Comments on: Converting the prius for life on the road

By: Jacky

Jacky — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:53:40 +0000

Jessica, I do not have a prius but a pontiac vibe and I will be living in my soon. Is there a way you can show how your dad created the curtain for privacy. That is my main problem right now. I am thinking I will tint the side windwos. The hatch back window, I will be taping black 30 gallon garbage bag every night but I would like to create the privacy curtaing that your dad did between the front and back seats. I am a visual person and I do not understand well how he attached the curtain rods and what they look like.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:48:03 +0000

Hi Bernard,

I don’t think there is a “best” type of work for someone vandwelling. All depends on what you like to do and how you want to live. Do you want to travel a lot or stay in one place? I haven’t had any trouble maintaining my car, but then again, it’s an ’07, so I’d be pretty upset if it broke down!

Food isn’t as big a deal as I think a lot of people expect it to be. I just buy less when I go to a grocery store but go more often compared to when I lived in an apartment. I don’t plan food ahead much.

As for mail, I have a bit of a cheat there. My parents live in San Diego and I work in LA so I use their address. Many people get a PO Box. If I order something online I have it sent to my work address. I have all my bills set up to pay automatically by credit card and then I pay that online.

Hope those answers help. Good luck!

By: bernard

bernard — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 22:17:53 +0000

hey like your story. I gotta ?, I plan to do the same like u and travel and live in the car. What would be the best thing for mr to do for work for money? is it hard maintaining the car. Also how u deal with food. and more importanly what about u getting mail for bank statments, notifications, cell phone bills, Ect, or ordering something online. Do u use one of urbuds address because that was my idea? Thanks

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:34:56 +0000

Adam,
Sounds like a good time.

Hi Lisa, thanks for the comment. I’m having a great time. Now that I’ve switched to the Prius the price of gas suddenly doesn’t seem like very much. Generally though I’m much more happy to pay for gas than to pay rent.

By: Lisa Chattler

Lisa Chattler — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:04:06 +0000

Just thought I’d let you know I am still following your blog. Perhaps even a bit enviously, it’s quite an adventure. How are you doing with the outrageous price of gas?

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:34:17 +0000

Oh, and I just remembered the event that you should show up for: http://www.watongacheesefestival.com/

Cheese!

By: Ben FrantzDale

Ben FrantzDale — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:13:33 +0000

Also, you might consider some of the ridiculously strong rare-earth or neodymium magnets, as they have enough strength to magnetize through the headliner and insulation.

You can get said magnets at K&J Magnetics. I'm not sure what it takes for a magnet to span a lot of distance; I have in front of me some very strong magnets but they don't "see" steel until they are quite close. (I imagine this has something to do with flux density or flux strength or something; E&M was a long time ago.)

By: Adam

Adam — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:31:58 +0000

In previous cars, I have had good success with little spring clips that go over the molding at the edge of the headliner. I am not entirely certain what the edge molding treatment on a Prius looks like, as nobody I know here has one, however. In any case, Ace Hardware’s drawers o’ stuff tends to have useful things like that, and I’d imagine that they’d do very well for curtains.

Also, you might consider some of the ridiculously strong rare-earth or neodymium magnets, as they have enough strength to magnetize through the headliner and insulation.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 14:58:27 +0000

>>And yes, I am a 3M employee.

So that means you can get me some samples, right? Or maybe they’d like to do some advertising on the website. ;)

Mom has some goo for removing the sticky stuff, I just kept forgetting to do it.

I discovered to my great joy last night that Velcro also sticks to the ceiling of the car. I think over the long run that would fuzzy out the fabric, so it’s just a possibility, but I’ll check out some of the 3M stuff.

By: Ben FrantzDale

Ben FrantzDale — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:26:53 +0000

Apropos of sticky stuff, you can probably get it off with Goo Gone or, if you prefer organic solvents (and really, who doesn’t?) acetone will probably take it off while not softening the underlying plastic too much. (Plus acetone is super glue’s kryptonite.)

Alternately, 3M Command strips are great for permanent-’till-you’re-done-with-it mounting. They have good holding force but when you pull their tab, the foam stretches out, somehow destroying the adhesive in the process leaving the surface clean.

And yes, I am a 3M employee.

By: Molly

Molly — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:21:57 +0000

I suspect that Ben has would have adhesive suggestions for you. And his suggestions probably involve some super-shiny 3m product. :-)