Building a Stealth Camper

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JosephGrey

Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2018
Posts
15
I don't know if any of you would be interested in my story or not.  Back a couple of years ago I suffered a job change.  New boss wanted me in the office five days a week after eighteen years of being a tele-worker.  I live ninety miles from my new cubical.  I cast around some.  Moving the whole family closer to this job which now seemed unstable, seemed like a bad idea.  I finally heard about Stealth Camping.  That's what I have been doing for the past year, four nights a week. 

I bought a 2008 Chevy Express Extended Cargo van and have turned it into a camper on the inside.  Outside I am an everyday work van, inside I have solid walnut floors. :)  It's been a great experience and I have learned a lot both about building for small structures and about urban camping.  Where to park, how to fit in, etc. 

I put the link to my blog below in my signature, if you visit it scroll back to January 2017 if you want to start at the beginning of the story.

--jg
 

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It sure does  ...if you are above it.  But from street level, not so much. 

The thing about cargo vans is they are invisible.  I watch for them all the time now but before I never saw them.  One time on a street corner I could see five white vans from where I stood, but everyone else likely didn't see them at all.

--jg
 

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I am light proof from the outside.  Blackout shades attached over the windows with magnets.  Bulkhead divider between the house and the cab.  When it is dark outside, I look dark. :)  I have Raspberry Pi single board computers running cameras, five of them, about an inch square each.  These cameras display on a screen inside just in case I am hearing some noise outside and want to have a peak.  The cameras all do infrared so once the weather warms up I am planning on mounting a few infrared LED strips around my roof rack I will be able to invisibly light it up so my cameras can see better and still not alert anyone to my presence. 

--jg
 
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