Minivan Camper for Family - Full Tour
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 พ.ค. 2021
- I have been working on converting our 2018 Toyota Sienna into a camper van that can fit our family of four. This is a full tour of our van and I will show you how it is set up while driving and sleeping. Our van is ready to go on trips and we will be using it as much as possible to explore Europe while we are here.
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Love this. How your cabinet opens at the top is how I vision making my bed platform. I am have been so inspired by vanlifers and I have begun building out my minivan and documenting it on my channel.
Mom, I bet you were the creative mind who set all of this up. Job well done. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! It's almost impossible to find a good minivan conversion for families. Well done!
I really appreciate the time and energy you gave to make this video. You're really filling a very hungry niche! You're an inspiration.
We've had about seven different minivan configurations for myself and my two kids, totally about a solid year of travel. I think we've finally come up with the most simple and best one that works for us:
We put the front seats all the way forward, and my 9yo sleeps across the van behind them, on the floor with a narrow mattress.
The portapotti is beside his feet, for easy access for any of us during the night.
My 12yo and I sleep on two folding tables set across the width of the van (2 x 4 each, which reach to our knees, and then we shore up our legs with bins we pull out from underneath.
We found that having the kids higher up was simply too hot in summer months, even with fans.
We don't bother with a fridge, or kitchen set up. We've had two VW's, an SUV, a Dodge camper van (with a full kitchen) but we find that a Yeti cooler does the trick, along with any flat surface for the stove.
We have a Goal Zero 200 to keep things charged up.
We hang our blackout curtain behind the front seats if we're stealth camping, but hang it by the visors if we're boondocking, at a Walmart, campground or rest stop, to give us more real estate inside.
We removed the very rear seats to get more storage space, but can put them back any time. Besides, who was ferrying more than their own kids during Covid, right?
Have a great summer of family travels and adventures. There is nothing like seeing the same shooting star over the shadow of a Joshua tree or going to bed with your clothes smelling of campfire. Way to get out there, Mama!
It sounds like you have a pretty good set up going for you. We are enjoying the freedom of being able to get out at a moments notice without needing reservations, and can go pretty much anywhere. Thank you for such a kind comment.
I saw someone use a 48 in adjustable height table as the base for the child’s bed where your son is sleeping. Seems like a genius idea. Thanks for sharing
Very cleverly done. I wasn’t expecting it to be so organised with a family of 4 in such a small space. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much! 😊
I really like this. Thanks for showing your set up.
Looks like a great set-up - you can also use the two front seats as one of the beds for the kids!
Good set up for family
Awesome job converting the van. I might need to do this for me and the kids once I get rid of the bulky car seats for the twins.
Thank you! I would recommend it!
Nice set up
Very well thought out setup. We might end up imitating your setup.
Wow, I can't believe it, 4 of you in that little van. 👌 Great job
WOW! What a great setup and ideas to maximize space and use! Thanks SO MUCH for share and video! Cheers! :)
This is a nice setup, I really like the floors. Enjoy your travels.
Wow. I'm also in a Sienna and I'm amazed at how much you packed in. Well done.
You did a fantastic job of making this a family van!! Safe travels…
I would love to see more about the kids beds. This is great!. I will be traveling by myself heading to my daughter's. I might have a friend on the way. Once I get to my daughter's I would need 3-4 seats with sleeping. I have a 2015 Sienna. Great build. Looking forward to more videos.
I have another video that explains one of the kids beds better. You can find it here: th-cam.com/video/5MwCMr3e9BY/w-d-xo.html
I will be doing another video soon about a bed in the front seat area as well.
Truly appreciate you sharing your build. We are also a family of four looking into converting our minivan. You have a great setup.
I hope its helpful!
Thank you thank you!!! Thank you for sharing!! I've done so many searches no avail and today, suddenly (when I got a headache yesterday trying to figure it out... which led me to give up) this popped up. I've been wanting to go mainland camping (which idk how to do lol) and I'm about to buy a van but I keep on getting stuck. How do I fit my kid and the dogs into the car? I don't want to buy a crazy ford transit for everyday life. Car line, sports practices etc... it just doesn't sound fun. Now that I seen this, it really puts me at ease. Thank you thank you for taking the time to share this. This is a very creative and well thought out build. You guys rock!!
Thank you for your comment. This made me happy to read. I hope it’s helpful to you. And I hope you are able to find the perfect van you can convert. Good luck 🍀
Great video
I don’t really like the daughters bed set up. I think a plywood with adjustable legs across the front seats will work better.
