far
from anything notable with a population of ~12,000 and a place was still like
$40,000-50,000CAD.

~~~
Intimatik
Check out Kraków
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w)

It's a great historical city to live & work where I've been staying for almost
two years and still loving it =)

------
rubicon33
I am having a hard time with this article. On the one hand, it resonates with
me DEEPLY.

"Sure, it's cliché, but it's cliché for a reason -- this subconscious drive
for freedom is hard-wired in our DNA. No modern comfort or toy can take the
place of true autonomy."

On the other hand, I can't deny certain life comforts. Relationships come to
mind when considering a life like this. Sure, living frugally on the road
while coding your own project sounds exhilarating. But I wonder how I'd feel
without my significant other?

I guess what I want more than a life in a van, is economic freedom with a
home.

~~~
secabeen
Agreed. It gets even harder with tiny dependents.

~~~
eggy
It calls for making unorthodox decisions, and trying something different. I
live in the rice fields of East Java on about $3 per day with my 1.5 year old
baby girl and wife. I grew up in Brooklyn, NYC and spent most of my time in
urban areas.

I also have two older children whom I raised during their youth with my ex-
wife in rural NJ when we decided to leave Manhattan. They grew up with a fresh
water lake, no motorboats, with bears, deer and raccoons among other wildlife.

My new baby girl is growing up with fresh bananas, mangoes, papaya, and of
course, rice right outside our door, and beautiful sunsets and sunrises over
the rice fields. There are chickens, goats, geckos, cobras, beetles that look
like gold, and colorful birds, and we live in the shadow of a dormant volcano.
We live very minimal. Most of the floors in the village are just packed dirt
with a bamboo mat pulled out to use. My home is tiled - had to have that!

Funny thing is my internet is spotty at times, but much cheaper, and it goes
with me and my phone wherever I am. I get 500 KB/s at times, with an average
of 175 KB/s. This allows me to Skype my Dad and older children several times a
week with video and share my world. I love my freedom, health and the world of
wonder I am learning about. I have been in SE Asia for over 7 years, and in
the village for almost a full year now. I might grow tired of it, and move on,
but it will be to the next different thing, like a sail boat with short jaunts
to other islands. Am I rich? No! You'd be amazed at how much you can
accomplish if you set your mind to it, and have some passion about it.

People live in fear. Not the terrifying type of fear you might experience in
an immediate life or death situation, but in a sort of self-imposed fear of
change or anything different. I like to imagine our world takes place in an
imaginery little bubble around us, and if we don't kick and push its walls,
stretch them, exercise them, they close in, and we become imprisoned in this
gnawing, subtle fear. It goes hand in hand with the quote attributed to
Einstein. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results. People know why they're unhappy; they just don't listen
well to themselves, or are paralyzed by this subtle fear that drives their
whole life.

~~~
kaybe
How do you get money? Savings or do you have income?

~~~
eggy
Bit of both. I saved a bit from working elsewhere in SE Asia, however, most of
it went to support my family that lives back in the US. We live off of a fifth
of that here.

And remember, I said minimalism. Where I live you get by on $3 per day per
person. That's for food you don't grow yourself and other luxuries like
internet, razors, soap or toothpaste. I use my phone's 3G service tethered via
WiFi to my computer when I need it or want it. It's my biggest luxury item. I
could even cut it in half. I currently spend about $25 dollars a month for it,
or 1/3 my daily expenses!

As I wrote above, most people have dirt floors here, and refrigeration and
electricity came not too long ago to this village. Each home has just under
900 Watts of power available, usually on a single 4 Amp/220 Volt (880 Watts)
breaker. That's the deluxe plan. You can opt for 450 Watt service! You pre-pay
for your electricity.

I am just starting on the ground work for a house similar to this:
[http://www.domegaia.com/](http://www.domegaia.com/) All in all, it should
cost me less than $15K for the land and the house. Less than two years of
property taxes for my house back in the US.

I am vegetarian, and it is great to be able to eat local produce. I have
bananas, mangoes, papayas, jackfruit, peanuts, rice, and chilis right outside
my home, and potatoes, carrots, corn, and other leafy greens from the vendor
who comes down the road each morning at 6:00am.

There are plenty of chickens and goats around if that's your thing. Roosters
start up around 4:30am!

There are also mongoose and king cobras, and I am buying an antivenom kit
(finally after a year!), since there's no way to save someone from a positive
bite other than antivenom. King cobra bites are very rare, but the nearest
facility with antivenom is over 3 hours drive from here mainly due to the road
conditions and the distance. You only have 30 minutes tops after a good
envenomation by one. I am no doctor, but I have done some reading on extreme
medicine over the years, but luckily I have not had to test most of that
knowledge!

Bottom line is that I always wanted to travel and experience life throughout
my life, not only when I was over 60 like most people plan to do. Funny, but
when most people have saved and not traveled or lived differently, they tend
to stay put and never do it. At least from those I grew up with or knew. I
think there are a lot more 30-something millionaires now than ever before, but
I ain't one of them; I wish I were 30-something again, and a millionaire ;)

