# Setting up a van to homebum instead of traveling



## Dayoldpizza (May 27, 2018)

Hello hello!
I previously was a stp member but took time off from the internet, eventually i returned once a week to read articles, figured id give it another go, after time away i missed the hub bub of stp. 

Im not new to van life, i took a break last year after traveling the last few. 
Van dwellings are usually great, mantinence has been my down fall so i have more knowledge and understanding this being my 4th van around...
My plan is to stay semi stationary on the cali coast for the summer, still exploring but less miles to the pavement as previous vans. 

I picked up a 95 gmc cargo off a landscaping company in santa cruz last week. I worked for 2 months, day jobs kill my soul but i made it to my goal!





This van is a 350 chevy engine but has a cng hook up, i posted on a forum a few days back, people versed in actual cng costs said 5k to hook up tanks, with out the certification i couldnt fill up at any california cng stations . so gas combustion it is. 
With that said i gutted the inside, which was filthy. The flooring was a awesome rubber gmc van matt, totally destroyed from years of lawn mowers dirt debris mangling its surface. So i had to pull it. 





I spent 4 hours on the floor since the pad was stuck and came apart in small pieces. The walls took the same time if not more to scrub the walls with a large sponge & dish washing soap plus a few cap fulls of bleach. . .








It came out okay. Clean enough for this summer. Picked up some pallets of a clist add, used a saw and cut up planks for my pallet bed and under storage, really i just wanted storage .. 




My plans to stay on the pch1 near santa cruz are going well. As usual i have little funds after the van was found, that. It is bare bones as of now, but in the next few weeks ill dumpster enough free materials to enjoy the following seasons in it. Cause, ill be living in a van down by the river...


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## nobrains (May 27, 2018)

Fuck yeah bro! Nice score. I was van bumming it last 1.5 years with Cali as homebase, it's a lot of fun, but now I'm going on foot again cos vanlife made me lazy & fatty & gave me a crick in my neck from hunching over in bed reading and beating off all day. But then I started running and doing yoga... Cali spoils you and makes you soft. My bed's made of 2x4s and plywood with two big memory foam mattresses, and it fills up the whole back section, with just enough space under for those boxes with hinging lids. On one side there's a little bookshelf for piling junk, and on my partner's side there's an rolly drawers thing with more junk piles and junk. Oh and the middle seat is full of junk. When we travel everyone just piles their junk and bodies in. Welcome to the upper crust junk hoarding world! DRAGON TREASURRRESSS


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## Dayoldpizza (May 28, 2018)

I actually have scored 3 totes, 2 yeti style tumblers, a bunch of odds and ends, a igloo cooler all just from driving around runnning van related errands and food bank hauls .. Needless to say previous to this van , i too was a hoarder of goods. Mostly dumpstered candy, cans and random finds. I would hand them out at corner sign flyers all over. Upper crust definetly, picking up hitchhikers and riders all over made community feel so much more than being antisocial with a van.
Thanks for the welcome wagon!


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## Odin (May 28, 2018)

I hang out down by the river, but I have no van so I can't beat off and get a crick in my neck...

...and I'm usually drinking and smoking so no time to read. 

There is some fishing and feeding ducks... but that also does not give me a crick in the neck... 

If anything... passing out on the picnic table... yea that does it... a crick in da nick or a stitch in yer back!

Choice Van OP... nice improvised platform. The Pallet looks solid no cracks missing planks. Still gonna need a piece of particle board and some cushion to top it off..

Hope you find a good spot by the river... around here folks park at the Forest Preserve but thats a ways off on the black top from the gullys/slope going down by the shitty river. lol 

Under the bridge only works as a hang out spot when the waters low. to many rocks and crap... but a place to drink. 



Anyway... post up some pics of camp when your set if you don't mind. I'ts always fun to take a looksee... Down By the River!


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## nobrains (May 28, 2018)

Part of having a van is being the kickdownmobile. What's the fun of having space/wheels/junk if you don't spread smiles and JUNK everywhere you go? once had this idea to make a network of vans to drive around and do supply drops and rescue missions like dirty kid truckers with radio dispatch and shit.... But it was too much work so instead i read a book and beat off down by the river.


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## Dayoldpizza (Aug 4, 2018)

2 months into living in the van, no major repairs besides general maintenence & tires, the pallet bed was knocked down over time. 
Storage then became an issue, im lazy so i just piled it all up till i can scavenge a shelf . scored a new queen mattress in a coastal city near brookings oregon. 
I was dishing in monterey a few weeks to cover insurance & a lil jumo start cash incase we got stuck. I was ebaying a lot of my dumpster scores and thrift shop finds, suprisingly *trash into cash* works well. Paypal has a debit card that you can get with the online account now, so recieving payment is so easier. I did the free play tour from eureka up to the last native casino in oregin i beleive near the border. Won enough off the 5 or 10 buck free play to support gas, in my 30s gas jugging has became increasingly hard, the economy may be a factor or that im balding now? 
So ill throw cash in he tank no problem. In oregon i recycled all my gas because its 10 cents a can. I did end up a lot of days with no money, food banks & dumpster foods supplied a lot of the body energy as well as bum feeds. Everyone has those super poor days, its life, and i had a lot of time to camp out in the woods & costal beaches. 
With all that said i am currently doing odd jobs in a off grid community up near coos bay. Van living has worked out this far. I have logged 3k miles since i left monterey bay to portland, back down to central oregon, southern oregon coast currently.
Thats the update. Heres some pictures.


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## AjfrmAtlanta (Sep 10, 2018)

Dayoldpizza said:


> Hello hello!
> I previously was a stp member but took time off from the internet, eventually i returned once a week to read articles, figured id give it another go, after time away i missed the hub bub of stp.
> 
> Im not new to van life, i took a break last year after traveling the last few.
> ...


Fuckin "bomehum"


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