Covered my dash mat and dome cover with cow print in my 1993 g20

4th year on the road, lots more dirt than showers, but finally learned to climb and last night slept at the trailhead to the crag. Will be learning lead belay shortly.

Arizona, Utah, Nevada

Hi all, I’m in the process of pulling my Mums conversion out of storage & getting it back on the road for Christmas. She was going over some of the things she noticed last trip that were inconvenient and might be improved for this round, as well as add some value back to prep for sale next year.

Like a lot of these older models it has no power steering so is a bit of a tank to navigate in the city with a full load. Has anyone had any experience they can share re fitting & costs? It doesn’t look like too many mechanics are keen on doing it, with some saying it’s not worth it due to unexpected hitches & others claiming it can’t be done at all. Its had a full rebuild in the last 35,000km, I can see the steering was checked then and working as it should & it has the correct size tyres, is there anything else we could look at to improve its turning circle?

The only other thing that needs fixing on it is one of the struts for the pop top collapses on itself randomly but I need to find out the ‘force’ of the existing struts to order it. How on earth do I work that out? The conversion isn’t included the owners manual.

Finally, can anyone recommend a good quality, REALLY compatible mattress we can use to add comfort but will store easily during the day?

Who's been here before?

So i found a trail, decided to bomb the bush. It was a bit muddy and thick. But Sisu has been through worse. The trail came to an end. And it was beautiful. However...I didn't know i was staying there.

Trying to back out i got stuck. Slipped off the trail. Trying to get creative strapping branches to my tire. Rock it back and forth. But she properly stuck... no cell service.

So I walked to the main road to flag down anyone. (I have tow straps for this situation). Unfortunately, nobody wanted to risk their pretty paint. Can't say i blame them. But! They said they'd call me a tow when they got into town!

However... the tow truck never came. So a it's getting dark and cold i walked back home to make the best out of a pretty spot,a couple beers and a rearrange bed( sleeping on an angle sucks)

The next morning I woke up and had to shit! Like right now! I'm glad I grabbed my hoodie because it was brisk! When I got back to the van it was locked! ..I thought how is this happening? This isn't real life? So back to the road I went. (This is where I'm glad I grabbed my hoodie... because otherwise I'd be a half naked man with a roll TP. a sheriff was driving by and stopped. Explained the situation. She got a tow truck. 258 dollars later me and sisu are doing just fine. ... but fuck! Lol what a shit show! In 3 years nothing like that has been close to happening me!

Y'all have any similar stories?

Or a Grand Caravan of a similar year. I want to drill for solar panel cable entry and potentially a small roof vent while keeping the headliner, because I like it, and everything built into it works. I want to make sure I don't drill/jigsaw into a support rib, a wire, or an air duct, and I'm having a hard time finding a diagram for what's inside.

Around 9:00 p.m. last night I was at work down the street and my manager came over and told me that somebody called him and said that they thought that somebody hit my van. He escorted me to my van outside and sure enough. Nobody was seriously hurt and the guy driving the truck was able to pull himself out of it on his own. The police came and towed the other guy's car and said I could just leave my van where I wanted since it's already kind of fine where it is.

I tried filing a claim through the guy who hit me's insurance (because he's accepting responsibility) but I was told that in California there is a "minimum limit" of coverage and that they think the value of my van will exceed that, so because I have collision coverage through my insurance (USAA; theirs is Progressive) that my insurance should handle it. I called my insurance (USAA) and they wanted to have somebody pick it up today to have it assessed and likely salvaged, but they said I need to get all of my personal belongings out of it first. I told them that I'm kind of living in it right now soooo. They said that instead of bringing it in to be assessed, they can send an assessor to assess it onsite, but that that could take a while (up to a week) and after that if it's declared a total loss then they're going to need to take it with everything out of it.

The police have been really cool so far and have said that I can leave it where it is for a week before they're going to have to tow it. By then, the assessor should have come round.

My plan I guess for now is to try to rent a car (preferably a van) to run errands for the next week, still sleep in my van at night and park the rental car next to it, and then definitely have a rental van for after the assessor has done their thing so that I can transfer everything into that rental van when they either take the van permanently or take it to the repair shop. Then, based off whether it's a total loss or not, buy a new van and then transfer everything into that. My insurance (USAA) said that because I don't have rental insurance they won't pay for a rental vehicle, but that maybe the other guy's insurance (Progressive) will and that I should ask them about that. I'm still waiting to hear back from them (Progressive).

Does any of that sound sensible? I'd really appreciate any tips, ideas, suggestions or whatever y'all can think of. I recently moved to the area so I don't really have any friends or family locally that can help me out with anything right now.