~~~
secabeen
Interesting. What will you do for education when your kids reaches school-age?
There are lots of people living off the grid, on boats, all over the world. A
common choice is to return to the US when the kids hit middle-school and would
benefit from the facilities at secondary and higher schools.

~~~
eggy
I lost the argument to home school with my first wife, and our children went
through the system there in the US. They both did, and are still doing well,
but both of them independently came to the conclusion, as well as my ex, that
the homework load is insane. More than 3 hours per night, and my kids are
pretty fast at doing it. Some friends were taking 4 to 6 hours! Unnecessary,
and not education in my book. My son did the same as me, and works on his own
projects outside of school mainly in the summer due to the homework load. My
daughter reads her own books late into the night, and is developing my old
habit of staying up too late!

I am not fervently against the school system like others can be. I just think
the world holds enough wonder and obstacles to teach children. I've traveled
enough to meet and speak with homeschooled children from boats, to remote
areas, and I just like what I see and hear. Besides, I love spending time with
family; I'm selfish that way!

I don't think any parent needs to be too academic either. It just takes love,
patience and basic aptitude, since the materials are more readily available
than ever, and attitude goes a long way to children opening up to learn rather
than mechanics. Side benefit: the parents relearn along with the children.
It's wondrous. A few focused hours per day maximum should accomplish more than
7 hour day at school confined to a room, and to administering a lot of the
time away.

If I were to consider any school for my latest child, it would have to be
project-based. I like applying as many disciplines to a singular project a
child is impassioned about rather than teaching the discriminate subjects.
They can focus later on, but getting how things work together in the real
world is more valuable to me. Less is more in this instance.

Here, daily life is a learning experience, and social life is across the ages
like when I grew up in Brooklyn, where it seemed to be an urban immigrant
thing more than an American suburban thing. I don't believe in age segregation
in schools. It was instituted about 170 years ago in America. I think the
experienced elderly are an untapped resource, and it would benefit young and
old to rediscover this.

I grew up with my Irish grandmother next door, and I learned a great many
things from her, and the other elders around me - history, music,
storytelling, and just life. I befriended a childless couple on our block who
taught me so much too. The man was a very literate, sober, milk-drinking, pipe
fitter who was like a very older brother, or more like a second father to me.
He taught me the basics of celestial navigation, took me on a sail on a
sailboat a group of workers co-owned to afford it, and would invite me over
for dinner with his wife to discuss literature, philosophy, history, Latin,
the classics and film. I will never forget those moments. They proved to me
what a rich life a person can have at the poverty line.

The young children in the village here are naive to the world's history,
politics and urban life, but they seem to have a lot more common sense at an
early age than what I recall of my urban peers when we were children. I
started an informal school here to give them some additional help with
English, mathematics, music, literature and art. I had four girls show up
daily, until a few of the boys that were making fun of us from the road,
joined us. At one point, I counted 11 heads not including my baby girl walking
around and creating havoc ;) I plan on putting on a bit of extra space in the
house I am building as an informal classroom, or at least where we start off.
I am buying some King Cobra antivenom just in case, since it takes over 2
hours drive from here to get to a facility that purportedly has a stock of
antivenom. Attacks are very, very rare, but rather safe than sorry, given I
videoed a 7 ft cobra at the edge of the rice fields in a patch of teak trees
several weeks ago. Handlers or performers are generally the people getting bit
like the singer Irma Bule who died in West Java this past April [1].

[1] [http://time.com/4286323/irma-bule-snake-bite-cobra-singer-
da...](http://time.com/4286323/irma-bule-snake-bite-cobra-singer-dangdut-
indonesia/)

------
CPLX
That was pretty awesome, I enjoyed reading all the way to the end.

I wonder how long it'll take him to regret the fact that his bed only fits one
person in it.

~~~
throwanem
You might surprised how spacious half a queen bed can be, and he looks to be
fit and trim overall. I don't think he's likely to have much trouble.

~~~
sliverstorm
Half a queen is 25% smaller than a twin. It's 30" wide. Your shoulders are
probably around 15" wide, wider if you are muscular/fit. Workable, sure, but
with a companion it's hard to imagine describing that as spacious.

I shared a 20" wide camping mattress in a pinch. We are both very slender.
Spooning was mandatory.

~~~
throwanem
> Spooning was mandatory.

Oh. Well. Yeah, I can see how that's a real problem.

(Actually, I spent almost a decade married, so, gentle sarcasm aside, I _can_
see how that might be a problem. On the other hand, I get the impression the
cases aren't really parallel. I mean, if it were me and I had someone moving
in, it'd be a good occasion for a rebuild to meet current needs, I think.)

------
dominotw
>, I have a pee bottle and a 5 gallon jug. Line the jug with two trash bags,
and cover the poop with kitty litter. Then toss it in a dumpster.

1.is this legal to dump trash in somone else's dumpster without owners
permission?

2\. Is it ok in the US to dump poop in dumpsters? I know nursing homes
incinerate poop but not sure if there is a law specifically against dumping
human waste.

~~~
gnarcoregrizz
There are lots of sewers for human waste at truck stops, some gas stations,
and parks that he could dump it down, I would rather do that than throw it in
a dumpster.

~~~
sanswork
I think people are misunderstanding your comment and thinking you mean dump it
in the drain.

For those people, there are actual sewage dump stations at a lot of those
places. Look for a sign with a vehicle with an arrow or pipe out the bottom
next time you're near a truck stop or state park.

~~~
dominotw
Then you are just living the RV lifestyle, different from what OP is trying to
do?

~~~
gnarcoregrizz
It seems like OP is already halfway to the RV lifestyle, and he's probably in
close proximity to dump stations, so he might as well dispose of it in the
'correct' manner rather than throwing it in dumpsters meant for trash.

------
ryandrake
I always read these stories with a sense of awe and wonder. "I took 2 years
off of my totally boring office job to X" where X is something that is 1.
expensive and/or 2. not generating income or not nearly as much income as
Boring Office Job. How the hell does one live without their salary for 2 years
without going into debt or depleting savings? Don't you people have student
loans to pay off, medical bill payments, or other financial obligations that
can't be delayed? I don't think I could last much more than 3 months, and I'm
quite proud of my meager emergency savings. What the hell do you people do for
a living that you can save such a vast amount of money (and presumably blow it
during said 2 year activity)?

I'm not criticizing--just very curious. Most of the time when this kind of
question is asked, the response is a vague and coy, "Well I got a little
savings..." Awesome--how on earth?

~~~
tedmiston
Pretty simple — reduce their living expenses to the bare minimum. And I do
think most people in this position are depleting their savings to cover said
living expenses, at least until they have a profitable side project and/or
part-time gig.

------
codecamper
"use the public facilities"

Yeah, right. That's the plan for the first little while & then you'll be just
pooping in the woods.

You see, we're in europe in a motorhome. Every time we see a little camper we
know two things are going to happen. They are going to start sliding doors at
all hours of the day.

And they are going to go poop in the woods.

And there are hundreds of them.

So be sure to get yourself a proper porta potty. Nobody wants to see your
toilet paper.

------
andreasklinger
Similar but less extreme version: "Just" a "mobile office"

[http://davidmckinney.com/blog/2013/12/29/redesigning-the-
off...](http://davidmckinney.com/blog/2013/12/29/redesigning-the-office) By mr
david awesome mckinney :)

~~~
erichocean
I've contemplated something similar, thanks for the link!

It's that, or get an _actual_ office, but I think I'd prefer to be able to
drive somewhere interesting and work from there.

------
Paul_S
This is a heart-warming story but he is definitely conflating 2 separate
issues.

If you want to have a gap year and drive around the country then do that and
it's clearly what he wanted. If you want to cut down on expenses there are
_far_ better ways of doing it without buying a van. It makes as much sense as
saying the only way to cross a river is to build a giant sling (fun - yes, but
mundane options are available).

~~~
darzu
Can you give examples of better ways to cut down your expenses?

