About three years ago Eamon approached me with this crazy idea
to move our lives into a cargo van I can remember going to see the van
and being totally not down for this adventure "and it's much smaller than i
thought I'm not ready to poop into a bucket"
but Eamon had such vision and he was showing me where we'd
be putting everything and honestly if you had told me then
that we'd still be living in a van and building out more
vans and everything three years later i wouldn't have believed you but
here we are here we are
we made a handshake deal that we're gonna drive around the world
and we we were doing it we were basically doing it
and so now that we are back in canada because of
well i don't know heard but there's global pandemic going on
we converted another van and took everything we've learned
from the past three years and dumped it into this build
we were back in canada, we were van-less and
A) we wanted a project and B) we loved living in a van and we wanted to
have the freedom that van life allows all over again
so we did it and will we do another one?
probably not! I hope we never build another van
again it is a lot of work a lot
did you just put a hole in the van without me?
well building a van on a regular day can be a little bit tricky
but building it in
unprecedented times is even more difficult
dealing with closures like the home depot not even being open you have to
book stuff online so logistically there's a little bit
more hurdles you have to deal with but other than
that building the van during the pandemic was the perfect project for us
because everyone was in lockdown and quarantined
you weren't going out and seeing people and traveling the way we're used to so
at least we could put our heads down and accomplish things every day have
checklists goals and i think that really kept us positive throughout these times
boom
bob is my dad he's my homie he's my best friend
love you bob he's also an absolute asset to have
on our building team so he uh he's not afraid to get his hands dirty he's got a
construction background a very good eye for design so I mean
he's always such a pleasure to have around but super helpful if you're ever
building a van yeah so it wasn't just the two of us we couldn't have done this
without you bob thanks bob love you buddy
[music] all i ever wanted was a place that i could call home
you're good
i personally had zero experience with ever holding a tool basically in my life
let alone power tools i don't know where to begin
when you say let's build a van so Eamon is definitely
the driving force, the visionary the one who
brings it all to life and i just want to say i love you i couldn't do it without
you
and he's so modest thank you baby i i think a lot of people do ask like
how do you learn this where do you where do you even start
you really just have to be crazy enough to give it a go so you don't need to
know how to be a plumber or an electrician
but if you're willing to take some risks and make some mistakes
you'll be able to figure it out
so because we still hope to return to our van that's in africa
right now we wanted to build something a little bit more spacious
that we can have here in north america so we went with
the 170 sprinter van and a fixed bed and usable garage which we're
loving having access to
engineering department look out! *crash* get comfy
probably the most challenging part of building a van is
is a the the tiny space you're confined to
so getting into these little cracks and trying to work with the tools you have
and then on top of that you're not dealing with straight
construction like normal construction everything's curved and customized and
angled and you're trying to figure out a exact dimension
so once again you need to be extra patient
wow
wow though i can remember just feeling like
why are we doing this again and knowing it was a long road ahead
it was very intimidating but you just have to take it one step at a time and i
think that's what we did really a good job
it looks fantastic so we we did punch out the two holes for
uh regular water and then filtered water we are going to do a soap dispenser
again but Bec didn't like the one i ordered so
we're gonna order another one you said you didn't like it either!
the worst is happen friends we gotta tear it all down do the honors
oh no
and now we're ready for grow
we've had a lot of positive feedback about the actual layout we decided which
is a fairly unique design for a sprinter van
i'm not even sure i've seen anything like this we have so much room in the
garage it's crazy and then we also feel like we're
we're in a living room on wheels so i love it yeah i think we did a great job
with the overall layout of the van so far nothing i would change for now
boom we give ourselves a 10 out of 10. good job mate
would you look at what's arrived is it weird to kiss a toilet
i love my toilet
living without those luxuries like running water
and power really start to weigh on you we're still wiping down to shower
so when you get to the point where your plumbing is done
and you've got those luxuries back it's such an exciting and
overwhelming moment yes yes
dude you crushed it and it's all working yeah and on top of that you've built it
and it's like oh i hope this works hope the design works with this and hope this
fits in there and then hope the thing will turn on
and then you turn it on and it works you're like yeah it's
so thrilling it's an emotional roller
coaster
here we go
you love it yeah i mean i've never cleaned my balls while vlogging before
okay
yeah yeah one two
one
we're gonna fire it up
i'm so thrilled to have you electricity
we've got five 105 watt solar panels up here
and it's like the last piece of the puzzle
i feel awesome
what i wanted to achieve with this new van was like a very peaceful calm
feel to it and so i pulled a lot of inspiration for the design
from photos we had and photos that we loved so
desert photos the arizona monument valley picture we have and just
those burnt oranges and pinks you haven't seen
we got a pink bed and i love it
i think the key to getting through a van build with your partner is laughter
i think it's so important to be able to laugh at yourself
to laugh together to just make light of some of the lows that are bound
to happen every day every project every task
tell them about the time you cried like you're in kindergarten
i banged my head on the cabinets and that's when i knew it was time to go
home i'm gonna cry again
much better it's not going to go according to plan and you have to
embrace it and just laugh it off in the shower are you going
to have number two
that's not you dropped the ball or something i dropped the ball
yes our plans changed dramatically but i wouldn't want to be anywhere with
anyone
out of else comes the light i can see it now more than ever before
now's the time to fly there's nothing like the freedom that van life affords
you so we're excited to be back on the road
we're excited to have a home no matter what happens next we know that
we have a beautiful tiny home on wheels and i
just also want to say if anybody's watching this
thinking about it and you you something inside of you is thinking
about it you don't want to wake up in 20 years thinking i should have done it and
you can do it you can you can have a traveling home we'd love for you guys
to join our journey we post a brand new video every single sunday right here on
youtube so please consider hitting subscribe
like this video share it with your friends if you think
they'd love it too you can go back and watch stuff from mexico morocco
and we'd love to have you part of our crew see you sunday
like the video also with the big thumb that would be good
good job buddy well is that it i think that's it we're recording
hello are you in there
yes
we've tried to tell you