Self-converted Off-Grid Sprinter Van with Full Office, Bathroom, and Garage

[Music] [Applause] [Music] so when you first came in on your left we have our light switch which controls the lights in the front half of the van and they are on a dimmer so we condemn or have them all the way up or whatever we'd like this is our simply safe keypad you can lock the van on my way or home whatever from right here this is our temperature detectors so it tells us how warm or cold it is in the van you can actually set it up to where it notifies you if it's gone above or below the parameters you've set this is our glass break sensor so if a window shatters something like that it picks up a frequency and notifies us that right here we have one of our two motion detector sensors so that just picks up motion if somebody's entering or leaving the van or walking around somebody's in here and they're not supposed to be it'll go off if we have the alarm set so below our light switch in our simply safe system we have Kramer's which is our little puppy his water and food bowls and we also have a rug which is really important if you want to come in from the rain things get really wet really fast in a tiny little area much more than they would in a house we have a front porch so on this side when you come in we have our passenger seat which is on a swivel base so it's tools around a little bit and this is great to have as extra seating especially if I'm cooking in the kitchen and Chris must work on his laptop for a little bit it's a really great nice little audition especially for the price I think run around like $2 or something and then below that we have our s bar d2 heater and that's been really really great so far we were actually around Thanksgiving we were in single digits five degrees or something when we were in Massachusetts and that being kept just so warm I woke up sweating in the villa night because I had set it up too high and it wasn't even set up near as high as it goes so I think I feel very confident confident in a sense like negative temperatures like we'd be more than fine with that thing so really really happy with that and then we have this little black curtain on a curtain rod we just drilled right into our headliner stuff because this is half inch plywood right here so at night we can cool that we also have reflected curtains that go in the front windshield which reflect heat especially if you leave the dog alone or something during the day but sometimes we're just went myself camp or something like that so we can just close this off and it goes the whole looks like a black wall and looks more a little more utilitarian so a little more like an electricians van or something like that and right here we have our headliner shelf which we actually made ourselves they're pretty expensive if you buy on which is we're really glad we ended up making it ourselves because quality is really good we made our plywood it's really sturdy and honestly it took us like 30 minutes I think it was super easy so up here we are dog food and we've got a little box of toys and I've got some extra like scarves and hats and bathroom bags up here which are great flag recording to the gym to shower work out so this is just stuff that we access pretty much all the time that we just learned of like easy access to so behind me we have our bathroom which has a shower with hot and cold water and then we have our Thetford porta potti cassette toilet which we've actually really liked so far we were on the fence between this and a composting toilet but we ended up going with this one since a price point and two we can move it in and out really easy so we actually have more room in the shower we move it out so we just we want to we just put it out here and we have like a much larger shower versus if we had the composting toilet just always stuck in there so we've got a little fast kitchen Susan heard and we've got our Twitter paper up here we've got little hooks to hold our towels and swimsuits and that kind of good stuff and we do have our light up here and the switches over here on the side super nice really glad we put a light in there don't get too dark [Music] so moving into the van you have our kitchen right here on the left side starting we have our farmhouse kitchen sink and we opted for a larger sink than most fans have we're really glad we did that it's really nice to have extra space even if we don't fill it up it's really nice to kind of you know wash veggies or whatever else so we got this idea on clearance and it was perfect and so exactly what we were looking for and then we have just a little draining board here to let our dishes dry so not on the counter and sponge holder got our soap dispenser which we can refill from the bottom underneath we've got our water filtered water the filters underneath the sink actually and then this is just our normal water that's not purified and it has a spray and it actually has the stop feature a couple people have asked about that so yes it does have a thought feature which is really great when you're really running short on water or always conserving my GU yards we have our ratchet kitchen or paper towel dispenser you really like that and actually fits just perfect next to our stove and oven barely made that clearance so this is our stove in our oven it's propane and we've got the 3i burner on top which we're really really glad we did we almost have induction didn't really want to have to worry with propane and all that but that's a lot of extra electricity so we went ahead to the propane so we really wanted it oven and in order to do an oven a lot of power people ask how it is compared to like a normal house gas oven and actually it works really well cooks pretty evenly the stove is a decent size it's really been great it's one of our favorite things about the band's we can have soup and cookies and all kinds of fun stuff so and then down on the front of the oven we actually have magnetic spice holders near Justin from Amazon but they worked really well they hold our spices and save a ton of room in the cabinets and they look kind of cute and then above here we have two cabinets these are both dedicated to food so we've got Stuart Little shipped through protein bars and coffee all kinds of things and it's actually more storage than what it looks like we've actually been really happy with just this - we have our fridge which holds a lot of like our produce and our dairy and all that kind of thing so really dry goods wise we don't need