
The Vanual – Guide to Living in a Van - dkthehuman
http://thevanual.com
======
jrgifford
As someone who is going through the process of building a van to live in...
this is a terrible resource. Better ones are:

\- Almost anything on
[https://www.reddit.com/r/vandwellers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/vandwellers/)

\- [http://www.alwaystheroad.com/conversion-
ebook/](http://www.alwaystheroad.com/conversion-ebook/)

\- [http://www.sprinter-rv.com/sprinter-rv-conversion-
sourcebook...](http://www.sprinter-rv.com/sprinter-rv-conversion-sourcebook/)

\- [http://vandwellers.org/](http://vandwellers.org/)

\- [https://www.campervanlife.com/](https://www.campervanlife.com/)

~~~
dskang
Thanks for the links!

I don’t yet know enough to evaluate the quality of the instruction here. Why
do you think this is a terrible resource?

~~~
bdickason
I don't know that it's a terrible resource, I actually think it has a nice
layout and has the right type of information, it could just use more breadth.

It offers one specific method for each area which you can see on alot of
blogs, etc. The approach in paricular (At least for electrical) is also pretty
basic and rough.

For example - the electrical buildout basically just drills a hole in and
epoxied into your roof. As opposed to something like a cable box w/ waterproof
connectors.

I think it's a great start and would love to see more depth and also a few
options like: "Want to power alot of stuff? 400w of panels and 2 deep cycle
batteries" vs. "Just need to power a cell phone?" etc.

Here's a great guide for the electrical side that I have been working off of
for our van: [https://gnomadhome.com/van-build-solar-electrical-
wiring/](https://gnomadhome.com/van-build-solar-electrical-wiring/)

And here's a nice overview which would be good to have for n00bs:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k9qlZM1ars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k9qlZM1ars)

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Noos
Imagine what will happen if you get the flu. You're suddenly stuck in a tiny
living space, on a street where you know no one, and can't leave the van for
fear of discovery, at 3 in the morning. You're going to spend the night
vomiting with only a tiny cassette toilet and what ever plastic bags you can
scrounge up to hold it in, and if it's strong enough, you might be too weak to
even drive.

Now go and read that site's health and hygiene, realize the owner never even
considers this a possibility, and that his own van doesn't even include a
cassette toilet. That he can only defecate during a store's business hours,
and he uses a laundry bottle filled with bleach to pee into if he needs to
urinate in the middle of the night.

You really want to listen to this guy?

~~~
jstanley
Just because it's not for you doesn't mean it's not for everyone.

My brother has been living in a van for years and he loves it. Yes, there are
tradeoffs, but when you are saving the cost of renting, and gaining a lot of
freedom WRT your location, some people are willing to give up a lot of
comforts.

It's not for me, but I think it's great for people who can tolerate it.

~~~
Noos
My point was the moment something relatively minor that happens to us all,
happens to a van dweller, it becomes a major crisis. The things we take for
granted, like being able to go to the bathroom when we want, or live without
fear of police knocking on the door and demanding we suddenly up and relocate
because we've broken laws, don't exist for this guy. If he gets into an
accident on the road, he just imperiled his entire house.

And he's doing it for what? The great experience of having to sleep every
night in a wal-mart parking lot or a side street? Not being able to live in
one place, invite his friends over to his house, have a long-term girlfriend,
and more?

Living in a van is hard. It doesn't become less hard because a yuppie does it
as a voyage of self-discovery, or makes a pretty web site about it.

editing my language some. I'm sorry, I get really strident about things like
this.

~~~
ethbro
Am I missing something that's exceedingly lethal to van dwellers but not
traditionally-homed humans?

Worse case, you drive to the nearest ER. Worst case, call 911 or stumble out
onto the street and ask someone to do so. No different than if I had a heart
attack in my house.

Reacting to this so negatively is ignoring the billions of humans around the
globe who live in much more rustic conditions and (largely) manage not to die.

~~~
asveikau
I have no experience in this but it occurs to me that the van won't be
inspected to the same standard as a building permit inspector or some such.

Imagine you screw up the ventilation and have a carbon monoxide problem, or,
you screw up something electrical and put yourself at risk of fire. I suppose
there are a lot of spotty contractors out there that still manage to do their
thing on more traditional dwellings too, but DIY in the tight space of a van
seems like some of the things described are not without risk.

~~~
ethbro
Granted. But these things aren't rocket science.

There was a time when everyone managed to get by without building codes. Sure
we had a few fires and collapses, but statistically speaking they were still
outliers.

Don't let the 1% risk of bad hold you back from trying good, is my only point.

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justboxing
Living in San Francisco, I've always fantasized about living in a Van and
saving 40 to 50K on rent annually. Have a cat.

Serious question: I couldn't find a section for the 3 Essential Ss for every
man - Sh*t, Shave, Shampoo.

What do these guys who live in Vans do for that? I know that the Google dude
who lives on Campus in Parking lot can use the Company showers and Toilets,
but what about the average everyday man in the City who wants to try this?

~~~
kdbg
Shit: rest areas, walmarts, starbucks, cathole in the bush, or a porta-potty
in the van.

Shave: Grow a beard, truck stop restrooms in the morning, you'll blend right
in with the truckers doing the same.

