Nothing earth shattering in this post. Rather, I camped out of the van again and this time, with the temporary fixed bed platform. Also added was my brand new laptop to be able to watch a movie if I wanted. I did start to watch the movie “The Hero” but I rarely make it through a movie without falling asleep. What this did though was tell me my original thought of having a small flat screen could be a sweet addition. Especially if I hit the road solo (which is a high likelihood).
Bed: I am still torn if I want a fixed platform bed. I will likely debate this topic for a while. I see the advantages of having a fixed platform with some pull out drawers as storage, but I also see the advantage of having as much floor space as possible to carry kayaks and let my dogs roam about. I do like my fold up mats (pads) to sleep on but I could use something a tad bit more cush if I were to sleep many nights at a time in this. To be continued…
Cooking: I think it would be nice to have a pullout platform out the back. Where this could get tricky is if it is raining. I guess I will just have to camp through a storm to figure this one out!
Gear storage: Something to easily rig for a line to hang things outside for when it is not raining. Throwing the gear all over the exterior of the van just is not going to cut it. A while back I came across Adam Nawrot’s page and wrote him asking for his thoughts since I can’t seem to find much out there on kayakers and van conversions. He suggested I have some sort of outside storage for the smelly gear. I am still thinking on this topic as well as that seems like fantastic advice.
Fridge: I really want a small fridge for the essentials. It needs to be small though as I don’t have much space. An idea I saw was in-between the front seats but my husky (Sierra) loves to lay in this spot and be my helper up front. Doubt I put one there. Still researching this.
Garbage: Empty trash rolling around just isn’t cool. Need to come up with a slick fix.
Roof rack: The factory rack works just fine but if I am wanting to throw on many boats, this won’t work well. Anything I’ve seen out there just isn’t wide enough. I spent some time with my co-worker (who helps me on the mechanical side of things) in Lowes, only to be frustrated. He went home and came up with what I think is a genius idea for a rack system. Stay tuned on this!
The more time I have in this van, the more I absolutely love it. I can see why people ditch their jobs and hit the road and wonder. Until next time…
