pimp my van

[Mouse]

so yah... right now I'm working like mad and saving all my moneys away in the bank (gasp! THE BANK!) so I can buy a van or pickup or some other large vehicle in which to travel and live in.

I've got a million ideas of how to outfit the thing. It's all fantasy until I buy the van but right now I've got the free time to plan and think of shit.

my brother is a welder, which will come in handy when trying to build things.


but really, what this post is about is... got any ideas for what you think a live-in traveling freakshow of a van should be?

The main idea is a large van... probably a empty shell of a used workvan so as to afford me all creative freedom. Or a pickup with a cap on it.

I also would love to outfit it with a veg. oil fuel system for short trips... and I know a local farmer who has a truck set up like that and can possibly get him to teach me how... but I don't know how that would work for long distance travel. I know pretty much squat about that stuff.

Idealy I would like to have solar panels so I can run a mini fridge (I'm a photographer and need a cool place to store film and equipment... and food too, of course) without taxing the battery. I've been looking into prices for such a set up and it's not that bad but again, I'm an idiot when it comes to electrical things.

basically I'm taking myself way outta my element with this whole idea so I can learn new things. so any links, ideas, personal experience, and other handy stuff would be grand.

blah. I'm done.

 

[bananathrash]

well you could go to a junkyard and grab parts of an older volkswagen westfalia.

like this..

the sink you pump by hand and the fridge is actually an icebox and works really well.

they also have bench seats that fold out into beds easy. craigslist a junker camper?

Post edited by: bananathrash, at: 2007/05/23 08:06

 

[Mouse]

oooh coolness! thanks for the idea!


junkyards will soon become my new playground, I'm sure.

 

[Bendixontherails]

I spent two years doing exactly this. planning, designing, laying out, building, rebuilding, wiring, etc.

I started with a '67 ford econoline van (think scooby doo van, but white) and tried over fifty different configurations. in the end, after several short trips and one long stretch (5 months) I ripped most of it out. I found the best setup is the one you can change day to day, situation to situation. I spent a good bit of time doing both backwoods and 'urban' camping. I loved them both.

Here's what I ended up with:

a second battery wired 'in series' to the original and a cheap inverter.

a fridge/sink combo out of a westy (westfalia) van. it runs on electricity or gas. I have a gas bottle (from a grill) mounted under the van.

a footlocker box with my clothes and food in it.

my sleeping bag and foam mat.


the sink/fridge is the only thing that is a permanent fixture. the other stuff can be moved around inside or even stowed somewhere if you need to haul a big load of stuff. You won't think you need to haul big stuff, but once people find out you have a van they WILL ask you to move things for them. It's even a fair way to make money.

solar panels are good, but expensive. the cheap ones are shit. don't ask how I know
Plus they get stolen and make the van stick out.

if you are going to be in town, blending in is key. you want to look like a family vehicle or a service van. I painted "Sid's Plumbing", with a homemade logo, on the side of my van. it really helped.

this is getting really long. I will send you some links in a day or so, when I find my list.

 

[Mouse]

that's a really good point, keeping things removable and changeable.

I was thinking that I'd end up using this van to move things for people BEFORE i hit the road again (put up a few flyers saying I can cart peoples crap to shows and junk for a small fee (gas $$ and a few bucks) but I didn't think how handy it would be to do that while traveling for easy money.

any links would rock. thanks for the eye opener. before I was thinking I'd build these convertable seat/beds and junk and make everything like a tiny moving apartment but I think you're idea is so much more tactful and sensible. Plus, it also means less weight - less gas - less money.

it's nice to talk with someone with exerpience in the matter cuz I'm kinda at a loss as to where to begin. Trial and error is a fun game but experience is always more useful.

 

[Zanzae]

turn the roof into a vegetable garden! that way you could grow food while you're travelling...or perhaps due to high speeds, just have a little garden near a window. Basil!

 

[iago]

http://2007bus.blogspot.com/

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/car/327447946.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/car/324113483.html


take a look at the school bus thread matt started a while ago. but you can find cheap school buses that can be converted to bio desiel or veggie oil and have lots and lots of living space.

