We Made Mistakes! | Things We Would Change About Our Van | Full Time Vanlifers
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- This video is about the things we wish we would have done differently in the design of our van.
01 - Two Seater with Swivel
02 - Adjustable Bed
03 - Kitchen Drawers
04 - Garage Layout
05 - Heated Garage
06 - Fan Choice
07 - Windows
08 - Grey Water System
09 - Flooring
10 - Toilet
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We are Zach and MP two full time van lifers that are sharing this journey with two dogs, Jasper and Sidney. Every week we will share videos of what we learn from this new lifestyle on the road and what it means for us to be nomads!
Joolca out of Australia makes a composting toilet the "gotta go" that also has an insert that you can use as a cassette toilet. You can also buy extras of each. With shipping I believe I paid under $300. They are all plastic, but well made. Support has been excellent. And for me, I just use a lot of bags. If you check out their video they have a unique setup to deal with this as well. For composting toilets to really work well you need a lot of time, and I could certainly see the features of say something like a nature's head really shining here. Still though, the smell comes from mixing of the urine and the feces. If you can separate the two and then add a little salt dust there is very little smell if any. The "gotta go" does this. And yes you can build something for less, but with so many things to do constructing a van I just as soon buy things that I can complete.
It's funny when you first start a van build you think you're going to do everything, and then as you get into it you just want to get the damn thing done and use it. For example I'd much prefer to buy seat cushions or a bed cushions already covered, versus making my own and doing my own upholstery, which is extremely time consuming. It all adds up in the end .
Thank you for sharing!! There’s a new composting toilet from Germany called Trelino. They have S, M, and L sizes, priced at $495 - $695. That’s what I’ll be getting.
You can get a swivel for the 2 person bench seat in a Promaster. I've seen some of them online in use.
I made a composting toilet and urine diverter to go with it with plywood and fiberglass and the container is a 5 gallon gyp rock bucket with lid that I line with a bag and use sawdust the urine container is a 2 gallon water container it will last 2 people a week and cost 0 - $50 depending on what you have laying around.
Wow greeeeaaaatttttt ideal .......👏👏👏👏👏👏...............
Thanks for taking a bullet for us.
Good video with points to think about.
A few suggestions.
Add a fan and transfer vent under the bed. Pull out baskets or totes for drawers.
We tried a lot of things through the years.
We found a hospital urinal with twist cap or Nalgene bottle for discrete emptying, dedicated for urine.
The luggable lou double bagged with pet bedding works best for us.
No more dumping at dump stations.
Just twist the top of the bag, tie, and take it to the trash in the morning.Reload for next use.
No composting bags.
They will start to break down and leak.
7 gallon regular bags for 5 gallon bucket gives enough
On really cold nights throw a heated blanket over your things under the bed and heat that space up a little. It might keep things from producing condensation. Hope it works.
we use a heating blanket under our fitted sheet to warm up the bed in winter. it shuts off in 40-60 mins and works great. sounds like a lot of the things you want to change can still be done in your current van.
This information is so helpful! The illustrations made everything very clear. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Thank you for sharing things you would’ve changed or done different. This will help me so very much ❤️
Brutally honest. Truly appreciate you sharing yr experience.
great video! Good work incorporating the graphics and footage showing the lessons learned you're referring to, really helps the communication.
Awesome, thank you!
I love the extra visuals in this video!
Very clear and your choice of concerns relates to my interests.
Thank you. I love these videeos.
Thanks for sharing your views about the van. It is always good to hear people give their insights about what they would do different.
Thanks for watching!
The mixing mechanism of these expensive composting toilets is nice, but not a must-have. Just use a plastic bag for easy disposal. More important is to separate the liquid. I'm sure you can build this cheap with a bucket, a canister and a funnel or a special separator. Even in this small box.
Hello Elektrobits, We agree that building our own compositing toilet could be the future solution, we have committed for now to use the current one. We think that planning a head for a composting either DIY or pre made, is the way to go.
