Sound deadening applies. Then a 5mm thermal adhesive barrier. Then this recycled plastic insulation. I'll be filling in the gaps don't worry. The walls are next

Southern Ohio, USA

Seems like a big increase in CB radio use lately! Anyone have recommendations for equipment?

The specs say that this model reduces the need for an accumulator tank. Should I bother to get one or no? I'm building a simple water system. Two undermounted water tanks plumbed together to a single sink. No hot water or other water uses.

Title. As I will only be using my van for the occasional trip once in a while. Anyone have any experience renting the van out between their personal use?

My family members suggested it because they stated they would like to. But i dont know if I’d feel comfortable with randoms taking it. Thought I’d ask and see if anyone had any advice on it.

I have a long commute and work 14 hour days (4 on 4 off). I’m looking to save myself some sleep by sleeping on site once I’m at work. I’m considering selling or trading in my Tacoma for a van to make sleeping a bit more secure and comfortable. Me and the lady would also love to take it camping and road-tripping , it would be a big upgrade from my current set up sleeping wise.

On my initial impressions the e series is more affordable but the sprinters have more space.

What are some other factors that I’m not thinking of? Any help or suggestions appreciated!

Buttermere, Lake District National Park, England, UK.

My girlfriend and I (30) are new to being on the road full time and would love to meet up for adventures with other nomads in the area! Hit us up

Im planning on

26” bed frame

10” mattress (cuz I have it unused in my garage)

So 40” of headroom. 36” is my absolute minimum that I’ve figured out truck camping, so I figure a couple more inches would be nice.

Here's another one of my "crazy" ideas lol...

Put a small fan behind your rear license plate. Using some 1.5inch wood, make a rectangle with the bottom piece eliminated. Making sure all is waterproofed of course. The idea is all about air flow... reducing mold and cooling down the van, in conjunction with the roof vent fan in the summer heat.

The only question is... what kind of fan? I would want it on most of the time so definitely 12v and low draw preferable.

Has anyone put a pbc pipe on top of the van and lead a hose inside with a valve to have runner water? I’ve watched a lot of van videos and I haven’t seen it before. Wondering if there is a reason that I’m not seeing of why I wouldn’t wanna do that.

Hello everyone! I am currently converting a van into a campervan, and I am about to start the install of my diesel stovetop. So, I will have a separate diesel tank inside my van (in the bottom of the kitchen cabinet). I have been researching a bit, and I see a lot of talk about venting the fuel tank (makes sense). As I see it, I need to be able to both get air in (when i draw fuel) and out (in case temperature differences make the fuel expand). But I can't have a vent tube that just opens up into my living room... I don't want to smell diesel all day... So my question is, what would be the right approach? How to solve this? Does anyone have experience with this?

Looking for a good suggestion on a 48 volt system for interior lighting.

Hey, I'm just starting on my van build, and have seen a lot of different opinions on different insulation. Right now I have a lot of ClimaCell insulation packing that came with a food box order (packed with dry ice and frozen food). It seems to be a corrugated product thats puffed out like fiber insulation. My question is do you guys that that reusing this as a base for my insulation would be worth it? It seems fairly easy to work with, and isn't fiberglass. I'd probably need a vapor barrier, and then whatever wall I'm using?

Part of this is being cheap, part of it is wanting to reuse stuff instead of sending it to the black hole of 'recycling' or just the trash. I can't find any information on its rating, just that it's recyclable. A lot of the builds I've looked at recommend a couple levels of insulation, especially on the walls. So doing a rigid board, a layer of refletix, furring strips with this corragate insulation, vapor barrier and then the walls?

My bf and I live in our van. We thrive in the cold seasons, but it’s our first day with 70 degree weather. We woke up today SWEATING. As the day is moving forward, it is still VERY hot. We do not have an RV and we also do not have a power system. Does anyone have any advice or tips to keep the van not so hot as we wake up? I already crack a couple windows for ventilation, so anything other than? Also looking for cheap alternatives! Please help if you have any advice! :)

Update: thanks for all the great advice!

Hey y’all. About to buy my first van and I’m exploring cooking options. The more I look into it, the less I want to go with propane. There just seem to be so many things that can go terribly wrong, even when set up by a professional. But when it comes to alternatives, electric or induction, I can’t imagine it would be possible to run a 120v appliance off of a simple solar set up right? What do y’all do? Have any of you been able to use an electric or induction cooktop?

Hello all! We currently use a couple of well-known springs near our hometown to fill our 4 five-gallon jugs, where the water is already filtered and of great quality. As we plan to travel across the country, we're looking at other springs listed on findaspring.org, many of which are just pipes in a mountain and likely unfiltered. We're curious about your experiences and recommendations for filtering this kind of spring water effectively before it goes into our jugs.

Any portable, reliable filtering solutions you've used would be really helpful!

