Updates
Planned Features
Friday, May 16th, 2025
First off, design. The van will have a sleek, yet functional design. The attached photo is the design I’m going for. The exact design likely won’t be figured out until I purchase the van. I have a few ideas, but it’ll be hard to really visualize until I’m standing in the space.
The bed
The bed choice is a small detail but makes a huge difference on how much can fit in the van. At the end of the day, you have 3 options: Convertible couch, twin bed, or full size bed. The full size bed is most common, but takes up a ton of space. The twin size is 16 inches thinner than a full size, which in the case of a van build, every inch matters. I haven’t fully decided on which bed choice I’ll go with yet, it’ll come down to how many trips I plan to take another person on.
One of the key points to this van build is stealth. Solar panels will (hopefully) not go all the way to the edge. The maxxair fan can’t be hidden, nor can the Starlink, but the rest will be as stealthy as possible. If I’m able to travel full time, I plan to take the van stealth camping in cities quite often. Having a low profile van will be essential in making this work.
Below are a list of features I’d like to include in the van, sorted by must-have, first. I’ll go more in depth on a lot of these items in future posts.
Core
- Water/Plumbing System
- Internal Power System
- Starlink Mini & Hotspot
- Max Air Fan & AC
- Heater
- Hidden, Secured Safe
- Swivel Seats
- 24/7 Custom GPS tracking
Kitchen/Bathroom
- Sink
- Butcher block counter for cooking
- Cooktop
- Portable Toilet (emergency use only)
Office/Bedroom
- Bed (Size TBD)
- Desk large enough for 2 monitors
- Storage for a Gaming PC & console
- Hidden radio cabinet that can be opened/closed without a door in the way
- Radio Rack W/ Scanners & Radios, close enough to the desk to read the radios
- Radio speakers mounted facing the desk seat
Misc
- Bug Nets (rear and side door)
- Blackout Curtain between front seats and living space
Website Update
Sunday, May 11th, 2025
Today, the website Project: VanLife (previously on my personal website) has been moved to nickandavan.com and has been made public. Certain posts have been locked to those with a key, these posts may contain more personal information. For those in my Discord, you may have access to the key under Blog category “#key-private” channel. At the time of writing, this Discord is currently private to only those already in it.
Future website updates will include the public GPS map (detailed in a future post), van specs, videos, and much more.
May Project Update
Friday, May 9th, 2025
This post contains personal/private information and requires the extended access key. If you have this key, enter it on the right-hand side of the screen (PC) or at the bottom of the screen (mobile). Thank you!
Purchase goal moved from May 9th to May 30th.
Planned Internet Choice
Friday, April 25th, 2025
Planned Internet Choice
Internet will be an important component of the van build. There are 3 viable options. Weboost, Cellular Hotspot, and Starlink. Each option has its own set of pros and cons.
- Weboost is essentially a roof mounted antenna that boosts the cell signal inside the van. This has a larger up front cost, with no monthly cost (it’s only a signal booster, not its own service).
- Cell Hotspots are self explanatory, these are great for when you’re any decent sized town, but terrible for when you’re out in the country or national parks. The average cost for hardware is around $300, plus the monthly service fee around $30/mo.
- Starlink is the last option, this is great for open environments with a clear line of sight to the sky.
So, what am I going with?
A majority of my time will be spent at national parks for the first year until I’m able to go “full time” VanLife. I’ll need a reliable internet source for these short trips, without being tied down to an expensive monthly subscription. Until I go full time on the road, I’ll be using a Starlink Mini with the Roam package. This is around $50/month, but you can pause your subscription when you’re not using it. There’s a low data limit, however with even a small amount of planning you can avoid overages (such as downloading movies prior to the trip, avoiding TikTok/YouTube, etc). The internet choice will have to be re-evaluated when I’m able to go full time on the road.
Purchase goal moved from April 28th to May 9th. Build goal moved from July 2025 to August 2025.
April Project Update
Friday, April 4th, 2025
This post contains personal/private information and requires the extended access key. If you have this key, enter it on the right-hand side of the screen (PC) or at the bottom of the screen (mobile). Thank you!
I'll post again here very soon! The purchase date is still on track for April 28th, with the estimated build completion in July...
