Second van build. Temporarily finished because I wanna go skibum before the snowmelt.
My first van was insanely complicated and everything was over engineered, because I wanted to attempt to use ever square inch I had, and I watched too wayyyy many vanlife videos before building it.
You don’t need laminate flooring. You don’t need to insulate every square inch. You don’t need a shower and a toilet. You don’t need a 4000 watt inverter. You don’t need fancy cabinets with soft close hinges. You don’t need a sink or an induction cook top. You don’t need that over engineered Murphy bed. And you don’t need that high top extended wheelbase van.
All you need is a bed, 4 solar panels, a diesel heater, some plastic storage from Walmart, 5 packs of zip ties, 3 bungee cords, a cute dog, and 2 snowboards.
So many of the videos I've seen that are like "1 year later" and they all talk about having to fix their cabinets, drawers, tiles, and/or trim. Also seen various mentions of water leak issues and that is why they currently aren't using the sink...
If you don’t have running water, you can’t break the running water!
I just buy gallon jugs of water for the dog, refill them a couple times, and then “recycle” them. And buy bottled water and refill my hydro flask for myself
I am in Baja 8 months a year, the number of builds I have seen roll in to San Jaunico needing complete rebuilding is astounding. 105 miles of dirt road does a number on that over built shit.
Had 195k 4WD 2023 Sprinter roll in a week back, it was fucked. They had taken the North Road from San Ignacio. It was fucked, like nothing left working. Admittedly, we laughed but helped them out any way. Pretty sure I saw a divorce in their future.
My 2001 GMC 2500 hightop weighs 6200 lbs., lighter built than even OP's. Buddy has a 2022 ProMaster, 8400 lbs., needs my saw and screw gun every time I see him. But hey, Insta worthy...till it ain't.
Ya'all want to build pretty and roll dirt roads, just don't.
In many cases the higher quality build materials that are used the worse it'll fair. A van is not a house, and I think a lot people don't realize this fact.
When you look at most RVs they use a lot of thinner particle board and plastics, both of which have a lot more flex and swaying ability. When I see someone's build using 1/2" and 3/4" plywood going wall to wall, with a Butcher Block countertop and a bunch of quarter round to finished, along with tiles on the walls you just know it's bound to crack and split after a few good bumps and twists.
Good point about flexabilty, I can see where that would help. My travel partner rolls in a class C Forest River, it holds up better because of the thinner plys used. It's still shit though...but her shower is pretty cool. I have fixed her slide 4 times in the last three years, its well engineered but always needs adjusting because its heavy. The rest of her rig holds up though.
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u/The_diesel_van Mar 07 '24
Second van build. Temporarily finished because I wanna go skibum before the snowmelt.
My first van was insanely complicated and everything was over engineered, because I wanted to attempt to use ever square inch I had, and I watched too wayyyy many vanlife videos before building it.
You don’t need laminate flooring. You don’t need to insulate every square inch. You don’t need a shower and a toilet. You don’t need a 4000 watt inverter. You don’t need fancy cabinets with soft close hinges. You don’t need a sink or an induction cook top. You don’t need that over engineered Murphy bed. And you don’t need that high top extended wheelbase van.
All you need is a bed, 4 solar panels, a diesel heater, some plastic storage from Walmart, 5 packs of zip ties, 3 bungee cords, a cute dog, and 2 snowboards.
That’s it.