Help Needed! evaluating a trailer I found

[OTW]

Roberta - The diesel sounds terrific, and it sounds like you have its quirks figured out. And the alarm system

Since I'm leaving myself open to a truck now, that fiberglass cover you described makes that sound even more doable. Other than for side camping purposes in cases where I'd take van only, one of the biggies that dissuaded me against a truck was being able to store certain things in the bed of it, and that cover would take that off the table. Googled them, looks like about $1K but that could be worth it on a truck one intends to keep.

[OTW]

Anne - more really great guidance. I took my time and looked at your blog re the conversion and you did a really great job on it. (Air conditioner was a stroke of genius, love it!) If I do get a cargo van I will have a much better idea how to go about it and your points about their being beat up by original purchasers is also duly noted.

Do you ever wish you had windows on the back right side? That's one thing I was wondering about. Advantage for not -- privacy and stealthy boondocking while in straight route somewhere. Concerns for not -- not being able to see out if you get a creepy feeling. I was wondering how you thought about that.

It makes sense what you wrote about it being more possible to get a truck that hasn't been beat to heck - vanity purchasers, I'm sure ARE out there. Not so much with cargo trucks, lol.

Thanks again for the added info. I'm starting to think I'd be lost without all this unbelievably helpful advice. I'm finding I'm trusting Melissa's opinions for towing more than I am my mechanic. And you're a cargo van innovation maven for sure.

[Colliemom]

You can get a van with windows in it, but may have to order it. My parents had one that had windows all the way around. We used it for going back and forth up here from downstate before we moved up north. We hauled stuff in it. It had a full back seat as well as the two seats in front and was really comfty. Myy mom made curtains for all the windows and the also got some special screens made to fit the side windows that swung out. They also had dinette put in back tat made into a bed like a campers does. This was build it such a way that it could be folded up and pulled out, leaving the back of the van empty if we needed to haul stuff. But it mostly stayed inside.
They took this van, their personal stuff, a cooler, some folding chairs, a Coleman stove and whatever else they packed for a month long trip out west and had a blast. Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, norther CA, Washington (Mom was from WA and wanted to see her old home town again, left when she was three), the Canadian Rockies and all points between etc. Didn't have all the modern things like sink, fridge etc., but used the stove to heat water for dishes, the campground showers etc., did have a porta potty though. It was camping and traveling the old fashioned way and they came home, happy, even had lost weight cause of cooking lighter meals etc. Was the best thing they could have ever done.

As to the trucks. There is another thing too, and Anne mentioned it with the vans. There are still some 2016 models out there and they are being greatly discounted. I have my eye on one right now and plan to talk to my dealer tomorrow about that. Although my current truck lease isn't up till June, I am at a point where I can pay it off. I am considering maybe doing that and then leasing this 2016. It would mean having two vehicles for a short time, but..... I have a tonneau cover on my truck that folds back to access the truck bed. It fastens shut under the bed rail and can't be opened without opening the tailgate. So it makes it pretty theft proof. The material is hard to cut too, so anybody wanting in, is going to have to work at it. I like it cause the rear visibility is better and I can removed it if needed. Plan to take it off this truck when I turn it in. It also adds no extra weight to the truck either.

[IrishIroamed]

...The other safety feature which complicates matters - is the lock/unlock button has a very short range. This prevents unlocking from a distance and allowing someone to sneak in the truck - but when the alarm goes off I cannot shut it off unless i am very close to the truck - so it may sound for a while until i get close enough to shut it off. OR - if i am too far - it shuts itself off after a bit.

The remote start works from a LONG distance - it locks up the doors - and starts the truck. Even if someone was in the truck, or manages to sneak in when i unlock the door - it cannot be put into gear unless the key is in the ignition. My grandson knows the door unlock code - i don't have to worry if i start it and he gets to the door before me and gets into the truck.. it will NOT go anywhere!!...roberta.

