The Campervan Podcast (Vansage.com)
Explore every episode of The Campervan Podcast
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 Mar 2021 | Episode 041: Campervan Storage Ideas: Bags instead of boxes | 00:16:53 | |
| 10 Sep 2021 | 127: Can you use a portable air conditioner in a camper van? | 00:10:47 | |
👉 Be Ready: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting 👉 Product: Black and Decker Portable 5000 BTU Free Standing AC 👉 Article: Campervan Air Conditioners: Staying Cool for Vanlife Hey, thanks for tuning in to the camper van podcast. Once again, I'm glad you're listening. Another question about air conditioning. Can you use a portable air conditioner in a camper van? So can you use a portable air conditioner and camper van? You, you absolutely can. There are advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage is that there's no installation. You simply go buy a 110 or 240 volt portable air conditioner, the freestanding kind that you see in people's homes and offices and shops, et cetera. And you stand it up in the van, you plug it in, you run the vent hose that comes with your freestanding, portable air conditioner out through a window or a hole cut in the side of the van. And now you're cooling down at 5,000 BTU's or 7,500 or 10,000 BTUs, depending on how powerful your portable AC unit is. Another advantage of using a portable air conditioner in a camper van or RV is they're reasonably priced. There are also several disadvantages. The number one disadvantage is the power consumption. They're not built to be as efficient as the RV , camper and campervan specific AC units that are available such as the ones that Mount to your roof, or the Marine style that mount in cabinets and are vented through the hull or side of your van. What I mean by that is, the fans and the motors in the RV and Camper van specific air conditioning systems are balanced, lighter weight, they tend to be better insulated and they're designed to withstand the vibration of a motor vehicle such as an RV or Campervan. RV air conditioners are built to be more quiet and run more efficiently because the manufacturers know that you have less power at your disposal because oftentimes if you're running off battery and solar, Also, you need the thing to be quiet because it's right above your head in the camper or RV when you're sleeping. So there's another disadvantage of DC powered portable air conditioners. they're going to be louder. Another disadvantage aside from the power consumption and the noise is that they take up more space. They stand in the middle of the room and, and I don't know about you, but I don't have room for one of those. That's why so often air conditioning systems are mounted to the roof of campervans because they need to be up and out of the way. That also solves the venting issue because it's not even in the van. It's outside of the van. So the venting takes care of itself with a camper van air conditioner. Another issue with regard to portable air conditioners is that they are not durable since they're made for homes, they aren't made to be joggled around In the rolling earthquake that is the back of your camper van. So aside from the fact that they take up a ton of space, the thing's going to fall apart over time or quickly. Now, granted, you could set it up on the mattress every time you're driving and make sure that it... | |||
| 06 Sep 2021 | 123: What's the Best Campervan Flooring Material? | 00:12:27 | |
👉 Be Ready: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting | |||
| 01 Apr 2021 | 046: YouTube Channel Recommendations: The Neistat Brothers | 00:07:59 | |
| 05 Sep 2021 | 122: Is Your Starter Battery Ready for The Trip? | 00:12:51 | |
| 26 Apr 2021 | 072: Campervan Alignment for better handling & safety | 00:10:53 | |
| 20 Mar 2021 | 034: Campervan Purchase Negotiation | 00:11:12 | |
| 09 Apr 2021 | 054: Surviving Campervan Alternate Realities | 00:10:39 | |
| 12 May 2021 | 087: Portable Induction Cooktops | 00:11:20 | |
👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing Portable Induction Cooktops Podcast Transcript from The Campervan PodcastAnother very common question we get at vansage.com, and I get in email is with regard to induction cooktops. In particular 12 volt induction cooktops. I thought I would get on that first just to get it out of the way, because, 12 volt induction cooktops are problematic. This stuff is complicated and I'm not the best with electrical. I tend to defer to experts on the topic of electrical in general, I can handle myself at a basic level, but when we get into the math and anyway... enough about that. Other than to say that I found a great comment over at Sprinter-source.com Someone had asked, you know, where do I get a 12 volt induction cooktop? And the comment goes like this. It's from PT Chambers. He says, and I quote... “You do realize that a 12 volt cooker At 1800 Watts would require 150 amps, huge wiring sizes to minimize losses and any switching would have to use very large contacts and would require a massive battery pack to be able to use it very long.” So very high amps at 12 volt is a-no good. You don't wanna mess with that. All that to say, let's just move on. There aren't any 12 volt induction cooktops. If you want to run an induction cooker in your van, then you need an inverter, unless you are hooked up to shore power and it's that simple. So either a 12 volt or 24 volt to 110 volt or 240 volt inverter. I'm gonna go ahead and include a link here. It's from a site called Engineeringtoolbox.com and it shows amps and wire gauge in 12 volt electrical circuits, including charts and graphs, and how to choose wire gauge for various amps. It's very, very useful stuff. You can see for yourself in this chart, if you're a disbeliever in what I just read to you with regard to 12 volts and induction cooking. Moving along, we'll talk more about portable induction cooktops. We've got a great article called Portable induction cooktops over at Vansage.com. It includes the induction cooktops that we've found to have the highest rating and the best features. All portable induction cookers, we're focusing on some single and double burne cooktops. My favorite is the duxtop double burner induction cooktop People love it. The ratings are high. It's got lots of... | |||
