Gorgeous Campervan: Ford Transit Van Build

[@Ms.Frankenbuilder]

Interesting build.

[@anitasimmons3599]

That you for the tour of Robert's beautiful build. I love the organization and clean build. If you want to travel and camp or live out of a vehicle on the cheap, a minivan or mid to large SUV is a much cheaper way to go, but if you travel over 2 months a year and had a built like Robert's even with lower fuel economy than a car or minivan, you would be saving money over car and hotel travel. It is almost always cheaper to live stationary in a modest home in a smallish city in the mid west, than to live a mobile lifestyle, but travel keep me young at heart. It is really nice to be able to stand up and have that evening easy chair experience, but totally not necessarily for an active recreational travel lifestyle. Thank you again for taking the time to create this video. ❤😊

[@JDBucshome76]

Very good and yes, it isn’t cheap but I love traveling in my camper

[@Robertsramblings]

Thanks for your comment! Traveling around in this van is probably about the best thing in the world to me. The only reason that I mentioned the cost of this is so many KZbin creators will lead viewers to believe that this is very inexpensive. Sell your home, sell your car, sell your furnishings and move into a van and all your problems will be solved. Everything has a cost. This is what so many people fail to realize. It’s way more than about the monetary expenditures. When you live in a home, there’s a lot of comfort. If you decide you want to do van life, then one of the cost that people fell to consider, is you give up some of that comfort. Another thing that people seem to always overlook is friends and family. Don’t get me wrong when you’re out doing van life you’ll have friends. You’ll make new friends, but there’s always friends that you’re going to leave behind, even though you may see them from time to time, it’s never like it was. that’s a huge cost. Family, what about family? If you live close and are close to family members and you choose to do van life more than likely there will be an increase in distance and time spent apart. You’ll see them less often and that is a huge cost. The list goes on and on so you can see that it’s not so much about the money. Monetarily van life is not more expensive than living in a regular home, even a very nice regular home. But there’s other cost that it’s really hard to put a value on. People definitely need to consider these things before they ever decide to try Van life. Have a plan and go slow. Ease into the shallow end of the pool. 😊

[@ChrisW228]

I love the simplicity and roominess of your build. I can’t recall seeing anyone else with so little in one, though. Only microwave cooking? No stovetop? Even for only two weeks, only two drawers of clothes? Tops bottoms undies socks… swimsuits and towels even? Where is pantry food, toiletries, etc.? No computer, iPad, etc.? No other inside hobbies besides TV? There’s obviously so much storage in the back, but probably not convenient for pantry foods and other things in my van.

[@Robertsramblings]

A lot of questions! Let me see if I can answer them all without missing one. First off, thank you for the compliment on the simplicity and the roominess. A lot of the things that I believe you think I’m missing is what gives the van that open feeling and makes it feel spacious. I see a lot of van builds and they just tried to put everything in the van. Being a minimalist, I try to stay with only what I need and when I do add something to the van it’s nice when it can serve multiple purposes, that’s always a plus. Now to answer some of your questions. Only a microwave, no that’s not quite right. In one of the drawers beside the fridge there’s a butane stove skillet with lid, a pot and other cooking utensils. You were interested in there being only two drawers for clothes. I go two weeks between doing laundry. In those two drawers, there’s 14 pairs of socks, 14 pairs of underwear, 14 T-shirts, short pants and long pants. Hard to believe but neatly folded there’s room to spare. As a matter fact, there’s enough room to spare that you had mentioned toiletries. I am a guy. I don’t need a lot of toiletries. A toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, disposable razor, and deodorant. That’s about all I need and it doesn’t take up a lot of space.lol. Larger items like towels and swimsuits, and various coats are kept in the back. You ask about food in a pantry. I’m carnivore, everything I eat fits in the freezer or the refrigerator. I don’t work so I don’t need a computer but I do have a iPhone and iPad and they are very sufficient! You mentioned something about indoor hobbies, all of my hobbies are outside, so I’m not sure what you meant when you said indoor hobbies. Maybe you could clarify? Also, at the very end you use the comment, “my van”, do you own a van? If so, I’d like to hear about how you solve all these things that your considering problems. I can see from your picture that your a woman and obviously women can’t live as simply as men, not my problem though. If this hasn’t answered all your questions send another comment. 😊

