Thanks for all your help, truly was a pleasure to have met you both and your willingness assist me. Keep up the amazing work and being yourselves. Absolutely wonderful people
"Target Neutralized" 🤣🤣 Loved the bloopers!! And what an awesome Waldorf school in TO... exactly how kids learn best. Thanks for sharing your journey! Can't wait til next vid 😄
Thank you so much! What a nice comment to wake up to! I'm sure if we had more regular content the algorithm would push us more, but just being small with a good posey of people who get us makes us happy too! Pursuing playing the big youtuber game could really put us in a place that is unhealthy and become all-consuming for us (we've kinda seen it for others..) What we lack in consistency, we'll try to make up for in quality and telling a good story :) (We also have to make up for not having amazing scenery filling every video.. we're basically kinda normal people living a kinda normal life..? lol) Thank you so much again for watching!
Awww it is always so good to see you kids so happy and loving life!!! Love the video and hope you two are doing well❤🥰 Such a beautiful area you were in and while the cottage was lovely, I would still take van life any day ☺.
I happened upon your channel today for the first time. You've got a fun format; and I thank you for sharing it. As your episode title implies, many van-lifers finance their travels as digital nomads, and I am not; so I am interested to learn more as you finance your travels by earning in the construction and repair trades. Steven, Utah
Hi Steve! Thanks and you're welcome! This is definitely a different way to go about this life and it certainly be a bit more challenging, but we're finding our balance on how we like to do this. (I'll try to put more of this discussion in our our next video.) We've generally stayed working basically in the same area as when we lived on the grid, but now we do have more flexibility to work further and longer afield. Next summer we're planning on really testing the "travelling tradesman" a lot more with a planned trip to the east coast of Canada, where trades help is needed kinda.. desperately! Going into a situation like that, we'd plan on working some friends in the areas to put the word out, try some online advertising, and also cold call up contractors, other electricians who might need help, and also local establishments in a community such as some popular businesses in the region or even calling up churches. What we have found over the years is instead of being a digital nomad who kinda blows in, floats around, takes in the sites, and leaves, working for or WITH people IN the community, we can get to know the area so much better. Ellie and I value what life is *really* like in an area, not just as a perspective as a tourist, and doing things this way really gets us on the inside of life. PLUS we can more easily land places to park legally, power or water up if needed, and also get introduced to more interesting and local people and locations with insider knowledge. That is something we'll want to focus on more in the future...
This is the perfect channel for me. I never thought a Sprinter Van would still have the towload capacity after building out the van interior. Did the US border guards ever stop you after seeing your Milwaukee packouts for suspicion of working illegally? Could you still stealth camp with a trailer, especially in Toronto? Wonder if a Promaster could tow a similar trailer as it's the cheapest van to buy and maintain..
Thanks Eric! We're happy to share ideas for what others might be able to do! To answer some of your questions: The dually sprinter can handle a 7500 lb trailer and a max full load of 16,900 lbs, and we managed to keep it just below that. We did add sumo springs onto the rear of the van and a Red Arc brake gain controller and those have made worlds of difference with the handling and braking. The 3500 is a high-torque engine; it's an absolute beast for towing. Without the trailer the van will get us 13-15L/100 km and with the trailer 20-22L/100km. (We also put in a 177L tank to help keep our range up.) Yes, the last time we crossed the border, the guard was really nice, believed our honesty towards the laws of the land but also felt that other guards would block us. We do unload my work stuff before going south, but this last time I did have a lot of tools on board as I was working on our tilt rack and roof storage while at our camp spot. He also mentioned (this is interesting (we found)), Canadian youtubers technically would need a work permit to film in the USA for their channels. (How many you think do that?) We also might have had a bit of difficulty last time crossing as the entire rig is listed as my electrical company's asset, so that could raise questions as well. On the flip side.. Ellie is half American, so we could always play the game legit through those means if that's what we were ambitious for... but personally, we like the safety and calmness of Canada. Stealth camping can be possible; and there are a lot of car pool lots that can be good to use...more hidden away the better in my opinion. As a rule of thumb, if we have the trailer, we wouldn't stay in the same lot more than 2 nights in a row. Better yet, having a private yard or property to land on is better. If you are like me and work in the trades, gradually over time your circle of contacts grows and you meet generous people or can easily exchange some services for overnight parking. We have good contacts all over southern Ontario now 6 years in, so we feel pretty confident on that end. part 2 to come....
