CUSTOM TINY CAMPER VAN (with shower & hidden bench) - FULL TOUR

hi everyone my name is austin and today i'm going to be giving a full tour and showing you around my van so here we go so this is a 2010 ford transit connect xlt i originally bought it used from a company that was using it as a work vehicle i don't live out of it full time i just got this more for travel i'm a runner so i use this to go to races and train in different places so starting with the outside the only changes i made were adding the fantastic fan up on the top here that fan is decent um if i were to do this again i would probably get a better fan just because this one's not very powerful um that's just because i was trying to find the cheapest van fan i could get pretty much um other than that the only change i made to the outside of the van is adding this little porthole window in um i would also probably get a better one of these if i were to do it again the only real issue with it is that it has this little ledge here and if it snows or rains water will sit here and slowly drip in through the window right there it's not fully sealed now coming around here into the front i haven't really changed anything up here either um it's basically just all original and i do have a curtain here behind the cab just to add privacy in the back which i'll show you now so in the back here um starting in the front the original vehicle has a little plastic shelf up here which you can see and i extended that all the way back um just to have extra storage uh this normally would store all my clothes um camping gear toiletries that sort of stuff um yeah it has a lot of space because it goes all the way to the front of the car and it's the full width of the van as well yeah and i built these little poles out of old rock climbing rope and then the other side of the curtain here i just sewed little magnets onto this curtain i made and it just sticks right to the screws that hold the cabinet together and hold it up and it works really well but so the curtain i just got like a thick fleece material on one side and then this back side is just like a light-colored canvas and as i travel i buy patches places and sew those on just to kind of keep track of where i've been just kind of a fun way to decorate as i travel um so now also up here in the front i'll pull this out of the way down here between the two seats i have this little tiny cabinet here that opens up uh inside i just store random things that i need quick easy access to like extra plates and blankets and hammocks and whatever else i need um so also coming right in here in the door below the floor here i have this little storage area which is where i store a bunch of shoes i can normally fit about like four pairs or something in here and also have a dog water bowl um so then the flooring here this is all laminate flooring that i just got from home depot it works really well it's really easy to clean it's just the plastic but the thing i have noticed with it is that it expands and shrinks as the temperature changes so if i go somewhere really hot it will expand and kind of bubble up slightly but once the temperature goes back down it it's back to normal just fine so also here on the back of the seats in these little pouches i store these screens that i made so for these screens i just used window screens and then i again just sewed little magnets to it and these i can open up and then i can open them up and stick them around the doors here to keep bugs out if i'm camping somewhere with lots of bugs and that has actually been really helpful i definitely recommend doing this it's super cheap and easy just buy a roll of window screen at home depot and some little donut shaped magnets here and yeah sew them up and cut it to the right size so now come straight in i have the bed here um this uh has the slotted system that most people do in vans like this so it does slide all the way out to the cabinet um and then these back cushions here come down in and make the full bed so when it's all laid out it's about a twin size bed so underneath the bed here i have three little cabinets um they all open up like this i can store all kinds of things down there it's the full size of the bed um if i were to rebuild this van i also would probably try to put in um drawers down here because these little cabinets can be kind of hard to open up and reach back in there if there's stuff in the back that i'm trying to get to also on these cabinets i use little rock climbing cams little pieces off of those for my pulse so my ceiling up here um this was all a thin pine bead board um like little tongue and groove panels that i got uh they're normally used for like bathroom walls um but i just use it for the ceiling because it was really thin and lightweight and i just painted it all white then i put in these little led lights there's three of them here on the ceiling and then i have one underneath the upper kitchen cabinet um yeah those are just 12 volt and then also in the ceiling here is my fan um it can blow in or suck air out it has three different speeds it works pretty well but yeah not really the greatest fan i'd recommend buying one a little better if you're doing this so also up here in the upper cabinet store this little remote um and this turns on my extra lights which run all the way along the ceiling here it's just a thin little led street strip which i hid behind the trim along the edge it's just a nice little accent to the van if i don't want to just have my bright lights on so now on the other side of the van over here i have my kitchen set up so on the side of the cabinet up here i have my switches um that turn on the main led lights around the van and then the switch on the end here turns on a little uh 12 volt usb charging spot and then this third switch here turns on the water pump to be able to turn on the sink so this cabinet here um the countertops are pine um it was just two big boards that we glued together to make a full-size countertop and then the sink is um just a salad bowl that i i got and cut a hole in the bottom and put this plug in um and then the actual faucet is just a little miniature faucet that i got online it's only cold water it doesn't have two separate nozzles for hot and cold so to turn on the sink i just turn on my switch up here which activates the pump yeah that's the sink and then also on the counter here i have these little uh spice jars that i just uh screwed the lids to the ceiling up here and it holds them up and then over here this was originally made to be a plant holder but um since i'm not living in this full time it's hard to really keep a plant alive so i pretty much just use it as a cup holder and so my backsplash here this is actual like real marble tiles um yeah when i was building out the van um i could have done something a lot easier and cheaper but i really like the look of this so i decided to go for it and i think it turned out pretty good so with the rest of the cabinet down below this thing i have my water storage so i have two six gallon tanks here one is my fresh water and then the other one is my dirty gray water and also down here i store like my broom a little propane canister fire extinguisher towels and stuff and then also mounted on the wall back there is my water pump it's just a 12 volt pump and then i have it split right here so one side goes to the sink and the other side will go to the hot water heater which i'll show you later also on the sink here i added a little a tube down here on the outside um so if i'm somewhere where i can dump my water right outside i just have a hose that i can attach to the end of this and then i flip a little valve under the sink and it'll dump the water out this way instead of going into my