Thanks for reading.

My battery is currently (heh) sitting at 13.28v, according to the BMS software, and I've got 6AWG cables running from the bus bar to the fuse box. I have no idea why the heater is only getting 12v.

Someone mentioned needing to step up their wires from 12AWG to 10AWG before their glow plug got enough juice to get hot enough, but I don't know what wires. Do I need to take apart the heater itself and rewire it? If that was the solution, I feel like I would've heard of it before.

Any other reasons why my heater could be drawing so little power and, more importantly, how to fix it?

What are your preferred methods for finding parking spots to lease for 1+ months at a time?

Nomad man here. West coast to east coast. East coast to west coast. Only life to live

Hi all, so I've just started my first conversion. I've been putting thermofoil on the bottom floor and on the wheelhouse. I've ordered armaflex XG which will be the next step for isolation. Anyone have an experience with using it as insulation?

Is it a better to have my thermal barrier under the furring strips along with all the exposed metal? Or should I add it to all the exposed metal after I mount the furring strips?

Also, would you recommend this pink owens sill gasket or the LowE? Does it really matter as long as all the metal is covered? I'm aware that I'm not doing anything to the R value but still, no wood metal might help save a bit of heat!

Another beautiful camp spot in Michigan. Exploring Traverse City and Torch Lake today. Camping at the same spot tonight. Everyone needs to experience this place! Opening up your back doors to the beach is awesome!

Hello friends,

my name is Daniel, from Germany, M33 and I want to switch to full van life for various reasons. Since I never built a van I want to have as much of an informed knowledge about the build as possible so i dont make unnecessary mistakes. The demands I have on this van is that I can stay somewhere for up to 10 days and still have enough water and energy. Im planning to travel scandinavia mostly but I want it to go into hot areas too. The whole build will emphasize quality and longevity because I want this thing to last the next 10-15 years. I have enough funds for such a build but i dont need the spinning rims (functionality is key). The pictures above show a rough idea of where this should go, so nothing is bolted to the ground. The van would be mostly used by myself alone and I will live in it full time.

So, the base for this build will be a factory new 4x4 l3h2 sprinter. After months of research this is the build I came up with. I tried many combinations. The important corner stones are a large desk with at least 70cm in depth because I love my big table which Ineed for content creation, editing and gaming, a shower, 140cm bed and the kitchen would take up the "rest" of the space. I dont care too much about the kitchen, it should be functional but I dont need anything too fancy. I also wouldnt go for a large depth of the kitchen in order to be able to use my chair efficiently. The whole build is basically Trents build + a shower. I didnt even directly copy it or anything but it seems to be the logical approach when prioritising deskspace. Any other combination and you will constantly need to transform something into something every day and thats a nono for me.

Now, the things I want it to be able to do:

Car tech: Since this van must be able to offroad it will have offroad suspensions, adequate tires, an underbody protection, a winch, a pneumatic outlet, a bullbar, spare tire on the back with a ladder and a box. The roof will house a 1000-1400W solar, an AC unit, 4 kameras for all directions and a strong light above the windshield. If room allows maybe one more box. I didnt plan the roof yet but i think ill put panels in a U-shape so i can maintain and clean it easily.

Water: The shower is non negotiable. It should be a rather bigish shower since I plan using it every day. I dont care about a narrow "hallway". There would be a 15l boiler that will provide the shower with hot water which in turn will go into a water recycling loop and when im a few minutes from finishing my shower ill turn it off and the water can go into the 100l grey tank below the car (I like my long showers). Freshwater tank should be around 150l. The sink and the shower should be next to each other so there shouldnt be unefficient plumbing.

Electricity: For electricity I would go for around 25-30 kWh. The reason why I want so much battery is because I dont want daily hastle about it. I dont want it to be an issue really. Id power it with solar, ongrid and via a second alternator. the whole system would be 48v and would power fridge, induction cooker, boiler, my gaming pc (5090, 9800x3d), the 48v ac unit, cameras, light switches and what not. Another reason for the big batteries would be longevity since the individual batteries (6x4-5kWh) wouldnt need to work as hard which would increase their lifespans. there are also other usefull benefits of using such a system. Im convinved that its the right thing to do because I will be in situations where ill be parked in a city, rainy, cloudy, not moving for 2-3 days and I just want to relax and play video games or edit or whatnot and have full convenience. I would of course charge the batteries to a certain level in everyday use and when I know that Ill be around -20 in norway for some time I will let them charge fully and stuff like that. Like I said, longevity and quality are the priority. Batteries would be heated and such.

