VERSATILE Minivan Camper Tour! Awning, Deluxe Room, Diesel Heater, Solar and Much More

[Music] so the biggest piece of advice for getting on the road is to make friends and be social you know of course we we got to be a little more careful about that these days but i still think it's really important to to meet people and it's been incredibly enriching yeah part of the lesson i've learned in van life is improvising and say something breaks or you're missing something you're forced to improvise and these are lessons that we don't necessarily have to deal with anymore and it's really fun when you figure out a workaround or or some other way to get past that thing that you thought you really really needed tour of the exterior here nice so you got extra coils in the back custom coils and give it a little bit of extra spring rate and more stiffness in the back right absolutely it's been a game changer there's a company called coilsprings.com you can find them on the web and you literally send them the difference between the stock weight and your loaded weight and they'll make a custom spring to accommodate that weight and it's worked great does that give you added lift it did it ended up raising up the rear end by about two inches and then when i ended up getting new struts installed on the front my mechanic was able to adjust the height and essentially i got about a two inch lift i didn't do any bigger tires um i like the high mileage highway tires and they've actually been working pretty good and i've been able to handle all my off-road situations if i feel like getting a little crazy that is so cool so uh coming around the exterior you have a cargo box up here so i bought this used on craigslist nothing fancy but um pretty much uh i have an outdoor kitchen setup and most of my outdoor kitchen setup fits in here i also fit my spare tire in here well of course we got specialized stump jumper yep my companion my adventure vehicle 29 incher very nice so up top we got 100 watts of solar it looks like yeah my renergie 100 watt solar and that charges my house battery which runs my fridge and my diesel heater all my lighting but you guys got to check out jay's channel because he has this nice arb awning here with the extra room i know you're excited to talk about that i am i wish i had it set up where you could see it but i have this arb awning and the deluxe room combo the awning pulls out so if i want i can have a nice eight foot by eight foot awning and then what's really neat is underneath that awning i can drop a fully enclosed room and with that room i can do a screened-out room i can open it up i can fully enclose it like a tent and it's just a very versatile feature that i've added to my van that adds a ton of living space little hiding there is your diesel tank yes yeah diesel tank right there it has a little snow on it but a five liter diesel tank and then down here you can see the exhaust pipe and some of the other plumbing for the diesel heater runs underneath um underneath the vehicle i'm so glad we got a chance to meet yeah absolutely it's always fun to meet other mini van life people and share ideas and make new friends that's that's part of my journey out here on the road heck yeah oh can we see the interior absolutely okay so on the interior i did a lot of building so i put in a full flat floor that was a lot of work i'm not going to lie that was a lot of work to get a nice flat floor inside of a minivan when you strip everything out there's not a single right angle there's not a single flat surface so everything involves a lot of shaping a lot of contouring and it's very very time consuming i'm sure david can share that as well so then on top of the floor i built some cabinets as well where i store a lot of my clothes some cooking items are in here and various camera gear toiletries things like that so this control panel it really houses everything i need at just out of reach so i can sit back here and reach around and grab all this so we'll start with my 600 watt pure sine wave inverter this is great if i need to charge my laptop or anything that requires an ac outlet 110. here's my controller for my diesel heater this thing's a game changer if you're not familiar with the diesel heater for your rv or van check these out because they keep you warm and toasty over here we're going to take a look at my these are my cigarette port adapters so i used to have some usb ports in here but realize it's better to just have the sockets and then you can depending on what what connections you need you can pick and choose your your sockets here another feature that a lot of people really like about my van is i hacked into the rear window so these rear window vents i didn't want to have to crawl up front and turn on the ignition to access these windows so i hacked into it and i'm able to control them from the rear of the vehicle open and close just like that so i have two of those so i can control either side here is my vent line six inch roof vent so with a minivan since i'm limited with my roof space i went ahead and installed the six inch bit it's covered up right now i put that little foam piece in there just to keep any wind from coming through while i'm driving but that'll pop up and exhaust the air in my van really quickly and then the last thing i'll show you here is my light switches so people also like this so the first ones i'll show you are in the seat belt slot so if you look across the van there that is where the seat belt used to be so i put a little light diffuser in there and a led strip and it makes a great little light and then the other lights i did are in the ceiling and these used to be the outlets for the heater so there's a rear feeder core in these vans i took that out so i didn't need these ports anymore and i decided to put some lights in there and you can see they're kind of like mini blinds it's really neat really cool directional lights tapped right into the factory uh heating elements and makes it almost looks like oem really clean looking you don't have to attach stuff and try to tape it to your roof line or anything yes led strips that is so cool yeah so when i did my build i really wanted to protect my floor space that was the most critical thing so i didn't do a fixed bed almost all van builds seem to center their build around their bed i didn't want to do that so i put in this trifold mattress it's actually been it's very comfortable to slip excuse me it's very comfortable to sleep on or sit on but not very comfortable to sleep on after a while the foam degrades so behind it actually have a mattress topper can't really see it but it's a air memory foam combo it's very warm and it gives me that comfort i need when i'm sleeping so coming around this side you got your water storage and a