- 2 months ago
A Mercedes Sprinter 170 all-wheel drive camper van gets a luxury off-grid makeover that feels like a European cottage on wheels. Cody of Barn Swallow Tiny Homes, an ABYC certified marine electrician and master woodworker, walks through a build packed with smart storage, warm shiplap finishes, and a highly engineered layout that wastes almost no space.
Inside and out, the van is loaded with practical upgrades: a 10 kWh EcoFlow electrical system, 700 watts of rooftop solar, Van Life Tech radiant floor heating and hot water, an under-bench air conditioner, an ARB compressor, and a hidden composting toilet. The tour also highlights the dual-layer outdoor kitchen, lagoon table, rattan cabinet fronts, flare pods, pass-through bulkhead, and serviceable cabinetry designed for real vanlife use.
This is a detailed camper van tour, tiny home on wheels walkthrough, and off-grid van conversion showcase for anyone interested in Sprinter van builds, luxury vanlife, custom cabinetry, solar power systems, and compact RV design. It is especially useful for viewers searching for camper van tour, Mercedes Sprinter build, off-grid van conversion, and tiny house on wheels ideas.
Inside and out, the van is loaded with practical upgrades: a 10 kWh EcoFlow electrical system, 700 watts of rooftop solar, Van Life Tech radiant floor heating and hot water, an under-bench air conditioner, an ARB compressor, and a hidden composting toilet. The tour also highlights the dual-layer outdoor kitchen, lagoon table, rattan cabinet fronts, flare pods, pass-through bulkhead, and serviceable cabinetry designed for real vanlife use.
This is a detailed camper van tour, tiny home on wheels walkthrough, and off-grid van conversion showcase for anyone interested in Sprinter van builds, luxury vanlife, custom cabinetry, solar power systems, and compact RV design. It is especially useful for viewers searching for camper van tour, Mercedes Sprinter build, off-grid van conversion, and tiny house on wheels ideas.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Welcome back to the show. Today, I met up with Cody with Barnsweil Tiny Homes.
00:03He's a master van builder here in New Jersey.
00:06Today, he's going to give us a full tour of this awesome creation
00:09and wait until you see what this van can do. It's going to blow you away.
00:13So join us.
00:15What's going on, Patrick? Thanks for having me back on the channel for my third van build.
00:18I'm a master van builder here at Barnsweil Tiny Homes.
00:21I'm an ABYC certified marine electrician, master woodworker, and this is my latest creation.
00:26It's an all-wheel drive Mercedes Sprinter 170, non-extended,
00:30and we've built a really badass custom tiny house van conversion.
00:35I can't wait to show you what we got going on here.
00:37My clients, they came to me with a very specific list of requirements.
00:41They wanted to be able to live in style on the road.
00:44They wanted to feel like they're in some kind of European cottage,
00:46so there's really warm tones in this van.
00:51It's homely, but it's also not sparing any expense.
00:54There's a 10 kilowatt hour electrical system, for example, 700 watts of solar.
01:00We'll get into all that, but there's a lot of goodies in store.
01:04Down here we have the Amp Research Power Steps to get in and out of the van nice and easy,
01:09barefoot and whatnot.
01:11Moving on to the van compass suspension we got, big off-road tires,
01:16and this van is all-wheel drive, like I mentioned.
01:19My clients, when they got their van, they got the painted match bumpers.
01:23It's, I guess, usually a black plastic, and it's pretty cool to this match tone.
01:28Jumping up top, we got a light bar.
01:30It's bright as hell, and we got one of four cameras to go around the perimeter of the van for
01:35security.
01:37Moving on to this side of the van, we got, obviously, the big tires and everything.
01:41You open the door, the Amp Research Power Step folds out.
01:45I always love that.
01:46We got a Vander Moon window with built-in bug screen and shade.
01:52Down here we got the diesel boiler that does the air heating and radiant heat in the floor,
01:58as well as the domestic hot water.
02:01We got a White Top Adventures roof rack up there.
02:04Really impressed with the quality on that and the price point.
02:06Then we got one of two lights.
02:09This one's a more subtle light for nighttime than, like, just for, you know, a little brightness outside,
02:14and that's a big floodlight that really lights things up back here.
02:17Actually, speaking of which, we got a key fob here, all these keys.
02:21So, circuit A is the other side.
02:23Circuit B is this little light on the side.
02:25Then circuit C goes to this pod light,
02:28and the one on the other side of the van you'll see on the other side.
02:33Jumping back down, of course, the complimentary rear part of the suspension system.
02:40Really heavy-duty, built for all the weight that's in this van.
02:44Got a pressurized fill inlet for the water system.
02:48And there's a 38-gallon under-mount water tank that goes where the spare tire went.
02:55Jumping around to the back.
02:56Speaking of the spare tire, we have a full-size spare on a flare-space rack.
03:02We also have flare-space bunk pods.
03:04I forgot to mention that.
03:07And, yeah, this van's got cameras on cameras.
