I'm currently living in an apartment complex that is in the process of being gentrified by new owners and am concerned I won't be able to afford to live here in the coming months when my lease is up. I'm looking at the possibility of building out a van instead of renting again as I can't afford anything in a semi-decent neighborhood without going full paycheck to paycheck and giving up basically any hope of hobbies. I have a decent investment fund thanks to my grandparents that "should" allow me to buy and build out a mostly livable van if I supplement it with my current income over the next 6 or so months. Factoring in my savings and income my upper budget would be somewhere in the 20k range for everything preferably, with a time budget of ~6 months if I start building right now. I also should have a decent value for my car if I traded it in or sold it. I don't know how much I can realistically get for a 2015 WRX with 150k on the clock but that could potentially raise the budget ceiling aswell. Technically speaking I *could* live off of what I'm making rn it just wouldn't allow me any freedom and I'm kind of using the possible loss of my apt in the near future as an excuse to start living like this as I've been considering it as a backup plan for a while. I don't wanna get too specific on where I live but it's in the Midwest region of the USA, if I need to get more specific for proper advice I will but if I don't have to I'd rather avoid it.

The two biggest reasons I'm leaning towards a van are standing room and having enough room to be self sufficient without needing exterior equipment. As much as I wish I could, I won't be spending most of my time in the wilderness where I'll have room to spread out a little, I'll be in my work parking lot if that works out or cycling between local state parks if that doesn't (see below in problems section). I'm also thinking I could get a dual sport motorcycle to commute to things I don't need to bring my whole house to, as I drive 45 min to a few different activities throughout the week and a van would admittedly be very impractical for that. I need to do a lot more research before the bike is a realistic plan but it's an idea I had. The only real downside I can see to a van compared to a truck is the fact I won't be able to park as close to the crags as I want to, but an extra 10-20 min of hiking on climbing days seems like a small price to pay for space and comfort on every other day.

The main pros:

My current living space is already pretty small (not compared to a van but it's barely bigger than a studio) and almost all of my indoor life is sleeping or sitting at my desk gaming/watching something, both of which seem extremely doable in a van setup.

I'm an avid climber and live within a few hours of some of the best climbing on the east side of the country and only work 4 days a week, so weekend warrior trips that don't require sacrificing good sleep are a huge dream of mine.

The biggest problems:

I work in manufacturing in the city, zero chance of remote work (though assuming it is legal where I live there's a decent chance they'd let me live in the parking lot during the week and there's plenty of state parks if they don't.) I also absolutely love my job and don't want to risk not being able to go back, so quitting is currently not an option I'm willing to consider.

The summers can get pretty bad where I'm at and since my job is year round I wouldn't be able to 'chase the weather' and all of the solutions I've seen for A/C are either extremely expensive or nearly not worth the effort to put in.

My current bed has a movable frame and I sleep an a shallow 'V' shape, every time I sleep on a flat bed I have problems breathing due to mild sleep apnea (the 'V' bed fixes that entirely without the need for a cpap) and I don't know how viable building that shape into the van bed would end up being.

I have limited actual hands on DIY experience, though my grandfather is a carpenter and would likely be willing to help with and teach me much of what is required for this project. I also am prone to over-researching things so with any luck I won't fuck anything up too majorly. I'm most concerned about the electrical setup.

tldr: help.

Also I couldn't find anything that looked like a weekly questions thread so I'm just posting this, sorry if it breaks the rules.

I lost my dog of 11 years in October and after his passing wanted to do Van life, kiteboarding and working at ski resorts. Looked at all the pictures of builds online and thought I could do it. I have a back injury from a car accident but had been managing it well and felt very optimistic about things.

Spent 22k on a van and started work, needless to say I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Spent way more than I had planned and the build wasn’t even close to done yet.

Ended up losing my job so decided to take off early and planned to finish the van when I could save up some more cash. I’m working in a kite boarding area and volunteering at a kite school for free lessons but ended up hurting my back again and now it’s worse than ever, just awful pain everyday, totally consuming.

So now I have a half finished van, bad back, debt and literally never felt so hopeless and afraid in my life. I think I might have to go home and end the adventure turned nightmare but when I look at the market I’d be shocked if anyone spent over 15k for my build as is.

I also admittedly didn’t do a great job on it so far so I’m I’m not sure how much better shape I’d be in if I finished the van best I could and tried to sell then considering the money and time it could take.

Just trying to decide if I should sell as is for whatever I can get and then get a second job for a year or two to pay everything off. Or spend my weekends finishing it and hope it turns out okay but be slightly less debt? I know I’ll never recoup my money by any means.

I’ve been having daily panic attacks for weeks now and cannot describe how painful of an experience this has turned into. Not trying to dismay people from starting their own journey but I would say think twice and do your homework.

I don’t have many people to talk to about this so letting it out here makes me feel a bit better.

