- 28 minutes ago
Mark and Ellen spent years turning hard-earned travel lessons and mechanical engineering know-how into a custom DIY truck camper built for real life on the road. Their 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 was cut apart and rebuilt from the cab back, then fitted with a Total Composites box, a zero-torsion subframe, and thick insulated panels designed for rugged off-road travel and cold-weather comfort.
Patrick tours the build inside and out, from the motorized rear deck and pass-through cab connection to the solar, lithium power, water filtration, wet bath, bunk beds, and clever storage everywhere. Every detail reflects two decades of experimenting, planning, and refining what works for a family of four, two dogs, and long-distance RV life. The result is a compact off-grid camper that stays practical, warm, and highly adaptable.
Created for fans of custom RV builds, truck camper tours, off-grid camper vans, DIY overland rigs, and engineering-focused travel videos. It’s also a strong fit for viewers searching for RV interior tour, camper conversion ideas, rugged expedition vehicle, and smart space-saving design.
Patrick tours the build inside and out, from the motorized rear deck and pass-through cab connection to the solar, lithium power, water filtration, wet bath, bunk beds, and clever storage everywhere. Every detail reflects two decades of experimenting, planning, and refining what works for a family of four, two dogs, and long-distance RV life. The result is a compact off-grid camper that stays practical, warm, and highly adaptable.
Created for fans of custom RV builds, truck camper tours, off-grid camper vans, DIY overland rigs, and engineering-focused travel videos. It’s also a strong fit for viewers searching for RV interior tour, camper conversion ideas, rugged expedition vehicle, and smart space-saving design.
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TravelTranscript
00:00:08This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. I promise you that this is going to be the
00:00:15most insane DIY truck hamper that you will ever see. Today I met up with Mark and Ellen and they're
00:00:21going to give us a full tour inside and out. This thing is awesome. So join us.
00:00:26Hi Patrick. Thank you for having us on your channel. My name is Mark. This is my wife Ellen. Our
00:00:32dogs Maisie and Osa. And I'm going to give you a little tour around our camper.
00:01:02Starting in the back here, this is our rear deck. It extends electronically. Rather, it's motorized so we can extend
00:01:08it in and out. It's on a three-inch slide and that gives us a nice platform for hanging out
00:01:13watching the sunset or taking a quick shower, bathing the dogs, or a place to take our shoes off before
00:01:19we go inside.
00:01:21Stepping around to the side of the camper, the camper is a total composites box. So it's all composite construction.
00:01:29It's a laminate of fiberglass and polyurethane foam. The side walls are all 50 millimeters thick.
00:01:36The roof and the floor are 83 millimeters thick. The box is sitting on a subchassis that protects it from
00:01:44the movement of the truck chassis. So it's a zero torsion subframe.
00:01:50Mounted below the box are some storage compartments. In this one I just keep our hoses and electrical supplies and
00:01:57some camping table, some blocks to park on.
00:02:01Moving along the side of the camper here, we have our connections. One for an outdoor shower, for our city
00:02:09water fill, and for our electrical inlet.
00:02:16The hatch on the side of the camper here is to access all of our electrical. So in here we
00:02:24have 600 amp hours of lithium batteries, a 2400 watt inverter, solar charge controller for the 1300 watts of solar
00:02:35panel on the roof, and up at the top of the compartment is all the controls for the lighting in
00:02:40the camper.
00:02:44We also have another front storage compartment. This one I carry some fuel in, a bit of extra diesel fuel,
00:02:51some kerosene that I use in the diesel heater, and fuel additive for the truck.
00:02:56So, and then also here is the yellow tank that stores the waste from the urinal inside.
00:03:06Mounted on the front of the box here, there's some airline track, and that's used if we ever need to
00:03:12lift up the box off of the truck chassis, we can fasten jacks in that location to do that.
00:03:19And then also you can see here there's a pass-through that allows us and the dogs to move back
00:03:24and forth easily between the camper and the cab of the truck.
00:03:28And we have some reinforcements here to ensure that the cab over portion of the camper is sufficiently supported.
00:03:37Here on the upper side wall is the vent for the air conditioner.
00:03:43We use a residential window air conditioner with a special mount so that it vents properly.
00:03:48And right now it has a cover over it that we use during the winter months.
00:03:51I also wanted to point out in the back seat, we've done a bit of a dog bed conversion back
00:03:55here so that our dogs have a place to ride with us in the camper of the truck.
00:04:02And of course they're free to move back and forth between the camper and the truck cab.
00:04:08The truck is a 2005 Dodge Ram, originally a 3500.
00:04:16Everything from the back of the cab forward is original Ram truck.
00:04:22Everything from the cab back has been completely rebuilt.
00:04:26And so both the truck frame, the suspension, and the subframe are all new.
00:04:33So it's really no longer a Ram 3500 truck.
00:04:37It includes new springs, new brakes, all designed to support the weight of the camper.
00:04:43On the front here we have a steel bumper.
00:04:46And the steel bumper houses a 12,000 pound winch.
00:04:52As well as a place where we can mount our hammock in the summer months.
00:04:58The bumper also has it, it's our off-road lights and an antenna for our ham radio.
00:05:04Above the truck, the top of the cab over, of course there's one of our exterior cameras.
00:05:11And there's a 50 inch light bar as well, LED light bar.
00:05:16The wheels are a Method 701 bead grip wheel.
00:05:23And it's on about a 34 inch diameter Nitto Recon Grappler tire.
00:05:28They're metric size, so it's a 295, 70, 18.
00:05:32The whole truck is riding on Fox 2.5 inch shocks.
00:05:37And again, heavy duty springs in the front and 14,000 pound leaf springs in the back.
00:05:45Then on the side wall, on this side we have our gravity fill for the water tank.
00:05:52And inside this compartment we have all of our drinking water filtration.
00:05:57So if we go in here, we have a 5 micron particulate filter.
00:06:04A 1 micron carbon block filter.
00:06:07And then a UV filter before water goes from here to the drinking water tap.
00:06:12And again, we only filter the water that we use for the drinking tap.
00:06:16We don't necessarily filter water for just use in the sinks or the shower.
00:06:25On the side, we have all of the windows on the Camp Art Arctic Turing windows.
00:06:29As you'll see inside, these two windows are for the bunk bed.
00:06:32So each person sleeping as a bunk has their own window,
00:06:35which is especially nice for seeing outside or getting some ventilation in the summer.
00:06:39And then above the compartment for the water fill is the vent over the cooktop.
00:06:49Oh, and then here is the fill for the diesel fuel.
00:06:55Just a regular gas fuel fill.
00:06:58And all of the locks and latches use the exact same key everywhere on the camper.
00:07:03So for our side boxes and hatches, it's the single key.
00:07:12There's some tie down points here on the side.
00:07:14These are used to hold our back doors open.
00:07:17So when we camp in warm weather, we can open the entire rear wall of the camper.
00:07:22So you'll have a chance to see what that looks like.
00:07:24But when we do open those, we use some straps to hold those doors open
00:07:28so that they can't blow in the wind.
00:07:31And then here, I just use a set of portable stairs whenever the deck's extended,
00:07:37which it usually is when we're camping.
00:07:39We use these stairs to get in and out.
00:07:41The reason they're portable is because I never know how we're going to be configured when we camp.
00:07:45So we could be parked on a sidewalk where I want them on the passenger side of the truck.
00:07:48We could be at a beach where I want them not obstructing our view of the sunset.
00:07:54So wherever we're camped will dictate how we position those stairs in the back of the truck.
00:08:01And then underneath, there's a set of pullout stairs here.
00:08:05These are only in use when the rear deck is retracted, but they just slide out and drop into place.
00:08:10So those we can use while we're traveling for quick egress and ingress in and out of the truck.
00:08:18There's also a trailer hitch here.
00:08:21This double hitch is designed to hold a conventional 2-inch receiver in the bottom port.
