Well… I’ve lived on the road for seven years now, five of which have been in a van. While my first vanlife set up was not ideal— I couldn’t stand, it broke down a few times, and it was often referred to as a “creeper van”—my set up for the last two years has been great! So, why has it taken me two years to make a video showing off the van?
Honestly, there isn’t a good reason. However, I recently got a new gopro and decided to start making vlogs to showcase as much as I can. With that said, here is my first go at holding a gopro, filming myself, and giving you a van tour.
Note, I missed out on showing you all several things, as this was an impromptu to van tour along the California coast. To address and answer other vanlife questions, check out the blog below:
Who Built the Van?
I built the van with my Dad as a father-son project. Luckily, my dad has worked construction for the past 35 years, so he had many of the tools and skills needed to build this van.
How Long Did the Van Take to Build?
As I am a full time photographer, building the van happened in stages. Also, my Dad could only help on weekends, as he still works, so building revolved around long weekends. With that said, it took about a year to build, but we roughly worked on the van for 20 days.
What Was the Hardest Part?
Doing the work! First off, power tools scare me, so building the ground work was a skill in overcoming the fear of saws. Designing the van was fun. Buying the goodies for the van was overwhelming, as there is just so much information… especially around electrical. Actually doing the work was much harder than I expected. Honestly, I thought I was going to be a helper for my Dad as he did the work, that was not the case. For the most part, he gave me guidance and then left. Checking in on me every 15-30 minutes to see how I was doing.
If I had to pinpoint one thing as the hardest, I would say the electrical.
Would You Build Another Van?
I have thought about building another van because there are things I would want to change to make my life in the van easier, but I am not sure if I will. This one has a bunch of memories already and I am getting attached to it. Also, the prices to buy a new van and then build one seems to be out of the question for the time being.
Kristin taking in the last moments of light in Grand Teton National Park. Photo by Dalton Johnson
What Would You Change?
I love the build, but I’ve come to realize I have other people in the van more than I am alone. So, I would want to make the van compatible for two, or three, maybe four. This would look like more upper cabinets for storage, I would revamp the garage to have a slide while also stacking the batteries, and lastly I would add a table and swivel chair to the front.
I could change all of this right now, but the one change I would make that I don’t think would be a good idea would be to add the side pop-outs. This would be a huge game changer for sleeping!
Van Build Basic Specs?
Van: 2019 Dodge 2500 Promaster
Electrical: solar and gel batteries
Insulation: wool and reflective
Cabinets: Made by my buddy Casey, if you want his info, shoot me a DM on Instagram
Water: 3 x water jug with electric pump
Cooking: two burner propane stove
Refrigerator: Mini fridge (I had enough power)
Obviously, the above information is not a deep dive into the build, but I wanted to give an overview of the critical items which hung me up as I started to build this van.
In terms of building, there is a TON of considerations you must make, so take your time and do things correctly. Electrical was the largest challenge for myself (and my dad who helped build the van).
Additional Features I love:
Toilet This is a life saver!!
The cabinets! They look great :-)
Thoughts on the sustainability of Vanlife?
Gosh, in terms of the long term sustainability of living on the road in a van… that is difficult. I would say van life is a good way to combine a passion with traveling. For myself, that means photographing and vanlife. This works well for most passions, but I the limitations are quite stark. For example, I am not very productive when it comes to finishing stories on the road because public wifi is to slow to send files, have zoom calls, ect. So, to combat that, I need to rent a room for a couple of nights… which I am not complaining about, but it is a reality.
For myself, I love living in a van and hope my lifestyle will continue to be simple, allowing me to live on the road, continually practice moving slower, and create more engaging stories every day!