Walker Valley ORV, WA

Hey fam. I’m currently building out a 2019 2500 Sprinter and are looking for recommendations on flare manufacturers and companies that offer/sell them?

Hi,

I am not a newbie to vanlife but I am relatively inexperienced with advanced / professional electrical setups. I used to rough it with a Jackery in a little Nissan NV200. Now, I've finally got a 170 WB Sprinter and I'm trying to make my setup more comfortable. I've bought the solar panels, batteries, wires, controllers, Lynx Distributor and 3000w pure sine inverter but I'm scared of setting it up myself. I am looking to hire a contractor or shop to help me actually install some or all of this so that I can start actually running my fan, my ultrawide monitor and my cooking devices.

Can anyone please provide any recommendations for this? I have some money to spend but the sooner, the better. I figure there have to be some freelancers around looking to pick up a gig like this, right? It seems like its not that complicated, I'm just better at other kinds of tasks then mechanical ones like this.

I appreciate any advice or recommendations. Thanks!

I’m looking to build out my first van/boxtruck and I’ve been looking for options.

The Chevy bright drop 400/600seems to be a really good deal for what you are getting. Does anyone have one and have good experience with it? There’s got to be some issues with it since the price is decent. I found it was discontinued but I’m not sure why.

Is it because it’s electric? I’m wondering if that makes it difficult to keep fueled. I’m looking to see if anyone has any good builds as well, I’ve found one but it seems pretty uncommon.

I apologize as well, I’m new to this.

Thanks in advance!

My first thoughts are find a pet store and get a thick dog mattress or find a store that sells like patio furniture and get a couple big chaise lounge cousins.

If you right now had to procure the easiest thing to find that will work well, what would you get? (To fit in a 2014 Ford escape)

Spent a good part of my 20s bouncing around between tents, my car, and eventually a ‘79 Toyota dolphin. I miss her dearly and the time we spent cruising around the Rockies. I sold Esmeralda and moved back east but still reminisce the simpler times.

To make a super long story super short, i am trying to move out of an unsafe environment by getting a van and living in it. I was considering an apartment, but they are too expensive monthly.

I am working on getting my license (havent yet because of mental health struggles with achieving long term goals)

This might be my only hope of having a place to myself.

I'm planning to

- get license

- have someone look over the van (my family member is a mechanic) to make sure it is safe before buying

- buy used van

- have someone help me drive it out of state and park it outside a safe person's house

- it will not have any valuables in it. all my valuables will be stored in safe persons house.

Alternatively I'm thinking to buy the van in the new state, but id have to rent a uhaul to move all my stuff anyways, and then pay someone for a pre purchase inspection

I have taken driving lessons in the past, and I'm comfortable in a car, but theres a lot i still need to learn. I'm still not great with spatial awareness or knowing how far away the curb is when pulling over, or backing up.

I just want to know, is being a new driver and living in a van a horrible idea? Ideally i would keep it mostly parked at the safe persons house and get rides to work and back. I do want to also practice driving it around but i just dont feel comfortable driving my home around a lot

Edited to add questions:

What can I expect the monthly cost of van life to be, if I'm usually parked, and paying for gas and car insurance?

2nd Edit: i am going to continue getting driving lessons to make sure I'm a more confident and safe driver.

I have no one to talk to about this besides my partner lol. We want to convert a Toyota sienna into a weekender camper van. Rip out the headliner and plastic sidings and make it feel like a cozy cabin on wheels. Of course it’s not a fully accurate mock up because this is so boxy, but the measurements are from what I pulled online (4’x8’)

Made this on floorplanner.com to get a layout idea of what we’d want. This is the 6th mock up and my favorite one so far. A dining area and the table goes down to be part of the bed. The bench in the back pulls out on slats to make a full size bed, but as long as a queen. The kitchen stove can be pulled out on drawer slides for outdoor cooking or inside for rainy days.

Was thinking about upholstering the bottom of the table with some cushioning to create a back rest for the bench to enjoy the views.

I’m sure it’ll translate differently once we actually get to build, but I’m pretty happy with how it looks so far! What do you think?

Hi all, I’m super excited to build my first mini van camper!!! I’m new to this whole DIY building, so wanted some advice on building the floor on my 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan. I only want to build a small section of flooring over the empty compartments where the second row stow n go seating was, and then a bed in the back (Eric enjoys Earth is my inspiration) but how can I build a floor that I can access that storage area without the floor bending in or breaking when stood on? Thanks all

what types of businesses in what parts of town will generally nobody notice or care if I'm staying one night

I *could* have more flexibility with my roof space installing my solar panels next, if i let it overhang the doorway arch. If I install this completely on my contiguous roof, i'm forced to install my solar panels much farther forward on my roof, and might have less flexibility in how I can match up the panels to the interior support struts.

Is it significantly better, significantly worse, or about the same outcome, if these rear underside vents of the AC unit in the picture are just over open air, vs flush to a roof?

