Vandwelling in Canada

Hello there,
Atmosphere in Canada for vandwelling is pretty good in most places. This would be the wrong time for someone from Arizona to come up though since it is September! For me it is hot, for y’all eh, jackets!

There are a lot of signs saying no overnight camping or sleeping, though if you go speak with a manager, it is normally alright. I have just said, passing through need to stay overnight to sleep and I never litter.

Due to the size of each province there is so much to see, do and travel you could easily spend each season travelling around and never go to the same spot twice. The downside is the lower parts of each province only offer paid camping, most Crown Lands you are not allowed to camp in for overnights or at best only a few days.

There are very few true vandwellers here, though there are some, most in the BC area as it is much warmer than the rest of Canada.
There are full timers and snow birds who go south or to BC for the winter then head back to the home range in spring.

In spring, fall and winter, you stay out of the wind! In summer stay in the wind and hope you do not get eaten by bugs.

There is so little crime up here or aggression with guns and such that even traipsing through the woods, most never carry a firearm. In Bear and Cougar country a small radio or music player warns them the Two Leggers are coming and to stay away, yes it does work and is the best repellent ever. That being said I always have large hunting knives on me when I hike and have other weapons located near each door and sleeping area.

Most people have forgotten the rules of living in the bush;
keep your food area and food prep area, 25 feet away minimum distance
do not camp right by a water source, move your tent away the residents want to drink and cool too
cooking fires are always 25 feet minimum away from your sleeping area, not near your vehicle
no food in vehicles
hanging food cashes are great, again not near your sleeping area
never had food issues even in my vehicle that was in cans or such like that.
some special food containers will keep the food smells in and bears out, but then again hanging it up 25 feet away is good insurance
animals are territorial, in the old days they used to pee in containers and then circle their living quarters sprinkling as they went, thus the animals knew to stay out of that area (yes it works)

Most places can be accessed with vehicles that are 2 wheel drive, though with higher suspensions. Just can’t beat the 4×4 with the tent top campers and Alaska campers, so compact and the 4×4 is a go so many places option.
In Canada the best way to hide is in plain site here, if it looks like an RV or some sort, people leave you alone. It is harder to live in a car here though as we need so many layers of clothing and insulation that most of the room of a car would be taken up with sleeping bags and warm weather gear. Even in Summer time, I have had to dig out the jackets and gloves, along with the sleeping bag that is rated to 0 degrees to be comfortable.

There are some great Rv’s some great camper vans and everything else on the road up here as well. My conversion is done on the $$ figure conversion. Bad health and lack of work means found objects and creative living space inside. I have too much stuff, and hopefully this month will see a big chunk of it goes, somewhere somehow I am feeling very toxic due to stuff and storage issues. Some other conversions I haves starting at just $100 are quite nice up to the Tens of Thousands of dollars, these conversion just make you go, wow!

For the curb shopping types Canada offers a variety of dates to find good items, and if you drive around close to the garbage days, there are always deals to be had from people getting rid of things for so many reasons.

For the $$ crowd, we have a multitude of places to buy equipment although it is most times more expensive than our cousins south of us, so keep that in mind as well.

For insulation reasons I say spend more on the floor and make sure there is no metal or the fiberglass showing unless covered over or it will rain inside from the condensation! Wood heat is dry so there are less issues with heating your place with wood, be it a tent, yurt, vandwelling, conversion or RV.

modified small propane heater in old Kerosene heater shell with plastic items close to show they do not melt.

Heating is of course a popular thing to do here, along with Alaska and the Northern USA States. People here heat what they live in using conventional wood fireplaces (seen them in long term tents as well) to portable wood boxes and camping stoves. The advent and development of Rocket Mass Heaters and Pocket Rockets are becoming more popular and gaining a larger following as well. I am turning one of my camping portable wood stoves into a Pocket Rocket with a mass to heat and hopefully stay warm all through the night. Of course I will be having a propane backup heater just in case.

Propane heaters for me right now, are the small older Sport Cat style and a Big Buddy heater with the propane condensation issues that plague them.

Most places have a live and let live attitude, although there are hot heads and people with hidden agendas just like anywhere.

Hope this helps,
cheers from wild_E

Rocket Mass Heater Plans

I have seen people who build covered decks that are really mud rooms. In these Mud rooms they put the heaters, so it frees up space in other areas. The last one I saw, had the deck so long it covered both doors, massive heater with stone around it. Just use some computer fans which are 12v, use even the small 1.5 or 2 watt panels to power them. The excess power can be diverted to a small 12v deep cycle battery, I got mine from a used Electric Bike dealer. One could put an addition onto the back, even insulated Canvas would work, then you increase the mobility of the RV/Camper while creating extra room and a place for the larger heater.

Now I am working on two projects, well actually 3 projects.
1st was simple, I gutted an old Kerosene heater, put in a small catalytic propane heater. I am using the old cabinet from the Kerosene in order to make it safer as well as direct the heat better. Last night, I put an old brake rotor on top, since it is solid metal it took a while for it to heat up, likewise it will take a while to cool down. So there is some mass.

2nd my mechanic uses the old oil he takes out of vehicles to heat his shop. He puts them in some soup cans, 3/4 full then squirts a bit of BBQ lighter fluid into them to get them going. After a while, he will put some wood on top, to really get it heated up. Heating cost $0, although you need to clean the chimney more. I have two portable camping wood stoves now. One brand new the other cost $40 with the home-made chimney.

3rd Will be making a rocket mass heater for this coming Winter and Fall, enough of spending so much money on Propane. I will of course use the propane as an emergency supply or a quick warm up, while the rocket mass heater is doing its thing.

Now seeing as this is a vehicle, RV there is not as much room in it as I would like, so the outlet pipes will be modified. I have picked up some used (although maybe never used at all) gas heater pipes. This will be for the outlet of the Rocket Mass Heater. Since it is already a duel pipe system, the inner pipe, the smaller one will be for the exhaust. The outer ring will be filled with Vermiculite or Perlite. (almost the same, slightly different but very similar) They both hold and retain the heat, are both very lightweight.

Next I will attach a cheap copper or other metal pipe to it, this will be the outside air, so it is warmed as it travels along to the Rocket Heater. The heat and fire will draw the air so no need for a fan for the fresh air intake pipe.

Next, since I finally found a local supplier of Clay, I can now make my Portable Rocket Mass Heater. The base will be a concrete slab/patio stone with some clay bricks with air gaps, so the floor does not get too hot. The combustion chamber will be a Propane Bottle, modified of course. Inside and outside will be the clay to absorb the heat. I will be using a 20pndr for size reasons. Since the Rocket Mass Heater is so efficient, picking up small wood from building sites and other small wood sources will provide the bulk of the fuel. In this I might experiment using the used oil as well. There is a few hundred gallons kicking around this place and I already have the permission to use some of it.

The exhaust since it burns so well, and the way rocket mass heaters work, it will just travel along the floor under my living wall, into my storage/workshop area in the back, down one of the sides that has an opening for the back doors.

I will post a pic later of the Modified Kerosene Heater with the Propane Catalytic