WE TRADED VANS FOR 24 HOURS (whose tiny home on wheels is better?)

we've spent over a year traveling around the us living full-time out of our converted sprinter van last week we crossed an international border in our van for the first time we attempted to bring an illegal weapon into canada and today we're trading vans with our new friends and fellow youtubers eamon and beck you guys gave us the crunchy mattress to sleep on they've spent over three years living in their van full time and taking it all over the world unlike me eamon is super handy and him and beck built their van completely from scratch not only that but it is their third van build which means they took everything they learned from their first three years of van life to build the ultimate tiny home on wheels our van on the other hand what's like the real danger this thing going up in flames it's not that it's bad it's just that we bought it before we knew anything about van life and we've been too busy traveling to really make any big changes so after they live in our van for the next 24 hours i'm gonna be super interested to see what these professional van lifers think that we should do to upgrade our setup i think we're getting a lot more out of this than [Music] so the plan for today is we're going to tour each other's vans then we're going to swap keys and drive to our campsite for the night where nate and i will enjoy our upgraded van life experience so much space while aiming and back what ultimate sprinter van we're a little biased it actually is though i'll show my bestie around okay do you want to just live in this van together yeah we can we all can live in ours okay come on in everyone welcome to the bathroom so you just lift this guy up just make sure you're not parked on a slant guys we've got a composting toilet in here and then a whole shower set up that i can't wait to see how you enjoy it's just torture this is our little nook so we always have phone chargers ready for guests i hope you extend the same courtesy to us another really cool feature of this space is that this converts into a double bed so we have some kind of weird ways of doing it but we have a foam mattress that comes all the way here and we can sleep before so invite me over for a sleepover i don't know if i like it over there i mean you don't make your guests sleep on the ground all right good night dusty good night i love like little details that encourage outdoor living i'll build you one of those okay yeah you just wait we're gonna have a long list for y'all this is another part of the van we really really like having a garage space you'd even fit another passenger in here all right now we're gonna show them around ours [Music] 24 hours starts down [Music] all right ah casa b i feel right at home already one point for our van with the seat belt look at this oh yeah i feel like i'm like well i guess i'm just ready for this let's do it are you sure you want to do that no take backsies oh look at that guy wow this fan is so much quieter than ours hi little dear family whoa whoa what was that they told us it could be a little funny to drive that was scary look at these trees i'm impressed with how quiet it is back there and we're on a gravel road it's like [Music] all right quick stop at the grocery store to stock up on a few things for tonight [Music] between the two vans tonight we're gonna attempt to cook a three-course asian feast let's see let's go something's happening [Music] okay so much space i don't know if all of this would fit in our van we have a visitor well hello we bought these as a treat for you but they do not fit in the fridge so you're gonna whoa that was so nice of you damon and beg just jumped up this entire box of food that they bought that they have nowhere to put challenge accepted putting things away in a van is kind of like a game of mattress my name is tetris in this drawer it is [Music] all right moment of truth we did it oh look at that oh my gosh [Applause] [Music] i see you sunday night have you seen an outlet in here is there one in the nook no it's usb 2. i found one this would become a problem in our van we would have all of our gear just like out in the open charging but at least we found it i was kind of joking about eamon fixing everything in our van but i think he's actually doing it thanks guys you're welcome okay so earlier today aiming to bet give us a quick tour around the van but i thought it would be fun to dive into the details to see how these vans actually stack up against each other because they're the exact same van they both sit on a 170 inch wheelbase however the layout on the inside is completely different one of the main differences between our two vans is this induction stove normally an induction stove would not get a point in my book because i think it sucks too much electricity but they have 600 amp hours of lithium ion batteries in the back which means they can pretty much power anything they want with electricity so one point for gossipy also we've already touched on this but their fridge is twice as big as ours and when you live in a van full time i just can't emphasize enough how important fridge space is we can live out of this for a week these touchscreen lights they're really nice and fancy but if i'm being completely honest i prefer the manual dial that's in our van nobody gets points for that though that's just kind of a personal preference the sync setup is very similar their zinc is way bigger oh okay their sink is a lot deeper they get a point wow okay points for a bigger grocery drawer our van needs some points oh okay our van oh we don't even have a window behind the scene do it okay so everything gets another point for having a window behind