Sazter, there is a blog I follow from a guy who did very a very similar thing. Vandogtraveller is the name. He has an eBook that documents the whole process of his van conversion. I didn’t expect to get much from it but it is a goldmine of conversion info.

Oh and good luck with following your dreams. Can life get any better than parking up beside a beach and when you open the doors in the morning that is the first thing you see.

Good for you, go for it!

I’d love to be able to do something like that, it sounds bloody ace. If you find yourselves in Heptonstall, stop by for a beer

Mac – I have been on his site a lot, think I will get the book too, I need more info for my solar panel installation! There is an instagram feed called van.life who are a couple from Scotland who did the same thing, it’s really good to scroll back to when they got the van and see the conversion then the journey, they took 4 months away, they’re back in the UK now and making their way north.

Nick – I plan on zig zagging our way south as I have family in Redcar, Barrow and Gosport so we may well find ourselves passing by and will take you up on that!

Update – Mac- I bought the book, nice to think I am helping him on his travels whilst he helps me with my conversion! 🙂

I lived in a campervan for 4 months, albeit in Australia. It was amazing, but in the UK I think it could be a different story, but people do do it. We didn’t have many cold days but when it was cold it was quite hard, everything gets damp from condensation and there is no way of drying it out, especially if it rains.

Also if you aren’t driving for a few hours every day the domestic batteries go flat very quickly, we had a small solar panel but it did nothing, in Aus the bigger vans have huge solar panels they put up around their vans but I’m not sure how well they would work here. You do get fridges that run off gas though and of course heating.

Australia is well set up for travelling too apart from the climate, there are free open long drop loos everywhere and showers easily found, there are so many travellers. Very few people run into trouble with thefts, but I’d be worried about thefts of anything lying around the van or in the van in the UK and loos and showers would take more effort to find as I don’t think the UK is as used to people travelling around.

I met some guys snowboarding at glencoe once who live in vans in a car park in glencoe all winter though so some people do do it!

I guess I’m saying I’m not sure how great it would be just living in a van in the UK. You’ll have a ball once you are on the road though! Great way to live, and it is amazing how little ‘stuff’ you need to have a great life, just a few changes of clothes, bikes/boards and your van.

My first piece of advice would be, you can’t escape your problems by travelling. There will still be a giant void there even if you do drop out for a bit.

My second piece of advice is don’t do it in the UK, the UK in general….is a grey, dreary, cold shithole full of sub-clinically depressed arseholes like myself. Go abroad, see the world.

Sazter, have you considered house and pet-sitting your way around the world, or at the very least, the UK?

Just had a retired American guy that I made contact with through a house-sitting website watching my dugs while I was on holiday – that’s what he was doing.

S’pose you are less in control of your own destiny than if you have your own van but it strikes me as being a great way to see the world and embed yourself for a a wee while in different, random places, living far more comfortably than in a van in Glasgow in the winter, while providing a service that people are generally very grateful for.

Bigjim – I plan on having 2 big leisure batteries with split relay charging AND solar so it should be ok, I have one just now in my small van and I never come close to running it down, the big van will be similar to the small one I have in simplicity, LED lights, a heater, USB charging sockets, a fridge of some sort and 240v sockets to charge the laptop and anything else that cannot use 12v only. I am also considering using an electric blanket for the time I will be in the UK over winter but having lived in drafty flats with no heating I am quite resourceful at keeping warm so merino socks, lots of layers, my selkbag and then a duvet should keep me toasty, if not I will resort to my sisters couch! The downsides and cold of this stage will be offset by the adventure to follow, I am happy to sacrifice short term comfort for long term adventure, at least in theory, now, I am. Ask if I am still so happy in January!

Tom – I don’t think I have any problems to run from, I am currently the happiest I have been in all my life. I am a little bored in work, but that gives me time for research which makes the desire to travel stronger, but I am in no way unhappy. I am in a wonderful, though new, relationship with someone I feel a great connection with, we share dreams and views on many things and have already had some small local adventures. We are taking a trip soon right up to the north of Scotland in my small van and I can’t wait!

Stef- I like the thought of being more in control at least for this trip and the freedom to decide at a crossroads if we want to go left or right on a whim, but I might look that up for future ideas, I hope this is not a one off venture. I do have family and friends who I am sure I can rely on for a warm bed/sofa/floor should I need it, but I like the challenge and the slight insanity of the idea of vanning in Scotland in winter. If I survive it will be a good story later on!

I have a facebook friend who spent all last summer in a van in a ski resort. He said the hard bit was stopping the water freezing for breakfast. -17 in the van but he did the whole winter

I’ve known quite a few travellers and van dwellers of various breeds and fancied it myself since the mid 80s when the hippies and new age travellers used to pass the end of our drive as their convoys rumbled and rattled up and down the A30..

I’m not very mechanically minded so I never got around to it, because unless you’re minted, the MOST important part of life on the road is a thorough knowledge of mechanical repair specific to your van..
Good insulation and a wood burner should be your second and third priorities

If you go down the battery route for power golf cart battery’s are supposed to be the dogs dodahs. Two banks of good solar panels on the roof wired into a control panel will give you juice aplenty.

Add plenty of insulation too the van. In the UK it’s the damp that will get you.

Good look

Yeah.. Your woodburner will keep the damp away

If you are going travelling with your SO who owns a flat, why can’t you also move in with her instead of having the discomfort of living in a van for months? Where is the significant cost saving ?

Would love to do this, but marriage, a mortgage etc is all now stopping me.

I’d 3rd the damp issue. UK levels of cold are easyish to get round its all your clothes being damp all you beding gettign damp and all smelling with no way to dry it out. I struggle with this in a small flat in the uk over the winter let alone a van. A wood burner would be an essential for me to help minmise this problem.

Sorry, was on holiday in the sun so missed all these…

ampthill – I will be unlikely to be in the van at -17, but will consider my options for keeping water insulated, as much to keep it cool in summer as not freeze in winter.

yunki – I know a little bit and am happy to learn so hopefully that will get me by, along with getting a solid base van and a good dose of luck. Insulation is high on my list, my last van (now for sale) was toasty enough. Wood burner – depends on space.

pk13 – good call, thanks, will look those up, def looking to add 2 solar panels to the roof on this build.

holdsteady – only been together a few months now, by the time we go will be a year so much more reasonable for living together, and she rents out a room, so would be unfair on the flatmate for me to move in just now really. Living in the van gives me chance to iron out any problems before we hit the road. I will be staying at the OH place and at my sisters if I need to on the coldest weeks.

Teetosugars – Yes, thats why I want to do this now, as I can.

TheBrick – yes, if not wood burner there will be a heater and will need to work out a drying solution for sure. All part of the process!

Keep ’em coming, there more ideas I have before I get started on the big van the better, thanks!