part 2 here.. If you are going to be street parking it, Toronto for example doesn't allow commercial vehicles to street part overnight in some areas, so either watch your plating on the van, OR storage yard options can be helpful. Also, if you haven't watched it, watch our video on staying safe on the road, and arm that trailer up with every security measure you can! As for promaster vans, if you're planning on doing the long game in this life/investment, I am doubtful of the quality of the promaster to hold up under work loads. We've talked to builders who said they see them falling apart within 150,000 km of manufacturing. Thanks for watching and feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to give you a hand. If you want some build advice, happy to facetime for free to give advice! IG msg if needed.
@@kageandellie Wow, thanks for the answer. I'm a data analyst here in Toronto, but, I really wanted to start building vans especially with how dire the housing crisis is. All the van outfitters just cater to the wealthy but I think a cheap and durable build could still be done in an old Dodge Caravan so that anyone with a few thousand $ can afford to get into VanLife and have some dignity instead of going into tent life. I'm not even a handyman but after watching a lot of vanlife and woodworking videos, I think I could manage to build a van with just a set of cordless brushless Ryobis (not the consumer grade stuff), probably could do without a trailer, just buy the new Promaster with the "super" high top and build the bed up very high to maximize the "garage" space.
you're welcome! I can totally see where you're coming from.. people need cheaper housing solutions and even a roadmap given to them on how to make this life work. You kind of have to learn everything anew to make nomadic life work smoothly.. also important.. following a code of conduct. If a bunch of people start living in their vans and start causing problems, hard crackdowns will happen. It is already pushing into legality issues for us in Canada with the ways are laws are setup. Currently, you have to be willing to live in some grey areas to make this life work. Are you thinking about living in a van and going around building rigs out? (Just asking because of the promaster/trailer setup you asked about.) From my own experience, rig building as a nomad can be really challenging (as is many things in this life), but with a proper plan and setup, it can happen. Also, to make things easier, if you have a basic format of what you're building out and can slam them out on repeat, you could have a good side business on your hands. Keep a standard power system like ecoflow, same solar panel and mounts, same water jug system and fan, and maybe even have someone with a CNC machine (like Andy from Overland Interiors - might be a bit pricey though) precut your bed frames and systems for it to reduce your install time. When custom building stuff the time shoots through the roof, so try to find a standard build that could be used pretty regularly. Part of the challenge of rig building is you need to many unique parts for each rig, it can bloat your inventory with a lot of extra stuff you don't know when or how to use. Try to keep your inventory refined. Another interesting thing I've noticed is that locally, rig building is a hard physical job, that takes a ridiculous number of hours to get a good products. Some of the best builders in the region are sick of doing it but have to keep going to feed the financial machine of overhead. If I could give you some advice on the topic.. keep your day job to pay your bills, and try doing some of the builds on the side, unless big things really happen for you.
@@kageandellie I've actually done an unhealthy amount of research into VanLife, started before the pandemic. I have been contemplating a mass produced design for old Dodge Caravans, something like this: th-cam.com/video/Eo9SWRazTlE/w-d-xo.html to appeal to the underserved, tightest budget segment of the market. I will not be renting a workshop, I'll either work on a customer's van on site, space permitting, or driving it to a mostly empty parking lot and setup a makeshift worktable between 2 vans to reduce the chance of onlookers. I'm gonna build out my own Promaster and see if I could just make do with just cordless tools so I could do without a trailer (at first). I've seen a large miter saw being used by many vanbuilders, but I believe that saw is just for efficiency. Inventory will be a problem, but I'm thinking that I can borrow the customer's van to transport it. I'm gonna have to pay attention to what is the most unwieldy piece of material that I need, whether it's a large piece of laminate or polyiso, and make sure that I can fit it into the customer's van. I'm a bit concerned about inventory as I will only start buying materials when the customer is ready for the build as I have literally no place to store inventory. I think self storage rental would be an affordable option.
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for all your help, truly was a pleasure to have met you both and your willingness assist me. Keep up the amazing work and being yourselves. Absolutely wonderful people
Aww! Thanks Will! You're so welcome and happy to help you out anytime!
