I am working with a team to design a product for Van Life and I would love some help determining the problems that need solved. Please let me know what your experiences are for everything related to living in a van.
Any information will be helpful in the responses to this post, and if you are available to do a Zoom interview showing your vehicle or just to talk about your experiences, that would be incredibly helpful!
Greetings & Welcome!
I’ve been pondering your post for a few days, and I think our biggest problem is misinformation in the form of expensive & possibly complicated solutions for cheap & easy problems.
A nomad specific job board might be welcomed by many.
Replacing all power hog electric amenities with electricity free ones would be very useful too.
Hydrogen conversion kits for all gas powered vehicles & engines, where you fill your tank with water, and it is converted to hydrogen right before use. Not hydrogen fuel cells.
Cheers!
Thanks for the reply! Our current mindset is focused on solving the problem of expensive and complicated solutions by making simple and cheap products. The initial idea was to make something as simple as IKEA furniture that can be assembled without any extra tools and is cheap and easy to install.
Saving electric power is a great idea that we haven’t given much thought, but I think we should! I’ll take these ideas to my team and let you know if we solve any of these problems for you.
For me, it would be rodent control. 
Of the many techniques I have learned about, one is to use steel wool or, I guess, copper scrubbers stuffed into areas where they could enter. Something similar that is larger and easier to use would be nice. That way, not so many little scrubbers would have to be used and risk becoming dislodged.
I won’t be on the road until 22 but I’ll share other annoying problems that I may think of as I prepare.
Greetings!
I just use a double layer of metal screen. Cheap, easy, & effective.
Cheers!
I’m thinking of any small spaces where something can be stuffed into, where screen could not be attached and could not be a perfect seal. Like around pipe/hose entrances and any other areas that a person wouldn’t normally think of through which tiny rodents could squeeze. It would be nice to have larger, easier to handle pieces of the products or something similar.
Greetings!
Oh, I seal those up with something more solid like rubber grommets where possible, or expanding foam covered with a rubberized coating etc. (I don’t like leaving expanding foam uncovered.) Once dry, I trim the foam so it looks like factory before rubberizing it. Done right, it should look original.
I’ve been using that method forever, and never had anything breach it. Screens or steel wool are for where you still want air flow, which in most instances you don’t.
BTW, if you’re going to frequent places where you might have rodent problems, LED lights under the hood, and under the vehicle will usually keep them at bay. Some people put the ones underneath on motion sensors. in the engine compartment, mine are on constantly if I turn them on, because rodents love to chew up the wiring.
Cheers!