Van Tour of a Nomad Living Cheap in a Astro Minivan

hi everyone welcome back to my next video and today we're going to meet richard and his really really really nice astro and i've always been a big fan of the astro they're so solidly mechanical they've been making them from years so ratchet richard tell us how you ended up here at the rubber rendezvous 2018 and a little bit about your astro and your life in it i semi retired may 31st i'm not old enough to collect anything yet i got a couple years but a little bit of money in the bank and i'll still do some work but i knew i was going to do that so i worked on my van about a year and turned my keys in may 31st and i've been in the van ever since um since then i put about 20 000 miles on it oh my goodness you've been busy so 20 000 miles that's a whole lot in one year and uh you've been you've been enjoying it so far i've been traveling i've been down in florida twice i've boondocked in the keys got away with that which was kind of a check mark for me um that's on your bucket list and the keys are gorgeous yeah yeah everywhere i went i've had a good time everywhere i've went everybody's been really friendly um and um i mean just to say it's simple i've loved it i got here like close to three months ago i came and checked this area out first stayed for a few days then i went over to erenberg and stayed up there on both sides of the circle over there both in the higher land and then next to the river for a while so uh as you know one of the things i say all the time is there's plenty of places here in the desert southwest so you've just been going around and and getting to know them all yeah yeah and um some i like better than others sure yeah that's the way it works and um i i'm a kind of electronic freak i got out my internet you know me too i got my tv in the morning and the laptops and uh um i do uh websites on the side a little bit so i gotta work on that some and uh a lot of tech people where they just got to have that stuff yeah i wasn't leaving home without it no no i understand i care less about furniture but my tech stuff was coming with me right right half my tools and of course tech stuff requires solar so i see you have solar i do uh 200 watts yes yep and has that been good so far that's been enough it's been enough uh i could use another panel the big thing is that in the winter you get so much less in the summer you'll probably be very happy but in the winter it's pretty marginal i'd like to be happy all year round yes and that's what i tell people plan for the worst yeah don't don't choose for the best plan for the worst sure another panel will do it yeah those panels normally lay flat but here the sun was so far down all day long that i had to unscrew them and lift them up so now i'm going to put hinges on both sides remove the pins and then put pins with clips in them so i can flip them either way that's a very good idea that's my next project so uh the astro you know it's a small van and but you found it to be big enough for you yeah the way i designed it um i've got plenty of room in it people are usually surprised when they look at it and they say what you got that so much room in here and you carry that much stuff with you you know so right i built everything inside from scratch and um had a plan for where everything was going to go from from the get-go so uh it sounds like you're traveling full-time for now i mean that's all you 20 000 miles in eight or nine months so are you gonna go full-time or just trips um i've been full-time since may 31st and you know someday i might get tired of it but right now i'm just loving it it's comfortable i've made it comfortable for me i have all my toys and so i don't see any reason why not at this point you know um without doing it this way i wouldn't be able to afford it i'm not a rich man i've got some money in the bank i've got skills i can do pretty much any job and uh if i go to any i can make call and get a job anywhere but i don't have to a lot because i'm traveling this way and the astro's been a good solid vehicle you haven't had any problems well you may have had a little here and there probably uh done all the regular maintenance i've had to replace both the front wheel bearing assemblies other than that uh plugs wires normal everything you want to i i went through and changed the serpentine belt pulleys greased everything put new tires on and new brakes all the way around before it took off all that during that year while i was getting it ready so uh-huh well it would be okay if we took a look around inside sure absolutely okay let's take a look inside this really really nice conversion so richard here we are inside your van a man this is so nice i really love your build so can you walk us through it and you're thinking and decision making well i started out with um i put a fake wall in and we'll have to go back and look at the utility there that point um and then i built the bed and i built these cabinets in place uh one of my jobs in the past was uh building cabinets many years ago and um i tilted this cabinet for see that two reasons um it's still deep enough to accommodate these bins oh right you built them around your plastic bins yeah i didn't want the bins sticking out i just don't that would drive me nuts i wouldn't go a little bit and flopping around and this side i hang clothes in uh-huh really nice and uh um of course it's the same down here i got a little bit key litter and a couple other things down there uh-huh just nice really nice organization um i got this shelf here at walmart it had legs on it the legs kept getting bounced all around and on my feet so i mounted it to that and just pops up and then while i noticed one