Vanlife

Daily van life general thread.

Do you live inna van?
Wanna?
Platform choices?
AWD?
American or European?
All these questions and more will be discussed in this thread.
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Maybe.

Other urls found in this thread:

tradecarview.com/used_car/toyota/hiace truck/19927508/
youtube.com/watch?v=nC0-ug86YMc
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_van_(Australia)
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

>tfw no kei camper van

They're just 2qt

Just another thing Americans can't own.

Just bought pic related for $29,000 out the door. 2016 model. Bought it for my business but I still figure it's kinda related to this thread.

Overall a very nice vehicle, in my opinion. RWD, so nothing fancy, but the seats are comfortable and the position is very high. Easy to drive.

I drove the new Benz worker van which looks almost identical but features the four cylinder diesel and thought it was a little overrated. It's VERY slow compared to the 3.7L v6 (not ecoboost obviously lmao) in my new van.

I don't know if you would necessarily call it a kei van but this thang would be old enough for burgers to import next year.
tradecarview.com/used_car/toyota/hiace truck/19927508/

What kind of mileage are you getting?

Bump

Anyone have a 120v system? How big of a converter did you get? What kind and how many batteries in your bank? What do you power and how long can you power it?

I think you mean inverter . Its important to get a pure sine inverter for electronics but if you get a big enough one you can run a microwave.
Batteries depend on how you charge them and how long you need to go between charging.

How high tech can the van get?

Abouuuuut... like this much [-------------------------]

Manufacturer specs state 22mpg highway and 20 city and I would say that is spot on. I put 100 miles on it (full tank holds 24 gallons) all highway and the gas gauge didn't even move a full quarter.

Who here having ideas?

Wrong pic

want to DD a van but need more money to buy a van first.

good thing you didnt buy the MB engines dont last that long for a diesel

your hand writing

fucking top kek

where are you from? americunt? kek

What are you, 7 years old?

hey look is the not my van thread again

What kind of business do you run? I'm in the tile trade, I do not own a company but I'm very interested in all these new work vans being made (Benz dodge etc) is it worth it compared to an old work truck?

Tonight will be my first night, minivan, city/residential. I don't have the curtains finished. Think I can sleep without getting a knock if I put a blanket over my head and have tinted windows (think 70% or 60%)? Been too fucking cold, it needs to be over 15F for velcro to adhere, I literally could not finish the build. Hoping tomorrow I can. But will I be able to sleep tonight without getting bothered?

Also where the fuck can I take a nap during the day in a city, for free? All I can figure is a library but not all of them have comfy chairs to crash in.

Im sorry my parents couldnt afford tour fancy pants public education system and that theres holes in my brain from my rampent drug use.

But breh, never seen a rough engineer scetch before?

>But breh, never seen a rough engineer scetch before?


Here is a rough engeneer sketch of when the van is a rocking.

I have heard good things about the engine overall and many reviews I read online state that they should last 700,000~ miles but maintenance elsewhere on the car does not make the purchase worthwhile.

To be honest, I would have probably bought it were it not for the fact that the dealership was so cut throat with their pricing. The sticker price was around $32,500 for the Benz, after dealership and tax my out the door was around $37,000 with absolutely no dealer incentives

With Ford, the sticker price was around $35,000 but they took off $5,500 as a dealer incentive, another $1000 as some new vehicle incentive, and some other bullshit incentive. AND the tow package + vinyl diamond studded flooring (whatever the fuck its called) was free. It technically cost $950~ but this was rebated back to me as well. So all in all, Ford was almost $8,000 cheaper, has more power, and more features.

I work in e-commerce. We don't even really need the van, we are just cash rich at the moment and our accountant suggested we take advantage of our tax bracket this year and section 179 to buy a work vehicle, so we did. Our $29,000 price tag (after deduction) is really only around $15,000 out of pocket for us.

We will use it though for errands and shit. The insurance company asked me how many miles I thought I was going to put on it within the first year - he laughed when I told him less than 5,000.

