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Great question. We followed Eric's design which included the back bench, but in reality we rarely sit there for the reason you state. Sometimes it's nice to sit on the back bench if you can recline a little, but more often we just sit on our camping chairs

Good question. In general when we are using our van for camping we turn off the interior lights and use our portable battery-powered light for lighting. When the interior light switch on the dash is OFF, the sliding doors do not keep any interior light illuminated. The front doors have small lights that light when the door is open even when that switch is off, but we don't tend to keep the front doors open very much. So to answer your question, we've never had this problem and we've never drained the battery through using the van as a camper. Another option you can look into is replacing the interior bulbs with lower-powered LED bulbs. That said, our preference is to not rely on the van's battery for anything other than starting/running the vehicle itself

The 2010 edition does not have the tracks for the second row seats, so this was not an issue for us

Yes. I found that ubolts connected to the seat anchors are very secure. The fact is that the floor is already pretty heavy, and is likely to more or less stay in place even if it was not bolted down. So the single ubolt is not doing a lot of work - it just keeps the floor from shifting. We also use a single ubolt for the bed frame, and the side cabinet is secured with a single ubolt at the bottom and the strap through the handle at the top

@@MikeGoetz thanks so much Yours is one one the best builds So it’s just me my wife and two dogs We like to keep it simple but functional

We went with ¾" plywood which is very sturdy and has not warped. Depending on the weight it is supporting, ½" might be too thin or it may warp which would make it more difficult to raise or lower the bed.

Yes we definitely concur. As soon as you introduce a fridge, you need to get a second battery and it really starts to complicate the electrical setup. For people like us who just want to camp in our van, we find that the fridge is not necessary. In practice we've found that ice in the cooler lasts about three days, which is roughly hong long our water supply lasts as well. Our build is not suitable if you really want to go overlanding for days or weeks at a time. But for regular camping in your vehicle without the hassle of setup or driving a big rig in the city, we're really happy with our arrangement

@@MikeGoetz Thanks for the additional wise information!

This is an excellent question. In hindsight, I think we overcompensated on the bed frame and platform. I'm no expert on the types of wood to use, but I suspect it would have been fine to go with ⅝" ply or possibly even thinner if the wood is sturdy. Similarly, I think you could go with 2x3's for the bed frame whereas we used 2x4s. You probably also don't need as many crossbeams as we put in. The whole thing is very stable which is good, but I suspect you could have similar stability with lighter materials. The weight of the storage cabinet and the sink cabinet is negligible, but the bed platform and frame are heavy. I've never actually weighed them, but I suspect that the weight of our camping setup is equivalent to the combined weight of the seats that we removed.

I realize in hindsight that it wasn't clear what section of the van you were referring to with respect to ½" plywood. We used ¾" ply for our bed platform not ½". My comments still hold about the bed platform - thinner plywood might be suitably strong, but I would also be concerned about warping. We used ½" ply for the cabinets, and I think this was fine. Unlike the bed frame and platform, the cabinets are very light so I don't see much reason to go thinner than ½" ply for those. The floor is also ½" ply and I wouldn't go any thinner on that either, because you wouldn't want the floor to bend or warp too much. Sorry for the confusion.

We didn't mess with the van's electrics. The Jackery comes with a cable that connects to a cigarette lighter to charge it while you drive. No need to do any "conversion" or tap directly into the alternator. We didn't do a roof vent or fan - I wouldn't want to cut into the van's roof or do a major modification like that; I think the risk of creating leaks would be too high. For ventilation we keep the second row windows open - if it's hot we keep them as far down as they will go, if it's cold we just keep them open an inch. We have screens on the windows to keep the bugs out. Usually we stay in campgrounds where safety isn't as big a concern. Most of the videos we have watched about other van conversions do something similar. If you're planning to modify your vehicle to put in a roof vent, I would suggest you get this done by a professional. But even then, I don't think a roof vent will help much if it's hot outside overnight - you will likely want more air flow than that.

