A Truly Minimalist No-Build Minivan Camper! (Complete Tour)

hi everyone it's a beautiful morning out here in the desert and i'm here with my new friend lisa from simply lisa on youtube l-e-s-a you can check out her channel and then she also has a blog simply lisa.blogspot.com and we'll have her talk a little bit more about that at the end of the video but here we have a 2013 right dodge grand caravan that she lives in full time and the thing that i really like about this setup in particular is that it is really minimal there's not a lot of clutter it's nice and open and spacious it's also the kind of thing that anyone can do anyone can can have a setup like this pretty easily actually and pretty it's pretty pretty reasonably priced so really nice setup so let's turn it on over to lisa welcome to my home people in youtube land so um i i this is the side i choose to use as my front door and i choose to use a yoga mat as my door mat because it's like multi-purpose and it keeps the dirt out and so you basically see black carpet is extremely dirty so i decided to use colorful rugs so it won't show the dirt and i can shake them out wash them so that this is basically the way i sleep um this is my bed my um i have a ultra lightweight backpacking setup for my bed which is a thermo rest neolite air mattress which has some insulation in it so it has an r value which i don't recall what that is you can look that up and an outdoor vitals zero degree um sleeping quilt it's it's a basically it's a sleeping bag without a zipper in it and uh so it has a foot box that you get your feet in and then the top of it just kind of lays around you and you can you can snap it up and everything i i want to show you while we're right here that this is this van had stow-and-go seats and if you go to my channel um there's two or three videos we did this is how the floor opened uh in order to then lift the seat out and put the seat in the upright position we recently removed these two seats which are the middle row seats for storage um i i'm enough of a minimalist i would wish that i could put the seats back in here but darn i need a little storage in the meantime so you know i carry my tools and unlike most people i have some extra food items and and um you know it's kind of garage stuff and on the other side under the floor which i can't get to easily for this video are my clothes my hammock um i have a stove that's a heater i happen to be allergic to propane so i have um an alcohol stove that's not available anymore they've discontinued that stove but it it turns into a heater as well from here i'll show you the water jugs i chose are three gallon jugs because i've had back problems and i can handle the weight to lift them in and out myself when i need to and i bought the um usb rechargeable water pump off amazon which allows me to sit on the edge or reach in and just get water from here i'll do this my hand will be wet for a minute anyways just get water out of it and the red the red button is an on off switch if i'm filling a pot so that that could be filled that way and i basically just carry the six gallons and and ice in this so um i love iced coffee style drinks but i usually use a product called dandy blend for my iced coffees and this allows me to have that i've kept ice up to seven days as it melts into cold water in a hot vehicle in this particular 64 ounce ozark trails 15 thing at walmart and it works and of course the uh places like gas stations will let you get free ice with this size container as well so that's a little tip uh i do carry some dehydrated foods because i often am in places that are away from grocery stores of course berries are one of the one of the easiest things to carry that way um but i have at times even had freeze-dried meats and things and and they're useful ziploc bay i mean i would love to do without plastic but i'm in the united states it's hard to do that you know ziploc bags a few uh shop grocery bags that are that get reused i have allergies so i use these i prefer the huggies brand baby wipes because they're a little thicker and these are fragrance free and they the simply clean line of these they mark it that you're able to like wash babies faces with it and everything and so i do lot multi-purpose i do a lot of things with that you can see what i have you could basically see the things i had this was just a pretty item i made it for hanging my keys on and it doesn't work for my keys anyways but it's pretty and i'm gonna replace it with something else one day i'm gonna take you up front tristan and show you the kitchen next because we're right here well the kitchen and the washing machine too i even carry a washing machine this is a scrubber and it's basically a dry bag you guys can look this up i'm not gonna it it'll turn into a lot of videos for tristan if i keep if i keep showing everything but i keep this and the laundry soap and i always carry a little clorox little tiny laundry soaps i get from dollar general for a they have a one dollar aisle and these are one dollar and that's a scent free and then um you can buy clorox for one dollar in in dollar general as well in their one dollar aisle and i always carry that because it's also a um water treatment if i really needed to do some emergency water treatment stuff so this is basically my kitchen area now again we always change things in this lifestyle anyways i because i'm allergic to propane and because i cook inside i have really loved this sterno inferno stove and you can get these on amazon 25 27 something like that um it's a lovely little stove it really works on actual cans of sterno and it works that's not my favorite particular can but this walmart that's what it sells and it works and it comes with a little simmering that also um also can put out the flame but i can simmer with this so i i cook everything um a couple of nights ago i made a mushroom risotto homemade mushroom risotto so and i can use this with a different pot stand which i didn't leave out and i use this little