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Now ye're talking - to a man living in his van

Boards.ie: Niamh

Our next guest is a full-time professional who lives in a van in an Irish city.

He has chosen to live in a van to avoid paying high rents, avoid living with strangers in a house share situation and to save for a deposit for a more permanent home in the future.
He converted the commercial van to a home himself, learning how to do things by watching videos online.

He is here to answer your questions about his experience of living in a van.

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I'm living in my van, AMA

turbot wrote: »

Do you feel claustrophic?

If you were building your van a new, what would you do differently?

Is it a LWB, Extra high roof etc?

Do you spot other people in stealth campervans?

Would you ever consider buying / leasing a parking space and just keeping it in one spot?

What is the story with parking? I presume it is too big to park in normal spots? Do you need to park it parallel with curb?

What do you miss most about an apartment / house?

Do you feel claustrophic?

Before I put the roof windows in, it was pretty weird, I wont deny that lol,
It all had a touch of Das Boat to it, but I love all that.

but Ive never felt claustrophobic.

No, this is my refuge from the crazy world now, my safe zone, and its going to look like a litte log cabin in here by the end of the summer , so I really like being in this space.

Yup, LWB and high roof, you would be OK until 6 foot and then you will be rubbing your head off the roof, not a problem for me!

Ive tried to keep everything as open as possible and not crowed the van with crap, which a lot of folk do.

I do see other people doing this, maybe one or two a month. to what extent I do not know. Some English plates, but some Irish. Not many tho.

Parking - this is why I go for private car parking a lot overnight - easy parking for long vans and no one is going to hassle you because you have a ticket.
I dont rent a single space , because I can be coming to twn from different locations sometimes, max flexibility, has crossed my mind tho.

Random street parking generally - unless its the evening, forget it, and I do not want to be randomly looking for somewhere to sleep really.

Kinda have to have a plan for every journey nearly, know where your parking is on the other side.

Lidl /Aldi - Zero Hassle car over night car parks, its a thing in Germany apparently. I use these as back up car parks when I do not know a place.

What do I miss about a house ?- a garden with my dogs in it, thats why Im doing this.

yabadabado

Would places like hotel or pub car parks be ok?
They are going to have a few vehicles in them over night anyways so it might not be noticed if it's on a irregular basis.

I know a shop/forecourt that would have lorries staying over night and they don't mind ,nor have I heard of any hassle at them.

Cianos

Fair play to you, just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad, and it seems a lot more sane than paying the guts of 2k/month just to exist!

Can you explain the carparks thing a bit further - you buy a ticket from the machine and you're good til early the next morning?

From your posts it sounds like you park in the work carpark during the day - don't your colleagues have questions about why a white collar worker is driving a LWB?

Best of luck!

I'm living in my van, AMA

ectoraige wrote: »

Interesting thread. I'm considering doing a camper-lite version, minus the cooking facilities. I'd be somewhere with both kitchen and shower facilities and would really only be using it to sleep three or four nights while away from home, and maybe chill for an hour before bed.

What's the smallest van you'd feel would work for this?

How noisy do you find it? If you were starting again do you think you'd improve your sound insulation?
What sort of lighting do you have?
How do you recharge your leisure batteries?

Thanks for the AMA.

Ive seen these type of set ups done to little Ford Curiour vans etc, loads of interesting builds , just looking at 'Stealth Camper' images on google game me a load of ideas.

I think the main thing if its just about you, is how physically big you are.

The bigger and taller you are , the more awkward it all is ,but you can get extra height roofs on the vans.

My friend has a small Nissan short wheel base van done out like a weekend van. Very basic, but sleeps two and has storage.

For you sanity, build a real , full sized bed, not this fold up crap. It feels a lot more like a real house if you have a real,solid, bed and mattress to get into.

Sound /Noise.

