My latest need, Ecoboost Van

I'd repurpose a black enclosed trailer. It'll look like a landscape company. Put "Joe's trash removal" on the side and nobody will mess with it 

Shower means a high roof, and you're not going to find it easy to make that stealth.

In reply to Jaynen :

I'm familiar with all sorts of haulers and toterhomes and all that but this was special. Literally a van cab with a sleeper stuck on it. Now I'm looking for van based motorhomes with the back half junked through neglect that could be converted. 

I think I have seen something like that before people can get pretty creative. IE the "toyhaulers" made using a truck bed camper on a flatbed trailer etc

Keith Tanner said:

I'd repurpose a black enclosed trailer. It'll look like a landscape company. Put "Joe's trash removal" on the side and nobody will mess with it 

Shower means a high roof, and you're not going to find it easy to make that stealth.

If I had room for a trailer, there would be other options. Alas I do not.  I've pondered building a camper the TDI could tow, but satisfying the requirements within the weight limit would be very difficult, if not impossible. Regardless, whatever I park in one of my driveways needs to be self-propelled.

I think a shower can be done in a standard raised roof conversion van. It will depend on your level of compromise and creativity. I have an idea. Whether or not it's a good idea remains to be seen.

Somebody mentioned the Honda Element e-Camper a ways back. There is a guy customizing furniture for them now too, including a desk, stove, chair/bed etc. I think it makes a great platform for camping if you travel light and don't mind finding a bathroom  

Fifth Element Camping

Mazduece:  

Yeah! I saw one just like that before.

Ian a lot of the RV showers have the showerhead as a wand you can hold anyway and a water shutoff so you dont waste water and they usually have a little bench since they are not that roomie to begin with

Ian F said:

Keith Tanner said:

I'd repurpose a black enclosed trailer. It'll look like a landscape company. Put "Joe's trash removal" on the side and nobody will mess with it 

Shower means a high roof, and you're not going to find it easy to make that stealth.

If I had room for a trailer, there would be other options. Alas I do not.  I've pondered building a camper the TDI could tow, but satisfying the requirements within the weight limit would be very difficult, if not impossible. Regardless, whatever I park in one of my driveways needs to be self-propelled.

I think a shower can be done in a standard raised roof conversion van. It will depend on your level of compromise and creativity. I have an idea. Whether or not it's a good idea remains to be seen.

Raised roof, exactly. Not stealthy to me.

Another option is a vehicle with a top-hinged rear door. Put a curtain around it and you can shower outside. That gets you the headroom without having to resort to a tall van and you also don't have to worry about waterproofing/draining a room in the interior. Heck, it'll give you a fairly decent shower area instead of being folded up.

mazdeuce said:

In reply to Jaynen :

I'm familiar with all sorts of haulers and toterhomes and all that but this was special. Literally a van cab with a sleeper stuck on it. Now I'm looking for van based motorhomes with the back half junked through neglect that could be converted. 

What if a guy had like a '60's truck cab and like a '60's travel trailer. What could he do? 

Update: it appears the ones with windows get rear sway bars! We didn't have any with windows at work when I checked.

After posting this I actually saw a couple Metris vans being used as executive shuttles in Phoenix this past week. They look as good in person as they do in pictures, although I didn't get to eyeball the interior.

John Welsh said:

mazdeuce said:

In reply to Jaynen :

I'm familiar with all sorts of haulers and toterhomes and all that but this was special. Literally a van cab with a sleeper stuck on it. Now I'm looking for van based motorhomes with the back half junked through neglect that could be converted. 

What if a guy had like a '60's truck cab and like a '60's travel trailer. What could he do? 

Indeed, a question for the ages.

Back to the box truck.  My buddy Brad is a motorsports photographer, full time.  He has a box truck with bunk beds and such in the back.  It's just basic white outside.  Totally stealth and nobody gives it a second look.  I mean, the thing's the size of a Manhattan apartment.  You could put whatever you wanted in there.