~~~
Paul_S
Don't want to spend your salary on your mortgage? Houseshare. Has the added
benefit of still living in a house. Cook for yourself. Don't own a car. Live
outside the city (obviously some are mutually exclusive). Stop buying useless
crap (that includes a gym membership, netflix, prime). You can drive down your
expenses to quarter rent and food.

You can live frugally without an RV. Running and maintaining an RV costs money
(aside from building it).

~~~
justonepost
Very very true! As someone who lives in a Van, I can assure you, gas is very
expensive. I could live much much cheaper with a bus pass and a house share
(or maybe not, who knows I haven't really looked)

problem is I despise roommates... so there is that.

------
dexterdog
I'm actually curious about the insurance situation. If you are living in your
van I would expect the insurance to either be a lot more or worse, to decide
not to cover you because you didn't get a special policy. Then there's the
issue of what happens if you are in an accident because now your wheels and
your bed are in the shop, a shop which is not going to be able to restore your
situation properly.

~~~
wrong_variable
Easy : Airbnb

Hopefully you are also not broke.

------
marknutter
So why didn't he just buy an RV? Not to take away from his accomplishment, but
isn't this just the most engineery thing to do? Instead of leaning on another
industry that has spent decades perfecting exactly what he is trying to build,
he spent all the time he could have used actually exploring the world building
what is certainly an inferior solution in every regard.

~~~
grecy
One word: Stealth.

He can park this van on virtually any street in the world and sleep for free,
and nobody will be the wiser. Try that in an RV and many places the police
will be called on you in 30 minutes.

~~~
gnarcoregrizz
Stealth camping is nerve racking, and its never that stealth, you can always
tell when someone is sleeping in their van.

------
lesdeuxmagots
I did exactly this! Bought a used NV2500, went to town. Took 7 months to
build. Have closets, cabinets, cooktop, sink, wood floors, butcher block
counters, fridge, electricity via solar, bed, etc. etc.

I knew nothing about insulation, wiring, woodwork, power tools, etc. and
learned everything as I built it.

Was not cheap, because I didn't want to give up any luxuries, so breakeven is
in a matter of years, not months. However, its been treating me well. I have
spots that I prefer in South Bay and in San Francisco depending where I'm
working out of.

~~~
vocatus_gate
Link?? Photos???? You can't just mention this and not provide pictures!

------
kylixz
I am about to embark on a similar journey. I started off buying a 1993 33'
Diesel pusher motorhome with the intent to travel the US fulltime while
working remotely. It was awesome fixing it up and making it livable, modern,
beautiful, and adding solar. Working with my hands was extremely rewarding!
That said I soon learned that 33' is a huge vehicle which I did not feel
comfortable driving regularly over mountains and severely hindered locations I
could camp at. Now that big rig is for sale... instead I've founded a really
cool travel trailer with loads of solar ready to go! I plan to pull that
behind my 4runner equiped for overland adventures and cannot wait to get
started! Great article and I hope others can try this lifestyle. I hope to
share some of my experiences with others as well.

~~~
timmaah
Come join in the slack chat of a bunch of younger like minded folks:
[http://wanderslack.com/](http://wanderslack.com/)

~~~
kylixz
Thanks! Just joined... what a great resource!

------
mcone
I love the idea of doing something like this, but I'm wondering about how to
get dependable, high-speed internet access. Anybody have any ideas?

~~~
Fiahil
yes, your 4G connected phone. 50GB of data for 19.99, isn't that great?

~~~
monknomo
Who's your carrier?

------
markbao
For another absolutely stunning van build, check out this one:
[https://imgur.com/a/RijZM](https://imgur.com/a/RijZM)

If you see only one photo, it should be this one:
[https://i.imgur.com/kTtWZ3f.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/kTtWZ3f.jpg)

~~~
erichocean
Wow, that's tight!

------
overcast
My school loans are paid off in less than a year, and the thought of this has
certainly crossed my mind. I've got the house, and I'm sick of all the shit in
it.

------
Dowwie
Come on, voidqk. We all know your dad built this camper van while you took the
selfies. His work shop says it all.

------
serge2k
> Does anyone actually enjoy being in a cubicle, all day

No. But trading it for a van doesn't sound more pleasant.

------
ars
He needs a diode between the two batteries in parallel. Otherwise slight
differences in voltage between them causes them to cyclically charge and
discharge each other, wearing them out and wasting energy.

~~~
coryrc
That's incorrect. At no point or state of charge can you connect two lead
battery packs in parallel and have them oscillate charging/discharging no
matter how long connected. Either one will charge the other or they will sit
without changing.

~~~
ars
That's only true if they were ideal devices, but they are not.

I have not tried it myself, but from what I read if you leave two batteries
connected in parallel for a while they will have less charge than if you had
left them not connected to each other.

Batteries also don't discharge at identical rates, so each time you use them
you will end up cross charging them, which wastes energy.

~~~
jacquesm
You are partially right but seem to lack some actual understanding of the
underlying reasons why this is the case.

These are both new batteries that have been installed at the same time
(without an O2 vent by the way, that is a serious mistake imo) and for all
intents and purposes will simply function as a larger battery.

Even if they were not identical and not the same age they would _still_ not do
anything cyclical, but would function as a larger battery with the
charge/discharge characteristic much like that of the older/weaker battery.

This is why it is not recommended to add a new battery to an existing pack, it
will age very rapidly.

You _do_ need a diode separator if you intend to charge your RV batteries from
the regular alternator as well so that you don't end up trying to run your
starter motor off the (usually) gell household batteries (they can't provide
that kind of current), and so that you won't run your fridge/monitor/whatever
off the starter battery which you will need badly to turn the engine over once
you decide to move.

------
mherrmann
Great writeup and awesome use of "lean" principles to verify his ideas. I
don't know why he didn't apply it to his game programming though:

> My focus for the first 6 months was creating a programming language, which I
> call Kong

Why on earth would you do that - especially as a sole developer in a niche as
hard as indie game development?

------
tdobson
I do something similar in the UK.

Stealth Digital Nomad Sysadmin/Sales Engineer in a converted Mercedes Sprinter
LWB

[http://instagram.com/tdobsonnet](http://instagram.com/tdobsonnet)

If you're interested in this kind of thing, /r/vandwellers is the place to be!

Happy to answer any questions. :)

~~~
knocte
I like the stealth style but most people that go this way don't embed
toilet/shower (because must be hard to do and harder to have space for it),
which in my view must be a horrible downside, no? What do you think? What did
you do?

