5 Things I HATE About My Custom Camper Van Build

Last March I made a monumental improvement in my life when I purchased a van and shortly after beginning the ambitious task of outfitting it for full-time living for months I worked on the optimal layout while making difficult decisions regarding the items I felt I could sacrifice. and those I just couldn't live without my friend Seth and Johnny, they both helped me

build

this tray from scratch and have been along for the entire journey with us since we finished

build

ing the van last August. I have so many questions from all of you. How happy I am with the setup I chose and now that I've lived almost a full year in the truck, I can say without a doubt that while I really love the build of my truck, there are absolutely some

things

I

hate

about it. - whether it was something I left out of the van I had something we built and think we could have improved on or something that was so painful I wish I hadn't done it at all, here are five

things

I

hate

about building my first band real quick before someone starts jumping down my throat in the comments.

I want you to know that I am still really in love with this truck build and very grateful for everything this video represents. It's kind of a reflection for maybe for the band's next creation or for anyone who's embarking on their own truck building journey, so I just want you to know that and okay, let's get back to the video. Now that that's out of the way, let's start big. Image with the truck itself. I spent a lot of time looking for the right truck. I'm sure part of this was hesitancy to pull the trigger on the biggest purchase of my life, but another reason is that I had a very specific Ram 2500 model.

I was looking for one. which among other things included a rear window and a side window. I could totally imagine him sitting in my truck editing my next video in the middle of nowhere, taking it all in while sitting comfortably in my truck and away from all those pesky mosquitoes. I bought the van with Windows and then quickly covered them with this reflectix as it turns out the lighting views are great and for me privacy is the even more attractive commodity and these windows were making the reality of my life in the truck was very difficult. that I spend a lot of time in civilization, whether it's for a collaboration, visiting friends, it's easier to have a good Internet connection, whatever the reason, maybe when parking in a city I want to be able to get into my truck at the end of the day and have my own space that I can retreat to, for that reason these covers have remained on my windows ever since, making me constantly wonder why I paid for these windows in the first place.

Hey, at least with these windows in the back I can investigate anything. is making all that noise outside without giving myself away, okay, I'll do my best to control myself while I discuss the next one, installing insulation was without a doubt the most confusing, infuriating, possibly useless aspect of my entire truck bill. I spent days scouring the internet for information on the best type, how much to use and even if it should be isolated and all of this only to find out that there is no definitive answer and the deeper you go the more confused you become to summarize real quick.

I ended up installing Poly Co Foam Boards around the walls and ceiling of the van floor. I then filled every corner with fiberglass insulation, which I later learned was a poor choice for trucks and could potentially be harmful to me, so I decided to go through the arduous process of fishing it out. everything and replaced it with 3m Thinsulate. This mistake continues to haunt me as I still find traces of this fiberglass and the smallest cracks around my truck, even to this day this entire process was a monumental pain in my butt, not to mention one of the most expensive parts.

Of the truck build the biggest problem, however, lies in the fact that any installation is only as good as its weakest link. Remember those windows we were talking about. Yeah, I didn't think this one through, although I found some great ones. Custom insulated covers for front windows. I still have huge areas over the side and rear windows that are not insulated, which pretty much negates the effectiveness of everything else. Wow, to my next man. I think I'll most likely end up without insulation for a while. A few reasons first, it would absolutely reduce cost frustration and be built on a foundation and ultimately without insulation, while it is true that the van will heat up faster and also cool down faster at night, which is generally the time when the one I am And don't even get me started on vapor barriers.

Next, let's talk about energy. Having a good electrical setup in my truck is essential and always having enough power ensures that no matter where in the country I am, I can continue creating videos for Y'all, no I'm not saying I hate having power in the truck, al On the contrary, I'm saying that now that I finally have energy on the road, I hate not having enough. I just got back from shopping and it wasn't saying my license on my power box. I have a single 100 amp hour battery that has been working overtime since the day it was installed.

This single battery is responsible for powering my refrigerator fan charging station, my laptop, my phone, and my internet. It has quite a bit of power and almost always runs out faster than it can be charged by solar energy. Fortunately, the battery can be recharged in two ways, either from the 300-watt solar panel on the roof or directly from my truck when it is running. It has been working very well. and for the most part it has been done surprisingly well all things considered, however over the last year I have found it increasingly difficult to keep everything charged which eventually led me to do some research which was actually much easier than we officially found the culprit. of all my electrical problems, look at this solenoid, this post here is a little discolored and this one is shiny copper, really nice, huh, that's because this is where all the heat was, yeah, I mean, we can see why it It got so hot that everything got hot. fragile and that was causing a lot of resistance, the culprits, a solenoid type, this was an 80 amp.