00:08:26And the top is a mount for our bicycle rack.
00:08:30And that bicycle rack is on a rail that rolls on this stainless steel bearing.
00:08:36And so as the rear deck slides out, the rear bicycle rack can slide out with it.
00:08:42Let's see.
00:08:44And then the spare tire is stored under the truck as well as you can see there a heavy-duty
00:08:49rear sway bar,
00:08:51a differential cover that should upgrade cooling to the rear diff, and our oversized brakes.
00:08:58So the rear door is a turn Wildlands door.
00:09:03It's nice in that it's very secure.
00:09:06It has a nice screen door built into it for warm weather.
00:09:16So we can use it as a screen door in warm weather or as a solid door in cold weather.
00:09:25And it has a very secure three-point latching mechanism.
00:09:28So one of my favorite features on the back of the truck is our very versatile rear door.
00:09:33So in addition to the turn Wildlands door, we can open the entire rear wall of the camper.
00:09:44So again, in warm weather, when we want to catch a sunset at the beach, we just open the rear
00:09:50doors of the camper.
00:09:56And we can bring the outdoors to our indoors.
00:10:01So here, inside the rear door, there's a connection for a shower.
00:10:06So that's just a shower port.
00:10:08So if we come in sandy from the beach or the dogs are dirty, they can get bathed right here
00:10:13on the rear deck.
00:10:14So, Patrick, now let's head inside for a look around.
00:10:22Come on in, Patrick. Let me give you a look around and tell you how we got here.
00:10:28So when Ellen and I met 23 years ago, we had a Volkswagen Eurovan camper.
00:10:34And we traveled for a long time in that across the country until we had children and we realized we
00:10:39needed a bigger space.
00:10:40So at that point, we decided that we would use a truck camper.
00:10:44And in, I don't know, 2007, we bought our first truck camper and traveled in that camper with our two
00:10:51children all across the country for 15 years.
00:10:53And during that period of time, we figured out the things that worked for us and the things that didn't.
00:10:58Oh, that's true. We owned the camper for 15 years and we traveled in it across the whole country with
00:11:04our children for one year.
00:11:06During that time traveling, we learned a lot of things that we liked about the camper.
00:11:10We learned a lot of things that we didn't like about it.
00:11:12My background is mechanical engineering. Ellen's background is interaction design.
00:11:16And so we sat down, put pencil to paper and figured out what would work for us and our family.
00:11:23Mostly, we needed a space where we could sleep a family of four.
00:11:27That meant everybody has their own beds, a place where our dogs could travel with us, a place we could
00:11:32prepare our meals and eat.
00:11:34My biggest complaint traveling in the camper for a year was that every time I put my kids to bed,
00:11:39I had to convert my dinette into the bed for the kids.
00:11:41And in the morning before we could serve breakfast, we had to convert it back. And that just drove me
00:11:46crazy.
00:11:46So I started looking for a solution that offered a different sleeping arrangement, preferably bunk beds.
00:11:53I couldn't find another manufacturer that offered what we wanted. We realized it was time to do it ourselves.
00:12:00It was a big undertaking, but we thought we had the background to do it.
00:12:03We started by building a full-scale one-to-one model in our living room out of foam core, built
00:12:10out this entire space to get a feel for how much space we needed to do it.
00:12:15And with that, we built a CAD model and started building a camper.
00:12:20We ordered the panels from Total Composites designed exactly to our specification, 12-foot floor we wanted.
00:12:27We had a high standover height in the ceiling, number one, so it would give us a generous space in
00:12:31the cab over.
00:12:32But number two, we wanted to be able to bring our surfboards and stand-up paddleboards.
00:12:35And so those all hang from these lines we have suspended on the ceiling here.
00:12:39I also mentioned that we wanted a place for our kids to sleep comfortably and the challenges I had converting
00:12:45the dinette.
00:12:46And so we opted to create bunk beds.
00:12:48And so this thing here that looks like a couch on the side of the camper is also a bunk
00:12:54bed.
00:12:54So converting to a bunk bed is simple as grabbing the back of the couch and lifting it up.
00:12:58And it locks into place.
00:13:00This becomes the upper bunk.
00:13:02The lower bunk can slide out, of course.
00:13:07And now we have a 24-inch wide bunk on the top and a 36-inch wide bunk on the
00:13:12bottom.
00:13:13Converting back from a bed to a couch is just as easy as putting it up.
00:13:23That's it.
00:13:23That's the entire conversion.
00:13:25I will say people ask if the kids are going to fall out and that there is a net that
00:13:28you can put them up.
00:13:28Oh yeah, there's a net that goes to the ceiling.
00:13:31And you can see there are these lines we have on the back here.
00:13:35These are the lines that attach to the net.
00:13:36And those go up to these hooks that are integrated into the ceiling to prevent anybody from rolling out of
00:13:43the bed.
00:13:44The top surface of the upper bed is a material called Rich Light.
00:13:50It's exactly the same material we use for the kitchen countertop.
00:13:53And so we have a lot of modes we can use this in.
00:13:56The one I just showed you was in bunk bed mode.
00:13:58But the bed can also be lowered down to match the height of the countertop.
00:14:02And that can create a large buffet if we're serving a group of people for dinner or at a big
00:14:07camp out.
00:14:08We can use that as a dining buffet.
00:14:09We can also raise that bed all the way up out of the way to create a larger couch down
00:14:14below.
00:14:14The whole camper as I mentioned earlier is built out of composite panels.
00:14:19They offer outstanding insulation.
00:14:20So outside today it's 9 degrees.
00:14:22But inside here with the heat on it's 63.
00:14:27As you can see here there's aluminum extrusions on the walls.
00:14:30And we use those to support the bunk bed and the countertop.
00:14:33Those extrusions are mounted to steel tubing that's inside.
00:14:37It's actually integrated and bonded inside the composite panel.
00:14:41And so anywhere we have items that are load bearing mounted to the walls.
00:14:46There's a structure behind this fiberglass skin that you can't see.
00:14:50So here for the bunk bed for example we have it.
00:14:53But there's also steel panels in the wall behind the dinette.
00:14:56And that's because this dinette can convert into a bed.
00:14:59It simply lowers down or back up.
00:15:01And here behind the slide mechanism there's steel tubing inside the wall to support that bed.
00:15:09All of the wood panels inside they're made from birch plywood that has a bamboo veneer on top of them.
00:15:19In order to build a truck this size and appropriately match it to a chassis like this we had to
00:15:26keep the build as light as possible.
00:15:27Again it's a reason why we built an all composite box.
00:15:30But all of the panels have been CNC machined from the inside out to reduce the weight in every possible
00:15:38location.
00:15:38So anywhere you see a wood panel here it's actually hollow.
00:15:42So I can demonstrate that here in the cover to our battery compartment.
00:15:46What the construction on panels looks like.
00:15:49If I show it to you from the back.
00:15:50Each and every wooden panel in here is a birch plywood panel that's been CNC machined out the back.
00:15:59And on the other side we have that genuine bamboo veneer.
00:16:04So these are incredibly lightweight.
00:16:05And this construction is in every single component of the camper.
00:16:10All of the wood has essentially been pocketed out to reduce weight.
00:16:15All of the metal components are aluminum.
00:16:18So for example the material that's used to make all this cabinetry.
00:16:21This is eighth inch aluminum sheet that's been bent on a press brake and then is powder coated to match
00:16:28our aesthetic on the inside.
00:16:29And so we use that.
00:16:31The aluminum panel structure here on the cabinets on the driver side and the passenger side.
00:16:40But also in the cab over we have a similar aluminum construction.
00:16:45The dinette of course can be converted to a bed when we need it.
00:16:50But we primarily use as a dining table.
00:16:52We have lots of storage inside the table.
00:16:56We can keep my sunglasses for example.
00:16:58On this side we keep a lot of our daily things.