Lads.

If i'm camper converting a basic panel van, do I need to keep the ply lined back and put carpet on top of it, or can I remove the ply and carpet over the body?

Also, if the ply is rough and damaged, is it worth replacing first before covering?

If you are gonna put carpet in I think it would be best to put ply down. Don't want anything getting spilled and messing up any insulation.

As long as the ply is not rotting I would say that it is fine.

I would pull up the ply and do any rust repairs.
Then half inch blue insulation, none ofor that bubble wrap garbage. Van dwellers do not understand how reflectrix works.
Then ply and carpet or just skip the ply/carpet and use click together flooring right over the insulation then use a few throw rugs .
Much easier to keep clean.

Just checking in. I was toasty warm last night despite temps in single digits and no heater/insulation. Down comforter for liiiife. I finished tossing stuff and rearranging things using walmart's parking lot, everything fits in the vehicle better now and it looks less junky. I didn't get a knock. I think I might try not using any sort of curtain or window block. Anyone else experiment with that? I'm gambling that no one will get close enough and look in at the right angle to see the bed structure at all. I also put up cling on baby shades for the windows and hung some cargo nets and string backpacks on the laundry hooks so anyone looking in would see that, and it would take their attention so they won't look further and see me/my shit. In addition to being too lazy to make/use curtains I think they're a dead giveaway of dwelling. Also holy condensation batman, I'm cracking a window tonight. Woke up to icy frosted interiors of my windows.

The cops in my area are supposedly chill about it, but I don't want to find out the hard way.

nice work user.
you will get better and better until you are a master.
I like your ideas about stealth but make sure you are able to have a nice life as well.
Good curtains make it so you can have lights on and computers at night.

Any van dwellers want to head to mexico for the winter ?
Exchange rate is epic right now.

I work for an hvac company and we just bought three of em. The sliding door likes to not close all the way and kills the battery. They have jumper terminals in the front for jumping, but they don't work for shit. Battery is under the seat. Other then that pretty nice especially the 250 model, you can stand upright which is nice.

>bong
>had to give up on the murrican van life dream
fuck borders n insurance n shit

If you are a hetero male you will get crazy hot women in the US.
The go fucking nuts for brits, you need not even be attractive.

Vanbump

Best cop experience?

Just had a hilarious/ almost got arrested one.

Involves ak 47, medications, and sex toys.

...

Well what happened? Don't tease me.

Stopped at gas station. It was closed but pumps still worked. Took a 15 min nap. Cops wake me up with spot lights. 3 surround me. Ask why im at a closed gas station at 3am blah blah suspiscous van blah blah. They search my car (illegally) and find my ak, medications and i had just stoppes by a sex store so i had the bags out in the passanger seat along with my ak, cause under 21 so i cant conceal carry, next best thing for self defense is a fuck8ng ak 47m cause no nig nog going going to rob the crazy guy who has an ak 47 in a dress.

Anyways. Copa run everything, call my doctor and check if my prescriptions are legit. Im on some super abusable stuff, lol. They run me, the viehcle, the gun all come up clean in under 5 min.

Scaryiest part is that this fucking tall white guy was getting angry at me, the other 2 cops where cool.

They uncuff me rexomend a good hotel, and then wafch me dr8ve off.

Sorr6 8k drunks

>This whole post
Lol
>no nig nog going going to rob the crazy guy who has an ak 47 in a dress.
Lmao wtf are you driving around in a dress? Where did you get an ak47?
Did they laugh at your sex toys?

What if the nig nog IS the crazy guy in a dress with an AK?

It's a shame the old Econolines and Vanduras are such guzzlers. The last 80s - early 90s ones got comically bad mileage.

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Ford Transit 250 fag reporting in after a few days of ownership. The fuel economy on these 3.7 v6 is SHIT. The dealerships 20/22 city/highway stats are complete horse shit. Putzing around in the city I'm getting around 14

Technicaly its a wasr 10, but its like Pepsi and coke in differences.
And my bad, thr ak 47 is in the dresss. I wear jeans and a buttom down.