little work table in your auxiliary solar generator quote unquote yeah exactly so i have this little 50 watt panel right here um you can see the 50 watt panel i'll pull that out and use that to charge my little rock pals 300 power bank it's just a small system it actually works really great and that just helps supplement my main system because i want that to focus on my refrigerator i want to have enough juice to run my heater and it's it's not a very big system it's a 100 watt solar panel with just one agm battery in the back i'm not sure how many amp hours it is but it just gives me enough to run all these critical systems and then my rock pals unit charges like my laptop and my tablet and my phone and it's been pretty handy and you charge this while running your car so like yeah i can charge it both you can it you can charge it with the ac outlet you can charge it with your cigarette port adapter and then of course you can plug in a solar panel so there's a lot of different ways to charge it up cool and this is the fridge yep this is my dometic 18 liter fridge i just recently put this cover on it to help insulate a little bit more that way it runs less saves some energy and just enough room inside for a single guy to stay fed so how long you been in the van how long you've been full timing so i'm going on my second year of full-time van life it's been absolutely incredible and a lot of people wonder how a six foot two guy can live in a van and it's been easy i'm not gonna lie i've been very comfortable i stay warm i feel safe and i'm just having a blast well it seems like you're you're well kitted you have your solar you have your diesel heater fridge you got all your modern conveniences in here yeah everything you need honestly i try to think what i do differently and there's there's not a whole lot i would change about this build sometimes i think about maybe removing the passenger seat and making a better dedicated cook area inside the van but i just don't really need it that much i may still do that but right now it's just everything's been working out great really cool and what made you get into living this lifestyle well that's a good question so my background i was a corporate recruiter for 15 years so i was a desk jockey and worked a desk job forever but i always felt like i didn't belong there and started researching alternate lifestyles i came across van life and just thought that be a great way to find the freedom that i want and do things differently do things on my term my terms and live the life that i want so what would you say total investment everything we see here so if you look at the the chassis modifications that i did the roof rack the awning the room i probably have about 10k invested into the van which honestly isn't that bad for a full-blown camper not including the stump jumper not including the stumpjumper no i also had a mishap with my motor i had a miscommunication on when the timing belt was replaced from the previous owner so i actually blew up my motor this last summer and had to replace that and that is not included in the 10k total so yeah up here co2 smoke alarm and my indoor outdoor thermometer like you get addicted looking at the indoor outdoor thermometer i don't know what it is about it but i'm always checking out that thing so where is the sensor where it's on top of the roof it's underneath the roof box oh got your sensors out yeah that's a good place for it yeah and i did insulate my van so you can see it's holding you know warmer temperature inside so what'd you do to insulate so i used a combination of denim denim style insulation so it's cotton with a kind of a reflectix layer on the outside on the floor i put a bunch of foam board underneath it and then the third type of insulation i used is the reflectix so i used three different kinds to accomplish what i wanted to do so that's kind of a highly debated topic of i don't need insulation or yeah you should what do you think i think you should definitely insulate i don't think you need to go crazy with the insulation but it's nice to have the temperature different so say it's really hot outside it's 100 degrees outside i can have it 80 degrees inside here by running my my fans and vents now if it's really cold it's going to be about 10 or 15 degrees warmer in here now maybe where the debate comes is with the diesel heater if you have a diesel heater in your van they're incredibly warm and at that point you really don't need a bunch of insulation but after living in the van and having the heater and just being in all types of different climates and environments i would want insulation same here might as well do it right yes and then what i got to do is add in a curtain up here so i know a lot of people did use tent poles to kind of uh use that contour of this of the temple to line the curtains so i used that what you did yeah so i used two things so oh it was very simple so if you look over here dave you can see the start of the bungee cord you can see the hook for it and tucks right yeah and all it does is hook to the trim and then it kind of sags and makes this curve right here and then there's just a single anchor point i used a plastic drywall anchor and then screwed this little tab of velcro onto it that's all it is and then this tent pole right here is what gives the structure across the top so that holds it nice and firm across the top and without that you'd have it kind of drooping right yeah so that seals it up and really makes an effective blackout curtain on the sides what i do is i just take it and i stuff it in the seat belt in the in the seat belt oh yeah and that uh that covers the side right there some really good coverage right there and i am gonna buy this i'm gonna buy this uh yeah it looks cool it's been working good i'd recommend that i've had a couple different indoor outdoor temperature sensors and that one's been nice it also senses humidity so you can get an idea if it's gonna snow or rain okay and then you also use is this a one pound or one gallon propane tank yes so you can find them on amazon they're made by wellington and it just saves you a ton of money i don't have to buy those little green uh propane canisters this thing will last me over a month and it cost me three dollars to fill up oh wow is it hard to find places to fill those smaller sizes or is it the same fitting it's the exact same thing so just go to any gas station or a u-haul or a true value they usually have a propane refill station and they'll they'll fill that up and so a couple more 12 volt cigarette ports correct very cool yeah you are definitely outfitted and then the fire extinguisher just for safety you never know you know want to be ready and this is where you handle your business so this emergency business so this is