I know this question has been asked before and I've read and done so much research about this. I've thought of a plan and precautions to make this work but I'd like some feedback on this.

I'm planning on living full time in my SUV with my cat in about 2 years to travel through north America. I have a really good plan for a build that would accommodate all of our needs.

Here's my plan.

-Next year I'll be taking a 4 month trip to the west coast of Canada alone and leaving my cat with family. On this trip I'm planning on testing my system and car temperatures before brining my cat with me full time.

-When my cat is living with me we will be planning on traveling with the weather.

-I'm planning on having a portable AC unit only to use on really hot days/nights or when my cat is in the car by himself (max 4 hours). These ACs are what I'm thinking of eco flow or zero breeze.

The air ducts installed through the sun roof with a tarp attached to roof rack when there is rain.

-I'm also planning on having refelctix window covers, cooling mat, parking in the shade, battery powered fan, and window exhaust fans that are solar powered and battery powered as a back up if something happens to the AC while I'm away.

• I will be working remotely 8 hours during the week which will be with the hatch opened and tarps if its raining with my cat leashed and harnessed so he can be outside and inside the car if he chooses. He will always be supervised and we will be in remote places or public park areas. He will also be taken on walks regularly.

• On the weekends he will be going on hikes with me with a good pet backpack that he can go in and out of when he wants. He is an adventure cat, is well trained on leash and absolutely loves being outside and having a safe space if he gets scared, usually when there are people. If I plan on doing a through hike, or a longer hike, or in bad weather I will find somewhere for him to board probably via rover or something or I won't go.

• I will also have tractive as a precaution as well.

-I will have good sleeping bags if it gets cold as well.

Please poke holes in this plan if you can and provide some feedback or suggestions. I want to make sure this is doable and I'm doing everything I can for my cats safety and happiness.

We are living in my car out of necessity, we're technically homeless. But so far we actually enjoy it, and honestly even if I was well off financially I'd still want to live a nomadic van life. We have each other and friends who are supportive and care abt us and we've both been in way worse living situations so it's really nice here actually.

I feel like the van life becoming more popular helped me be more optimistic about things, I DoorDash for income with this car and my partner has a part time bartending job. We cannot afford rent but we make enough for gas and food, and I make sure to budget for savings/car insurance payment and also for occasional fun stuff like local DIY punk shows. We've been doing this 2 weeks straight now and I know that's not very long but we are honestly very optimistic and spending a lot of time outdoors and in nature.

We're in the Maryland/DC area. We have a 2 person hammock with mosquito net so we don't always have to sleep in vehicle. The trunk is bigger than it looks, we each have 1 bin of clothes and I have my meds. We have one of those Aldis fridge bags for food, we have mostly non perishables. We have paper towels and wet wipes and a large comfy blanket and 2 pillows. The front seats can recline pretty much all the way, with pillow and blanket it's comfier than some beds I've slept on, not even gonna lie. We have 1 backpack each. There's a suprising amount of room. We keep the car clean and I have floor mats I'm probably going to get seat covers in the future. We have extra room for a couple non-essentials too. When packed up and driving, we have room for an extra passnger in the backseat also! Space effiency and minimalism where it's at

For bathroom we have Planet fitness, public restrooms, couch surfing at friends places or the woods if were not too near civilization lol. I can make pretty good money doordashing in the city where my partner works. We have a place to store our extra stuff besides just in my car for the month of May but we dont have a ton of stuff anyway.

We stay in campsites, stealth camping in public parking, national/state parks (believe it or not they do have those within reasonable driving distance from the DC area) and we go to local shows and travel around when not working it's great. For winter tho we will either try to get a place or drive south to Florida or something.

Also for car maintnence it's newer so I haven't had to do too much yet, but I know how to change tires and oil, check tire pressure and refill tires, replace battery, jumpstart battery, and I'm no mechanic but once I helped put new brakes on my grandfathers '94 geo prizim so maybe that counts for something 😅

I just started van life this week. I turn diesel heater on and it blows cold air for 5 seconds then says E-02. I looked it up and that says over voltage. My batteries are running 12.7V and it’s a 12V heater. How do I lower the voltage? I’m running my induction stuff but it won’t drop. I feel so dumb

I've been trying to figure out how to fit a bed in the back of my Honda Odyssey without removing the seats and was delighted today to discover that I fit nicely stretched across the second row seats. Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to create a comfortable surface back there. I was thinking of building a folding board platform to lay across the seat and then putting a piece of foam down on top of that. The bins I use for my stuff are just the right size to fill the leg holes, so that's not a problem. With the front seats in normal position (not pushed forward) I have a 30" by 64" space to work with.

What do you guys think? Is this the best way to go about this or are there better solutions? I do need a soft surface to sleep on and I DO NOT want to use an air mattress since they inevitably go flat in short order.