"Target Neutralized" 🤣🤣 Loved the bloopers!! And what an awesome Waldorf school in TO... exactly how kids learn best. Thanks for sharing your journey! Can't wait til next vid 😄
You guys deserved more subs. This is a next level of Vlogging, or should i say documentary
Thank you so much! What a nice comment to wake up to! I'm sure if we had more regular content the algorithm would push us more, but just being small with a good posey of people who get us makes us happy too! Pursuing playing the big youtuber game could really put us in a place that is unhealthy and become all-consuming for us (we've kinda seen it for others..) What we lack in consistency, we'll try to make up for in quality and telling a good story :) (We also have to make up for not having amazing scenery filling every video.. we're basically kinda normal people living a kinda normal life..? lol) Thank you so much again for watching!
Awww it is always so good to see you kids so happy and loving life!!! Love the video and hope you two are doing well❤🥰
Such a beautiful area you were in and while the cottage was lovely, I would still take van life any day ☺.
Thanks gxdad! It seems like the practicality of the van wins every time!
I happened upon your channel today for the first time. You've got a fun format; and I thank you for sharing it. As your episode title implies, many van-lifers finance their travels as digital nomads, and I am not; so I am interested to learn more as you finance your travels by earning in the construction and repair trades. Steven, Utah
Hi Steve!
Thanks and you're welcome! This is definitely a different way to go about this life and it certainly be a bit more challenging, but we're finding our balance on how we like to do this. (I'll try to put more of this discussion in our our next video.)
We've generally stayed working basically in the same area as when we lived on the grid, but now we do have more flexibility to work further and longer afield. Next summer we're planning on really testing the "travelling tradesman" a lot more with a planned trip to the east coast of Canada, where trades help is needed kinda.. desperately! Going into a situation like that, we'd plan on working some friends in the areas to put the word out, try some online advertising, and also cold call up contractors, other electricians who might need help, and also local establishments in a community such as some popular businesses in the region or even calling up churches.
What we have found over the years is instead of being a digital nomad who kinda blows in, floats around, takes in the sites, and leaves, working for or WITH people IN the community, we can get to know the area so much better. Ellie and I value what life is *really* like in an area, not just as a perspective as a tourist, and doing things this way really gets us on the inside of life. PLUS we can more easily land places to park legally, power or water up if needed, and also get introduced to more interesting and local people and locations with insider knowledge. That is something we'll want to focus on more in the future...
Another brilliant video guys.
Thanks again; glad you enjoyed it!
We’ll try to be a bit faster on the next one!
Love your videos!!
Glad you like them! Thank you so much!
Great video thanks!
And thank you for watching!
This is the perfect channel for me. I never thought a Sprinter Van would still have the towload capacity after building out the van interior. Did the US border guards ever stop you after seeing your Milwaukee packouts for suspicion of working illegally? Could you still stealth camp with a trailer, especially in Toronto? Wonder if a Promaster could tow a similar trailer as it's the cheapest van to buy and maintain..
Thanks Eric! We're happy to share ideas for what others might be able to do!
To answer some of your questions:
The dually sprinter can handle a 7500 lb trailer and a max full load of 16,900 lbs, and we managed to keep it just below that. We did add sumo springs onto the rear of the van and a Red Arc brake gain controller and those have made worlds of difference with the handling and braking. The 3500 is a high-torque engine; it's an absolute beast for towing. Without the trailer the van will get us 13-15L/100 km and with the trailer 20-22L/100km. (We also put in a 177L tank to help keep our range up.)
Yes, the last time we crossed the border, the guard was really nice, believed our honesty towards the laws of the land but also felt that other guards would block us. We do unload my work stuff before going south, but this last time I did have a lot of tools on board as I was working on our tilt rack and roof storage while at our camp spot. He also mentioned (this is interesting (we found)), Canadian youtubers technically would need a work permit to film in the USA for their channels. (How many you think do that?) We also might have had a bit of difficulty last time crossing as the entire rig is listed as my electrical company's asset, so that could raise questions as well. On the flip side.. Ellie is half American, so we could always play the game legit through those means if that's what we were ambitious for... but personally, we like the safety and calmness of Canada.
