hey everyone we're Eamon and Bec and today we're going to show you around our
self converted Sprinter van if you guys are interested in learning more about
how we built this van check out our build series link below come on in let's
have a look
so we bought a 2008 Dodge Sprinter we got it used with just under two hundred
thousand kilometers it's a diesel engine so we're not too concerned about that
mileage here we are in the captain's chair we actually installed this
auxiliary cable ours didn't come with it but this is proven to be key lots of
podcasts on the road one of the first things we've modified or built was this
extra headliner storage this has proven to be super super useful so we store a lot
of our electronics we squeeze a little DJI drone back there extra pot big bowls
and then extra jackets towels stuff like that we do reuse our milk containers
just in case you get in a sticky situation you can relieve yourself
inside of the van and ain't that right Bec?
I've never done that
next is we did install a
swivel seat really helps open up you know the cab from the kind of dining living
room area so this obviously super useful to get some extra space right beside the
fridge there so you can grab a cold one welcome to the heart of our home it's
the kitchen dining room living room space don't need about 20 square feet
but it sure works for us and let me show you why let's start with our overhead
cabinet area over here we store things like olive oil balsamic we've got our
nuts tea a few extra spices we've got all the dishes we could ever want
mugs glasses and our whole cabinet for the bathroom so we've got our
toothbrushes hanging soaps toner all the things that Eamon thinks I don't need
over here we've got our sink so we do
know that a lot of RVs offer quite a smaller sink but for us we really value
and are really enjoying having a large sink one of those reasons is that I can
wash my hair at any given time with help we do have a water filtration system so
it's a two-step filtration system that helps us feel confident knowing that we
can drink water that we grab from anywhere so running water is pretty key
in this space we've got just our regular water here
this faucet comes from Amazon we're quite happy with that retractable it
helps clean up the area quite nicely and just know... yeah that faucet was a hundred
bucks guys like amazing it's kind of really well yep soap dispenser here
moving along we've got our two burner stove tops so that's the summit series
first we had a few issues converting it to Canadian propane but you can watch
our build series and see how we overcame those challenges
two aesthetic things
that we added to the kitchen space that we're actually really loving are this
magnetic strip so at first we were a bit concerned that the knives and things
would fly off during takeoff and moving around but they've stuck quite nicely
and we're very happy with that and then second is the fruit basket so it's great
for extra storage but one thing I will note is that sometimes your bananas get
a little bit bruised then let's go into how it all works so if you come down
here you'll see our water storage situation so we at any time have three
five gallon freshwater tanks so those are our blue ones and they run off into
our grey water in the back there but we're down here will show you that it is
propane that fuels our stove top there and that's fully bolted in guys it's not
going anywhere and then our two
this one we use for utensil soap and all the cooking tools and the other we
store heavy cans and peanut butter all that kind of good stuff so it's bit
heavy but it's very solid down there and last but not least I'll show you through
our fridge so it's a Dometic fridge it's about 55 litre fridge on the front we've
got our spices from gneiss spice they're awesome it's perfect for small living
because they're magnetized you can just stick them and spice up your life and
then the inside of the fridge go easy on us we haven't been shopping today but
you can just have a quick peek in there beautiful and our freezer... staples maple
syrup coconut water and burritos we were a little surprised when we first ordered
up being 55 litres and how small it was but now living in the space we shop
locally and we buy food when we need it so it hasn't been that big of an issue I
forgot one more thing would you forget the most important part most important
so I told Eamon I am NOT moving into a van unless I can bring my high speed
blender so he made that happen for me decided to go with Sprinter for a few
different reasons number one was the reliability of the vehicles but also the
headspace so I'm six one and Becca's also pretty tall so having a home that
you can actually stand up in was a must for us and it's a game changer when
people come in here and they are actually standing and cooking and makes
a big difference so talking about the ceiling we went with pine
tongue-and-groove we decided to leave it natural it really
helps make the space feel a little bit bigger and I'm really happy we decided
to do that we've got six LED lights and we've sectioned those off so the first
two have a switch right here so when you come in at night you can quickly flip
the lights on and that's proven to be very key we've got our fantastic fan
this thing's amazing we didn't go with like the fancy model but we're still
super stoked on it it's got three speeds so when we're cooking it can actually
suck air up or at night we usually leave it on one or two and it helps create a
nice draft entire van is run off of solar so we've got 320 watt panel on the
roof that's bolted there at all times and we've got two 100 amp hour deep cycle
AGM batteries house batteries that are totally disconnected from the front of
the cab is where all of our electronics are housed and we need in an area that we
could access so this panel just quickly snaps out of place same with that one
and that's just on magnets at the top and then it fits in there nicely all
right now let's move into our lounge bedroom area right now we've got it in
what we call couch mode we will show you the slot design that changes from couch
to bed in just a second but before we do I'll show you how we work and eat on the
road so we just take this quick little Pole and then I sit down on my couch and
out pops my table will just set up work here for the day open up the
windows and we've got the beach as our beautiful office for the day or we'll
eat dinner from the road pretty simple
now we'll show you how we convert this to bed mode
there you have it so we went from coach mode to bed mode and less than a minute
so to utilize that space we've created a laundry storage storage for a bedsheet
and just a little cubby hole so if you just open this out you can see we've got
a bag and we just Chuck our dirty laundry in there Eamon likes to think
little elves come and just do the laundry because you secretly always
somehow magics not part of the contract clean laundry here this big one you know
at first we didn't really know what we're gonna use it for and it's such a
godsend we put all of our pillows blankets better here bedding during the
day and tuck it away
it's a really huge space but
it turned out to be so key and then a little cubby hole on the back which
isn't too cute but I keep my glasses there I am before I so it's nice to be
able to just reach there and get it in the morning last but not least we have
our overhead storage area so we've got little cubby holes for clothes underwear
how about them nets? honestly the best thing they've done is install these
nets so in our first trip we did not have these every time we were parked
uneven and in see Betsy's slant everything would come falling out every
time you needed to grab a pair of socks so these nets are great they hold
everything into place and honestly the storage I know a lot of females say they
couldn't live like this but for me it's plenty you can see everybody thought
some extra room lastly we're gonna show you the garage this is where we keep all
the chai know starting over here as back side we've got the wheel wells so we try
to utilize those as much as possible and they run nice and deep so we've got two
lawn chairs that stow back there oh it's super dark and then we've got a cord
this is what we could plug into Shore power that's hooked up to the charger so
the area is also pretty key I've got a slackline stored in there booster cables
in case you run into a situation running shoes hose this is our hammock obviously
you got to have a fire extinguisher and then this is the massive pullout drawer
so this is where we keep all our product we've got kilos of chai retail chai lots
of different products and these are on 500 pounds
door slides so that really helps make the space usable and very versatile as
well we're not in bed mode when that's folded up this is all extra space you
can use you can store a bike there or surf for whatever you want so this is
our little DIY road shower and you basically fill it with cold water you
leave it in the Sun for a few hours and the solar heats it up and then you can
just hook up a normal like garden hose with a little spray rinser and
pressurize the thing and have a nice hot shower lastly what I want to show you
our curtains so we've made these that are reflect --ax these have worked
really well so I just sprayed like a fine spray glued and then put this
fabric on there and just cut it out and like basically the perfect shape and it
just locks right in the groove and then same with the side window as well thanks
for sticking around and watching our full van tour if you guys have any
specific questions feel free to write in the comments below or find us on
Instagram we're really active there and we're happy to talk to you about though
thats all guys take it easy we'll see ya on the road