I have a deep and abiding love of minimalism and function. I have dabbled in the backpacker travel set and ultralight backpacking, as well as Lean Manufacturing. All of these hold to be true the main principle that less is best. Everything must have more than one purpose. The freedom you attain from becoming unburdened is a truly sweet thing.
Dave is slowly coming around to this school of thought, although he doesn't share my fervor. Comfort is key, and if it means that he might have to reuse a pair of socks twice in a row, he's going to bring MORE SOCKS, despite my protestations. Despite this, he has come to admit that many things that pass under the radar in daily life are just clutter, and not valued possessions.
We recently downsized from a medium sized home to a one bedroom apartment, which required quite a bit of throwing out of junk.
"Dave" I said, staring in exasperation "Why do you have a pack of unopened seafood forks?"
He looked at them sheepishly and said "For eating seafood?"
Our moving proceeded in this manner with several items getting tossed in the process, including my personal favorite: a butter warming pan. (Yes, this is its' sole purpose in life. Warming butter.)
What this comes down to is that in a small space, sometimes function must take precedence over comfort. However, spending a year in a tin box with none of the small comforts of home is not preferable either. Together we make an excellent team, and the van will soon be the perfect home on the road!
CURTAINS/INSULATION
After doing some research, I decided to replace the old molded out cloth curtains with Reflectix brand home insulation. It's essentially bubble wrap coated in aluminum, and acts as a radiant heat barrier. You can find it at Lowes and most likely other home improvement stores for about 25$ a roll. I used large sheets of butcher paper to create templates of the window shapes, then cut the Reflectix to size, and fastened them with Velcro. Be sure to use the Velcro glue if you go this route, as it's stronger than the sticky back alone, and won't melt under high temperatures.
It's definitely not a "stealthy" way to go for windows, but that's obviously not what we're going for with our rig. After testing in cold weather, this works beautifully! It reflects the radiant heater's warmth and keeps drafts out, as well as blocking about 90% of the light.
In addition to the Reflectix, we decided to purchase another heat source. Since we are traveling with our Doberman "Jax", he needs to keep warm as well. After reading on some of the van forums out there ("cheaprvliving.com" is a great resource) we decided on a Mr. Heater "Buddy" brand radiant propane heater. They are safe to use indoors, and put out a good amount of heat. They run on 1lb propane bottles and can also be hooked up to a 20lb tank. It set us back about $80 at Lowes. This keeps us nice and toasty on even the coldest days! Just be sure if you go this route to provide lots of ventilation.
LIGHTING
Next up on the list was some auxillary lighting. We are trying to avoid drawing off the battery as much as possible, so everything that can be powered in a different way, will be. I found these guys at Lowes.
They are a little pricey at 10$ a pop ($18 for the two pack), but they are great! They are push button type LEDs, put out a soft light that is plenty bright, and the batteries last forever. They run on two AA batteries a piece, and have a "bright" and "dim" setting. The back is magnetic, and a small steel disk is included, which you glue to any surface you want the light to stick to. They also will stick to any steel surface without the disk. We put some right down the middle of the van and over the card table area, and it lights the place up great! I also love them for late night trips to the bathroom, because I can simply grab one off the ceiling and use it as a flashlight. No more fumbling in the dark!
KITCHEN
The kitchen in the van is mostly awesome, it just needed some small mods. I added a dishtowel rack to the cupboard door (made from some wood parts I found at Goodwill),, a paper towel roll holder, and a refillable wet wipe dispenser. Wet wipes are awesome, they can be used to clean both you and the countertops! I also added a small broom and dustpan to help keep the floor and inside the cupboards clean.
Here is the kitchen area with the Reflectix window cover installed:
The towel rack and broom:
Wet wipe dispenser and paper towels:
The Norcold refrigerator that came with the van has not been tested long term yet, but appears to work great. We added a small magnetic whiteboard from Office Max. These are invaluable for taking notes and remembering dates!
As well as drawing awesome ninjas:
MISC ODDS AND ENDS
The entry steps on the sides and rear were bare painted metal, which can be very slippery when wet. This makes for cracked heads and an unhappy Dobe when he goes sliding off while climbing into the van! I purchased some stairway grip tape from our local hardware store and layed that down to eliminate the problem.
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