that much storage this has been plenty for us so under the counter on this side we have our pots and our pans and our blender or coffee mugs plates bowls glass top we're kind of stuff silverware all that good stuff is down here so this is all like cooking and dishes that kind of thing and then under the counter on this side underneath the sink we have a couple of cleaning supplies some toiletries our water filtration system a little garbage can which can't really have a huge garbage can I do miss that about a real house but you don't have like a full garbage system so you can't ever store too much one time anyway so it works and then below it we keep like some vitamins and extra cups like our smoothie glasses that kind of thing so over here on this side we have our his and her desk it was really important to us to bring our IMAX with us we work full-time on the road and we could have works from laptops and we do sometimes but it's really nice to actually have like our IMAX work is faster and just feels more like we're at home if we're able to do all of our stuff on it bigger screen and faster system so we made an effort to bring this along it's actually been really great we really enjoyed having them they're secured down to the desk with these really like ultra heavy-duty kind of they're made for like security purposes so they're actually like bolted into the bottom of the desk and then they're locked down from the back all the screens are in place and they're not going anywhere somebody wants to steal them there seems like enough like cut them out so these are then really great so far so these are both 27-inch iMac sits a little larger size just for perspective on how big this area is so two chairs both some t.j.maxx oh and up here each of us has three cabinets for clothes or whatever else we want to store so these three are Chris's so down here below the desk we actually recently found these little foot containers on Amazon and they're really great for just like holding our books and journals and all that kind of stuff things that we weren't able to cart would we'd like to have a few books with us at a time so they fit really well there they take up a lot of cadmus storage which is valuable space and those are just perfect really low-profile size and they're kind of cool so we really like those and you'll see that we actually right next to that we actually have our pipes from the shower slightly exposed and the reason that is same for our wires the reason we did that is just for starting out in the van for like the first six months we want to leave that all exposed so we could some kind of time tighten up the pipes make sure everything's done no there's no leaks or anything like that so far so good but we did want to have easy access to that until we were sure everything was running smoothly so you will see that actual ugly not very noticeable unless you get down there and look but that is there so also underneath the desk we do have our our explosive gas alarm so it's like our private monoxide alarm and also is our propane detector so if this is leaking we have a sensor just to keep it down low because it's heavier than oxygen so it's down there plugged into the wall also over here we have our wheel box and it's actually really a great little place I have a basket right here it's kind of where I keep all my shoes Chris keeps fewer in the van so I get more space for that so that's right there and then next to that we actually have our battery panels battery monitors for Victor on so we can see our solar our inverter controller and then our s bar d2 heater and then our max air fan deluxe which is been really great we really like that versus like fantastic fan cuz it can be left open when it rains when we're driving and pulls in and out and we also have like 10 or 12 speeds on it it's really great and we also have our reboost down here which sort of boost our cell signal it doesn't boost a Wi-Fi signal or find a Wi-Fi signal for it does take our cell phone signal and this is a couple extra bars no matter where we are so if we're in like one bar LTE a boost of something like three or something like that which doesn't make a huge difference sometimes something that's not down here we keep it up behind the driver's seat to plug it in it's just sort of been the most successful way for us to keep it but we do have a Verizon hotspot and that's one of the ways that we do get Wi-Fi in our van for working so we have about 25 gigs a month on that and that's a pretty good amount after that we still have internet with them but they just throw out all the speeds a lot so we have 25 gigs there and then each of us has a wife era yeah Wi-Fi hotspot on our Verizon cell phone plan so it's about 15 gigs a month on each of our phones so total what is that like 55 gigs a month or something like that but after that like they you do still have internet they just slow it down and sometimes it's not so bad but if you're in a larger major city like we were in Boston they really slowed our speeds down a lot so that's how we do a lot of our Wi-Fi and then back on top of the desk something else we should have mentioned is we do have our smoke detector right here and we have another motion detector right there next to the right computer and then back over here we put it away when we're not using it that this is our simply state camera and this is how we keep an eye on the dog we have sound through it and it's color and it does have night vision which turns it black on white which is really great so this has been a huge huge lifesaver just to kind of keep an eye on the dog especially if we're in big cities we don't like to leave him very far from us and this way we can tell like oh he's still sleeping so it's really great alright one more thing that we didn't mention talking when talking about the kitchen is our right behind me we have our isotherm refrigerator and we opted for the isotherm because they're the most efficient and they're do wise and battery electricity's are very important so we got the larger size and it has a fridge and freezer so freezers are here and it holds actually a pretty good bit of stuff fridges are really large size we haven't really we've been to where we've maxed it out but I mean that can hold five days of food easy so we're really glad we opted for the larger size fits really well below the bed too so and then this is Kramer he's our little puppy he's ready to get down this is almost a king sized bed so what we did is we ordered a memory foam