She built a stealth tiny home inside of an ambulance

hey guys Jenna here welcome to my channel  where I take you on tours of tiny and unique   homes today we're taking a tour of Rachel's  ambulance conversion which she lovingly calls   the glambo this home on Wheels features  Ample Storage a large shower and artistic   touches that create a personalized space  allowing her to live comfortably on the road   Rachel highlights the unique challenges of  an ambulance conversion her motivations for   taking on such a demanding build and reflects  on how it has redefined her idea of Happiness   if you like videos like this where we  showcase people living alternatively and   take you on tours of unique homes make  sure that you subscribe and hit that   notification Bell so that you know every  single time we publish a new video [Music] make this house hey everyone I'm Rachel this is  Thomas Welcome to the glambo [Music] before living nomadically I realized how much I  was living for work and basing a lot of my value   and my happiness and work not being able to really  leave and travel got to me pretty quickly I've   always had like crazy ideas I wanted to challenge  myself I was like could I really do this could I   do this could I do this could I do this for months  and then finally I was like I'm gonna do it I'm   gonna do it I don't care how hard it is uh I'm  gonna figure it out ambulances have a lifespan   of 10 years typically in their jurisdiction it's a  2006 it ended its career in 2016 and then it was a   plumber truck it still looked like an ambulance it  had a lot of the equipment still there was so much   stuff it took me three months to gut this out and  then I started the build process by myself because   my dad was like don't bring that thing to my house  and turns out I didn't have the skills that I   thought I had I don't know so after calling my dad  crying so many times finally he was like all right   bring it over which started the next chapter of  finishing the build the rig costs with shipping   about fourteen thousand total after buying the  rig doing the bailed out and then doing some   rebuilds I'd say I'm between 20 to 25 Grand I've  been living on the road full time for about six   months I'm very grateful to my dad because it's  something he didn't want to undertake and he did   because I asked him too I know how privileged  I am to not only have his help but have him as   the foundation of this I wouldn't be here if it  weren't for him and not living how I want to live welcome to the outside of the glambo  she is a 2006 Chevy Kodiak C 4500 the   exterior length is about 24 feet  the Box width is about eight feet   I haven't gotten her professionally weighed  yet but I'm guessing she's about 14 or 15   000 pounds driving this has its pros and cons on  the highway it's decent I need some suspension   work max speed is maybe 65 but I think you'll  learn in this journey to go slower dirt roads   it's a lot harder just because it is such a  heavy rig and it's an ambulance it's not an   off-road vehicle so it's not exactly fun but we  get places we got here and that's what counts   the engine is a 6.6 liter Duramax I think it's a  V8 the mileage I get is garbage it's not great I   would say 10 to 12. we can take a look at the  engine I don't know a lot but it looks cool holy [ __ ] tons of dust oh my God [Music] one  of the reasons why I wanted this and I was so   drawn to it is because of the front end it's just  so cool it's so beefy I feel extremely safe in it   when I'm driving I think people fear me the top  was always white and then it was ambulance red   that's not really my color I'm more of a teal  Gale don't call it green laughs a question I   get almost every day is about the horn it doesn't  work no but that doesn't mean it can't work when I   was building this out we just cut a lot of the  wires so I'm sure it's just a cup wire that I   need to get done and rewired but the wiring is  extremely overwhelming and probably one of the   hardest things when you get an ambulance it's very  daunting but once you get past that I think you're   smooth sailing so the lights most of them work  the ones that I need to be street legal definitely   work some of them break a lot like this one you  know that's just what happens when you live on   the road lots of turbulence the back is lifted  by airbags you'll probably telling that it's   low to the ground that's just what happens with  airbags they over time they deflate after like 24   hours and then you have the compressor inside to  lift them up when you're ready to drive [Music]   a huge part of why people are drawn to  ambulances is the storage a lot of people   in Vans will put like their plumbing and  their electrical inside but lucky for me   I have all that outside last year I upgraded  finally got lithium batteries I would say one   of my biggest tips for people is save up go with  lithium batteries it's worth it I swear they last   for what 10 years and a pure sign wave inverter  that changed my life so I have 400 amp hours of   lithium battery and then I have a 3000 watt pure  sine wave inverter on the roof I have 1065 Watts   my entire roof is solar panels so ideally I  want to work remotely I've done that throughout   my career so I wanted to not have to worry  about power so the only thing I would probably   upgrade is maybe a little bit more battery if  I wanted to include AC in my rig I would have   a perfect spot in the front above the cab to add  a mini split it's just they suck a