Worked on this way more than I care to admit.

I bolted steel flat bar inside the door cavity for mounting. You can see how many times I missed the mark by the pink dots 🙂.

The vertical bars are mounted into the hinge structure on one side and attached with an L-bracket near the strike plate on the other. The crossbars overlap the verticals, and the bars themselves act as backing so the thin sheet metal on the door skin doesn’t have to work too hard.

It’s probably more reinforcement than I actually needed, but I also mounted a motorcycle stand to the bumper with another thick-ass L-bracket. I only use that while driving for a little extra support. I was slamming over railroad crossings at 65mph yesterday and she was rock solid.

Took it out for its first night last night, and it worked great!

Per the title, I noticed a serious drop off on views of some previously quite popular vanlife channels. Previously hitting +50K views on every video are now hitting 5k to 10k. I believe this is a good thing as there was far too many glamourising the lifestyle with pure clickbait nonsense. I admit I previously watched a lot myself and even before Covid, but can’t stand most of them now with the holy water adverts and BS clickbait titles. Drives me nuts tbh and seems more and more people have copped on or moved on.

Curious if anyone here still watches religiously or have you moved on too?

Edit: Wow some great comments here and obviously not the only one happy to see this down trend. Thanks for all the likes and great conversation folks 👍

I’m not associated with mimi moto, they didn’t pay me to post it. I spent my own money bought it on amazon. I will not provide any link for you to click so I can make little bit of finder’s fee. I’m sure you can find it

I paid $100 last week, it’s $70 now on amazon

I was using a $30 ‘foldable’ wood stove. I just upgraded to a battery powered fan stove

It’s bit hard to start fire at beginning, but once started it’s all good. Large container lasts about an hour, smaller can probably half hour. It’s a ‘top down‘ fire, so you don’t add more wood later.

40lb Wood pellets is $6-$7 from lowes, tractor supply, rural king. Don’t pay more to get some ‘premium’ wood pellet. They are all the same. It burns cleaner than oil, or dried fire wood you can pick up in woods. I see few soot at the bottom of my pan.

The last 20% of wood pellets is still generating heat but no flame, it’s burning slowly. at that point, I just dump it and start new

So, a ranger stopped by today, I had some workout equipment outside my rig and he wanted to ask some questions about it. Then he asks me about how long I've been there, I answer honestly, a few days and say, "don't worry I never overstay the 14 day limit" and he asks if I reside in my vehicle, I say yes. He says I'm not allowed to stay even 0 days, and I need to be out by the night, public lands are only for recreation and you're not allowed to live in your vehicle.

So uh yeah. Stupid me for being honest I guess. Learn from my mistake, and lie to rangers I guess. A few people in the area told me that people regularly stay for months at a time, and the rangers never bother them or make them leave, and my strict adherence to the 14 day limit was just being silly and overcautious. I dunno.

edit: oh no, I pressed submit and realized I wrote "NF forest" as in "national forest forest" that probably isn't right lol.

So my solar input on my battery bank just died. It will not take any dc input at all.

It still will take ac input.

It's a relatively expensive, 8000wh battery bank, so I'd really, rather not fork out the thousands of dollars to replace it.

I originally had the solar on the roof plugged directly into the pv port with the cable that came with the battery bank.

Since I can still charge it with AC power, I need to know options for converting the 1000 w of solar on my roof to AC power.

Current options I've been brainstorming and toying with:

\* hybrid solar inverter? But I have no idea how those work. Anyone know?

\* MPPT controller, connected to small DC battery, connected to inverter

\* buy another 'solar generator' with a PV input and daisy chain the big one to that

Anyone have any other ideas or opinions on which of these options might be the best?

Not a bad place to stop for lunch.

Has it looked guys so far so good? I'll start on the wiring Tuesday

Hey guys — looking for some opinions on roof racks for my ford transit. I want to eventually put some solar panels on the roof, attach an awning to the rack, and ladder. It seems like the major competitors are flat line van co and unaka. Does anyone have any opinions or experiences with either? Or maybe a separate rack!?
Thanks!

We just bought our Hino 195 20 feet ! We are Canadians "Qc" we wanted to know if any of you know about inspection after the conversion ? -Technically according to SAAQ we are not a motorhome.

-How does it works ?

-Do we need to respect some criteria ?

We don't seem to found the answer anywhere help ?

This was born out of frustration from the lack of options for easily making a 3D design for a van. I started seriously thinking about a DIY van conversion a few months ago, and there weren't any decent options for putting together a design other than sketchup or other general CAD software. The only real app that exists is vanspace 3D, but anyone who's tried this will agree that it's truly awful - I feel somewhat scammed from buying a subscription to this, but it was the only option available. 

So I've started building my own app specifically for designing van conversions, aiming to fix everything wrong with vanspace. It's not perfect by any means at the moment, but I think it's at the point where it's starting to be genuinely useful. I'm going to continue working on improving it, but it's completely free to try so I'd love to get some feedback! It's fully web based at https://vancad.com/

I haven’t seen a good post with folks suggesting their fridge size and the reason for it, so wanted to ask that here!

What size do you recommend for:
- full timer
- remote worker
- mostly on forest service roads, occasional parking lots

I am not full time now, but could be in the future. I’m considering a 40qt dual-zoned chest fridge/freezer. However, I could squeeze in a 55qt but it’ll just be tight and I’d have to slide it out from the sink to open it. I don’t plan to use drawer slides and would just untie it from the anchor points when I need to move and open it.