03:10So, there's the factory camera, and on top of it,
03:13we thought that was a convenient spot to mount the other one of the four DVR cameras.
03:18This has a factory step bumper.
03:22And we open this up.
03:24We've got a full garage here.
03:28Plenty to talk about.
03:30We've got the Van Essential storage pods.
03:32And we've got these custom...
03:35These are made-in-house, these shiplock panels that cover up where the windows would be.
03:40The clients decided they wanted to go with an EcoFlow power kit.
03:43We're really big on Victron in my shop.
03:45I love Victron.
03:46But we decided to try out the EcoFlow power kit.
03:49Quite happy with that.
03:50It seems to be a quite viable option.
03:54We've got a tool drawer.
03:56So, my client wanted to be able to house some tools on the road,
03:59and he wanted to be able to plug his battery chargers in
04:02so that everything stays topped off and ready to use.
04:05Those little lights that are in the back of the drawer, those come on automatically.
04:08So, as soon as you open the drawer, they click, they come on.
04:12And this is one of the hatches to access the electrical utilities.
04:17So, these are 10 kilowatt-hour battery bank in the back.
04:20And then there's the EcoFlow power hub back there.
04:23It's kind of hard to see in that dark corner.
04:25But that other service door that's there would be how you'd access that.
04:29We love to use marine-grade wiring whenever applicable on our camper van conversions,
04:33being an ABYC-certified marine electrician.
04:37Big on electrical safety and quality.
04:42Then in the back there, we have a little tiny place that we couldn't waste.
04:46I hate wasting any spots that we could possibly store something.
04:49So, any tools that would be lesser used go in those little totes down there, design that space.
04:56Under the bed here, you have a 100-year-old Douglas Fir reclaimed floorboards that we used as bed slats.
05:02It's very, very, very strong and dense.
05:05It smells lovely and allows aeration with weight savings to the bottom of the bed.
05:12Then we have a nice curved light.
05:14This is really an exterior light that you use on the side of your RV,
05:17but we wanted a curved light that would send the light this way for when this tray opens up.
05:21So, we have a big storage tray with a rubber mat in it.
05:27And my client can put D-rings or whatever he wants on this wooden perimeter to screw things down nice
05:34and smooth.
05:35Got an aluminum strip that covers the edge here.
05:38There's an insulated subfloor with radiant heat in the floor of this van.
05:41And speaking the radiant, you might be wondering what these are.
05:44These little marks are just permanent reminders of where those coolant loops are so nobody ever sticks a screw through
05:50them.
05:52And one of the coolest things about this van and, you know, the customization level here at Barnsville Tiny Homes
05:57is my client's really big into air foiling.
06:01And so he wanted to place the dedicated storage to store his foil board.
06:06And so there's a 19 and a half by 88 inch cavern here that he can slide his foil board
06:11right in without worrying about theft or anything.
06:15Oh, these, oh, this is a, this is a really cool thing.
06:18Thanks for the reminder, Patrick.
06:19These, these hinges, you can pull the pins on them.
06:23I'll just show you how to do it.
06:24So you just pull that around to the side and then the whole door just comes right off like that
06:30for easy access and service.
06:32And all of these doors have those, those hinges so that you can pull them right off and access things
06:36without the door in the way.
06:38Next, we have just an extra valve to protect the city water inlet for, this is for an indoor water
06:45tank.
06:45There's a 12 gallon water tank indoors for cold weather.
06:49And then above that, there's a shower diverter that puts hot and cold water to this hose coil that's in
06:56here.
06:56It's a wash down, wash down hose.
07:00And we've got the ARB compressor.
07:04It's pressurized already.
07:05So it's not going to kick on.
07:06But then we have the light switching right here for in there and there USB chargers for any accessories that
07:14they'd want.
07:15And these are for the docking lights in the back, this green switch back here.
07:19So if you turn that on now, this is on a three way switch, you can turn this on and
07:23off from the driver's seat or back here without having to like run around to the front or come to
07:28the back to turn them on.
07:29If you're backing in at night.
07:32Moving on to the Dometic front runner, we've got a drop down tool bench right here that we can work
07:40on.
07:41This has an extension that slides out in bamboo, nice and clean and rugged.
07:45Then we got these white oak standoffs.
07:49They're cutoffs from the countertop that I did.
07:51But the reason we did that was so you could still access this slim pocket and slip skinny things in
07:56there, being essential.
08:00You might be wondering what that black bar is up there when Patrick pans up there.
08:04That's a curtain rod.
08:05My clients have their own curtains that they're going to hang there.
08:08And so that's just that's out of the builder's realm.
08:14Then we got this this light here.
08:17It's also a bright light, a curved light, and it's on a dimmer so you can dial it back if
08:23you want.
08:23The cool thing about that is if you slide this 270 degree hinge from Mercedes out to the side,
08:29you can jack this all the way up and you have flood lighting off of this corner.
08:33So if you're hanging out outside at night, you can really light it up.
