Living in a motor home

[BobG]

I currently own 2 houses, one in Slough close to where I work and one in north Wales which is where I like to play. If I sold my house in Slough and lived in a van while working down south I'd either be rolling in money or I could comfortably work part time. I can't see myself living in a van 18 days a month so the part time option of about 12 days a month looks favorite. I would convert a long wheel base van into a stealth motorhome i.e. it would have no windows so it looked like it was still being used as a panel van.
I would add:
a chemikasi plus roof vent
deep cycling leisure batteries with vents to force the hydrogen (generated during charging)outside
A split charge system plus battery state indicator
A Webasto/Eberspacher heating system plus fuel tank
a 12v - 240v inverter
a lighting system
a folding bed
a reclining chair
a desk with computer, DVD, TV, HiFi etc
Skylights and roof mounted fans
Plylining and insulation

I won't be bothering with cooking or washing facilities as these are available at work

Have I forgotten anything?

 

[scanker]

The Eberspracher will just run off the main diesel tank won't it? I'd be tempted by a small combination hob/sink even if it's just to brew up and wash your cup.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Eber heater expensive with the price of fuel.

Gas blown air would be cheaper.

I would go for a 'Proper' campervan to avoid hassles such as condensation etc.
Better for trips away too.

Nick

 

[Ogri the trog]

Have I forgotten anything?

Yup,
you're state of mind!
I've stayed in a caravan for work over the past five years, nowhere as technologically kitted out as you're suggesting and I know I was getting "Cabin Fever". I used to say that the ability to "switch off" family and "switch on" work mode was all well and good but it became that I "had-to switch" rather than "was able to switch". Is there no way you could rent out part of the Slough house while maintaining a room for yourself, thus giving yourself an income to offset the costs involved in travelling etc?
If you do take to the road, make sure you have the best bed you can get - nothing robs sleep like an uncomfortable night - the rest are merely "nice-to-haves", also the ability to keep cool in summer is more important to me, than keeping warm in winter .
I'm looking forward to mentally setting fire to my caravan as I'm soon being made redundant - though I can't see any downsides yet!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[twisted firestarter]

I currently own 2 houses, one in Slough close to where I work and one in north Wales which is where I like to play. If I sold my house in Slough and lived in a van while working down south I'd either be rolling in money or I could comfortably work part time. I can't see myself living in a van 18 days a month so the part time option of about 12 days a month looks favorite. I would convert a long wheel base van into a stealth motorhome i.e. it would have no windows so it looked like it was still being used as a panel van.
I would add:
a chemikasi plus roof vent
deep cycling leisure batteries with vents to force the hydrogen (generated during charging)outside
A split charge system plus battery state indicator
A Webasto/Eberspacher heating system plus fuel tank
a 12v - 240v inverter
a lighting system
a folding bed
a reclining chair
a desk with computer, DVD, TV, HiFi etc
Skylights and roof mounted fans
Plylining and insulation

I won't be bothering with cooking or washing facilities as these are available at work

Have I forgotten anything?

A couple of other things to think about;

I would certainly have at least one solar panel on the roof wired via a voltage regulator to the leisure batteries, TV/DVD will cane your batteries so I would suggest a small LCD screen or one of those passenger DVD players (check first to see how much juice it needs to run). Insulation is a very good idea for summer and winter, if you can afford it you might want to think about battens and spray foam which will stop condensation.
For your lighting needs a low wattage incandescent bulb for reading and working, LED clusters for ambient light. Heating- could you have a mini wood burner where you park-up? if so you might want to think about something like this 'Wendy' burner
http://www.windysmithy.co.uk/html/woodburners.htm but make absolutely sure that it is installed safely and that you have adequate ventilation. Lastly you might want to think about a basic sink and tap. I have used a small sink set into a rectangle of hardwood with an old beer hand pump to draw the water up from the containers, sounds daft but believe me when you live in a small space you need to make everything as comfortable as possible. Good Luck

 

[Boatswain]

How would you deal with problems of security and parking ?

Cheers Roy

 

[Knife-man]

a desk with computer, DVD, TV, HiFi etc

Is that all in one?

If not I would suggest making it a all in one unit .. a good laptop with decent memory will save you ton's of space in CD's and DVD's (not sure of the legallity of it though) TV card's are as cheap as chip's nowadays and you can get away with a smaller desk because when your not using it the laptop can fold away and be tucked out of the way.

 

[BobG]

How would you deal with problems of security and parking ?

Cheers Roy

I'll be in the car park at work hence the need for stealth mode.

 

[Eric_Methven]

Living in a panel van with no windows could pose problems if you want to stop on a commercial camp site. Might look a bit like a traveller van. I've been refused when driving my Transit panel van.

Eric

 

[GordonEndersby]

Have you thought about a narrow boat?
Slough isnt that far from the Thames or canal network.
The slough arm runs off the grand union from Cowley.

Everything you want has already been done in a boat and you would have more room.

Gordon

 

[BobG]

Have you thought about a narrow boat?
Slough isnt that far from the Thames or canal network.
The slough arm runs off the grand union from Cowley.

Everything you want has already been done in a boat and you would have more room.

Gordon

Yes but a narrow boat would cost more than my current mortgage!

 

[twisted firestarter]

Yes but a narrow boat would cost more than my current mortgage!

Why?

I have had several and they cost as much as you want to spend. The licence is cheap as chips too at under a grand a year for a 72 foot boat. Maybe you have been speaking to people who live on their boats in marinas who do spend a small fortune

 

[GordonEndersby]

If you buy a new one at £50,000 maybe.
But if you shop around you can get an older boat that needs tidying for substantualy less.
If you get a cruising licence for the waterways and dont mind moving about you dont need a mooring and the associated costs. In my younger days I used to work at the shovel pub on cowley lock. There was a big community of boaties and they seemed to have a pretty good lifestyle. Its looking more attractive to me again as I get older, but would never be able to talk the wife into it.

Gordon

 

[scanker]

Stumbled across these, whilst looking for something else and thought they might be of interest:
http://www.jollyinteresting.co.uk/camper/index.html
http://www.jollyinteresting.co.uk/camper2/camper2.html

 

[anthonyyy]

Anybody know any good web sites for information on narrow boats and where you can buy them?

 

[GordonEndersby]

Your best bet is to buy either "Canal Boat" or "Waterways world" from the newsagents.
The waterways world annual magazine is out at the moment. Theres lots of information for first time buyers in there. I saw a copy in WHsmiths.
I havnt found much on the net, it seems that its one area that hasnt kept up with the times. You will only find the expensive stuff listed in them, but you will find the local yards and brokers so you can go and have a look around to find the cheaper boats.

Gordon

 

[tommy the cat]

There are some great websites on this subject I am on the wrong computer to post some up but will try to at some point. One really good one is a self build camper van site I'm sure you will find it if you Google that. WWW.80-90.co.uk is useful but then I am bias as I own one of them!! (Vw t25)
Not sure gas is cheaper than running a derv eberspacter but have a look at the price of them on ebay (lots of vw enthusiasts are after them)
Also the brickyard forum is useful as Simon went and lived in a van in Chamonix through the winter so it tells you how he kitted out his van (the phridge)
Split charge relays are easy to hook up and the batts not too expensive solar power will help but not as good as makers suggest as is wind power.
Good luck Dave