Stealth camping can be possible; and there are a lot of car pool lots that can be good to use...more hidden away the better in my opinion. As a rule of thumb, if we have the trailer, we wouldn't stay in the same lot more than 2 nights in a row. Better yet, having a private yard or property to land on is better. If you are like me and work in the trades, gradually over time your circle of contacts grows and you meet generous people or can easily exchange some services for overnight parking. We have good contacts all over southern Ontario now 6 years in, so we feel pretty confident on that end. part 2 to come....
part 2 here..
If you are going to be street parking it, Toronto for example doesn't allow commercial vehicles to street part overnight in some areas, so either watch your plating on the van, OR storage yard options can be helpful. Also, if you haven't watched it, watch our video on staying safe on the road, and arm that trailer up with every security measure you can!
As for promaster vans, if you're planning on doing the long game in this life/investment, I am doubtful of the quality of the promaster to hold up under work loads. We've talked to builders who said they see them falling apart within 150,000 km of manufacturing.
Thanks for watching and feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to give you a hand.
If you want some build advice, happy to facetime for free to give advice! IG msg if needed.
@@kageandellie Wow, thanks for the answer. I'm a data analyst here in Toronto, but, I really wanted to start building vans especially with how dire the housing crisis is. All the van outfitters just cater to the wealthy but I think a cheap and durable build could still be done in an old Dodge Caravan so that anyone with a few thousand $ can afford to get into VanLife and have some dignity instead of going into tent life. I'm not even a handyman but after watching a lot of vanlife and woodworking videos, I think I could manage to build a van with just a set of cordless brushless Ryobis (not the consumer grade stuff), probably could do without a trailer, just buy the new Promaster with the "super" high top and build the bed up very high to maximize the "garage" space.
you're welcome!
I can totally see where you're coming from.. people need cheaper housing solutions and even a roadmap given to them on how to make this life work. You kind of have to learn everything anew to make nomadic life work smoothly.. also important.. following a code of conduct. If a bunch of people start living in their vans and start causing problems, hard crackdowns will happen. It is already pushing into legality issues for us in Canada with the ways are laws are setup. Currently, you have to be willing to live in some grey areas to make this life work.
Are you thinking about living in a van and going around building rigs out? (Just asking because of the promaster/trailer setup you asked about.) From my own experience, rig building as a nomad can be really challenging (as is many things in this life), but with a proper plan and setup, it can happen. Also, to make things easier, if you have a basic format of what you're building out and can slam them out on repeat, you could have a good side business on your hands. Keep a standard power system like ecoflow, same solar panel and mounts, same water jug system and fan, and maybe even have someone with a CNC machine (like Andy from Overland Interiors - might be a bit pricey though) precut your bed frames and systems for it to reduce your install time.
When custom building stuff the time shoots through the roof, so try to find a standard build that could be used pretty regularly. Part of the challenge of rig building is you need to many unique parts for each rig, it can bloat your inventory with a lot of extra stuff you don't know when or how to use. Try to keep your inventory refined.
Another interesting thing I've noticed is that locally, rig building is a hard physical job, that takes a ridiculous number of hours to get a good products. Some of the best builders in the region are sick of doing it but have to keep going to feed the financial machine of overhead. If I could give you some advice on the topic.. keep your day job to pay your bills, and try doing some of the builds on the side, unless big things really happen for you.
@@kageandellie I've actually done an unhealthy amount of research into VanLife, started before the pandemic. I have been contemplating a mass produced design for old Dodge Caravans, something like this: th-cam.com/video/Eo9SWRazTlE/w-d-xo.html to appeal to the underserved, tightest budget segment of the market. I will not be renting a workshop, I'll either work on a customer's van on site, space permitting, or driving it to a mostly empty parking lot and setup a makeshift worktable between 2 vans to reduce the chance of onlookers. I'm gonna build out my own Promaster and see if I could just make do with just cordless tools so I could do without a trailer (at first). I've seen a large miter saw being used by many vanbuilders, but I believe that saw is just for efficiency. Inventory will be a problem, but I'm thinking that I can borrow the customer's van to transport it. I'm gonna have to pay attention to what is the most unwieldy piece of material that I need, whether it's a large piece of laminate or polyiso, and make sure that I can fit it into the customer's van. I'm a bit concerned about inventory as I will only start buying materials when the customer is ready for the build as I have literally no place to store inventory. I think self storage rental would be an affordable option.