day that uh um i could scoot it over there oh my god that's just do paperwork whatever i want that works out great i should say i'm uh your front seat and i'll show you the front here in a minute folks but the pasture seat is swiveled is it a swivel or have you reversed it it's a swivel i installed a swivel on oh that's nice yes and um it's easy it's super easy to turn around um if i'm somewhere where i ain't supposed to be i have a curtain here that can pull off turn the seat around right sure just make the cab look like there's no one in here i'll tell you a little bit about the color i agree the front the cab's gray right it is so i went with a hammered gray oil base because it's more durable on all the wood and then on the walls where the carpet is that is a boat deck carpeting oh uh-huh and i put that on with contact cement to kanye row on i installed the fantastic fan and um you know i actually uh prefer a i think you should get a fantastic fan it's worth it but i actually prefer portable i can have close to me and aim at me that's what i've got and it tilts up and down and plugs into the cigarette lighter and it's 12 volts and you can move it back and forth you're sitting up here it can be beside you if you're sitting back there it could be beside you um the tv does four things it's a regular tv it's got a dvd player built in it i have a chromecast hooked up to it so i can sling a sling tv to it so i can get my nascar races and football games and stuff that are on cable now right and the fourth thing is i have a backup camera hooked up to it and it don't just come on when you put it in reverse i'll leave it on when i'm going down the road and i can look at it through my rearview mirror how about that that's a clever idea and it just looks like a window to the back behind you yeah and it works great i mean i can see it perfectly clear because it's dark back here you know the sun's not shining on it's easy to see works great yeah this was a cargo van to begin with yeah it was a cargo van i got it from corson they're national fire safety company and that's why it's yellow too right the doors i didn't build myself i bought them at lowe's or walmart or something i mean lows or menards or something i cut about an inch off each side so they would fit and these are actually drawer fronts that's my pantry there and uh fronts to a drawer do you cook i cook outside uh butane uh it's sitting up there just to get out of it right out of the way oh so it's down here in your up wheel well yeah i usually set it right here and then set the stove on top of it and cook here or outside if it's still nice out outside and you'd be sitting where i am i'm sitting in your you're sure you're past your seat which is swiveled and man it is just perfect to to get here it is you know i just love board and i'm cooking i'm watching it this is my uh foot stand where i'm sitting where you're at right it's my nightstand uh-huh all my storage and pea bottle and all that good crap there the essentials and then it has a hinge how cool oh and look at that it's your toilet too that's very very clever and i might have to sit there for a little bit yeah [Laughter] so that and the tv's on tv's on i got my phone in my hand and paper down there if the phone gets boring it's ready to go let's go for a visit yeah exactly yeah it's uh yeah um it works great and it's comfortable and it's just the right height and everything my head don't hit and the toilet paper is under here and scuffing the bags no job's done until the paperwork's done yeah that's true i got a smoke detector carbon monoxide texture just essential laptop slides in here right just a couple extra storage remotes and stuff generally going there all my uh outlets are independently fused i had read that sometimes if you have those refrigerator on um on on a circuit with other things that sometimes it can misread the voltage and and get a false reading that your voltage is low when it's not right and you got a nice speaker system so you like music and you have it there when you want it yep i've had them speakers for i don't know eight years or so but i bought this cheap 59 or 49 walmart special has bluetooth on it so i can stream my phone to it and it looks like do you have access to the under bed storage from the front or is that from the back i can get to it by taking the one screw off most of the time i just get to it from the back sure and i see you have an air conditioning and 200 watts is generally not going to run an air conditioner so do you use it much um that is just for you'll get them 90 95 day 100 humidity in florida where i go a lot and i have my breaking point too and if that's the case i'll pay for campsite plug in and use it when i go to indy um i pull into my mother's driveway and plug in and she loves having him there sure brother she loves me being there so you know yeah that one just plug in yeah she lets me plug in as long as i keep fixing everything right on there which i don't mind and like doing this well what's the problem what i was thinking of is you know this is a tiny van and even losing that 10 inches doesn't make it look too crowded unpleasant no i mean we're both sitting in here and there's plenty of room between you and i and i still got a couple tables that yes you know we both could eat off of if we wanted to we could you can have company in here no problem yeah sure and have and now some people have an issue with the no windows you got a cargo van so you only window is your front and that has isn't a problem for you no i've had cargo vans for years uh-huh um i just i'm used to it and you're probably spending you know we've had really good weather this year but you're usually spending a lot of your