Hey guys, I'm new here and hoping you can help me out with some of the questions I have. I truly appreciate any advice you guys have for me. Hopefully I'm posting this in the right part of the forum.
I was recently fired from my job (hey, i wanted to quit anyway so it's a GOOD thing), and I want to spend the next year, if not longer, traveling around the US and living out of a van. It will be me and my dog, and I wouldn't mind having room for a human companion should I find someone to join me on my adventures. I have cash saved up and all the time in the world. I care the most about reliability. and efficiency, I suppose.
I've looked at some minivans and full size vans and I've gathered that I really like having the additional space of a full size van compared to something like an astro van or a toyota sienna. Not that I'm looking forward to having a big van as my daily driver... I drive a Yaris now, so it will be a bit of an adjustment (and oh the gas mileage difference). I've driven large passenger vans while pulling a trailer of boats before though (for work), so I do know what it's like to drive them.
For the build, I'm planning to do it myself (maybe with a little help from my friends). The things I think I know I want right now: a roof vent, insulation (mostly to stay cool), fancy flooring (i'm into water sports, and i have a dog.. need to protect for that), a simple fold out bed, a really simple kitchen, and some kind of power system (more research needed here). No matter what I do, it will be an improvement from camping out of the back of my yaris. I make it work, but it's... tiny.
QUESTIONS:
1 - what's the difference in 1500 vs 2500 vs 3500 (or 150/250/350) and different engines? Is that all about weight and towing? I want the best mileage i can get and have enough oomph to haul around my **** -- so the simple build i described above, my gear and bed and books and what not, and KAYAKS. i plan to have a roof rack with a couple of small kayaks, maybe up to 6 if I'm shuttling a crew. and all the gear that goes along with kayaking. I don't plan to tow anything, but wouldn't mind having the capability of towing a small kayak trailer. Any idea how much oomph I need for that amount of stuff?
2 - what about chevy vs ford vs gmc vs dodge? i know there's a ton of opinions, i've already read a bit, but I'm hoping some of you have something to add based on my situation specifically.
3 - for the floors, it looks like a lot of the vans have rubber mats in them. would i pull out the rubber mats and put in plywood and cover that with vinyl? i've seen some cool floors in vans but i'm not quite sure i understand the construction and what you need to have underneath the plywood, if anything.
THANK YOU! i've spent the last several weeks working on this plan and researching and looking at things... it's almost time to buy it and start building it! I'm excited!
Jen
I was recently fired from my job (hey, i wanted to quit anyway so it's a GOOD thing), and I want to spend the next year, if not longer, traveling around the US and living out of a van. It will be me and my dog, and I wouldn't mind having room for a human companion should I find someone to join me on my adventures. I have cash saved up and all the time in the world. I care the most about reliability. and efficiency, I suppose.
I've looked at some minivans and full size vans and I've gathered that I really like having the additional space of a full size van compared to something like an astro van or a toyota sienna. Not that I'm looking forward to having a big van as my daily driver... I drive a Yaris now, so it will be a bit of an adjustment (and oh the gas mileage difference). I've driven large passenger vans while pulling a trailer of boats before though (for work), so I do know what it's like to drive them.
For the build, I'm planning to do it myself (maybe with a little help from my friends). The things I think I know I want right now: a roof vent, insulation (mostly to stay cool), fancy flooring (i'm into water sports, and i have a dog.. need to protect for that), a simple fold out bed, a really simple kitchen, and some kind of power system (more research needed here). No matter what I do, it will be an improvement from camping out of the back of my yaris. I make it work, but it's... tiny.
QUESTIONS:
1 - what's the difference in 1500 vs 2500 vs 3500 (or 150/250/350) and different engines? Is that all about weight and towing? I want the best mileage i can get and have enough oomph to haul around my **** -- so the simple build i described above, my gear and bed and books and what not, and KAYAKS. i plan to have a roof rack with a couple of small kayaks, maybe up to 6 if I'm shuttling a crew. and all the gear that goes along with kayaking. I don't plan to tow anything, but wouldn't mind having the capability of towing a small kayak trailer. Any idea how much oomph I need for that amount of stuff?
2 - what about chevy vs ford vs gmc vs dodge? i know there's a ton of opinions, i've already read a bit, but I'm hoping some of you have something to add based on my situation specifically.
3 - for the floors, it looks like a lot of the vans have rubber mats in them. would i pull out the rubber mats and put in plywood and cover that with vinyl? i've seen some cool floors in vans but i'm not quite sure i understand the construction and what you need to have underneath the plywood, if anything.
THANK YOU! i've spent the last several weeks working on this plan and researching and looking at things... it's almost time to buy it and start building it! I'm excited!
Jen