08:42So moving around this side, we got the same flare space flare pods for east to west sleeping.
08:49They're going to put their heads on this side of the van.
08:51We got another pod light I can show you.
08:54Actually, I can't show you.
08:56There they are.
08:56Now I can show you the pod lights.
09:00So that's on circuit C.
09:01You can turn that on.
09:02I can also show you circuit A, which is that right there.
09:05And there's there's two of these key fobs.
09:07So husband and wife each get one.
09:11And let's see.
09:13Then we got a sliding.
09:14It's factory style, so it fits in the factory footprint.
09:17But it's a sliding window with built in screen and blinds.
09:25And then up underneath the van, we have a gray tank.
09:28It's a 22 gallon Northwest conversions gray tank that fits up under there.
09:33There's also a dump valve on that same key fob set up.
09:36So if they want to, you know, dump the tank when they get to a dump station,
09:41they just got to press a button.
09:44Then one of the coolest features of this van,
09:46I'm going to show you about behind this door.
09:48You fold this little door down and we have an outdoor kitchen out here.
09:52So it was kind of an ambiguous thing.
09:56They just they wanted an outdoor kitchen.
09:57It was my job to make it as cool as possible.
10:00And so I'll show you all the layers here.
10:02I call it my Russian drawer system.
10:04So first we have a Moride tray.
10:06It's a big RV storage tray.
10:12And then we got a nested countertop for seating.
10:16So the idea here is that they would have stools that they bring with them that sit on each side.
10:20And then we have a storage drawer within all of these.
10:24What's pretty cool about all this is you don't have,
10:26you can pick and choose which drawer you actually want out.
10:28Like if we, you know, obviously you don't have to keep this drawer open all the time.
10:33We don't have to keep this drawer open all the time.
10:35Well, if they don't want to sit out here, they have, you know, the ability to just cook.
10:39And also when all of this is put back in like that, they can still access this drawer
10:45if they want to get stuff out of it for use inside.
10:51This is an electromagnetic latch that holds it open at full extension.
10:55And back in there, we have the lift up panels or just for additional storage.
11:00And really the point of this is just to provide a discriminant so you don't put anything higher
11:04than this so it doesn't bump into anything in that corner.
11:07Then this is the outdoor kitchen.
11:09This is where you'd actually cook.
11:11You'd put your cooktop, your air fryer, and that'll be the case for them.
11:14They're big on air fryer cooking and their outdoor cooktop.
11:19They want to do very little cooking inside.
11:21So that's the whole idea is they want to spend as much time outside as possible.
11:25This is something I wanted to highlight that I think is really cool.
11:27I wanted to do some interesting joinery here.
11:30So it's just a box joint instead of a simple 90 degree butt joint.
11:33We're really big on custom joinery and custom cabinetry
11:38and everything here at Barnes, Small & Tiny Homes.
11:40And speaking of little touches like that,
11:43usually when you buy these locking slides,
11:45they come with yellow tabs or sometimes blue tabs based on their weight rating.
11:49And so we use some brown heat shrink to make these look a little more organic
11:52and just blend in better.
11:56So push that back in and make sure you know who made it.
12:00Barnes, Small & Tiny Homes, baby.
12:04Okay, so let's cascade into the van now.
12:08I'm going to step on in
12:12and
12:14I'm going to scootch out of the way here a little bit.
12:16I guess we'll start down low still.
12:21So part of the idea here with the outdoor kitchen,
12:24I'm not going to be able to show you because of the lagoon table in the way at the moment,
12:27but this flips up.
12:28So if they want to access anything that's in the outdoor kitchen, they can do that.
12:34Or else this also pulls out.
12:37So these little nested drawers like that.
12:41And yeah, you can drop that pillow like that.
12:44So if you've got a friend that wants to crash, they've got a place to do so.
12:49Put that back.
12:56This was a design challenge for sure, getting that all working clear.
13:01We've got a nice aluminum step.
13:04It's glued down with no screws or anything showing.
13:07This is rigid vinyl plank flooring.
13:09And there's radiant heat loops in the floor and make it really cozy.
13:14Van life tech system.
13:17Oh, and one of the cool things on this build,
13:19you might have seen these on the internet.
13:21They kind of went viral.
13:22The Pareto outlets they're called.
13:23They're just low profile oval shaped outlets.
13:27And, you know, there's just no no frill to them.
13:30They're just as bare bones as they need to be
13:32and really help with that cottage feel that we've got going on in here.
13:36That's shoe storage there.
13:38So when you walk in, you've got a place to stick your shoes or
13:41whatever you want to stuff there.
13:45Then jumping up to the bulkhead wall,
13:47this is something I really wanted to talk about at length.
13:50A lot of times when you see bulkhead walls and vans and they're very thin,
13:54it's got a hinge door because of how the profile is.
13:58But on this van, I really wanted a pocket door that slides
14:02and I wanted it all to fit behind this piece of weather stripping.