00:17:02Pencil and paper and scissors and tape measures.
00:17:04The kids used to have their stuff in there when they were in school.
00:17:08Oh yes.
00:17:08And our son used to have a keyboard in here.
00:17:10A piano keyboard.
00:17:11A piano keyboard because he's a musician.
00:17:12Right.
00:17:12And so he could have his piano keyboard here and put his sheet music right in there.
00:17:19All of the upholstery is from Maharam.
00:17:23We chose primarily on the pattern that we enjoyed.
00:17:26But we also chose material based on its ability to take a lot of abuse and to be easily washed.
00:17:35And then as we saw earlier that because our rear door could open we wanted to be able to use
00:17:40this rear dinette seat both facing the table and also facing the back door.
00:17:47So we can simply pick up the rear seat back and move it to the forward location.
00:17:57And now we can have a, it's got matching pockets on the front of the seat.
00:18:02And now we can have a bench seat that faces outside the back of the door.
00:18:06I mentioned a couple of times we like to watch sunsets.
00:18:09Built into the dinette we have tons of storage.
00:18:11So in this top drawer is our food pantry.
00:18:14So we keep all of our food goodies in here.
00:18:19Bottom drawer is all beverages.
00:18:22Today it's just Coke Zero apparently.
00:18:25In the drawer, we call this drawer the Frisbee drawer.
00:18:28But really it holds all of our dog supplies.
00:18:30So we have our dog bags and brushes and treats and fire extinguisher in there.
00:18:44In the compartment under this seat is just more storage.
00:18:48So we have a lot of our things like our blender and a small portable electric heater are stored in
00:18:54there.
00:18:54Also built into this seat bottom is the diesel furnace and the hot water boiler.
00:19:00And so that's where we make our hot water.
00:19:03And of course the air that's warming this whole, the hot air that's warming this whole space.
00:19:09We choose to use primarily kerosene to heat the camper instead of diesel fuel, although either fuel is fine.
00:19:16Kerosene just has less odor, especially because our kerosene tank is mounted inside the living space.
00:19:24The floor I'm standing on is actually a piece of carpet underlayment.
00:19:29The real camper floor, if I can lift it up right here.
00:19:36The camper floor is bamboo flooring.
00:19:39And we use bamboo flooring throughout.
00:19:42But one of the things we realized is that the bamboo was slippery.
00:19:45It's hard to keep clean.
00:19:47It wasn't great in wet conditions.
00:19:49It's a little more challenging with the dogs.
00:19:53So we just decided to put a piece of carpet underlayment on top of it.
00:19:58And that becomes easy to vacuum, easy to take out and wash.
00:20:02And at the end of a couple years of use, also economical to replace.
00:20:07We have plenty of storage underneath the cabinets.
00:20:10This is actually a dog bed.
00:20:12Oh, it's a place.
00:20:13No, she's not going to.
00:20:16Anyway, a dog bed here.
00:20:18We keep in the back most bin, we keep all of our shoes.
00:20:24And the next bin is where the dogs eat.
00:20:30So in the compartment behind here, there's actually a pull-out tray.
00:20:35And that actually, that has the dog food in it.
00:20:37Slide that back in.
00:20:44And that gets stowed away.
00:20:46The whole back wall we use as a coat rack.
00:20:51So keys, jackets, backpacks get stored there.
00:20:56I have a remote control that I use to control all the lighting in the camper.
00:21:00And then there's also an insulating cover over the Turn Wildlands door for use in cold weather.
00:21:07So from here, let's move into the galley and take a look.
00:21:12Here, above our Novocool refrigerator, is what I call the power panel.
00:21:17The power panel has controls for the inverter.
00:21:21It has a regular car stereo that we use for playing music.
00:21:26Or it can also preview all of our exterior cameras.
00:21:30It has the controls for our diesel furnace.
00:21:33It has a Cymarine systems monitor screen.
00:21:37This button that looks like Bigfoot is the master power control for the whole camper.
00:21:43So when we leave the camper, we flip that off to save power.
00:21:46It has controls for our AC hot water heater.
00:21:50We have two options with DC hot water.
00:21:52We can either run them directly from the batteries or we can use it as a diversion load from the
00:21:57solar panels.
00:21:58It offers us controlled drains for our yellow tank, for our gray tank.
00:22:03It enables us to switch on our hydronic heat or provide power to our rear motorized deck.
00:22:10This panel could not have been designed without Ellen.
00:22:12Ellen is the user experience mastermind in the family.
00:22:16So she did all of this layout, in particular helping to lay out the functionality of the lighting controls.
00:22:23I mentioned there's a remote control for the lighting on the back wall.
00:22:27But there's also master mechanical switches here.
00:22:30Ellen, could you talk us through how those work?
00:22:31Sure.
00:22:33So as a designer, my interest in the camper would be that it would be very comfortable to be in.
00:22:39And that there'd be a place for everything.
00:22:41And that we would know the status of everything that we have.
00:22:44So for example, the lights here go from front to back.
00:22:48These do the lights above our bed, parlor, galley, etc, etc.
00:22:51So front to back, they'll turn on and off the lights in order.
00:22:55So you know where they are.
00:22:56If it's dark out, you can just press this button, everything will light up.
00:22:59And that's on a timer, so that just stays on for three minutes.
00:23:01The back lights will shut themselves off.
00:23:03And these lights are exterior lights.
00:23:06So for example, this is the back right.
00:23:07And that's red, which means we wouldn't want to leave that on overnight.
00:23:10Because that would be rude for our neighbors.
00:23:12And so we know that it's on.
00:23:13So we know that before we go to bed, that has to be off.
00:23:17And things that we really want to make sure, like the yellow tank or the gray tank,
00:23:21these switches you have to press to double activation so you're not accidentally pressing them.
00:23:26Especially if you have some teens in here or whatever.
00:23:30And I think the other things that had to do with making it comfortable is, Mark already mentioned, the coat
00:23:36hooks.
00:23:36Like it's really true, our old previous truck camper, it just didn't have enough coat hooks.
00:23:42Easy things like that.
00:23:43And just having a little space behind the dinette there looks kind of like wasted space.
00:23:48But of course, that's where people are going to shove their extra shoes, the umbrellas, the junk you bring in
00:23:54from the beach, whatever it is.
00:23:55So we specifically left an empty space there to have that empty space for things to go in.
00:24:01Likewise, I would say if you look at the galley here, in our previous truck camper, there was little latches
00:24:10that we had to have to make sure the drawers would stay closed when we're driving.
00:24:14Because it's not just a small space, it's also obviously a mobile space.
00:24:17We've upgraded these so that they have these latches that are used in usually boats.
00:24:23And so you just pull out and they open, you know, spices, cutlery, little clips to keep our bags closed.
00:24:33A little scale, all the stuff that you have in a kitchen, you know, the knives.
00:24:42And importantly, the trash.
00:24:44So we have trash and recycling and often when people are designing spaces, it's easy to leave out, for example,
00:24:51oh, I forgot to make a spot for the trash can.
00:24:53So we definitely were actually started with that.
00:24:56Where are we putting the trash can?
00:24:57So that it's right here and we don't have to have a trash can sitting around in the camper.
00:25:01This is the range.
00:25:07So we can cook with this.
00:25:08Yeah, so this is the only propane-operated device in the camper is the oven and cooktop.
00:25:15So it's a regular Dometic RV oven.
00:25:18Or if we choose to use electricity instead of propane, we have the induction cooktop and that can sit right
00:25:27here on top of the countertop.
00:25:28And it has a dedicated power outlet.
00:25:30And all of our cooking and baking stuff is right in here.
00:25:34And so we really pared this down to specifically we're going to have two things to store our food or,
00:25:40you know, we're going to, we went through our pans and we figured out exactly which ones we want.
00:25:44Like, you know, trade off so that we can have just the right things that we wanted.
