Recent content by JosephGrey

Have you already thrown out school buses as an option?  They tend to be very well maintained, available in a variety of lengths.  Usually they are priced very attractively.  Heavy frame for building lots of custom stuff.  I have seen one guy do a roof bump up behind the drivers seat, back to the...

You sure the tarp you have over it doesn't have any pooled areas where it could be leaking through and then further leaking through your roof.  If you pull that tarp back is your roof dry? Water is tricky.  Like someone said, it runs downhill, but with the slope of the roof, and slope of the...

The best insulation (IMO) is called polyiso foam.  It has an R value of 7 per inch particularly in the summer time.  In the wintertime all foam insulation loses some effectiveness but polyiso is the worst of the lot.  If you can air-gap it and not allow it to touch either the inner or outer...

No, I totally get you.  When I am parked somewhere in a campground I put a bucket down to catch my gray water.  When I am urban parking I look at it like this;  If I didn't have the van, if I was standing in this parking space, could I ethically brush my teeth and spit the water onto the...

Hello everyone.  I have posted in a couple of other areas of this forum already but never got around to posting here. A little over two years ago I suffered a job change.  I had been a long time tele-worker for over eighteen years.  Every morning I would go from my bed to my coffee pot to my...

It depends a lot on how much you use and how far north you live.  I have 540 watts, but sunset is 5pm where I am living in a van.  I need to stay electrically frugal. --jg

It seems to be just for a short time.  I have started using it as my signal switchover has happened so it is handy, you know, except for the whole leaked propane part... :-) --ja

I have a Mr Heater dual regulator switchover valve.  It seems like it leaks some propane on switchover.  Are they supposed to do that?  Every time the tank switches it seems like I get some really strong propane odor.  I am still trying to debug it because I just recently tied the gas smell to...

In addition to these other comments, sure electricity is free when the sun shines.  I have a theoretical 540 watts of solar on the roof of my van.  In the wintertime the very, very best I have ever seen it put out is 160 watts for maybe an hour during the brightest part of a really clear...

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...

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...

The Walmart web site for each store lists if it allows overnight parking or not.  One of the rules is even if they allow it you have to ask. --jg

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...

Hey there, I realize this is a very old topic but I am very new here, so maybe the two together can make it work out... :-)  I have been street camping four nights a week for about a year now.  It has really worked out great for me.  Zero problems.  But I am setup for it.  I have a 2008...

Hey there, I am wondering how your project turned out.  I have been working on converting a 2008 Chevy Express Cargo into a stealth camper for the last year.  It has been a really great project.  Lots of fun and I have learned a lot about both camper/tiny-house building and just the whole...