This is an excellent question and one of the more difficult elements of our build. Our driveway and carport are more or less level, which helped in the construction process. We wanted to make the build as reasonably level as we could, and we spent quite a bit of time augmenting the underside of the floor until we had it fairly (but not perfectly) level. Had we tried to make the floor perfectly level, it would have beed raised up by probably more than four inches towards the front, which felt impractical. The most important decision with respect to levelling the build was the sink cabinet, which is not actually level with the floor. We made sure that cabinet was as reasonably level as we could make it, because not only does that impact things like the drainage of the sink, but also how level the table is (since the table connects to the aluminum side railing attached to the sink cabinet). At the time, we weren't sure whether it would look more aesthetically pleasing to have the sink cabinet *even* with the slope of the lower edge of the window that it sits next to, or if it would be better to make it level. We chose the latter and I'm really glad we did. Although the lower edge of the window *looks* level with the naked eye, it is not. When we use the van for camping we try our best to find a level spot (I use my phone's level sensor - part of the measure app on an iPhone - by placing it on the center console tray). Because we tend to camp at campgrounds, it has not been a problem to find level ground. Some people pack levellers (graded heavy-duty plastic ramps that you drive onto), but we haven't used or needed those. Just like any camping, it's most comfortable if the vehicle and bed are level

@@MikeGoetz thank you so much for the detailed answer and explanation. I am going to follow suit!

Good question. I work remotely and I've found our setup to be suitable for working either at the table or from the passenger seat. I don't find it too cramped and I use a 15" MacBook. I don't have Starlink; most of the places we have gone have good enough cell signal that I haven't needed that sort of upgrade, so it depends where you go and what kind of coverage you have. I think the only thing I would add is that this setup will never be as ergonomic as your home office. I tend to work for an hour or two at a time; I suspect a full day's work could get uncomfortable.

Sorry, we never developed any plans and dimensions when we were building out the van. I'm hoping to eventually publish some drawings; stay tuned!

Thanks! Sorry I don't have any schematics or diagrams, but I am hoping to make a website to provide this eventually. When we built our van we didn't a lot of schematics; instead we took the design concepts we liked and then adapted that design and measured for our van. Good luck with your project!

Thanks for your kind words. Design simplicity and ease of setup/takedown were important factors for us. I appreciate some people like to have more complicated setups, but for us we just want to use our van for camping, not for living in

The bed is more towards the passenger side to leave enough room for the side cabinet, like you mention. When we started we put down masking tape to judge how deep we wanted the side cabinet to be - because of the contours of the van, you can actually get a lot of room even though the cabinet only comes out about two inches from the lower wall at the base. Our bed is 44” wide so we used the remaining width for the cabinet (plus about half an inch either side for clearance)

@@MikeGoetz Great, thank you! Mine is 44” wide too, I have the frame and platform built and am getting ready to put it in to get the leg measurements!

Pretty much every RV has the entrance access on the passenger's side. I suppose you could reverse the design if you want, but one important thing is to make sure that you have good visual access to your middle passenger side window from the driver's seat to check your blind spot

@MikeGoetz oh thank you. I am currently making plans for my build and documenting on my channel. This is very helpful. WELL DONE...your build is awesome.

The bed platform is about 9¾" from the van floor. We set the height with some trial and error, testing different heights using blocks before we made the final cut for the legs of the frame. You want a height that is tall enough to sit comfortably and put things under the bed, but short enough that you can sit upright without hitting your head on the van's ceiling. Depending on your height this can vary.

