Honda Element Van Life: Transforming an SUV into a Cozy OFF-ROAD Tiny Home!

so it is never a cooler it's no but it sure appears to be it sure appears to be okay so bags in it double bag usually noodles on the side and there hi everyone welcome back to my next video today we're going to meet Mindy hi Mindy hi Bob thank you so much for having me it's my pleasure and you are in a Honda Element I am in a 2003 Honda Element so it sounds like you've been doing this for a while how long you've been on the road um I hit the road last year April 27th when I sold my house in 48 hours wow yeah yeah that's so it was this magical thing happening that I was putting the camper in the element and I was getting my house ready to sell I didn't know the market was going to go crazy in a good way and in a bad way for me good way sold the house at the top of the market bad things too expensive to buy and then I was like oh now what yeah and I refused to pay top dollar so I was like well the camper built I've got the finances I might as well do it now so I did well do you mind if we take a look around see your rig love to give you a tour all right let's do that okay so come on inside this is what I like to refer to is sort of the front door in the entryway you know I've got a nice comfy bed a dresser with soft closing drawers that stay shut when I'm traveling this is really nice Cabinetry how did you get that so there a gentleman in Oregon named Fred Fields he used to build cabinets for Marathon coaches I called him up and he was able to meet with me in 5 days and 5 days later I had this in my car and he's so super affordable yeah boy I just love the what you did here thank you thank you well the first couple of builds I did I took Ikea furniture from my house and put it inside and then I finally decided to just be like a big girl grownup and get a fancy build done in it this was actually super affordable like if you can believe it all this custom C Cabinetry only cost me $2,300 that's pretty as with all of these um slides that's pretty so and the slides for the back drawer which we'll see in a minute it holds up to 500 lb it's you know these little things really add up you don't think they do but when you get all the receipts out and look at them it's a lot it's a lot yeah so I mean the downsize to what I did too to my vehicle between the tires and putting the camper and it empty without any of the seats in it it weighs 3200 lb it now weighs 46 100 lb with everything in it so my gas mileage went way down by 10 m a gallon but the freedom is the benefit on the other side of it and I baby her I make sure I'm not pushing her too hard it's still safe between the new suspension I put on her cuz I've had some comments about you know I'm going to break my suspension and things like that but I've beefed the suspension up to be able to take the weight that I've added to it and that is something that you have to consider when you're building out a rig is you must consider weight you know not only that um I've I make sure I watch my brakes because I need to be able to stop and so with this extra weight I you have to make sure that the brakes are in good condition as well so this is a modification that I did as well so you can see right here it's a swivel seat made for Honda Elements how about that it's by Heroes hot rods so let let me show you how I can turn this area that we're looking at right now into like a lounge room and then now I have a place to relax in poor weather and I put my laptop up here and I'll watch YouTube or TV or something or just sit here look out the window enjoy the view so did we want to talk about potty pop sure we got to ask everyone wants to know yeah where do I poop I don't want a magical I wish I work so uh can I get you a soda Bob are you thirsty no I'm good it's a hot day here folks it's a cooler oh oh I see yes yes yes so it is never a cooler it's not no but it sure appears to be it sure appears to be now the reason I chose this platform is one it's rectangle it's easier to store a rectangle object than it is to store a round object so you know with the buckets you can put the pool noodle on it for for your for your for your bottom so it's not so sharp on your bottom okay so there's there's your toilet seat and then of course let's imagine that we have this let's put the bag in there of course you know I don't just go to the bathroom bear into it okay so bags in it double bag usually noodles on the side and there and the other thing is I can use this as a little seat to sit on with my laptop up here as a desk or put my feet on it so that's for the number two for the number one stainless steel you bet that's ever easy to clean easy to clean never stinks rinse it out with vinegar water it's great this is my kitchen so I always have a flat surface to prepare food on or put my stove on to cook I have uh every kind of tiny utensil you could possibly need for cooking um this is a butane burner which I prefer like I you know those big gas stoves it's just me I only need one burner is um pots and pans bowls plates down below big storage your food stuffs I love condiments um I'm a bad bartender I have vermouth but no vodka for martini so sorry guys but keep my eggs in there you don't have to keep your eggs in the fridge dried things little tiny blender I have 12vt Kettle so that's for when there's inclement weather I'll plug that into my jackery to boil water the backup stove that I have cuz you know you should always have a backup stove you got to eat when they do fail let's say I can't get butane or let's say that you know it's just for some reason not working because they'll do that this is liquid gas oh one and this little stove so liquid gas into here apparently you can build a fire in here only a gnome could have a fire this size right there yeah you're cooking so I've made bacon and eggs with this little stove it's perfect so then over here I have um this is a 30 qu fridge by B RV I highly recommend this fridge I have been running it non-stop for 18 months because people always ask how do you shower I don't have a gym membership I'm just because I'm old school traveling that wasn't something that I did in the '90s and so I've just kind of continued with you know I used to do the solar shower bags back then but now this is a 3 gallon collapsible bucket mhm and then the USB shower system so you drop you know you drop the pump in the water and then I stick this to the side of my rig and it's just as good as any indoor shower I know that you know it seems like I don't have very much stuff but this vehicle with the Cabinetry that I I've created for it has a lot of storage this drawer goes way back on the bed this is um you know for my winter clothes for medicine for sheets for candles so I carry three gallons of water I carry it in steel that way it doesn't get the funny Taste of the plastic BPA M right now I just came out of the Pacific Northwest so I did swap my clothes out this is all my summer