Ex-Pat Yank in a 1984 Econovan Maxi. I am currently living in my flat, but come February or March I will be moving out into the van and onto the road. I am 52 and I am dying in this house. I am making no friends, having no fun, breathing nothing but house air, and it has absolutely ruined me. I was going to go back to the states, but I have permanent residence here in Australia, and I have not explored her at all. I have lived on the same side of town since I came to get married, basically the Liverpool area of Sydney. 9 years is far to long to be in a suburb. I was an inner-city kind of kid in America, but here that costs literally millions of dollars. Since my divorce, my mental and physical health has declined, and I need air, road, and ocean, I do think. I am looking forward to meeting my fellow grey hairs on the road, and trading stories for laughs over the campfire.
The van itself was gifted to me by chance, I logged into gumtree and a bloke sold it to me that night. He was absolutely HOUNDED by other people offering him more money even, but he was a real honest guy and let me buy it. It is a 1984 Econovan MAXI with a 2.2 diesel. It has NO WHEEL WELLS! It is generous inside, but there is a lot of rust and a few rust through areas. They are purely on the body though, not the frame, so about 5 small fist-sized areas, plus multiple multiple rust bubbles and problems. I am going to go over the whole truck with a grinder, weld in the rust throughs, rust inhibitor paint in something light-colored and flat, and within easy ordering. The engine was rebuilt about 35K ago and that was after 500+K of milage. I know these drive trains are good for another 400K as I have seen these run into 1.5 million K.... so I feel confident it will be a good little van for me. If I service, change filters, timing belts, and maintain this properly. I believe I can have a long and satisfying time in my Maxi.
Some things I will be doing.
2 x 250 watt 13.7 ohm Solar Panels with controller and batteries
a 300 watt 12v ATX personal computer with a Ryzen 5 cpu and NVidia 1050 4gig card - yes, 12v not 240. This will be a modern desktop build I am experimenting with. I hate laptops.
a 12v 24" HD 1080 tv to use mainly as a computer screen
able to charge my laptop, run my pc, and charge my various other electronics.
you may see a theme here of 12v
inside the van it needs to be able to let me sleep, cook, work digitally, bathe/shower/clean, and toilet. This is a tall order for a minivan but I have several ideas to try. It is a long wheelbase and I have 2.6 length to work with so I think I am good. Also, I plan on having a popup shower stall for shower and toilet when outside of a city. Table with a tarp and legs for cooking and relaxing outside. It's just sometimes you can't.
Welcome to the gang Glen, enjoy here and out in the playground.
While reading your intro I was thinking you were converting a Prime Mover truck
With all the 12v 'stuff' you are talking about, the more battery power you have the better. Then, that makes you look at Solar Power intake, is it enough and on it goes.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
__________________
Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
Hi
Had you thought about taking small trips while you work on your van. That way if it takes longer to get your van fixed up than you anticipate (and it usually does) you have something to look forward to. It sounds to me that you could do with some short and long term plans. If you bought a few essential items at somewhere like bcf you could go up the coast for weekends or the blue mountains; ok so you would have to stay at Caravan parks because you wouldn't be self sufficient yet or a yha. Or if you can't keep your place could you possibly look at the grey nomads classifieds and find a station stay or something fix up your van as you go.
Look I don't know your situation and if you go full on over the next 4 months and get what you want done good on you. But either way you need to get yourself a life soon because you can't put 'I need a break' on hold, it's not good for your mental health.
I've just turned 66 and my life has been hard, and my health is poor. (I'm post operative a.t.m so going nowhere) And I'm a newbie at this lone travelling. I bought a car than Covid hit so have only had one real trip, (20days) but it has definitely improved how I feel mentally about myself. During the Covid boarder shut-downs I planned many trips on wiki camps app, from weekends away to 38day trips and my trips may need some alterations due to Covid or health alterations as time goes on: But it gave me something to focus on.
On my trip I took e-audio-books from the library, so if I didn't feel like talking to people I could leisurely entertain myself. But, I also met and talked to people from all over the world, on the way to the shower block, in the shower block, in the pub while I drank my bottle of water, round the campfire at happy hour. I even bumped into someone I knew. Someone from the uk who knew the tiny little place I grew up in over 40years ago. And I met a Queenslander whome I plan to visit one day. All this from my first real trip.
I guess what I'm saying is 'go for it mate' you only have one life, (now if I could only get my divorced son to take this advice I would have done my job)
As said above, do some short trips to iron out issues with the van. Or more to the point what you need to take & much more importantly what not to take.
No point being in WA & have 50kg of unused stuff.
I do (did) 3d rendering, had my own bank of computers at home for a render farm, mostly dual Xeon. Unless your are doing 3d rendering something like a Asus PN40 is more than adequate for most people. I set up one for a friend.
I still run a 2009 Mac Mini for Photoshop 16bit files.
When fitting out the van at the very least stuff it full of polybatts for thermal insulation. If you have the funds do acoustic insulation which is thermal by default.
This is for a car which is more difficult than a van. Walking my local streets this year I have come across 3 people fitting out older vans & they all have installed thermal insulation.
When fitting out the van at the very least stuff it full of polybatts for thermal insulation. If you have the funds do acoustic insulation which is thermal by default.
Trouble being flameproof acoustic insulation is usually barium or lead loaded vinyl pretty heavy for caravans/motorhomes. Foam and eggshell contoured insulation too flammable to have exposed in something you will be sleeping in.
Edit spelling.
-- Edited by Possum3 on Wednesday 2nd of December 2020 10:42:52 AM
__________________
Possum; AKA:- Ali El-Aziz Mohamed Gundawiathan
Sent from my imperial66 typewriter using carrier pigeon, message sticks and smoke signals.
The butyl sheet is 2.7kg/sqm. You need very little of this. People go far too overboard with it. There is simply no point.
Acoustic foam has flame retardant. Eggshell foam does not help with lower frequencies as it is not thick enough & the contours are not deep enough for medium frequencies.
Ford designed my Land Rover & it was one of the first models where a lot of effort was put in to make it quiet. There was 3M Thinsulate behind trim panels to make the car quieter.
There are foam baffles in the columns of the car to stop road noise. It has been an interesting exercise seeing the effort Ford has to.
__________________
Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
For caravans and motorhomes Caravans and campervans have limited escape options in the event of a fire.
You have just a few seconds to get out of a burning caravan, as they are constructed of lightweight and and potentially highly combustible fittings.
A working smoke alarm can mean the difference between life and death.
NSW legislation stipulates that you must have at least one working smoke alarm inside the van where the bed is, and one in the annex if people are sleeping there.
These smoke alarms must be fitted with a "hush" button, allowing the occupant to silence the alarm for 10 minutes.
__________________
Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!
50L custom fuel rack 6x20W 100/20mppt 4x26Ah gel 28L super insulated fridge TPMS 3 ARB compressors heatsink fan cooled 4L tank aftercooler Air/water OCD cleaning 4 stage car acoustic insulation.
Thank you, everyone, for the advice and well wishes! As my health has gotten so bad as of late, I am taking it easy to get started. I have gone over the main outside body with a rough knock off brush, coated the worst places with a thin coat of primer, and taped off the bulk of the holes with some good old cloth tape for now. All of this is temporary and my progress will slowly crank up as the exercise, the tape is just to keep the worst of the water from just pouring inside. I will be setting up a project post, and post pictures of what is going on. I will have both a carbon monoxide and smoke alarm when the time comes.
and on it goes. 
