Getting creative with limited space
I am about 5 months away from starting full timing. I have been slowly getting ready for over a year now. I am starting to realize just how tight it's going to be in my little ol' Class B motorhome. A...
Forum Discussion
I have an expanding car style clothes bar I got years ago for a conversion van I had. it'll hang on the cabinets in several places but again, i can't put much weight on it, for fear of damaging the cabinets. It would be great for hanging up clothes I wear often.. I would have to shuffle it around some depending on where i want it. I can put it over the front two seats when I'm not driving and unload it when I'm not and lay the hangered clothes on the bed with the rod back there out of the way.
Privacy is a little hard in mine in the bed area. It has a large rear window and two windows on the sides. It has curtains that it seems somenoe made out of motel towels (no joke!). A clothes pin works well for holding the two sides together somewhat. I wouldn't want much of a privacy curtain if it hangs down low. The furnace is not far away.
Also, if it drops to the floor, it would get a little in the way of the fresh water tank level viewer.. which is basically a slit in the enclosure with the tank visible. That's how it was designed. primitive but highly effective.
It donned on me today to just make a little wooden freestanding shelf for under the sink. 10x13x10 will allow storage under, to the side of and on top of the little shelf. Being freestanding, I can pull it out if I dislike it later with no permanent changes. I have a lot of scrap wood laying around in the garage I can use so it's not going to cost me anything to make.. compared to a $10 wire shelf that I might need two of or that might not fit as well.
I'm gonna go ahead and use the plastic cups and stuff so it's not considered stuff I "need" when packing the van.
My old 78 might get 10 if i'm lucky while towing. it lacks the emission 'air pump' that some had in 1978. Also, someone removed the catalytic converter when they replaced the muffler which looks close to new. Thankfully, my state lacks any inspections.. and the state I will be settling in eventually (Washington), the van is old enough to be emissions exempt. That will help with the mpg a little. I wish cruise control was working but it's not. i replaced a long vacuum hose hoping that would solve it, but it didn't. I installed a vacuum/MPG gauge to help me go easier on the gas pedal.
Having the trailer will save me a more money than it will cost in gas. I do a lot of repairs myself which saves hundreds of dollars, easily. (I've probably saved $2000+ in labor doing a lot myself on that van). Oil changes alone on a van get about $10 tacked on instanty. I also don't hardly trust mechanics anymore after one local shop botched a simple brake job causing damage to my new parts, stole one of my new brake drums and got away with it as far as the BBB is concerned who sided with the shop. The shop bold faced lied to the BBB and even the supervisor at the BBB agreed that it sounded like a lie that I'd be passing around $20 bills as tips after paying a $700 bill.
Also, the scooter is my REAL daily driver. It gets over 80mpg, if not over 90mpg. Frankly, Idon't even monitor it, it's so high up there. It greatly offsets the van's low MPG when I reach my destinations. I can easily unhitch the trailer and drive the van around destinations of the weather calls for it. The good Master brand coupler lock I have will help keep anyone from hauling off with the trailer. The raised mesh sides and drop tailgate will help prevent anyone from stealing the scooter from the trailer since I can chain the tail gate shut. Sometimes a good lock will deter a lazy thief.
I didn't want to have a trailer but after I sold the other two scooters I had (a 50cc with no title, and a 250cc) I was going through scooter withdrawls within days. I got a 125cc which is the sweet spot for my wants and needs. Then I was considering a hitch mounted carrier... but that puts a lot of stress on the rear of the van which is already loaded down with the 36 gallon fuel tank, ~22 gallon fresh water tank and 2.7KW Onan AJ generator.
A trailer will make the van PULL more wrigh but not HOLD more weight up off the ground. And too.. it has a rear spare tire carrier which would prevent me from putting a motorcycle carrier on. There's no where else to put the tire. If I take off the carrier, I'd have to have a trailer to carry the spare tire in!
So that's why I got a trailer. There was no other way around it if I wanted to have a high mpg daily driver.