Someone told me a long time about, that for distance locking / unlocking vehicles or turning the alarm off from further away, is to put your fob next to something metal (the original suggestion was tooth fillings - but only if you have the old metal kind ), watches, belt buckets, etc. I've tried it a few times when needed and it seems to work. The metal acts like a booster. File this one under weird things.
What drives me nuts is when the alarm starts for no good reason, and you're standing right next to the vehicle and it won't shut off.

[Cudedog]

Anne - more really great guidance. I took my time and looked at your blog re the conversion and you did a really great job on it. (Air conditioner was a stroke of genius, love it!) If I do get a cargo van I will have a much better idea how to go about it and your points about their being beat up by original purchasers is also duly noted.

Do you ever wish you had windows on the back right side? That's one thing I was wondering about. Advantage for not -- privacy and stealthy boondocking while in straight route somewhere. Concerns for not -- not being able to see out if you get a creepy feeling. I was wondering how you thought about that.

Interesting that you would ask.

Short answer: Do I wish for windows on the back right side? No, never.

Longer answer: After doing all of my research, and all of my thinking, I had decided that I definitely wanted a van without side windows in the back (of any kind), and a side door on hinges (rather than a sliding door).

Why? Because it was less about "privacy and stealth" (actually, not about privacy and stealth at all) and far more about having a basic understanding regarding the physics of how ambient weather conditions can make a vehicle too hot or too cold, pdq. Traveling with a dog makes this even more critical, especially the heating side of the equation.

I knew that I was going to insulate the heck out of any van I purchased, and windows do the "greenhouse effect" in hot weather (making it difficult to keep a vehicle that has a lot of windows cool):

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/grnhse.html#c2

and most of my travel would generally be in hot weather (100+ degrees here on the west coast in the summer).

Conversely, in cold weather, glass is a very poor insulator, so will make it very difficult to keep a vehicle with a lot of windows warm. Planned also to do some cold weather travel.

When the dealer called and described the van that he had on the lot, I actually forgot to ask exactly what type of cargo van it was (windows/no windows, sliding door, hinged door), but the price quoted was so attractive that I jumped in my car and went to look at it anyway.

Imagine my surprise and delight to find that this van had no windows, and hinged side doors! Exactly what I was hoping for.

Didn't mention this before, but the one "bell and whistle" that the van came with is cruise control. Not sure if this is standard (I doubt it, so not sure why this van would have it). On my travels, of all the bells and whistles I could have had (and mostly don't) I have found cruise control to be almost indispensable.

As for maybe, sometimes, getting a "creepy feeling" when I can't see out? I travel with a large-ish (and actually very sweet) Staffordshire Bull Terrier. When most people see me with my dog, they give me and my van a wide berth. Except for those that know and understand the breed - these folks always come up and say "hi!" This makes my dog a very good intro - I have a chat with those I might like to get to know (I have owned this breed of dog for more than thirty-five years); other people mostly leave me alone.

If there is anything "creepy" going on in the middle of the night, my dog will definitely let me know. In a pinch, I can always look out the driver's side window or the passenger's side window, and see what there is to see out there.

They also had dinette put in back tat made into a bed like a campers does. This was build it such a way that it could be folded up and pulled out, leaving the back of the van empty if we needed to haul stuff. But it mostly stayed inside.

They took this van, their personal stuff, a cooler, some folding chairs, a Coleman stove and whatever else they packed for a month long trip out west and had a blast. Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, norther CA, Washington (Mom was from WA and wanted to see her old home town again, left when she was three), the Canadian Rockies and all points between etc. Didn't have all the modern things like sink, fridge etc., but used the stove to heat water for dishes, the campground showers etc., did have a porta potty though. It was camping and traveling the old fashioned way and they came home, happy, even had lost weight cause of cooking lighter meals etc. Was the best thing they could have ever done.

Sue:

Sounds like your parents and I have a lot in common in the camping department!

I designed the beds in my van to easily pull out as well - just in case I might need to haul something sometime. In fact, my original build had two beds, but I removed one because it effectively doubled the floor space. Took me all of 2 minutes to remove the bed. Might take me a full 10 minutes to remove the remaining bed and dog crate platform, because they are tied together. But both will pop right out, I only need to remove a couple of screws.