------
kqr2
One of my favorite conversions is this two-story camper built by Japanese
students:

[http://www1.ttcn.ne.jp/~gyo/English/index.htm](http://www1.ttcn.ne.jp/~gyo/English/index.htm)

------
kzisme
I ended up reading the whole post - awesome story! Not something I could see
myself doing, but damn does he look happy.

------
Hondor
Having a campervan without a toilet might bite you in some places. New Zealand
used to be a great place for this but a couple of years ago they made it
illegal to sleep in such a vehicle just about everywhere except designated
pay-per-night campgrounds and certain districts each with their own special
rules. Even then you're usually not allowed to linger more than a few days at
a time in one place.

I doubt America will go that way with so many independent states and so much
wilderness though. I'm amazed he can sleep in Wal-mart's carpark.

~~~
danielvf
Wal-marts in the US almost aways have an RV or camper van tucked away
somewhere in the parking lot over night. It is very normal to spend the night
there if you don't have a campground. Wal-mart never seems to have a problem
with it.

------
fixxer
This is an awesome idea assuming one does not want kids or expect to have sex
with anything too discerning.

------
factotum
Kudos to this guy. I'm in my early 30s. My wife and I sold our house almost 2
years ago, bought an RV, and we've been traveling debt-free ever since. Feels
good, man. But it's not without its drawbacks. Loneliness can be a constant
battle when you're away from family, friends and coworkers. It took about a
year to get comfortable with the travel routine. And then there's the
maintenance. If I knew all of this ahead of time, I'd still do it.

------
luckydude
I liked the 6 month writeup, I've seen a ton of these builds but always
wondered how things went when reality set in. He did an honest job of stating
the pros and cons (I've lived out of a van myself, 2 in fact, mostly in Sun's
parking lot).

Hey van dude, if you read this and you get to the Bay Area I've got a guest
house attached to a shop like your dads. Be fun to chat and we can fix up
whatever needs fixing.

------
Noos
This life really isn't sustainable as he gets older, and he's very vulnerable
to risk, accident, or loss. Oh, it seems romantic as hell, but the first time
the flu hits you, you suddenly realize you've chosen to stick yourself into a
tiny box with no indoor plumbing, no quiet, and that has to move every few
days or the police will start rapping on your windows.

Or when the van breaks down, and you have zero choice but to fix it right
away, and you have to pray to god you budgeted enough to cover it. Plus the
van itself wears out much faster than a vehicle most people use because it has
to move so much. RV lifestyle in general is far more expensive than people
realize, and provides zero equity. If he ever wishes to expand his game
business, he's going to have a rough time.

It's romantic, but it's very much a young person's game and he'll probably
discover the joys of home ownership when he's 35 and trying to sleep in his
van in 90 degree weather.

------
jonah
My officemate is a cyclist and photographer and built out a Sprinter van as a
mobile production/adventure mobile. It's got a couch that converts to a bed,
fold-out tables, water tank, sink, electric chest fridge, PV panel and
battery, inverter, and roof platform. Super functional. All hand built and I
can't imagine he spent more than a couple grand outfitting it.

------
SwellJoe
I've spent 6 of the past 7 years living in an RV (motorhome first, now an old
Avion travel trailer with a big old truck to tow it). I recommend it for
anyone who is unencumbered enough of other people and responsibilities to do
so (i.e., it may not be the right thing for a family with kids, though I know
some families with kids who do it and seem happy).

The freedom to travel is magnificent. It precludes many kinds of
opportunities, but if you can work remotely, why not do it at the beach or in
the mountains or in the desert or wherever you like? It's not dramatically
less expensive than living in fixed housing (though that depends on where you
were living in the house and where you're parking your RV; when I first
started I moved out of a tiny rental house in Mountain View, CA, which cost
$2145/month, so I'm not spending anywhere near that now), or at least it
hasn't been for me, but there are many benefits outside of cost.

~~~
gnopgnip
Would you live in a motorhome without a toilet?

~~~
SwellJoe
I wouldn't, but I know a number of people who do. Or, people who have a
toilet, but don't use it because they park off-the-grid for long periods of
time. It's do-able.

When I've wanted to live in cities without a nearby RV park, I have been known
to use a gym for shower/toilet (when I was moving around a lot more often than
I do now, I had an all-club membership at 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness is a
better deal now, but they have a lot fewer clubs), so I could extend my time
between driving to a dump station.

------
nickhalfasleep
I think this is the cusp of a big change in America. As the physical
industrial base evaporates, in return, many people may not buy into the
classic "buy property" plan for their lives.

This is good for them. This may not be so great for all the people who bought
property and expect it to always increase in value as there may not be as
great a demand for it.

~~~
maxerickson
Why do you think the industrial base is evaporating?

If you look at something like iron production, the US share of global
production has declined quite a lot, but US production has stayed pretty
consistent while global production has exploded. A lot of the jobs are gone
because of bigger machines and automation, but the production still exists.

------
gameofdrones
While the website is down, these are also neat:

Hank bought a bus: [http://hankboughtabus.com/](http://hankboughtabus.com/)

Castle truck: [http://www.doityourselfrv.com/house-truck-
castle/](http://www.doityourselfrv.com/house-truck-castle/)

------
musesum
Inspiring! Have been wondering when I can tweak a Tesla Van:
[https://electrek.co/2016/07/31/tesla-all-electric-cargo-
van-...](https://electrek.co/2016/07/31/tesla-all-electric-cargo-van-pickup-
truck-chassis-elon-musk/)

------
prawn
I remember reading of someone else doing something like this. They went to
huge amounts of effort with a custom timber interior, fan, lighting, cooktop,
water pump, etc. In the end, they said it probably would've been better to
just have a blank-slate truck with portable cooking and water.