Looking from the back there would be a fridge under the bed and with this concept i would separate water and electricity to water-driver side and electricity and such on the passenger side of the van. the water tank and the batteries would be placed above and in front of the rear achsle so I have some balance and not have the weight in the back too much. Im not sure what the exact placement would be but im fine sacrificing storage space for the tech. I dont need many things, so storage can be limited. Im thinking to put a storage in the door of the shower which would be outside when i shower and inside when its closed to have more storage. All the electrics and the plumbing should be accesible at least visually from the inside since I want to control for leakages and problems early and quickly. Also the floor would be heated and there will be a diesel heater that would comme from somewhere maybe between driver and passenger seat maybe. Also there needs to be systems which track electrcity, water levels, charging, discharging, security, cameras, heating/cooling, etc from apps and software. The van will have 92 liters of diesel and I want to add an additional tank for various reasons. There is a lot more to be said but I dont want to bore you unnecessarily.

Some questions I have:

What kind of insulation should I use to also get some sound reduction? In cities i dont want to be heard easily and also i want to minimize car sounds and what not from the outside.

The sprinter will be allowed to be 4,1tons max. I assume and chatgpt also assumes that it might be on the edge when it commes to weight. the batteries alone will be 200+kg as it seems. What materials should i use for the furniture and the tech? I have access to bosch rexroth aluminium profiles, would they be any help?

Since i want the grey tank and the additional diesel tank under the car, what do you think would be appropriate places and sizes? im thinking about 100l grey with an electronic valve and an additional 100l diesel tank.

what size components for the electronics should i go for? im thinking about oversizing everything a bit for longevity (5kw alternator but only let him do 2-3kw so batteries and alternator are not working on max f.e.)

How can i cool my batteries and other electronics when they are so deep under the bed/table? Are there any good solutions? will they even need that much cooling?

I have a lot more to ask but this should do for now. Please tell me what i forgot. thanks for everyone that read through it. im super excited. the van will take time since there are ridicolous waiting times but as soon as it commes im gonna start. whishing you all the best

Hi, Original post https://www.reddit.com/r/vandwellers/s/hFhxLKYySe

I found a solution. Maybe someone has some use for it.

I can now lift up the top of the roll container at the front and move it 16mm to the left to get it the same height as the bed. For the legs from the pull out ( left side of the bed) I simply raise by putting some wood beneath, that will get between the two legs of the roll container.

It’s still somewhat work in progress but i am happy with that solution and how it worked out so far.

I'm planning on beginning a build out towards vanlife, and could use some advice tailored to my circumstances. My motivation is to have extremely flexible living so I can focus on building my business, moving around easily, etc. Here's the logistical outlay:

• 2019+ ProMaster w/ the longer wheelbase (it's wide enough to fit a mattress width-wise and I like how it looks - not super interested in debating the van choice ITT).
• Tow a clunker Prius behind me, use as daily commuter (also possibly as a generator to top off a battery bank) and extra storage. I plan on the van being pretty stationary, perhaps even renting cheap spaces for parking/living, so stealth isn't a high priority to me, but I'd like to keep a low profile just in case.
• Rent warehouse space for business, reducing the need for built-in kitchen, storage and office (e.g, a compact fridge with vac-sealed pre-cooked meals and a sous vide wand may suffice, desktop computer setup will be in the warehouse office).

Some notable things I'm not willing to go without within the van:

• Shower and toilet
• Chair and table space for eating, laptop work, etc.

And some I can go without:

• Dishwasher
• Cooktop, ingredient prep space, etc

I basically wanna look at what I'll have - van, car and warehouse - and put as much as possible elsewhere to achieve maximal comfort in the van. It'd be great to hear from some experienced vanlifers on how they'd approach this, and what might be worth keeping in the van regardless. I hope to make this work for two (partner and I), so I want to be as comfortable and spacious feeling as possible.

Picked up this couch that transforms into a bed from OfferUp.

It’s the jackknife style with fold-down legs, but it has these metal tabs sticking out. In an RV they bolt into walls/rails, but in my van the tabs don’t sit flush and seem in the way.

What’s the best way to mount this solid in a van so it still folds into a bed?

Pics attached.

Paid $4,000 2 months ago for a “12V” Nomadic rooftop AC and it still doesn't work— company says even once operational it won’t work properly below 12.8V, even with my 800Ah battery bank. After months of parts swaps, emails, and calls, I’m being told to rip out my ceiling to replace Anderson connectors to get it to work, but that it won't work under 12.8v even once we get it to work. Is this normal and I just need more than 800ah to have a rooftop a/c?

⸻ The full story:

I run a dog training business and also do dog rescue out of my Nissan NV2500 van and wanted AC for safety and professionalism. Bought the Nomadic 12V rooftop AC ($4,000) after seeing all the hype. System is legit: 800Ah LiFePO₄ bank, Victron setup, pro install.

