TINY HOUSE vs. #VanLife

Match of the Century!

As I spoke about in a recent post, I stumbled across the idea of a "Tiny House" not long ago, and was pretty convinced that was the path I was going to travel in terms of how/where I would be living in the future.

And it made all sorts of sense: just enough room for me and my greatly-reduced load of "stuff." All the comforts of home except, probably, for a washer and dryer. It would be mobile as long as I had a vehicle to tow it.

So, I had done some initial research into what it would take to build my own. I began the search for some sort of garage to build it in that would be a) tall enough at the door to allow the finished structure be towed out (i.e., a door around 14 ft.+ tall) AND which had electricity AND which, hopefully, would let me build my Tiny House in that space for free. Even better if this space was going to be in proximity to some place with access to craftsmen with woodworking tools, I began researching where I might be able to park my Tiny House once I completed it (a step that EVERY "how to" on Tiny Houses couldn't stress enough). I began searching for a truck to buy that would be able to tow the Tiny House any time I wanted to move it. I spoke at length with my contractor friend Donnie Young about the realities of trying to construct something like a Tiny Home AND, most importantly, how much it might cost to build.

In this corner: TINY HOUSE

After all that fact-finding, several key facts emerged:

• Building a Tiny House was going to cost me more like $30k (and that was for a kinda smallish one) rather than the $20k I was hoping for
• The truck I'd need to tow the Tiny House was likely going to be around another $20k
• I'd likely have to rent some sort of space in an RV park, at least for the foreseeable future, since there aren't really any places (subdivisions, etc.) which are made specifically for Tiny Houses to exist
• Due to the height and length of the Tiny House there were going to be places...possibly lots of places...where I wasn't going to be able to take it due to low bridges/overhangs/tight turns/etc.

On roughly the exact same day all of those facts started to become clear, I stumbled across (NOTE: I do a lot of stumbling) an Instagram page called #VanLife which, as I learned, is a relatively famous Instagram that started what is now being called, appropriately, the "Van Life" movement. I wouldn't say it was in any way new really (hippies in microbuses following the Grateful Dead, surfers living in a popup Vanagon on the beach, rock climbers living in the back seat of their old family GMC Safari in Yosemite all spring to mind, not to mention the legions of retired people living in RVs year-round), but the profusion of just "regular old people" who ditched their usual living arrangements in order to live in a van blossomed.

And in THIS corner: #VanLife

That was, I believe, in 2014. Not bad for me...took me less than three calendar years to find a movement going on in this country!

And from almost the first moment I learned about this idea of Van Life I knew that was a MUCH more realistic/doable path for me:

• Far, far more mobile
• No need for any kind of "space" in which to park it either on a permanent, or even semi-permanent, basis. While, yes, I COULD choose to pay for an RV space, there are many, many places I can just park it for the night, sleep in it, and then move on to Subway for breakfast in the morning, etc.
• I could still do the conversion myself, but could do it in my garage, not in some sort of industrial warehouse in town
• And, most importantly, I could be up and running for less than half of what the Tiny House/truck combo would cost me.

So, the decision to go the #Van Life route was made 6 days ago (i.e., last Wednesday). ANOTHER flurry of Internet research immediately began. What kind of van to buy? How large? What brand? What engine? How old? What price? What would I need/want in it? Could I even remotely hope to do this conversion myself? (I mean, seriously, I know NOTHING about plumbing, wiring electricity, running gas lines, etc. And in terms of carpentry skill....maybe, at best, beginner level)

By Friday I was the proud owner of this van:

Now, whenever anyone asks me "What do you do?" I'll reply "I'm in Sales & Service!"

A 2007 (badged Dodge in the US, built in Germany by Mercedes) Sprinter Superhigh, Extra Long cargo van with 142k miles and an extremely capable and efficient turbodiesel engine (gets around 15-18 mpg).

Here are some more pics of what is now the shell of my next home:

My blank canvas

The previous owners had no problems with motor oil spills

Check out that ratty driver's seat! 

No windows on either side = urban camouflage

Why this van specifically? Well, several reasons:

• Sprinter vans offer the largest interior cargo space of any vehicle that is rated as "Class C" by the DOT. That means I don't have to get a commercial drivers license to drive it while maximizing how much room I have to work with
• This model year, 2007 is one of only two model years in the Sprinter pantheon which features the Superhigh, Extra Long Wheelbase AND was built before they added some hideous piece of emissions equipment to the engine in 2009 that apparently every Sprinter afficianado hates
• Because it is the "Superhigh" version I CAN STAND UP INSIDE. Yep, of every single possible "Class C" van out there, this is one of the only ones I can stand up in.
• Because it has no windows (not to mention that supercool "Sales & Service" vinyl signage across the front) I'll be able to "boondock" in cities/towns/urban areas much more easily. "Boondocking" being parking the van somewhere not designated as an RV campground and sleeping in the van for the night.

So, in two days from the moment I decided "Hey, I think this might be a good idea" I was in Dallas negotiating with a small used car dealer who had just learned that used Sprinters were in high demand and had purchased this one at auction just a few days before I found it online at CarGurus.com. In fact, while I was talking to the guys who run the place, two other people came to look at it with hopes of buying it.

So, what next? Well, there is now a huge fire in my belly to get this conversion done as soon as I possibly can. There simply can't come a time when I've sold my house and need to move on and my new home isn't yet done. That would be bad.