It doesn't take much to get started. There are a few reasons for this:

• it is common wisdom in the vandwelling community that it is cheapest to “start with what you got”. Have a car, or pickup, or van, or something else? Start there.
• real world testing will realign one's daydreams with reality. You can start with an overnight in your driveway, then an overnight somewhere else. Weekend in the driveway, weekend somewhere else. Maybe a weeklong jaunt.
• building a van or car out is an iterative process: do something, try it out. Change it, try it out. Rinse and repeat.

In Blue Highway, the author described his functional gear like this:

I had what I needed for now, much of it stowed under the wooden bunk:
1 sleeping bag and blanket;
1 Coleman cooler…;
1 Rubbermaid basin and a plastic gallon jug (the sink);
1 Sears, Roebuck portable toilet;
1 Optimus 8R white gas cook stove (hardly bigger than a can of beans);
1 knapsack of utensils, a pot, a skillet;
1 U.S. Navy seabag of clothes;
1 tool kit…


In modern terms this might be:

• bed platform, sleeping bag
• a luci light
• water for drinking/cooking/hygiene
• utensils
• a couple change of clothes (especially socks and underwear)
• a pee bottle

minimal