How would i be able to live in a van?

Question

i plan on living in my van for a year or two. i plan on taking all the back seats out, except for the drivers and passenger seat. im just going to put a mattress in the back. no bed set, just a mattress. but i do need to figure some things out. like....

whats the biggest van i can buy? and how much would it be?
would it be possible to install a type of shower? nothing fancy at all
what type of electrical power could i have?
air conditioning?
cabnets? built in or not
refrigerator? mini
if there is anything i missed, please let me know. thank you

Answer 1

Depending on your budget, you may want to look at a van camper, rather than trying to convert a van yourself. To get an idea about the van campers check out the roadtrek website http://www.roadtrek.com/thevan.aspx



If you are going to convert a van for yourself, you want to make it as space efficient as possible.A high top conversion van will be more comfortable than a normal van. You will want to have as much storage space as possible. You will have to have space for clothing, and supplies. A small refrigerator and at least a microwave oven will be needed, a stove will help also.



You would want to build a bed with storage underneath. A mattress on the floor would block too much storage. At the very least you would want to have a camp toilet to use.



If you are going to be at campsites, you will want to install an electrical connector on the side of the van, so that you can hook to the site electric.



If you are looking to travel and live in the vehicle, you may want to look for a used small RV, or a VW camper.

Answer 2

Haha, thats funny, because Im planning on doing the same thing, if you live in california we should get together and talk. So the biggest van you can buy is an Econoline Clubwagon or e350 extended, you would also want an extended top which gives more head clearance. If you get one of these vans which I just bought one recently, you can easily put a mattress in there, although I would suggest building a sleeping area instead as to not take up so much room just for a bed. If you build a custom bed area in the back, you can put some cabinets in, a sink, refrig , but unforutnately I dont think there are any showers available in ANY of the vans. If money isnt an issue with you, I would suggest getting a 4x4 van, as those are usually built for excursion purposes and come with sinks, generators, sleeping area, caibnets, and evrything else, except for shower . As for the shower part, I plan on using local gyms for that purpose, get a membership, use it for taking showers and cleaning up, working out or whatever, and they are pretty much anywhere you would plan on going, a shower COULD be built in a van, but it wouldnt be easy, and you would need a very high top. Maybe a motorhome would suit your needs better. I looked around for months before I found the van size I needed, there is no bigger van than the one I have mentioned, again, if money isnt a problem, get a 4x4 extended Ford E350 or Clubwagon, they can range from 15,000 to 50,000, maybe you can get one for under 10,000, but it would probably need some work, I bought a 90 Ford clubwagon E350 extended with extended top for 1000 bucks, but I have since put 1000 to try and get it running the way it should be, by the end I plan on having a sink, bed, cabinets, refrigerator, etc, but I will probably end up having spent 1000 more, but I am also doing all the work myself which saves a lot of money.



For electrical power, you would want to get an inverter, which will probably cost about 200 bucks but will be sufficient to power lots of things in there, also I would suggest installing an extra battery, and a solar panel mounted on the top of the van, this will keep your electrical neeeds satisfied. This can be very extensive to fabricate or have someone install, its not that hard to do it yourself, a little research and some planning will take you a long way, air conditioning most cars already have, so I dont think you would have to worry about that one, unless you wanted to install one of those top mounted ones.



As for cooking, if you like bbq's that would be your best bet, get an axe, chop some wood from your local forest, get a magnifying glass and start a fire, now get a pan and a camp grill and your ready to eat. Otherwise you would probably need to install some typpe of propane tank grill, or get one of those single electrical stove tops for about 30 bucks and plug it into the inverter. You dont want to install to many electrical gadgets in your van unless someone professional is doing it, it could be a fire hazard and you dont want your home burning down.

Answer 3

If I interpret your question correctly it sounds like you don't have a van yet and are planning on buying one and adding conveniences to it so that you are able to live in it. Converting a van so that you can live in it is expensive and in my opinion a whole lot cheaper just to buy a small size Class C motor home that's 3 or 4 years old. It would already have all the conveniences that you'll need. The Class C will have storage, cooking facilities, bed, shower and toilet. Adding all of these to a van is very expensive. To live in a van/Class C you will need fresh water storage, gray and black water storage (Class C already will have these) adding just these three items to a van will be very expensive and when finished the van and will never have the capacity for storage that a small Class C would have.



A Class C should already have AC power, refrigerator, 120 volt A/C power as well as 12 volt power and most likely a microwave oven and a stove. I guarantee that if you have to add all this to a van conversion you will have spent more than double what a used Class C would cost. And the van will be cramped full of stuff with no room left in it!

Answer 4

i am thinking about doing the same thing, i have all my plans ready and everything.. its pretty simple.. you missed a TV, you can connect it to the battery from the lighter hole, if you have the right plug..just ask a mechanic..



i am gonna use a Chevy Beauville, plenty of space..i think its about 8 grand..



i'm putting a shelf all around in the back, so i can store stuff on it..



for the showers, get a barrel, attach it to the roof and have a hose with a simple valve that hangs out the back, so park somewhere private, and shower.. but you have to refill it when its empty...



good luck!



EDIT: all these people who say its more expensive to renovate the van or whatever, its actually alot cheaper.. you don't need to cook, you can eat out, or you can get a simple stove, its not that hard.. and for peeing and taking a crap, just do it at a friends house or in the woods, just keep toilet paper handy!

Answer 5

You might as well but a small camper or small RV for the money it will cost you to "renovate" a van to live in.



You forgot how to cook food. I also do not know how you would get electric, water and sewer disposal to a van. An RV already has all of that.

Answer 6

Try searching on google, I did that and came across a site where a guy gave models/plans and he had his life story on there.

He's been living out of his van for 14 years and he's a photographer.

Lots of good advice in his site.

I thought it was kind of cool.

Answer 7

Get an RV. It has all that built in. Then go park it down by the river

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

a cooker or means of preparing food