My Minivan to Camper Conversion: Part 1 - Requirements and Bed Build
In this video, I'm going to show you how I converted my 2015 Honda Odyssey minivan into a camper that sleeps two. This is the first of a three part series.
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*** A full transcript can be found at www.marblejar.net. ***
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Hi, everyone! This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and in today's video, I'm going to show you how I converted my 2015 Honda Odyssey minivan into a camper that sleeps two. This is the first of a three part series. This first video covers my requirements and the bed platform build. Video 2 will cover other sleeping concerns and how we use the van when we are not sleeping and Video 3 will cover the kitchen and other miscellaneous thoughts.
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Why?
I know minivan conversions are all the rage and a hot trend right now on social media, but I swear, I have been thinking about building out my minivan since at least 2012. I'm definitely the most enthusiastic camper in my household. Growing up, my family's main summer vacation was camping for 2 weeks about 2 miles down the road from our house and it is still in my bones. The problem is -- my bones are old and creaky now and sleeping in a tent on the hard ground with some super thin camp mattress just does NOT work for me. And I detest inflatable mattresses. So, 10 years ago, I started thinking that I could just slide a full mattress directly into the back of my minivan and sleep on that. But because I also wanted storage room, I'd probably have to build a platform to put the bed on.
Fast forward to now -- everyone is doing this! People are actually living in their minivans full time and I've been obsessed with watching these van to camper conversion videos on YouTube. The other important thing to note is that I'm practically an empty nester since my youngest is a senior this year. That means fewer weekend activities and fewer unhappy campers to lug around. Here's are some other problems that this solves:
1 - When I've been out hiking all day long, the last thing I want to do is set up a tent, blow up a mattress, and build a campfire to cook food. Bleh. I'm exhausted, I just want to heat up some soup and roll over and go to sleep. Sleeping in a van allows you to do just that.
2 - I hate, hate, hate packing up a wet tent in the morning. And let's face it, the tent is always going to be wet from morning dew. I have kind of a mildew phobia, so the idea of all of that moisture being trapped in a bag all day long gives me the heebie jeebies.
3 - The quality of sleep is 500 times better. An at least 6" thick mattress is absolutely key to sleep quality. Plus, I have all kinds of sleep sensory issues and, in a van, I have a lot more control over sound, light, and temperature than I would in a tent.
4 - And finally, I love a good project. And this is the sort of thing that my ADHD hyperfocus will bite down on and just not let go until the project is complete.
How?
Okay -- so that was all of the why -- now let's talk about HOW I approached converting my van. I had some limitations in terms of how much time and energy I was willing to devote and how much money I was willing to spend. My requirements were as follows:
My design, my work - I come from a family of mechanical engineers, but this is unfortunately not where my talents lie. That said, I have a bunch of power tools, very rudimentary carpentry skills, and a lot more confidence than is really warranted. So, I wanted to do the work myself. I watched a ton of YouTube videos and gained a lot of design ideas from others, but for the most part, I wanted to do my own design and build.
Under $1,000 - I wanted to keep the project cost low. This doesn't include the solar power solution, which blew that limit out of the water. My power solution is a bit overkill for what I want now, but I thought it would be a good investment for future expansion.
Removable - I didn't mind building a bit, but the minivan is the regular car that I drive, so I needed to be able to remove everything, store it in my garage, and rebuild it fairly easily. So the requirements there are that it's not too bulky for storage and that I can take it apart and put it back together quickly. In addition, I didn't want to make any irrevocable changes to the van for eventual resale value.