00:25:49Do you want to talk about the water?
00:25:51Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about the water.
00:25:53So we talked about the water filtration system outside the camper.
00:25:57In order to activate the water pump, there's switches located all around the camper.
00:26:01At each of the outdoor shower locations, there's a switch.
00:26:04In our bathroom, there's a switch.
00:26:05And here in the galley, just below the counter surface, there's a push button switch.
00:26:09And so every time I push that button, it starts a 15-minute countdown timer.
00:26:15And so that water pump will stay on for 15 minutes.
00:26:17After that time, it'll shut itself off.
00:26:18I never need to think about turning water on and off.
00:26:21And the switch is conveniently enough located right at the countertop or wherever I'm using the water.
00:26:26If I need to restart the timer, I just push the button again.
00:26:28And if I can run, I think that's a really good example of something by living in a camper for
00:26:33so many years that we learned and then incorporated this design.
00:26:37So it was always the conversation.
00:26:39Did you, can you turn the water pump on?
00:26:41Can you, oh, did you turn the water pump off?
00:26:42Oh, I'm not sure.
00:26:43Let's go around and check it.
00:26:44It was like a constant discussion of that.
00:26:46And this just completely solves that problem because it's always there.
00:26:51We have another switch in the bathroom.
00:26:52Like you're not stuck in there and going, ah, turn the water on.
00:26:55You just press this and you have 15 minutes of water.
00:26:58And so there's the discussions over.
00:27:01Here at the sink, we have our drinking water tap.
00:27:04This drinking water goes through the water filtration system.
00:27:06So for all of our cooking and drinking needs and for the dog's water, we use this.
00:27:11This is a conventional kitchen sprayer tap with both hot, let me put it on the sprayer, with both hot
00:27:18and cold water from the sink.
00:27:20But one of the things we also need to be mindful of is we have a limited water supply.
00:27:23So we carry 50 gallons of fresh water with us.
00:27:26And so to make sure we're being economical with our water use while we're, say, washing our hands or washing
00:27:31the dishes, we have a foot operated water switch down here.
00:27:34So there's a little pocket here.
00:27:35If I put my toe on it, I can operate water at the sink.
00:27:38And I can even control the flow of the water really nicely.
00:27:42Wash my hands.
00:27:43And as soon as I'm done washing my hands, take my foot off the switch.
00:27:45Would you say that's our very favorite thing in the whole camera?
00:27:47It's among my favorite things.
00:27:49I think it's maybe my favorite thing.
00:27:49So it makes me wonder why I haven't got one of those at home.
00:27:57So here above the cooktop, we have a convection microwave so we can do air frying, convection, microwaving, just like
00:28:04they all do.
00:28:06To the right of that, we have our overhead kitchen storage where we have coffee making supplies, plates and bowls.
00:28:14Thanks for cooking the microwave.
00:28:17And all of our beverage glasses are stored here.
00:28:20So these panels are made from a quarter inch polycarbonate sheet.
00:28:25They are coated on one side with a film that's called linen and coated on the other side with an
00:28:32orange tinting film.
00:28:33And so put together, it looks like it's an orange textured finish, but it's really translucent orange and translucent linen
00:28:41stacked up on each other.
00:28:44Directly above the cooktop, we have a vent hood.
00:28:47That vent hood has lighting which is dimmable.
00:28:50It's color matched to all the other lighting.
00:28:53And the camper, everything is 4000K for all of the lighting.
00:28:56And then there's also a variable speed vent fan there.
00:28:59So I find vent fans to be very noisy.
00:29:03So I can turn on the speed that I need for the amount of ventilation I need.
00:29:07I'll talk about this.
00:29:08It's probably my other favorite thing in the camper.
00:29:11This is something else we also thought about in terms of the camper being comfortable and very usable as a
00:29:15designer.
00:29:17Where does all my stuff go?
00:29:18Where does my toothbrush go?
00:29:19Where am I putting my sunglasses?
00:29:21Where am I putting all the stuff that I need?
00:29:23And we decided that we want it just out so that you're not constantly trying to put things away and
00:29:27take them out and put them away and pick them out.
00:29:29So I have, again, this little removable thing.
00:29:32I can take this in my bathroom at home, load it up with whatever I want.
00:29:35And this is exactly fit to be able to just put that right in there.
00:29:41So you want to check out the windows?
00:29:43Oh, yeah.
00:29:44So the windows throughout the camper are from Arctic Tern.
00:29:47So they have built-in blackout shades as well as bug screen ventilation.
00:29:53They're all tilt-out style windows so they can be open in any weather condition.
00:29:57If it's raining outside, we still keep the windows open for ventilation.
00:30:00Even in cold weather, we'll usually have the windows in the crack position just to allow some fresh air in
00:30:06and avoid condensation issues in the camper in the cold.
00:30:13Beneath the kitchen sink, we have a conventional kitchen tilt-out that has sponge and a sink stopper like you'd
00:30:20expect to find there.
00:30:22Below here is the fresh water tank.
00:30:25We store our vacuum cleaner here, 50 gallons of fresh water.
00:30:28And then, of course, we have a fire extinguisher, a kitchen fire extinguisher.
00:30:33We also, of course, have a 5ABC fire extinguisher with us.
00:30:39Here to the right of that, there's a couple of steps that make it easy to hop up onto the
00:30:44bed if the ladder's not in place.
00:30:47So we can either, you know, if we're here for the day or the evening, have this ladder down or
00:30:53if we're driving or we just don't want it there, we'll move it.
00:30:55But we can still use these steps and kind of climb up there pretty easily.
00:30:59And then there's also a door here. This was, I think, maybe my other favorite thing from the past.
00:31:05So this we can close and just be here or we can open it up and that goes right into
00:31:11our track.
00:31:12Also loves to sleep in there, actually.
00:31:14Our previous truck camper, you had to get out and obviously come around the back to get between.
00:31:18And this is, I can even crawl through there when I'm driving.
00:31:21Right. And then that pass-through door is also lockable, so it's secure when we need it to be.
00:31:26If we're leaving the dogs in the camper, we want to make sure that they're safe in here.
00:31:34Yeah, here below the power panel is a NovaCool 9200 fridge.
00:31:40It's a dual compressor fridge and that allows me to set the temperature in each compartment very accurately.
00:31:45I can have the refrigerator compartment warming up so it doesn't form frost and the freezer cold enough to keep
00:31:52the dog food frozen.
00:31:55The other thing I would say about just feeling comfortable that everything's going to be okay is even though these
00:32:03will probably stay closed,
00:32:05we put a little extra little latch right here so that when we're driving, we just do that and we
00:32:10know that it's not going to play over.
00:32:14The refrigerator is mounted on wheels, so that allows me to access all of the electronics for the camper.
00:32:21So if I ever need to do a major service, if I had to replace a component, say the inverter,
00:32:25I can slide the refrigerator out very easily.
00:32:28I just remove a couple screws on the side, roll it out on wheels.
00:32:31I can move it here in front of the bathroom door.
00:32:34Then all the electronic componentry is mounted on a hinged panel.
00:32:37I can swing the hinge panel inside and I can access everything, every piece of wire, every electronic component, every
00:32:45fuse from inside the camper.
00:32:47So if I need to do major service, I can do it through there or of course through the access
00:32:51part on the side.
00:32:53Above the refrigerator, we have a 6000 BTU air conditioner, which is more than enough to cool the space even
00:33:00in over 100 degree temperatures.
00:33:02And then we have a small fan that can pivot and provide a cool breeze wherever we need it.
00:33:08Above the power panel here, we have what I call a charging panel.
00:33:16And so this charging panel provides for us USB charging, both type A and type C.
00:33:21It's a high current charger so we can charge our tablets and laptops from it.
00:33:26We can plug in CarPlay devices that go to car stereo.
