J.D

Some brilliant advice here lads, thanks, keep them coming please.

i lived in one, if you live buy your self a small caravan is easier to heat and make a skirt around the bottom of it to stop some of the heat loss out through the floor, use propane gas as butane freezes easly, a wall of straw bales will stop some of the wind chill

Will the wall of straw not be a fire risk mate ?

On the planning front you have 2 options. For a static you will have to get it checked out, depending on how many neighbours there are. If only the one , who is your tenant, it may be worth the risk.

 

Two and the preferrred one, is to stick your touring caravan on its site and see if you get kicked out. I have had no problems at my current location in a touring thing with no permission. You only get the problems travellers get if theres more than one of you.

 

Even on campsites there is a limit by law of so many days, but some rural farmer type places will ignore this rule.

Looks like its gonna be the touring caravan route, too many nosey, meddling bloody neighbours around to risk the static I think.

Theres always old touring caravans going cheap if you're in the right place at the right time

I've had 3, the current one was the most expensive, it cost £20

 

Also folks usually give statics away for free so long as you arrange your own transport

I think you need planning for statics though? Maybe there is a time limit?

 

 

I would say get something cheap/free, fit a woodburner, if its still cold bodge some insulation on the outside

Didn;t think about that, never even crossed my mind, i'm gonna have to check that bit out.

Cheers

Its never cold in winter with a burner, I have to have the door open till I run the fire down last thing at night, its too hot otherwise. Makes sense when you think about it as you only have to heat a small space, people in houses can never get their head around that I'm warmer than they are, no matter what the winter throws at us.

Are the stoves in the link above what you were thinking of ?

For a compact stove, have a look at these Welcome to KP wood burning stoves - Reduce fuel bills - Heat offices and workshops - Safe and easy to use - Relaxing source of heat - I've known a couple of people run them in campers and caravans. Made in the UK and not silly money either

They are not badly priced at all them mate, cheers for that.

 

You can use mains power or gas for heating to start with but were gonna have to talk installing a wood burner before the winter is out as its the only way to dry the place out.

We have a fair amount of wood available so that would be ideal.

Access to water is a major plus, do you have access to shower and toilet? or are we gonna get into some nitty gritty of undercover off mains living.

Was hoping to get something with a shower and toilet in, or am I being naive here ?

Shower is not a big problem with a gas water heater on board, but toilet is either nasty chemical jobby, long drop which is better, or composting which is quite an interesting world and almost a hobby of mine.

Will have to go with what I can moneywise... These can be changed I;m guessing though ?

Just building a picture, of your situation at the moment, welcome to my world by the way:001_smile:

Chhers Mate

i have an old tourer thats taking up room in the garden, its yours for 200quid if your interested? needs a pair of wheels as they fitted my splitter, tows fine as i brought it back from my dads in scotland 3mth ago. i have spent months on end living in caravans on building sites and think that although totally uncool are very useful. Ed.

Thanks for the offer Ed, I was hoping to get something a bit bigger squeezed in there though mate.

we had a hobby caravan a few years back mint condition cost £1500 english van 1/2" thick roof german van 2" thick. much better insulation. I would buy a tabbort or hobby that has only been used as family holiday van if you get what I am saying

I'm getting a lot of hints towards cold being a problem here mate.

I get exactly what your saying, cheers

some of my friends and i used to squat and had a house for 3 years. we had all the bills directed to us, the only thing we didn't pay was the rent! worked out about £15 a week each for all the bills. might be worth considering if your feeling a bit adventurous

gotta be warmer than a trailer over the next few months!

Thats my biggest worry, how bad are they ?

Yip I do. About 9 years now.

 

What services, if any, does your proposed site give you access to, i.e mains power, water etc, and we'll take it from there mate.

The site is our old yard near to the rented out house.

I have access to electric and I can tap into mr water boards main which he kindly laid about 15 feet away

I lived in a touring van for three years,about 12 years ago on a friends smallholding in order to save up a deposit.