Oh... and I can stand up in mine in a small portion of it despite the low roof. It has a dropped floor section around the kitchen and the entry way. The roof is part of the conversion but near as I can figure, it's a thin fiberglass coating with a thin bit of insulation over the metal roof. I though it lacked metal in the roof.. but I can see it where the new roof vent was put in. They didn't try to seal around it.. so i need to get some foam weatherstripping. There is a miniscule amount of hard type foam insulation too (the kind that crumbles, sorta like florists use).
Privacy is a little hard in mine in the bed area. It has a large rear window and two windows on the sides. It has curtains that it seems somenoe made out of motel towels (no joke!). A clothes pin works well for holding the two sides together somewhat. I wouldn't want much of a privacy curtain if it hangs down low. The furnace is not far away.
Also, if it drops to the floor, it would get a little in the way of the fresh water tank level viewer.. which is basically a slit in the enclosure with the tank visible. That's how it was designed. primitive but highly effective.
It donned on me today to just make a little wooden freestanding shelf for under the sink. 10x13x10 will allow storage under, to the side of and on top of the little shelf. Being freestanding, I can pull it out if I dislike it later with no permanent changes. I have a lot of scrap wood laying around in the garage I can use so it's not going to cost me anything to make.. compared to a $10 wire shelf that I might need two of or that might not fit as well.
I'm gonna go ahead and use the plastic cups and stuff so it's not considered stuff I "need" when packing the van.
My old 78 might get 10 if i'm lucky while towing. it lacks the emission 'air pump' that some had in 1978. Also, someone removed the catalytic converter when they replaced the muffler which looks close to new. Thankfully, my state lacks any inspections.. and the state I will be settling in eventually (Washington), the van is old enough to be emissions exempt. That will help with the mpg a little. I wish cruise control was working but it's not. i replaced a long vacuum hose hoping that would solve it, but it didn't. I installed a vacuum/MPG gauge to help me go easier on the gas pedal.
Having the trailer will save me a more money than it will cost in gas. I do a lot of repairs myself which saves hundreds of dollars, easily. (I've probably saved $2000+ in labor doing a lot myself on that van). Oil changes alone on a van get about $10 tacked on instanty. I also don't hardly trust mechanics anymore after one local shop botched a simple brake job causing damage to my new parts, stole one of my new brake drums and got away with it as far as the BBB is concerned who sided with the shop. The shop bold faced lied to the BBB and even the supervisor at the BBB agreed that it sounded like a lie that I'd be passing around $20 bills as tips after paying a $700 bill.
Also, the scooter is my REAL daily driver. It gets over 80mpg, if not over 90mpg. Frankly, Idon't even monitor it, it's so high up there. It greatly offsets the van's low MPG when I reach my destinations. I can easily unhitch the trailer and drive the van around destinations of the weather calls for it. The good Master brand coupler lock I have will help keep anyone from hauling off with the trailer. The raised mesh sides and drop tailgate will help prevent anyone from stealing the scooter from the trailer since I can chain the tail gate shut. Sometimes a good lock will deter a lazy thief.
I didn't want to have a trailer but after I sold the other two scooters I had (a 50cc with no title, and a 250cc) I was going through scooter withdrawls within days. I got a 125cc which is the sweet spot for my wants and needs. Then I was considering a hitch mounted carrier... but that puts a lot of stress on the rear of the van which is already loaded down with the 36 gallon fuel tank, ~22 gallon fresh water tank and 2.7KW Onan AJ generator.
A trailer will make the van PULL more wrigh but not HOLD more weight up off the ground. And too.. it has a rear spare tire carrier which would prevent me from putting a motorcycle carrier on. There's no where else to put the tire. If I take off the carrier, I'd have to have a trailer to carry the spare tire in!
So that's why I got a trailer. There was no other way around it if I wanted to have a high mpg daily driver.
Oh... and I can stand up in mine in a small portion of it despite the low roof. It has a dropped floor section around the kitchen and the entry way. The roof is part of the conversion but near as I can figure, it's a thin fiberglass coating with a thin bit of insulation over the metal roof. I though it lacked metal in the roof.. but I can see it where the new roof vent was put in. They didn't try to seal around it.. so i need to get some foam weatherstripping. There is a miniscule amount of hard type foam insulation too (the kind that crumbles, sorta like florists use).