the scene so as you're washing dishes you can look out and enjoy the view our door window has vents on so it nice that's one point per hour yes come on i mean i knew this comparison was gonna be lopsided but this is worse than i thought moving on into the back section of the van this is where our vans definitely differ the most specifically with the toilet shower situation if you're very comfortable going to the bathroom in front of your partner this is the perfect setup for you there is no privacy if you want to cover yourself this thing is so heavy don't look at me there's also a shower head in here so somehow this entire area converts into a full standing shower our van has a built-in permanent shower that never moves i love it because it gives me privacy when i go to the bathroom so if it were up to nate our van would get a point for the shower toilet set up if it were up to me i would much rather have a big open beautiful floor plan than worry about pooping in front of my husband i just like separation and [Music] please in the comment section let me know if you are comfortable going to the bathroom in front of your partner she would love it if i just like embraced being in the bathroom together and that's just like it's not how i grew up with my family the bathroom was a private space no with me baby hayman's on the ground don't worry about us hey guys i hope you're having a good time over there we're just showing everyone how luxurious your van is yeah we're doing the opposite over here can we give more than one point for a feature because if it was up to me having a work area that was separate from the bed would be worth five points the table in our van has more space but because we have to convert the bed to turn it into an office we never use it so even though their table's a little smaller guess what they get the point i really need to give our van a point what do we have that's better okay moving on to the bed this is the feature of the van that i've been most interested to try out because if it works as seamlessly as they say it's the most genius design i've ever seen in a van and i think eamon designed it all in his head i'm not even kidding eamon drew it on a piece of toilet paper literally all you have to do to convert the bed is pull up the backrest on the couch and then pull out these little rails underneath bed conversion done in five seconds and then all you have to do is just pull your fitted sheet over top and boom now your bed is made whatever the nobel peace prize is for design eamon deserves one of those for this invention add 10 tally marks for casabee wow not only that if they want to get something out of the trunk like oh i need more paper towels oh they're in the trunk got him whoa you don't even have to take the sheets off if you don't want to i'm so sad i feel like we've been very content in our van this year like ever since we fixed all the big things but this is making me realize we still have a lot of work to do but eamon's doing it so it's fine okay so this bed is great the design is great but there is actually one huge way that our van outshines this one literally we have pretty much panoramic views in the back of our van we have two windows on the back doors and then two giant windows on the side and here we just have these tiny little windows that can open just a bit i just love the natural light that comes in during the day so one point for me we deserve a couple points for that maybe one point for each window four okay two points for our van not four okay four that's pretty thin it's not memory one more thing i just realized i can't find a trash can in this van anywhere or a place where you would put a trash can so one more point for our van it's not a big point but it counts and also one point for their outdoor tables really gotta pee are you gonna leave or i gotta go get out of here or stay no i'm out come on it can be the new uh oh i'm out stay with me all right i'm about to have my first aim in the back bathroom experience we'll see how this goes okay this is a lot of work doors toilet i can't believe i'm putting this on youtube you can come back nate how was that i really liked it what in the world listen to their water pump i don't know much but that doesn't sound like it's working well point robin get on that eamonn so we just finished telling everyone how great your van is oh what have you all been up to to be honest nate dog it's pretty hard to move around to stop it's pretty hard to move around this space so we both just found a place and we're staying still we're not moving we um finished your list and now we're just taking a nap you finished it you bet everything's fixed are you serious you asked us to fix the front light like we don't have extra bulb but i somehow fixed it it's magic in all fairness aim and back have been doing this way longer than we have they're kind of like our van life mentors if we're being completely honest they are probably the reason that we're living in well not this fan but in our van back at the beginning of 2020 when we were staying at a hotel in singapore trying to figure out what in the world we were gonna do with a travel channel during a global pandemic i remember having a face time with eamonn and beck and they said oh you should get a van and i was like ha ha good idea and then about a month later i was like about that van and honestly they helped us through the entire process so any problems that they're experiencing over there with our van it was their recommendation so it seems only fair that they fix a few of the issues only fair of course so we're going to scrap the point system because obviously their van is way better but i do want to show you a few things on the outside