espresso pot to make coffee once a week-ish unless i'm cheating and having coffee more than once a week but anyways um and so that's a nice little thing and i have a little mini fry pan somewhere a little egg fry pan then i have a tub for food this is my kitchen bag which holds my stove fuel lighters my favorite spoon and then i keep a silver bag those are usually around 99 cents really but i'm a budget friendly person um and that holds my things that could be kept cold but i basically just use a damp towel inside and leave the top of the bag loose and that way the um it does like evaporative cooling with it and so most of the time that's all i need and i can keep carrots and onions and sweet potatoes and whatever whatever i want almond milk whatever i want i can basically keep it okay i have a thing for dragonflies i have a i have a tattoo there's a whole story but we won't get into that today because it takes too long but i love dragonflies they they might be my um uh totem animal i think that's the right name for it anyway so in bed mode this is how i sleep and so um i get these little um inexpensive camp pillows oh no travel pillows from walmart um i think the pillow itself is 399 or 299 i don't remember the pillowcases are travel pillowcases made for these they're 222 for a two pack and so i use this one and the second one is usually the dirty one of the week and it's my dirty clothes and that way things are you know matchy-matchy in the you know in a girl's sense whatever okay so my ozark trails um i mean not osaka trails wrong name uh outdoor vitals um quilt love this thing so the back is open on this you can you can snap it together to stay warmer but it's just like having a nice it's really squishy it's nice to you know it's it's nice to have over here i like the way it sleeps so when i make my bed in the morning this is what happens and because i'm putting it in this big bag it doesn't lose the loft it is a loft tank so it has a combination of synthetic fibers and uh down so that if you were actually hiking with this quilt it um it can keep you warm even if it gets wet and so this is the thermal s neo air from a wrist i didn't see that um and it's ultra lightweight there is a sleeve that they make for this that makes this into a lounge chair but because i don't have it yet i have somebody gave me the money to get it but i haven't got it yet so when i want to sit and watch a movie this is what i do um i do this and i put the sleeping bag over here or something and i use one of the pillows or the little happy pillow for my back right and i just sit here and watch a movie on my tablet over here and all my electronics except for my tools are all usb rechargeables my tools are the only thing that i need a 110 plug for because my tools are 110 rechargeable when i first got this van i had a 300 watt inverter hardwired to the drive battery i never ever turn it on without the engine running it's just a habit i got into so i never make a mistake and that allows me when i need to charge the tools i plug it in i drive i make sure the tools are the tool batteries are all charged most of the time unplug it and then it just goes in storage and and then i have those because it's nice to have tools when you want to help somebody uh some storage things you know i can even have games i i don't know that i've actually played it right bananagrams but it's kind of a scrabble type type game i have a rechargeable fan for people who thinks you know we can't have a fan i have a fan um i have these really cool lucy string lights which i prefer these to the regular lucy light for lighting inside but i had them pinned to the ceiling and when i take other people for rides which reminds me that yes the seats are in the floor in the rear and that's so that other people can ride with me but when these lucy string lights were in the ceiling and people would be getting into the seats in the rear they actually kept catching their fingers in them and stuff or their hair and so i had to take them out and i use these outside they're very bright and i love them um and so yes these these seats are in the floor in the rear and they can they can be used i use them for people to ride with me um and that's what these are the legs when they when when you set them up if someone wanted to you could remove these easily and there would be a lot of storage in the back here it's very deep storage back here the spare tire is in a strange place but it's because of this dough and go see spare tires like up in the front underneath the the front seats in in the floor i use a folger's can for liquid bathroom use that's all we need to say and if you need more info on that someday i'll do something on my own channel and for the moment i happen to have this bucket for number two um i won't be keeping this this is not if somebody was throwing it away and i was recently i was sick and i just grabbed it because i could and um and i'm looking forward to updating my uh my my fleece jacket to a i want a packable down jacket so on this side it's more utilitarian over here but anyways i keep a hiking pole i don't have two i keep a foldable rake and a shovel because you never know in a campsite situation when you're gonna need something and in one of my old vans i did get stuck in the sand once and shovels come in handy um let's see my fold up launch here this is a cascadia fold up it's tall it's a tall lawn chair um and then this is my little power system it's a bowden's um this is a 100 watt solar panel that folds up and i often just set it on the roof when i go to use it and this is the power pack that um it that the solar panels charge i also charge this with the drive battery when i'm when i'm driving i can plug in uh an adapter to the 12-volt outlet in the front of the car and just and just charge that way um the only thing i would have wished on this particular one is that it had i wish it had a 12-volt outlet on it and it doesn't it has a dongle that allows me to have a 12-volt outlet but that's a pain in the butt