------
WhitneyLand
How do you date, have a relationship, significant ot ther? The bed doesn't
look big enough for two...

~~~
amelius
You could use your date's bed :)

------
20yrs_no_equity
I've spent 11 of the past 20 years "homeless" by choice following various
practices from living on a boat, to living in a truck camper, to traveling the
world living in AirBnBs, to occasionally renting apartments but never really
living there. But I'll come back to that.

I want to address several peoples concerns about this guys lifestyle and the
presumed limitations:

0\. First off Loved that he was using Soylent. That solves a big problem of
needing dried food but not liking freeze dried food. If I were to go back to
vehicle living I would use a combo of Soylent and Sous Vide. Sous Vide cookers
like the Anova are very small, and you can do it just with boiled water, zip
lock bags and a thermometer if you want. The results are really fantasic. 30
seconds searing steaks on the grill then 40 minutes in the bath and you have
better steaks than you can get at any restaurant for less than $50-- and you
can do that on top of am mountain if you wanted! So the food situation is much
better than the days of crates of raman.

1\. Sex. Sex is totally possible, and it's not creepy at all. When you get on
the road and you're traveling you will run into people who are going the same
route multiple times. In this way there's a virtual community. This varies
regionally of course, travel by train in europe or in alaska for the summer
and it becomes pretty tight nit. The women and men you meet there are not
exactly going to turn their nose up at your van because that's how they are
traveling to. There's a whole vagabond subculture in the USA that ranges from
kids hoping trains to techies in vans like this guy to Oldsters in RVs. And
there's nothing sexier than a guy who will break with convention and go do
interesting things. FTR, my partner and I picked up a woman in the UK who then
travelled with us and lived with us for a couple years in poly triad. IT only
lasted three years but I don't think the definition of a successful
relationship should only be ones that end in death!

2\. Cost- you really can save a lot of money. IT's amazing that you can live
around the world traveling full time for less than the cost of living in a
major west coast city. If you're doing a startup, that's really nice- be in
berlin, then go to london, etc. We ran a three person startup (the triad
above) going form england to Romania to Chile. While we didn't live as cheaply
as we should have or could have (it's a skill) we didn't live more expensively
than we would have if we stayed in Seattle (and we never would have met the
woman in the UK). When it costs less or doesn't cost more but you have a
better experience, isn't that a much better value?

3\. The major factor is movement. When you're still- say at a campground or an
AirBnB, or anchored at a dock, you save your movement energy, and thus cost,
and you spend time working and enjoying. When you're underway- sailing
requires attention as does driving, taking trains and planes costs money,
boats and cars take gas. The ideal situation is one where you can stay places
for a period of time (we used to stay in a country 90 days- the visa limit) to
maximize your productivity on the road. This is a lifestyle, not a vacation
from life. You earn money when you go, but you earn less money on tavel days.

4\. Settling in- another part of the cost of travel is the settling in time. I
need to have a good work chair and in each country we would spend the first
week or so getting our spot set up to be productive on our startup.

5\. The best thing about traveling is meeting the locals- especially outside
the USA. This is the reason for the 90 day visa too. You can build real
relationships. 4 countries in a year is much better than 9 countries in 4
days! And it's cheaper per-day, because you can be working during the day, and
thus it's sustainable.

6\. There are many ways to do it. I like the boat the best- it was only 30
feet but it was center cockpit and huge. If I had the balls of a blue water
sailor I never would have left and would be traveling around the world in it.
But it takes a rare breed to cross an ocean in a 30 foot cruiser!

This van is very much like my experience in the Truck Camper. The truck camper
cost me $5,500 all in- an old Toyota Pickup and a $3,500 SKAMPER. You have to
crank it to raise the roof. I travelled all the way to Prudhoe Bay in that
truck- spending a couple weeks north of the arctic circle.

You can never forget an experience like that!

7\. Eventually I vowed to never stop. I decided this was a philosophy and
whatever methodology it doesn't really matter. Am I still traveling full time?
I'm on a lease, so many of you would say no, but I think I am. You could be
too.

What's the difference in lifestyle between crashing in a French student's flat
in Romania for 3 months and being on a lease in the USA for 6? In romania 90
days is the max visa and maximizing productive time was ideal. a 6 month lease
in the USA isn't that different from the 6 months we lived in the UK (they
have a longer visa for US residents).

I now think in terms of the GPWR - Gross Personal Weight Rating. That is the
total weight of me and all my possessions. When I was on the boat it was
around 13,000 pounds - most of it boat. For the truck it was about 7,000
pounds, most of it truck.

When we were backpacking it was all in the pack- about 60 pounds. Now I am
staying in apartments but restrict myself to only what can fit in my car (so I
can move across country at a moments notice if I want.) I don't live in the
car so it's a tradeoff, I have to rent a sleeping space.

But I'm still mobile. I don't have a bed frame, for instance, I bought a bunch
of Akro Mils plastic crates. Turn them upside down and they make a really damn
solid bed frame (best one I've ever had, actually) The mattress fits in the
back of my car with the seats folded down. I have a mid sized SUV and camping
is easy- just put the mattress in the car. Better than a tent (stays warmer).
But when I need to move, I can turn the crates right side up and all my
possessions go into them.

So, where should I live next? Once my lease is up, I'm going. (and knowing
that also puts the kibosh on silly buying.)

Start thinking of every possession as weight added to your GPWR. Do you want
to live in backpack? Pare down. Do you want to live in a van? You don't have
to be as careful but you should think about how many TVs you buy.

------
wallace_f
These are amazing, and incrdedibly underrated

In the US these are not as seen as romantic and adventurous as they are in
Australia, New Zealand and Europe

One thing I'll say: a pop up conversion can be done while maintaining the
possibility of incognito mode, and it is really lovely when you are in proper
campgrounds to have the pop up!

So happy to see this post on HN, but also kind of sad because if this because
a thing it will no longer be as unique, and they will start drawing more
attention. Also, people in these campers are the coolest, nicest, most down to
earth, happiest, most respectful, adventurous, amazing people (in my
experience), and if this becomes 'cool,' then we'll start having the cool kids
driving around in these.

------
toomanybeersies
Speaking of minimal living, I've just recently moved to a new city for work,
and I've shacked myself up in a backpackers, and plan on staying at the
backpackers probably until the end of the year.

It has a lot going for it. It's cheaper than rent (by a significant amount),
and it's literally 3 minutes from work. I also get to meet lots of interesting
people.

I have my backpack and a laundry bag of kit, and that's it. It's about as
minimal as you can get, which has been an interesting experience for me as I
usually have stacks and stacks of stuff.

It does have some disadvantages, such as being rather noisy, and the fact that
you have to carry all your valuables around with you wherever you go, since
things tend to go missing.

~~~
Trill-I-Am
You've shacked up in a backpackers what?

~~~
toomanybeersies
Backpacker's? backpackers'?

Unless you're confused about the term backpackers itself, in which I mean a
hostel.