It is noisy in town and the van rocks when traffic passes if you are parked on the road. I never really park on the road tho anymore.
In ear Blue tooth wireless headphones, music, podcast whatever,blocks it all out.
Earplugs, defiantly for sleeping.

You get used to anything, and I find I can sleep in noisy environments no problem now, I dont hear it anymore. lol

12 volt soft yellow 5w touch LCD lights x 3, loads of soft warm light. Harsh white light is horrible in the back of the van.

I have a battery for the engine and a second battery for camper stuff, charged from the engine.

I'm living in my van, AMA

bfa1509 wrote: »

Any fears of becoming too fond of the van-life? Once I were to get enough for the deposit on a house, I couldn't trust myself to not piss it away on a nicer van.

I have my heart set on the little wrecked cottage, move the van in and do the house up. Ill always have the van /vans, but its all to get a house of some description in the end.

completedit

Have a gaff but would be tempted to rent it out and do this for the experience/make some coinage

Day Lewin

Haven't any questions, just a massive cheers-you-on:

I am a campervanner and my little rig is quite minimal but can sleep comfortable and warm, cook a decent breakfast and great coffee, tiny loo, and I just love stealthing.
So I can always spot the stealth campers...looks just like an ordinary traders van but parked quietly just after sunset in certain good spots. Black windows, often. Never hangs around too long, everything street legal and decent.
So, I know where you're coming from and it's totally do-able if you just take the steps.

Sending you congratulations and buckets of envy, and I hope you get your cottage; but I suspect you'll never really stop being a nomad!

challengemaster

Might be of interest to you - If you remember Wee Man from Jackass, he also now lives in a van.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht18GKKBHHI

I'm living in my van, AMA

Sour Lemonz wrote: »

Would you consider placing photoelectric material all over roof of van for constant energy generation, maybe in strips or blocks ?

How has your general health been since this project ? Any issues maintaining healthy weight, blood pressure, cholesterol...... things of that nature ?

Any trips to hospital since living out ? If yes how did you OR if no how will you, manage your vehicle being looked after ?

Pretty interesting idea you have going there, never thought about this before.

Would you consider placing photoelectric material all over roof of van for constant energy generation, maybe in strips or blocks ?

Do you mean like solar? I am putting solar up shortly for sure.

Zero Health issues, even the first Winter with the damp, it was bloody horrible, I should have got sick, but did not.
Since the van life I've quit drinking, became a vegetarian, super regulated my eating times, lost the beer gut. I had full medical recently, all good thankfully. I keep an eye on my health these days, well , more so than before.

If anything happened to me, I have a few friends I trust who can manage the van.

Its not that crazy, and totally doable.

I'm living in my van, AMA

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Couple of points, firstly, once you have it converted to the standards required to register it as a camper-van, tolls fall to car prices instead of commercial vehicle prices.
Tax comes down to about 100 euro a year instead of 300.
You dont need to buy a car, if you have your campervan as your sole vehicle your insurance will be about 700 a year instead of 350 . (350 when you can show another vehicle policy for your "main" vehicle).
You cannot buy and tax/insure/test a car for 350 a year, so just pay Dolmen the 700 and be done with it.
lastly, only house owners/landlords pay residential property tax, tenants do not.
Good luck with your continued project!

ps, diesel blow heaters can be noisy.

Its even worse than that , I'm paying private tax so I need to get this sorted, like now, what you describe here is the goal right now, get the sign off on the build and do everything legit.
I did not know I could get insurance without getting a second car, Ill have a look at that, many thanks!

I'm living in my van, AMA

the_syco wrote: »

The two magical words are "native resolution". A cheap Chinese piece of sh|t may take in 1900*1080 resolution, but if the native resolution is 320*240 the image that is outputted will be potato. You may need to Google some of the cheaper models, as they don't always tell you the native resolution, and the lads in the shops often pretend not to know. You'll see a few of these on Donedeal, etc. If you do see a decent 2nd hand projector, check out how many hours doe the bulb have left, as the price of a bulb replacement is often a few hundred.