of the van that are also very impressive this wouldn't seem like a big deal to most people but this is such a better design than our van in our van if you want to fill up the water you have to open the back door and then the tube and gravity don't quite mix and so water kind of ends up pouring out into the back of our van anytime we have to fill up with water oh my god dude it's literally leaking everywhere yeah how do you know when it's full though you don't i'm super impressed with our water setup their van on the other hand you just fill up here from the outside so even if you do spill some it just all goes out here and it's not a problem should have hired aiming to build that our van out of everything that this fan has going for it i think the roof rack is by far my favorite part karen and i have talked about ordering a roof rack pretty much ever since we bought the van and just have never been able to make ourselves pull the trigger but actually seeing one in action and getting to enjoy it i think we'll have one before the end of the year not only that but you can walk on these solar panels so you have a ton of room to put solar on the top they have almost double the solar that our van has but you can still enjoy the whole space it's like they had built one of these before or something [Music] wow another great thing about their van is it comes with toys and we will probably hurt ourselves don't say that have you written one before no so just like look where you're at look where you want to go or look at me get it girl i feel like i need to face this way she was riding the wrong way now look this way it's like a bad dance i don't think this is the most conducive learning environment for a one wheel it probably doesn't look like it but this grass is just filled with huge holes very unstable it's time to start prepping for dinner and back are in charge of the main course and we are in charge of the appetizers and the dessert we just happen to buy things that i've never made before and i'm cooking in a van that i've never used before so what could go wrong wow mango tomato just because we can we're going to do the chopping outside careful with that is way sharper than ours so it may look like we're just making fancy ramen noodles for dinner and that's because we are also i just cannot get over how much space i have in here i have multiple pots and pans out food everywhere i got rice going over here and i just haven't felt like that feeling that i get when i cook in our van i just gotta get by in here what on earth nothing's happening so i just had to borrow eamonn's phone because in order to use the stove the inverter has to be on and the only way to turn the inverter on is through an app which seems like pretty cool but at the same time what if your phone dies just have to hit the on button right there there we go it's pretty slick having an app but i would definitely want a physical button as a backup so subtract a point every time we're in a place with an induction stove i'm like oh wouldn't it be so nice to have enough power to have an induction stove it looks so nice but i don't think i've ever actually enjoyed cooking on one i'm cooking with two pots at the same time and in order to turn on the back one i have to like lift up the front one to press it but then when it like disconnects it turns off and then i have to like put it back really quick and turn the front one back on and it's just kind of a pain how is that not boiling it something's happening what's going on is it coming from the back it's this thing what do we do that didn't help what is it not expecting this from casa b not gonna lie i've never heard this in my life you broke it oh that doesn't smell good does it mmm are we catching it on fire oh give a light does it smell like something just melting kind of did you smell that yeah hmm converter's on i can't tell like did you put that stuff in your hair again that smells like burning i think maybe it's a problem with the two sizes of the pots maybe custom sucks you set it on me i do not want that to happen again so i'm gonna take one of my pots and go put it on our propane stove top so we don't overwhelm this one again that was a little scary subtract a point from casabi hi there you go guys this i'm back in my van everything's falling over this is so pretty this is probably the most nutritionally dense meals this man has ever seen i'm not sure that's a compliment no nutritionally done okay well bon appetit nate dog wow meanwhile we are still attempting to boil the soup wow 10 out of 10. there's so much flavor in this thing they've been here for like two weeks i don't think they've scored a nine like there's nothing less than 10 out of 10 today we spent the whole day basically filming separately and i've missed you both yes so but i'm like i wonder what kara is doing also it's really creepy how similar our lives are that's like it actually is it's so nice oh it doesn't look too bad i don't have a ladle so i'm going to serve my soup in the coffee mug why don't you have a label carrot do you not cook in here i would never know it's so well set up ouch i'm sorry my thumb went in your soup and it burned me here you are thank you i haven't tried it yet wow now what do you call this creation it's called kind of smells like toilet water i would have to say it's um water with a hint of tomato oh dear i don't like it oh it's so bad i love you but i don't like it we're gonna blame it on the induction stove it's so close it's like a two out of ten if it could have boiled the whole time i'm sure it'd be 10 of them i'm sorry but like i've never done this in my life i feel really bad i'm getting really bad oh my gosh eat it let's just move on to the