Sounds like your parents did the kind of "basic" traveling that I do. I have a folding aluminum table (about 1 1/2' x 2') Coleman stove, Dometic ac/dc fridge, porta potty. My sink is a plastic pan for wash up, heat the water with the Coleman. Campground showers, or solar shower for me. I also made screens for the front door windows, which attach to the outside with magnets - about a minute to install, then take them down and fold them up - the screen is the plastic kind, not the metal kind.

LOL!: I generally also lose weight when I am on a trip - not sure why, because I eat just fine. Can't forsake those goodies!!

Don't think I am the "full-timer" type, but one never knows. My longest trip thus far was about a week - and I didn't want to come home. I could have stayed out on the road in my van a LOT longer. I was still working then, so it was vacation hours. I recently retired, so, watch out world!!

In closing: Would my van camper set-up work for most people? Probably not. But it works really, really well for me. Interestingly, there are about as many DIY cargo-van-to-camper-van conversions as there are camper vans.

For a bit of fun, for anyone interested, do a Google Image search on "cargo van to camper van" or "cargo van conversions". Lots of different ways to get there!

Thanks, Carol, for starting this thread.

Such fun!!!

Anne

[OTW]

Ohhhh, I gotta try that metal trick. I'm one who'll park in a big lot and have other things in my head than making mental note where I've parked. Then come out and whoops. Where dat car, where dat car? lol.

[IrishIroamed]

Ohhhh, I gotta try that metal trick. I'm one who'll park in a big lot and have other things in my head than making mental note where I've parked. Then come out and whoops. Where dat car, where dat car? lol.

Been there. Done that.

[Colliemom]

Forgot to mention, that if you need to take out a loan, like Anne said, the auto dealers have the better rates than the banks, but credit unions are often better than them, if you belong to one.

[OTW]

Thanks Colliemom, I didn't know that.

[bghouse]

In the past, a used vehicle was nearly always less money than a new vehicle. This began to change about 2008 or so, at the time of the Great Recession when it looked like, for a while, the car companies were about to go belly up like a dead fish. While that is still true (price of used less than price of new) - basically - often a new vehicle these days will be the better deal. .....

Anne, a big THANK YOU for sharing that information. I'd been researching and kept coming back with reasons why going new made sense to me in my particular financial situation, but everyone on the other forums kept push used and cash instead of new and financing.

Just hearing someone that has done it, and your perspective - made me realize I'm not completely crazy and gave me confidence. Thank you so very, very much

[Bethers]

I bought new with my current... But I'm against having debt and being full time. And the value still drops considerably immediately upon driving it off the lot. That said, my older rig wasn't going to bring much and trading was better for me... Especially when I could make transferring over my solar and some other things part of the deal. Those made the drop in value easier to handle. BUT... Older rv's, for the most part, are better made than the new. So be alert to that, also.

[Cudedog]

Anne, a big THANK YOU for sharing that information. I'd been researching and kept coming back with reasons why going new made sense to me in my particular financial situation, but everyone on the other forums kept push used and cash instead of new and financing.

Just hearing someone that has done it, and your perspective - made me realize I'm not completely crazy and gave me confidence. Thank you so very, very much

Most all of us here on this forum are, I think, always happy to help. And always happy to provide a different point of view.

In this discussion, as I just now read back over the posts to refresh my memory, you mainly had questions on choosing a tow vehicle (as you already had your eye on a particular RV).

Whatever you finally settle on - new or used - cargo van or pickup truck - I hope that whatever it is works out well for you, and that you have all of the amazing adventures of your dreams.

Photos! We want photos!!

Best wishes,

Anne

[bghouse]

Actually sorry, I sort of hijacked this person's post - didn't mean to. Was just so excited to read something about financing new that I couldn't help posting

[Cudedog]

Actually sorry, I sort of hijacked this person's post - didn't mean to. Was just so excited to read something about financing new that I couldn't help posting

LOL! Don't worry about it. Posts on here get "hijacked" here all the time. In most cases, I don't think anyone minds.

It is the sharing of information that is important.



Anne

[Bethers]

Exactly!