So, what did you buy?

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

Yes! Doesn't quite push me over the edge, but gets me closer.  

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Braces.  Just got the word today that Ducekid #4 is up for the first phase of head fixing. I had someone who wanted to buy the V wagon this weekend, and I was tempted. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Having used that sort of shower before - berk no.  Plus, no way in hell can you set that up in a Walmart parking lot.

Raised roof conversion vans are so stealthy, nobody even notices them.  It can be kinda eerie. I used to drive mine to work - coworkers would see me later and comment how they didn't know I was in the office since they didn't see my car.  "Dude...  how the hell did you miss the giant red thing in the parking lot?"  "Dunno... didn't see it..."

That said... I'm back to pondering a Sprinter, stealth be damned... the interior space is just too much to ignore.  If only I trusted the reliability more...

So far, I'm not hearing good things about Transit reliability either.

I have to wonder if the reliability issues are owner related...  A good portion of the target market for these things is likely used to owning old-school American vans that'll suffer through all kinds of abuse, neglect and deferred maintenance and just continue to run (poorly) for 300k miles or until they rust into the ground. 

That said, the Sprinters do seem to have rust issues from what I've seen. 

In reply to pinchvalve :

With the increased popularity of the old VW Buses with millennials and the growth of the tiny house movement, now's the time for the comeback of the custom full size van.

In reply to rslifkin :

Perhaps, but part of what attracts me to an old school American van with a simple push-rod V8 is that "fix it with a hammer" aspect.

My wife and I have been pondering the low roof 136 inch WB Promaster. Plenty on the used market, especially from the rental companies.  Looking to replace the AWD Astro for more room to travel with our dogs. Hotel rooms are tough to come buy with three large dogs. Would fit it out the way we wanted. My wife can stand up in one and I only have to stoop a little.

All the comparisons I have read say avoid the promaster

rslifkin said:

I have to wonder if the reliability issues are owner related...  A good portion of the target market for these things is likely used to owning old-school American vans that'll suffer through all kinds of abuse, neglect and deferred maintenance and just continue to run (poorly) for 300k miles or until they rust into the ground. 

That said, the Sprinters do seem to have rust issues from what I've seen. 

I know several people with Sprinters, with maintenance varying from "dealer maintained perfectly to schedule" to "car guy who knows what he's doing."  None of them seem particularly reliable, and none of the repairs are cheap or easy.

Watching the comments here with interest. We’ve currently got a pop up camper which we've slept up to eight people in, in reasonable comfort. Six with ease. Right now we have a 16 year old and a twenty something with a two year old grandson so we need the space. Looking 3-5 years down the line we expect to be basically kid free with a good chance that the elder one with grand kid will no longer be close by. Right now we need the space, but are banking on most of our travel being just the two of us in a few years with occasional room for 1 or 2 more.

In a couple of weeks were specifically going to the local Camper and RV show to check out the current stuff that will be 3-5 years old when we come to trade in. Both of us love Class B campers, but damn they are pricey.  For the fun of it I went to the RoadTrek site and in five mins speced a basic Class B up to over $200K. They also seem to hold their value way way better than any Class 'A', 'C' or trailers.

The 'Too poop or not too poop' in the kitchen is a point of debate. I purposely sought out a pop up without a toilet as I didn't want the weight, hassle, leaks or pooping where you sleep thing. But, and it's a big BUT (not Butt!!) SWMBO has stated that she wants one in the future as it's not as easy for a lady to point and shoot and she doesn’t like getting out during the night. I'm strongly pushing for no loo.  Any suggestions for Transit based reasonably priced Class B’s not already mentioned?

The Metris (sort of modern Westfalia) mentioned up thread seem to start at $65K for a base base stripper.

Just for fun, I checked. My 1985 Westfalia had an MSRP of $40,700 based on the consumer price index. That's actually not bad. The base Vanagon was $29k.