clothing all in this cube right here all my winter clothing is now in the dresser on the other side that we just took a look at so we have um paper goods like toilet paper wipes and things like that and this and then there's more packing cubes in this folding Cube here and that has some winter jackets that I haven't pulled out yet it's so freeing having less stuff to worry about I can actually just enjoy myself every day and not be worrying about the stuff or taking care of it or cleaning it or insuring it or whatever and you don't need it you can't take it with you I want memories I don't want things right yeah I agree so much with that so I have three batteries on board right now it's not quite enough power for the Pacific Northwest the desert Southwest it's perfect so I have a 1,000 WT Jacker I have a 700 WT um bluetti and then I have a little 160 jackery and I use this renery 100 wat solar panel that I installed on my roof using the double sided tape the wires go down the channel so there's no holes cut in my car to install this installed it myself it's a plug andplay the wire just comes through the moon roof I've been in like delug rain and my Mo moon roof does not leak and it's charging the Jack right now so let me take a look and tell you how many WTS we got going on we've got 30 Watts coming in right now and so that's what I use to charge up all the batteries I do also have right here a folding solar panel and so if I want to park in the shade so Flex solar this is a 100 W folding solar panel that I can put out in the sun and move it around so I actually have 200 WS of solar so because uh in the Honda Elements the tire is normally sto stored underneath where all my cabinets are right I still need to have a spare tire so I've got the hyperox basket on top to hold my spare tire and a fire pit a propane fire pit that I'm going to put up there too for having fires like I'm not going to be doing wood fires anymore cuz I watch too much burn this year and I just don't want to be part of that problem so I'm going to switch to a propane fire pit for can camping so now because I've reduced the gas mellage on it I do need to carry extra gas for longer travel so this is a 2 Gall gas tank and this is a Rob easy storage rack that you can attach all kinds of things to it the awning is by CVT that's what makes this a Honda minum when I pull it out so um yeah it's a what is it 8 by 8 by 10 possibly so yeah it's it makes it really nice for places even like today you know we can put it out and we have shade yeah that's a big big deal big deal always and it's also good for rain and I'm going to find out this winter it's great for snow as well yeah I bet it will be yeah and uh you think of it as an overlanding trip this is a complete 100% overlanding off-grid rig and you've made I I've seen a lot of modifications you've made to it to make it more capable yes uh in the back country it is MHM so what all have you done so I've given it a 2-in lift by aerogenics and Swift Springs to um reinforce and just make the suspension more vigorous I've added um black rhino boxer wheels and Falcon wild Peak tires to it and I'll tell you just alone the tires and the rims have made it completely a GameChanger for going off-road in the back country MH they're critical yes they are MH right so then you're not really a hardcore off-roader you're not no but I mean there are places that I want to get to that you know require either a truck or higher suspension or a vehicle with better tires and I don't ever worry about getting a flat tire like I got a screw in my tire this winter in Florida and the guy just like pulled it out and it was like no big deal you know and so like sharp rocks cactuses things like that in the desert that could be bad just on a regular Street tire so is it four-wheel drive it is all-wheel drive all drive that's most passenger type cars are all Drive I mean this used to be a grocery getter now it's an overlanding right all right right and it's a Honda it's a Honda you know that's all you got to say is it's a Honda and the VTEC engine in these you cannot kill them Bob I have 223,000 miles on this rig it had 40,000 when I bought it in 2008 wow I just saw on social social media someone post 600,000 on the original engine and transmission the traveling I've been doing for the past 19 months I've had zero issues and tell us uh your what uh YouTube you have a YouTube channel do have a YouTube channel um it is called the ninth element so it's ninth element on YouTube do you go in the winter or do you come down to the desert in the uh well I last year I decided to go cross country and down to Florida so this would be my first winter in it but it's not my first uh van life you know before van life was a hashtag or any of that or before the internet that's how old I am I had two Volkswagen buses I had two Volkswagen West Valas I had is Subaru loyel that I took to Alaska and I lived in in Alaska and I also took that to Baja so this year I did buy a second Honda Element with an e- camper on top oh so it's got the pop-up tent and you're switching well I'm going to keep both but that's going to be the winter rig cuz I want to put a diesel heater in that one oh yeah for the winter camping this one will be the overlanding rig and the other one's going to be like a Suburban rig so so I'll still lift it um but the living space down below will be a bit different it'll have like a studio and a indoor kitchen cuz as you know the worst thing I think or my hardest uh challenge in an element is cooking in the wind well Mindy thank you so much for sharing your your Honda Element home with us really really beautiful thank you thank you so much Bob for having me and letting me share my home with your community and I hope this inspires one of you to do something bold and brave like this too on travel that's the goal that's the goal so um tell us again one last time for those who want to know more your YouTube channel I am the ninth element on YouTube that is the only social media that I do very good so folks go there check her out get all the links to all these amazing work that she's done here and I think you'll be really glad you did well everyone thank you for watching this video if you got anything out of it like us on YouTube subscribe to the channel hit that thumbs up button and we'll talk to you later bye bye

Channel: CheapRVliving

Views: 89,929

Keywords: car, van, RV, Full-time, nomad, camper, camp, boondock, travel, caravan, tiny, house, RTR, Bob Wells, Nomadland, CheapRVLiving, Cheap RV Living, vanlife, van life, how to live in a van, van dwelling, van tour, van conversion, living in a van, camper van, van build, diy van build, sprinter van, van living, #vanlife, van dweller, campervan, vandwelling, diy camper van, RV Life, Living in an RV, Class B, Class C, Truck Living, Living in a car, boondocking, Living in a RV

Id: yeaUkFIHMlw

Length: 14min 24sec (864 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 01 2024