My Gear List

While by no means complete, this list includes most of the gear I use on my trips and in/on my van. If you saw something in a video or post that isn’t here, let me know and I’ll add it.

Van Build Items

Electrical

Below you’ll find my basic electrical schematic for my van. It makes a very important assumption – that my switches have built in breakers, so take that into account when using this as a guide. This also does not include breakers/fuses from the solar controller or alternator, so be sure to include them when planning as well. Placement of those breakers/fuses depends greatly on your build design, but generally you want one at each end of a heavy gauge wire (i.e: on both ends of your alternator supply wire to protect your house batteries and your vehicle electrical system). Wire sizing depends entirely on your layout and must take into account load demand and length of conductors.

Heater/Furnace

Water and Plumbing

Fridge

I plan to install a thermostat to control the temperature in my coolbox as well as save on energy. Coolboxes can also generate heat by reversing the polarity, so I may even build mine to heat the fridge during winter to prevent freezing my delicious eggs ;).

Insulation and Sound Deadening

Awning

Accessories

Daily Living Gear

Kitchen/Food-Prep Gear

General Household Gear

Cold Weather Sleeping Gear

Backpacking Gear

Comments 17

  1. Did you produce your van electricity schematic drawing? I’d like to get a copy to help me plan for a low budget 2007 town & country camper conversion.
    Thanks, John Flanagan
    805-591-9409.
    Templeton Ca.

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      Author

      Hey John, yes, I do have a schematic. I didn’t end up following it exactly (I skipped the hot water heater and solar), but it’s complete. I’ll email it to you.

  2. Do you have a parts list on amazon for the rock n roll bed? And maybe a blueprint of bed with measurements of all parts and required hardware that you could share with us?

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      Author

      Unfortunately this material is extremely expensive on Amazon, so it’s best to buy from a supplier. I’m working with a company that will be building packages and have a very good price on material. I’ll hopefully have that in the next week or so.

      1. Hi Eric,
        I stumbled onto your page via your YT post. I really like your rock n roll bed. I too would love to know if you can share the parts list with measurements.
        thanks!

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          Author
  3. Yes I would love too know where you got the material for making this bed..I would love too try this in my SUV

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  4. I am interested in purchasing a blue print of the rock and roll bed. This is exactly what I would like to do for my van as well. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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      Author

      Hi Diana,

      The designs can be purchased from my website directly if you are familiar with CAD software. If not, I could probably make a PDF drawing if that helped.

  5. Hi guys! I was just wondering about the roof rack that you have on the previa. We just got a 91 previa without any roof rails or roof windows, and there’s no information on how to install one. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

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      Author

      Hey! Our van had aftermarket roof channels installed by the dealer so you would need to start with that before you could do a roof rack like ours. I believe Thule makes universal rails that get glued and bolted to the roof. Then from that you could build anything you wanted from this material.

  6. Hi there, thanks for all the great info. Could you please provide a link or name for the ceiling fan you installed? I just bought a secondhand minivan last week in Yellowknife (NWT), where I live, and am planning on a build.

    Cheers,

    Shelagh

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      Author

      I actually didn’t install a roof fan. The bad part about a roof fan in the deep cold is that heat rises, so if you have a roof fan you will naturally lose quite a bit of heat out of it, even when it is closed and turned off.

      If you really want an exhaust fan, I would recommend getting a 4-in inline fan on routing a duct from the roof of your van down through the floor, so it can pull air from the top of your van but expel it out through the floor. That way you won’t lose a lot of heat from natural convection through a poorly insulated roof fan. Email me if you have questions.

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