So I sold my lake house and downsized into a rental... and bought a van. (2018 Ford Transit 350 with the 3.5 ecoboost, extended body hi-roof) My plan is to build it into a tiny house on wheels over the next 2 years then spend my days traveling and working remotely until my kids get out of college with as little debt as possible. I just took my first long road trip in it to Colorado and man was it sweet. Before the trip with the new wheels: Some where in Colorado: View from the bed, tool chest will eventually house sink and stove: Camping in the middle of nowhere Colorado: My eventual living room: Driving through the clouds RMNP: https://imgur.com/R1gYjgh Wrong turn, no problem. Chill: https://imgur.com/ekt0yxH More remote camping: https://imgur.com/jD8wEvR 50 yards from where we camped, I could hear the river running all night: https://imgur.com/iVUCIxr
Where do you go to the bathroom? #2, that is. Is there a septic tank? Where will your kids stay while attending high school? Cool setup for Colorado, but not desirable in a place like Texas with unbearable daytime climate.
probably towing a small 4*6 high roof cargo trailer that can be converted to bathroom/water/batteries hauler would give you more space, I like this adventure,best of luck
right now I #2 anyplace but the van. Eventually a composting toilet will be added. Daughter goes off to college this year. Son in 2 years. After that is when I will hit the road full time. By then I hope to have bathroom/shower built in.
I'm hoping to avoid having to tow anything. I think I can carry enough water to be off grid by myself for a while. If the wife decides to come with me then all bets are off and I could never carry enough water.
This must be so exciting for you. I would say invest in a better ice chest though. Those coleman xtremes are cheap and hold ice just as good as the yetis and rtic coolers for a fraction of the price.
Yeah, it's super exciting. Hard not to want to take off now. I'm going to upgrade to a 12v fridge cooler eventually. I melted the top of the cooler in the photo with a camp stove malfunction half way through our trip so I may get an xtreme until i'm ready for the fridge. thanks for the advice.
That is BADASS. Cruise through Marble Falls next time you're homeward, I'll buy ya a beer and a burger. This is what I'm angling to build, once I get the gumption to do it:
FWIW, this is what I do for a living. Mostly with sprinters, but I have done multiple fords. I suggest investing in a lot of 1/8th drill bits because the fords in certain areas have extremely tough hardened steel. My company's website is Gulfcoastconversions.com in case your curious. I don't know how up to date the site is kept tho. But I respect doing it yourself, I always imagined converting a school bus to an RV myself and travelling. @VooDooPope If you ever have any questions I'd be more than willing to lend you my advice. I have a lot of experience doing exactly what your setting out to do.
We have to service airstream stuff or do additions to them. Those are cookie cutter Van's tho, we are a completely custom conversion shop.
LOVE it, this is my retirement plan. Things go as planned I'll be retired by 55 or 56, plan to spend the last two years of it building out a van similar and traveling the first few years of retirement. I hope you enjoy everyday of it, I sure hope I will too.
Gotcha, was just curious. I have one (Avion, my hombres lived in it while they worked for me) sitting out at a ranch that I'm thinking about selling as-is or pimping out. What would you estimate, I'm guessing it's about 15-20K, to refurb the whole shebang?
Tbh I'm not entirely sure because I don't deal with sales, but that seems about right. Honestly, it's what you want to put into it.