dessert look at that cream for dessert i am making mango sticky rice for the first time the recipe calls for brown sugar which we don't have but we do have maple syrup so we are making a thai staple with a canadian twist we'll see how it tastes that came out way faster than i thought it was going to be done okay i feel like i'm back in thailand okay i'm still really nervous i just can't have two failures in a row you know actually this looks really good welcome in have you all had mango sticky rice in thailand yet yes oh darn presentation on point on a scale of one to ten one being the soup and ten being the best food you've ever had let us know how it rains the mango just doesn't feel that ripe which has nothing to do with you nailed hmm again if one is the soup this is leaps and bounds better than the soup i think it's good i'd give this about a four out of ten not restaurant quality right but like i'm happy eating it yeah it is tasty it needs a little more coconut i'm done with being mean this is a 10 out of 10 meals you know smart maple syrup wow it's like pancakes meats mango sticky rice candy i just feel so good about myself after hanging out with y'all laugh at your jokes and stuff no i was really saying like our van's not as good we're not going to think we're so mean we're over there making fun of their van is the camera so um now let's try a cookbook if you want is a 10 out yeah i'll share my recipe how's it going [Music] get out of my vibe sorry [Music] [Applause] marshmallows nailed it [Music] caron nate almost as good as that sticky rice all right thanks so much i didn't even see this earlier today oh okay one more point for that rock paper scissors for who converts to bed oh not bad goodnight wonder how they're doing over there with airbag conversion ugh morning i had a good sleep but i will have to say i've missed a six inch memory foam mattress now uh where's the coffee stuff [Music] so i'm uh not sure i did that right your coffee's ready get it girl come on you guys having fun yet [Music] so far it's been nothing but love and praise for this van but we're about to attempt to set up the shower we've been given no instructions and this is probably the feature of the van that i'm most skeptical of i mean don't get me wrong i love all the open spaces it leaves but all right so we take the top piece off open this up what in the world slide that out of the way this metal piece probably goes in here come on i'm sure if you actually know how to do this it's not that hard but this whole setup is slightly annoying pretty sure this is the shower curtain okay and nothing's there where could this go this plant there's moves in here this is starting to look like a shower just missing like one what's going on here i'm not sure i like the way you hung up the curtain that's not how we do it but that works great we set you up for a failure really we didn't show you any of this you'll find this sneaky guy here that just gives you the distance you need all right well i already know that this is going to be a lackluster experience because apparently no hot water is a known issue in this van but i'm going to try it just because we went through all the effort to set it up have a good one oh i zipped my soap out of the shower [Music] oh i almost got you that exposed myself cold shower here we go currently this is the water pressure ah it's just torture i'm like shaking it wow i'm not even gonna soak my body because i'm pretty sure it'll take me an hour to wash it off i think for the amount that we actually shower this is such a better setup whoa okay i just didn't have the water going all the way oh wow who were we to doubt them i'm gonna take a shower i have to say i was super skeptical of the whole open bathroom convertible shower setup when we first got in this van but after living in here for almost a day and thinking about how we really use our bathroom space it now makes a lot of sense to me and i probably prefer this setup the truth is when one of us goes number two the other one usually leaves the van so like it really doesn't change anything whether you have walls around you inside of the van if you're the only one in there and yes this convertible shower is annoying to set up but we only shower maybe once a week when we're living in the van so what i'm trying to say is not only are aiming to back awesome people and now really good friends of ours but also incredible van designers good job guys they're brilliant brilliant i tell you [Music] we are back at eamonn beck's cabin and at the beginning of this video we jokingly gave them a list of things to fix in our van not only have they fixed everything on the list but now eamon is undertaking the largest construction project that has ever happened since we bought the van and i'm getting tired i might just give up now here nate also i'd just like to add i participated in helping aim and do all of these things so amy's getting a lot of credit but there's an and back to that you know for sure i can't work without my sidekick yeah baby another coffee we love living in your video guys thanks for having us anytime we should make this a regular thing yeah we're thinking we just trade yeah yeah fair swap yeah you don't need it no so if you want to see how this renovation turns out and their entire experience living in our band head over to their channel we'll leave a link in the description below no you do you i need you to finish this before we leave in the morning because otherwise we're going to drive around with the half finished project for months because that's how it usually goes in our van wow so what are you doing in there the confidence that you're instilling right now is concerning when in doubt more screws you

