Stealth DIY Mini Van camper Tour | Full kitchen with hidden sink, and more unique builds + features!

so my name's kevin some people call me hopper and this is my 2008 chrysler town and country i've converted it into a mobile home i love it it's been a amazing experience so far done all the work inside myself and all the mechanical work myself it was a quite an adventure i think like most van dwellers when it's done that's the best part so i got lots of storage in here i have storage underneath the floor the old stow and go seatings would come up mechanical maintenance stuff down here so it goes all the way to the other side underneath the cabinets jack jack stands everything i need to do the work on the road when i first got the van it was just a normal minivan you know there was little kid toys in the back and completely you know soccer mom minivan and i wanted it it's got low kilometers cool color it's a little different from that point on i decided to buy it i sold all my things everything that i sold actually paid for the cost of the van i watched a few videos online to just kind of get to know the the minivans and how to take out the headliners and stuff like that it was just phenomenal how much weight it took out when i stripped it because everything i have in here it almost equals out it's about 100 pounds more than what it was factory in the ceiling above the pine slats here which i really didn't want to compromise on i was like i want a wood roof minivan you never see that so it's just reflectix just big chunks of reflectix double layered in between the channels here this is all held up with uh pl it's not there's no extra screws in the van at all i didn't drill other than maybe back here on a couple panels i didn't put any extra holes in it i just used the pre-existing clips that held up a big roof center console and then i had another slat here once it was glued it just held it up and once it dried i took it down the floor it has a half inch foam uh and then quarter inch or 3 8 plywood and then the i think it's about a quarter inch vinyl plank other than the floor insulation i put reflectix on the window at night they're just really the the same thing everybody else does it's a double-sided reflectix with some kind of fabric black fabric on one side just spray gorilla glue to hold it all together and it just fits in all the windows perfectly it makes a world of a difference when you do use these especially in the morning like i can black out the van sleep in here comfortably on a hot day until 10 o'clock until i finally decide hey it's time to get up there's too many people walking around like parking lot in walmart nice and chilly at night stays cold for a few hours all this cabinetry that you see here i built about three years ago as a makeup vanity it's solid oak it was built to just last a lifetime and i just couldn't bear to get rid of it so i decided to repurpose it and i kind of repurposed the pieces and reconfigured it so it fits really nicely in here pull this out it's kind of my junk drawer a little of everything in there laptop books first aid kit yeah it's a junk drawer still need one these things go back like really far it's it's about 23 22 inches deep this is a gift from a friend he gave me the one thing i knew i or one thing i didn't know i needed a mini bar in my van just 20 different bottles of everything you can think of so for like cooking i just have the jetboil i mainly just used to boil water really quick for coffee really i probably still have too much stuff i need to get rid of more of it so simple butane stove i'd pop this up here i got a little usb fan so if i can't keep the the back hatch and the side door open because i'm in a parking lot and want to be a little more discreet i can just put the van or the fan here in the window if these pop out and i can exhaust anything out that way throw that on there and depending on what i'm cooking the first thing i guess before i'm using this this surface here is i gotta grab my water and once i start piling stuff on it gets a little difficult it's kind of uh you know it's got a nice mirror usb pump that goes down into my fresh water tank underneath here and then there's another gray water tank if you need a sink don't want to compromise on that and i've seen a lot of people use mixing bowls and stuff like that because it's a lot cheaper than a bar sink and then i thought it was like hotel pan it's like 30 bucks it's the same size as a bar sink but it's actually not as deep so it'll fit perfectly i always knew going into this like i'm gonna take running water for granted like gonna get out there and i'm gonna miss like waking up just splashing my face with water in the morning having a sink was definitely the most important thing for me because i love to cook and it's just an easy way to kind of quickly wash yourself move over i can wash my face you know i can wash down a little bit if i need to extra table space i can pull out just plop more stuff down here if i need to i have my cooler it's just a simple igloo blue cooler and i haven't for the most part even used ice in it kind of buy like what i need for a day or two that way i don't gotta keep buying ice and wasting the money on it because it only lasts like a day and a half maybe and then half the stuff in there gets wet and soggy and it's just a big mess i got my trash can down at the back um multi-use you know in case of emergencies just bag it up throw it out power behind my van is the jackery 500 i actually hooked the jackery up to a 100 watt solar panel on the roof able to just convert the the the typical solar panel cables to the m8 power with an adapter i got off of amazon so i didn't have to buy the jackery panel that you really can't mount permanently either it probably is just enough that if i did buy like a fridge one day which i want to do it might be able to run if i'm driving around using the alternator to charge the battery a couple of hours out of the day so i just charge my phone unless i'm driving i can charge it at the front a laptop when i'm parked i have my string lights so i got led lights all the way around on this little dimmer switch again i got all of this off amazon so it's really handy i wanted to make sure i can you know actually control the lighting in here especially at nighttime you know these bright right up the whole van and then i just have the small usb fan that i can use for most of the time when i'm sleeping at night i just point it towards me you know it's like 15 from canadian tire so it works great and it only pulls three watts so it's a