[@ChrisW228]

@@Robertsramblings thank you for the thoughtful reply. I didn’t realize until rereading after your comment how it sounds like I peppered you with questions. That wasn’t my intent or the way it sounded in my head when I posted. Lol it was meant to sound conversational, not interrogational. :-) I’m probably just used to videos where people spend more time on every drawer and list the types of things in them. I’m also used to a lot more is kept out and accessible. I only travel part time and in a converted Honda Odyssey minivan camper. It’s pretty cramped because it is small, but I do take too much and plan to remove half of it before my next trip. I have indoor hobbies because I deal with an illness and can’t always get out and do things and for rainy days. I carry things like puzzle books, water, color supplies, a couple of board games in case a friend hops in and joins me, things like that. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions. And again apologies for their being so many. I really didn’t realize. Have to stop watching videos at 4 AM. Lol.

[@Robertsramblings]

⁠​⁠@@ChrisW228 thanks for replying to my reply. So often you reply the questions that people have and you wonder if anybody comes back to see the answer. It’s pleasing when someone does! You were talking about things not being out of their drawers. I found that it’s so much easier just to be organized and put everything back in its place, of course if you’re living in a house it’s good to do that because you always know where things are. If you’re traveling in a van however there’s another reason for doing it. When you travel everything pretty much has to be put away or it’s going to be off in the floor or up in the driver seat with you. That would not be good 😮. My way of traveling is a good bit different than most peoples. There’s rarely a day that I don’t go somewhere. A lot of campers will pull a trailer with a tow vehicle or pull a vehicle behind there RV and so when they reach the camp spot they just set up then they have a second vehicle to go to town or explore the area. This being my only vehicle everything needs to be put away before I leave, so just putting it away when you’re finished seems so much easier. The reason I don’t talk a lot about what’s in each drawer is that everybody’s going to be different. While on the clothes for instance I carry a two weeks supply and the basics fit in the two bottom drawers in the van although bulky or things like coats or jackets, I will typically keep in the back except for the one I’m wearing that day. I could see how it would be just as easy to keep a one week supply of clothes in the van upfront and the second week in the storage in the back and then just switch out the dirty for the clean after a week and go take it all to the laundry on week two. So that’s why I don’t go into the details of my way of doing it because everybody is probably going to carry different things and do it a different way. You had talked about traveling and taking things out before your next trip and I think I touched on that in this video although I’ve done other videos so I am not sure it was this video. However, it’s pretty jampacked and if I put something in, I have to take something out first. Lol, that’s another reason why only the microwave. I looked at all of the appliances that I have at home, an example would be an air fryer or an Insta pot or a crockpot, of all the different appliances you could have I found the one that I use the most is the microwave. That’s why you basically only see a microwave. It isn’t that I wouldn’t like to have all of the appliances. It’s just that there’s no room so you do the best you can. I really appreciate you clarifying the indoor activities! Yes, those things would be nice on a rainy day. My typical day is sleep late and then by the time I get up and take a shower and piddle around and get ready it’s usually 10 or 11 o’clock . Then I’m outside doing something for the day so it’s late when I go back into the van. it would be rare that I would watch more than a couple of hours of television and usually not that much. Solitaire or dominoes, if there were two people, would be nice or like you said, puzzles would be good. As a matter fact, I have a friend that is a full-time vanlife and he carries puzzles. He usually always has one set up and working on it. There’s also a lot of people out there that loves to read. I’m more outdoors and so my indoor hobbies is usually just watching some KZbin. Enjoyed your reply and your reply to my reply. Lol thanks again.