14:05So this door is only like an inch and an eighth thick,
14:07which is pretty incredible for what it houses
14:10with a sliding pocket door on soft closed drawer slides.
14:14You know, the other advantage to that is when the door closes,
14:17see this handle.
14:18A lot of times people have a recess here that you have to reach into to close the door.
14:23But I have a really sleek,
14:26really sleek look there with the panel being flat.
14:30From Patrick's side.
14:33Hey, what's going on?
14:34This is the pass through.
14:35They got to bail out quick.
14:36They can jump through, jump through this little hole and take off and vice versa.
14:41If it's pouring down rain, they don't have to get out of the van to come back here.
14:45That's a little shelf that my client got for the sprinter console.
14:50There's a serious lack of space to store things in a sprinter.
14:53So that's, that's a nice upgrade.
14:56And this is the wood bulkhead wall.
14:59It kind of, from the outside, the goal was to make it look kind of like nonchalant
15:04and like a contractor van almost.
15:06So it's not a real giveaway to what you got in here.
15:09Then we got a headliner shelf.
15:11I'll show you more from the other side, but there's a drawer that goes above that.
15:17So if you lift this up, this is the height the headliner shelf fits above the cab.
15:23You slide that open, you got a rubber mat in here too.
15:26Don't want anything chafing the bottom of the cabin or vibrating.
15:29And then you can always stuff stuff off to the side too.
15:31So there's a solid rail on each side when the drawer slides are mounted.
15:36And so whatever you think you can fit in there, you can fit in there.
15:39Um, these, um, these were ton face cabinet doors are really, really beautiful.
15:46They're inspired.
15:47This whole van actually is with heavy design consideration and inspiration for
15:51Bonanza campers out of Europe.
15:53I really want to provide a, a shout out to them for their incredible design tastes
15:57and their inspiration here.
15:59Um, and more on that here.
16:00We got Ritton Ritton face doors with storage made the kept backs of the cabinets all really
16:07easy to remove in case they ever want to run new wire or anything.
16:10Uh, if everything's serviceable on my vans and then jumping over here, we got the electrical
16:16distribution and just the control panel.
16:19And instead of seeing all this stuff on the face side, we just decided to put it behind
16:22a rotund door.
16:24Uh, the van life tech radiant heat system is right here.
16:28And, uh, so if we wanted the heat to turn on, we could turn that on.
16:31This is the air conditioning.
16:32Um, this is for under cabinet lighting right there.
16:36And we've got an eco flow power kit on this van.
16:39So this is just the display.
16:41This is like the analog for eco flow to the Victron servo GX and touch screen.
16:45Um, and then, uh, if you want to see this rat's nest of wires we got going on back there,
16:50it gives you an idea how many circuits we got in this van.
16:53That's how you'd access it.
16:55It's just behind that door.
16:56And then, uh, there's a lack of light switches on this van and that's with intention.
17:01We wanted to not see a bunch of switches all over the place.
17:04So as you can see, the lights are going on and off and there's touch switches throughout
17:07this van where you can control the lights.
17:10And also if you hold them, they can, they can dim and brighten up depending on how long
17:16you hold them.
17:17All right.
17:17So the next thing I want to talk about is the, uh, the lagoon table system here.
17:21We got, we got a white oak butcher block top and it's the same butcher block that's on the
17:26other side of the kitchen, but we have extension leafs that I made that nest in here.
17:30Really simple to disassemble that.
17:33And, uh, the whole idea here is that my client needed a place to do mobile work.
17:37So he said a minimum of 32 inch width that he needs for across here.
17:41And I think it measures out at like 34.
17:43So, and if you, it's a kind of a tight space here, but, um, even as a bigger guy,
17:49it really works for me too.
17:50It's, uh, you know, I can certainly picture him here with his laptop and notebook,
17:54notebooks and stuff.
17:56Um, then, uh, the Vander moon window we got going on here.
18:03This is, um, got built in shade, which is really nice built in bug screen with extension jam.
18:11So usually this would be touching there, but we made a cedar extension jam for that to make
18:15it feel more homely, uh, on the, on the surface of the cushions here, we have a linen fabric.
18:21It's kind of meant to match the Greek Villa paint we got going on.
18:25It's got a little bit, a little tint of cream to it.
18:27Um, doesn't want like a pure bright white in here.
18:30And, uh, then in this cabinet, oh my God, was that a game of Tetris?
18:35Um, we have at the base level, we have the air heater that the, the coolant circulates through.
18:41And then right above that, we have a hidden toilet stuffed in there.
18:43Somehow you'll see more on that.
18:45Um, the lagoon table mountain, of course, this has to be like rock solid.
18:49The house of the, this big, heavy lagoon table, um, let me stand up and get out of the way
18:54here.
18:54And I hate wasting space on any of my vans.
18:58So we've got a little tiny drawer just because just why not have a little drawer right there.
19:02And then in this corner, we have the coolant reservoir for the van life tech rating heat system.
19:08There's a safe in that corner.
