Hello All. My first post. Here is my simple custom GMC Cube Van conversion.

LukesPa

Observer
Makes me sort of envious

Welcome Wanderer.

Your thread makes me kind of envy your lifestyle or at least the simplicity of it. I spent many nights in a plywood box built on the back of a 1976 Dodge Powerwagon when I was in the Army and more recently a lot of nights in a tent or my camper shell. Living in the southwest, I just really need a roof overhead for privacy or the occasional rain. I'm just a regular working guy who gets out for weekend or vacation travels. The idea of wandering as I feel like for months on end seems like heaven on earth. A home, job and family make that unrealistic at least for now.

I've done enough backpacking to realize just how little you really need, and enough RV camping to realize that the complications and cost of having it all don't really result in a better experience.

I'm curious, as a vegan with a very frugal lifestyle have you learned to forage for wild edible foods near the places you camp? It's amazing what you can eat most anywhere if you know what you're doing.
 

mitchito

New member
This van has inspired me. I worked for Budget and we rented these out. I ue a former cube van as a tractor to pull a 3 car carrier now. I would go with a Ford 7.3 Diesel in a 10 ft with single rear wheels, limited slip Dana rear end. Those get around 20mpg. This would be for a trip at least as far as Panama. Not sure I could get it into a container for SA.
 

rc51kid

Adventurer
Just ask yourself. Do you enjoy building the R/C plane or flying it! I just want to go flying myself...

This is a great question. I used to race motorcycles I was ever very good at it. But i really enjoyed building them. So for me i enjoyed the build more than the race. I am no into some aspects of shooting guns. I think this is about 50/50. I enjoy shooting and building. My GF and i are avid backpackers. She finished the Appalachian Trail about two years ago. I realized years ago that the less crap we bring backpacking the happier we are. I am taking a backpacking approach to my vehicle travel as well. I am trying to view it as a portable, metal, windproof, leak proof shelter that is always dry. I built a cheap simple plywood platform in the back of my FJ80 with room for my MTB. I will simply sleep on my camping pad and sleeping bag just like in a tent. The FJ80 gets the same crappy MPG yours dose with 1/4 the space. But it will go just about anywhere off road thanks to the factory triple lockers. I will head out from Atlanta to Wyoming in few days. We will see how it all works.
 

Mr.510

New member
You can easily do a really cool (literally) mod to the rear door by making the top rollers easily removable. This lets you tilt the top panel into the truck for ventilation and/or to see out without rolling up the door. Tie loops in a piece of cord that hooks over a bolt in the door track to vary how far the panel is tipped in. Or just flop it all the way open. Some door rollers have tubular axles. These are the best because you can hacksaw through the axle and then slip a hitch pin through it and put a safety clip on it for normal use. You'll have to be creative if you have a different style of rollers. I've seen this done on several toy hauler/campers. I've seen guys bolt limit chains on so the panel can only open about six inches. That way they can leave it open for ventilation but still be secure from entry while they're out playing with their toys. Most people wouldn't notice the top panel 'wasn't quite fitting right' or was missing altogether so it's use could be somewhat stealthy.

I think one of those door latches with an inside release that someone posted above is an absolute must have for your truck!
 

EuroJoe

Adventurer
I just wondered did you insulate the roof? It has the translucent roof right? How do you find that in the cold climates ? Thanks

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
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Accrete

Explorer
Greetings Wanderer, While i do realize it has been over a year since you have posted on this forum, i send well wishes and hope your adventure continues!

I just found this and your other related thread (tips for stealth...) just before dream time so i'll be back tomorrow to read through both. I'm thinking both will be good reads. I lived in a 12 foot chevy cube van in 1979-1981 in the San Francisco Bay Area and luved the experience.

Cheers,
Thom

ZZzzzzzzzzz

OK, back from dream time and read through this "Build" thread.