what i call my multi-purpose bucket i sit on this thing all the time i use it for a foot stool if you want to kick your feet up on it and then of course i store a lot of like things that might be underneath your kitchen sink so like rags my soap dish soap various things now say i need it comes time to take care of business typically i you know i'm a backpacker so i'll take care of my business outside but if i do have to take care of my business inside i pull this out so it's kind of a bucket inside of a bucket throw that on there and then what i do the secret is is you line the whole thing with the trash bag and then take care of your business nice and simple and also doubles as storage yes very cool yeah i think i'm gonna get one of those too i can find room just in case with the emergency times yes exactly you can't find a gas station or you're not in a situation to take care of your biz and honestly it works out fine so anything i know you said that you didn't know what you would do different but now that you've lived in it for you said almost two years anything that you don't like about your build i'm pretty happy with it i'm pretty happy with it it's just been working great it's been very durable nothing's been breaking it's very functional it's extremely versatile and i think that's the key to my van build is i can just change the configuration i can move things around i can extend my awning i can extend my side room i can retract all that um i can even move things around inside of here and it just makes for all kinds of different living situations work out well well there's there's so much space in here a lot of room for activities yeah and so i need i need to be able to stretch out my legs um i have a bad shoulder right now so i'm able to come down here on the floor and do some yoga or stretches or a little strength training i can push up the bed and give me even more room and the floor space is pretty uncanny in this vehicle if you look at most fan builds and even like a full-size van struggles to get this much floor space available did you consider any other vehicle when you were thinking about this lifestyle i did i originally pictured myself in like a full-size econoline or chevy espresso something like that but when i was researching i didn't like the idea of the bad gas mileage like you're probably going to get between 10 or 15 miles per gallon i get between 20 and 25 in this i also have always owned honda's i love hondas i think they're great cars and i also had a friend at the time who had converted a sienna and did a small conversion on a sienna and they were having a great time in it and i just realized i could do okay with the small space and decided to give it a try so decided to go the minivan route how was your how was downsizing your life hard very hard so i came from a four bedroom house and it took me a good year of constantly getting rid of stuff so either throwing away stuff taking it to the thrift store or goodwill selling stuff on craigslist and facebook marketplace but it took me a good year of consistent downsizing and really letting go some things that you thought you might want but once you're out here you forget about those things and and you don't miss them at all i do have a 5x5 storage unit back in colorado springs my hometown so i have a few things stored in there i have two more bicycles and i can switch those out depending on what type of writing i'm doing so i do have a few things in storage but for the most part this is my home this is where i live everything i have and need is right here speaking of social media how do people find you so journeyvision.net so journeyvision all one word dotnet and that's my website you can also find me on youtube just search for journeyvision and then connect with me on instagram and facebook so jmoy's on facebook and then moyes j moyes j on instagram i'd love to have you guys connect and follow along the journey yeah uh talk a little bit more about your blog because you spent a lot of time with that and i've read a lot of your posts and you go into detail exactly uh some of your trials and tribulations so you can help other people if they read that they don't go through the same issues right yeah yeah so i try to make my blog informative so it covers my travels it's a way for me to document my travels and cover everywhere i've gone but i've also been doing some how to's and some reviews so i did a review on my arb awning and room combo so if you're interested in that go check it out a lot of good pictures a lot of good information on that system i also did a write-up on my diesel heater so i screwed up i basically ruined my first diesel heater by doing a bad install and learned a lot in my second install and it's working great now so i also did a write-up on that on my blog and if you're curious about the diesel heater and maybe do things a little different than me and go check that out and this is a so how much water do you carry with you so i'm able to carry 10 gallons of water this little jug water cooler style jug will hold three gallons this little pump is great i've been thinking about maybe switching to one of those usb rechargeable ones but it's just nice having something really simple you just squeeze this a few times it starts pumping out your water and then i have seven more gallons here which actually fits really nicely underneath my table that just actually happened to work out both of those fitting perfectly underneath there i didn't plan that but yeah these can move around so if i want to i can slide this table back and you know i have a desk area to work from in the back and then when i don't need it back up front and you might ask like do i have problems with stuff sliding around no nothing rattles nothing slides around nothing really moves unless i hit the brakes really hard since they're pushed up against the seats you don't get a lot of movement if i need to i put these straps in here so i can actually strap everything down like maybe i have some more water or some more gear there's another strap over there and i can pull everything against the seats and in the back everything's packed up so nice this is like ocd level of organization really cool you're betting in there there's the diesel heater exhaust as well as one coming on this side here right there so you get and you get to it's directional really nice and this was very comfortable to sit on yeah another little light coming out of the little seat belt really cool i would love to integrate this into my van yeah hopefully it gives everybody some good ideas [Music] you

Channel: DaveOTG

Views: 223,199

Keywords: minivan life, minivan camper, vanlife, diy, camper conversion

Id: HAvC0n8iN_8

Length: 21min 25sec (1285 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021