I added a porch and living room to my no build minivan camper for the ultimate storage and comfort.

I have been traveling full-time in my 2021 Pacifica minivan for a year and a half this is only the third time that I've changed everything around a different arrangement in my no build camper this is my original van setup this is how it looked when Bob Wells did the van tour I'm still using pillows for my clothes I still have those same pillows plus maybe a couple more I'm at a beautiful forested Campground in New Hampshire didn't know I'd be spending much time here but Lulu had a little meet up here and this has been greatly left this morning to go to a family event and here's that this is what I use as a cover for the back so that bugs don't get in this is also glow in the dark it's black light I should say this glows really pretty at night but it keeps the bugs out and it's privacy too I have it attached up here along the edge with magnets to secure it I think it's a great option for keeping bugs out in for privacy then I have a new addition I have an awning I like this kind of awning it gives you plenty of room under it you can set it up higher or lower if it's say windy or if the sun's coming from what would be on the left of the screen here I can lower it all the way down and it's still shady and you can walk under it very nice I'm going to be shopping for a new chair this one folds up pretty small and goes up in the roof rack that's not really all that comfortable I use a step to get in have another new addition got my logo on the side on both sides a little magnet if you get some of those be sure to take them off when you go through a car wash because I didn't and it came off so here's the entrance I get up on this and it's all been changed around I'll show you all the details that's some storage there this is the ultimate in storage here got my little nautical lamp there that's my bed plenty of room for a chair I really debated on whether one person in such a tiny space really needs one two three chairs in a tiny space I debated long and hard but because I have the bed the way it is I still have all the room in the back for storage the reason it's nice is because when it's raining as it did all day yesterday you've got a little living room the bed's up higher for more storage but I can still sit up on this bed but I have storage underneath and I'll show you all of that so I have a a more pleasant place to sit and edit or on a rainy day I've got clothes in those pillows then I've got a stack of pillows over here I used to prop my feet up at night and of course there are clothes in there too so when I'm sitting back here I can reach to the back I can get in my little refrigerator right behind me I've got uh some storage there I can reach anything in that one actually if I got up on my knees in this chair I could reach anything down there in the bottom that that lamp looks so pretty at night it also can be a full lamp it's not my main lighting I just like it because it's cute and this with the flickering light on with the flame artificial flame light it's just a very pleasant way to relax at night this is a tray here that I can put on the bed as a little Edge on it so that I can use it on the bed for one thing or another set things on okay so starting at the bottom the reason I got this metal shelf here this is the same kind of metal shelf that I have in the back it's just a little bit smaller but the thing about these shelves is you can adjust the height right here you can adjust the height of each of these shelves so I made it high enough that I could put both of my power stations in here I've got the blue Eddie and the oops 1200 which I love the 1200. um but having a 1200 and a 700 doesn't it's not the same as adding up to 1900. it's very nice you know I can just charge one of them like the blue Eddie will charge pretty quickly because it's a lot smaller it doesn't take as much charge okay so I've got the heaviest part on the bottom and they're both right up here where I have access to them rather than I had one of them in the back the next Shelf has these two little guys you know you always need a space for those little things that get lost all the time big bins are not good for those one of them facing forward here but the other one wouldn't fit facing this same direction so I made it face toward the door which is very nice for things that I might want to grab when I'm outside okay then I have bungee corded I don't know if I'll end up with this one in the end but I have a uh a bin sort of thing bungee corded up here on the top of this shelf so it won't go anywhere but these are just things that I might want to grab at night various things in there things that you want wouldn't want to have on a nightstand I like these I've had this there these window covers have been on there since the very beginning that's not wood it's just contact paper these were not that easy to get in and out so they haven't been moved since I left a year and a half ago it seems really comfortable and convenient for me there's my computer right there fits nicely right there but I'm going to take you around the other side and show you how much storage there is first maybe I'll show you how I can get to the storage bins from right here inside but there's this great big bin here that slides out it's it's as wide as the bed it's 25 inches long this bin is and it's tall I can pull the bin out from the inside here or I can pull it out from the other side got a lot of distance between the chair and over here where this shelf stand starts these are very sturdy this shelf stand will hold a total of 750 pounds and of course I've got the most weight down here at the bottom really handy to have those power stations where I can get out them right there I think it still looks cute I went completely for cute before now after a year and a half I'm going for practical here as another turtle you might think I'd like turtles there is another little turtle you might think I like turtles actually sea creatures I love sea creatures good friends in the forest beautiful comfortable surroundings yesterday it actually rained all day and this was so cozy in here I just sat here and edited and watched videos and fix a snack or whatever right here very convenient oh I gotta tell you that about this little guy I think I've shown it before this is one of my favorite Lights I've got a lot of lights that I like a lot you know what this is so simple it's on the handle so that when you come in you just kind of punch it like that and the light comes on it's nice and bright of course it's daytime now you don't see it as well LED lights USB charged I had this for a