I feel like you and i are somewhat kindred spirits (my wife also). When i built the home on wheels back in the late 70's it was to get more mobile for the company i was working for. They had ~500 record stores (Musicland) located in malls across the US. The fastest way to rise in the ranks was to be mobile. The cheapest ways were to rent an apartment/home OR live with wheels under you.

I found a used 12' cube van at a dealers lot that had been traded in by two guys who used it as a hunting base camp. I stripped the inside (they had cots and such) and started to do a simple build that included a day bed with storage under (bike, skateboard, seasonal clothes in duffles) and kitchenette area on the street side, then table, closet, cupboards (including one for a "bucket" loo) on the curb side. I used a foot pump that took water from a 5 gallon jerry can up to the sink and then drained into another 5gJC under same area. I did have a roof vent/escape hatch as well as cab access (with a standard window blind roll down as the "doorway" to cab), and this rig had the two full width swing out rear doors. For showers i would drive to a local health club, play some hand-ball and shower.

Other than my work in the record shop (i managed three different locations during the time i lived in this rig) my time was spent flying RC Slope gliders at the cliffs south of San Francisco or sailing a class IV landsailer on the salt flats in the south bay. The side table was ~7' long so i could build & repair ;) my gliders which were hung from the ceiling. The landsailer stayed at a co-workers house's yard and i had free access to grab it and place on its side in the aisle.

As for lifestyle i really liked the freedom. And many of my flying buddies strapped to their condo/home payments envied me as i pulled up to the airfield/cliffs for a day of fun. My only lighting back then was a battery powered camp lantern and a couple of 12v reading lights which was fine. Cooking was primarily raw-diet stuff and i was (still am) a happy healthy guy living on minimal calories and now ~70% or so raw foods.

OK so where am i now with this sort of "Lifestyle"?
Back in 1983 i married a gal that would end up really liking the idea of a KISS rig also. Our current rig, though not "Stealth" in any way (peeps actually come over and visit in parking lots or camp sites...it's both good/bad. HaHa). BUT and here is my point, that rig is a modern day compromise of what i had in ~1980. Outside it is attractive enough looking that my wife is more than happy to call it her daily driver. Inside it is (and she helped with all design/ideas) so basic it would be categorized as a "tent on wheels". We have friends we gold prospect with and camp with that have the typical american rv with holding tanks, power this and that... and while we all have a wonderful time boondocking at some remote location their rig's abilities are usually what puts a limit on our stay (other than work).
Our rig has no need for electricity (though i do have a waterproof 110 outlet and outlet inside if we do end up in a park. then we pull out the small ceramic heater and cook plate/tea pot).
It has no need for "tanks", we use 5 gallon JCs for water/gray use, a bucket-loo (yes my wife actually prefers this over having a black tank setup). Now we did go out and purchase a bunch of "Wag-Bags" just in case we have a nosy ranger asking how we do-it...some areas don't like the idea of our DIY wag bag in the bucket...so we have the real wag-bags ready to show just in case. For liquids we do keep them separate from solids. She uses a fancy little stainless steel ice box and i use...drum roll...a 64oz Stanley thermos. You can see all this in action in these two shots of the bathroom "closet" _closed_ and _open_. And, we can shower inside also as shown in the image. We use a contractors cement tup (~20" x 30"??) and a shower curtain and the "shower" is from something my wife found at home depot, an electric garden sprayer. Hot water comes from a 12,000 btu single burner butane stove. We can take two nice showers out of ~1.5 gallons total water with this set up.

Anywhoo.... on lifestyle... even _some_ ladies can enjoy it. Cari & I live full time in a luxury 38ft fifth wheel but are chomping at the bit to punch-the-clock for the last time...at which point we fully intend on selling the fiver and heading down the road in our simple set up (which now includes a 15ft fiberglass TT.) The current set up is basically utilizing the van as a bed (Froli sleep system is amazing!) & night-bathroom, and then the trailer for our _kitchen_/_great-room_/_shower_/_dinette_.

