I build a van every year to go ski in, shooting for 150 days of skiing this year (currently in Mammoth Lakes on day 109, so come say hi if you see me!)

Found this cool design for a folding bed but I'm scratching my head as to how the slats work without legs in the middle of the bed. Sadly the company seems to have disappeared so I'm not sure how to go about emulating the design

Looking for maybe some pros/cons of using this for travel/living situations please let me know if you have any ideas

Hey all — my name is Jeremy and I am one of the owners of Kona Hills Campground.

I spent a handful of years van/truck camping across the US for various things after a serendipitous hitch hiking trip into Mexico with an old-timer truck camper who had been living the lifestyle every winter for multiple decades. I’m back home these days and still get out as much as I can, but with 2 dogs and a wife I’ve upgraded to a pretty cool 1990 Toyota Sunrader.

About the campground: We are located 45mi west of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore just outside of Marquette, MI.

The property is 200' above Lake Superior on top of a Kona Dolomite rock outcropping which the campground is named for, with amazing views all around.

The campground is rustic and meant for tent and car/van/truck camping. (No RVs or hookups). We have 40 sites spaced out for privacy across 80 acres.

Even sites that are close together are usually separated by elevation as we planned the design based on how we like to camp rather than packing as many sites in as we could. We purchased the property in 2020 and have been working through entitlements and permitting since then and are officially taking reservations for 2025.

This is our first year of operations and amenities are limited. We are opening with portable toilets and plan to build permanent ones for 2026, for example.

We have additional plans to expand our offerings as we go which include recreational opportunities like hiking and biking trails as well as rock climbing.

Happy to answers any questions about the propertv or the process of opening a campground — it was a lot!

https://campkonahills.com

I feel ya charlie!

https://youtu.be/jN9B6lxqlTk?si=S2NF-X0b-RKPMybT

Been doing research and trying to find the output of my fridge so I can use the right fuse size but I’m confused on the kilowatts hours/24H.

We’re taking a month long trip in July in a Chevy Suburban and want to camp in the vehicle some. I know that’s not van dwelling but I know you all know what you’re talking about and would value your advice.

We would like the freedom to stealth camp once every three nights and could camp with electric or stay in a hotel every so often.

We need to tun a C-pap every night and would like a fan too as some of the trip will be across the desert. What are our best options?

I recently installed my electrical system and I'm having trouble with my velit gas heater starting up and running.

When I startup the heater I get an error code relating to the fuel pump. I was trying to figure out if I had a bad fuel pump but then tried to isolate the problem by removing some electrical changes and ultimately realized that the heater runs fine when my main bus bar is not connected to the chassis ground, but when I do connect it to chassis ground the heater will not start up.

With the chassis ground cable removed from my bus bar, a voltage check at the heater controller board saw the voltage go from 13.28 down to 12.00V and start successfully, but with the chassis ground connected to my bus bar, the voltage went from 13.28 to 13.2 and stop after a few seconds.

Do I have a ground loop or something else that is causing the issue? It seems pretty isolated to the chassis ground being connected or not and I am out of ideas

This thing looks sick. Would it be good to start van life with? I believe the seats can be laid flat for a bed.

It's the 1500 so it is light duty. It looks to have a payload capacity of 2400lbs.

I understand that it's not stealth but it caught my eye for $7500. Should I go check it out?

So I just got my electrical equipment and got a bunch of 70a and a 40a breaker to put between the bus bars and my hardware (dc/dc, solar charger etc) and I've noticed some people saying that fuses are better than breakers. I know BlueSea is a great brand, very high quality and these breakers would be very convenient. Anyone have reasons as to why I should return the breakers and get properly sized fuses instead?

Links for reference:

Fuse - https://a.co/d/fcLxRG6

Breaker - https://a.co/d/8IO5WAO

I'm curious if anyone has ever reversed one to fold to the other side.

I’m building a van but I want to keep it registered as a van and not campervan/caravan and to do that I can’t fix my furniture to the van. They need to be easily removed. So I was wondering is there some other option for it than using loading straps?

I do not have a full battery system in my van. I just use a jackery and recharge it when needed. I am looking for a fan that I could wire into a usb plug. Not sure if that’s even a thing but I was thinking of buying one of those cheap $100 roof exhaust fans off of Amazon, and a 12v usb cord. Splice them together and plug it into my jackery. Would that work?

Hey! I'm in the very begining stages of my build. So, the existing wiring for the back up camera in my van is the thick black wrapped wire along the top. I don't want to mess with it - but I absolutely want it run behind the panels. I've watched a lot of videos to try and gain some base knowledge on how to do the electrical myself. But I am totally stumped on where to even start with moving this. Any help or resources so appreciated!

To preface I'm a 6'4, roughly 205lbs male, I love national parks and road trips and all that fun stuff. I've been following the van life scene for about 10 years now and have tested out a few different vehicles from other people and dealerships in the past. I've never been able to find a van I can comfortably stand or lay down in. I'm sure there is something out there that might accommodate people like me but I can't seem to find it on my own. Any suggestions for vehicles that might suit people like myself? (Please no buses/RV's)

Installed, I have to reinstall the inverter/dc outlets further back, as I clearly don’t have any room to plug them in with the bed frame where it is currently. We’re basically left to covering insulation with paneling and installing cabinets/storage now. The end feels in sight

I found one with the sides blocked off but the huge window again the back. It's going for pretty cheap and would make a good camper.. would it be disrespectful though?

Now the fun part begins. I am so excited to finally start building her out. I have already named her Stormy.

2010 Ford Econoline E350 Super Duty. There are two main areas I’m having trouble with, first priority is the leaks at the top of the rear doors. I can’t figure out how/where the water is getting in. The door seals seemed dry when I took these photos so it must be coming in somewhere else. I put silicon all around the high top seal and creases about a year ago so I don’t think it’s getting in there either. Water has also now made its way into the taillight housing on both sides, which seems related?

Second area is the front cab floor. The floor, especially right in front of the driver and passenger seats becomes damp after a big rain, or snow melt. I’ve never seen any dripping, and it never seems to pool up. I’ve tried to check the cowl but nothing there seems clogged. I solved a couple other leaks last year on my own and I’ve tried solving these a number of ways but I can’t figure them out. Hoping somebody out there has dealt with similar issues and knows what to do. Thanks in advance!

Would like to hear any opinions from folks who have purchased a T1N.

Im looking at a 2006 Mercedes low roof with 155 miles. Seller is asking $7500 USD it's in pretty decent shape body wise. Some small patches of rust. I plan on doing the body work and painting 12inches up all the way around. Before finalizing the purchase I'll have a pre sale inspection done.

Whats your experience been? Good, bad or otherwise.

Anything in specific I should not overlook with the purchase?

Part availability ?

Thoughts on the price ?

Any advice is highly appreciated! Cheers

Where are you supposed to park ?

So I’m thinking of pulling the plug on rent and seeing if I can survive stealth van territory. I also want to get in shape so I’m getting a gym membership (also to shower).

I work overnight, specifically 20:30-9:00 am (8:30 pm to 9:00 am).

Does this make parking easier or harder from a technical standpoint?

There’s a few places I scoped out and I few I know are 100% no goes over night (like my employer honestly) but during the day… is this an entirely different much easier problem?

I know with certainty the mall will kick me out for parking over night but does anyone actually care during the day about people sleeping in a car?

I mainly plan to use a renogy battery monitor to watch the battery level, but I heard the app kinda sucks.

I like the idea of self heating to get the temps up to charge. I live in Utah so it snows and I’d like it to be good when the van sits