And surprisingly the chuby mexican cop didnt seem to recognize what the sex toys were. He said i had a lot of survalance equiemy (2web cams, dash can, back up camera, camcorder) and it was weird to travel with a gass mask.


I probably looked super suspicious desu.

pics?

>he doesn't have an emergency crossdressing box in case he needs discount at the gas station
do you even V A N L I F E?

>tfw no qt AK47 to dress up and van with

>wanting pics of a shitpile WASR
Why

>you will never put a drinks globe in your classic Citroën/Merc/VW van, get inspected then arrested for carrying non-sealed alcohol containers on public property
Is life even worth living at this point, vanbros?

>land of the "free"

Was talking about Yuroland, home of the nanny-states, but do Burgerland have that sort of crap too?

I've never heard of that being a thing outside of burgerland tbqh

well shit
Guess I'll toughen up a van and move to Namibia or something like that, something empty where you can just drive and not get officials telling you what isn't safe enough for you to do

I can drive around naked drinking beer in Germany as long as I stay in the car (legally your private space) and under the legal limit (0.5 by the German system, around 0.05 or 0.06 by the American system)..

Where in europe is drinking in cars/public illegal? Not getting drunk in a park or while driven around by a designated driver seems like a really sad existence
t. finlan

Legal limit here in France is 0.2g/l, which you reach with a sip of wine, so it might as well be completely illegal to drive after drinking anything.
Not that you get controled often. As long as you stay under the speed limit or don't drive during holidays, it's safe but still.
France. Alcohol consumption on public property and roads is illegal. You're allowed to be drunk while on public property or being driven by someone, but drinking itself isn't allowed.

Shieeeet, that's some bongistan tier retardedness right there

>that's some bongistan tier retardedness right there
Where do you think they got their ideas from :^)
To be completely fair though, drunken poles and game-day evenings were hell before that, that's a big part of why that sort of shit was pushed and even now, you're completely safe if you live in a small town, or if you drink outside of the obvious spots in a larger one. It's annoying but this sort of "crime" here is really a case of "it's only wrong if I get caught"
And you rarely get caught just for drunk driving or drinking on public property. It's really used to make sentences harsher for people who cause accidents or commit more important offenses while drunk.
It does suck, but if you don't act like a retard (or an arab) you'llnever run into problems.

I owned a Mazda5 for going back to school in another state (750 miles away). Needed something to haul all my shit there, and for when I needed to go home on breaks. Was also kinda nice that my friends and I would go on road trips all over the place.

>2.5 liter 4 cylinder
>6-speed manual
>6 seats, but tons of space when folded down.
>Basically a Mazda3 with sliding doors and extra row of seats

Loved that fucking thing. I genuinely miss it.

Aaaanyways... my girlfriend, and I wanted to go to Florida for spring break, but we're poor college students, so had to make due with what we had. She had a twin blow-up mattress that fit perfectly in the back with all the seats down. We packed lightly, so we just put our stuff in the front seats while we slept.

The drive down wasn't to bad, but she couldn't drive stick, so that suckef. Although it was fun stopping at cool spots for a little relaxation. We spent the night in some park. No curtains, no heater, just a 60 degree night with a thick blanket and cuddling.

Good times. We did the same thing when we were in Florida. We would use the beach showers to clean ourselves up, and restrooms to brush our teeth and change.

We had a blast, and finally got some covers for the windows in the form of 2-3 lightweight sheets pinned to the roof liner. Having sex in a non-tinted van was not a good idea, so the sheets gave us some privacy. Still, the suspension made a bit of noise, which was kind of funny, but we made due.

Good times.

>Still, the suspension made a bit of noise
Did anyone come "a knockin"?

youtube.com/watch?v=nC0-ug86YMc

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5 nights in and not one rousting/knock. No curtains or blocks either. This is great. FUCK RENT. Ahahahahahahahahaha I'm going to save 10k after tax $$$$$ a year doing this. And holy shit the bathrooms of my gym are a fucking spa and I can afford to eat out and give my boss the finger. My quality of life increased dramatically after becoming "homeless." Man fuck whoever told me I ever needed an apartment.