Enough rambling on my part. I wish you the best in your travels!!
Thom
 
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bruue1

Observer
Looks great and like a lot of fun. The only comment I had was about heating/insulation. I have an old Bethany PickUpper, its like a pop up trailer that fits in the back of a pick up bed. So when open there is a lot of canvas wall space. We have a little propane heater that requires no electricity and exhausts out a side vent. With a 20lb tank we get 3-4 good nights of heat with it. When its 20 outside it 60+ inside. I bet your fiberglass roof does better than our canvas does insulation wise. I see similar heaters for $100-150 often on craigslist and even cheaper. With a truck like that you could mount a larger propane tank too. Just a thought, in case you get sick of always having a cold morning. Ultimately, its your adventure. Keep on keeping on.
 

Aubrey

Observer
What a great and carefree style. Have to love it! I think cause most cannot escape the rat race, we get fixated on building that perfect escape truck/camper/trailer rather than just doing it.

On the discussion re. adding an extra escape hatch .... you do have access to the truck cab from the rear .... there are 2 doors in front and one large one in the back ..... so I cannot see advantage of adding another door.

Cheers from Africa

Aubrey
 

RafterRat55

New member
Questions

OOPs! Still learning the layout here posted this incorrectly at first.
I love this idea. A couple of questions: When you are traveling in it, do you have an alternative mode of transport - like a bike or a moped or a small motorcycle along as well? It looks as if there is room, and I wondered how you would handle a stop at something like the Grand Canyon (for example) when you wanted to see more but didn't want to drive the truck around? I'm thinking this approach would work well for me in the near future - a truck that I could live in (for extended and less expensive vacations) and still have room for a motorcycle to use to zip around locations I wanted to spend time at. The ramp or a power tailgate would make loading / unloading it simple, but where can I leave the truck unattended while I'm exploring on the bike?
 

southpier

Expedition Leader
wethinks the Wanderer has left the building. hope I'm wrong, but no word in over a year ...

I can only hope he and Maripito are on a distant beach sipping cool ones with some hornies!
 

tamangel

Adventurer
anyone else doing this currently..maybe a new build..? thought I might bump it back up to the top to get anything recent..

Mike W

*****
 

Wanderer2

New member
It's been a while. Wanderer here...

Hello everyone. Wanderer here(OP). I forgot my original login, so I added a new one.

I had stopped posting due to my travels and because of a few immature idiot posts from fools. Plus, I don't like talking too much any more. I have become a hermit in life and in my heart it seems.

But, I thought that I would give everyone an update on my travels and where I am today.

After traveling in my great yellow cube van for over 4 years and putting well over 40K miles on my yellow truck, I decided to sell it on Craigslist last year. When I first built my camper/stealth/simple camper, one of the goals was to not convert the truck any more than possible, so I could resell it as a utility vehicle when done with it.

All I had done was put gas in it, change the oil and put 2 new front tires on it.

So, I took out the 2x4 pine stud bed frame, table, chair and storage containers and it was back to a simple used cube van again in about 2 hours. I then sold it in about 2 days, I then sold it for 500 dollars more had paid for it 4 years earlier! So, it turned out fine and I loved every minute of it.

In hindsight, it was the PERFECT stealth vehicle. No one ever noticed a yellow cube truck in some parking lot. I had cops stop, flash a flashlight inside and drive away while I slept in the back.

Since then, I have down sized to my little 2002 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 pickup with a fiberglass shell bed in the back. I like the simplicity of this new setup very much. As an old man, it fits my lifestyle very much.

I bought an old travel trailer in a 55+ RV park in AZ for $1500 dollars. I now use that as a base for Tacoma travel adventures. I now go out for a few weeks and then return to the old trailer and plan my next adventure.

Always remember, SIMPLICITY IS THE KEY TO TRUE HAPPINESS! Well, at least I believe that it is. The less I have, the happier life seems to be for me. Less to own, pay tax on, register, maintain, move, protect, paint and worry about. Happiness comes from peace within. It requires peace, discipline, love and courage.

Bless all who followed my threads this long. See you on the road somewhere.

Peace,
From an old man.
 

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