Who lives in their Eurovan?

[milkandrelish]

I've been planning to do a year-long (or more) trip around the US and Canada in my EVC.

I just purchased it, and I love the van, but I'm quickly realizing how expensive (and inconvenient) repairs can be to the EVC.

Does anyone on here live in their EVC? Do you know anyone who does? If so, what has your experience been like?

I'd love to get a discussion going about the viability of living in an EVC versus another similar camper van either by Volkswagen or another mark.

[Joshwa]

The guy in this blog does still I think. He hasn't updated his blog in a while, but was communicated with him earlier in the year related to his van and he was still living in it.

http://travelininbertha.blogspot.com/
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[milkandrelish]

[Abscate]

visibleink, user name, is a live-in EVC, I believe.

Search for him in this Forum.
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.ssS!

[Joshwa]

I didn't talk to him about his living situation. Here is his build thread on his van as well.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=392822

and his for sale thread as he wants to get into something larger, if that tells you something.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=471700
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93 Weekender TDI conversion (AHU)
93 MV TDI conversion (1Z)
Weekender rear cot
Late model cabin air filter on 93
Euro spec bumper install on 93

[jjvincent]

Years ago we had a customer who lived in T2 bus camper and then upgraded to a T3 Syncro Camper (back when they were new). He was a quirky guy but lived off of a trust fund. I remember fabricating a hitch and holder for it because he had a BMW motorcycle that looked like it was supposed to run in the Paris to Dakar rally. I remember when the head gaskets took a dump and then when the transmission crapped out on him (both were pretty common on those). He packed up the bike and left for a month to go live on the land for both repairs. We'd just store it in one of our building and wait for him to come pick it up. Always paid cash.

He was writing some book but lived pretty basic. Nothing special at all and this was years ago where you didn't have all of the goodies like you do today. He did keep it much cleaner than he did himself.

I think the only reason he kept coming back was because we could care less what was broke or what he wanted. I think most other places turned him down or ripped him off.

That's what happened to our VW Quantum customer. This was the same guy that told me, "The Quantum is a great car but not for mortals."

[milkandrelish]

[IdeaNerd]

I don't think you'd be facing anything different repair-costs-wise living in the van than you would just taking it on lots of trips. Might prove more challenging to find mechanics for in the southeast part of the country (or so I've heard) than, say, a Ford Econoline, but I doubt show-stopper difficult.

As far as living out of a van in general, there is a TON of information out there if you start digging. Entire forums dedicated to the subject. Start searching and you'll find those. Search social networks for hashtags like #vanlife and you'll find even more. It's kind of a "thing" right now -- lots of people ditching their house/apartment/whatever and hitting the road.

I really would encourage you to find some of those forums, because they deal with lots of issues that have nothing to do with what vehicle you're in: e.g. how to make money, deal with the social implications, get packages delivered to yourself, establish residency if you end up on the road more than a year or two, etc., etc.

As far as transitioning yourself into it as a lifestyle, my advice would be to gradually work your way there. Take a bunch of 2-5 day trips -- you'll find out all the little things you weren't thinking about, as far as what to bring and how and where to pack/unpack it with minimal hassle and friction. (Speaking of friction, I'm inferring from how you've described this that you plan on living alone?) Then, take a week-long trip or two, and then some few-week-long trips. At that point you'll start running into "what will the rhythm of life be?" kinds of things -- laundry, when and where to wash and clean the van, how food and meals will work (i.e. sustainably), cell phone and internet connectivity challenges etc.

You'll also learn somewhere along that course of trial runs how good a fit the EVC is for your longer-term goal. Small vehicles have some advantages, and large ones do to. The EVC is right in between. If it's not a great fit for your longer-term goals, you'll probably be fine -- they don't seem to be going down in value much. I've seen more than one "van-lifer" switch horses mid-trip. All part of the journey.

[milkandrelish]

[jjvincent]

I guess since the Eurovan was a few years away he could have used that as an example but the Quantum must be at the top of his list since he owned one. I think that VW had a bunch of design engineers that were either on crack or just living in some alternate universe when they came up for the interior on those Quantums. Even the exterior was funky. The plastic bumper covers aged terrible. At least it was built on the Audi 80 platform and driveline thus it was a tank. I have always contemplated to build one for LeMons because with the 5 cylinder, it has decent power and you'd pretty much have to drive it off of a cliff to break it.

[Abscate]

I had a 4 cylinder Quantum, 1982 , and loved it. SWMBO drove it around the Finger lakes for 5 years of grad school in deep central NY winter

I think it was a 1.7? Drive it to 180k then donated it to charity mission
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.ssS!

[Zeitgeist 13]

I used to refer to the Quantum as an Audi 4500
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[jjvincent]

We had one customer that had a Wagon and he was in the vending machine business. The car was packed full of candy and trinkets.

[VAEV1993]

Have you seen this lady's blog and such? - Might help!

http://www.agirlandhervan.com/
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1993 Weekender - Hula
2002 Golf TDI
2017 Golf Alltrack

[Abscate]

[VAEV1993]

[milkandrelish]

[Abscate]

My bad - she has a couple of broken links but the rest is up.

Gulp - don't follow her examples on wiring solar, or that knife she thinks she can defend herself with..
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.ssS!

[milkandrelish]

[njt1rider]

Hey guys, I'm the feller mentioned above that lives in his EV. I don't post very much but I do lurk quite a bit. I lived in the van for a solid year on the road racking up 65k miles then on and off off a couple months while traveling internationally and more recently I've been renting a room and using the EV as a daily driver. I am actually about to take off on a 3 week trip to Wyoming and I never hesitate to drive the van any amount of distance. I have the van for sale because I plan on continuing to live in a van and the extra room [of a sprinter] would be quite an upgrade. I usually live in the van with a climbing partner (I am a rock climber by trade) and having 2 grown men and a dog living in an EV can be a bit much. I converted mine to TDI and it averages 33 MPG. The maintenance cost isn't much more than any other vehicle but I did basically replace every wear item when I did the swap. I should hit 100k on the swap during my trip this month. Feel free to ask some specific questions and Ill try to keep an eye on this thread and answer or send me a PM and maybe we can chat on the phone sometime...