My minivan campers are the perfect fit for my travel lifestyle (obviously, since that’s what my blog is about).  But is a minivan RV the right fit for YOU?

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Since I started traveling and camping in my first Honda Odyssey, various people have been asking me if a minivan camper conversion would be a good fit for THEM.  Some of the people that I recall asking are:

• a retired married couple
• a solo female traveler with two “large” dogs
• a single parent with kids
• a family of five with two cats (I’m not making these up)
• a young couple just starting out
• someone with an auto detailing business
• an artist

…and the list goes on.  My short answer is usually, “it depends” and really it comes down to your tolerance level for small spaces.

I’ve talked a lot in this blog about the PROs of a minivan camper, but less so about the CONs.  Today I’m going to cover the downsides of traveling in such a relatively small space, however, I do need to recap some of the main advantages, just to provide some contrast.

Pros of a Minivan Camper

1. Initial purchase price
2. Build quality, compared with almost ANY RV
3. Fuel economy (I get 26-30 mpg with my 2013 Odyssey)
4. Speed and handling.  A minivan camper can generally cover ground faster than other RVs and trailers.  They are also easier to manage on mountain roads and in crosswinds.
5. Low profile in size and noticeability.  The ubiquitous nature of minivans means you can blend in where full-sized RVs and even full-sized vans, cannot.  They also fit through any drive-through.
6. Minivans are more capable over rough terrain and can fit down narrower roads than say, a Class A.  They can be made to be even more capable with some minor modifications.  For example, I have a 3″ lift, off-road tires, and a skid plate under the transaxle.

OK, so I could go on and on about why minivans are the perfect compromise for me, but they definitely come with some limitations.  Some can be mitigated, but ultimately the limitation of a minivan camper comes down to one thing, size.  The size limitations mean that you have to make some compromises.

Cons of a Minivan Camper

1. Getting dressed on your back or knees.  When I was young and skinny, I’d flop on my bed every morning and pull my jeans up.  Nowadays I’m less, ahem, graceful.  That means I’m usually getting dressed by sitting on the rear seat or kneeling on the floor.  Then I open the slider and roll out Jeff Spicoli style.
2. Being too Hot or Cold.  In the summer, you really have to pump in outside air or it will rapidly become too warm inside your van. This is especially true if the sun is shining on your windows, making the van into a solar oven.  In the winter, the windows provide little insulation value and become collectors of condensation if you seal everything up at night.  Insulated panels can help keep heat in, or sun out, but a minivan will never be as well insulated as a four-season RV or a purpose-built panel van.  Although a small diesel heater can be added to help with the cold, an electric heater or air conditioner both draw too much power to be practical.  I suppose you COULD add a massive battery bank, but you’d be giving up a lot of living space and adding a bunch of weight.  I mitigate the cold with a sub-zero-rated sleeping bag.  As for the heat… Well, if air conditioning matters to you, a minivan may not be the best solution for you.
3. Lack of a civilized toilet.  Although it doesn’t come up as often as you would think, anything you put in a minivan is going to be some compromise between a simple “capture” system, to a composting system.  I have yet to figure out how to mount a black tank in a minivan.  But as I said in other posts, most of the time you will have other options than pooping in your van.
4. You’ll live OUT of your minivan, rather than IN it.  To me, a minivan RV provides transportation and shelter but I do most of my eating, reading, and living OUTSIDE of the van.  If your goal is to “camp” as a goal unto itself, there are better options.  However, if your travel is destination-oriented, I think a minivan is hard to beat.  It’s hard to park a Class-A at a trailhead and near impossible to go 600 miles on 20 gallons of gas.
5. Carrying a limited amount of….well, everything!  Limited clothes, water, food, tools, etc.  Of course, you are always limited to some degree, regardless of what you are driving, just more so in a minivan.  So maybe the length of your self-sufficiency requirement is a better measure.  If you put me in a 20×20 foot square in the desert, I can go about two weeks without running out of food, water, clean clothes, or showers.  Cut that figure in half if there are two of you.
6. Campground prejudice.  If you have yet to do any RV travel, you may not realize that some campgrounds do not allow vans or minivans.  Almost any place that calls itself an “RV Resort” probably doesn’t.  Sometimes this is a campground policy, but other times there could be a local ordinance against sleeping in a vehicle (the government hates ingenuity).  If they have a tent area, you can sometimes book one of those and if they ask where your tent is, set up your $20 pup tent.  After it gets dark, you fall into your van and nobody is the wiser.  I try to stick to public lands (BLM, national forest, etc.) and don’t spend much time in “campgrounds” but this is harder to do out east than in the western part of the US.  Of course,  “stealth camping” is always an option in a minivan.

The proper way to exit a minivan camper…

OK, if you aren’t scared yet, maybe a minivan conversion IS for you. Here are some things you’ll want to know when you start to plan your conversion:

The Bed

In my opinion, a van without a bed is not a camper, it’s just a van.  So one of the first things to think about is what kind of bed you will build, or place in the van.  That will dictate what room will be left for everything else.  Almost every minivan sold in the US or Canada since 2000′ can fit a 4×8 foot sheet of plywood.  That means the narrow part of the van, between the rear wheels, is 48″ and you have 96″ between the rear hatch and front seats.  Note that you often have to move the front seats up to get the full 96″, so consider that when planning your conversion.  If you can build your bed above the wheel wells, some vans (like the Nissan NV200) will give you an additional foot between the side walls, so you might get 60″ of width.  However, in most other minivans, 48″ is the maximum width at the back of the van.  Toward the front of the van, it can get a little wider.  With the Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey, there is up to 60″ between the sliding doors.

To actually make use of that space, you’ll need to get creative with cutting the bed platform to match the contour of the door panel.

