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Vanlife

Authors
  • avatar
    Name
    Ross Kippenbrock
    Twitter

After getting into outdoor sports and eventually stumbling on people that have vans converted into mini-RVs i knew that I needed one at some point. I had to wait a number of years, but in the winter of 2018, my wife and I decided to get a Promaster and build it out into an RV van ourselves. This is a project that's very easy to underestimate the effort involved, which I definitely did. I don't know if the van will ever really be "done" - there's always another thing to add or change or fix, but to get to a state where we really enjoyed using it was around 9 months (we both work full time jobs and have other hobbies)

the van

I'll start with an overview of the van and maybe later I will write up some more detailed posts about certain aspects of it.

We got a Promaster 2500 153" wheelbase. I believe this to be the best tradeoff for us in terms of price, space and quality. It's a really nice van! Inside we have everything but an indoor shower. Here's a rundown:

  • Swivel front seats
  • Custom cabinets
  • Propane stove
  • Composting toilet (on a pullout that slides out of a cabinet!)
  • Filtered water for the sink
  • 30 gallon water tank
  • Folding bed that raises up into a couch with pulleys
  • Short queen size bed
  • Very Large Drawer™ in garage
  • Bike tray pullout
  • 2x 100AH LiFePO4 batteries
  • 2x 175W solar panels on top
  • 1000W AC inverter
  • 30A solar charge controller
  • Propane heater
  • 4.2 cu ft refrigerator
  • MaxxFan roof fan
  • Coming Soon hot water outdoor shower

Here are some photos throughout the van.

Front Seats

Front seats with sliders

Sink Cabinet
Toilet Slider

The sink cabinet with toilet slide-out.

Refrigerator Cabinet

Refrigerator cabinet with electrical behind the door on the lower left.

Electrical

Here's a shot inside the electrical cabinet - still need to organize all the wires better. Lots to power in the van! I even had to add another fuse panel (far right of the image) to get everything powered.

Bed

The bed in "couch-mode". Stole this idea from Johnny Brooke at Crafted Workshop - though it doesn't work awesome...so I'll likely change it in the future. You can see in this photo that we still need to make the upper cabinets and finish some of the ceiling details.

Water Tank

Water tank and our pump/filter setup.

Garage

Shot of the garage all loaded up.

Thanks for taking a look!