Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

syntheti.cc

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 351 posts

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#211

Post by senorjazz »

mikestew wrote: post #138
hx87 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, $9K on top of $80K is pretty steep, but that $80K build is orders of magnitude more comfortable than what an old VW could provide, and at reasonable speeds too. By the time you upgrade a classic VW to similar standards (Subaru engine swap, A/C that isn't terrible, etc), the cost would be close to $80K. OTOH, if you want something more Spartan and more classic VW-like, $60K should be good enough to get you there…

Sure, $9K on top of $80K is pretty steep, but that $80K build is orders of magnitude more comfortable than what an old VW could provide, and at reasonable speeds too. You're right, I'm just being a cranky old man who thinks candy bars are still a quarter of a U. S. dollar. A/C? PNW, don't need it. But it's going to be $4K (installed) for the rest of the country. Power? 70bhp in that 4000 lb. tank. Now myself, when co…

I work out you have an '81 T3/T2.5/vanagon (depending where you are). Got a 1.6 diesel '88 and have to put it in 2nd to get up some hills lol.

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#212

Post by scotty79 »

sAvi0r wrote: post #203
scotty79 wrote: post #151

Or you could just move to Poland. $33,750 could buy you studio in any medium town in Poland, even in sub-million population cities. You'd get: no mortgage, apartment with a toilet, clean running water, wifi and all the electricity that you'll ever need. 5-10 times more area for your stuff. Monthly cost of utilities, tax and fee towards building maintenance of about $150 in total, access to a lot of young, English spe…

What's considered a medium town in Poland? I was checking out housing in my dad's hometown in Serbia, and it's like a shitty agricultural town pretty far from anything notable with a population of ~12,000 and a place was still like $40,000-50,000CAD.

$30K bought me a studio apartment near the center of a city with over 700K people.

I'd say that medium town is from 50K to 200K people. Above that I'd call them cities but I don't think those are strict terms.

Here's a list of polish towns and cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Po...

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#213

Post by coryrc »

ars wrote: post #99

He needs a diode between the two batteries in parallel. Otherwise slight differences in voltage between them causes them to cyclically charge and discharge each other, wearing them out and wasting energy.

That's incorrect. At no point or state of charge can you connect two lead battery packs in parallel and have them oscillate charging/discharging no matter how long connected. Either one will charge the other or they will sit without changing.

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#214

Post by justonepost »

Paul_S wrote: post #149
darzu wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give examples of better ways to cut down your expenses?

Don't want to spend your salary on your mortgage? Houseshare. Has the added benefit of still living in a house. Cook for yourself. Don't own a car. Live outside the city (obviously some are mutually exclusive). Stop buying useless crap (that includes a gym membership, netflix, prime). You can drive down your expenses to quarter rent and food. You can live frugally without an RV. Running and maintaining an RV costs mo…

Very very true! As someone who lives in a Van, I can assure you, gas is very expensive. I could live much much cheaper with a bus pass and a house share (or maybe not, who knows I haven't really looked)

problem is I despise roommates... so there is that.

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#215

Post by gnarcoregrizz »

dominotw wrote: post #141
sanswork wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are misunderstanding your comment and thinking you mean dump it in the drain. For those people, there are actual sewage dump stations at a lot of those places. Look for a sign with a vehicle with an arrow or pipe out the bottom next time you're near a truck stop or state park.

Then you are just living the RV lifestyle, different from what OP is trying to do?

It seems like OP is already halfway to the RV lifestyle, and he's probably in close proximity to dump stations, so he might as well dispose of it in the 'correct' manner rather than throwing it in dumpsters meant for trash.

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#216

Post by Retric »

et-al wrote: post #34
dublinben wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably, it means just that. If you only use a tool once a year, you should just borrow/rent them when you actually do need them. Our lives are cluttered with occasionally used 'just in case' items that we really don't need.

That's minimalism taken to an extreme, which is just as thoughtless as hoarding. A screwdriver costs less than $5 and takes a minimal amount of space to store. Yes, the slippery slope is when you have a thousand tools falling out of your closet, but again, thought and moderation. The "if I haven't used it in the past year" rule is a great idea overall, but it's not appropriate for this example. Now if we're talking a…

The problem is it might cost 5$ to buy, but buying it also takes effort. IMO, the way around this is to keep a good multi tool which is a so so version of a lot of things and then only the real tool if you are going to do a real project.

Cellphone camera good enough? Ditch your actual camera.

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#218

Post by monknomo »

mod wrote: post #175
monknomo wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too have wondered at the tiny home thing. Regular single wide mobile homes are small, cheap and standardized, and they even have "communal living" in a park. I'm pretty sure it's just trying to tell bougie people that it's fine to live in a trailer park

I'm not really against it, even. I think it is fine. Some of those tiny homes are really nice, or inspiring, or liberating. I really appreciate hand-made things, especially ambitious projects like homes. And I definitely appreciate the frugal builds. But when you're buying it pre-built, it's just a tiny, expensive mobile home. If they catch on enough, they'll build them cheaper and more efficiently, and we'll have sm…

Sure, variety is the spice of life, I just don't get it.

It feels like a cynical marketing exercise to me, and I have some other personal issues probably tied up in millenial homeownership angst, but that's me, not the tiny homes.

Re: How I Built a Custom Camper Van (2015)

#219

Post by monknomo »

maxerickson wrote: post #137
monknomo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The guy in town running the (presumably) lucrative home tool rental store? Do these things exist in urban areas? Seems useful for apartment dwellers who don't have the space for anything more than a tiny toolkit anyhow

Lots of box stores rent out tools. A while back I rented a nice hammer drill for $30 instead of buying a shit one from the same store for $50. For a more niche tool like that, it works out great not to have a bunch of money invested in nicer tools or a bunch of crap lying around.

Sure, I know lots of the big boxes do, but I was imagining something in a downtown area accessible to a car-less urbanite
Post reply on HN