lot of power so this one is my Plumbing which is still kind of  under construction I'm so sorry I've upgraded a   lot of things in the last two years I used to  have portable gray tanks that was such a pain   in the ass for me to have to take these heaviest  gallons remove them dump them and then put them   back so I finally got a gray tank what I ended up  going with for the water heater is a seven gallon   unit it's probably a little bit too big for what  I need I only use it for my shower so next time   I might exchange it for a full gallon but for  now it works but you can have a good visual of   what this looks like as this happening this is my  dad being a smart and I've emptied it and then it   kind of messes with the pump so he was like all  right Rachel because I'm a child I guess [Music]   so this is just a cool exterior  drawer that I have it's a lot of   tools spray paint and then beyond  this is like where my kitchen is   so a lot of the Interior is built  around the exterior storage [Music] a huge feature of the glambo the  exterior of the glambo are my mini lights   these three holes that you see were ambulance  lights and I didn't want to keep that I wanted   to remove as much ambulance as possible  so I just remove the lights and turn them   into little windows so I have a ton  of light inside and then I you know   trimmed them out made them look all Glam  and I love them plus they're great for Tom all right so now we can take a  look at the back doors and the this is the what everyone calls the garage  we've got a lot of storage back here I could   definitely utilize this a lot better but I'm still  again new on the road so I should get a screen   if you want to send me a screen  I don't know what happened here   Things fall in cracks and crevices in a  van and I don't remember this happening so   that's nice oh hey welcome to the glambo  where there's [ __ ] everywhere [Music]   all right come on in [Music] welcome to the inside of the glambo she's been  through several Renovations and I finally have   a version that I absolutely love when I  wanted to do this I wanted something that   was really homey and open and I think I've kind  of nailed it I have that square box that allows   a very open ceiling it's about six one inside  which is fine because I'm a short five three so   I've got plenty of headspace and now I have a  couch I have all of this space and a tiny bit   so I think the standard interior of like a van  is about six feet and for me I have about eight   so I was able to squeeze my bed in here I think  a twin is six feet long I don't know if they'll   quote me on that but then the storage box is  my closet so that's about two feet so I've got   eight feet of width in here which allows for  a big open space this black space you see here   was a door two exterior storage so there was  a box starting here that ended here and that   was about yay high so we had to cut all of that  aluminum to make room for the bed I've always   had a twin mattress just to utilize as much space  as possible we didn't have to cut it a little bit   I wish it was bigger but you know you got to pick  your battles does the trick got storage underneath   so I have always been a crafter and a bit of an  artiste I had to sell most of my supplies while   getting ready for this lifestyle just because one  you can't really fit a whole bunch of canvas and   paints but I enjoy having a hobby especially if  it's artistic so this tree painting I painted   probably 10 years ago and I've just held on to it  because I love it I realized while living in the   rig that I needed it to be more personalized so  I was Googling some ideas and this block project   came up and I was like oh that seems like a  challenge and it was it was uh let's just say   it's not made for mobile Rigs and the pieces over  the last five months have just slowly broken off   as I've been driving it's pretty humorous but I  redid it just for you guys and I just remembered   how great it looks and it's pretty sick if you  want one um a thousand bucks is probably enough   so this space is really cool so this is a full  closet but it's really nice I've got two rows of   clothes I probably don't need all of it but it's  nice having the option when you're surrounded by   the elements and the weather is crazy every  day [Music] I watch TV you know I get into   shows watch new movies and I use my laptop a  lot but I also wanted a more a bigger option   for like a movie night so I do have a projector  and a projector screen so this just comes down   and then I have my projector up here which is  portable so I can just take it and hooks onto here so when I got the ambulance I this was a seat  obviously it did not look as pretty as this it   was an ambulance but I think this is where  a lot of the like paramedics sat and worked   on their patient which is so wild to think  of in this environment now I have all this   room to chill [Music] so we built on top of the  couch that was here the couch it's on top of the   wheel well so it was kind of an awkward area that  would be perfect for a love seat so I just got a   cushion cut it in half and then got some cushion  covers it's perfect I don't need anything more   these are just basic pre-made Home  Depot cabinets that I painted and   it's great for clothes I've got storage  Galore in here so I have this huge   cabinet where which I you know dirty clothes and  clutter and then I have Tom's litter box that   I can just pull out clean and then close it up  there's