If you spend a few hours on any site devoted to "alternative" RVing, such as utility trailer conversions, Van dwellers, Schoolies,etc.... I think it's safe to say that you will reach the conclusion that the vast majority of these projects fall in two categories. #1, they were a pipe dream, started by somebody who didn't have the skill set, or drive, to see the project through to the end. These rigs are often for sale and generally priced somewhere between scrap value, and "I am going to be single if somebody doesn't drag this piece of junk out of my yard soon", prices #2 they are a rolling wreck with horrendous workmanship, and are going to be nothing but a headache for the next sucker. Now the interesting part is that a TINY portion of this mess is the diamond in the manure pile. There are some really special rigs out there, built by master craftsmen, and being sold for a fraction of the material costs and none of the labor cost that they spent to build these road yachts. If you found one of these, the next issue, as Dirt Harry once said is, "do you feel lucky". At that point it's all about risk tolerance and how fat your wallet is. Are you willing to drop six figures into a new motor if yours blows up? Can you leave it hundred of miles away, for weeks, while big expensive issues are being repaired? Are you fine with buying and maintaining something that may get very pricey to own, yet has very little resale value?
If you want to follow some real life experiences in this department, spend a bit of time on the technomadia blog. After a LONG search, these folks bought a really sweet bus conversion for $8K. They spent an equal amount making it road-worthy. After a few years of fairly reliable service, they are in MT. parked for the last month plus, while they drop $20,000+ to rebuild the motor that puked and left them stranded.
Custom and hand made conversions are an adventure. If you have a high risk tolerance, an outlook that anything and everything is an experience, not a disaster, and you have a nice healthy reserve fund so you are not selling the thing by the pound, after it puked a motor or trans, half way through a trip, then go for it. If you want a cheap, stress free RVing experience, buy a trailer.