It’s kind of funny to me when people ask if they can fit a “queen bed” or “bunk beds for the kids”.  A queen bed is 60″ wide so it will fit at the doors, but you’ll have to trim it down to 48″ at the narrow part of the van.  To maximize the bed width, use a foam mattress and trim it to match the interior panel contours.  As far as bunk beds go… I’ve actually seen someone who DID put in a bunk bed, but that pretty much means there won’t be room for storage under the bed.  If I did need room for a second person, I would probably make a wider bed with a folding panel to access a storage area underneath.  A flat panel across the front seats could accommodate a child or a couple of dogs.  My current bed is 30″ wide at my legs and a bit wider at the shoulders.  I put my head behind the driver’s seat, so my shoulders can be at the widest part of the van.  This lets me sleep comfortably on my back or side, without draping my arm over the side of the bed.  It also leaves an area next to the bed for dressing or cooking.  The bottom of the bed platform is about 16″ off the floor, leaving a storage area underneath.

Traveling with Others

My minivan conversion provides what I personally need to travel the US and Canada for as long as I want.  I travel alone for the most part and so the space considerations are an acceptable compromise.  However, whenever I meet a couple who tell me they are considering converting their minivan, I think, “for both of you?  You are BOTH going to live in the van???”  Um, I’m not sure I’d do that…

When I was in my early 20s, I camped in the hatchback of a Ford Probe with my girlfriend, who is now my wife.  I weighed about 180 lbs and she weighed significantly less.  We didn’t kill each other…  Today I weigh 250 lbs and I’m not even sure I even could fit back there alone.  So, when a young couple tells me that they are planning to convert their minivan, I tell them, “as long as you really like each other and don’t often fight, you could probably make it work”.  I’ve met plenty of young people that make this work, so it IS possible.  But then there was that young couple that set off to tour the country and one of them never came back…

I also hear from couples that are in their 60s or even 70s that want to do what I do.  I can’t imagine two people my age or older in something smaller than a full-sized van.  There are some people who do, but as my wife said, “no frigging way, I’d kill you inside of a week”, which is a nice way of saying that it depends upon the couple.  Certainly, two people getting ready in the morning at the same time, or using the “facilities” would be a significant challenge.  Having a tent that attaches to the side or rear of the van might help to avoid losing your van at the divorce settlement.

My Class-B(minus) Camper

As I’ve mentioned, size is going to be the chief limitation in any minivan build, but having said that, I’ve been able to install some conveniences in my minivan, that you may not have thought possible.  In my little space, I have:

1. A bed.  Well, of course, you can’t consider your van to be “converted” without a bed!  Mine is built to support twice my weight and elevated to create storage space underneath.  It’s 30″ wide at the narrowest point and widens by another foot in the middle, giving me more torso and shoulder space.
2. A shower.  My rear hatch has a shower curtain track installed and when raised, I have an area to get cleaned up.  Sure I brush up against the curtain and it’s a little tight, but after a couple of days in the bush, any shower is better than no shower.  Plus, when I’m in a remote area, I don’t need the curtain.
3. Water tanks.  I don’t use any gray or black water tanks, but I carry 23 gallons of fresh water, split between two tanks.  I use two tanks because one is for the shower and if the best source I can find happens to be a river, I won’t contaminate my drinking water.  Both tanks get periodically sanitized, which is easily done with a little bleach and some water.  Each tank has a dedicated on-demand pump.
4. A “house” electrical system.  I’ve installed a 100 Ah gel battery, 1000W inverter, MPPT solar charge controller, 200W of solar panels (soon to be 300W), and a dc-dc charger that charges the house battery when I’m driving.  All except the solar panel fit neatly and securely in the spare tire compartment, under the floor.  The spare tire is relocated under the lowest part of the bed, where there isn’t much storage room anyway.  Note: I had the gel battery from another build but these days, lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4)is a smarter way to go.
5. A compressor refrigerator/freezer combo.  Not every trip calls for a fridge, but when I go out for a long time in the warm months, I slip my Alpicool brand “cooler fridge” under the bed.  It draws 2A when running and it’s not running all the time.  On sunny days, the solar can run the fridge AND charge the battery at the same time.
6. A microwave.  Well, it’s a tiny microwave, but I can still cook and reheat food!
7. A toilet, kinda.  Some people carry cassette toilets in a minivan and though they take up a lot of space, it’s the closest you’ll get to a flush toilet in a minivan.  At the other end of the scale is a 5-gallon bucket with a snap-on toilet seat and some cat litter.  I think the perfect compromise and one I use, is a small composting toilet.  However, these are not cheap.  You have options here, but I’ve found that the toilet is not as big a compromise as some other things.  No matter where you are traveling, there are usually public restrooms, pit toilets, or other facilities nearby.  It really only comes up when you are out in the desert or on remote BLM or forest land.  Depending on how limber you are, a cat hole can be a viable option and a folding shovel takes up less space than any toilet.  OK, enough poop talk.

In summary, the compromises of RVing in a minivan may not be as bad as you thought.

Ultimately, it Comes Down to Space

Will a minivan conversion work for you?  I suggest you tackle the space question first and contemplate the following questions:

• Can you (or you and a partner) fit everything you want for YOUR adventure, inside and on top of a minivan?
• Are you flexible?  I mean are you physically flexible, as in “bendy”?
• Can you sleep on a tiny bed?  I’m roughly 6’4″ and 250 lbs, so the odds are good for you!

If you can deal with these main issues, then everything else will kind of work itself out.  I’d suggest starting with a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna based on their reliability when compared to other makes and models, but whatever van you decide on, enjoy your journey.

Remember, THE VAN is just a means to an end, so don’t get too wrapped up with the details of your “build”.  The important thing is to get out here and live your own adventure, in your own way!

Darren at OdysseyCamper

 

 

 

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