My Minivan to Camper Conversion (Part 3 - Kitchen and Miscellaneous Thoughts)

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar Channel and today's video is the third in a three part series where I show you how I converted my 2015 Honda Odyssey minivan into a camper that sleeps two.  The first two videos covered my camper requirements,  the bed build plus other sleeping concerns, and using the van for living or storage space when we are not sleeping.  This final video will cover the kitchen and other miscellaneous thoughts.

Kitchen

The kitchen is accessible from the back of the van.   My requirements for the kitchen were to have all of my cooking stuff fairly easily accessible, to have a good food prep area, and to have everything be -- again -- totally removable and easy to store in my basement or garage.  So not a big, heavy built-in kitchen.  Let me show you what I designed.  First the

• Refrigerator - I already had a cheapo cooler, but I decided to upgrade to this Coleman cooler that, when fastened shut, can keep ice cubes frozen for up to four days.  This cooler is in an easy to access place, but it is designed to be lifted out when cooking to give more surface area and access to everything.  Next, my
• Cabinets - I bought this plastic three-drawer cabinet from Target.  I store most of my cooking tools, pots, pans, utensils, plates, some pantry items, and a cooking stove in this.  It's easy to access at all times, but it is also designed to be lifted out of the van when cooking.  I can still lift it now, but maybe when it has more in it, I'll need to take a drawer or 2 out before pulling it out of the van.  The nice thing about this unit is when we aren't camping -- I don't need to unpack it at all.  I can just put it in my basement as is and it's ready to go for the next time we head out.  When taken out of the van, it's designed to be a platform for the camp
• Stove - I don't want to burn propane too close to my van, so I wanted a stand for my stove that I can set up outside. Originally I had built this open front box for the storage unit to sit IN while in the van, and on top OF when using as a stand for the stove.  Unfortunately, it's very precarious when it is on uneven ground -- which most camp sites have -- so I got rid of that.  The stove now sits a little closer to the ground than ideal, but it is more stable, which is a priority.   I have a non-slip shelf liner that goes on top and then I cut this piece of plywood to rest on top it, which gives a nice surface for the stove.  I bought this propane stove that has two burners and is nice and solid with good wind protection.  You do have to be careful pulling things out of the drawers while the stove is on so that you don't destabilize the structure. The next thing is the
• Counter - now that everything is out of the back of the van, you can see that I have a a nice big piece of plywood that fits into this space.  Because absolutely nothing in the Honda Odyssey has straight lines, I had to use my jigsaw to cut some curves into it so that it fits properly.  I could use this as a counter, but it's kind of low even for me.  So, I bought some collapsible shelf brackets that pop up into place that I can put this on top of.  This isn't quite stable enough for my taste, so I cut a couple of legs that fit nicely into these indentations on the floor and voila!  Not only do I have a nice big counter for food prep and to serve food, but I can also access all of the storage underneath the bed for other food items that I might be keeping under there.  And finally, the
• Sink - okay, I'm going to do a more detailed video on how I built this sink and faucet, but basically, I cut a piece of plywood to fit into this space to the right side of my van.  Then I drilled some holes into it to accommodate these curved metal tubes that I found in the shelving section -- the plywood just serves to keep them in place.  I can just push these down into the holes and, because my seats are still stored in there -- it has a nice, snug fit.  To the ends of these, I attach a couple of plastic PVC pipes.  Then I get out my pop up sink which has a drain that you can open and shut and it hangs right on these plastic pipes with the help of some rope.  In addition, I have a $13 water faucet/pump that I bought from Amazon and, with a bunch of modifications, I got it to sit on this little platform behind the sink.  You can see that I have a 4 gallon jug of water stored under the bed.  This pump can be charged by USB and when you press the button -- voila!  You have running water!  So much nicer than having to pour water with one hand and wash with the other.  I can also open up the sink drain and the water just goes right onto the ground.  Again, I'll do another video soon on the steps and products that I used to create the sink stand and have running water.
• Other - I have this cord that I use to hang paper towels on the side of my van so they are easily accessible.  The cool thing is that I can attach two S hooks and hook them up here as well.  I use this hook on the other side of my van to hang a trash bag.

So, that was the kitchen.  Okay -- now I just have some

Miscellaneous

thoughts to share:

• Electrical - as I said before, my electrical solution blew my initial budget out of the water.  I went ahead and bought a Jackery 500 Power Station and a solar panel.  As I said, it is overkill for the camping overnights that we are doing now, since we don't have plug in devices that use a ton of power (like a camping refrigerator), but I wanted to make sure I didn't have to upgrade later.  Plus, I figure this is nice for long trips of all kinds and it certainly comes in handy if we lose power at home.
• Changing room - I also bought this pop up "changing room."  Although it IS nice to stand up while changing, because it has not bottom, you can also use it as a private "bathroom" when you don't want to walk all the way over to the facilities.  This is not as important for men, but it is a real nice-to-have for women.
• Lights - we have several different kinds of lights.  We each have a head lamp and a USB charged flashlight.  The flashlights have a bunch of different settings and include a side light and an end that is magnetic.  In addition, we got a collapsible lantern that is chargeable both by USB or by solar.
• Personal packing - one thing we determined is that, when you are lying in bed, you really want everything to be easily accessible and well organized.  So we made the mistake of packing in regular overnight bags, but determined that going forward we will be packing in these baskets and we will roll our clothes and store them vertically so that they are easy to access.  Then once we are in bed, we just have to pull the basket over to our side and we can have easy access to all of our personal items.   Another thing we really wanted to keep accessible was
• Bedside Table Items - We found ourselves really wanting somewhere to put our glasses, phones, flashlight, and my Kindle.  We spent A LOT of time rummaging around in the dark trying to find stuff that had fallen down or that we misplaced.  I bought these pockets to hang on each side that is big enough to put all of those things in — plus a portable charger and our headlamps.  Basically anything we might need in the middle of the night.  And finally, our very favorite item was the
• Camping French Press - this made amazing coffee in such a short time on the propane stove.  It honestly has the potential to convert us into french press coffee people full-time.  What a nice way to wake up.

I think that is basically it.  I'm sure I'll make lots of adjustments as I go along and if there is enough change, I'll do another video to share with you.  In the meantime, I'll do a longer video on the sink/faucet/pump set up, but let me know what you think!  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching!