Do-Overs on the Promaster

Over time, we have changed and upgraded Buster the Wonder Van.  The last time I posted to this account we'd just added a Fiamma awning, which was a great addition.  It's easy to deploy, and provides a big, dry outdoor space for us here in the rainy NW.  

Refrigeration:  We are still using the same NorCold refrigerator--a chest style 12-volt.  It works well, and is pretty easy on the batteries.  The downside was the cigarette-lighter-style plug in, which could easily get shaken loose on rough roads.  We rewired it more directly into the 12 volt system, and now it never falls out.  

Toilet:  The Porta-Potty was a pain in the neck.  Emptying it was messy, smelly and heavy.  We'd lived with one in the bush in Alaska for 9 years, and thought it was a good solution for the van because it was compact, but it wasn't a great solution for lots of reasons.  We replaced the Porte-Potty with a C-head composting toilet and are really happy with it.

The C-head has a pee diverter and a bucket for #2.  We use wood shavings in the #2 bucket--the kind that are sold for small pet cages, and we have NO smells.   We dump the pee jug every day and rinse it out, because that will smell after a couple days.  But the poop part is truly odorless.  We had considered at composter, but couldn't believe it wouldn't smell. We were convinced when our friends Anne and Ray who have a C-head on their boat used it continuously for a month-long boat trip, and swore it did not smell.  We have our C-head in a cupboard under the sink--it slides out when needed, and is hidden the rest of the time.  This has been a great addition.  (Follow the link and look at this great product.)

Water:  We are geezers, and wanted to get away from lugging a 5-gallon under-sink potable-water container INTO the van, and a 5 gallon gray-water tank OUT of the van every few days when we're on the road, so we decided to add a 20 gallon, over the wheel-well  sealed water tank.  It fits perfectly under one of the bench seats.  We fill it with a hose through an external filler pipe that has a locking cap on the exterior of the van.  Installing it in a finished van was a bugger, but with perseverance and a good deal of swearing, we got 'er in.  

We use the same foot pump arrangement to get water from the new tank to the sink, and just had to add a longer hose to snake behind the bench seats to the sink.  We ran a gray water pipe out of the van and through the floor to drain the gray water into a bucket that we place under the van when we are camping.  We dispose of the gray water either in the bushes in remote locations, or in a designated dump in developed campsites--a small bucket of grey water beats wrestling 5 gallons of gray water out of the van.  We still use a 3/4-gallon pumper pot for hot water.  That's a perfect solution.  It stays really hot and can be added to cold water to do dishes, or wash ourselves.

Solar:  Our current batteries--both the two AGM house batteries and the stock starter battery--are charged when we drive or when we hook to shore power.  When we run a 'fridge and lights in the van, the house batteries will run down to about 75% in three days with no engine or shore power.  We think adding a 2x100 watt solar panel, something like these from Lowes,  into the system might be a smart idea--certainly smarter than starting the engine and running it for 30 minutes just to boost the batteries. 

Heat:  In the winter, we've mostly we've stayed in campgrounds with electric services so we could run a small electric heater.  However, in the spring of 2022 we added a Wabasto heater.  It runs on fuel from the van's gas tank.  The combustion chamber is sealed, and draws air from the outside the van, and vents to the outside, making it the safest off-grid heater we could find.  

We're happy with everything else on our van.  The table is big enough for 4 people to eat around on the rare occasion when that happens, and it's big enough for the two of us to work on various projects simultaneously.  The bench seats are comfortable for sitting and lounging, and the storage under them is big--even with a water tank now taking up space in one of them.  The memory-foam cushions make into a bed that is queen-size wide, and not quite queen-size long, but super comfortable.  We both say we sleep as well in the van as we do at home.   To cook, we usually set up a camp stove outside the van either on a picnic table in a campground, or on a roll-up table we have on board.  We like cooking outside under the awning--first of all because we like to feel that we are camping and haven't completely gone over to the dark side of RVing, and because it keeps all the cooking moisture and smells outside.  

Buster doesn't have a built-in shower, a micro-wave, TV, electric water pump, water heater, indoor cooktop or oven.  We like it that way--in fact, we're kind of smug about how simple yet comfortable the van is--even though we've made it more complicated over the years since we first did the conversion.