really efficient usb fan it's like a five inch foam mattress it's really comfortable because it's got three different foams in it it's cut in half and then when it it the whole thing is on a slide out frame and once it gets pulled out it's nice and tight in between the cabinets and the side of the van so you don't even feel that that cut in it at all the frame that it's on that i found on the side of the road and i was able to kind of reconfigure it so that i was gonna be able to use it for my purpose i bought some heavy duty drawer slides there's a small little latch here i put on just so it doesn't slide out by itself and then just pull it out step out of the way and then the bed will fold right down and then i have a nice comfy twin mattress that i can sleep sleep on all night hopefully without one of these giant ants so on the outside of the van the only only things i've done is on the roof i have a sport rack roof cross bars that i bought from canadian tire because the factory bars weren't quite wide enough for the box and the solar panel 100 watt solar panel renegy uh 100 watt eclipse so the eclipse it's like ten dollars more but it has the black finish so it's it's definitely a little more discreet and uh doesn't stand out like a sore thumb um from there it just comes down with the conversion cables and goes down you know there's no holes in the van it just rolls down the hatch right into the jackery and on the other side i have all my storage which is just amazing right now i got everything from firewood to fishing gear i got a fold-out camping table and chair so i just bought some firewood so when i go camping up in the middle of nowhere i can have a fire and all my extra storage stuff tackle box i got a hammock up here too and i want a lounge and i just you know it's a pretty big box like i could fully lay down in there so we got the back of the van here um you know it's great i do have some ideas about maybe putting in a shower like i can throw a bag up top if i wanted to do it that way or get an electric pump shower and just put a couple hooks around around the gate and i can put a whole curtain and just stand back here and take a shower but for the most part i'll just jump in a lake so you got the back side of the bed here it's um great for storage underneath i got my skateboard an extra deck down there grip tape i bought a little junior guitar to bring with me i can't really play anymore at the moment but once this heals up i'll be able to pick that thing back up again um in the floor is another big storage well from the stow and go seating so you can actually see the insulation when i pull this one up half inch foam 3 8 ply and then it's about a quarter inch vinyl plank really durable and like waterproof so i can just walk in and out and clean it off really easily but i have food down here mostly and it goes about a foot and a half either direction underneath the edge so i got more tools and just some extra electronic stuff down there that i don't use often chakri 500 again all my electronics plugged into it hotel pan two inch drain to the rv trap so it's actually like a water trap so it'll keep the any kind of smell from the gray water tank out just right into the side of the the water tanks there just drilled a hole threaded this end into it yeah so then this is the 150 watt inverter that was up on the wheel well i just left it where it was and then this is the wiring for it and i'm not sure if i'm gonna mount it at some point maybe over here but for right now it's just kind of a bundle of messy wires if i want to charge the jackery a little bit faster because the solar panel will only pull in about 45 watts i just take one eight millimeter and exchange it for the other and now it's plugged right into that inverter so once i start the van and start driving i get double what the solar panel gives me sometimes close to 90 watts pulling into the jackery so it charges really quick i think it'll pump out two full tanks which is about 20 liters um so total it'll pump 40 liters of water before i have to recharge it why do you live in a van well it's a pretty big shift in my life about nine months ago i was with my my ex-partner we were engaged we were together for about seven years and i've always wanted to travel so when we ended up splitting up and kind of got my stuff together and decided what i wanted to do i'm gonna go across canada probably i don't know if it's gonna be by cycle or if it's gonna be hitchhiking or a van and obviously i landed on the van so i slowly started researching and like taking all the nights and evenings i could to like dig into like what van i wanted where could i find it how could i get it cheaper one of the biggest things of why i decided to be in the van is just because i've always wanted to travel and this was the most affordable way to do it i could you know pay for my insurance gas and food and that's all i have to worry about the biggest reason i went the diy route is because it was just all about cost cost savings i really just wanted to buy something small and use whatever materials i could find laying around so at my work i was able to like use some wood there the flooring was like uh maybe two boxes left over from like a renovation they did in the office area the diy is just always something i've done in my life always doing it myself because i'd rather take the time do it learn it get the skills and then you can kind of look at it like i did that like i can tell every single person i built this van and can well i converted this van with my own two hands it's just like a definitely like a bit of pride and joy like it's so much fun it's stressful as hell and one of the biggest things about doing a diy build i've heard it before and i'll always repeat it is just spend time in the van before you do anything just sitting there hours like lay one way lay the other way it's just about getting used to that space because then you can really decide like what you want to do with it some of the challenges i faced during the diy option for the conversion was maybe like lack of information on the minivans um so like really like tearing apart the van you know there's some some videos out there that are really great and really detailed they go through every last little panel so you know you're not ripping wires out on accident that are really important like your your tail lights or something um but other times it was like just slowly pick away at it and figure it as you go so one of the the problems and challenges i've had living in the van was maybe like not having a fixed toilet