Thanks Buddy,
Stuff like this can really add to quality of life, the tech today has made this all such a different proposition than even a few years back.

Without decent internet and a laptop, this may be more of a drag !

I'm living in my van, AMA

completedit wrote: »

Have a gaff but would be tempted to rent it out and do this for the experience/make some coinage

The life experience thing has been an unintended consequence but probably the best thing about doing this, Ive accidentally learnt a lot about a lot of random stuff and look at the world a little differently now.
Its all good I hope!

I'm living in my van, AMA

Day Lewin wrote: »

Haven't any questions, just a massive cheers-you-on:

I am a campervanner and my little rig is quite minimal but can sleep comfortable and warm, cook a decent breakfast and great coffee, tiny loo, and I just love stealthing.
So I can always spot the stealth campers...looks just like an ordinary traders van but parked quietly just after sunset in certain good spots. Black windows, often. Never hangs around too long, everything street legal and decent.
So, I know where you're coming from and it's totally do-able if you just take the steps.

Sending you congratulations and buckets of envy, and I hope you get your cottage; but I suspect you'll never really stop being a nomad!

Thanks so much Day Lewin, cheers to a fellow camper man!
You hit the nail on the head exactly right there, that's it in a nutshell.
Invisible dwellers ,in plain sight, right in front of you.

I hope it becomes a bit more of a thing in Ireland, we have an amazing place for driving around in.

Thanks Buddy and all the best

completedit

Where's the most uneasy you've spent a night just because of the eeriness or.isolation.

4068ac1elhodqr

There was alot of press in the last week about a chap doing something slightly similar (100% off grid) in Galway.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/30/off-grid-daily-letters-good-sleep.

Can see this type of thing becoming more popular, aka Decluttering/Minimalist living.

An over-worked wealthy chap, worth at least few hundred million, and owner of a dozen houses passed away suddenly years ago in a helicoper crash.
Someone asked "What did he leave behind?" Answer: Everything.

1874

Viscount Aggro wrote: »

Its a stealth camper van, right? Blackout windows.

Popular in the UK. Theres always a couple for sale on Donedeal.

Trick is to move around. Nobody would notice a transit van parked in their estate overnight.

Insurance? None of their business.

Desperate times, demand desperate measures. I would putting away serious wedge for a couple of years, then move on your cottage plan. Check out the guy on Youtube, Mossy Bottom.

You are a badass.

Supportive of the idea of tiny homes and even this, but Id notice and be concerned if I thought someone was living in a van and was just parking up in an estate. I think its a shame there arent places that people can park up and live like this without having to do it off the radar, maybe having access to hook up to water and electric, Id be a bit concerned about burning anything for heat and fumes/ventilation and any gas containers. I know on boats Ive been on, there was an isolated compartment for gas bottles and I think it's similar on campervans? basically the compartment has a vent that allows any potential leaked gas to drain away as its heavier than air, the pipe to the internal cooker is through a sealed section higher in compartment. A leak inside a living space would not be detected by a CO detecter and you are relying on the reliability of that device to work before you may be overcome by asphyxiation. I think many work vehicles have compartments to their sides, which store tools etc, it could be made very discreet, even a sealed box internally with a drain hole and pipe through some hole could be good for the same purpose.

Im not convinced about foilbacked/type bubble insulation, I really think thats better/aimed at radiant heat loss/gain, maybe better than nothing and I dont have experience, but when they insulate houses (properly) it isnt with that stuff. I really think insulation needs depth and thats not the kind of thing that works so well when space is a premium. Id think even a thin layer of Polysic (hard foam, kingspan type material) could be really good for heat loss.

Combined with airtightening the vehicle, would probably mean having some zip sealed access and for emergency egress (escape), could have a section velcro'd? Not sure if it's doable or if house type or other repurposed material could be customised for such a setup??
Im looking into the ideas for a home, MHVR, basically recovers the heat and introduces fresh air, but would need a fan running constantly, and its not viable unless you're airtight.