Shampoo: In the city swimming pools are a decent bet, sometimes you can just
ask if you can just shower and they'll let you. Gym memberships like Planet
Fitness can be reasonably priced for just the shower. In more remote areas,
campgrounds are a good source of showers, sometimes free, sometimes a modest
fee. Plenty of van dwellers will even setup a cleaning area in their van,
usually some sort of bucket they can stand in a pour heated water over them
selves, or at least a sponge bath.

I'm not a fulltime van dweller, I started off just skipping out on hotels
during 2-3week long road trips, eventually moved into my car (Pontiac G6) for
6months in the Boston area. Now its more sporadic, a month or two here and
there while doing some long distance hiking.

~~~
thsowers
> eventually moved into my car (Pontiac G6) for 6months in the Boston area.

That's crazy! May I ask where you parked in the evenings?

~~~
kdbg
I wasn't right in downtown Boston but a bit north, I often parked between a
few different Walmarts in the area or at the office park the company I worked
for had their office in.

Though I guess I phrased that a bit poorly, I spent Dec-Mar in the Boston area
and fled south after some significant snowfall in January and February (record
breaking snow in 2015). While moving it was almost always in rest areas or
trail heads (backpacking on the weekends).

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mschuster91
Hmm. What I'm dreaming about is doing the same but with a proper bus or an old
flatbed truck instead of a van. That allows for stuff like a proper shower and
toilet (given you have a place where to dump the sewage, and I don't mean
dumping it in the next available river), in addition that you can actually
stand up in a bus.

~~~
robohamburger
Why not buy an RV? More space or just the fun of customizing the thing from
the ground up?

~~~
mschuster91
1) more space (especially as I'm a 1.87m guy)

2) _proper_ toilet and shower instead of chemo toilet and something that's
more a droplet distributor than a shower; in addition you can physically
separate the toilet and its gases from your living room.

3) trucks and buses are designed for maintenance by the fleet owners and have
space to actually work on the components, in contrast to loads of car based RV
models

4) RVs at truck/bus scale are either expensive or so worn-out that a rebuild
is the same cost

5) customizing - I like building stuff, for one, and normal RVs don't come
with adequate 230V outlets or other IT infrastructure.

~~~
robohamburger
Good to know! I figured there was a good reason.

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hoprocker
Love it. Every few years, a site like this gets posted, detailing somebody's
transition from rooted to nomadic. If you work remotely, this can be an
exciting idea.

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knieveltech
[https://twitter.com/existentialcoms/status/63874822336076595...](https://twitter.com/existentialcoms/status/638748223360765953?lang=en)

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zodPod
It doesn't really talk about where to park your van. I feel like the hardest
part would be understanding where you can sleep and make camp for a time
period.

~~~
oh_sigh
Walmart parking lots welcome van campers

~~~
stevenwoo
I thought this was on the front page, but it's not true at all of them.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/walmart-parking-
rv.htm...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/walmart-parking-rv.html)

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vadimberman
I'm sorry, but is living in the Bay Area really worth all this?

I remember reading old dystopian sci fi about middle-class people sleeping on
the stairs, is that a reality now?

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kazinator
Also doubles as a guide for how to live in an affordable Vancouver, Canada
apartment.

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Dowwie
... down by the river. Matt Foley will tell you what his life is all about.

~~~
jmkni
Vintage SNL -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv2VIEY9-A8)

> _Well, la-de-frickin-da, we got ourselves a coder here_

------
josmar
Hi! I wonder about anyones experience doing full- or part-time van-life, with
an electric van (idea sparked by seeing the Tesla car on YouTube) in Europe?

~~~
kinos
Been researching it for a while now. It isn't feasible yet. The best output
I've seen is a thousand pounds of hauling on an electric truck. Which is about
200 pounds less than the most efficient truck camper I can find. Thats enough
data to extrapolate to most forms of living such as this.

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wsxcde
On a vaguely related note, Nomadland
([https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34068480-nomadland](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34068480-nomadland))
is a really good book that describes both living in a van and why a lot of
people are considering (aka being forced into) the (van/RV)-dwelling
lifestyle.

------
Fnoord
How does this work out for individuals or couples with one or more children?

~~~
guntars
It doesn't. You can put yourself through misery and mooching off of the
society, but you shouldn't subject children to it.

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zoom6628
This is the most drop-dead gorgeous, well thought-out and smoothest website
that i have ever seen. Opened the site and was just stunned at how sensible
the structure, transitions are. Brilliant.

------
vantheman
More vital information can be found here:

[http://suspiciousvan.com](http://suspiciousvan.com)

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pkaye
I've read those reflective insulation doesn't do much with keeping out cold.

~~~
prawn
The Reflectix would reflect back in your body or cooking heat. It's not going
to have a role "keeping out cold". Van converters often use a mixture of foam
board insulation, Reflectix, spray on foam, etc to either keep out heat (in
Summer) or keep in heat (in Winter).

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dmh2000
i don't know if this is the best resource for modding a van, but on the other
hand it is the best implementation of a resource for modding a van, by far.

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cerealbad
just what is going on with housing in america?

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kristerv
The instagram links are broken.

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rasz
affiliate spam under the cover of 1 paragraph "tutorials"

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jlebrech
I'm dreaming of living in a Tesla Semi

~~~
justonepost
That’s actually a very cool idea. Truckers sleep in their trucks all the time.
You’d have a huge living space. Solar panels, power wall. I wonder how far you
could get on that for driving.

~~~
jlebrech
you could also have a small cargo area to deliver a few things.

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thebiglebrewski
This is an amazing site! Great work.