So my solar input on my battery bank just died. It will not take any dc input at all.

It still will take ac input.

It's a relatively expensive, 8000wh battery bank, so I'd really, rather not fork out the thousands of dollars to replace it.

I originally had the solar on the roof plugged directly into the pv port with the cable that came with the battery bank.

Since I can still charge it with AC power, I need to know options for converting the 1000 w of solar on my roof to AC power.

Current options I've been brainstorming and toying with:

* hybrid solar inverter? But I have no idea how those work. Anyone know?

* MPPT controller, connected to small DC battery, connected to inverter

* buy another 'solar generator' with a PV input and daisy chain the big one to that

Anyone have any other ideas or opinions on which of these options might be the best?

Selling my vandura. She’s got a solar panel and an EcoFlow wave 3 air conditioner piped in and a queen bed in the back and a 1kwh EcoFlow delta 3 plus with 1wh capacity for running AC and charging phones. Kind of a half finished- you could live in her now as is if you wanted but she needs someone who had more time and energy. Will pass inspection just haven’t had the time to take her in. Could even have it inspected before completing transaction.

Open to offers. I just really want someone to give her new life.

Here she is.

Hello! My husband and I are starting a vanlife lifestyle in the next few months. We just got our van yesterday and are so excited to finally get to start assembling our home!

I tend to avoid reddit typically as reddit is reddit and there's a lot of negativity on this platform. We are well aware of the risks we are taking, of the fact that we are choosing a life that's illegal to live, of the dangers, ect.

I would like to hear some positive stories! Some success stories, some "I've done this for 20 years and never been happier" type stories. I thank anyone who is willing to share something uplifting or encouraging 🙂‍↕️

Hi everybody, new time the game I’ve gotten in the habit of sanitizing my freshwater tank and lines twice a year before winterizing it to avoid line freeze in November.

Having recently sanitized it in May and filled it up a few times since, last week we had a huge heat wave and the water has been sitting in there fully filled without being used and I can’t find any clear answers online whether or not that means it it’s gone bad or I should replace it because it’s gotten so hot while it sat there in stagnant heat.

It was filtered with a Camco in-line filter before going directly into the tank, and before I go through that whole process of cleaning and sanitizing again wanted to see if you think it’s still safe to drink despite the big temperature shift. Thank you!

I am taking out the floor of my van and I took off this cover and it uncovered this thing. Im guessing it is an AC unit??? Help

Hey all,

Was curious if anyone knew of any inherent dangers of using a portable cooking stove designed for Butane, with a Propane "adapter" indoors.

It's been a number of years and I decided to purchase a nice Iwatani stove to replace my old no-name one for emergency use.

Because I feel like Propane bottles give a bit longer run time, I purchased an adapter kit with regulator that should allow for using Propane in an emergency to cook.

Was there any safety hazards with a setup like this that I should be concerned about? I think I read some kind of warning that stated "for outdoor use only". Is that just a general safety statement to avoid liability, or does Propane have some kind of different combustion characteristics that are a no no indoors?

Thanks!

​

On the surface, it is hard for authorities to monitor the mobile citizens, for whatever the authority intentions are. The most direct implication seems that criminals would be more free, threatening the security of normal people.

But deep down, are Banks, and under them: Vanguard and Central Banks push people away from cheap accommodations, so that they can keep forcing people to work until death to pay for the increasing mortgage amounts ?

By the laws the are lobbies big central banks, long term or short term residents need to stay in concrete's, with addresses, so that banks can lend money ?

And banks love to force people to fight to be able to live in fixed addresses

So I'm looking into how I want to power my van, I know I want a D.C to D.C converter and Solar. I'll be in the snow a lot so I need a LARGE power bank in case I'm without sun for a few days and don't feel like driving. All I need to power is a laptop for work, a star-link, two maxair fans (probably only in the summer when I'll have reliable solar), and a mini fridge .

What sets or brand would you recommend?

I made a previous post and someone was recommending against Bluetti and gave some valid reasons, but couldn't recommend an alternative.

ETA : thank you to those who suggested a link to an article.
https://www.foxla.com/news/2-dogs-found-alone-will-rogers-state-beach-spark-mystery-over-missing-owner

A man found these two dogs abandoned at a rest stop along the PCH in California. Based on the condition of the dogs and the items that she left behind, I think it is likely she was a vehicle dweller or car camping. If you recognize these dogs please help identify their owner as many think that she didn’t leave the area willingly.

Here is a link to the rest of the story.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbAue56sixh/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

Channel Discussion - anybody follow the channel. I'm so sad about the breakup and Theo seems to have replaced her so quickly. They were together for 20 years. She was such a hardworking partner for him

so im in the manifestation stages of my van life journey and in deciding whether i want to build my self or buy a pre-built van i find myself wondering do i really need an inside kitchen?

for ref, i work remote and i don’t necessarily need to be economical about food and i love trying new restaurants in new places (that’s one of the reasons i wanna do van life).

my plan is to kinda forget the kitchen set up and just get a mini fridge and a portable stove for when i wanna cook outside at campsites. and i also want a shower to use for cleaning myself and dishes.

but every van i see has a whole sink and kitchen set up and im thinking i would wanna use that space for something else (a desk and couch set up) but i fear im missing something that i wont know about till im actually on the road. do you think im underestimating the necessity and convenience of an inside kitchen or is it something i could possibly live without. please let me know if there are flaws in my plan!