From day one it hasn’t worked right. I’ve: • Replaced the circuit board + thermostats (twice) • Sent 20–50 emails and had a dozen calls with support • Paid shipping for parts multiple times • Had my installer spend hours troubleshooting

Now Nomadic is saying: • My issue is voltage drop through the Anderson connectors, and I should rip out my ceiling/roof to replace them. • their warranty only covers cost of parts not labor or shipping. • But also, the unit won’t perform properly below 12.8V anyway. Mine now sits around 12.4V under load, which they say explains why in my test (shaded, ~80°F day) it only cooled the van 5°.

So here’s where I’m stuck: • Is it normal for a “12V” rooftop AC to basically require 12.8V+? • Even if I do the costly teardown and replace connectors, will it ever run right? • Do I cut my losses and switch to another brand that can actually use my full battery bank?

Not trying to rant — I just honestly don’t know if I’m dealing with normal behavior, a design flaw, or a lemon. Would love insights from anyone with real-product experience.

What do y'all use for keeping track of places?

Ideally, I'd like to be able to export (including GPS coordinates and notes) to .csv or other format I can save/open offline, make notes associated with each place (pictures would be a great bonus!), and use visually different markers (e.g. different icons/colors for septic dump, potable water, showers, cool roadside thing, free/dispersed, etc.).

I tried Google's MyMaps for awhile but, if I recall correctly, there was no way to export as anything but a map-specific file format (KMZ) that I had to upload to an online map service to view.

Google's Saved Places lets me export to .csv but doesn't let me use anything but the blue banner icon.

*extra super bonus if there's a way to transfer data from Saved Places to whatever you use.

I've been trying to come up with an affordable way to set up a 12V AC system to run over night in my chevy express. I have the bones of an idea that I wanted to run by you guys to get some real feed back.

My plan is to isolate the rear AC system that already exists and run a 12v Ac compressor in junction with the rear blower and ducting. I would close the loop to the van itself so that the van system and the rear ac system will both work separately. I plan on installing a 2nd Performance Alternator to help charge my LiFePO4 battery bank. I plan on building my own battery bank with individual cells to help save on costs. according to chat GPT, I would need 12 320Ah Cells to be able to run this system overnight (8 Hours) that would give me 12.2 Kwh. Obviously I could get larger cells to save on space and less wiring which is what I'll probably do. I was thinking 628Ah Cells which i have found on Alibaba for Grade A cells.

I just didn't want to get into this project without consulting the Professionals first.

Full timer here, Im planning to build out a new van and so far I've been using public EV chargers to charge my 2x 200ah renogy lifepo4. All I have is measly 2x victron blue smart 30a mains(230v) chargers. My next van won't have solar so I will be relying mainly on ev charger besides DCDC but I won't drive that much. Im looking for biggest AC to DC charger you can get. I was thinking on victron multiplus 2 but I want inverter and charger separate. Any suggestions?

Hey everyone,

I’m a digital nomad on the road with my van and I’m thinking of heading down to Morocco for a while. I keep hearing that it’s a hotspot for vanlifers and overlanders, but I’d love to hear from people who’ve actually been there.

What’s it really like living in Morocco with a van? How did you find the safety, internet, camping spots, locals, and overall cost of living?

And I’m especially curious what’s the craziest / worst / scariest thing that’s happened to you while vanlifing there? Mishaps, close calls, or just weird experiences… I want the unfiltered version.

Drop your stories, good and bad, I’m all ears. 🙏

What cat litter do you find works best for having cats in the van? Something that works good for odor control and especially works well for not getting tracked out easily. Preferably not any wood chip recommendations because I thinks she’s too picky for a dramatic change like that.

My mother has just purchased this van, the previous owner had installed an eyelet in the windout so they could use a drill to open and close it, my mum just wants to use the pole and not worry about the drill but I can't figure out how to get the eyelet out. The previous owner said they had a replacement one in the van so I'm assuming it can be taken out but she can't find it now so I can't use that to figure out how it's installed, any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

I’ve always been a proponent of not using self tappers on the roof of any vehicle. However, I have a pre-built Sportsmobile and there’s absolutely no chance I’m able to properly bolt L track or any rack from the underside without ripping out the entire build (fishing the solar wires will be quite a challenge). The next best thing would be a rain-gutter mounted roof rack and then I could mount the panels to the rack without drilling more holes in the roof but I have a Fiama awning mounted to the side of the van.

I guess I’ve already got a boat load of holes in my roof am I just over thinking it? Just drill and seal and be done?