~~~
Trill-I-Am
I've never seen the plural word backpackers used as a singular synonym for
hostel.

~~~
toomanybeersies
It appears to be a Australian/New Zealand English term, I guess it's
abbreviated from backpackers' hostel. Somewhere along the line the apostrophe
was lost, so now it's backpackers.

------
dschiptsov
I prefer a motorcycle and sleeping homestays in Himalayas.

Just finished my first 10,000 km ride from Sikkim to Kathmandu to Uttarakhand,
Himachal, Kashmir, Zanskar, Ladakh, etc.

It is cheaper, but sometimes a bit tough, when you have to cross a cold stream
a half of meter deep..)

------
kowdermeister
Nice story, I could relate with a beach bamboo tent, but there's a level up :)

Action Mobil “Desert Challenger” motor home

[https://www.quora.com/If-a-plague-wiped-out-most-people-
on-t...](https://www.quora.com/If-a-plague-wiped-out-most-people-on-the-Earth-
what-car-should-I-steal-to-look-for-survivors/answer/Red-Subijano)

[https://www.google.hu/search?q=Action+Mobil+%E2%80%9CDesert+...](https://www.google.hu/search?q=Action+Mobil+%E2%80%9CDesert+Challenger%E2%80%9D+motor+home&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjypLXggejOAhUBmBQKHUYUBxQQ_AUICCgB&biw=1366&bih=643)

------
cylinder
Did you consider buying a camper van? They are quite common as a lifestyle
traveling around Australia, in the US people use giant RVs but these are not
practical at all and not a conscientious selection.

~~~
Theodores
In 'Software Engineering' there is this thing called 'code reuse'. The idea
being that you don't reinvent the wheel. We were all taught it (and moved on
to realise there is a lot of code out there that is best not 're-used').

These Ducato vans are the popular 'platform' for camper vans in Europe, due to
the low floor. Most of the conversions have worked out the hard problems and
been 'debugged' with customer feedback. The swivel seats come already done
properly with no hammer needed. The various tanks for various fluids are
worked out. Spares can be bought, plus you get something better than really
heavy plywood carpentry - actual cabinet-making.

We all have our own dreams, however, from my experience of living with a
camper-van mad family, second hand is good. I would not go for brand new van
that depreciates and custom prototype carpentry when people vastly more
experienced than me have done it all before hundreds of times over.

~~~
linkregister
I completely agree with your comment.

It looks like the Ducato is not available in the U.S. Presumably the author
could fly to Europe, purchase one, and ship it back for less expense and
labor. But I think part of his venture was to have some measure of self-
reliance / DIY. "How I bought a great van from Europe and now I live in it"
doesn't have the same novelty and escape-from-society appeal.

~~~
ifcho
The Dodge/Ram ProMaster van is actually a re-badged Fiat Ducato -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Ducato#Peugeot_J5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Ducato#Peugeot_J5)

------
gambiting
I'm genuinely curious - why did he do all the repairs in his house before
selling it? Was the market for housing _that_ bad that he couldn't sell it as-
is for the new owner to do repairs?

~~~
modoc
For some stuff the repair/improvement more than pays for itself in either
increased sale price, or reduced time on the market.

------
kazinator
In the 1970's TV series _Trapper John, M.D._
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapper_John,_M.D.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapper_John,_M.D.))
one of the characters, "Gonzo", is a doctor working alongside Trapper John,
while living in a motoro home ("The Titanic") in the hospital's parking lot.

Man, think of all the money you can save if you have a good income, and live
in a motor home virtually for free.

Gonzo legitimized the whole concept. :)

------
pvsukale3
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-F-q-
LDMmw&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-F-q-
LDMmw&feature=youtu.be)

------
sofaofthedamned
I would love to do this.

Last year after getting made redundant from Cisco I was looking for work but
there was nothing for 4 months as a Devops guy near where I live but there was
plenty in London. I was actually considering either getting a van to sleep in,
or a narrowboat, and working in London with London rates, then coming home at
the weekend.

I'd love to know a cheap way of converting something liveable, bearing in mind
most offices have showers so I don't need that, just to provide for my family.

~~~
PaulRobinson
Canal boats in London are not much cheaper than apartments. Nor is anything
else.

I used to work Monday-Friday in London and head home (Manchester) for the
weekend for about six months. During the week I'd stay in the cheapest hotels
I could find (£50/night average). It was horrible, and after six months I
ended up doing super cheap Air BNB just so I could cook some food once in a
while. Still not great.

Eventually we just moved here. It's fine if you look for beyond zone 1,
ideally near where you're working, and get paid London rates.

~~~
senorjazz
A friend bought a narrow boat and lives around hackney and some rivers north
of the city.

Was definitely cheaper than an apartment

------
mavdi
I can really relate to him throwing most of his precious stuff out. My life
turned upside down a few months ago. Now all I have is a backpack with a
laptop and some essentials and Airbnb life as it comes. I've never been
happier.

Owning things obeys something similar to Newton's 3rd law. They also end up
owning you. They need constant care, attention and maintenance. I'm not saying
this the right way to live, but do give it a try if you've been thinking about
it.

------
virtuexru
What about getting laid?

~~~
erikpukinskis
Plenty of people have no problem hanging out in a van, especially if it comes
attached to a nice camping/road trip with a fun person.

------
matt_wulfeck
> If you work 40 hours, 9-5, then Monday and Tuesday are dedicated to paying
> for your house. Every week. If your housing was paid off, your weekend would
> be longer than your work week.

Isn't this only true if you don't have a fixed rate mortgage? If you bought a
house in the 90s then I'm almost sure you're paying less than the average of
rent your house might fetch. I've never amortized the cost over the lifetime
of the house though.

~~~
roel_v
Yes, the OP's economic analysis is amateurish at best. Also, only the interest
part of mortgage payments are a 'cost' at all.

------
ocdtrekkie
I am "happy" in my mortgage-limited slave life, but I've always wanted to
extend my vehicle a bit. My car is essentially like a little piece of my home
I take with me from place to place. I feel as comfortable in my car as I feel
at home.

I've been looking into a second battery and solar setup just for the main goal
of running a computer in my crossover. But I'll admit, that job does take up a
lot of time I might otherwise use for doing it.

------
ismyrnow
I love his reflection at the bottom:

 _> Life is easy. Humans are fucking badass -- we absolutely dominate our
environment and are so smart and powerful. But for some strange reason, we
take those millions years of evolution encoded in our DNA and throw it out the
door. We live in ways that are so counter to the flow of nature._

------
syntex
I am really jealous, it's my not fulfilled dream. But right now is kind of
difficult with wife and little kid to carry such life.. offtopic The guy would
like to write games. Then the first 6 months he spent to write his own
programming language, then some time to write own scripting language "sink" (
why not LUA ). I would love to hear from the author what are the motives to
write all these tools.

------
Yhippa
This is my favorite thing I've read on HN so far this year. I loved his
pictures (especially of the plains) and the descriptions. I probably enjoyed
those pictures more than highly edited photos taken on a full-frame DSLR.

I hope it works out for him. The main thing I would miss would be having a
companion and pets. Not sure I could do without those right now. He's in an
excellent time and place for this.

------
hobo_mark
I've wanted to do this for a long time, but I need a shower (and a toilet!).
With a lot of care one could install them in the same place (and shower
sitting, Japanese style, with the toilet shut close of course), and with even
more care, one could try to filter and recover some of the water, but I have
not found anyone trying to do this, is that just too much work?

------
jameslk
I've been curious about living out of a camper or RV in the Bay Area just to
arbitrage the higher salaries that are needed to offset the cost of housing.
I've heard of some Google employees doing this for a couple years to save up
enough to buy a house. The hard part is finding a place to park the camper.
Anyone have any experience or knowledge about doing this in the Bay Area?