[@ChrisW228]

@@Robertsramblings LOL You’re welcome. All of your reasons make a great deal of sense. As far as “a place for everything and everything and its place”, that is how I live everywhere, so I understand that completely. I would love to have a microwave, but I didn’t plan ahead. I have two 500W power stations where I should have bought one 1000W. I’ll correct that error someday, but can’t rationalize the cost only camping part time. Beyond that, I am realizing that I carry too much stuff in case I need to do something for other people. For example, I actually carry a small infrared printer, which I only ever use to print directions out for other people. I carry a handheld sewing machine when I’m fine just duct taping my stuff together until I get home. I got too caught up in having anything I could possibly need on the van, and I need to purge and only bring what I use regularly. You mentioned other videos, so now I’m headed back to the description to see if you have a channel. :) Thanks again!

[@Ms.Frankenbuilder]

looks like all that may be in all those totes in the back.

[@stalkandspookoutdoors8610]

Great build Robert. Great video Malinda.

[@Robertsramblings]

Thank you 😊

[@MHarris-qq2sv]

Hello from Australia, you have such a nice, neat and practical van setup Robert. We are wondering how the aircon vents? We see there's a round fan on the back door, but does the hot air vent out anywhere else? Also what is the wattage of the aircon? Thank you

[@Robertsramblings]

It’s a little complicated. The max air fan that’s on the back of the door is to remove the heat from that back utility and storage area. In that area is the air conditioner itself, which is not vented through the fan, but there’s also all of the electronics and the water heater. All these things build up a lot of heat and so it was necessary to find a way to vent that area. The max air fan works great. On the air conditioner itself, it is a 5000 BTU draws 418 watts. The back of the air conditioner, which would in a normal installation be the part on the outside of the house has two areas that you have to consider. The vent holes on the side of the air conditioner draw fresh air in, and then the back of the air conditioner has a coil, which has hot air blown over and has to be exhausted. The way that I accomplish these two things was to built a box around the back of the air conditioner that separates those two areas from each other. The vents on the side of the air conditioner is drawing air in and through that max air fan that you saw on the back door. This is where all the fresh air comes in. The exhaust that has to be taken out of the van is vented through the floor of the van. I used I think it was three-quarter inch holes and there’s probably about 12 to 15 of those. I chose to do that rather than one large hole that would accommodate all of the air. The reason I did that was to help maintain the strength of the metal which the hole was going through. So in summary what happens is the fresh air that the air conditioner needs is drawn in through that back utility room area, which uses the max air fan to let the air be drawn in rather than creating a vacuum and then that fresh air is blown across the heating coils in the back of the air conditioning unit itself and is exhausted out through the floor of the van.

[@Ryan-or7xm]

Robert, can you give the dimensions of your bed and your shower? Really like your set up.

[@Robertsramblings]

If I remember right, the shower is 24 x 30 and the bed is 6 foot 2” x 40”

[@Robertsramblings]

Melinda, you nailed it. I know I’m a little lacking but you certainly made me look good. Thank you, Melinda. What a wonderful video.

[@dinohicks7959]

Robert I love your van build! You certainly nailed it, AWESOME job. Did you video your build? if you did I would love to watch those videos. What year is your van and what is the wheel base?

[@Robertsramblings]

The van say 2020 transit 150. 148 inch wheelbase, medium rooftop. No, I didn’t do any build videos. Maybe in hindsight I should have, there’s been an awful lot of people with a lot of questions from some of the other videos. Maybe next time, we’ll see.

[@hectorquintanilla5520]

Awesome build what's the wheel base?

[@Robertsramblings]

148

[@roadtriplover.]

Hi Robert. What model AC do you have? Is it one of the 12V roof ACs? How hard was it to install? What did you use to insulate your van and how thick/what R-value did you use?

