I'm having trouble with my mentally unfit father, and I have no other family. I thought about getting an apartment, but here in NJ they're mostly all very expensive. I cannot meet the requirements to get a mortgage either. Luckily enough, after asking a friend I can use their enormous property to park an RV way in the back. He has lots of trails, more like dirt roads really, in his forest where he off roads his lifted truck. He told me I can build another trail and make a clearing so I'll have privacy and he won't have to see my campsite while he's having fun. He's agreed to let me fill up big water tanks if I pay for the water, and he will let me run an internet cat5 cable so long as I put it underground (which will be a pain in the ass because it's gonna be hell to dig a quarter mile trench thru a forest) and even electric too but I want to use Solar panels, a battery pack and a lil Honda generator for cloudy days)
I've already started building the road, I've significantly narrowed down where I'll put the campsite, and it's looking good. I can't put up a house as I'd like to, having grown up with a family construction business makes me know it will be easy, because he doesn't want to have to tear it down if the fuzz gets on his case after seeing it from a helicopter.
So an RV is the way to go. I went shopping on Craigslist and didn't find a lot of motorhomes, and I noticed that they all are sorta cheap looking on the inside. I've been working in multi-million dollar homes for the past couple years doing locksmithing and I want to have that same luxury feel even if I don't have lots of space. All kinds of construction work is my gig, so actually doing the conversion or remodeling is cake to me.
I'm just stuck at the point of deciding if I want to get a regular 30ish foot class B, or converting a bus or big box truck. I know nothing about RVs, If I do a conversion I don't know how I would heat one in the winter. Would a wood burning stove work? I imagine it would, but I'd like to know my other options too, what other people are doing. I don't know where I should go to buy water tanks and pumps either. I've never done indoor plumbing on a truck, I don't know exactly how it should be done while I am certain I could make it functional. I was thinking about using an extra modified Diesel tank mounted outside the truck on the frame as the sewage tank, and having a grey water tank from the sink and shower to refill the toilet.
If I renovate an actual motorhome, what does a class B look like with the interior torn up? I hate laminate floors and would put porcelain tiles in the bathroom and kitchen. The way busses have curved roofs makes me wanna not use a bus because it would be harder to frame the interior. Plus I don't like lots of windows.
I was planning on getting the tallest largest used box truck I could, circa 90s for ease of maintenance and lack of really expensive components. I don't want air suspension or brakes, those are more expensive to fix. Keeping the box on, and framing the interior like I would with a house so I basically end up with a luxury hotelroom. Tile floors in the kitchen and bathroom area, cheap hardwood and a rug or carpet in the rest. A shower and toilet and sink, a kitchen counter with a sink and a hot plate, a microwave and a toaster oven mounted above the counter, and using the rest as a bedroom loft.
What do you guys think is the way to go? And how does plumbing and heating usually work in an RV?