Living in a van/campervan all the time.

[Deeps]

Used to own my own home 23 years ago, to old to get a 25 year mortgage now and even small house round here are 70+ thousand so realistically no chance, yes a house is better, but I also don't want to hit pension age with no money in the bank and only my state pension and my tiny private pension to live off, I figure I could possibly save around £20.000 over four or five years, then be in a better situation to settle in a house, again this all may not happen, if it doesn't, still wouldn't mind converting a van for camping hols.

I hope it works out for you mate, whatever you decide to do. I've been tempted a few times over the years to bin the missus, life would certainly be a lot simpler.

[Darious44]

Hello mate I hope this all goes well, I'm in the process of slowly converting a van to a camper, so I'm very interested in the comments, I haven't actually done it yet, but a roof vent is what I have been told makes a lot of difference, on YouTube I find "houseless not homeless" is worth a look and going of at a tangent, I loaded all the gear I wanted into my van and I couldn't move or get in so " I hope I'm not Pointing out the absolute obvious" but you cant have any clutter at all, by realising this, will make life a lot comfier for you, I think showering at gym is a good idea, and if there is a launderette near by that's your washing sorted out.

[Jamesey1981]

One little tip I forgot to mention, if you're in a converted van or basic camper you probably won't have pumped hot water, so get yourself a solar shower, will cost less than a tenner usually from most outdoor shops, obviously you can use the water for washing if you have some privacy outside, but mainly as a source of free hot water in summer for washing pots and pans, saves a load of gas and time compared to boiling kettles for washing up and takes up very little space since it's really just a bag with a few hoses and handles.

[junmist]

If you are thinking of staying on camping sites get a drive away tent as well and give yourself some extra space even if its only for leaving your wet gear and muddy boot in.

[lee3]

Hi I spent a long time living in vehicles and would be happy to answer any messages if you get stuck
My first was a standard transit and I also joined the local gym! Lol swimming in the morning and gym in evenings it was a small space and I didn't think heating would be an issue as it's such a small space I doubted living in the sunny south I would ever see sub zero Inside as my body would be heating it!....it was a learning curve living in a small space but all was good....and cheap! Lol then one particularly cold night I woke feeling wierd and after a while realised it was because my nose had frozen lol when I turned the lights on the were stalagmites of ice covering the ceiling! I wasn't turning out anywhere near the kind of heat I thought I would... But an awful lot of water! I learned the importance of insulation and heating the hard way!!...ventilation while important more in summer to keep cool is important but not so much for control of humidity
The quick fix for my van was a mini propane heater from a caravan and blankets bungied to all the bare metal, I found propane fires pump out alot of moisture too. So I looked for a bigger van and another heating method

[lee3]

My next was a lwb high top transit insulated with silver foil backed fiberglass insulating board usually used to insulate cavity walls this was easy to cut to fit all the panel areas with a Stanley knife and glue tacked in place all box sections I insulated with expanding foam but be careful it can be potent I managed to make steel bulge in few places a few times lol then I plylined it and carpeted it I used a small metal brick vent at the top of a back door and the real find a diesel cab heater from a truck which with a thermostat worked just like a domestic central heating system and banished the cold and with it the damp with the van toasty and circulating with a little ventilation and a lot of space....comparatively! I had no more damp issues and with a couple if coach roof lights I also had a stealth camper that allowed me to park securely in urban environments without drawing attention to it as a home! I had some of the best years of my life living on wheels..and I would thoroughly recommend it as long as you are the tread gently go quietly minimalist kind of person you will probably love it it,also was kind of self empowering and freeing if you can get that and as it followed an end to a long term relationship for me also it was a kind of tonic and escape that I needed I wish u the best and feel free to message me if u need advice and if I can I will happily offer it
All the best
Lee

[Arzosah]

Lee, thats really interesting, thanks for that. If I decide to sell my current house, rather than renting it out, I'll be looking to downsize to an apartment near my sister, and as its a fairly small town, it might take quite a while for the right sort of place to come up, so I'm seriously thinking of this in the meantime.

My next door neighbours have one of their sons living in a motorhome right outside the front door, on the road, and they checked with the council about whether it was legal - the council said as long as its taxed and insured, there's nothing wrong.

[lee3]

The legality of living in vehicle is a hole different can of worms in my understanding of the situation back in the1990s, if your vehicle was legal you could sleep overnight in it as long as you didn't contravene local laws and regs therefore it would have to be displayed clearly that you were not allowed to, however if you class the vehicle as your home other local laws come into play the main thing to avoid in my experience was upsetting locals....and that sometimes would mean as little as them knowing you are living in a van on their street, unfortunately there isn't alot of Christian spirit displayed by people when you encroach on what they perceive ad theirs,

[lee3]

The problem with trying to abide by the law is rarely straight forward, I remember being moved on by the police once because there is a roadtraffic act that states it is unlawful to make unreasonable use of the highway.... And this is the issue as local bylaws will be just as ambiguous. I thoroughly recommend you adopt a level of stealth proportionate to how little you wish to be interfered with by others!
But no matter what..........
Buy a good cassette toilet lol

[Grumpy'sBetterHalf]

Our van has one of those little ventilators (that go round in the wind) in the roof and tends to let air in and out through all the various gaps anyway. We used this to line the sides:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/airtec-double ... -25m/21112

and then we added another layer of old wool blankets from charity shops and a 10m roll of fleece from ebay (with velcro stuck to the walls and sewn to the blankets).

We each use one of those 3 season sleeping bags inside another sleeping bag and wear several layers in the deep winter. (I've been known to sleep in 3 pairs of socks and a pair of thinsulate gloves) Hot water bottles stay warm for many hours once they're inside a double layer of sleeping bags. (He doesn't often use them but I'm a cold subject!)

We have a folding camping table which we use to support the camping stove during the day and tuck down at the end of one of the camp beds at night.

Last March we were in the van on a particularly cold night. We were so cold by 3pm that we decided it would be warmer to drive back down to England overnight, through the blizzard. Grumpy had to keep getting out and pouring water over the windscreen to clear the salt because the windscreen washers were well and truly frozen.
SO... we decided to invest £3k in an old caravan.

The caravan's great because it has a heater that can be left unattended, but when the heater isn't on it isn't really any warmer than the van (We know this because we've fled to the van a few times on extremely windy nights when we were terrified of the caravan ending up in Oz!) and it does suffer terribly from condensation when the outside temperature is below freezing, whereas the only condensation in the van is on the windows.

My daughter lived in her van, with babies and toddlers, for years without seeming to have a condensation problem. Grumpy helped her line the sides and roof with plywood, with rockwool behind it, and she had a woodburning stove fitted after a while.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do xx

Edit: Forgot to say, Grumpy's 6'4" and living in a high top van for several weeks at a time doesn't cause him any trouble.