[@Robertsramblings]

The air conditioner is a Frigidaire 5000 BTU. They make two different 5000 BTU air conditioners and it’s very important to get the one that’s the energy star model. One has digital controls, which is the one you want and the other has regular knobs. on the energy star model, it can reduce its speed and even turn off once the temperature reaches a setpoint and it also has soft start, both of those are very important running off of batteries. On insulation I use various types depending on the location and what I could get the most value out of. In some areas there was only a thickness that would allow me to use reflectic. In some areas of the wall, I was able to get fiberglass insulation as thick as 6+ inches. In some areas of the van foam board worked the best. I didn’t limit myself to one particular type of insulation, instead, I use what was best for the area that I was working with to get as much insulation as possible. That’s probably one of the most important things about a van built is the insulation. People a lot of times will focus on things that have little effect and probably are not worth the cost, but don’t spare any expense when it comes to insulation!

[@donnawalker5597]

Did you have previous building experience? Did you do all the work yourself? Can you give approximately cost of build not including van? Thank you

[@Robertsramblings]

Thank you for your reply and questions and the answer is yes to all three. First off I do have previous building experiences. I’ve owned a subcontracting company most of my life and I’ve also been a homebuilder. Yes, I did all the work myself. The sad part about that is is I know that I could have done better but was in a rush to get it done and didn’t.😢 The approximate cost was of course the van and that can very greatly dependent on the year that you buy the van. Is it new or is it used. The second cost to be incurred would be labor. I think you’re going fine that labor is a lot more expensive than most people think. I would not think $50 an hour would be in anyway unreasonable, I would like to insert here that I certainly don’t value my time at $50 an hour, my time is worth exceedingly more. That being said I didn’t track the hours that I had in the van. However, if you were being charged to build a van in the same manner that I built this van I wouldn’t expect it to be less than $20,000 in labor. The third major cost would be materials, again that can very greatly! It really depends on the quality of the materials that you use and also the size of the systems. Keep in mind in this van built there’s 500 W solar, at today’s cost around $600 if you include the taxes. You’ll see a lot of van bills that you won’t see any difference visually but they may only have a couple of hundred watts of solar which would be half the cost. Again, this van has 800 amp hours of lithium batteries, that’s an extreme expense. That expenses is going to very greatly upon who made the batteries. Are you going to have 200 amp hours, 400 amp hours or 800 amp hours I do. So you can see easily that these cost can very wildly. That being said I probably have $20,000 in materials. Since I bought the van new and got a really great deal on it, shopped and got the best prices possible on the materials and did all of my own work. If I estimate the cost of the work at $50 an hour I probably have $80,000 in this van

[@donnawalker5597]

@@Robertsramblings That's about what I was thinking. Thank you

[@marilynnerren5591]

My question is how does the air conditioner drain?

[@Robertsramblings]

This air conditioner doesn’t have your traditional drain plug that you would find them most air conditioners. I do not know this for a fact, and I did not find it in the instructions, but I am assuming that it evaporates the condensation and removes it through the exhaust.I’ve never seen any water come out of this air conditioner. Trust me that concerned me too.

[@marilynnerren5591]

@@Robertsramblings thank you for answering

[@thefrugalwanderlustinglinguist]

Let the man talk!! It's not about you!

[@SL_BA]

@thefrugalwanderlustinglinguist , I am sorry you think I am overtalking him. Robert is a good friend of mine and I let him have free reign on his video. We were just having good conversation about his beautiful van build. One of the best builds I have ever toured. I love that you are enjoying Panama...Robert and I have mutual friends who just moved there for retirement. They are loving it 😀

[@Robertsramblings]

Well, I don’t want to be rude, but the man did talk and it is about her! This is her and her husbands KZbin channel and without it you wouldn’t be seeing this van built at all. By the way, it was me doing the talking and she certainly give me the leeway to say everything I wanted to say, and she did not edit anything thing out. I was really pleased With the way, the video turned out!!!