dirty gray water tank so now on the other side down here this is where i keep my cooler so i have an arctic 45 cooler it works great it holds ice for a long time and then up top here i have these two little bins which is where i normally store my dry food and then if i need to get to the stuff in the cooler i can either just open this up and still be able to open it a little bit to reach my hands in or if i really need to get in i can just pull out these tubs real quick and get full access into the cooler now up above the sink here i have this little cabinet which stores all my silverware and cups and soap and sponges and towels and everything like that and all these little um poles are made from old rock climbing nuts and then over here on this side of the cabinet um i have these three little cabinets that open up just to get quick easy access to stuff inside this one i have a little mirror so i can put in contacts or do whatever i need right here and yeah this one just scissors and spatulas and lighters and stuff and then the whole side of this cabinet actually folds down and then i use this little string and attach it up here to the ceiling and so this actually gives me a whole extra set of counter space so inside this cabinet um this is where i store all my other cooking stuff like pots and pans yeah paper towels and oven mitts and all my other little measuring cups and spoons and stuff um and then on the side here this is my camp stove it's just a cheap coleman propane stove that you can get at walmart um but i can pull that out and i can set that right on this little countertop and then if i need to cook inside i can and right up here on the ceiling is where i have my fan so if i just open that up and turn on the air i can have it suck the air out and it'll make it safe to cook in here and to get even extra airflow i can open my little porthole window over here which has these little knobs just untwist the whole porthole opens up so if i have that open and the fan it sucks all the air in and at the top right past my stove on the counter there so my wall over here with the porthole in it um this is all beetle kill pine which is a just a regular type of pine which beetles will kind of get into it and eat it which causes like a fungus to grow in it which makes this kind of dark gray streaking in it so i installed all that um at this diagonal curve or diagonal angle which was a lot of extra work but i think it it looks really unique and interesting all right now so going into the back of the van here there's my dog rider back here um so on the inside of the doors i added these this bead board just for extra design just make it look a little better um this i painted all in like a waterproof deck paint so if i have these doors open and starts raining it won't mess up that wood and so also on these windows here i made these covers which are just reflectix wrapped in fabric and then i sewed magnets into the fabric also so i can just stick it up into the windows and i made one of those actually for all the windows in this van uh even the little porthole has one so i can block out all the light if i need to so also in the back here um there's just another little access to the to under the bed all that storage um and all these cabinets have little magnetic latches that hold them closed uh which yeah it works well while i'm driving so things don't bounce out and open up right inside the door here this is where i have my hot water here um with this i can take warm showers if i need um all i have to do is unhook this shower head one second and then i can hang it right here from the door and then i can shower right outside the van so this runs off a d batteries um which just go in right here and then it heats the water using propane um that's what this black tube is so i have it just running down here behind the cooler so i can just pull this out and attach propane tank it was originally designed to use the big um like 20 pound propane tanks um i didn't really have enough room to use one of those so i got a little adapter in here just so i can use those little green propane canisters and it actually works pretty well for a quick warm hot shower and then i also have a switch back here to turn on the water pump so i don't have to reach all the way inside to turn on the water down below my hot water heater um this is just another access to my cooler so if i'm buying groceries or something i can easily slide the whole cooler out the back here to load everything in or also i can slide it out just a tiny bit here and then um i can open up the drain plug and drain out all the water with the ice melts so the last thing i have in the back here is my secret little hidden bench this is what i've had the most number of questions about out of pretty much everything in the van so this is just a little bench that i made um and i designed it so these cushions would also fit on it so i can have a little outdoor couch um this was all just made out of these metal tubes and expanded steel here um which i welded with my dad unfortunately you can't just buy it anywhere um yeah but so it works by having these little l brackets that slide into this other little metal tube that we cut a notch out of and yeah it's pretty much it and it slides down underneath the floor so now coming into the driver's side door here this is where i have my whole electrical system uh this is kind of underneath the bed and also behind the driver's seat uh so this is my auxiliary battery it's 100 amp hours um which has worked plenty for me um because i don't charge a whole lot of stuff and then also down here i have a battery isolator uh this is what charges my auxiliary battery when i drive i don't have solar or anything um just when i drive this will kick in and start charging this auxiliary battery and then if my main car battery dies i can actually just push this button right here and it'll use my auxiliary battery to jump start the the main car battery which is really nice and then i also have a whole fuse panel for all my lights and water pump and fan and everything just in case there's an issue and then i also have a circuit breaker here which i still need to mount to the wall but this goes from the main car battery to this battery just in case something um over charges or whatever it'll break the circuit instead of messing everything up and then this is just more access underneath the bed from behind um i don't have a whole lot down there right now but yeah so that's pretty much it um this van took me about a year to build out but it could be done a whole lot cheaper i just didn't have a whole lot of time because i was doing it slowly on weekends as i was going to school and it also took me about two thousand dollars to build out but that could also be done a whole lot cheaper if you use other materials that are a lot cheaper i hope you liked it if you have any more questions just leave those in the comments below and i'll try to get to those as soon as possible also be sure to leave links in the description to all the products i used to build this um yeah other than that if you want to follow me on any of my adventures just follow me on instagram [Music] do [Music] you

Channel: Ultra Austin

Views: 399,872

Keywords: Van, Van tour, Transit connect Ford transit connect, Ford transit, Connect, Transit, Transit connect tour, Camper van, Camper, Conversion, Van conversion, Sleeper, Shower, Porthole, Custom, Beautiful, Unique, Creative, Genius, Ingenious, Amazing, Incredible, 2010, 2010 Ford, 2010 Ford transit, 2010 Ford transit connect, Vanlife, Van life, Tiny, Tiny house, Tiny home, Tiny house movement, Movement, Mini, Micro

Id: lg2zXrjWUw4

Length: 22min 16sec (1336 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2020