What type of vehicle do you have, for me, couldnt do this in anything less than the largest LWB van available, like an Iveco or Mercedes, do you have a B licence? is that useable for this type of vehicle?

handlemaster

While I admire this guy trying to save money excreta we also have to look at the tax and services situation. We the public in paying for services in the form of usage fees and taxes are subsiding people like this. So on the whole I appreciate what he is trying to do but it does come at a cost from the settled community and our taxes although indirectly. I dont think this would catch on in big way nor would I like to see it do so.

The Hoarse Whisperer

Would you consider writing a how to manual

1874

handlemaster wrote: »

While I admire this guy trying to save money excreta we also have to look at the tax and services situation. We the public in paying for services in the form of usage fees and taxes are subsiding people like this. So on the whole I appreciate what he is trying to do but it does come at a cost from the settled community and our taxes although indirectly. I dont think this would catch on in big way nor would I like to see it do so.

Its hardly coming at a significant cost to the settled community, he gets support from his family (storage/address etc),
I think so,long as someone is being responsible with their waste disposal (of all sorts), I wouldnt be opposed to it and I think it should be formalised to prevent problems, ie allow sites where people can access water, electric, and proper waste services, even laundry, cooking and bathing facilities, even security, so long as its legit, above board so maybe licenced at specific locations, I think its ideal. Its the staid and rigidly inflexible mentality of councils that have failed in allowing or providing suitable accommodation thats reasonable for buying/renting (ie councils the official community organisations for which we pay taxes to in exchange for services, for which we receive very little or nothing in return, and they make the decisions that people are forced to live with.

handlemaster

1874 wrote: »

Its hardly coming at a significant cost to the settled community, he gets support from his family (storage/address etc),
I think so,long as someone is being responsible with their waste disposal (of all sorts), I wouldnt be opposed to it and I think it should be formalised to prevent problems, ie allow sites where people can access water, electric, and proper waste services, even laundry, cooking and bathing facilities, even security, so long as its legit, above board so maybe licenced at specific locations, I think its ideal. Its the staid and rigidly inflexible mentality of councils that have failed in allowing or providing suitable accommodation thats reasonable for buying/renting (ie councils the official community organisations for which we pay taxes to in exchange for services, for which we receive very little or nothing in return, and they make the decisions that people are forced to live with.

everything costs money , someone pays for it. If its not the van owner its someone else

Evd-Burner

He's a white collar worker. It's highly likely he's already paying more than his fair share of taxes.

Also he has stated that he pays for bins and that he get's his water from Aldi/Lidl. He also has to pay for road tax and tax on his diesel.

So how exactly are we subsidizing him?

yabadabado

handlemaster wrote: »

While I admire this guy trying to save money excreta we also have to look at the tax and services situation. We the public in paying for services in the form of usage fees and taxes are subsiding people like this. So on the whole I appreciate what he is trying to do but it does come at a cost from the settled community and our taxes although indirectly. I dont think this would catch on in big way nor would I like to see it do so.

What tax and services situation?

How are taxs subsidising him ?

kiely182

have you got a backup plan in case you have mechanical problems with the van. ie if it has to go to a garage for a few days to get work done

Tell me how

handlemaster wrote: »

While I admire this guy trying to save money excreta we also have to look at the tax and services situation. We the public in paying for services in the form of usage fees and taxes are subsiding people like this. So on the whole I appreciate what he is trying to do but it does come at a cost from the settled community and our taxes although indirectly. I dont think this would catch on in big way nor would I like to see it do so.

He's paying income tax, he's paying tax on goods he purchases.
What tax is he not paying which other renters are and which services are likely to suffer a shortfall as a result?

