Anyone van dwell in a renovated mini van?

Plywood is heavy, plastic drawer sets are better. For a kitchen countertop, just add a wood shelf on top, to insulate the plastic from the heat of a campstove. I like to keep my counter clear, so I can use the workspace for other things. Besides, with a portable stove, & sinks, I can choose to cook & clean outside without any duplication.

Hollywood bed frames can be adjusted easily to fit in vans, add metal conduit to legs to raise the height.

 

A two burner coleman type propane stove is much more stable to use than those single burner top of canister ones. A coleman style oven works well too.

Plastic dish pans can make great portable sinks, and trigger type spray bottles instead of elaborate water systems.

Forget solar panels, they're not worth the hassle. Charge your house battery(s) from your alternator.

 

Gotta' disagree with Bob here....solar panels are quite good for charging house batteries, as TwoDogs, Bob Wells, RV Sue, and many others can all attest. I can't, for the life of me, see where running the engine to charge house batteries would be better, unless you have a very low load to run, like charging the laptop & cell phone while on the road. for this stuff I use the lighter plug and adapter or tiny inverter. I have a 30 watt panel that sits on top of my bike trailer, but 100-200 watts would be better for a van top, and 400 watts wouldn't be out of line for a trailer. Startup cost is the only downside, but nothing says you gotta' do it all at once.

 

The ply-wood I mentioned isn't actual plywood... I dunno what it's called outside of maybe hard-board, the stuff I want to get is only 1/4" or less. and won't weigh terrible.

 

i lived for a while in a crammed, cluttered 1985 vanagon..,. nothing fancy, just dreamcatchers and prayer flags.... miss it!

 

Drummin' Mamma - I just picked up a EcoZoom Versa, a fancy, built to last rocket stove. I try to avoid gas, it tends to light stuff on fire, and not always in a good way. I also have a single burner that runs off 1000watts for bad days. I intend to make use of a few different ways of cooking, just to cover everything. I'm hoping for 200-400watts of solar, but I dunno.

I'll be happy with a functional, and practical shelter, at the very least.

 

I'm not selling for them, but I do have an amazon affiliate store

You do mean the eco-zoom, correct?

http://www.amazon.com/EcoZoom-Versa-Rocket-Stove-Charcoal/dp/B005GQZ4O0"]Amazon.com: EcoZoom Versa Rocket Stove - Wood, Biomass, or Charcoal Fuel: Sports & Outdoors

 

I chose the versa because that second door allows you to control the air flow and not have to worry about one too many sticks causing the rig to smoke. I can also close it up and allow the coals to burn off at a slower rate, due to less air, or no air.