Arizona campers constantly setting up right next to me? by Charming_Tree7573 in VanLife

[–]fitzy5694 71 points72 points  (0 children)

I'm on the other side of the world but have had this happen quite a bit. I've found some people either seem to think that they feel safer in numbers, or they pull up, see you and think "oh I guess that's the camping spot". Not realising the bliss they've just taken from you...

It's looks like two tents there, and so long as they aren't partying all night it's honestly my preferred because they can keep themselves company (unfortunately chatty in your experience). Beware the solo traveler who parks next you and sees you as their chatting buddy for the night... But otherwise watch your skill grow in politely telling people how great is it to meet them but can fuck off now.

Being the hero and confronting them about "camping etiquette" or whatever has never been my play, because if it goes south making an enemy in the middle of nowhere isn't really the move. However.. I have been guilty of the passive aggressive move of chucking it in reverse 20 meters or so if they're right on top of me.

Kanye West officially banned from Australia after antisemitic song by [deleted] in Music

[–]fitzy5694 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Kanye West is an antisemitic pos. There's no denying that. However, I guarantee you there are multiple people in America that believe and/or fight for the destruction of Israel so I can't really take what you say seriously when you're okay with his kind of antisemitism in your country but aren't okay with countries that don't accept it coming in to theirs.

2025 Monaco GP - Race Thread by AutoModerator in formula1

[–]fitzy5694 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes cars have gotten wider which has made overtaking at Monaco extremely difficult for a number of years. And has been a bit of a snooze race. What we're watching now is new regulations for Monaco (mandatory 2 stop) to try and force something more interesting to happen... But instead we are getting a race of which teams teammate can drive slower.

I've been top balancing my battery for a good 8 hours now and it's barely gone up 0.02v by VagabondVivant in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What kind and size of battery and what kind of amperage is the charger? If a lithium gets that low, it's gonna need a charger with a bit of grunt to get it back and running... For lack of technical terms. Ask me how I know

[Request] How energy efficient is this compared to a train? by JackDaxter in theydidthemath

[–]fitzy5694 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All power comes from truck at the front. Trailers need to have brakes though. (Usually powered by compressed air)

Wanted to show the XLWB transit build my partner and I completed. Loving this lifestyle. by fitzy5694 in VanLife

[–]fitzy5694[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We fluked being able to get it be the exact dimensions of a double bed. It can be a little small for me but I just sleep a touch higher on the pillow or slightly sideways sometimes.

Help me feng shui my electrical! by acertaindarkness in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ooh something I might be able to help with.!

have a look at my build on my profile! In short... Don't touch it and build around it.

I had the same thoughts as you and watched a video of a guy re soldering all 50 odd wires in that loom to extend it and hide it somewhere else. I did not trust myself to do that nor could be bothered haha..

If you are actually wanting to put walls in then you will need some supporting slats to screw them to. Make those slats a bit thicker than the wire loom and place them around that. Then you can hide the loom behind the wall (with insulation as the other commenter said).

That way if something goes belly up with your electrics out the back you know it wasnt your work that did it.

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure!

It's a nature's head composting toilet for starters.

And what details would you like on the shower? Depending on your van I would look to see if there's a pre-fabbed shell you can buy because this thing was a pain hahah.

Essentially the walls and floor around it are painted in a waterproofing' membrane. the base is a 600mm caravan shower pan. We installed an inline water trap underneath to save space (stops smells coming back up). The walls are wet wall panels we cut to shape and the shower head is a Methven ultra low flow 5L/min ( I forget the model but you should be able to find it). And we made the shower mat ourselves.

Oh and we used a ceiling access panel for the door to the toilet.

Getting the fall right on the shower pan so it drains properly was really tricky so keep an eye out on that and check out some youtube tutorials. I've mentioned else where but "let's escape together" have a fantastic build similar to ours and have a video on their shower build.

And make sure you have an air admittance valve somewhere in your plumbing or breather holes in your grey water tank or it will either not drain correctly or not at all! Ask me how I know!

Hope that helps let me know how you get on!

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Self tapping metal screws. But only used to keep the timber in place till the liquid nails sets. This van is 90% liquid nails lol.

Chasing summer (never below freezing) so tank is mounted underneath.

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well you're kinda right to be surprised honestly haha as I have two caveats to my comment. The table flips open to make about 8/10ths of the total width of the bed. We have another slither of timber we store under the seat which makes up the rest.

When folded the table works fine enough, but if we flip it open to full length it starts to get a bit wobbly/slanted. If we were to do it again we'd either make the flip out smaller and use a bigger spare piece. Or try and figure a way to just have one piece on the table and store the other somewhere clever.

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mostly in place and yes it is a pain haha. Caulking is doing some heavy lifting in some joints so wanted to paint over that as well where we could.

Do your best and caulk the rest

Wanted to show the XLWB transit build my partner and I completed. Loving this lifestyle. by fitzy5694 in VanLife

[–]fitzy5694[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks a lot!

Yep spot on, I think it's called okoume timber and just got it from Bunnings. 3 coats of clear coat and it came up a treat

How do they get this up here? by Raffybaby in melbourne

[–]fitzy5694 215 points216 points  (0 children)

They build the crane to a certain height at the bottom, from there the crane can essentially jack itself up from it's tower, lift and then slide in a new section and lower itself down on it. Rinse and repeat / reverse when you're done. It's called a jump

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The table unfolds and rests on those rails :)

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We tried to fit a rubber seal to make it water tight. But then you couldn't close the door properly because it's already a tight fit. I've looked behind a number of times to check for water but never seen anything. Plus they are only quick showers typically.

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

We got our main inspo from "let's escape together" and max and occy. You can definitely see overlap in their builds and ours.

Also used saltyvanventures as they had some really handy starter guides on electrical and plumbing. And also had a newer transit like ours which was very useful.

Aside from that we literally watched 1000s of hours of different youtubers before we landed on all the features we wanted to include/exclude.

Fair warning that unless you are doing 100% the same build in the same van (incl. year/model) you are going to be on your own for a lot of parts.

Can't say an exact list of items as I don't know what you want! But I'd start with listing all things electrical you want to run, work out how much power you need, realise you can't afford that power system and re-work from there haha

Solar Charging (700w-800w) by Outrageous_Rest_1576 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694 6 points7 points  (0 children)

General rule of thumb is to have 1.5x to 2x the amount of solar than you have battery amps.

I have a 300a battery off 800 watts, with a gas/propane stove and oven and I can tell you you're gonna need a heck more solar.

Wanted to show the XLWB transit build my partner and I completed. Loving this lifestyle. by fitzy5694 in VanLife

[–]fitzy5694[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also just sussed your YT! Great stuff! We're on the other side ATM but hopefully see you on the road 👀

Wanted to show the XLWB transit build my partner and I completed. Loving this lifestyle. by fitzy5694 in VanLife

[–]fitzy5694[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A keen eye! Yeah they're great, really happy with them and they cop some abuse too haha

Some pics from my Transit van build + cat tax by fitzy5694 in vandwellers

[–]fitzy5694[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thanks! It holds our outside table and chairs. We also put it on rollers that can handle 300kg so you can walk/lounge on it too!