00:33:30Or there's a 110 volt outlet that's connected to either the inverter or shore power that provides not only 110
00:33:35volt power,
00:33:36but both USB A and USB type C.
00:33:42And then we have a bathroom.
00:33:44And so the bathroom is designed to be a wet bath.
00:33:47One of the things that we tried out in our house while we were designing the camper was the composting
00:33:52toilet.
00:33:52We had real questions about what it would be like to live with one.
00:33:55We love it.
00:33:56We love it.
00:33:57So we installed this toilet in our master bathroom at home.
00:34:03We connected the ventilation to the ventilation system in the master bath.
00:34:08And we lived with this toilet for about a month.
00:34:11And we stopped using our conventional household toilet.
00:34:17So this toilet is just strapped down to anchor points on the floor.
00:34:22We can easily take it out when we use the room as a shower.
00:34:25Or you can leave it in there, you know, and just use it as a conventional wet bath.
00:34:28But there's enough room in here for, you know, toilet uses and for bathing.
00:34:36And then there on the wall, because there's two men that live in our family, is a urinal.
00:34:42And so that urinal drains down into its dedicated yellow tank.
00:34:46Also here in the bath is a small sink bulb for hand washing and tooth brushing.
00:34:55That faucet is on a pull-out.
00:34:58It's on a pull-out.
00:35:00You just lift this up.
00:35:01And then here on the wall above it, there's a mount.
00:35:05So we can use that while we're showering.
00:35:08And then we also have a medicine cabin here.
00:35:10So it's got a nice mirror on the front.
00:35:12Lots of storage for toiletry needs inside.
00:35:15Roll of paper towels.
00:35:16And we keep some spare toilet paper in there as well.
00:35:19Because it's a composting toilet, we don't put toilet paper into the toilet.
00:35:23So we have a dedicated trash can in there for toilet paper or wet wipes, whatever we choose to use.
00:35:30We can also hang up wet stuff, bathing suits or whatever on the hooks.
00:35:33That's true.
00:35:33We use this as our wet room for wetsuits, bathing suits, or coming in from being outside in inclement weather.
00:35:43One more thing I'll just say about this in terms of thinking through everything is the single sink, not a
00:35:49double one.
00:35:49So that we can just, you know, put this stuff right in here and you're ready to go.
00:35:54And then, yeah, on the sink we also have available a drain board and cutting board.
00:36:02So the drain board can go here.
00:36:05And the cutting board goes here.
00:36:07And of course those are interchangeable to either location.
00:36:09So we can use that for cutting and draining vegetables or when we do the dishes.
00:36:14We can also use that as a sink drain for the dishes.
00:36:18So.
00:36:18And then moving on to the cab over.
00:36:21So the cab over can be accessed by the ladder, as Ellen pointed out.
00:36:24Or there's also just these convenient stairs here on the side.
00:36:27So I just use one step to hop up into the bed.
00:36:30And that's it.
00:36:31So this is a full size queen here on the driver's side, which is my side of the bed.
00:36:38We have a series of cubbies.
00:36:41We found that storing our clothing and towels and other supplies and cubbies is really the most convenient way.
00:36:49Nothing falls out when we're on the road ever.
00:36:51I can't even remember a single thing falling.
00:36:53That's the first question that people ask me to come in.
00:36:55Like, doesn't all your clothing wind up on your bed?
00:36:57Well, you have a slight lip on the edge of that.
00:36:58That's true. There is a lip here on the front that prevents things from moving.
00:37:01So all of our clothing, all of my clothing is here.
00:37:04There's also a dedicated laundry hamper.
00:37:07That's another thing we learned about having owned a truck hamper for somebody is you need a place for your
00:37:12laundry.
00:37:13And we have, again, we left the cubby open so that we could put, right now we have our laptops,
00:37:17computer bag in there.
00:37:18So it's important, I think, to have some extra space.
00:37:21Like that one's not so full.
00:37:22We can just put Kleenex boxes, games, other things that are like out and about.
00:37:26So it has a place to go.
00:37:28And then my stuff is over there you want to show.
00:37:32Do you want to hop up?
00:37:33Sure.
00:37:34Except I have to go this way.
00:37:35I'll put the stairs.
00:37:38Oh, we have a little handle right here so that I can grab onto that.
00:37:44My stuff, I like to, I wanted to have a, um, like a little bedside table here.
00:37:50And also we have this design so that we can look out that window, but also this is flat here.
00:37:57So we can take a pillow, sit here, and then look out the window.
00:38:04It's kind of cool.
00:38:04So that led us to having my clothing would be just available by picking these up.
00:38:11I have all kinds of storage in here, plenty of room.
00:38:15And then up here I have cubbies as well.
00:38:19So we could just pull these in and out because I need this extra clothes for it.
00:38:23We're in like a winter weather right now, but we're going to be eventually in warm weather.
00:38:27So I have my warm weather clothes in here and I'll switch them out.
00:38:31So then over the bed, uh, we have a turn over land, uh, roof hatch.
00:38:37Um, it provides nice view of the stars at night.
00:38:41Uh, it has the bug screen and blackout shade if we need it.
00:38:44It also has, uh, integrated lights.
00:38:46Uh, the lights in the turn hatch have been swapped out.
00:38:50So the exact same, uh, 4,000 K LEDs we use throughout the camper.
00:38:54So again, all of the LEDs in the camper are, are color matched.
00:38:57Um, oh yeah.
00:38:59Over each side of the bed, we have, uh, some decorative night lights.
00:39:04And then there's also, uh, a reading, yeah, a reading light over each bed.
00:39:10Those reading lights can do either a white, the white reading light or there's a switch on.
00:39:14They can do a red, red light at night.
00:39:16One person can be trying to go to sleep and the other one can put their light, you know, to
00:39:19the edge kind of thing.
00:39:21There's also a USB charging on each side of the bed.
00:39:23So if we bring our phones up with us, phones can charge at night while we're there.
00:39:27Um, and then we have a television.
00:39:29Uh, we don't watch a lot of television.
00:39:31Uh, but we keep the television, uh, strapped to the wall here on the side of the bed.
00:39:35And then the television mounts to a swing out arm.
00:39:38And this arm can be placed, positioned so it's over our bed.
00:39:42And we can watch from while we're in bed or it can swivel around and we can see it from
00:39:47the dining area.
00:39:49So very versatile.
00:39:50And then I would say also like, of course we designed it and built it.
00:39:55And then of course there's going to be things that you want to change around.
00:39:57So for example, we added these little extra light switches that can turn on and off this light.
00:40:03So a little extra remote control or like this handle I showed, we didn't originally have this in here.
00:40:07But then I found that I needed that, so we added it in.
00:40:11This is pretty incredible.
00:40:13I appreciate the opportunity to showcase this build.
00:40:17And I've toured probably maybe about 380 or so guests on my show of different campers and DIY campers and
00:40:27manufacturers.
00:40:28And I've been in the RV business since 2002.
00:40:30And I've seen a lot of manufactured RVs before.
00:40:34This took a long time, I think in the planning stages.
00:40:39It had to.
00:40:40I think we spent two years planning before we placed the first order for any component.
00:40:46So, and that was like, it started from napkin sketches and then in like 2D CAD sketches.
00:40:53And a very long time.
00:40:55I mean, also Mark's an engineer.
00:40:56He was on his CAD for hours and hours and hours.
00:40:59And hours.
00:40:59Down to little tiny measurements.
00:41:01Yeah, really every single nut and bolt.
00:41:04Put it away.
00:41:05And wire.
00:41:06Yeah.
00:41:06And plumbing fitting was in the CAD model even before we cut the first piece.
00:41:13You know, of course when you're building and things get changed, like you'd be adjusting and adjusting.
00:41:17Right.
00:41:17I mean, that's why it all fits together so well.
00:41:19I think doing the foam core model was really helpful to get the bigger places.
00:41:22It was.