time outside i'd guess oh yeah if the sun's out you're probably going to see me out there right right you're either doing something or not doing anything just airing that sun i don't care i love the sun to me it's therapy uh yeah you in science everyone says that it just seemed like i keep getting happier and happier i'm having a blast here at the rtr right and thank you for that i mean it's just it's it's fun i mean it's fun you can i'm close enough to where i can listen to the seminars sitting in my van or sitting in a chair outside my van although everybody keeps walking by wanting to look in my hands that's your problem so i ended up having to walk over there anyways but i i could listen to him here if it wasn't for the traffic wanting to look in it so right well you've done such a nice job yeah i get a lot of complaints so uh i'm not complaining at all and what kind of uh gas mileage are you getting out of it yeah 18 to 20 which is fine that's really good well just a couple things everyone demands that i ask you do have refrigeration it looks like a dometic yes uh 12 volt fridge 200 watts is plenty to power yet it's been running solid for over a year and so how do you shower everyone wants to know i use a solar shower okay good uh a bag a bag uh i uh open the back doors put a tarp across the back and i wear swim drunks sure in a place like this sure and i have a lot of hair and i'm still able to get it all worse clean and my whole body with a half gallon a lot of stuff i that i do i thought this is going to be weird but after about two months it's just your life it's what you do it's it's it's it's everyday businesses i have a couple toolbox on top and i keep uh one box i have much tools in the other box i keep tent chairs out here table tarps uh extension cords and miscellaneous stuff like that i brought everything i needed to work on the van and basic carpentry work and stuff with me so it's not that hard no it's not i have a lot with me well speaking of that why don't we go take a look around out the outside let's do that okay i want to just start here with the boxes okay these are actually truck tool boxes they're aluminum tool boxes they're super light and i painted them with satin black and this one is actually a side box the one on the other side is a tool box that goes in the back of a truck that drops down in the center and goes across and i and i cut that part off did the same thing with it over there yeah a little outside table here's your solar shower yep sitting there warming up those bags look great and then the back in the garage this is where everything happened oh wow that is really nice it's only about eight to ten inches but you can see how much i got in here the inverter's a little large but i use like a hammer drill and stuff for some work and stuff like that so that's why that's there uh the two batteries i've had them for about a year for charging i just use a cheap harbor freight uh 90 dollar generator and a 25 battery charger from harbor freight and it'll charge the batteries in about two and a half hours so when you're plugged into solar shore power you just uh plug in and use the battery charger or if you're away from shore power you use the generator exactly and the propane tank goes up to the body heater so the hose is wired runs up to it yes it does it's right here it goes up along the top of the wheel well uh stays underneath the cabinet inside and then just comes right out where the body heaters are and this blower here um i use it to clean the van out with i open all the doors up pretty much stand in the middle and blow all the dirt outwards and when you have that much dirt out here at the desert you do it's a whole lot quicker than any other way you can do it these are ridge vents for houses and what this does is it this whole area stays vented and i can run the air conditioner without knowing no one that's in there right that's a big plus and uh why don't you tell us about the uh your antenna okay um that is a cheap 20 uh big lots antenna it had the ugly big bow tie uf antenna on the back side of it i got a three-quarter inch galvanized pipe right here that antenna will sit on this pipe most of the time and in the city and stuff i can get mostly signals most of the signals i want yeah everybody that's walked by has told me they don't get they all get one spanish station i guess but i get a lot of stations with it and it works great well richard you've just done a really great job you've made yourself a wonderful home thank you uh i'm i imagine people are at home or watching this thinking those are some really good ideas i can do that yeah and and they can they really can do this so do you have a a youtube channel or or blog or anything yeah i have a website it's called vanning heretother.com and it has several pages of the pictures of the van as it's been built and i have a youtube channel called same thing vanning here to there and there's not a whole lot on there but i've been adding a lot more lately so yeah everyone go check it out because there's some great ideas and and uh and some inspiration here so be sure and look at both of those the website and the youtube channel well richard thanks so much for sharing your uh your home with us your life i really appreciate it folks if you got any ideas or inspiration out of here like us on youtube subscribe to the channel and we'll talk to you later bye you

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 266,254

Keywords: live, living, car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, gypsy, camper, camp, boondock, travel, snowbird, caravan, tiny, house, tribe, RTR, adventure

Id: z0ZDiRLDSsQ

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2019