Obligatory: 10.6.15; More Moonshot

There was some slack time yesterday, even though it was a busy day.  Finished late, by the way, so there was no opportunity to write once I got back home.  With the slack time I did have, I gave some thought about the van to RV conversion project.  One thing about that, though.  Once that gets started, the van cannot be used for anything like I'm doing now.  So, a lot of this thought is just in the planning stage.

The sleeper cannot go on top because that makes the van too tall.  I may want to keep it in storage someplace.  Let's say I rent out a storage location where one of the vehicles is always there.  The van goes out on the property, but the car stays in town.  Let's say the car stays in Van Horn.  I drive the van in from the property, swap vehicles, and drive the car into El Paso to work a bit.  Then come back to Van Horn, store the car, and swap vehicles, and drive back to the property.  With a plan like that, both vehicles need to fit into the same spot.  If the van is too tall, there's a problem.

But something needs to go on top of the van in order to get more space for the lower side.  I can use that upper side for storage, then.  Make it only about a foot high, and store things there.  Storage can be built in on top of the wheel wells, too.

An idea struck me yesterday to place the sleeper crossways right behind the driver area.  But this would be a very tight fit.  I would like to keep the freezer, too.  If so, it could go on top of the sleeper.  If it did, I would have to enter the sleeper from the side, which would be interesting, to say the least.  Opening the door to get out may be tricky.  The sleeper would be a tight fit against the side doors of the van, so to reach the door handle from a lying position could be difficult.  May need to rig something that would allow the door handle to be operated from down below.

The sleeper gives platform for storage for the freezer as mentioned.  But there's a little more room, so a microwave oven can go next to it.  Above the microwave can be some extra shelving, for food.  Plus shelving along the sides on top of the wheel wells, as mentioned.  There, clothes can be stored.

Thus, the previous idea of putting a quonset hut type construction up top is ruled out.  The van would be used as before, but there would be a bit more space built in to it.  It would not be built to stay at an RV spot, although it could.  It's primary function would be to get on and off the property without having to drive too far each time.  It would depend upon having some facilities built on the property that would make it a bit more livable.  It would need to be livable in order to stay for longer periods of time.

An earlier idea involved putting some facilities for growing things in the van.  That should be ruled out.  It is being made as simple as possible.  Growing things in the van implies long stays at an RV spot.

Changes were necessary in order to reflect upon the realities of the situation.

The realities are that the van has a lot of miles.  Don't want to spend a lot of money on projects for it.  Don't want to drive it too much, either.  This plan would allow it to last a longer time, because it will need to last as long as possible.  The van will be needed for access to the property.  The car cannot be used for that.

The car is necessary in order to make money, as the necessity for money still exists, and will exist for the foreseeable future.

One more reality is that plans are tentative.  Things happen that could render all this discussion moot.

Update:

I had a good solution.  Just use that chair.  It worked out there on the trip.  No need for a "coffin" ( sleeper), unless the idea is to use it for climate control.  Seems like there could be another way for climate control.  The sleeper takes up valuable space.  The chair can be folded up and stored on the topside.

Update:

An alternative to renting out a storage place is given here.

This post goes into the construction subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.


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