Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road

Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by josefresco on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @08:33AM (#19094902)

Yeah so I've done the "shit in a bucket" thing. When I was towing an enclosed trailer I converted to a "camper", our only bathroom was a bucket (with a toilet seat). This is not sustainable! This works in a pinch, it does not, and should not work full time. Dumping your poo in a kitchen trash bag in dumpsters doesn't work if everyone, or even "a lot" of people are doing it. Towns and the townspeople do not want van dwellers dumping their shit bags in local trash cans.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by shhehebehdh on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @08:43AM (#19094970)

I don’t think there is any danger of hordes of people starting to live in vans. Try not to let such concerns stress you out too much.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by switchbak on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @01:37PM (#19098159)

Depends where you live. I can most certainly attest to the rising popularity of "vanlife", and the associated downsides of long term unmanaged camping/squatting.

In my case there's a popular area for climbers on a fire road near a river close to me. Many of these folks just shit arbitrarily in the woods, and don't even bury it. It stinks, attracts animals, and makes it impossible to go on hikes. A friend's dog even ate some which had THC in it from someone who ate a marijuana edible. And let's not get started about the risk of forest fires in the dry season.

There are some that are better about managing their waste and overall footprint, but there is an outsized impact from the less considerate.

There are places where these concerns are real and are having actual and increasing impact. Dismissing these concerns is not helpful.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by stevenwoo on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @05:59PM (#19101022)

People living in vans/RV and disposing of their fecal matter and urine with unsafe methods is a big problem for many communities along the California coast from San Francisco to San Diego and also along corridors in Silicon Valley based on local news around Mountain View and San Jose. The temperatures are moderate 10 months of the year or more.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by rexpop on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @08:55AM (#19095047)

Condescending speculation.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by shhehebehdh on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @11:24AM (#19096478)

No, frustrated reaction to irrational “what if everyone did this!!!???” concern trolling.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by rexpop on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @04:51PM (#19100417)

I read it as personal experience. There are such communities.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by bluntfang on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @09:43AM (#19095391)

>Towns and the townspeople do not want van dwellers dumping their shit bags in local trash cans.

God forbid someone talks to them about what we do with dog and human baby shit.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by komali2 on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @10:19AM (#19095709)

Baby shit isn't typically dumped in street trash cans, and if it is it's one diaper, not several trash bags of adult shit.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by cullenking on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @10:46AM (#19096007)

I hate to break it to you, but having a baby means you are dumping 5 shitty diapers a day for first few months, then at least two a day for next six or 9 months. Yes lots of people go for reusable diapers, but lots is probably not more than 3% of parents in the US.....

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by josefresco on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @11:00AM (#19096161)

> but having a baby means you are dumping 5 shitty diapers a day for first few months

There might be something wrong with your baby, or maybe you have babies? When I had my first child I naively thought they shit all the time (like all day - I was an idiot). In reality, they typically shit once a day (like us!), so maybe 5 total diapers, but not all are shit filled.

Site note: We used cloth diapers for both our children and urine (that's been sitting in a diaper pale) is by far worse than shit smell.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by cstejerean on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @11:37AM (#19096611)

Lucky you if you only had one shitty diaper per day, it’s absolutely normal to have many more than that in the first few months. Check with your local pediatrician about what normal is before you extrapolate from your own experience and start assuming there is something wrong with other babies that shit more often.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by shhehebehdh on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @11:29AM (#19096520)

Have you considered the possibility that not all children have the same BM frequency? I have two children. They both pooped quite a bit more than once a day for several months after they were born.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by mikestew on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @03:35PM (#19099598)

In reality, they typically shit once a day

I don't even have kids, and I know that's not true.

Source: might not be a parent, but I'm a hell of a babysitter.

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Re:Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road by komali2 on Wednesday February 06, 2019 @11:02AM (#19096202)

But isn't that in your home trash can, with only a couple dumped into a restroom trash can at a restaurant or whatever? I think that's a different scale than showing up with a couple days worth of adult trash bag poos.

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