*➤FULL BUILD playlist of this van - (basically a free DIY camper van building academy)* ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iga8VotrDqg.html *➤Bike helmet clips for unistrut:* Hero Clip - Medium amzn.to/3FLQiM4
Been a fan of your channel since the first van. Nate thank you for all the step by step instructions on electrical basics. Hope to see you on the slopes this winter in your much more reliable van!
Nice build! I like the garage area. I like the no face upper cabinets! I would guess the build cost would be around $40-$50K not including the cost of the van or labor.
Your van is great. Obviously your prior vans provided the foundation for building this one with all the items you knew were needed. I envy your project. If I were a much younger man I'd build one also. When my wife and I decided to start traveling in a class B we were 66 years old, so we opted to order a Coachmen Galleria.
After watching every video in the series (OK almost every video) I can only say wow! And congratulations! So helpful. Now I have a ton of hugely helpful notes to develop my build thanks to you.
Great video guys. You continue to inspire! Love the laid back, off the cuff, unrehearsed nature of the tour. Just picked up our new Promaster 3500 ext last week! Am only intimidated by the electrical aspect of our first build. Will be picking up prob 85% of our electrical components through you. Good chance we may hire Explorist for at least a "go-over" of our plan/a consultation. And so it begins...
I have similar set up in mind for my van, but I would push the mattress to the left, and have a wall of storage to the right @40cm deep. Much bigger window on the left and no overhead storage. Also pull out table from under the floor to slide out for cooking or just sitting.
Great job, beautiful van. I really like the cabinets and the bed, not so much the height. Recently went camping at a State Park the bathroom was so far from the cabin I brought a popup shower tent. Which I think would work for a outdoor shower. One big draw back folding the blasted portable shower back into the carrying bag. My guess the cost 💯 thousand. Thank you for detailed video. Once’s hope to build, but life has gotten in my way, oh my goodness my ADD would totally be a disaster build.
My electrical system is completely based on one of the exploristlife diagrams. It would not have power if it weren’t for you guys 🙏. Love the van. I have a Quigley 4x4 transit high roof normal wheel base. It’s a mini ski cabin. We did our upper storage with baskets like you and we love it. Congratulations on finishing. Looks amazing.
Your van turned out lovely. Thanks for all the DIY information. You guys have the best of the best on how to build a van. I've enjoyed watching all your videos and they've been helpful in doing my build. Enjoy your travels!
Nothing beats a real mattress! So I would prefer a real bed over a sitting area. That’s why I prefer Sailing boats they come with both plus a full bath plus two guest cabins :-) for our fiat-panda-4x4 compact camper we use a blow-up roof-top tent plus blow-up mattress with a memory gel topper wich is due to the blow-up tent floor astonishingly comfy and super insulated and work pretty well in cold conditions… our whole kitchen is a Primus gas-cooker in a 65cmx45cm kitchen box on rails in the back… our whole electricity comes from an eco-flow pro plus a 30 Ah battery for our water pump with 4.3 bar of pressure attached to a 30 Liter water tank :)
It was a great series of videos. Your expertise was very much appreciated. I am on the road full time now, so much of your electrical expertise has been put to good use. Thank you! One thing was never cleared up and would be a great service to Transit builders in the future. What did you end up doing with the second OEM altinator you specified on your Van? I don't recall this ever being part of any of your electrical build. Can you please clarify? Thanks again for all the helpful information.
I'm looking for details (brand, model) for the exterior portable solar panel port next to the shore power connection. I could not find it in the playlist or electrical system install videos.
Very nice and certainly no surprise since i watched you guys build from the beginning. This video brings the build to a nice crescendo. BTW, would you use those push/pull cabinet latches again? Are you satisfied with those for your cabinets? Thanks again guys for some very worthwhile videos.
Your van turned out great and it was a pleasure to follow you on the road to build it. Hope you'll make great memories with it over the years to come. OT: maybe you allready have a video out about what i'd like to ask or answered that somewhere else and you could provide a link to that. Is it possible to make a video about what all the different components, especially electric and plumbing weighs? Just started a "mind"project and seeing all those possible vans with so low usefull payloads are raising my concerns that a build of my own would be totally overloaded. Have great rides :)
Really beautiful build and design. Ambient lighting was really nice. Appreciate the recap of the things you changed from your previous build. Curious what the brand of the final woven flooring is?
