CCR said that people on the river are happy to give. But seriously though, I know about five people that live a half mile down the blacktop and a couple of miles down the dirt road where if I did have to go live in a van down by the river.... I could be like, okay wild Bill Tuesday and Wednesday night I'm going to stay in your driveway.... And Tom, Thursday and Friday night..... And so on and so forth.... And maybe one day if I get the van up to where I want it I get 20,000 in the bank (I'm a little bit better than halfway there)... Maybe I'll quit my job and travel around and see what's happening in the panhandle of Florida or maybe even Alabama or Southern JawGa ?
Recently did some upgrades.... Installed a backup camera that I got for $38 from Amazon delivered to my front porch.... Put in LED replacement headlights which were $40. Stripped up the factory black rubber mat that comes in the back of one of these Vans and found some rust underneath... So therefore I sanded and grinded and roughed up what was necessary and I'm putting down new paint. When I wake up in the morning... Going to roll some white oil base enamel over the top of it. I have let this primer cure for four or five days
For less than $40 how could you not have this? It's not wireless but that's okay. Had to drill a hole at the back corner of the van to run the wire and drill the hole through the bumper for the camera.
This was before paint almost done wire brushing. As you can see it was not terrible but I am glad that I got on top of the job before it got worse. Rust is like cancer, you ignore it it is just going to continue eating. But there is an interesting antidote... Marketed under the name of " ospho ".... It is nothing more than phosphoric acid with some detergent as a wetting agent, aka a " surfactant " Commonly used in auto body but is useful anywhere you would find rust... It chemically converts iron oxide, into iron phosphate.... Treated areas turn black. It is however, not a panacea. It doesn't do anything if steel has not rusted... And it will not prevent future areas from rusting. The lazy way is to spray and forget... But the proper way is to spray and paint.
I've looked into the van life stuff. Honestly seems like a good life. I'm personally doing really well rn, and in a few years may be well enough to buy my way into a whole ass new life. And when that happens I'm considering getting a "gaming van" going. Lifes short. Do It if you want to.
It's not exactly like I aspire to it but I'm going to slowly start making this van capable if that should be necessary. One hopes one never has to live in a van down by the river... But one never knows. Particularly in the world we are currently living in
I'm not going to dump a stupid amount of money into it but there are videos on YouTube where people that have put thousands of dollars into a van like this and made it into a very comfortable little RV. I think my next thing I want to do is to get a big light bar for the front. It's not legal in the City and really not legal anywhere on the road but on these county back roads at night.... You use it to keep from hitting a deer and the moment you see a car off in the distance.... Turn it off Semi truck drivers seem to be able to drive through the city with their light bar activated all night and never get messed with by the police
And something I want to do starting soon is to fabricate my own custom brush guard for the front. Also known as a cattle pusher. The simplest thing is to put a big piece of well casing but that looks pretty ghetto and redneck. But however your end result looks... You could hit a deer and not destroy your radiator and be stuck on the road. You ain't from around here if you don't have a light bar and a cattle pusher. Lol
Just think of it like having an RV at your disposal even if you are not currently unhoused. My current gig could last for several more years but if I want to I can always go camping for a weekend or something
Speaking of which.... My next upgrade should be a 12 volt RV roof vent fan. At the bare minimum you will need that, particularly here in the Southeast if you plan to sleep in it at night. Of course this requires cutting a hole in the roof and all of the anxiety that that entails. And they are a bit pricey, even the cheapest ones on Amazon started $100 and most of the decent ones seem to be about $250 to $300 or so.... The better ones automatically close when it starts to rain
Perhaps a little bit of solar power with one of those battery stations like a jackery and inverter.... That's about the bare minimum you need to get some electric going
The ideal situation is to have a house paid off and have the van for exploration and vacation. Etc. But even so a vam can help you save money for years if you build it right.
The wife and I are thinking about that as one option for early retirement, but probably a trailer type as opposed to van.
I would think of an RV too if it was just more than me. This van has a 6.0 motor and the big t80 or whatever it is transmission.... I would have no problem towing anything I ever hooked to it
Absolutely. I would like to buy an acre somewhere and be able to just park my van or maybe even put a shed and call it a house... But of course they make that not doable. Here in DeSoto county you can't even park an RV even in the county unless you already have a primary residence. But we are still one of the very few counties in Florida without an impact fee
But I do know of this person that has lived out in an Orange Grove in a travel trailer for a long time and nobody gives him a hard time.
I found this on Amazon for $32. It's the brake light for the top center. This one flashes five times when you hit the brakes.
I can finally see the finish line. After having used the acid rust converter to begin with and then wiping down with mineral spirits and using Rust-Oleum rusty metal primer... Now I have put the final coat of white Rust-Oleum oil based enamel for metal. I rolled it on thickly and used a sponge brush for the corners. There should never be a speck of rust on it again especially when the factory stock rubber mat goes back over the top. Sure is a shame to cover up that nice paint job and never see it again but at least I know it's not going to rust. And you can see the new LED top dead center brake light installed