Nice tips, most of these we thought about it already: having 2 front seats were a must for us, we wanted to be able to access the front and back from the inside at all times. More space in the back was also a must (we never wanted a permanent bed, just for that exact reason: more living space. The bed we only uses at night for sleep), composting toilet came very early in our choice, ours will be stored in the shower. The windows will be made at the appropriate height for the living room and kitchen. We're on a waiting list to have our van build, so our project will come to life next year, and we can't wait for it!
That is awesome! Hope you get your van started soon!
Very good and instructive video.
Thanks for sharing. We are getting ready to do a box van / overlander build for our beach cruiser. So love the way you pointed out things that sound good coming from home living but not practical for van living.
Question: Our van will also be used as a promo vehicle for our documentary: ScreamingTangerine, Living & Working Outside Of The Box . Did you paint your logos on or use a vinyl wrap? We are also thinking of painting the front orange bedliner paint.
Thanks for sharing look forward to seeing more videos. 😀
Hello David, Thanks for the kind comments. We got the decals printed and then we applied them to the van. This way we keep the paint stock. (ie vinyl wrap)
we have seen some really cool paint jobs as well as full vinyl wraps.
Great video! I love that you put the pros and cons of each thing, and that you put your pride aside and admit mistakes that others can learn from. I wish every van channel would make similar to this 👍
Keep up the good work 🙌
PS, I'm curious what bed lift solution you think would fit your needs best. I'm in the same situation with a high fixed bed and would very much want some kind of bed lift.
Hello Per, thanks for the comment
We are currently exploring some options for a bed that has either 2 or 3 heights. We do not need hydraulic lifts, and they do add weight and complexity that we do not want. - likely our solution will be mounting points at different heights.
@@VanlifeWonder sweet! Keep us updated, I'm excited to see what you come up with 🙌👍
Replace the shelves with pull out shelves
Hello, I think that the solution for your garage differential temperature is easy, install to small vents in the wall that separates the garage from the living area, one close yo the water tank (you can create a duct with AC duct sheets to bring hot air to the tank)) and the other vent at the other end, behind one of them in the garage area create a box of the size of the vent and install one or two computer fans, and a switch in a convenient place, the fans will blow hot air in to the water tank, or cold air out of the garage (depending if they are blowing air in or out of the garage) that will be replaced by hot air from the living area to equilibrate air pressure.
Hey En De! Thanks for the awesome tip! We have tried running a temporary hot airline but maybe the small fans are the trick!
@@VanlifeWonder You can have one fan blowing air in and the other out, basically create air circulation between the two spaces to have the same temperature and humidity in the living area and the garage, you can even go further and use a: "Digital LED Temperature Controller Module, XH-W3001 Thermostat Switch with Waterproof Probe" $11.00 in Amazon, basically a switch that will run the fans when the temperature in the garage drops below your set minimum temperature and stop when the garage reach your set maximum temperature. Good luck
You can convert shelves to drawers withou redoing everything
great content
I’m positive they make a swivel conversion for a double seat. I’ve seen it on someone’s build, somewhere.
It is possible to change those cabinets two drawers without doing too much damage to the rest of the counter and area.
Hi William, Thanks for the suggestion! We have 100% thought about retrofitting the cabinets but for now we are living with them how they are! Maybe we will make the changes in the future!
THAT’S IT GUYS.
You can make your shelves pull in and out.
Marie-Pier? I hear a little quebec accent in there
If you want the US$ 1,000 one, look for the one Seven 'o Savage used for his current van built. It's the best there is now.
If you want a DIY toilet make it look nice, with a round / half circle form, so it looks like a toilet (sits better, back of the knees):
ua-cam.com/video/l2TztAxW8mk/v-deo.html
part 2?? :D
Maybe!
Get a bucket...
A fix for you floor is to polyurethane it.
That’s a great idea! But unfortunately our floor might be to far gone and it’s likely going to be replaced.
basically you're saying that you didn't do any research b/c these prbs/issues have been documented before.
That was helpful, not.
Some great advice, hadn’t even considered the garage heating issue, thank you