I would have thought 80 amps would be enough for a motorhome, but how much does the new one cost? Its 200 amps result in quite a few inefficiencies. was experiencing, we are due to this problem and as I write this I am heading deeper into the Yellowstone National Forest so I am hoping that new solenoid will help me stay powered more efficiently here. If I do it all over again, I definitely would. opt for another battery and solar panel although this is very expensive making sure I have enough power in the van at all times as it is priceless as it powers my mobile business there is about 100 square feet of my van and for anyone who Have you lived in such a small space you know that keeping a small space tidy is crucial when designing my van.

I made sure everything had a place where it belonged so that finding it when I needed it was easy or so I thought, but it turns out I do. There's a lot of storage space overall, but what I later realized is that I'm missing useful organization within that space. A great example of this problem is my kitchen supply drawer, because it was the largest drawer I had, it naturally became my kitchen container by default and I currently have everything kitchen related stored in there to get at any moment. I want to get something out of this drawer.

I pretty much have to take everything out and then put it back in. This probably doesn't seem like a big deal at first, but. I assure you that after a couple of downloads and reloads, you realize that you have forgotten something else you need, it becomes a headache. One of my main storage units is this workbench that we bought and bolted to the inside of this van. This has been a fantastic solution in many ways as it allows me to store valuables in it and close the drawers. The problem with workbench storage is that most of the drawers are pretty shallow and a bit flimsy if you were to choose another workbench.

For a future truck, I would probably look for one with vertical storage in deeper drawers along with some stronger slides. Another organizational piece I wish I had incorporated is hanging storage. I even remember taking a tour of Hanna's truck and her telling me you can never have enough hooks man I wish I had heard that this specific struggle often encountered on the road is what to do with dirty or wet clothes and how to dry them before it molds and stinks where I thought. I solved this problem with that nifty clothesline in the back of my truck, but it didn't take me long to realize that wasn't going to work unless I'd left my bed-and-couch mood the whole time I've been here.

I manage by hanging wet clothes on my door with clothespins or just putting them in the back of the van on my bikes. I also use the space next to my bed to put clothes that I plan to wear again the next day, but which has quickly become a problem. a little out of control and became a no man's land for fairly clean but not very dirty clothes. Overall, I would say we did a great job making sure there was enough room for all of my belongings in the vans, but next time I will definitely go a step further as I plan to create more storage designed specifically to make my daily van life a breeze. a little more fluid.

I imagine everyone was probably waiting for this whole list to start. with something like the fact that I don't have a toilet or shower here, but honestly, none of these were as big of a problem for me as the last item on this list, not having running water in the van when I lived in an apartment or house I rarely thought about the convenience of running water while living in a van without it. I quickly realized how many small daily tasks this complicates thinking about brushing your teeth where you spit them out I want to wash my hands quickly no no and oh man, from now on does it become difficult to cook so I can do anything that requires water?

First I have to take out one of the two huge seven gallon water jugs and set it up if I'm going to fill my water bottle making coffee or cooking, I usually place it hanging over the edge of the counter inside if I need to do something like clean dishes, however , I need to set it up so the water falls from the van to the ground so I've been using my Yeti cooler to hold it again, none of this is really that big of a deal if I'm camping so I think I was fooled into thinking I didn't need running water first of all, look when he was alive.

Outside of my hatchback Sheila I had to look for places to park every night where I could pitch my tent anyway since I was camping outside it was no big deal to also do all the water related stuff outside now that I have the freedom to park where be. I'm much more concerned about being inside the van so I can stay stealthy, and frankly, opening my van door to spit out my toothpaste gives away my cover for all the things I don't do. I don't like building my first truck, this is my top priority, so I returned to Asheville last month.

I drew a little diagram to show how I thought everything might work and my current setup and sent it off. to my friend Johnny from the craft workshops channel. I'm sure many of you have been wondering why I chose to drive across the country to Asheville when I had plans to be in British Columbia just a month later. now you know, for the last two weeks of my stay in Asheville, Johnny and I have been working tirelessly on a van renovation that addresses some of these important topics discussed in this video, in the next video I will not only share it with everyone you. some of my favorite aspects of the original truck bill, but I also revealed a new project we've been working really hard on.

Seriously, I can't wait to show you what we've done. I'll see you all next week for that and In the meantime, if you want to go over the entire truck build from start to finish, I'll put a link to the playlist here and in the description below, that's all for today, thanks everyone for watching and until we see you next time, you know what to do. Read lips. Jen, stop.