Thursday, December 25, 2014

Alternatives for housing

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Next in the off-the-grid construction subseries:

A permanent cabin is ruled out for the time being, if not permanently.  Too many regulatory headaches.

I started out with a conex, for crying out loud.   Lately, I've mainly considered a trailer conversion and a van conversion.  The latter are the cheapest options, but have the least amount of space and would require the most amount of work, aside from another option mentioned later in this piece.

Other options not discussed much so far include RV conversions of large vehicles, like buses and moving vans.  Aside from conversions is the purchase of an RV.  There are two possibilities for the latter:  a trailer and a motorized RV.

The simplest but most expensive of all these options is the motorized RV.  I can get one for about 15k.  The purchase of an RV trailer could be had for about 5k.  I do not like these options even though these would be the simplest in terms of execution.  Very little work would be necessary in making them ready for occupancy.

The conversions of big vehicles like buses and moving vans are intriguing.  But cost is a bit on the high side.  It may be possible to live in it while doing the conversion. Of course, you could drive the thing out there, which would be convenient in a way.  I'm thinking a backup vehicle would be necessary, as driving such a big vehicle would not be cost efficient at all.

So that's the summary of the options.

One of these will have to be selected and soon if I want to go by the end of May.

I'm starting to like the moving van conversion, to be honest about it.  It combines a number of advantages, but has one disadvantage and that is the up front cost.


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