I love the indirect lighting. Can you provide a link for the materials used for these lights? Great job on the build. I have to put in a plug for you for your electrical install kits. I have been working on a conversion myself and your tutorials and install kits have been a lifesaver. Thank you
Great build, I was waiting for the final tour of the van since I have followed the process since the start, I was curious to see #1 if you were going to end up using all of the L-track #2 I was waiting to see where the dining area or lounge area was going to be. You guys don't need any of the two?
I' put my water and power inlets in the same spot you did. I did the water inlet only because in California certain locations require you to have a water inlet to be considered an RV. The water inlet came from an RV supply store and the power inlet is from a Marine surplus store What kind of Connector did you use for your External Solar Panels? I have a Bluetti AC300/2x B300 Batteries setup. There are extra Solar ports on the Batteries.
Great fall backdrop for this beautiful fall time weather we're having! Nicely designed, beautifully built OTR full-time, weekend warrior or bug-out van! 5⭐ Cost? Van included = between $117K and $147K or Priceless if you include Nate's wage!
Induction cooktop in a Similar Van, one size smaller. I ripped off Forrest's idea of mounting in it's drawer (the drawer came out of a rack mount case I modified to hold Musical Equipment,so it's recycled). The Hamilton Beach Induction Cooktop I got was purchase from Best Buy because it has a square housing for drawer mount, by coincidence fit 19" Rack Mount Drawer. Drill some holes using a spade bit to the bottom to accommodate the fan and the line cord. I also wanted to go to the microwave went on the fritz (i still can function with patience [beating on it like an old TV] but the some kind of grease or something has gotten onto the circuit board that has to be disabled properly cleaned outside of the appliance). Lo I found and tested a Microwave with similar Dimensions from the thrift store, the old one into storage until they have the opportunity to clean it. Even before I got the van I had purchased a very "Cute" Australian-made alcohol Marine stove (2 burners and Oven) but I think it requires some special preparation to get it together. Shortly after buying the induction cooktop I also bought an old waffle iron that looks like it's still in decent shape and I did test it and it works for what is made for the old style waffle batter and I'm using this just add Water gluten-free waffle batter that probably requires different procedures the plates aren't Teflon. All these other appliances draw less current in the induction cooktop. 1 burner butane camping any of these items. Also prior to the building had an electric kettle so I I saved that.
Thank you to the sponsors, and thank you for doing it for us. Even more, thanks for asking for feedback and answering questions in the comments. My estimate, $150k including the van.
I need to hear back how the thinsulate + lizard skin (all of the insulation) holds up in winter weather. I plan to camp mainly in California but if a job takes me to Seattle or New York I'd like to be warm - so following your foundation I can know how it holds up. The deeper the snow the better! I checked a couple days ago for a whole van tour and a week later it's here, and what a long road it's been for you two guys
$135k is my guess.... We followed along your build steps as you released putting in what you did with the exact 540ah/24V system, ground deploy solar, lizard skin, Unaka roof rack, weboost and a bunch of other stuff on a sprinter. I hope I'm close as it will make me feel better about justifying my build out cost 😂
I’m always curious of what the total weight ends up being on builds. Have you weighed it with all your stuff? I would guess $137,234.63 retail prices on all your parts😊
Ten. Million. Dollars. Or maybe 140k. You guys are a kill. I hope to bump into you sometime at an event or next time in the 'boat. I'm buying the coffee/beer.
Like tucked into the van's metal wall structure, or did you frame around it? Maybe I just need to find the episode where you put the walls up? Great work on this series btw. I got here looking for tips on taking down the Transit's headliner (just planning my own build). @@EXPLORISTlife
Not currently; no. Plug kit w/ compressor, though. We still have our factory size spare which would get us to the next tire repair place in a pinch, though.
$175K. What do you have for heat? Thanks for all your hard work on the videos! We’re building out our second Transit- got lucky on a Transit Trail- and your electrical system vids have been super helpful.
Great choice. We had a Propex in our first van but we went with a gasoline heater in this one. Got a Velit and couldn’t be happier. Mounted it under the passenger seat. Even though the van is unfinished we’ve used it a few times, and we stayed toasty down into the teens here in the UP. It’s a definite improvement over the propane heater.
Im gonna guess you’re at about 100k, including the cost of the van. My two cents on the heater. If you’re using diesel, get an Espar, if you’re using gas, get a Webasto. We’ve installed around 10 Webasto gasoline heaters in Transits over the past 3 years and none of our customers have had any issues, except the one guy who requested we install an Espar B4 in his van… already having issues with the internal climate adjustment, which is a frequently reported issue among other things.