00:41:22And then also, I mean, I would say, just because of both of us, how we look at the world,
00:41:28when we were all in our camper before, we would just naturally think, I don't like how this works, or
00:41:33let's change that.
00:41:34Or so, I mean, conceptually it was maybe in the works for 20 years.
00:41:38Yeah.
00:41:3820 years of R&D.
00:41:40Yes.
00:41:40And then the actual build was three years start to finish.
00:41:43But that was also during COVID.
00:41:45That's true.
00:41:46Would have been faster.
00:41:46We actually started the construction process.
00:41:49The first step of the construction process was cutting the truck in half and building a new rear section of
00:41:55the truck frame.
00:41:55And that happened in December 2019.
00:41:58So it was the worst possible timing.
00:42:01Walk us through that though, because some people might have questions about the truck part of it.
00:42:07Yeah.
00:42:07So I originally spoke with a guy named Dave Harriton, who is the founder of AEV.
00:42:14They make truly amazing off-road capable full-size trucks.
00:42:18And I was going to buy a truck from him and use that as a foundation.
00:42:22If I had done that, it would have been a Ram 5500 chassis.
00:42:26But after a chat with Dave, he asked me what truck I had.
00:42:29And my answer was, I have a 2005 Dodge Ram with a Cummins turbo six-cylinder engine.
00:42:35And he said, you already have the best possible truck.
00:42:38It's a bulletproof engine.
00:42:40The transmission had already been bulletproofed.
00:42:44It has almost no smog equipment at all.
00:42:46The only piece of smog equipment on the truck in 2005 was a catalytic converter.
00:42:51And they're super efficient in terms of how they affect engine performance.
00:42:55And so after that talk with Dave, I realized I already did have the right truck.
00:42:59It was just a matter of trying to figure out how to make it work with this.
00:43:03So the goals were keep the 2005 Ram truck and build a chassis that could support it.
00:43:09And then keep the box as lightweight as possible.
00:43:12So I worked with a company in Salt Lake City whose business is lengthening truck frames.
00:43:18And we brought the truck out there and built a new rear section of the truck frame.
00:43:22Along with that was all new suspension, springs, shocks, brakes, airbags to support this.
00:43:30And then from Salt Lake City, the truck went to Canada.
00:43:34And so the work of building…
00:43:36You and your dad drove it.
00:43:37My dad and I drove the truck to Victoria, British Columbia.
00:43:40They flew to Salt Lake City and then they took a road trip up to Canada.
00:43:42Went to Victoria, British Columbia.
00:43:44And there was a team there that built all of the subframe, the aluminum side boxes.
00:43:51And then they assembled the parts of the total composite panels into an empty box.
00:43:58Once that work was done…
00:43:59It was COVID.
00:44:00It was COVID.
00:44:01And we couldn't get the camper back.
00:44:02It was stuck there.
00:44:03And the camper was stuck in Canada.
00:44:05And that was a big delay.
00:44:06So because it was COVID, I was unable to fly into Canada to pick it up.
00:44:10The truck, an empty camper, came back into the U.S. as cargo.
00:44:15So we loaded it onto a semi, into a lowboy, and drove it across the border as cargo.
00:44:21And then took it off the lowboy.
00:44:23Someone else drove it for you.
00:44:23Right.
00:44:24Yeah.
00:44:25An international truck driver drove it across the border for me.
00:44:28From there, we brought the empty shell back down to California where all the interior building was done.
00:44:34So…
00:44:35This was like in your driveway?
00:44:37No, I worked with…
00:44:38Yeah, it was…
00:44:39There were a lot of people involved.
00:44:41There was an upholsterer who did the upholstery work.
00:44:43I worked with a truly gifted designer and cabinet maker, a guy named Calder Phillips, who was instrumental in getting
00:44:52the interior work done.
00:44:53So sometimes it was parked up in his place.
00:44:55So it was parked a lot of it at Calder's shop.
00:44:58A lot of it was done at home, in our home shop.
00:45:02There were a lot of hands involved in making this happen.
00:45:06From, you know, sheet metal fabricators, to powder coaters, to upholsterers, to my in-house user interface designer, to the,
00:45:17you know, one mechanical engineer on the team.
00:45:19You were doing the electric stuff on the driveway, I remember that.
00:45:21And a lot of, yeah, a lot of electrical work happened at our home shop and in our driveway.
00:45:26So, I mean, I don't think…
00:45:28The real thing that caused the biggest delays was building it through the middle of COVID.
00:45:32So I do think it would have been a big project no matter how you slice it.
00:45:37Maybe instead of three years, it would have been two.
00:45:40But to get to this level of fit and finish, it really took that kind of attention to detail.
00:45:45I think the other thing that was helpful when we were designing it, we had friends, our friends Richard and
00:45:48Lacey, that had a truck that they had built
00:45:51from scratch over many years. They traveled all through South America with it, went all the way down to the
00:45:56tip and came back with their kids.
00:45:58And we really liked the feel of their space.
00:46:00And so we'd kind of hang out with them in their truck when we were on trips with them and
00:46:05figure out, like, what about this do we like?
00:46:08And we had friends that traveled with children in a sailboat.
00:46:12Yeah.
00:46:12And they inspired us.
00:46:13Right.
00:46:14So kind of hanging out in other people's spaces that you like and figuring out, what about this do I
00:46:18like?
00:46:18Like they had a spot behind their dinette between that and the door that they put like a little inflatable
00:46:24boat in.
00:46:25Right.
00:46:25We didn't have enough room for that.
00:46:26But that was the like thought of, oh, I want a spot to put my stuff.
00:46:30We got it because they had it, you know.
00:46:33And you have a one of a kind full size RV completely customized to you.
00:46:38And just go over the length.
00:46:40So it's a 12 foot floor?
00:46:41The floor is 12 foot exactly.
00:46:44And it's 7'6 width?
00:46:46It's 7 foot, yes, it's 7'6 inside dimension.
00:46:50The standover height is 7'6 inside.
00:46:54Really that standover height was driven by having enough room in the cab over where we're sitting right now so
00:46:58that we could sit upright with some clearance above.
00:47:02So we use this not only for sleep, but it's also, we'll sit here and play cards.
00:47:06We use it as our dressing room because all of our clothing's here.
00:47:09So we need room to be able to do all of that.
00:47:12Also, you know, if we are out, we do a lot of camping with other family, friends.
00:47:17And so there'll be times where all the kids who are now, by the way, all adults, will be here
00:47:23playing their games.
00:47:24We're just, you know, sitting in the middle of our bed playing games where we're at the dinette with, you
00:47:29know, with our friends socializing, playing cards, having a beverage, whatever it might be.
00:47:34Yeah, so you got, I mean, overall you have a 17 foot camper.
00:47:38Yeah.
00:47:38But, you know, living space and then the whole bumper to bumper?
00:47:4326 feet.
00:47:4326 feet.
00:47:44And that's with the back bumper in for driving?
00:47:47Yes, that's with the rear deck retracted.
00:47:49I wanted to have like space inside, but not, we want to be not too wide so we can park
00:47:54in a regular parking spot.
00:47:56We're a little bit long, but we'll just find a spot that we can back into kind of over a
00:48:00sidewalk or at the edge of the parking lot.
00:48:02Yeah, if we pull into a regular parking lot, I'll find a spot I can back into.
00:48:05And then I can usually park in most regular parking lots.
00:48:09So almost everywhere.
00:48:11We squeezed into a very small parking lot yesterday in New Haven, Connecticut that we shouldn't have fit into.
00:48:16And we made it, we made it work.
00:48:17And with this big truck, with the big tires and the full ceiling height, now I understand too why it's
00:48:24key to have that side air conditioner unit.
00:48:28Because your overall height is how much?
00:48:29So we're exactly 11 foot 2 inches to the roof line.
00:48:33And then we add the height of the solar panels and the roof vents.