Channel: Kara and Nate

Views: 3,224,277

Keywords: tiny house swap, van swap, switching houses, room swap for 24 hours, tiny house tour, #vanlife, converted van tour, full time travel, kara and nate, kara and nate vlog, off grid living, self converted sprinter van, sprinter van, sprinter van conversion, tiny home, tiny home on wheels, tiny house, travel, travel couple, travel couple vlog, travel vlog, van life, van life couple, van life usa, van life vlog, van tour, vanlife, vlog, eamon and bec, trading tiny homes

Id: tKs6v53utbI

Length: 28min 42sec (1722 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/vamartha]

Eamon and Nate are so polar opposite that it has been interesting to see them interact.

[u/TalkativeRedPanda]

I'm 100% with Nate on that being an awful bathroom set up.

Eamon and Bec's other van doesn't have a shower (I think it has an outdoor rinse off style shower)- so they might shower even less than Kara and Nate; so basically van lifers have got to smell BAD. Especially since E&B are constantly working out in their videos.

I'm also super confused by those seatbelts. I'm guessing those chairs were not factory installed, and who knows if those would actually work? Eamon was made to sound like a renovation professional in this set of videos, but from his cabin work...he is DIYer with very little concern for 'code', so who knows what the actual condition of the van is!

​

It does seem like Kara and Nate bought a lemon though...
But I think I'd go with their van over E&B's. I like the windows by the bed, the private bathroom. Who cares if it's tight when cooking. Don't keep walking past each other.

And Kara and Nate don't really live in their van full time anyway, so they have different needs from someone who does.

I just felt like E&B came across really poorly in this series.

[u/foxmag86]

I've never heard of or seen any videos of Eamon and Bec before this, but man they come off as douchey and rude, especially Bec. Just nonstop ripping K&Ns van. And Bec spitting out the food Kara made? What are you 5??

People like to give Kara and Nate a hard time, but they come off as so much more likeable and friendly than pompous and rude Eamon and Bec.

[u/HazPippy]

I watched the Eamon and Bec version of this first….it’s great! They find so many things wrong with K and N’s can….to be fair they didn’t design it but there are lots of mechanical issues and general maintenance issues that Eamon and Bec are astonished it LOL….they also make a dig that they sleep elsewhere 50% of the time instead of the van!

[u/Shelter-Useful]

Great video but I wish Kara and Nate would just sell their van at this point and fully customize a new one. They have the money and if they don’t want to commit to full time travel (which is fine) then the investment would be worth it. It’s obvious they don’t really like their van and are tying to say it as nice as possible lol.

[u/Affectionate_Push283]

So we aren't going to discuss Kara's dirty feet up in the bed?

[u/marko719]

Eamon and Bec were kinda dickish, if you ask me.

"They're part time van dwellers. They spend most of their nights in posh hotels."

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/PriorAd7865]

Yep, a hard pass on this one. Another comparison video I don’t have any desire to watch.