king-size mattress and then we took a meat cutter and we cut it down a size so it's sort of a custom fit I say it's almost a king size we're about width wise we're about three inches short of a king size width and then we cut off two or three inches from the end just because we're not very tall and we didn't really need that but it's still like a six three or six foot four length mattress so it's a really good site honestly it's plenty of room even with the part of it being underneath the cabinet the dog kind of lays over right there and then we have the rest of the room and so far haven't really hit my head on the cabinet so fingers crossed back here we also have two windows which open and what we did with that is we really wanted to have cross ventilation when we're sleeping so we don't have an AC unit which was intentional in our van because they do tend to leak from what we hear so we have our max air fan right above in the center of the room which is right also next to the stove so that's how we vent it and then open both of those windows it's this really great wind tunnel and you can like open the windows that far and you instantly feel the breeze blowing over you so it's amazing we really thought we did those as you'll notice and we have two outlets on each side of the bed and they have USB ports to spawn we're able to charge our phones from bed or computers or whatever else from you charge then we've added a couple extra outlets throughout so here's one with USBs right here and then oh and this is our light switch to control the light in the second half so now that we've talked about the layout let's talk about a couple of the different finishings that we did in the mane one of the most notable ones we get asked about a lot are cabinet fronts they are stainless steel really durable and they're really not any heavier than what wood wood cabinet fronts would have been and they're really nice because they actually reflect a lot of light so it actually feels brighter in here than what it might with like wood cabinet front so we're really glad we went with these and then below we have one inch thick butcher block countertops for both the desk and the kitchen so we actually got these at the same time and for a really great price at like a discount lumber kind of place same type of wood I don't remember the exact time but one inch is obviously half as heavy as like two is just a typical butcher block so we really thought we found something a little lighter for the bathroom and a kitchen backsplash we did subway tiles I think they're two by fours 2 by 5 something like that from Home Depot and then we did this gray grout and we actually had the people at home people talk to us we told them what we were doing and that was in an RV and they actually told us a really great grout that's a little more flexible than the typical kind so hopefully this will hold up over time with like the moving and the twisting of the van and so far we haven't had any tile issues everything's held together really well no cracks no missing tiles so fingers crossed on that tile but hopefully this will hold up the time it's doing great so far so really glad we did the tile it just adds a nice like homey farmhouse kind of build and then this magnet bar we actually got on Amazon as well hot so nice way to store our knives so we're not always like reaching in and trying it like underneath we can't see and we're slicing our fingers open so we have our pizza cutter which is obviously an essential kitchen scissors knives and that's been really great really easy just grab them off the back and then for our flooring we actually have vinyl locking floor so they're Radiesse waterproof so they're really friendly for the van really light really easy to put together we really like the color it's kind of like a neutral e makes it feel homey warm all that kind of thing also something you can't see is we did go ahead and splurge and have our entire van spray foam and slated and we're so glad we did it was more than what it would have been to do then an insulation or something like that but we were in this band before we had our heater in it and we stayed in what 30 degrees and body heat alone kept us very warm in the span and we've had the van in in the 80s and still been comfortable with a fan so spray foam insulation highly recommended over time it's supposed to be the best option it handles moisture really well just goes if you're going to humid climates all that kind of thing so can't see it but it's there and underneath the bed we actually have a really good sized garage we have all of our electrical and solar components under there we have both of our bikes under there our freshwater tank is actually inside the van versus outside because we didn't want that to freeze if we were somewhere cold and all that's gonna probably be its own separate video because that's just sort of a mess than turn of itself so we want to get you back there and actually show you all around that so if you have any specific questions about that be sure to drop a comment for us and we will answer that in the video [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Chris and Sara

Views: 5,480,435

Keywords: vanlife, van, digtial nomad, working on the road, mercedes sprinter, entrepreneur, office on wheels, campervan, camp, off grid van, lets be us, van tour, photographer, nomad, travel, traveler, roadtrip, self conversion, sprinter conversion, sprinter, laptop lifestyle, van conversion, diy, digital nomad, van life tour, sprinter van tour, campervan tour, diy sprinter van, sprinter van conversion, off grid sprinter van, van life couple, rv life, full time rv life

Id: wapg3iJE9Es

Length: 16min 54sec (1014 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 22 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/PandorumXV2]

Cool van, bad camera work

[u/dopperpod]

Nice video, thank you!

What did you guys do for your hot water heater? I know you mentioned the D2 is your heater, so you didn’t go for the Dual Top Evo 6, which is currently on the top of my list in my planning. What drove your decision?

[u/Nurse_Nameless]

I was all about this until I saw you would be pooping behind a curtain about a foot or two from the stove..

[u/czmax]

Apparently not much of a garage.

[u/guy_behind_the_guys]

I really liked the van and video! Thanks!!

[u/[deleted]]

whenever i see tiling in a van it throws me off

[u/well_okay_then]

Where'd you get the bed windows? Also are those built-in sliding covers for them?