Wow... this looks longer/bigger than a "normal" van... or maybe it just looks bigger because I'm used to seeing SUVs and not work type vans, that I'm sure this would be closest to, originally at least... Since a "normal" SUV sized vehicle usually is just big enough to have a "single" bed in it, and MAYBE, albeit unlikely a "twin" while having ANY kind of space left over, for storage or cooking needs (i could get by with just a microwave really) going the length of the van, whilst only (likely) having the front row of seating available, i do wonder if such a thing would be feasible to do? Obviously, you would probably have at most, 8ft of usable space, depending on the SUV size available, unless you DID use some kind of work van type of vehicle, which might net you a slight increase in length and cubic feet of space to work with, and i wonder if there are ways to make better use of the available space? Like for instance, instead of doing a bed lengthways, how abut doing a semi-custom bed frame, that has the upper body portion of the bed at some kind of an incline, and then flipped sideways, to save space for more seating or else more storage in place of the 2nd row of seating perhaps? I don't have the money to do something like this, but if I did, I would love to see what I can make out of something with such restricted working space... I'm going to have to watch a few videos on how exactly this particular vehicle was made into a camper van, because I would definitely like to know exactly how you did certain things with it. I wouldn't need windows on mine, were I to build one though, so all i would likely need for mine, were i to have the money, would be a panel kit, and probably not even any water storage, or as minimal of water storage as can be had, since I probably wouldn't ever need more than a 5gallon tank of water, including water heater, for basically everything I'd want water for...(again, assuming i even cared about water storage) Most of the electrical stuff could obviously be put, depending on vehicle type, inside of the standard "stow-N-go" storage that's available on some SUVs today, and even if it's NOT the type to have built-in under seat storage, it could also likely be placed under the bed pretty easily, and come to think of it, you could, if it was small enough, have your microwave under the bed too, although I'd probably put some kind of shock absorption panel under it, just in case it needed it to reduce turntable rattling... You've really given me a few ideas to think on in case I ever decide to do any projects like this. And, I'm not just talking camper vans either, but also pull behind trailer pop up RV tent things, which could also benefit from certain things such as LED lights and things of that nature...
@@EXPLORISTlife I remember when you started building this van, I asked about mitigating condensation for this build. As you camp this winter, I'm hoping to hear how some of your solutions worked out.
why is the side door always on the passenger side? if that door slide gets messed up, can you replace it easily. why does everyone put the sink next to the side door instead of the toilet. I could imagine cleaning a litter box from the side door and disposing of the contents into a campfire. you do the math. why do you need swivel seats? you dont. would prefer the metal bulkhead with the kitchen galley mounted thataway to allow more room. But I am the guy that just sits in that seat to drive, and then parks in the camping place just to open the side door to camp. also the sinkbottom is also mounted crossways. at night I activate a self-inflating mattress on the floor to sleep. As I said, this is camping. there would be floor to ceiling storage in the back with plenty of canned meat. the roof has 4-200 watt bouge rv 9BB panels, 1 maxxair fan, and that fancy A/c unit. I like the exterior solar plug, because there are 11 Lipo4 12.8v 100ah batteries in different places in the ban. There will be four other 200 watt panels stored in the garage to bring out while camping. The theme to this build is "We have options here." there would be 4-5 different cooking options, 120v,12v, coleman stove with small propane and single burner with butane canister. the water heater goes in the cabinet under the sink, along with the water filtration system. the grey water tank is that 15 gallon that fits underneath in the sparetire well. (ram promaster) the garage has a slideout deck and slide out drawers on top of the deck. there is a hidden shower pan directly in front of the sink (hidden under a floorboard.) so the showerpan and the sink have the same drain pipe.the shower head is connected to the sink faucet. you can figure out how to clean up after. there will also be a fold up platform to fold out over the sink area to sleep on, if one so desires. Also, on top of the van is a slideout deck that functions as a side awning, but slides back to protect everything from weather like hail and crap like that. needless to say I have built this van in my head.
Hey there, big guy! I'm sorry you've got so much negativity going on in your life that you have to spend your time coming to my channel to talk shit on my projects. Maybe logging off of the internet for a bit and going for a walk or hanging out with friends if you have any may help. Thanks for watching anyway and I hope your day gets better. 🙂