~~~
e15ctr0n
I would imagine that you could park your camper / RV in the company parking
lot day or night. Most residential neighborhoods ban camper / RV parking so
you'll have to look for where it is legal road side. In the south bay, there
is a long stretch of El Camino Real in Palo Alto that borders the Stanford
playground - lots of campers there, parked nose to tail. Another stretch is on
Ferguson Drive in Mountain View. Walmart offers free overnight parking. On
weekends, take advantage of the beautiful weather and drive your camper / RV
to nearby beaches or mountains.

Google employee lives in a truck in the company's parking lot
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10422976](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10422976)

Google Employees Secretly Live on Campus to Avoid Paying Rent
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8289577](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8289577)

------
binarray2000
Great writeup! Very enjoyable read but, at least for me, the last part
"Thoughts on the Van Life" was the best. All the best!

------
Jemaclus
I love this idea in theory, but my wife would never go for it. Ah well...
Maybe get an RV for longer camping trips...

~~~
protomyth
Something in the Coachmen Prism range is not that much more expensive and has
a shower. You can find some interesting deals on them because people tended to
buy and realize RVs aren't for them.

I guess you could also buy an RV chassis as one heck of a do-it-yourself
project.

~~~
sanswork
>You can find some interesting deals on them because people tended to buy and
realize RVs aren't for them.

Which is highly likely this this case too. I'd suggest renting for a month and
living in it the whole time before buying. It can be a great life but it can
have its hardships too.

------
nxzero
>> "I thought the idea was genius. Not for me, I said, but genius."

Always find it interesting when people say this to me. I mean you can see the
awe in their eyes, the longing to "just do it" \- and then, reality settles
back in and the resign to living the same life over and over until the end of
time.

------
ErikAugust
I did something similar a couple years back - but much simpler. I just bought
a cap for my truck and stuck my sleeper futon mattress in it:

[https://www.instagram.com/p/tLu_9wAR4p/](https://www.instagram.com/p/tLu_9wAR4p/)

~~~
delbel
yeah that's what I did, then I upgraded to a cab over camper.

------
justin_vanw
Awesome story, loved the pictures of building out the van.

One concern I have is that if you are idling the engine and have the fantastic
fan on, wouldn't you be sucking exhaust fumes into the vehicle? Or is the hole
at the back meant for exhaust with the fan pushing air in?

~~~
ars
The air comes in on top, and out the back. Keep reading, he shows the fan.

------
thatwebdude
Kudos to him for wanting to be "free". Whatever that means. Although my main
take-away from it: if you're going to live in a van you should learn to fix a
van. Having his dad do all the heavy lifting here really pusses this article
out.

------
KeatonDunsford
This is amazing. Instead of getting an apartment with my cofounder and office
space for our engineers, I'm just going to have us get a fleet of these
things. Would be so dope. Be anywhere -- SF, South Bay, Berkeley, LA, New
York. Live the dream now.

------
anoplus
Beautiful and inspiring read about exploring one's individual freedom. May
society find it's freedom by collaboration and sense of community.

We as a society have the resources and technology to achieve much more
freedom. Freedom enables the creation of even more freedom.

------
donmb
Super cool. I have a VW T3 and would love to have your talent. Travelled 8
weeks through Scandinavia with it. Now I got inspired to build more stuff in
it. Q: Is it allowed in the US to park and sleep where you want? Heard
different stories.

~~~
RankingMember
Everywhere? No. But Walmarts are practically everywhere, and you can generally
crash in their lots as long as you ask.

[http://www.walmartlocator.com/rv-parking-at-
walmart/](http://www.walmartlocator.com/rv-parking-at-walmart/)

------
misterbishop
I like this guy's spirit an ingenuity, but his attitude is not much different
from the Infowars bunker people. There's no room in his van for society. You
can tell because he only built a bed for 1.

I'd rather live on a hippie commune than this.

------
KennyCason
I have always been so tempted to do this, the one thing stopping me has always
been that I lovvveee my living space. I think I just need an RV to "detach"
once in a while! Awesome post, and incredible detail!

------
balabaster
This is an awesome write up. Very inspiring. But my favourite bit is the
closing to the blog how as smart as we are we spend our time fighting futile
battles with nature for naught.

------
oxryly1
I love stories like this. Well documented, well thought out, and with a 6
month update... excellent.

Now I'd love to read one about someone who's done this with a family...

~~~
senorjazz
Did a 2 year trip with wife and daughter (2-4yr) from UK to Malaysia to
California to south America.

Met a few other families (usually German, swiss) along the way. Craziest being
English family with 3 daughters 11,9,7 in a VW t3 / vanagon.

The trip was great but couldn't do it permantly.

~~~
oxryly1
What kind of vehicle/RV were you in? How did you transport it across oceans?

------
johngalt
I guess what I don't understand is why not use one of the ready made builds
already out there? Something like a class B RV, or truck camper?

~~~
eosrei
Common reason is those are generally too obvious.

------
jordache
meh.. his dad is skilled for sure, but the insides looks like the stale
interior of a house. Not a fan of the build

~~~
Jaruzel
I have to agree with this. The concept is sound for sure, but all.. that..
wood... He's adding so much extra weight (and thus lowering his average mpg
etc.), when a type of plastic (the slightly bendy stuff that cooking/food
storage tubs are made of) would have been good enough, and also much lighter.
The drawers under the bed especially - those in my opinion should be either
wireframe and canvas, or based around prebuilt plastic storage.

I also think he wasted space above the bed - there could be wall nets for
smaller items, or even a drop down surface for cooking or day work.

Finally, he's assumed that the wiring will never fail or need updating - it's
all now trapped behind the (many layers of) flooring or the wall panels. One
fried cable, and he'll have to rip out all that 'nice' cabinet work.

I love the idea of kitting out a van and going mobile, but that interior is
NOT how I'd do it.

