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Who lives in a van? Or wants to?

Sitting in a field waiting for me to fix the power steering pump. All it's had is one trip from Southampton docks to said field. When the cold weather arrived my ME got worse and I lost the will to go 30 miles to work outdoors under a car bonnet.
I was overtaken on the M3 by a convoy three elgrands all with trade plates a couple of weeks ago. Obviously a few came in on a boat. Don’t see the attraction myself.
 
It's not about the looks. It's just a van. Not for me anyway. Don't tell my chums at the owners' club. They see the Mark 2 as quite a status symbol, so long as it's white.
 
Cheers :thumbs:

I don't touch FB but have a good mechanic neighbour and a fairly decent idea of what I want etc. Have borrowed some mates vans as a practice run so have learned a few lesson's at least :D

100% agree on the cooking inside the van. With regards to the 'kitchen' interior, I am thinking more of storage for foods, kit and boozes :D
Yeah same with Fb but I will just say that if you use it like it uses you then it's a fair trade, imo. I have seen a lot of groups dedicated to the VW transporter and if nothing else you will have a lot of like-minded souls around to give you advice. Just don't get into any political conversations and you'll be fine. At least, that's what I tell myself.
 
Another gorgeous few days surfing very badly @ Saunton Sands & enjoying the sun. Definitely going to get a thinner mattress (not much headroom when you're in bed) and sort a 240v socket under the bonnet so I don't have cables in through the window.

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Wednesday; 2/3ft; Thurs 1/2ft; Fri 4/6ft.

Massive 9ft foamie with the volume of a blue whale :thumbs: (Which I managed to catch with the side of my head on my first visit out the back yesterday - 6ft waves are fucking huge :facepalm:)
:D Not for the feint hearted and not on a foamie unless you are Jamie O’Brien

I run with a Softech 9 foot or an 8 foot if there are plenty of bobbers in the water :D
 
Can anyone lend an outdoor speaker/PA thing to some folks in Windrush Sq, right now? They are promoting next Saturday's Internationalist Peace Fair
 
:D Not for the feint hearted and not on a foamie unless you are Jamie O’Brien

I run with a Softech 9 foot or an 8 foot if there are plenty of bobbers in the water :D
JOB is my hero :D

Part of the reason why I love Saunton is that it's so big I can kook to my heart's content without getting in the way. Have you been down there? You'd love it on those boards.

Some amazing longboarders there - a post surf beer, pasty, smoke and spectate is a great way of spending the afternoon. Love Braunton/Saunton as it's so low key.
 
JOB is my hero :D

Part of the reason why I love Saunton is that it's so big I can kook to my heart's content without getting in the way. Have you been down there? You'd love it on those boards.

Some amazing longboarders there - a post surf beer, pasty, smoke and spectate is a great way of spending the afternoon. Love Braunton/Saunton as it's so low key.
I lived at chivenor for two years and didn’t go in the surf once due to an unhealthy relationship with a Kawasaki ninja 900 and the Barnstaple/croyde/ilfracombe triangle :D
 
I‘ve just read this. It sounds quite a good life.

Normalising what is actually a traumatising economic situation/necessity into a Vaseline on lens, live life laugh romantic scenario

My friends reality is they are quite cold, often smelly and pay a gym membership to get a daily shower on top of being challenged/disturbed in a lot of places they stay. On top of working full time it is exhausting

This lot spunked 33K sorting out a van
 
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More images. It's an LDV Convoy XLWB Minibus with a banana diesel engine. The photos of the seats is just me cleaning off the marks. They are a 360 swivel single and a double from the back of a Toyota Alphard. As the Convoy seat belt mount points are on the floor then the lap belts aren't a problem.

I'll be living in it full time. It has a small solar system but mainly I'll be running an LPG generator from the 60L tank underneath. Nowhere near anyone else or if I am then not so it inconveniences them with the noise. There's a recirculating shower system run off a 6L tank. Hot water is via the Bobilvans heater. It exchanges heat from the Propex heater for the water. Or I might just have bought one water heater too many, it occurs to me right now lol.

I have soundproofed the floor right up to the engine bay, will put 3mm insulation over the top and cover that with 3mm rubber flooring. It's still lower than using the insulation board that was down before and vastly reduces the road noise too.

Anything else then just ask!

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It would be cool if you could beef up the wicker chair to make it the permanent drivers seat...
 
I’m such a kit pervert I want to know what under blanket you’ve got on your hammock :D
Yeah they're actually quite expensive aren't they!? The hammock, which is an incredible piece of engineering, was an absolute bargain and the sleeping bag with a split in it was much more.

It would be cool if you could beef up the wicker chair to make it the permanent drivers seat...
I posted that photo on Instagram and said it was the new van seat, which a couple of people absolutely loved.
 
Yeah they're actually quite expensive aren't they!? The hammock, which is an incredible piece of engineering, was an absolute bargain and the sleeping bag with a split in it was much more.


I posted that photo on Instagram and said it was the new van seat, which a couple of people absolutely loved.
Is the hammock the permanent sleeping arrangement or are you having a bed? What's the layout going to be? Any reason for not beefing up the solar (or ££££?) Is it all going to be wood panelled?

It looks cool af.
 
Is the hammock the permanent sleeping arrangement or are you having a bed? What's the layout going to be? Any reason for not beefing up the solar (or ££££?) Is it all going to be wood panelled?

It looks cool af.
I will have a pull out bed too. One of those that is a bench seat during the day and when you pull it out the slats pull out with one side to make it wider. The hammock is for me but I've never slept in one so it might become the guest quarters, literally over night.

I want a solar system but the brand new 3.2Kw Hyundai LPG generator was £340, which is around a third of the cost of a solar system that would deliver around 80% of the energy. Solar is cheaper as an ongoing cost but fuck me those LiPo4 batteries are expensive. Plus I kind of fell into a job on the festival circuit which brought the build date forward by quite a lot, meaning that I had to get it sorted faster. I'm paying for each part by spending what I have spare every month and the money for the solar system was somewhere down the line.

Wood panelling is what was on it when I bought it. I have just about taken everything off and started again but like I said, needs must due to the impending job. Plus Covid tax on timber is mad, so I'm saving a fair bit by keeping it.
 
It’s 120 meters long and I’m shacked up in a two room cabin suite :D

Needless to say I don’t own it, it’s work
Crikey! That's massive! Are you sharing it or what's going on with your cabin arrangement? At least you have Suite in the name.
 
The layout will be that the back doors open but I'm putting opaque sheeting on them and on all the windows except the sliding door and the one opposite.

The bed will be a sofa during the day. Table is one of the front seats as the back of it has that kind of arrangement.

I will be putting some kind of vent fan in the roof for air flow. I've insulated the walls and then I'm putting that silver bubble foil over that, sealed with aluminium tape. Thin layer of plywood for the walls.

Shower, compost loo. Kitchen sink and gas hob, mainly gas for cooking but I probably will have a microwave. No fridge but I do have a 12v cool box. We'll see, they seem like a lot of work for something I probably won't use.

Both of the rails for the front seats will be long enough for them to partly travel into the living space.

I want so much power because I'm taking my studio monitors and my modular synth, laptop etc and also a sub. For either listening to or making music. 230v hook up point on the outside of the van that will power sockets inside once the generator is plugged into the hook up. Solar will charge phone etc.
 
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