so i don't use i don't use that and i and i actually just use usb ports myself but it is a nice kit um the the solar panels are a little pricey but it's a nice little kit and sometimes i set it up here sometimes i know but whatever that's what that is oh the mirror uh i this is a a mirror that that attaches to the head rest and it's actually made so that moms can see the babies in the back seats of cars and so i just figured out a way to get it hooked where i wanted it needed it and um and then i can move this around to get dressed and to me there's something about having a mirror in my place makes it feel more homey and plus if i'm standing at this side of the car you can probably see tristan you could i could check my clothes and see pretty much all of my clothes so that feels better as a girl and then okay across again where i have my movie set up you know i ca cars are too hot to have a real plant but a little plastic plant does kind of feel good and of course i i like color i i was an artist once in my life and so color is kind of important and aesthetics make us feel a little a little nicer so so i do have that my tablet's just a samsung i think it's an eight inch the tall upright thing is a phone and tablet holder and it just fits into a cup holder and then you um adjust the bottom of it to expand so that it hugs the cup holder and does it it's really sturdy i love that one it's called a mclean cup uh tablet cell phone holder on uh i think i've said the right name anyways on um amazon you can find that on amazon the little case with the with the handle that's sitting off to the left of that is actually a friend's borrowed um i think it's a one terabyte hard drive that has movies on it i borrowed it last night so i could watch a movie and then behind the um cup holder cell phone stand thing is my ultra pod tripod that i use when i'm filming things because i'm not i don't know i don't feel very professional but it helps and it gives me a way to set the camera still for a minute so i i do want to show you guys this it's a very inexpensive little item but for me it really makes the place feel like home this is a battery operated takes a 20 32 battery battery operated um candle with a timer in it and so it will stay on for five hours and it'll come on at the same time every night stay on for five hours and then turn itself off and tomorrow night it comes on at the same time until the battery dies and i used to give these as presents to people that were newbies because i think it makes a place feel much more homey and i i think it helps so i i keep one of these in here all the time well thank you lisa for sharing your your home with us like i said before really great space lots of open space simple it's got everything she needs and you're happy with it right it's exactly what you want i i am um i love suv living as you know tristan i had both a honda passport which was my favorite of all my vehicles and a uh ford explorer and um this could just transfer what i do the ideas that i use can transfer easily back over to suv yeah this kind of setup is exactly the kind of thing you could have in an suv it's basically what i have and that there's just like you know narrow mattress on top of seats folded down that's what i have in my suv here you know there's enough space you don't need to fold down the seats in order to sleep but still same principle a nice nice good setup so tell the people about about your channel and your blog and everything yeah so um so i do have you know a blog um at simplylisa.blogspot.com and um it for a long time has been just uh basically a few gear reviews sprinkled in with whatever's going on in my life and travels and whatever um so that all the people who have met me over the years just had a way to connect with me um i'm hoping to make it a little more professional this year and um and actually give you guys more of the content you want so while i've been at rtr this year i've been asked if i would show people how to make window covers and do some of the little design tips and tricks and design ideas and maybe even show people kind of how i cook because i've got a little background and making things taste good and i know you guys have asked me what i eat and what i cook and i don't really cook and so if you want to know more about cooking on the road check out lisa's channel yeah and i may do some more things and more interviews and things i'll i'll probably put some more stuff out about being an hsp or um be an empath being an empath kind of person um i also have um my youtube channel i'm planning to do more just be sure to spell lisa l-e-s-a um that is the correct spelling of my name and you'll see me around there's interviews out there for with other people and stuff i really appreciated you coming i really appreciate you showing me around and sharing your this is your home with the people it has been fun it's been great getting to nelly says she's she's a great person i'm sure you get that comes across in the videos and i'll put links to all of her things in the description to her blog and and youtube channel and everything she's up to and let us know if you have any questions leave a comment below i'm sure we will uh be going through there and we can answer any questions you guys have and we'll see you in the next one thanks thanks again be sure to check out adventure know-how my new site where you can gain access to a map of all of my free campsites plus monthly bonus videos that you won't find anywhere else learn more at adventureknowhow.com and for links to everything else suv rving related visit suvrving.com links to these sites and more will be in the video description

Channel: SUV RVing

Views: 650,029

Keywords: suv rving, car camping, suv camping, road trip, camping, camper, rv, vanlife, vandwelling, adventure, travel, suv dwelling, rav4, toyota, sleeping, dodge grand caravan, dodge, 2013, minivan, tour, full tour

Id: HI_exe-9zsc

Length: 21min 50sec (1310 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 15 2020