 

it was 5 berth,which was useful as you could leave the main bed set up rather than tidying it away each morning,but getting clothes etc out of the storage lockers all the time was a pain.

I wouldn't have wanted to wear my outdoor working clothes indoors to change into/out of as everything would soon get very grubby,so had a awning up - which lasted two years!

 

a bit tatters this time of year,all the water froze up until I fitted the 50mm insulation and fitted side skirts to keep the breeze out,changing gas bottles became an active pasttime

 

reckon one of those well insulated scandinavian ones would make life a lot easier,pay for the privilidge though,

all in all it wasn't too bad at all,nicer in the summer!!

 

Cheers

Steve

You make it sound like you kind of enjoyed the way of life ?

It's gonna be under a grand I reckon, so that rules out fancy foreign setups unfortunately mate.

I don't think so.

 

Plus it would not be a very nice way to treat some one

What he said...

The tenant also has a 6 yr old daughter.

We used to rent out a house and were told that should anything happen to make us homeless from our lived in house the tennents could be instantly evicted from the other property we owned so we could reoccupy it. I don't know the how's or why's but heard it from a few sources. It might be worth investigating.

Thing is Kev, the rental income is pretty good and i'm not sure I wanna lose it, I is a greedy bugger me.

Grew up in a caravan, 12years altogether, basic and cold. But makes you apreciate things.

 

Its a roof over your head though, which is all that matters really.

 

Infact im looking for a patch of land to buy, and live on at the moment

What should I be looking to buy or rather avoid buying Tom, I have no idea on caravans at all mate.

thought about a boat?

I hadn't Rob no, but there aren't any inshore moorings around these parts, plenty of Moorings on the seaside of things though.

I have a piece of land I can put a static on also mate.

Evening folks,

As the title suggests, does anybody live in a 'van full time, relationship problems mean I'm a homeless homeowner...( My property is rented out til end of Jan 2011) and I'm just going through a few options.

Any one with any experience ? I'd love to hear any comments on this lads.

Cheers

JD

Relax mate, it isn't as bad as you think its gonna be, just take your time and you will be fine.

I pay 100 a week......for a house, barns, outbuildings and 35 acres.....

Nobody likes a show off Tommer...

It's a fair size, I cant remember dimensions exactly but last time I was there they used one half for servicing 8 wheelers and stuff, the other slightly larger half will be ours, leccy etc included, and as for security, they live on site and have a few dogs running round all the time.

Not the tidiest place i've ever seen, I'm gonna have another look this week though, see if we can maybe tidy it up a bit.

I will have a measure up too, see how it compares to tommers 35 acres

JD

Evening all,

We are getting to the stage where we need more space for storage of equipment and materials, plus we are thinking of making our own fence panels and other related items and our current location just won't do anymore.

I thought about getting a container or 2, but with our yard being basically a garden in a residential area, I'm having second thoughts and wondered what the going rate is ?

We have been offered some space at £50 per week, Is this about right ?

JD

Evening folks,

What do I need to tweak to get the mower to switch off ?

It has the Throttle / Choke lever in one combo, and has no adjustment from low to high revs, It just revs the arse out of itself all the time,

The only way we can get the bloody thing to stop is pull the HT lead off, it won't even choke out,the plug is very sooty also, can the mixture be adjusted ?

It has sakakaki 6hp engine on board BTW men

Cheers all.

JD

I have just spent a small fortune on x 2 blades, 2 spindles, 2 oil seals, 2 bearings and a new kevlar lined dog tooth belt plus about 10 hours of my time after mowing some metal strapping, these things aint meant to break or so I'm told, the bloody shear bolts didn't even shear.... Needless to say, I won't be mowing anymore pallet strapiing. :-(

Cost approx £300.

Is there such a thing as a good 1 man borer, unless your digging into perfect soil conditions they are rubbish mate.

If its a fixed drive speed then you need to increase engine speed by adjusting the idle screw I think, we have done this before on an Etesia which was sluggish and it worked to a certain extent.

Good man, what next for you ?