bicycle it goes on the handle of a bicycle and it's just got this little rubbery strap that goes around in hooks right here so that it's very much out of the way so you don't have something big like this hanging it's just out of the way and when you come in at night you can just flip that on or reach over from the bed and flip it on really convenient here's another favorite light it can be USB charged but it's also solar it can be a bug Light so I don't know if you can even see that yeah there it is you can see that it's a bug Light and it actually works it can be a flashlight a regular flashlight can you can dim the flashlight so you can hang it from up here and then it has one more mode which I like for at night which is softer it's not that very harsh light like that it's very go through the things it's very soft and that's for nice for at night most of the time when I have a campground I have my potty tent set up a privacy tent and that's where this toilet would go this is one of those accordion type toilets I've got it nice and secure right now but if you just twist it it will flatten down to where it's only as wide as this so this can you can use this as a camp stool as a garbage can you open it up and there's a toilet seat there see a toilet seat now I keep bags on it here a backup you might say and here's the secret to this kind of toilet I think this has openings right here it has some openings so to me that's not very secure with just bags in it so what I did I found a canister that bag just goes right down into that canister then it goes over the top like that and the toilet seat comes down and really secures it very solid this is comfortable it's not soft but it's quite comfortable and then of course you can close it up like this and you can even secure it with these latches if you want to now for absorbency I'll show you what goes down in there I tried kitty litter in here kitty litter is made for a couple of tablespoons of uh Kitty volume not made for humans it's very heavy it some of it can have some dust to it so kitty litter is not a good solution if you need an absorb it next thing I tried was horse pellets or wood pellets they work pretty good but they're very heavy and you have to get a 40 pound bag of them and then you have to figure out where to store it and here is the latest solution that I have that I am really really loving these pieces right here these are much thicker than a paper towel and not only are they absorbent they also turn any liquids to gel I use two of them you that may not be necessary I'm not sure but just this back up and I put these down in here and what happens is that's absorbent now and it takes care of odors it works really perfect I'll leave a link to them but for a 90 day supply it's not much bigger than a a box of Kleenex for a 90 day supply three months so I think that's a huge advantage over a big old 40 pound bag of horse pellets when I'm camping this potty goes out in the privacy tent so I have all this room but it works okay in here too for when I'm not camping from this side I can use this as a footstool I kind of put a blanket or something on it so it's a little softer perfect setup for me everybody's different I'm not poking holes in it I'm not doing a build here a lot of people like the option of moving things around or taking things out and using it for a daily driver this is a 2021 I'm not poking holes most people leave the small side up on the passenger side so they have to walk around the car to get into their bed from the passenger side because they have the bed over here on the driver's side part of the third row seat is holding the bed up I've got the whole well in the back this really gave me more storage and most efficient use of every inch of the minivan as a no build that's the tour of this part nothing going on in the front seat I don't keep anything up there and I don't have to transfer things back and forth from front to back when I need to get in the back I don't have a driving mode and a camping mode it's all the same because I don't have to transfer I've got enough storage now I don't need to transfer anything back and forth I got my seed for the driver's seat and cocoa seats right there she's got her bed and her halter for her seat belt so everything's safe and cozy I am building my bed a different way with these nice shelves I just picked up from Walmart more details to come hang in there this is the base of the bed before I'm going to be cutting off I think five inches I've got to measure a couple more times and that will be the base of the bed for this job I bought a hyper tough reciprocating saw and it scares me but I took five inches off of each one and now I'm going to hammer the top back on it this board is 24 the same width as the mattress it's 24 by 48 this way so this fits right on top of this shelf and it goes from the passenger seat the back of the passenger seat up onto the third row seat so I'm using part of the third row seat as the bed base the board doesn't go all the way to the back but that's where my feet will be and I've got a six inch mattress going on top of it so I think it's going to work out the mattress is a little too long I don't need the big reciprocating power tool saw for this instead I am using a little black and deck Black and Decker carving knife adds in there I cut it down it fits nicely I have this leftover piece of a tri-fold three inch mattress and It just fits right here in front of the mattress to protect the seat from the wood that's underneath here this goes all the way down that a piece of mattress does it's just the right size and now the bed fits perfectly and that's the back of the third seat there now I have rigged up a protection for the car don't want the um wood of the bed rubbing up against this right here where it would hit so I put an extra piece of foam I cut it to fit in there and it's jammed in with this other piece of foam this is protecting the chair that's protecting the car so I have these very large bins that pull out foreign it will hold two of them that's more storage between the chair and this bed base there is room for another bin right there and then some more stuff crammed in right there so a lot of extra space I'm really liking this Arrangement forest all around got a lot of friends here what a great way to camp

Channel: Butterfly Tracks

Views: 135,431

Keywords: #vantour, #minivantour, #vanlife, #minivanlife, #nobuildminivancamper, #nobuildcamper, #viralvideo, #fulltimenomad, #fulltimesolonomad, #fulltimevanlife, #soloseniorwomannomad, #solofemalenomad, #solovanlife

Id: wI_w5qfXqio

Length: 16min 50sec (1010 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 14 2023