The Van Type
Friday, March 14th, 2025
When it comes to VanLife “Nomads”, there are tons of different options for vans out there. Between the makes, models, sizes, used/new, and much more. For the sake of this post, I’ll mention the 3 most common here in a few. There are other types, including some old VW vans, a school bus, city models, etc, however those wouldn’t work for a few reasons. The first is the age of the vehicle, and my lack of mechanic skills. Most of these vehicles are older, sometimes 20-30+ years old. And while they look really cool, and would probably be a blast to use for VanLife, they’re not practical for my specific needs. These vehicles are prone to mechanical issues, and while some may not be a big deal, fatal issues could cause serious headaches and stress when you’re alone, 2,000 miles from home. That’s not to say modern vehicles won’t be, but getting someone to work on older vehicles may be more difficult.
So that brings me to the 3 most common vehicle types for VanLife in 2025. The Ford Transit, Ram Promaster, and Mercedes Sprinter.
The Transit comes in a few sizes, but tends to max out at 148”. The actual build length inside is shorter, and the top is more of a curve.
The Ram Promaster has 3 main size options, 136”, 159”, and 159” EWB. This vehicle is more of a box-y layout, which makes it much easier to build in.
Lastly, the Mercedes Sprinter. This has 2 size options, 144” and 170”. Similar to the transit, these are more rounded. The sprinter is slightly more narrow, and sits higher off the ground.
Both the transit and the Promaster come in around $50,000 for a brand new model. The sprinter sits somewhere around $65,000. The sprinter also has higher maintenance costs, just due to it being a Mercedes. This leaves the Transit and Promaster as viable options. Both are around the same price, similar in build volume, and have (about) the same reputation as far as reliability.
I’ve ultimately decided to go for a Ram Promaster 159” (non extended). The extended would have more build volume, but wouldn’t fit into a standard parking spot. So, why the promaster? The price, and box-y inside. The price is a big factor, as this will already be an incredibly expensive project. The inside being more of a rectangle will make it a lot easier to build in, when I already have very little experience building anything like this. I’ll be searching for a used promaster with between 10-30k miles. I’m expecting the price to fall between $28-33k, likely on the higher end.
March Project Update
Wednesday, March 5th, 2025
This post contains personal/private information and requires the extended access key. If you have this key, enter it on the right-hand side of the screen (PC) or at the bottom of the screen (mobile). Thank you!
Purchase goal moved from March to April 28th. Build goal remains July 2025.
Life Happened
Friday, January 3rd, 2025
Since the last post, the plan has changed. VanLife is still very much in the works, however personal financial goals must be met first. The first goal is paying off my car, which I’ve been working towards. The completion estimate for this is the end of January (Jan 31st). Once this is done, every penny will go towards the down payment for the van.
I’ll be looking for a used van between 20-50k miles, between $25-35k. My preference will be a black van, however I’d be fine with white. I’ll make a future post with specific van features I’ll be looking for.
Initial purchase goal moved from February to March. Build goal moved from June to July.
September 2024 Update
Sunday, September 15th, 2024
It's been about a month and a half since I launched this webpage, so I figured I'd give a bit of an update as to how things are going so far.
I've second guessed myself several times, which is to be expected given the extensive work this project will take and all of the life changes it requires. I've told myself that when December rolls around, I'll see how much money I have, and where I stand in terms of the possibility of funding this lifestyle from the road, then I will, or will not pull the trigger.
I haven't fully decided on the van type yet, color, or specific features.. but I'm sure that decision will be made soon.
I'm still extremely pumped about this project. The idea of being able to travel freely, live in whatever state I feel like for the month, just seems like an exciting lifestyle to have, even if it's only temporary. Ideally, this will be something I can try for a year or two. By that point, I'd imagine I'll find a spot I'll want to settle down. Won't know until I try.
The Idea
Thursday, August 1st, 2024
I've lived in the same city for all my life, which after a while gets really, really old. After getting a taste of freedom the last 2 years, I finally decided it was time for a change. I'd pondered with the idea for a very long time of getting into the VanLife scene, but due to the initial investment cost, I'd never truly considered it a real possibility.
It took a lot of planning, and initial life changes to get the ball rolling, but I've decided to dive head-first and go for it. This webpage was built to track the progress of this project, from the initial concept to hitting the road. I'll post as frequently as I can, both financial updates, and design/build updates.
Welcome!
Post updated 5/11/24