so you know normally fine because there's washings and grocery stores soon fast food restaurants and stuff like that they'll open the washrooms and just uh truck stops and side side of the road and stuff like that but when you gotta go you need a backup plan so i just got you know the classic bucket and chuck it bag it away and i'm done with it just in case i guess towards the beginning the biggest the biggest challenge was like what to do with my day it was like you know used to like working you know long hours at work and then um working on the van an extra eight hours after that life got really busy and now it's just there's nothing else to do so not really so much a challenge as it is just a different life biggest benefits are definitely one of the main reasons i've done this lifestyle now is because i wanted to learn more about myself so the best way to like get to know yourself and love yourself is just lock yourself in a small space with nobody else and once you can be with yourself and love yourself without any other company you don't need to use people as a distraction to like occupy your time um so i've loved every moment of that yeah financially it's phenomenal benefit because rent mortgage any kind of expense like that especially rent because you're just wasting all that money um you know it's just it's not a thing so like before working like a good job and half of my income would just go to rent because it was just too expensive even in london and now i just you know i can literally like stretch my money so far it's like like it's so true like if you want to save money don't wait just buy the van move into it and you will save so much money especially if you're still working full time like you'll be amazed about how much money you actually just waste away every month on little things the transition from from my two-bedroom apartment working full-time to living in the tiny compact minivan conversion was definitely like such like a freeing experience just like going through my apartment and like listing stuff on facebook marketplace to get rid of it realizing how much stuff you carry around that you don't ever use anymore i had to go to the donation center like four times and i still have too much it's a small sleeping area but it doesn't need to be like your home 24 7. that's like the beauty of van life right you just i'm gonna drive to this provincial park or drive to this beach or drive to a skate park and go meet some new people and just hang out like at different locations all the time so it's a definitely a big adjustment but it's fantastic adjustment the freeing aspect of it that i found living in the van was just like letting go of all the things you like you you tried to get in your life that you thought were important like you know during during the last few years of my life i was like you know trying to get a better job and get paid more and then once i get paid more i move into a better apartment buy nicer furniture and just materialistic things they were just like a waste of time of like striving to find something that really just needed to be in me first so yeah finding finding myself a bit more now has been a fantastic time and that's like freeing just like you know like um there was like a cage around me at one point it felt like and now it's like i can just be me no matter what the circumstance like if i want to hang out with my friend at a naturalist nudist community i can do that i was there on monday it was fantastic or i can drive down to a parent's house that i've never met and spend the night on their beautiful property in the middle of an island it's just been fantastic to like get to know myself throughout that that journey so far it's just the beginning the type of person i think that would suit the lifestyle is anybody that can let go just a little bit you can just learn to let go of these things that you're like attached to like materialistic things the the joy of experiencing new places and seeing new people and just seeing the the country that you've lived in your whole life but maybe never experienced it's worth it for every single person to try um it really yeah like even somebody that you think might not be good at it if they just decide what they need for their van life like what is important for them anybody can do that anybody can do this lifestyle some advice i would give to somebody that wants to get into van life is keep it simple don't don't worry about a conversion if you got a vehicle just get in it drive somewhere like a few hours away spend the weekend there in your vehicle and just feel it out just take your time right like you don't need to have like cabinets and a bed built already um you really just take your time stepping into it you know you're gonna be uncomfortable at times and you gotta be okay with that my personal philosophy on life would be be a yes person don't let opportunities pass you by like i've taken up so many just winging it opportunities so far and it has turned out absolutely amazing like i was just gonna drive right on past manitoulin island not knowing that if somebody messaged me on instagram asking to do a van tour i would be willing to backtrack two and a half hours and then meet up with friends down the road and just see the most beautiful roads so far in uh ontario driving through this island so just be a yes person do not give up on opportunities in life so if anybody wants to follow me i'm on instagram right now you can follow me at the big tuna van if you're interested i'm going across the country and maybe i'll see you hey everybody i'm forrest the filmmaker the person behind the video that you just watched if you enjoyed that and want to check out more alternative dwellings we have a playlist popping up that is all the episodes that we've ever done there's van tours tiny home tours sailboats off-grid garden tours all sorts of cool stuff so check that out we also release new episodes every single monday at 8 30 eastern time and that's in the morning and if you want to check out some curated things that i've done and some movies that i've actually made you can check out a link below to prime video and you can check out the reality of hashtag van life best friends moments and curated alternative dwellings so check that out thanks for watching hit subscribe we'll see you on the next episode

Channel: Different Media.

Views: 422,017

Keywords: minivan camper, van life camper, diy minivan camper, diy mini van camper, minivan life

Id: KyOqAakqLsw

Length: 23min 54sec (1434 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 02 2021