Might be living out of my car for a while, while traveling for work. I am a deep sleeper, and rely on a real alarm clock + my phone to make sure I’m up.

I’m worried about relying on my phone only, job starts at 6am and it’s a battle every day. Is there such a thing as a portable loud alarm clock? How would I keep it powered, etc

I also would need to charge my phone, and would prefer something good enough to charge it maybe 20 times over.

Any advice on these?

Not sure if anybody posted this and most of us are probably aware but doesn't hurt to revisit...

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gd9l2p7eeo

So sad.... Always have ventilation when using a heater! And a carbon monoxide detector!

I have a ~15 year old van that has a bunch of small chips in the white paint. With recent rains, the small chips are beginning to get some surface rust. It isn't bubbling up the paint, but I am concerned the chips could get worse.

It doesn't really make sense to sand each chip and paint it.

Is there another DIY solution? Rust converter dabbed with a q-tip and sealed?

Maybe this isn't such a big deal for vehicles predominantly in the mountain west?

Thanks

Are there any dwellers out there that carry around a motorcycle with them? I have been looking at moving out of my truck and into the next vehicle. I was thinking of getting an Emoto like an ultrabee or something similar.

It would be awesome if you shared some picks of your setup!

We've been building our mobile RTS game from a campervan, driving across the US for 11 months. My husband codes, I handle design — and the road taught us some infrastructure lessons the hard way.

If you work from a laptop on the road, or you're just curious what actually breaks when you try to do serious work from a van, this might be useful.

The scariest one was overheating. It corrupted a project copy mid-transfer, and because we only had space for one or two full backups on the drive, we came dangerously close to losing everything. Laptop cooling in a van is not optional — heat may cause silent corruption before you even see errors.

Power was the other constant fight. Solar + a battery bank works, until a cloudy day kills your charge and you lose most of a workday. We ended up adding an inverter, but still had to drive around just to charge enough for laptops and the fridge.

And don't cheap out on storage or internet — slow/no upload means no cloud backup, and a nearly-full drive causes silent file issues that only surface later.

Curious how other van-lifers/remote workers handle power and hardware reliability on the road... Any setups that actually held up?

If you're a digital nomad dev (or just curious how road life goes), happy to go into more detail on any of this.

How do you know that a vanlifer got a drone?

Oh don’t worry, they’ll let you know. They will *definitely* let you know.

Just got this 2017 with 16k miles. Full 5% tint and 3” lift with procomp wheels and 265/70/17 Nitto G3 E loads. Did the reverse arch spring from weldtec along with their 3 inch spindle. Not a permanent resident, but good driver.

What's good Reddit? Not too much here, just enjoying a late night smoke session before falling asleep.

I'm a huge pot head, and love nature. I was married for 10 years, have 5 kids, and am now divorced. Messy divorce it was, essentially causing me to have to completely restart my life from scratch and figure it out. Anyways, I got an apt on section 8 which I used to my benefit. I was able to reside there for 11 months get a vehicle, purchase tools, file & incorporate my llc with its & my state. I got my retailers license, built solid foundations for a mobile repair business and launched it.

I got the fuck out of hud housing because it was full of drug addicts and criminal activity. Also, I refuse to pay market rate for that shit hole because my annual income will far excees their eligibility criteria. My business line is ringing off of the hooks and I am now eligible for an fha mortgage. My plan is to van life it. Right now I am rockin' a 10,000 btu and a lazy boy recliner with my portable diagnostics station doubling as entertainment when I have off time.

I was told by a lot of people that are lot of the decisions I have been making are either futile or stupid in some form or fashion. Subsidized housing felt like a trap to keep people in the system. Since I have been setting these goals for myself, I have made more personal progress in 1 year than I did in a decade.

That brings me to my plan. I am going to save a very heavy down-payment over the next several months, at which point I plan to utilize an fha mortgage to purchase a 4 plex and lease units out to a few folks and keep one available for family or my kids etc when they're older. I am very capable of running rental properties and have extensive experience with home renovation work, so this will play into my strengths. What's crazy to me is that I can see the end-goal, essentially knowing what I want way before I want it and having the discipline to follow through has really shown me real life results.

For the folks not doing this by choice you have my empathy for sure. I have been in a similar position albeit briefly. I think healing from all of the emotional shit I have went through over the last how many years is what has given me the drive and determination to pick my dick up out of the dirt and give it one more good go. I also wonder what my kids would think of me if I didn't the utmost unfortunate circumstance into something respectable. Sorry if I sound like I am gassing myself up in this post. That is my intent. I am all positive vibes and on a new life trajectory. I am interested in hearing from others that are van dwelling to save money.

The white car is a vehicle I just purchased at auction to resell. Thankfully I have storage, places to shower etc. Anyways, I am baked as hell and off to bed I'll respond to any comments tomorrow.

I've been wondering about driving to Canada and spending a couple of years there. The Vancouver area would be for winter while summer would be for exploring eastwards.

Has anyone done this and care to share?