~~~
lb1lf
-As one who has toyed enough with the idea (not to live in permanently, but for overlanding) to start kitting out a Land Cruiser 78 to make it liveable, I'd agree with most of your points - though presumably, if he mostly sticks to highways or at the very least properly paved roads, mpg shouldn't suffer too much from a couple of hundred pounds of additional weight.

My one MAJOR gripe with his build, is the water jerry can directly behind the
driver's seat - in the event of a crash, he is -quite literally- trusting his
life to the straps securing the can. I wouldn't do that. Definitely at the
very least have a proper base for the can to sit in, rather than relying on
straps.

Edit: Oh, and I hope there's proper ventilation from the cupboard where he
stores the cooking gas. One leaky can and you're in for a potentially very
nasty surprise. (I solved this the lazy way - by using a kerosene stove...)
/edit

Hopefully, the sink and countertop are secured well enough to the van not to
come flying forward, too.

That aside, I have nothing but admiration for people with the chutzpah to
actually go ahead and DO what they dream of. I wish him many a happy year on
the road.

~~~
jordache
I didn't have all the comforts but in many ways I like my ghetto truck cab
home much more

[http://imgur.com/a/KhxS3](http://imgur.com/a/KhxS3)

------
clarry
Nice to see someone live my dream. Wish I could afford it.

------
mudil
I send my son emails with links to different interesting projects. He is ten.
Too bad I can't send this one out. Why do people use foul language everywhere
and in between? It's like a disease.

~~~
post_break
There are plugins for browsers to replace foul words, you could scrub it with
one then print to pdf.

~~~
mudil
Another example of this is The Martian book. Well written, great story, and so
full of foul language. What for?!

~~~
kirrent
Because it's hilarious. He's also trapped alone on a planet and pretty sure
he's going to die for most of the book. I'd swear as well.

------
andyidsinga
wow - dad is really good with the angle grinder. I would have used a jigsaw.
Cheers to those skills!

------
estrabd
1\. sell house

2\. buy van

3\. get someone to customize your van

4\. ???

5\. profit

------
puppetmaster3
why not get a rv - pre made thing?

~~~
OJFord
That suits some, obviously.

Personally I would have loved building this van, but I couldn't live in it.

------
bronz
wow, what a treat. love the writing and layout of this blog post.

van life is basically not viable right now. people dont like taking their
shits in mcdonalds. vans get super cold and moisture can be a huge problem.
showers have to be in gyms unless you want to carry tons of water with you.
most areas are very hostile to van dwellers from what i can tell. but there
are interesting solutions to these problems.

\- van dwellers are not received well in most places. you have to park on the
side of the street somewhere a lot of the time. so the obvious solution is to
create some kind of business that does lot rentals. you can pay a very low fee
and have a nice place to park for the night. this could be really great --
images of all kinds of different people meeting and connecting come to mind.
but there is the problem that these businesses would be overrun by poor people
for lack of a better word. they would become ghettos and attract a lot of
crime. so perhaps a better solution is to create an app where anyone can rent
out their driveway and vet each van dweller on their own based on their social
media, past reviews and other information provided on the app. also vans are
physically dispersed and criminals dont have a one stop shop for vulnerable
vans.

\- taking shits in gas stations, taking showers in gyms and moisture and cold
can all be solved by the same thing: making vans from the ground up that are
meant for living. i think in the end, if you want a van that is nice to live
in then you need to put down real money just like any other dwelling. the van
meant for living would look like this: has EV drive train and a huge battery.
in the near future this will be complemented by a sophisticated generator
(with huge fuel reserve) that can operate at low wattage when demand is low or
operate at high wattage when demand is high such as when driving with a low
battery. in the far future batteries alone will be enough. solar should be
included but only to prevent the battery from losing charge completely when
sitting around for a long time. showering is done with recycled water. water
is stored in the floor pan and passed through a filter between showers. ozone
is easily generated and mixed with the shower water regularly to kill
bacteria. the filter used could be very sophisticated if hundreds of showers
without refilling were desired. the toilet would need to be a revolution in
toilets. there has been a lot of work by the likes of the gates foundation to
create toilets that are less resource intensive and clean for use in the third
world. the best products of these efforts are desiccation toilets that
essentially desiccate the feces though various means. one version drys the
feces and burns it to dry more and also drive water purification. the toilet
in the van would do something similar. the toilet would disinfect thoroughly
with chlorine or ozone and then desiccate. the water left over would be put
back into the top chamber of the toilet so to speak and used for the next
flush. the desiccated feces could then be stored in much less volume than non
desiccated feces and with less hassle. disposing of it would be pretty easy.
other issues such as temperature and moister could be taken care of with heavy
duty insulation, de-humidification and other things that are built into the
van by design rather than added in as an after-thought if added at all.
anyway, overall what you have is an extremely sophisticated, several hundred
thousand dollar vehicle. thats what it would take to make van life a viable
option for more than a year or two imo.

------
shitgoose
thank you.

------
Qantourisc
The fact that one (in a lot of countries) has to do this in a van, because of
regulations, is kind of tyranny: Either you get in-prisoned in debt/rent, or
you get to live in a van or on the streets.

~~~
sliverstorm
I don't think you really have to do it in a van. If you're going to work
remote and don't mind being lonely, you can buy a house just about anywhere in
the country, which means you can find a house for $50k instead of $500k.

If you check out his list of things he likes about van living, most have more
to do with working for himself rather than all the traveling. He doesn't come
across as one of the wanderlust folks.

~~~
jandrese
All of the work to make this van livable could have just as easily been done
to a shack in the woods. The biggest hurdle these days is reliable internet if
you want that. You would need a better bathroom situation than "the nearest
McDonalds" too, but well water is often an option.

The one question he didn't answer is how he bathed. It's very easy when you're
living as a lonely bachelor to slowly morph into Grizzly Adams because there's
nobody in a thousand miles who cares about you or how you smell.

~~~
white-flame
He specifically wanted to travel around. If you want to hunker down and spend
time being a hermit and working on personal projects, a shack would be great.
But if you want to travel to see places & friends, projecting that into a van
makes sense.

~~~
jandrese
The cabin comment was specifically in response to the talk of buying a cheap
house out in the middle of nowhere.

The problem is the same as the cabin, it's more difficult to be a developer
when your Internet is slow and shitty. It would be really hard to go back to
dial-up.