19:10And then there's a little box that they can put blankets or whatever in from above.
19:14Now this, uh, this ceiling here is we, we made this shiplap at my shop in, in Sweetwater, New Jersey.
19:22We got rough sawn Atlantic white cedar here from New Jersey, and we planed it board by board and, uh,
19:28rip cut it.
19:30Um, we actually got two boards out of one, one piece.
19:32And then we used a router jig to make the shiplap groove.
19:36My clients wanted a wide shiplap groove.
19:39And, uh, it's those little details we really like to pay attention to.
19:41So a lot of times with shiplap, you get a little nickel gap, but they wanted a nice fat gap
19:45on it.
19:46Um, then jumping over here to the counter, we got American white oak butcher block.
19:53That is, uh, all continuous and really solid prep surface area.
19:58Um, it's hard to beat that in a man that's bigger than some residential kitchens have, I feel like.
20:03And, uh, another nod to, uh, Bonanza camper vans and their builds.
20:09They, they have this tile here and, uh, my clients just absolutely loved it.
20:13So they wanted to roll with that too.
20:15And, um, on any of the metal, my clients were really big on not seeing any metal exposed.
20:21They wanted to have any metal that was kind of weird and amorphous that we wanted to try and hide.
20:27We wanted to use burlap on.
20:29So I, I hear burlap to everywhere.
20:31And one of the coolest spots of that, I think is up there in that corner, Patrick,
20:35where you can see right there or behind that weird spot that Mercedes puts.
20:40And there's also a little, um, there's little bolts that stick out if you ever built a Mercedes
20:44sprinter van.
20:45So that was a real challenge to hide.
20:47And we actually changed the plane and the ceiling.
20:49So this last board wrapped and, and hid those bolts.
20:53Uh, moving on to the Le Mans fan.
20:55This is a pretty neat, low profile fan.
20:58And the idea there is that you're actually able to put that fan and it's shroud underneath
21:01the solar panel.
21:02So you don't actually lose space for, uh, for solar on the roof, like you would with
21:07a max air fan, trying to play Tetris around it.
21:10And, uh, my clients, uh, they wanted some kind of like lighting fixture that was also a multi-purpose.
21:17So the primary purpose of this is, is for a lighting fixture, but while they're parked and in use,
21:22they want to just be able to put their cups and have like cute place to stick cups and bowls
21:26and stuff.
21:27And then anytime they travel, they'll just pull it down and store it away.
21:31Um, the faucet is pretty straightforward, just a real simple faucet.
21:35And we've got this insert that came with the sink that drops right in there for
21:39additional prep surface and cooking surface.
21:42Got this little stainless steel grate.
21:43And this is kind of like imitation stone.
21:45It's like a, it's, it's like, it's a basically a Corian product.
21:48It's just off, off name brand.
21:51Uh, one of the neatest things in my opinion about this van is just the, the, the beauty
21:57and kind of weirdness of this piece with this angled section and the tile and the reveals that
22:01are involved.
22:02Um, this sort of design feature is very prevalent again in Bonanza campers.
22:08I can't thank them enough for the blueprint they laid on this.
22:11Just absolutely brilliant design tastes and, uh, happy to implement that.
22:16I hope we made you proud.
22:19Down here, we got the fridge freezer combo.
22:22And again, look at the clearances on this, like just to make the damn fridge fit.
22:27Uh, that's on fridge freezer combo under cabinet lighting.
22:31And then we got not one, not two, not three, not four, but five drawers down here of all
22:35different sizes for varied storing rubber mats in the bottom of them.
22:40Um, soft close slides and all of them.
22:44This is the deepest one for storing your biggest items.
22:48And we have this little cabinet here where the UV water filter and some of the plumbing
22:53is housed for easy access.
22:55Now this is wide open for a reason.
22:58If you recall, the foil board has to come, you know, from all the way in the back up into
23:03here.
23:03It's, it's very long.
23:04It's 80 something inches long.
23:05And this cavern is like 88 inches long.
23:08Um, all the outlets in here are GFCI protected.
23:10So even though you have this fancy, subtle, uh, kind of a paradox there, right?
23:16Fancy, subtle Prado outlet, it is GFCI protected and it's right here.
23:21Then there's a switch right here for the UV filter.
23:24So in case they don't want it on for whatever reason, if they're winterizing or whatnot,
23:27they can turn that off, uh, down here.
23:32It's gonna be hard for me to get my big butt out of the way, but we got, um, this
23:36is even though
23:37it looks like a cabinet or a drawer face, like all the other cabinets and drawer faces in this van,
23:41it's actually a hidden air duct for the air conditioner.
23:45So the air conditioner sits underneath the bed and then the duct work snakes through right here
23:49and connects to this block.
23:50So the air conditioner is on just cold, cold air just pours out of that vent, uh, jumping up to
23:58the ceiling again.
23:59Um, I'm going to try and get a little low here so you get a nice view of it.
24:04And we have, uh, I actually modified this trim ring.