When reviewing designs, we also liked Eric's rear bench. However in practice we don't use it very often. The problem is that the height of the rear bench is such that you don't have much headspace. So it's not particularly comfortable to sit there, certainly for long stretches. I wouldn't change the overall design though

Yeah I know. Making videos is not a high priority for me; sorry 🙂 I do have some additional footage of little nuances that we've liked about our build, and I'll get that up at some point. I've also taken the time to mark the dimensions for our units and I plan to put up a page about that for people that are interested in recreating this build. But unfortunately other things in life are taking up the time at the moment. Thanks for the kind prod

Sorry for the delay in replying. We matched the contours of the van by creating a tool that basically involved attaching a marker to a long stick. Then, hold a large piece of cardboard vertically, run the stick along the edge of the van, and the marker will mark the contour onto the cardboard. Cut out the cardboard along the line from the marker, and now your will have a rough cut of the contour. Put the cardboard against the van's edge to see if the contour matches; adjust as needed. Once it's good enough, trace the cardboard edge onto your piece of plywood and cut with a jigsaw. It's important to note that the edge doesn't need to be *perfect*. As long as it's close enough it will create the cupboard space you need

Good question. At 2:07 you will see the little contraption I came up with. I used some bobby bins connected to string which holds the U-bolt upright. When laying the floor in the van you have to lower it slowly and align the holes in the floor with the U-bolt - it's a little finicky but I can usually get it in one or two tries. Once the floor is lowered and the U-bolt is accessible I attach the nuts so that the U-bolt remains in place, then I pull the strings to remove the bobby pins.

Sorry for the late reply. I'm 5'10" and while it's comfortable to sit on our platform, my head still reaches the van's ceiling if I sit bolt upright. Our bed platform is 9¾" from the van's floor - if you're tall you might want to lower this height so that you can sit comfortably without hitting your head. Of course the lower you make your bed platform, the less room you will have to store items under your bed. We found the 9¾" space perfect for storing our rubbermaid bins with our cooking supplies & food. Also try to find a mattress that is reasonably firm and not too thick. The thicker the mattress, the higher you will sit. Regular van seats are angled back to give more head room, but the bed platform is flat so it will feel higher. It may be possible to create a design that pitches the bed slightly when in couch mode so that you create more headroom. As for seats opposite, we use our folding chairs and we've been able to sit four people around the table that way. You could set up a permanent bench on the other side, perhaps with storage underneath. Bear in mind that the more things your construct (especially out of wood), the heavier your van will be.

Sorry for the late reply. The bed platform sits about 9¾" from the van's floor. The vinyl floor sits on top of the van floor, so the bed platform is 9¼" from the vinyl floor.

Hey Edwin. We don't do builds for others, but I am hoping to put up some basic plans so that people can copy our design if they like it

Sorry for taking so long to reply. When fully laid flat, the bed is 44" (111.76cm) x 74" (187.96cm). The sections of the platform are 18½" : 18½" : 18½" : 2½" : 16". The bed is pretty narrow - narrower than a double bed (a double bed is 54" wide), but because you are "walled in", we find it quite comfortable for two people because you can move all the way to the edge of the bed which you can't normally do with a regular bed

I’d love tips on making the contoured cuts for the rear left shelf too. (2010 Toyota Sienna XLE conversion)

Sorry for the late reply. @ericenjoysearth2756 has good tips about how to shape the side cabinet for the contours of the van. Basically you attach a marker to a stick or ruler, and then hold up a piece of cardboard vertically and run the stick along the edge of the van so that the marker draws the contour onto your cardboard. Then you cut out the cardboard and adjust the cut so that it is close to the shape of the van's contours. Finally, trace the cardboard onto your wood panel and cut it with a jigsaw. It's not too important to be exact with these cuts - as long as you get the contours of your shelving unit close to the contours of the van, it will fit well. It doesn't have to fit perfectly, because you're usually not storing tiny things on those shelves. We used ½" plywood for the shelves, and ¼" plywood for the front panel of the shelves

@@AdamStear I added a reply to the main comment with some more info. Also, check out @ericenjoysearth2756 and his main van tour video - he shows the process of cutting out the shelving unit to match the contours of the van

Thank you!