The trouble with a mini-van is lack of space. Well, there’s much more space than a regular car but it’s nothing compared to our 38ft MotorHome that we sold. This is what you call downsizeing! In reality though I have plenty of space, maybe not as much headroom as I would like but you can’t have everything.
Here’s what the VanPackers kit looks like installed with all my ‘accessories’.
The Kitchen
This is the kitchen unit with my Alpicool refrigerator, Microwave, pots and pans, and 2 pull-out wooden half crates.
As you can see I got so fed up with my paper towels flapping like a flag in every breeze I tied a fabric strip around it. Works really well.
I even have a sink and cooker with space behind the cooker for 2 small gas bottles.
So Now I Take Everything, Including the Kitchen Sink!
As you can see I have just about everything I could need. I keep most of my food in a box on the front passenger seat, though cereal and coffee I store in the microwave. For tea and coffee, I have a 900 watt electric kettle that plugs into the 110 power block to the left of the microwave. I looked at 12-volt kettles but they can take over 45 minutes to come to the boil, my kettle boils in less than one minute. I have tried boiling water on my gas cooker but it’s hard if it’s really windy and or raining. Plus I pay for gas bottles. My power bank will run anything with a power draw less than 2000 watts and it charges for free when I’m driving. Score!
I can go for 48 hours running my fridge, and occasional microwave and kettle usage, before I HAVE to charge the power bank so if I plan on staying somewhere longer than that I have to plug in somewhere.
How I Get My Power
This is my 2000 watt EcoFlow power bank and my 2000 watt Renogy inverter which charges the power bank when I’m driving. I can also plug the EcoFlow into a regular 110 socket to charge it.
I had the inverter professionally installed as it needed to be hooked up to my van battery and it needed a 50 amp fuse with cables as thick as tree branches I swear! I tried to get solar panels but I needed big ones to charge such a big battery bank in one day, they were so big I had nowhere to put them in the van and they were so heavy I couldn’t have deployed them if I wanted to (with me being the 71 year old female wimp that I am.)
I leave the cushion up and box lid open when I am driving, the inverter creates heat as it inverts and there’s not enough airflow with the lid and cushion down. Same for the power bank. It will charge up within a few hours of driving though and I do about 5 to 6 hours a day when crossing the country so it’s no big deal.
Inside My Living Area
The wooden box with the cutout in the back left, behind my Porta-Potti, with the cable hanging out has my 2000 watt EcoFlow power bank and my 2000 watt Renogy inverter which charges the power bank when I’m driving.
Making It Mine!
The cushions that come with the kit are green, not my favorite color plus it doesn’t really ‘go’ with my red van. Yes, I recovered them in maroon/red with gold. Yes, they now look girly, but as Popeye says: “I ams what l ams”!
That cushion along with part of the couch makes a 6 foot bed, plenty long enough for me.
The tub under the bed holds cubes with all my clothes. I take 2 weeks worth, by then everything needs washing including the rugs and my bedding.
In front of the bed is my Thetford Porta-Potti, Tim made the wooden top and I tied the butterfly fabric around the board. I wanted to be able to wash it so didn’t want to glue or staple it on.
Behind my bed, between the door and the bed, you can see some black, this is a lightweight table from Walmart, it folds flat but is really sturdy when it’s up and is super useful. I also have my windshield reflectix there, extension cord, some rags, and basically whatever I can fit there which is a lot actually. I have it held in there with a bungee so it doesn’t all fall out if I open that door but that door stays mostly shut.
Tim also laid the carpet for me as the black car carpet was a magnet for everything! It certainly vacuums easily and I have a 110 volt travel vac in the storage area under the kitchen. I also put down bathroom rugs, they shake out easily but best of all they wash easily! I try to never get in the rig with my shoes on but sometimes, if it’s raining, for instance, I just have to get straight in. I carry pet pads for just this emergency. They hold the dirt and mud till I can get my shoes off, and it gives me somewhere to put my wet shoes. Once the pad gets too dirty I throw them away and use a new one.
I thoroughly recommend having 5 or 6 pet pads in your rig, they are small and take up little room but they are so useful.
My couch with storage underneath and my bedding which I fold up every day. This picture was taken before the Reflectix and the shelves were installed.
I already had the scatter cushions and I recommend to add some to your rig, they are very useful.
Bonus items: Shelves!
This shelf unit for the driver’s side by the back seat is now full of all those things you need easy access to. I put up Reflectix with black fabric facing out before installing the shelf. It fits like a dream with no screws or bolts.
This shelf unit for the passenger side by the back seat is now full of all those things you need easy access to.
The shelves are great, I had tried to buy something that fit in the cup holders but nothing fit or did the job. These were not available when I purchased the rest of the kit but as soon as they sent me an email showing them I jumped at it. The only problem with them is there’s no way to keep stuff on the shelves without it falling off when you drive.
I came up with the idea of bungee cords and Tim put a ‘d’ ring type thingamabob so that I could hook on the bungee. The upper shelf bungee hooks into the seat belt assembly and part of the paneling in the back. Genius even if I do say so myself!
As you can see I have plenty of floor space, as long as I don’t decide to start dancing back there. I definitely have room to pull out my clothing box easily (so much better than the proof of concept setup), kneel down if I have to, and at 4 inches thick it’s a really comfy bed.
NOW I’m ready to get on the road: Michigan to Seattle! My Epic Journey Starts at the Gateway Arch