00:48:36And we're at 11 foot 6.
00:48:38Yeah, and there's other benefits to having that style air conditioner too, because it's...
00:48:42Well, mostly, honestly, the whole reason I chose it was for energy efficiency.
00:48:46I do agree that it takes the height off of the roof and it also takes the weight off of
00:48:52the roof.
00:48:53But that air conditioner at full output power only draws about 450 watts.
00:49:00Which means...
00:49:00And again, on the roof, about 1300 watts of solar.
00:49:031320 to be more specific.
00:49:05So I have more than enough power to run the air conditioner continuously during the daytime while also charging the
00:49:12batteries.
00:49:13And we have enough battery.
00:49:14There's 600 amp hours of lithium batteries.
00:49:16I have enough battery to run the air conditioner all night and still recharge the next day, assuming we get
00:49:21full sunshine.
00:49:22But you built so much service into this.
00:49:25Yeah.
00:49:25So I'll run through here.
00:49:27So that air conditioner, if that was to fail, you could go to Home Depot and buy another one.
00:49:31Yeah, so a lot of it, a lot of the build was designed for serviceability.
00:49:36So the air conditioner is a great example.
00:49:38I could buy any other window air conditioner at any big box store in the country and drop it in
00:49:43right there.
00:49:44But that type of serviceability is also the reason that I chose to do a 12 volt electrical system.
00:49:49Because any parts I might need, be it a fuse or a piece of audio equipment or a water pump,
00:49:57I can buy at any automotive or RV store in the country.
00:50:02The reason that the refrigerator is on wheels is because it gives me, you know, access to all of the
00:50:09electronic components for major service in just five minutes at the most to remove the refrigerator.
00:50:16So I can access all of that very quickly.
00:50:20Going back to the 12 volt electrical system.
00:50:23That system allows me to use three 200 amp hour lithium iron phosphate batteries wired in parallel.
00:50:31The benefit of that is if I ever have a problem with even up to two of the batteries, I
00:50:36can simply turn off their circuits.
00:50:38Each battery is on a dedicated battery switch and, of course, dedicated fusing to protect it.
00:50:46So I can turn off any individual battery if I need to, up to and including all three of them.
00:50:51I can also top charge each battery.
00:50:54So at the beginning of each season, I'll do a top charge, bring each battery to 100% state of
00:50:58charge so that it's fully charged and so that it recalibrates the BMS inside the battery pack.
00:51:04So lots of versatility there.
00:51:07Sort of failure proofing as best as we can.
00:51:11Or if you have a problem that you can get on the road.
00:51:15Yeah.
00:51:15And we talked off camera to another thing like this cabinet here is not only cooled for the hot weather,
00:51:22but it also is heated.
00:51:24So there's a fan that brings in the hot air from the cabin.
00:51:27So when I originally designed the camper, I was concerned about the heating of the electronic components.
00:51:33We live in California.
00:51:33We mostly camp in warm, even desert climates.
00:51:37And so that cabinet has a thermostatically controlled fan that turns on anytime the temperature is above 75 degrees F.
00:51:46So that fan operates quite a bit when any electronic component is on, the fan is running.
00:51:50It's silent.
00:51:51We can't hear it at all.
00:51:53And anytime the temperature drops below 75, that fan shuts itself off.
00:51:58I had a big learning coming here to the East Coast.
00:52:00We're currently in New Jersey visiting Patrick, and it's 9 degrees outside.
00:52:04And for the first time, I had to keep my batteries warm.
00:52:07And so I had to change the operation of that thermostat and move it from cooling mode to heating mode.
00:52:15And so now that fan will shut off at 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's on at any temperature below that.
00:52:23And so that's helping to provide the same air that's heating the living space is now warming the batteries.
00:52:29And it's extremely comfortable in here, how cold it is outside.
00:52:33I would say right this minute, it's probably 70 degrees and it's 9 degrees outside.
00:52:38It's very, very comfortable.
00:52:39Yeah.
00:52:40Yeah.
00:52:40So, and that's with a, yeah, you're welcome.
00:52:42And that's with a, it's just a two kilowatt diesel furnace running and it's on half power right now.
00:52:49I looked over the past four days running at half or even lower than 50% power.
00:52:54We've used 32 ounces of kerosene.
00:53:02That's it.
00:53:02That's it.
00:53:04So.
00:53:04And the cab doors open and I don't even feel a draft.
00:53:07Yes.
00:53:08And I will say right in cold weather, we do close that, but yes.
00:53:10Um, now everybody's going to ask like the major, major question.
00:53:15What, what's your travel plans?
00:53:17Like what, what, what do you, what's the intention of the purpose of this?
00:53:20We just did.
00:53:21Go ahead.
00:53:21Well, originally when we first were planning this, we had children at home who are now
00:53:26in college.
00:53:27Our son just turned 21.
00:53:28So I would say we just go with them over the holidays for a short trip.
00:53:32They kind of buzz in and buzz out.
00:53:33Yeah.
00:53:33But they've definitely used those bets.
00:53:35Yeah.
00:53:35So now it's more like us and we replace the kids with dogs.
00:53:38And so we, a lot of festivals and then some long trips.
00:53:44Right.
00:53:44So we started this trip.
00:53:45Uh, our children are at East Coast Universities and there was a parents weekend.
00:53:49And so we just, we just decided, Hey, with the parents weekend coming up, why don't we
00:53:53drive across the country in the winter, by the way, and, uh, and, uh, visit our daughter
00:53:59for parents weekend.
00:54:00And now we're on our way, uh, back across the country.
00:54:03We'll take the Southern route.
00:54:04So it's a little bit warmer.
00:54:05And then our goal is, I would say, uh, one or two, uh, big trips.
00:54:10So our trip here from New Jersey back to California, we've scheduled 42.
00:54:1440 days.
00:54:14Yeah.
00:54:1540 days, um, to get home.
00:54:16So we're taking our time.
00:54:18Yeah.
00:54:18And is it going to be like campgrounds, harvest host?
00:54:21Well, we do all of the above.
00:54:23Um, we're, you know, I would say if there's just open, like BLM land, which
00:54:28Yeah.
00:54:28Our first choice, our first choice would always be open camping like BLM, off grid, boondocking.
00:54:33We have no need for, uh, connection to any sort of services.
00:54:38We carry enough water.
00:54:39Then I would say campgrounds.
00:54:42Then say maybe, uh, national parks.
00:54:44Yeah.
00:54:45Then state campgrounds.
00:54:46Um, then, but we also, we'll be visiting friends along the way and we'll pull in and
00:54:51camp in their driveway.
00:54:52We're going to go to DC after this.
00:54:53We'll be staying with some friends.
00:54:54So yeah, we'll be in their driveway.
00:54:55We do.
00:54:56We mentioned a couple of times we like beaches.
00:54:57So we're going to go to the beaches in Southern Texas.
00:54:59I would say.
00:55:00Spend some time there.
00:55:01One of the things we don't end up just parking in random neighborhoods.
00:55:04I think.
00:55:04We don't.
00:55:05We don't.
00:55:06We just somehow, I don't know, just like going and somehow like parking in front of
00:55:09someone's house and being in their space.
00:55:10We don't really want.
00:55:11I'm not that that's a bad thing to do, but I just think we don't do that.
00:55:14It's not our choice.
00:55:14Yeah.
00:55:15Um, but we'll also like on big travel days, we'll pull into a truck stop and, and get
00:55:21some sleep and we'll even pull into a Walmart parking lot and get some sleep in a pinch.
00:55:25And yeah.
00:55:25And the thing about pulling into a Walmart parking lot, we usually do it late at night
00:55:29and we get some shopping done and, uh, then we get a good night's sleep and we're back
00:55:33on the road.
00:55:34The other thing that we've done actually a couple of times, well, with our previous rig,
00:55:38we, when our kids were in third and fifth grade, so they were eight and 10, we took
00:55:42a trip around the whole country.