24:08So the, this, uh, skylight had a big bulbous white trim ring on it and we hated it.
24:13So we decided to make a wooden trim ring for it.
24:16But on this, it's got a built in blind built in bug screen.
24:22Very nice.
24:23And then of course it hatches open in case they want to access their
24:29starling fish that's on the roof or they just want to let some nice ventilation into the van.
24:38Close that back up since we got a little bit of a drizzle going on here.
24:42And, um, the bed shelf over here, we wanted something that kind of honored the shelves in
24:48the kitchen, but with a little more utility to it so that we have a rope ledge on it.
24:52And it's kind of a mix of like boho and nautical vibes.
24:55I'm not really sure what to call it, but, uh, it's certainly cool.
24:58And it catches your eye in here in this van and then down here.
25:02So I've never really seen anybody do this, but we, we used bendy ply to make the,
25:08um, window openings for the flare space pods.
25:12And those are literally as big as they possibly can.
25:15You might notice that this isn't a 90 degree angle.
25:17This literally follows the exact steel line around the, around the perimeter.
25:22So it's as big as it can possibly get and allows maximum space.
25:27Uh, little USB outlets and AC outlets here for phone charging and whatnot.
25:32They're going to put their heads on this side of the bed.
25:35And then, uh, we want to match shiplap panels the whole way around the van.
25:39So they just want a nice clean, uh, shiplap.
25:41And you can kind of picture when you saw the curtain rod from the back,
25:44you can picture the drapes like going off to the side,
25:47really finish that look and really make it feel homely and warm in here.
25:50Uh, rope trim wherever, uh, applicable just, uh, really aids in that warmth
25:56that we were going for in this cottage.
25:59Um, and then, um, let me see here.
26:03Oh, we've got these Ritton face cabinets.
26:06I'd imagine they'll probably use this for like clothes storage and whatnot.
26:09His and hers.
26:10Um, there's that cloth that's in there right now that there's magnets.
26:16It's gonna be hard for me to show you and reach, but there's,
26:18there's magnets on the underside that they can hang.
26:20Cause they want to put a projector over here to be able to watch TV in bed.
26:26Um, got the matching flare space, flare pot on that side.
26:30The one on this side is actually wider.
26:32Uh, then we got the Sirocco fan, Patrick and I are playing a twister here,
26:39trying to show you guys everything.
26:40Uh, but then there's also a touch light.
26:43So the, the bed light is on the same kind of hidden touch switch as the others.
26:48Uh, the Sirocco fan is, is quite powerful despite its size.
26:52And so the idea of mounting it right here was based off the idea that,
26:57uh, it could blow right on them when they're sleeping,
26:59but also if someone's prepping food in the kitchen,
27:01you can swivel it out this way and have it blast you.
27:05Uh, I think this is also, uh, my, again, cabinetry here at Barnsville,
27:10Tiny Homes is really something that we're, we're known for.
27:13And so we've got a pantry cabinet that, uh, pulls out and this is double sided.
27:20So you could access whatever you have in here from the bed.
27:22If you wanted to store chocolate and snacks or something from the top there.
27:26Um, this has this weird recess here because there's actually a shower niche in the shower
27:31that, um, is hard to see there, but you can see the metal sticking out right there.
27:35So there's that protrusion.
27:36So that's why this recess is here, soft, closed slides.
27:41And, uh, it's up to them to figure out what they're going to store on these shelves.
27:45But then open this one and maybe I'll open them both at the same time, Patrick.
27:50But, um, get my, myself out of the way here.
27:53But, uh, the weird shape to these is based off of the wheel well and the utilities in this cabinet.
27:59So we wanted to try and make the most of the space that we have.
28:02We've got these cute little rattan baskets that fit right in these spots.
28:06Um, good for toiletries and whatnot, I'd imagine.
28:10And then, uh, this drawer is kind of weird, kind of stick your hand underneath there.
28:14But I just didn't want to waste the space.
28:15I needed to place them out the slides.
28:18And, uh, I guess we'll, at least we'll show them both, both open at the same time.
28:22I got gravity working against us here, but, um, but lots of storage there.
28:29And, uh, certainly making the most of it.
28:33And this, despite this rattan being on the face of here,
28:37and there being stuff inside of there that could potentially damage the rattan,
28:41the way we did this is we actually put a felt backing behind the rattan so it looks like negative
28:46space.
28:47So before we jump into the bathroom, I just wanted to show you this storage underneath the bed.
28:51We've got three drawers here and they're all a little bit different.
28:54So the bottom one is nice and deep.
28:55It's just a drawer and, uh, you might notice that little button in the back.
28:59The bottom drawer and the top drawer are on electromagnetic latches.
29:03If you just stick your hand underneath the drawer, you can't open it now.
29:07There's a little tiny button switch right here, nonchalant.
29:10So close that one up.
29:12This one, you see nice and it's shallow and there's a drain that goes across the side of the van.
