Great news. I finished my bed today. Mostly. You'd think adding "table legs" would be simple, but because they have to support my entire body weight, I had to spend a lot more time and materials to make sure they were strong enough to do so.
Also, it doesn't help that a vehicle has so many weird curves that I have to work around. Every leg is a custom job, and that means having to lift the entire heavy board into the car, fit it, measure it, and pull it back out, install the leg, and put it back in to check the fit. The following picture is a good example of this.
However, by the end of the day, I finally did it, and decided to add the mattress to get a better idea of the end result. I hope you find this as hilarious as I do, because... I mean look at it. It's bonkers.
What I find particularly funny about the next picture is that I had to remove my arm rest to fit the mattress. Not having it was a bummer, but now, I can just use the corner of the mattress as my arm rest. Yes, I tested it out, and it's glorious.
Equally glorious is a bit of gymnastics I have to employ in order to transition from sitting in the driver seat to lying on the bed, and back. It's just too much fun... omg this would be insane if someone caught me doing it. Also, I have to learn to do it right so I don't accidentally hit the horn with my feet. It's weird talking about all this as a grown man haha.
The bed frame isn't technically done yet though. The next and perhaps final step is to apply coats of non-toxic sealants to the wood to protect against moisture and rot. It's an important health issue to address, and hopefully will give it a nice shiny sheen to it as well.
Oh yeah, and I am debating if I need to get a belt sander to sand it down. The surface is rough, but I wonder if I can just roll with this?
Bed's done! Sort of.
March 22nd, 2017 at 11:47 pm
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:29 am 1490268585
I am more interested in how you came to making this decision although I know you had an interest years ago. And what your current thoughts are about how this new lifestyle will work. I'll have to catch up on your posts!
March 23rd, 2017 at 04:13 pm 1490285623
March 23rd, 2017 at 06:07 pm 1490292439
As for deciding to do this, as you already know, I indeed have had an interest in doing this for a while. I mean, who doesn't ideally want to be able to travel from time to time, and do so cheaply? However, it wasn't until I have owned my house now for a good year now, did I realize that this just isn't working for me. Even if it's paid off, I am still shouldering utility bills, HoA fees, insurance, and property tax, and that's before any other maintenance costs I haven't thought of.
Yes, I know most people pay way way more than I do, including mortgage or at least rent. And yes, most people correctly perceive that a house is a necessary expense in life.
Well, but what if it isn't... for me at least? What if I can figure out a way to live so that I may never have to pay for a house again? I want to try that. This is my primary motivation. A lot of vandwellers do it to travel and indulge in their sense of adventure. I have nothing against that, but my primary motivation is to hopefully but substantially cut down my cost of living. That said, the two overlap quite a bit, as I too can travel from time to time (and will have to for summer, which I'll elaborate later), and other VDers do travel fairly cheaply compared to the jet set Aspen skier types.
Ceejay, no, that would be physically impossible. I am only going to carry what is needed to hopefully live in this vehicle full-time. That's the goal. And that alone will be quite enough of a challenge as it is. By extension, it will also challenge my sense of austere minimalism.
The rest of my stuff, I am going to store the rest at my parent's house. I still have a room there whenever I stop by, and I will still need to stop by anyways, if nothing else to wash my laundry. My current plan is to stop by only every other week, but again, we'll see how it works out in practice.
March 24th, 2017 at 07:41 pm 1490384505
I am getting a real kick out of reading about you doing this, though I don't think I ever would have gone smaller than a van myself as the sheer amount of minimalism would be very difficult for me in a car that tiny.
March 24th, 2017 at 10:28 pm 1490394501
But yeah, I've looked into it a bit more and agreed that a belt sander would be a bit overkill, and I might also get in trouble with it. So I eventually ended up going with just a palm sander instead. Small, light, easy, cheaper, and was quite adequate for my needs. The end result is far from perfect, but it's good enough for me.
I am glad you are enjoying this. Makes documenting this process much more fun even for me. And yes, most people do indeed go with at least a minivan or cargo van or higher. This is extremely tight.