00:55:43And then the winter time when it wasn't so great to be in the RV, we parked it at a
00:55:46friend's house and actually went out of the country over to Australia and New Zealand.
00:55:50And we kind of did the same thing this time.
00:55:52We drove across the country, went to our daughter's parents weekend.
00:55:57And then we, um, left this at a friend's house and we lived in Brooklyn for three months.
00:56:04So we went in an apartment there and did that.
00:56:05And then we went and just got it.
00:56:07That's why we're heading back in.
00:56:08So you nomads, like you, you live in this or you still maintain a,
00:56:11we have a regular sticks and bricks home.
00:56:14So it's extended travel.
00:56:15Right.
00:56:15Yeah.
00:56:15We rented that out to another friend.
00:56:17Okay.
00:56:17We're both, we're both recently retired.
00:56:19We know that we want to be traveling.
00:56:22We really love this lifestyle.
00:56:24We just said, we like camping in BLM land would always be our first choice.
00:56:28Like the further off grid we can be, the better.
00:56:31We have enough food and water for an easy 10 to 14 days without even working that hard to do
00:56:37it.
00:56:37So the more off grid, the better, but we're also have places and things that we want to see, right?
00:56:42We want to see Washington DC.
00:56:43So we'll stop in the big city and do that.
00:56:46And for connectivity, I don't think we talked about it, but they might've saw the B roll of the roof,
00:56:50uh, Starlink.
00:56:51Right.
00:56:51Oh, so I have Starlink and actually the Starlink's mounted inside.
00:56:54It's right here.
00:56:56Um, maybe you can catch a B roll picture of it or get it right now.
00:56:58So, um, um, so inside the roof hatch, the Starlink is mounted right there.
00:57:04Um, I didn't want to have it on the roof for many reasons.
00:57:08It meant if I was going to power it up there, it needed roof penetrations.
00:57:11And, uh, I tried to keep the roof penetrations to a bare minimum.
00:57:15As a matter of fact, the only ones that exist are with solar wiring and the two roof fans.
00:57:19Um, and also just protection from the elements and theft and having it out of sight.
00:57:27So it's mounted inside the roof hatch there.
00:57:28Uh, and it's out of its own dedicated USB-C power supply.
00:57:32Which you put in later, right?
00:57:33I did.
00:57:33That's a good example.
00:57:34He was kind of putting the wire through the thing here.
00:57:36Can you plug it?
00:57:37And so it's like, eventually you put that in there.
00:57:39It is.
00:57:41Um, so, I mean, most places we go have solar connectivity today.
00:57:45But the Starlink's nice and it works in motion.
00:57:47So it's great for use with our navigation.
00:57:50And also, you know, if there's something we want to watch on TV, we can plug in our
00:57:54set-top box and turn on the TV and do that for an evening.
00:57:57It actually becomes like a little private movie theater in here, which is really nice.
00:58:01And also too, for charging, say if you get a week of clouds, you have a single alternator
00:58:08but you have two DC to DC chargers.
00:58:10So we can charge from the alternator at up to 60 amps.
00:58:12So between those two, there are Victron Orion chargers.
00:58:16It's the TR-30.
00:58:17Um, so they can do 30 amps each.
00:58:19Uh, they're wired together in parallel.
00:58:21So I can charge at 30 or 60.
00:58:23Generally speaking, 30 is more than enough.
00:58:26And so it's just less wear and tear on, especially on the alternator, um, to charge at that rate.
00:58:31Um, again, there's 1,320 watts of solar.
00:58:34Um, I do also carry a 1,000 watt Honda generator on a trip like this.
00:58:39Um, depending on where we're going, I may or may not bring that generator with us.
00:58:43On this trip, I knew we'd have some cold weather and cloudy skies and I just wanted to be sure.
00:58:48So in a pinch, um, but I haven't fired that generator up ever.
00:58:53I bring it, but I don't use it.
00:58:55Hey, I have a generator in a garage in my house for emergencies.
00:58:57Right.
00:58:58So it's the same thing.
00:58:59Yeah.
00:58:59So, um, and that generator has been modified so it can run on gasoline or propane.
00:59:04So I can connect it to the propane tank.
00:59:06That same one we use.
00:59:07So it's got like the tri-fuel conversion they call it for like natural gas.
00:59:11Okay.
00:59:11And was there a budget or was this like pay as you go?
00:59:16It was, but when you take on a project like this, you have to imagine like building a house.
00:59:20It's always more money and more time than you expected.
00:59:25Cause the project evolves as you go too.
00:59:27Yeah.
00:59:27For better or for worse.
00:59:29Yeah.
00:59:30Pandemics happen and you know.
00:59:31So, I mean, a project like this, no matter how you slice it, it's expensive, but for us, it's a
00:59:36lifestyle.
00:59:37Um, we knew we would be spending a lot of time in here.
00:59:40Uh, even last year in 2025, I probably spent 45 nights in here.
00:59:46Pretty good amount.
00:59:46This year I expect to be a whole lot more.
00:59:48And we have 40 nights just driving from New Jersey to California.
00:59:52So maybe this year.
00:59:53Plus you retired in January.
00:59:54I did.
00:59:55Wow.
00:59:55Congratulations.
00:59:57So our viewers, I think are going to fall in love with you two.
01:00:00You guys did an awesome job presenting this.
01:00:03Are you documenting your travels?
01:00:05You have like a blog or Instagram or YouTube or anything?
01:00:08We do follow a lot of people, including New Jersey Outdoor Adventures.
01:00:11Um, we do follow a lot of sort of van life and overland travelers.
01:00:17Um, but I think that's not our calling.
01:00:19So, um, it's fun to watch the videos, but I'd rather spend my time outside with Ellen and
01:00:25the dogs than filming content and editing.
01:00:29Well, and we really like interacting with people that we meet.
01:00:31Yeah.
01:00:31Just on the road and just chatting with people and, you know, going in somewhere and you
01:00:35have time just to talk about whatever.
01:00:38So, you know, as we meet people rather than putting a video, but we did, we had a blog
01:00:42on our big trip that we took in 2015.
01:00:44Yeah.
01:00:45And I found that I did spend more, a lot of time trying to pick out the photo I wanted
01:00:49and writing the thing.
01:00:50And it kind of took away for me from being in the flow.
01:00:53I totally get it.
01:00:54Yeah.
01:00:55I totally get it.
01:00:55I mean, I think the other thing is like, you were asking what we do.
01:00:58It's like, we'll just go to a festival with friends or we'll just say our friends are having
01:01:03some event and other people are going to stay in a hotel.
01:01:05We'll stay in this because it's so comfortable.
01:01:08So we'll just kind of go and be there.
01:01:10So it's like our regular life, but we just happen to be in here.
01:01:14In fact, our friends regularly invite us to stay, when we visit out of town, friends
01:01:17to stay in their homes with them.
01:01:19And we usually decline because we'd just rather be in our own house on wheels.
01:01:22It's so comfortable.
01:01:23I love my Airstream van.
01:01:25I got everything in there I need.
01:01:26I don't live in it.
01:01:27I don't do extended travel, but when I travel, that's it.
01:01:30That's all I want.
01:01:31That's home.
01:01:32And this is home.
01:01:34Yeah.
01:01:34Well, I appreciate the opportunity as you're traveling through New Jersey to showcase this
01:01:38build.
01:01:39My viewers are going to absolutely love this.
01:01:42Thanks for having me, Patrick.
01:01:42And I wish you a safe trip down to DC and I'm sure we'll meet up again.
01:01:47When I take my van out and I'm full time, I'm going to stop by and find you somewhere
01:01:52on the road.
01:01:53We've got a parking spot for you if you make it to California.
01:01:55All right.
01:01:55Awesome.
01:01:56This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel.
01:01:59Thanks for joining us.
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