1874

handlemaster wrote: »

everything costs money , someone pays for it. If its not the van owner its someone else

Everything does cost money, but what services do you suggest that he is availing of for free? or that are paid for by others? and how significant is this?
I can think of a few examples off the top of my head of wastefulness in Govt spending that could easily be curtailedor cut off and prevent unnecessary expenditure, which comes from our taxes.

Im happy to take your points on board, but when you hear opponents to doing things differently in Ireland, it does seem to come up like they are trying to skive something for free/AKA the State or their agents do not get their Tax cut, rather than, people living within their means/ability, something the State should do.

I'm living in my van, AMA

wally1990 wrote: »

1-How are you dealing with financial institutions, government departments(HSE, Revenue) etc when It comes to your home address?

Do you use a close family members?

2- regarding clothing, can you iron in the van or how do you manage washing/drying and ironing etc?

3-can you share any pictures of the inside?

4- have you made great progression on your finances and how long more do you think you will Continue living in a van?

I stopped changing my address's renting years ago as it was a nightmare, I have a family member who lets me use their address for real world formal stuff. Been that way for 10 years odd.

I get internet stuff delivered via DPD to pick up points where ever I am, super handy.

Outside of the Insurance questions, Ive racked my brain and Im pretty sure Im not doing anything wrong here.

I user revolution kiosk laundry, I dont have to iron generally, but just buy new shirts if something formal comes up.

Ive posted a wee picture earlier, but I am gutting and rebuilding the inside , with major tweaks after being in it for a while.

Its taken a while, but Im on my feet with savings now and can see the light at the end of the tunnel, its a fair ways off yet, but I can see it.

This is the only way I can save sufficiently to get this done in a handful of years.

I'm living in my van, AMA

yabadabado wrote: »

Would places like hotel or pub car parks be ok?
They are going to have a few vehicles in them over night anyways so it might not be noticed if it's on a irregular basis.

I know a shop/forecourt that would have lorries staying over night and they don't mind ,nor have I heard of any hassle at them.

Possibly, but as they are private property, someone will defiantly notice you there and question you if over night. I've done both and been fine, but not ideal spots as they are private and monitored closely.

Lorry Laybys are great way to blend in, I've used them a bit, but they can be noisy obviously.

I'm living in my van, AMA

Cianos wrote: »

Fair play to you, just because it's different doesn't mean it's bad, and it seems a lot more sane than paying the guts of 2k/month just to exist!

Can you explain the carparks thing a bit further - you buy a ticket from the machine and you're good til early the next morning?

From your posts it sounds like you park in the work carpark during the day - don't your colleagues have questions about why a white collar worker is driving a LWB?

Best of luck!

Cheers Cianos, yeah, I think the rest of the world is mad pretty much, ha!

Yup, pull up to any large Pay and Display car park, know the day/ night rates, pay the change and put the ticket in the window, its very simple but no one has any business hassling you when you are displaying a ticket.

I generally do not get in and out of he van once parked for the night, that's another big no no.

Yes, the van sticks out a bit at work, but I just tell them the truth of I'm converting it inti a van into a camper - its my hobby like. People seem to like that anyway,Its the truth basically and I dont feel bad lying!

I'm living in my van, AMA

completedit wrote: »

Where's the most uneasy you've spent a night just because of the eeriness or.isolation.

A few, I have location right next to a Crypt, that can be odd sometimes, but I want to see some of that stuff to be honest.
Parking overnight in churches generally is a bit odd, but so am I.

Croagh Patrick, not the main car park, but down the lane to the sea side, burnt out old church on shore with small car park.
I had a very odd night there, drove out of there quickly at about 4.30 in the morning spooked, never done that before or since.

When you are a good few miles up a Coilte track on your own in the woods/mountains, it can be pretty quite and spooky, but I like it.

Sheeps Head Peninsula, amazing place but super quite and spooky at night.

shivermetimber

Fair play to you. Seeing as the current job has you tied to big town / city location whats the plan once a small rural cottage fixer upper is bought?