Trevor Flowers
OK, this may be the photo I'm most embarrassed to post but in the interest of sharing the process, here we go.
A combination of unexpected life events and a bit of builder advice has led me to take my incompletely converted camper van on the road.
What you see in the photo is scrap wood furniture and an incomplete electrical system tacked in place, all so I can learn what works for me when moving, parked, and at camp.
It barely functions and is not safe.
/thread
#vanLife #vanBuild
May 14 at 1:01pmWeb
Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
This is my first project involving a vehicle and I've never car camped, much less lived full time in a van. I know that I don't know what I'm doing and have habits from building workshop furniture that are bad for this new situation. Workshops rarely get into high speed collisions. Workshops rarely jiggle for so many hours that solid core cables snap. Workshops rarely completely and rapidly change temperature and humidity.
🙀
Camper vans are more like sailboats than workshops.
⛵
So, prototypes!
Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
The photo at the top of the thread shows dozens of low cost experiments, meant to teach me how I like to be in a van and how the van likes to be.
Everything is reversible. There is no glue, nail, or staple. It's all screws. Every day I add, rearrange, and remove features and try new strategies.
The materials are all meant to be used up in the process. I put screw holes anywhere. I cut holes on a whim.
Surface finish? What's that?
Moisture resistance? Ha ha ha!
Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
Let me tell you, ~all of my assumptions made from watching van builds on GoogTube were either misleading or wrong. Not because those builds were all flawed (though some were tragic) but because I have opinions about how I want to live and they're often different than others'. I'm OK, you're OK, and they're OK. 😸
Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
I didn't grok the volume of the living area and how much of it I want to leave empty. CAD blindness is real.
🕶️
I didn't understand the work of existing on a continent with radically varying levels of infrastructure for and malice about vehicle abodes. Van life influencers and dirty campers have pissed in the well.
🧻
I am still learning how to balance the ease of travel with the emotional and financial cost of motion.
Show threadDalia_ZMay 14
@trevorflowers Interesting project. Thanks for sharing.
Show threadR.I.PienaarMay 14
@trevorflowers We're renting a camper this summer - terrifying :P never camped etc as an adult.
Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
@ripienaar I think that's a smart way to go. Test the water a bit before diving in.
Show threadR.I.PienaarMay 14

@trevorflowers Long term we want to summer in Latvia and winter in Malta. Camper between for a month each way.

Quite a big set of decisions to get there, knowing if we even like the idea is a good start lol.

So we're heading to Finland in a bigish (for europe) camper this year another year maybe to Denmark with a smaller one to try and figure out what size (and if!)

Meanwhile I also have a prob of more sleeping place at my summer cottage so once we know we could put a camper there for that

Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
@ripienaar Yes, the original energy for this van build came when I decided to become a snowbird and take Winters in the US Southwest. I'm even considering converting a trailer into a small workshop that doubles as a guest room! 😹
Show threadR.I.PienaarMay 14
@trevorflowers Yeah been eagerly following but wish you posted more details :)
Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
@ripienaar YouTubers make it look so easy to post videos and photos showing builds and life afterwards. It turns out that it's an entire additional full time job!
Show threadZorroMay 14

@trevorflowers necessity is the mother of invention?

Best of luck, I'll try to follow along if you post your build process.

Show threadTrevor FlowersMay 14
@zorrobandito Thanks! For build post I try to remember to tag them with #vanBuild
Show threadtweakMay 14
@trevorflowers right on. prototype it in the real world. you can always stop at a big hardware store to get more 'parts'