living in a Vanagon?

[iknowmy3tables]

Hey guys sorry that I haven't contributed let alone posted here in a long time, but I'd like some advice because I know you guys are good with ghetto ideas and some here might know a thing or two about vans.

The problem is that with my siblings all in college with me there's not much money for me to get a dorm and it's a pretty annoying commuting distance. Now I am only considering it right now but we have a VW Vanagon camper that hasn't been driven in over a decade but it's supposed to have about 75,000 miles on it, and should run again with some work.

So if you didn't guess already I'm considering living in a van at college, now I've seen some pretty bad dorms and a van isn't much worse, but the only question is how do I live in a van and remain a hygienic human, for an example I can shower at a gym every day, but there are other problems like how do I drop my kids off at the pool or squeeze the lemon in a sanitary way that wont make me smell bad because I shared a room with Mr. Brown? also How do I keep my Van from smelling bad in general?

[jook13]

Well, taking the browns to the superbowl could be easy if there is a gas station or some other similar public restroom nearby. Same with the yellow waterworks. A tubesock can take care of any time you feel like arm wrestling the psycloptic snake.

Check out http://www.cabelas.com or something similar for portable camping toilets and showers, may work for you.

This thread would be perfect for theopia by the way.

[Ragnarok]

Well, I can't relate directly to the van, but I'm quite used to living on one of these when on holidays:



That's the family narrowboat, which is about 50' from end to end, and a little less than 7' across. We can have 4 or 5 living on it at any given time - but 5 is a bit of a pinch. 4 people can be done perfectly sustainably. We get a shower though.

On the note of "unpleasant business", we have what is known as a "cassette khazi" (bonus points for alliteration!) on the boat, and I don't know what your van is fitted with, but it's a workable solution.
Emptying the cassette (aka: the [censored] suitcase) ain't exactly pleasant. On the canals, there's regular emptying stations - I don't know where you'll be staying, but if it's equipped for caravans and such, they should have such a place.

...but anyway, the rest of the time there's no smell problem.

If you're interested, that picture is actually from this Spring break, Lock 13 on the Southern Oxford canal. Me on the left, father on the right, some strange blonde haired female behind the camera.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Is the picture cutting off the full text and you're actually sitting on the barrel of the largest handgun ever made, the GLOCK 13?



Also, where's the BBMG turret of the narrowboat?

*ahem*

How do I keep my Van from smelling bad in general?

Dude, seriously. As a college student you're going to find it hard to get it to smell of anything other than beer, panties and er... incense

[Ragnarok]

Is the picture cutting off the full text and you're actually sitting on the barrel of the largest handgun ever made, the GLOCK 13?

I think the size would disqualify it from being a handgun, if the fact that lock gates generally weigh a couple of tonnes didn't.
But no. There's another photo (that came out less well) that does happen to show the whole gate.

Talking on the note of a few tonnes, that narrowboat weighs something like 12-15 tonnes in it's own right, because it's made of steel of varying thicknesses. 5mm for the upper shell, 6mm for the lower sides, 10mm for the baseplate. (No, I'm not going to try and see if I can shoot through the side of it.)

It was a right nightmare when we were trying to moor it on the Thames above Osney Lock, because that's one of the fastest flowing sections, and the boat was wedged across at an angle from the bank on one side against the building on the other by that flow. 15 tonnes of narrowboat, strong flow, and it's just me on the bank with the centre line trying to pull it in against the side. Nearly took my arms out of their sockets.

Also, where's the BBMG turret of the narrowboat?

You should have seen the time I had one of my early repeating spudguns fixed up to fire out of the side doors. That was a hoot.

As a college student you're going to find it hard to get it to smell of anything other than beer, panties and er... incense

I have a different problem. My university room tends to smell of rice, pizza and overdue laundry most of the time.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

I think the size would disqualify it from being a handgun

Well, Glock don't really make rifles. Or do they? hmmm...

I have a different problem. My university room tends to smell of rice, pizza and overdue laundry most of the time.

I get the pizza and laundry, but rice?

[MRR]

How about one of these ....

http://img.nauticexpo.com/images_ne/pho ... -49594.jpg

My family is a bunch of sailors and use them for years (well, if there is no harbor near by). The chemicals and a separate chamber prevent from smelling.

Or do it like my brother if you have the courage.....
He sails Minitransat and there is space for nothing....

http://vidmar.net/weblog/images/vidmar_ ... 9076_2.jpg

Well, who cares on the open sea.

[Ragnarok]

I get the pizza and laundry, but rice?

Well... I like rice. Particularly risotto.

Actually, I forgot the orange squash bottles that litter the place. I go through them at an insane rate, in spite of the fact I drink it at at double dilution. Mostly because I don't really drink tea, coffee, beer, Coke, etc, etc... well, anything other than squash really, apart from actual orange juice.

[Solar]

Stay healthy. A friend of mine tried that out of her VW Bus and wound up in the Hospital with pneumonia. I would suggest finding a girlfriend that has a nice place off campus.

[iknowmy3tables]

@ solar: wow that sucks I'll be sure to seriously disinfect my van regularly


but even with a portable toilet wont the Browns still bug me, I heard chemical toilets aren't suposed to be dumped into normal plumbing systems, and if deporting stinky gonzalaz from his home is going to involve driving out of the city to a dumping site thats to big of a chore for me, I've even seen flushing portable toilets that dump into a "sealed" separate compartment but I doubt that they are completly smellproof because the bad brownies decompose even when placed in an oxygen free enviorment to produce CO2 or CH4 (methane) so it has to vent somehow

[Biopyro]

It's gonna smell somewhat, I don't think there is a lot you can do about that unless you're willing to put a lot of effort in.

Being a student will also make it worse because of motivation issues, I suspect.

[paaiyan]

Dude, there's no way I could pull that off. Having any sort of bio-waste containment system on board is going to produce unpleasant aromas, and should a bowel evacuation emergency arise it may not be an option to run to a gas station.

[Ragnarok]

Having any sort of bio-waste containment system on board is going to produce unpleasant aromas.

Not at all, there's no problems on the narrowboat with unpleasant aromas.

Well, at least from the khazi. The engine has a bit of a habit of burning it's own oil and making foul smells, but that's nothing to do with the bog.

[POLAND_SPUD]

I don't know how much you would have to pay but I suppose that all in all it might be a better idea to get a part time job to pay for a dorm

even if you could find a way not to stink living in a van will automaticaly make you an outcast in a way

[Biopyro]

even if you could find a way not to stink living in a van will automaticaly make you an outcast in a way

Good point. If you're quite outgoing, then it's fine, but if you let it be a rift, it will be. best to at least start normal!

I don't think you'll have any problem bearing the smell, it'll be visitors you need to worry about. You'll be accustomed to it and they won't!