29:17And also the plumbing utilities are all housed in there.
29:20Creates the illusion of a deep drawer just to hide that stuff.
29:24This comes out.
29:25This is a bed step with a solid top on it.
29:27So you can flip this open the piano hinge and put stuff in there still.
29:32Those are 500 pound rated drawer slides.
29:36And if there's ever any doubts in the, the strength of barn swallow tiny homes cabinetry,
29:44it's watching my big butt get up here on the bed.
29:47Um, but yeah.
29:48And, uh, as you can see, there's enough head room for a pretty big person to be on the bed.
29:54And, um, really proud of how this all came out.
29:57We, we took advantage of every nook and cranny.
30:00And if you look at the clearances, like on, on this, you know, down here,
30:04like just look at the clearances on that.
30:06We got maybe three eights of an inch on each side.
30:08It's just, we didn't waste a damn thing in here.
30:13Okay.
30:14And I went to the bathroom.
30:16So this is a in-house design.
30:18We wanted to just a really simple handle on this.
30:21Like a, like in a residential application, you wouldn't have to worry about this door
30:25flying open on the road.
30:27So we came up with this little latch and there's silicone grease and rubber washers
30:32here that allow this to just swivel around and lock the door.
30:35And then there's these catches that just support the door.
30:38So the strain's not on the hinges.
30:41Open it up the whole way.
30:43And you see that clearance on the countertop there.
30:46It's just nuts.
30:51All right.
30:52So then jumping over here, we've got a wet bath here with a recirculation shower.
30:58This is Van Life Tex recirculation shower.
31:01I got a teak grate with Brazilian rosewood oil on it.
31:05A sink, a little shower niche for the light.
31:08And all of the lights are like this one.
31:11There's no exception.
31:12There's a touch switch right here to turn it on and off.
31:15A little, I burned this piece of wood and stained it.
31:18So it's rot resistant and it'll dry out nice.
31:24Then going down here to the Van Life Tex system.
31:26I'll show you the inside of that.
31:28It's quite a lot of complexity to this system, but it's pretty genius.
31:32It allows you to import two gallons of water and then take pretty much an endless shower
31:36on that same two gallons of water.
31:38It reheats it and circulates it in the loop.
31:41And of course, the shower head goes here.
31:44These little wooden buttons here, those are just places to hang their hand towels
31:47when they're parked.
31:49And up here, we have one of the Le Mans fans in the shower.
31:53So exhaust the either toileting smells or the vapors from the shower.
32:02And then down here, I don't want to bump your camera, sorry.
32:07You've got this marine hatch, drop that down until it touches the floor.
32:12And then you reach in here, get these locking tabs, and pull the toilet out until it stops.
32:19And we have a Trilino composting toilet.
32:22There's an exhaust fan that goes out.
32:24And, you know, it's not a lot of room, but it's, I think, pretty genius space utilization.
32:31So this is amazing what you've done here with this van.
32:36Every van that you do, it's like better and better and better.
32:39And this is a masterpiece.
32:41So one of the things I want to point out, because we spoke a lot off camera about this van,
32:46and there's so many little extra details, like the hidden light switches here,
32:51the different types of outlets instead of your standard outlet cover.
32:54Even the point that you painted these fans to look like wood, because they were just like
33:00probably an off-white or bright white.
33:02They were a horrendous gray color that did not match anything in here.
33:05So yeah, we painted the base layer, and then we used the wood stain to create the imitation of
33:10grain across it.
33:12And another thing we didn't really talk about a lot in the video was the under bench air conditioning.
33:18So I guess the advantage to that is it's quieter than a central air to be right in the middle
33:23of the roof.
33:23It frees up roof space so you have more solar or more roof deck.
33:29Lower center of gravity.
33:30It's a little bit more stealth looking on the outside if people are still going for that.
33:34Sure.
33:34And I think it's a little bit more efficient, an amperage draw.
33:38Yeah.
33:38Probably run it a little bit longer.
33:39Especially since it's a 48-volt unit, so it doesn't go through AC inversion.
33:44It pulls directly from the batteries, which that's the biggest advantage in terms of power savings.
33:49But yeah, it's a quiet unit.
33:51VLIT makes it at the VLIT's the brand, and it's slick.
33:55It solves a lot of problems.
33:56And the footprint is pretty small because it's somewhere tucked up underneath the bed,
34:00and we couldn't even see it when we were filming outside.
34:03Yeah, so it's underneath the bed and above the foil board.
34:06So you'd never even know it was there if we didn't mention it.
34:10So I like the fact that it's quiet because some of those rooftop air conditioners and vans are quite noisy.
34:16You and I wouldn't be even able to hear each other sometimes in this.
34:19And look at all the different species of wood that you have in here because that's your specialty.
34:25I mean, woodworking is what you know, but you are certified to do the RV and boat, the marine electricity
34:32work too.
34:32Right.
34:33And I like the layout.
34:35I like the fact that you've got an L-shaped seating area here up front that can convert.
