Creature Comforts (e.g. port-a-potty, cell signal booster)
Kids: Designing a van and traveling as a family
What you’ll learn
This is Part 1 of the camper van build series: the overview. We’ll walk through the specs, cost breakdown, fuel, weight, and livability. We designed our van for a family of 2 adults and 2 children.
The start.The start.
Specs
2018 Ford Transit 250 high roof, mid-length (148″ wheelbase), Diesel
Quigley 4×4 conversion + BF Goodrich KO2 tires
SumoSprings + SuperSprings added suspension
300Ah AGM battery bank charges from solar, alternator, and shore power
400W solar
3000W inverter
Recessed ceiling LED lights + undercounter LED lightstrips
All-aluminum welded framing with steel angle iron for wheel well boxes/bed support
Swivel front seats
Refrigerator 3.7cu ft
Portapotty
Cell phone signal booster
Wifi signal booster/aggregator/broadcaster
Interior shower: shower pan + break-down hula hoop curtain
Seats 4; sleeps 2 in full-size bed + 2 kids in hammocks
T-vent windows on driver and passenger side
10ft awning + rear ladder
Exterior 27,500 lumen LED lightbar + 4x 2,200 lumen pod lights
Conversion Build Cost
We didn’t skimp on anything in our camper van build. We want to travel in luxury, with solid components that will last through upgrades, and creature comforts like a cell signal booster. You can certainly go cheaper.
After conversion, we get ~15.2mpg diesel, and ~10% better than that with PropelFuels clean diesel. Curb weights:
Before conversion: 5600lb
After conversion, dry: 8000lb (+2400lb)
After conversion, + gear + water + fuel: 8400lb
Camper Van Build Tour
Looking in from the sliding door. Driver-side galley. Portapotty slide-out. Rule: liquids only. There’s cabinet to the right of the portapotty that houses our camp stove, Coleman propane canisters, and pots/pans. Top junk drawer, bottom servingware/utensils/tupperware. 3.7gal fridge lasts 3 people ~5 days of fresh food. Passenger-side galley. Slide-out pantry. Under-sink. Clothing storage in overhead bins. We keep our jackets on the back door in cargo netting pouches, which doubles as insulation! Shower pan in floor. We can hang a portable hula-hoop with shower curtain from the ceiling and pull a hose from the sink galley. On-demand water heater is +30deg above ambient, which is tolerable with the Espar heater! Shoe rack + control panel. Clockwise from top left: (a) Awning lights, water pump, cell phone booster switches. (b) LED ceiling lights dimmer. (c) Inverter controller. (d) Battery monitor. LED color lightstrip under the galleys. Extremely useful at night so you don’t blast the rest of the van with white overhead LEDs to pee. Quigley 4×4 + BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2s 245/75/R16 + Super/Sumo spring suspension. ~2″ lift. Empty garage. Electrical housed over left wheel well, back of refrigerator protruding in center, and 30gal water tank over right wheel well. There’s a lot that fits in the garage. 2x MaxxAir fans, 4x 100W solar panels.The purple thing in front is MaxTrax offroad “extraction device” which doubles as our wind deflector. 2x 2,200 lumen pod lights on side. The front LED bar is over 6 times as bright!
Performance + Livability
Camper van builds typically fall into 2 camps: weekenders or live-ins. Weekenders have a ton of cargo space for bikes, motorcycles, snowboards, etc. at the expense of large water tanks and cabinetry storage. They’re great for getting out for a few days at a time. Live-ins have enough cabinet space, water, etc. to literally live in for months on end, with less space for gear.
We’ve spent up to 3 months of living in our van consecutively. We can go 14 days between laundry, 10 days on water, and 5 days of fresh food in the fridge, with the expense of a smaller garage. We cook every meal unless we’re in a city with a cool café.
We’ve had basically no issues with the van. The Quigley 4×4 lives up to its reputation. If you don’t want to jump $13k in, at least upgrade to the BF Goodrich K02 tires–they’re beyond worth the investment. The stock tires are terrible.
Living on the road with a baby was quite do-able with our design! We did quite well with space.
Enough room for peekaboo while cooking. We use a portable JetBoil propane stove, the green Coleman propane camping canisters, and cast iron to cook in. Sleeping arrangements provided by dog crate. We’ll upgrade to the Cabbunk hammock-beds for kids that mount over the front seats.
Must-haves we love
Diesel heater. We keep the van at 55F or warmer with a baby, not to mention it’s so comfy to come back after a cold day of climbing and be toasty warm.
Portapotty. Seriously, they’re so convenient and easy to clean. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to a toasty warm van, red LED light strips, and being super comfy to pee. Alternatively, imagine waking up in the middle of the night, finding your puffy jacket, braving the 30deg cold outside, bearing your tooshie, squatting, peeing, and opening the van door again, blasting the other occupants with cold again. Just get a portapotty, trust me.
Cell phone booster. If there’s 1 bar of signal, it’ll go to at least 3. It’s an amazing comfort to have signal.
What we would do differently
Make the sliding-door galley longer, extending another foot into the door for more countertop space.
Add a removable table between the bench seat and front seats.
Possibly rethink some of the exposed aluminum framing. We’d keep some–it looks amazing–but was a royal pain to inside-mount the cabinet doors.
Consider welding our own roof rack. It sits ~5in off the roof, which is pretty high.