Converting a cargo van into something I can live in
Not buying an RV — turning an empty box into a home you can live in. Paused, not abandoned; I'm waiting on an electrical plan I've actually thought through.
This line is paused right now. I want to be honest about the difference between "paused" and "abandoned": abandoned means never coming back; paused means it still holds a seat in my head.
What I'm actually doing
I don't want to buy a finished RV. A bought RV is someone else's answer to "how should I live," and I want to answer that question myself. So I found an old cargo van and started from an empty steel box.
The constraints are where it gets interesting:
- Power — where it comes from, how much I store, how many days it lasts
- Water — how it gets in, how it gets out, how it doesn't freeze in winter
- How small a space one person can live in without it feeling like making do
What's done
- The insulation and the wooden frame skeleton
- A bed that folds up into a workbench
- A storage structure hidden under the entry step that I'm quite proud of
Why it's paused
I'm stuck on the electrical system. I don't want to copy a standard plan off the internet — that would make it a "successful replica." I want a design that actually fits how I use power, and I haven't figured it out yet.
Rather than throwing in some setup just to "look like I'm making progress," I'd rather honestly stop here and wait for the better answer. Cadence matters more than intensity. It will restart.