a little door here and it works perfectly the refrigerator is on its last  leg it was great to start it was   like 150 bucks I know I didn't want a  chest freezer because I didn't want to   spend a thousand dollars so this was  a perfect option I have so much room   and then of course strap everything down  folks everything needs to be tied down   this has fallen from here to the floor before and  it still works I probably just maybe upgrade a   little bit to get a better quality fridge but  definitely this size has been great cabinet and then I still have two  drawers and it's it's plenty   this is my pantry so I got one of these like craft  storage things that are usually on Wheels cut the   wheels off and put drawer slides and it comes off  a lot of this custom Cabinetry is all thanks to   my father [Music] this is not a humidifier people  often think when they walk in they're like what's   going on here it's Tom's Fountain I love them a  lot and I try to give him the best life he often   won't use it still if the faucet's running he's  like yes or he'll sit here and meow at me until   I turn on the faucet which is great for water  consumption Tom loves running water anytime I felt   my tanks I take him outside and he'll just go at  it he gets really wet so I'm hoping that one day   I can take him into like a river or something and  turn him into a water cat he'd be even more unique   this is my kitchen I wanted it to be the space  that people see when they walk in so it needed   to be artistic visually appealing and functional  for me so I kept with the metal theme I've got the   metal sink and then I wanted a touch of metal  as the backsplash people love this it's this   peel and stick but then also I couldn't afford a  really expensive counter so I got this it's like   a big piece of tile that we cut my dad put a lot  of cushion underneath so it won't crack and we've   bumped we bumped a lot and it hasn't cracked so  it's pretty and unique I have a lot of themes   going on in here one of them is hexagons and  these honeycomb shaped dailies any blank service   you need storage whether it's shelves cabinets  drawers you'll see a lot of shelving in here   is this the most functional storage I have no  but it looks great I did these myself I painted   them with the inside of black outside white which  I also wouldn't recommend no white and everything   gets so dirty when I get up close I'm like oh God  these arrows were leftover art pieces from my old   apartment I just kept some stuff to add to it  and it makes a cool little barrier right now we   are at I would say the front of the Box behind me  is the shower that has a door to the camp [Music]   after I gutted it this was all open I didn't have  like a um a separate space for the bathroom so one   of the first things we did when I got to my dad's  was build this wall for privacy for the bathroom   so against the wall it was just blank so I was  like this is a waste of space so I just made   this shallow cupboard just got a bunch of stuff in  it a bunch of crap and then a lot of vanity stuff   up here another point of contention in Van life  is shower or no shower and I was always of the   opinion where like you know what I don't want to  have to go to a Planet Fitness considering how big   my rig is and how much of a pain it is to drive  it all the time so I didn't want to like be parked   on BLM landline and be like oh I need a shower I  need to leave so I wanted a bathroom which I have   I have my black accent wall and then my gray water  safe or waterproof whatever you want to call it   vinyl tile it was so easy I did this myself my dad  did all the plumbing did I need this nope but hey   this is the Glam Bell the floor pan my dad sourced  I think it's an RV pan we didn't have to cut it   I've got a freshwater tank that has 30 gallons and  most of that is just my sink and then my shower so   I can take about two showers a week I would say  it's like five gallons per shower if I if I'm   quick and and smart about it and that'll last me a  good week I've got to fill up once a week [Music]   I started off with a DIY composting toilet I  think it was Johnny compost which is an awesome   starter kit but it's a bucket so once I had a  bit more income coming in I knew I wanted to   invest in a good toilet and is a thousand dollars  a little expensive maybe it's where you poop so   you kind of want that to be to be nice [Music] by  mindset probably shifted the most doing this which   is what I was seeking I was seeking a challenge  Within Myself That Wasn't work related seeking a   happier mindset a drama-free mindset and just  a peaceful sense of Freedom if you think it'll   make you happy do it be open and be ready for the  challenge take a deep breath and go for it [Music]   thanks for watching this week's video  I hope you guys enjoyed it please make   sure to like share and subscribe and I will  see you soon with another unique home tour foreign [Music]

Channel: Tiny House Giant Journey

Views: 393,551

Keywords: tiny house giant journey, tiny house, Tiny houses, tiny homes, tiny house tour, ambulance, ambulance conversion, glambo, tiny house build, ambulance build, ambulance build out, ambulance home, ambulance home conversaion, skoolie, van build, van conversion, van life, rv life, bus life, nomadic movement, solo female van life, solo female living in ambulance, how to convert an ambulance to a tiny home

Id: uxwHuT4C8_c

Length: 19min 8sec (1148 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 25 2023