>needing a heater for 60 degrees

I slept cozy in -2 with no heater.

Save that cash for a sweet vanbuild in the future.

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>tfw I will never be able to afford a Mercedes Sprinter for maximum headspace and comfy-ness

what the fuck am i reading

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nice rig
How much cash do you have in that ?
are you full time?

I wish I had one of these. There's a few imported ones for sale in BC, but I'm in Ontario. A plane ticket and a roadtrip back home sounds like a good vacation idea after I graduate.

>Inverter, not converter
Sorry, my bad.

Got a rooftop AC, so I would love to run that while plugged in to shore power. Not 100% sure on how much battery power I would need. Looking to power a TV, Laptop and a few other small goodies for about 10-15 hours. Hopefully I can help out with solar? Still in the research/planning stages.

Pic related is my first draft on electrical system. Input is appreciated if available

This one's the generation they have for sale. It's not as boxy looking or as high off the ground (which is good in case of rollover, but it's not like I'm gonna touge this thing)

You do not need two alternators and you dont even really need two batteries since you dont have that much dc usage going on.
200 watts solar would be plenty in the southwest.

The ac will never work with the inverter and batteries or the solaiet r but you could by a 2200watt quiet generator

How long do the batteries hold charge?

Depends on how much you use them. You need to calculate the amp hours of storage vs the amount of daily draw.

>But breh, never seen a rough engineer scetch before?

holee shit, cringe

...

Have this
This is what I set the inside up like.
«««
Which is cosy as fuck in cold weather and okay in hot.
My question is about your electronic devices. After my last trip with gf, after pub/dinner/sex we only really had our phones to occupy ourselves (no real luxury in the panelvan, and we are night owls) and we only had the old cigarette lighter Phone charger between us.
How do you guys set yours up?
Duel batteries, inverters??

Or how do you occupy your mind late at night?

top kek

What the fuck is that thing?

Ford falcon panelvan
Australian only
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panel_van_(Australia)

Just when you think you are talking to a person, it turns out to be a damn strayan

Christ, why do Australians have such hilariously ugly vehicles?

fuck that's a mint van dude, im very jealous of your lift gate back door.

I just got an XG that i'm probably going to set up with a dual battery to run a sound system and a few lights. Maybe get a small tablet for movies and junk if I'm feeling fancy.

Thanks, im only the third owner.
Was considering duel batteries but not sure if its worth it with my tiny alternator on the little old 6 cylinder. Its really original so if I could hide everything i'd do everything, but I dont want to ruin the original look.
As for light I just got a couple of camping lanterns which are great

gun racks are illegal

this is how a person who absolutly no knowladge of electricity or electrical mocks up their wiring

have fun burning to death or getting electrocuted in 6 months

so far i see:
2 car batteries
2 alternators
a solar pannel
4000w inverter
2 gfci receptacles
a cp radio
off road lighting
utility equipment power
another gfci
a radio
starter
winch
more 12v electronics
an air compressor
a tv
a laptop
interior lighting
rooftop pc
more misc 120v shit
dude the whole point of vanlife is to take what you need and want not

Two alternators will not charge your battery any faster.
there is only so much power they can absorb at once.

Oh I didnt mean two alternators, im just not sure if I could get a bigger one to fit properly. As im not sure if mine would put out enough amps
Pic somewhat related. I only have one small belt on the engine for the alternator as it doesnt have power steering. Nice an simple with little to fail

Holy shit that little toy van is cool as fuck

How many amps does yours put out?
Its not really a factor of the size of the alternator.
There will be several of the exact same dimensions that put out various amounts of power.

I fucking love this van.

how much would a setup like this would cost?

some user in /b/ was living in this but stayed static (he owned land) i pretend doing something similar

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