34:40You know, say if someone snores a lot, right, and they want a separation for the night.
34:45You've got a bed back there, and you've got a bed up front.
34:47It's a two-person seatbelt van, but sometimes you don't always have travelers that are going to be driving with
34:54you that are going to stay with you.
34:55So you might meet up with someone and go to a festival or a concert, and they want to crash
35:00out in your van for the night or just take a nap.
35:03It's so easy to set up.
35:04So here's another thing I want to mention, and we got this upholstered slider door, and I still have the
35:10wedges in there.
35:11This van's due for pickup this week, but we made these shiplot panels that cover up the factory holes and
35:17allow access to any of the components inside of the door.
35:21But again, you can see, like, no space wasted, and you see how close that comes to everything.
35:26Uh, this window has built-in shade, built-in bug screen, and is also operable.
35:31Um, but this is also something right out of Bonanza Vans Playbook.
35:35They did this in their vans, and we absolutely loved it and wanted to do it in here.
35:41So we used the burlap and adhered that right to the metal, and then made these shiplap panels to go
35:47in the factory recesses.
35:48Well, that's great. I can't see any metal at all inside this van.
35:52It's really finished looking.
35:54Sometimes, uh, when people build vans, they spend a lot of detail on the inside.
35:59But they, vans are all built with the doors open.
36:02Yeah, forget about their doors.
36:03So then when you close them, you see the metal.
36:05But, uh, yeah, and it's warm to the touch, too, so it's not like a cold metal.
36:09Right.
36:09Nice detail.
36:10I love every detail of this van.
36:13I can't wait to see what your customers wind up doing with it.
36:16All their different adventures. I follow a lot of people online.
36:20And it's nice to see if I'm actually out active using it.
36:24Sure.
36:25Um, anything else we might have missed here in the tour?
36:28Because there's so many details.
36:30Yeah, man, there is a lot to cover.
36:32Uh, I hope we didn't miss anything.
36:34Well, the heating system is, is diesel? Diesel only?
36:37Yeah, so it's a diesel-fired, uh, S-bar boiler underneath the van.
36:41And so it just sips off the diesel tank.
36:43And there's a continuous loop of, like, glycol underneath the floor that just cycles back and
36:49forth, back and forth?
36:50Exactly. So it's Van Life Tech's system.
36:53So they, they have their own, uh, like, completely integrated system that does domestic hot water,
37:00the radiant heat in the floor, and air heating all in one.
37:02So, and depending on the season, like, if it's summertime, you might not want radiant heat.
37:06It knows to only make domestic hot water in that scenario.
37:09So, um.
37:10And then it's got another loop for the air heater for the inside, just so if you want
37:15forced air to come out?
37:16Exactly. So if you think of it like a car radiator, where it's just, uh, there's, you know,
37:21aluminum fins and water, or glycol gets pumped through their hot glycol.
37:25And then it just gets pumped out as air in the van.
37:28And then, uh, so these customers, uh, they're, they have their own cooking that they're bringing
37:33with them. They didn't, you said they didn't want to cook inside, so that's why there's no
37:37integrated cooktop here. They want to do mostly everything outside if they can?
37:41Yeah, in inclement weather or, you know, really cold weather, they're, they're fine with cooking
37:45inside, but the vast majority of their cooking they want to do outside.
37:48And then you have an interior water tank and an exterior for fresh water. One for winter,
37:53one for every other season?
37:54Yeah, exactly. So there's a 38 gallon water tank underneath where the spare tire is.
37:59And then, uh, also housed in this cabinet, I can't believe we actually fit more stuff in there.
38:03There's, uh, another 12 gallon onboard water tank. And so there's electric changeover valve for that.
38:10You press, uh, this button right here and you hear it actuate. So you don't have to like do anything
38:16other than press that button and it changes from. So the default state is outdoor tank. And if you want
38:21to use the indoor tank, you just push that button and it changes over.
38:24So you just gravity drain that one down when it's really cold and you got one for indoors.
38:29Exactly.
38:29Quite small.
38:30And there is, there is heated pads on the other one, so it should extend the season. But if they're,
38:34they like to ski and whatnot. So if they're in really cold weather, they might struggle with
38:38keeping that tank from freezing.
38:40Well, this van is awesome. I'll put a link in the description so our viewers can click over and
38:45check out your website and some of your social medias. I can't wait to see the next one.
38:50I'd really like to thank you, Patrick, for having me back on the channel. I understand
38:53I'm going to get a playlist now being this is my third van. And furthermore, I would just,
38:58I just really want to thank my clients, Adam and Ari, for just a wonderful experience and
39:02allowing me to be your builder and for you being my clients. It's been a hell of a ride and
39:07I hope you enjoy the hell out of this van.
39:10Well, Cody, always a pleasure to have you on the show. I can't wait to see what you're up to
39:15next.
39:15This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. I'll see you soon.
39:20How about you?
39:20I'll see you soon.
39:20I'll see you soon.