We actually did set up a bed in the front seats. Much more room that way
Really great design!
wow THAT IS CREATIVITY! come and help me! i have a mini van sienna. too much things to put in there for camping or living mini van style
This is amazing!! Great set up! Thank you for showing us! I want to do the same for traveling this summer but have no idea how to build 😩
Clever use of space!
Awsome and informative vedio really became your fan and subscriber !!!
Thanks 😊
@@savannahjohn5857 welcome !!!
Very nice 👍
Bonine! When o was a kid I would have motion sickness and my mom would give me Dramamine. It made me sleepy and moody. When i switched to Bonine it was a Different story. I could enjoy the trip. When I got older I needed to go to the doctor for a prescription motion sickness tho. But it was great when I was a kid.
Also ginger gum.
Poor kids. They are struggling to get room.
Forget stealth...I want you to put a popup tent for them..oh, when you have a popup tent, add one of those small projector on the floor of the tent, pointing to the ceiling to watch the galaxy video on TH-cam. And that would be totally awesome!!!!
Awesome!!!👠🚌👠
Way to go/ better than a camper payment
I'm impressed... very creative use of space. How long do your trips usually last? Does this get tedious at some point?
Great job! Can you please share what you used for all of the mattresses?
For the large bed we used a mattress topper. For the kids' beds we used cushions meant for patio furniture.
This is great! I've been searching for months for a way to can camp with my 3 kids and have found nothing until I got here. Thank you!
What size is the mattress you are using for the adult bed? Is it a full size? Did you have to trim it down? Also hiw did you do your window coverings?
I think that is all of my questions for now. LOL
Hi it is a full size mattress cover and we didn't trim it down but it does curl up at the ends a bit. I sewed the curtains myself and the window covering are just from reflectix by putting it against the window, tracing the general outline and cut it down to fit. I hope that helps!
My daughters are in a futon in the back of my SUV after 2 week camping trip. Black mom camping...so many people thought we were homeless. L. Wonder if you all got people approaching you with similar inquiries? My daughters complain abd fight with several more inches above them then your littles. Thetford toilet was great for them..me I had to be creative when alone on the highways and byways. Thanks for the video.
We haven't had anyone asking us any questions but we have gotten a lot of curious stares when my back hatch is open. But, we are in Germany now so if someone did ask me anything I wouldn't know what they were saying anyway lol.
Could you please explain more on your power sources? My 2015 only has USB in the back area. I am thinking I can plug my refrigerator in the front cigarette charger. I haven't bought one yet. What size is yours? Also I am thinking my jackery will plug in the back USB. Haven't gotten that yet either. What size jackery do you have? You have a few power sources back there, I would love to learn more. I watched your son's bed set up, thanks for the link.
My fridge is a 20L Dometic thermoelectric cooler and it has plugs for both the 12v and regular socket. I have a 12v plug in the back I can plug it into when we are driving and I can also plug it into the invertor which is connected to my leisure battery when we are not driving. We will be putting in solar soon for charging the battery. I will say though that for how simple my electrical needs are it would've probably been easier to just have a power bank like a jackery instead. You could definitely plug a fridge into your 12v in the front and I've seen videos where they replace the center console with their fridge.
👍😁👍
I love this so much!! Question… Do you crack the windows when camping? Or do you find that it works for you to just keep them shut? I’ve been debating how to do mine. Thanks!
I crack the windows but I have weather tech on my windows to keep out any potential rain and so passerby's can't tell my windows are cracked.
Thank you!!
✌
Why not make a bed across the front seat for one of the kids...more room🙂
Yeah that's a good idea
We actually are planning on doing a front seat bed. Our original idea was to leave the front cab empty for stealth camping. But after taking it out a couple times we decided the extra space would be nice. We just have to make more window coverings as well. But that would also mean we could technically seat and sleep five 😄
@@savannahjohn5857 also, how does your son feel about the space above his area. could you cut short the space above your leg area to give him more space?
He hasn't complained about the space and is able to turn, and lay on his side easily. But, we could probably lower it a couple inches and it will still be fine for everyone.
If you make the bed upfront I would love to see the video. Great set up. I'm so happy I found your site. Haven't found much for more than 2 people in a Sienna.
Very nice! I just wanted to let you know that a very dear friend of mine recently lost vision in his eye because a bungee cord unexpectedly snapped back with such force and hit him in the eye. The ratchet straps are much safer. I feel like I need to let you know.
Thank you for sharing
What brand of cooler are you using?
Its a 20 liter Dometic TropiCool thermo-electric cooler
@@savannahjohn5857 thanks
💜😇💜
How the girl can breathe under there,good for winter,summer can be miracle?
Yea, we created a bed in the front seat to make it more comfortable.