 

[Matt Derrick]

man im jealous! yeah, like iago was saying, i really want to do something similar, just with a school/city bus instead of a van:

http://tinyurl.com/3x9sbv

i think a van would be waaay too small for me. but yeah, veggie oil, solar panels, the works... i just need to get some money... maybe after beets? le sigh...

 

[Mouse]

I figured I'd start small. I don't feel the need to ahve a whole house on wheels. small spaces collect too much bad engery. I wuldn't be "living" in the van persay but it would always be there in a pinch or a rainy night.

 

[rideitlikeyoustoleit]

My partner and I are currently working on restoring a 63 volkswagen panel bus:

[img_size = 400:2ke4g8ih]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y163/rideitlikeyoustoleit/IMG_2718.jpg?t=1197499388[/img_size:2ke4g8ih]

Last time we traveled we did what I wanted to do, which was predominantly bike touring. But now he wants to go on a road trip. He is somewhat of a VW geek, so he is trying to restore it exactly to the year.

A Westfalia would probably be a good thing to look into. They are great campers, really easy to find, cheap, and air cooled(sometimes) so the mechanics are simpler then other vehicles.

 

[Bendixontherails]

One other idea I had, but haven't done. if you had a shop area and are good at building shit... take a look at a bass boat. they are built to have tons of storage built right into the floor. all of the boxes are plywood/fiberglass combos, and are strong enough to walk on. these couldbe built right into the floor to make storage you can't even see. just find a boat with the transom tore up or something and transplant the floor boxes in to the van floor. the 'live wells' where they keep the fish are even water tight, insulated and have built in drains! beer cooler!

 

[ericnobody]

you could allways just get a westfalia, and not have to modify much really, the pop tops are the shit, but they can get kinda expensive. if ya know how to work on engines, you can usually find a west with a bad engine for like 500 on craigslist.org, and a damaged with good engine for about the same, so for a grand, and some hard work, you could have your festival wagon

 

[rideitlikeyoustoleit]

I've been doing some reading, sorry I can't provide links, but there is a whole method of cooking using the engine of a car/bus. Most of it is just baking, but some people have rigged up frying methods as well.

 

[lilylove]

I have been living in this for the past 3 months, not really much of a set up... wicked bed in the back that is super comfy, camper stove, and thats about it! Have a few luxuries: my laptop (really easy to pick up free wifi here) an external battery that i use to charge things (im a photographer too, but i shoot digital) car lights etc that rig up into the cigarette lighter... Its been pretty sweet, there are some nice spots around my area with good public toilets, cops dont bother me at all, and there are showers at uni when i need them. I guess it depends how pimped you want it, I'm actually selling him in July cos you cant do any conversions on VW Kombi's and buying a diesel (when i get back from europe) that i'll convert to run on vegie. Want to get a solar panel for the roof (I can buy one here for about 500 bucks that would plug into my external battery, which i could use to charge everything) but figure i may as well just wait till after europe.

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions, but yeah, my set up is pretty basic. Living in him is bliss though. should have done it 2 years ago!

 

[Matt Derrick]

nice setup! i am green with envy... as for solar panels, you can find them for "free" if you know where to look. mwahahaha...

 

[lilylove]

dumpster them? But why would they throw out good ones? if i knew how to fix them maybe...?

 

[finn]

Well, it depends on how loosely you define "dumpstering"...

 

[Dillinger]

I in love with this idea.
Doing it within these first 3-4 moths. =)

 

[lilylove]

oh also forgot to mention.... i had a car fridge that just plugged into my cig lighter... it worked really well, and kept things cold a long time. If you dont want to plug straight into your car battery, just buy one of the external ones and plug it into there...

or yeah, just get solar

 

[Matt Derrick]

dumpster them? But why would they throw out good ones? if i knew how to fix them maybe...?

okay, enough beating around the bush... what i meant was to steal them. keep an eye out and you'll see some that are easily nabbable... i can say no more!