| 27 Sep 2021 | 128: Do camper vans hold their value? Part One of 3 | 00:10:15 | |
👉 Be Ready: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting | |||
| 30 Mar 2021 | 044: Book Recommendation: Vagabonding, by Rolf Potts | 00:07:28 | |
| 18 Jun 2021 | 108: Best 12 volt Refrigerator for Mini Camper Vans | 00:10:12 | |
Okay today, we're going to talk about the best 12 volt refrigerator for a minivan camper, aka 12v fridge freezers for mini camper vans. I’m Well suited to answer this question at the moment, because I'm driving is a Toyota Sienna minivan camper. The best 12 volt refrigerator options for a minivan camper are as follows: And I love it, it's great. for a while, I was very much considering moving on to a full size, full height, sprinter van, and I will be doing that actually very soon, but, for now, my minivan is awesome and I can't recommend enough people building out minivans for camping because they're just wonderful. It's just great to be able to drive anywhere and park anywhere, but I digress. We'll get back to the 12 volt refrigerator issue and I'll just talk a bit about what I think the best refrigerators are for minivans and give you some guidelines for your personal mini camper refrigeration needs. Now, if you're more than one person, you need a larger fridge freezer. It's really that simple, unless you can manage to do all of your cooking or the vast majority of your cooking without having to refrigerate or freeze anything. And that's fine. I mean, if you can do that, awesome. If, if you can get by with just some milk and even then maybe you're into alternative milks and your milk doesn't have to be refrigerated. That's great, but most of us want fresh food and most of us want some cool drinks and a cold beer now and then. So choose your refrigerator, your 12 volt fridge freezer based on, how many people you have in your van and the kind of cooking you like to do and the foods and drinks you want to keep cold. As you know, as I've talked about a lot, I love to cook, especially at the campsite, and I want fresh food. I want fresh want fresh vegetables and cheese and milk and cream and things like that, so that I can cook really great food at the campsite. Even if I'm cooking over the fire, not in the van, not on a portable stove. I still want all of the wonderful, fresh foods. So I sacrifice space because I want a larger minivan 12v fridge freezer. As far as brands go. If you're in a minivan, you probably have less power supply. And so you might consider something like the iceo icooler, which I've done an episode on already. And I will go ahead and include that in show notes, you'll see a link to our 12 Volt Refrigerator and to the iceco icooler. The reason that I think that's a great way to go is because, A- it's a larger 12 volt fridge freezer and B- it has maxed out insulation. You can run it less or it runs less to keep your food cold. Caveats to that, with regard to brand and design, you know, Dometic does a great job of building 12 volt fridge freezers in a multitude of sizes with a lot of different features that also... | |||
| 08 Jun 2021 | 104: Never Throw Out Lettuce & Other Greens Again | 00:09:48 | |
This episdode teaches you a simple method for cleaning and storing letttuce and other soft greens so they last for many days or even weeks in your Campervan refrigerator. 👉 Click here to see details and pricing on the OXO Salad Spinner | |||
| 19 Apr 2021 | 065: Are Cheap Tools Safe? | 00:08:33 | |
| 22 Feb 2021 | 008: Jenny Leveille, full time Vanlifer interview #1 of 7 | 00:12:41 | |
We meet Jenny, a featured writer at Vansage.com. We discuss how and why she got into Vanlife, and much more. | |||
| 29 Mar 2021 | 043: Demystifying Campervan Tire Pressure | 00:10:20 | |
| 03 May 2021 | 079: How to find & STOP RUST in your Campervan: Part 1 🛑 | 00:10:10 | |
| 04 Sep 2021 | 121: The Pros of Converting a Used Van vs a New Van 🚐 | 00:12:56 | |
| 20 Feb 2021 | 006: Campervan clothing storage idea and organization hack | 00:06:06 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting We're always challenged by storage in the campervan. This cool, simple storage hack gives you an easy, cheap way to keep clothing folded, clean and neatly tucked away. 👉 Take a Vanlife TEST DRIVE! HOW TO RENT a CAMPERVAN Podcast Transcript: Campervan clothing storage idea and organization hackClothing storage can be a real challenge. It's especially challenging for those of us with small vans. Even if your van does have room for a wardrobe and other clothing storage, this hack, this cool trick, might be valuable for you. For example, for a kid who only rides with you part-time or a partner who only rides part-time or for seasonal clothing or extra clothes that you might only need for some trips. Also this approach can be used for both clothing and shoes, though it works better for foldable items. And I wish I could give credit for this. I saw glimpse of it on a video somewhere and it stuck with me all this time and I've employed it in my van, but unfortunately I've searched for it and, and I have no idea where this came from. So if you do know, shoot me an email at podcast@vansage.com and let me know. So the trick is this: You get a hanging closet organizer. Otherwise known as hanging closet organizer shelves. Basically, it's just a set of cloth shelves with a hook on the top or a place on the top for a closet rod, oftentimes with a Velcro closure on the top to hang it. And you fill that with your clothes, your neatly organized clothes, and then you store the whole thing, all stacked on itself in a plastic storage bin with a lid. So. Basically the deeper your storage bin, the more clothes you can carry, but getting back to the minimalism thing, we don't need a lot of clothes to carry around in a van anyway. And if you do have a wardrobe, again, this is a great backup, and I suppose you could even do two of these. Maybe the biggest challenge of it is that once you take the lid off and accordion the thing out of the bin is hanging it somewhere. As long as you have some place to hang it, and I have a van with a very low roof and it still works great. I've got a hook installed in my roof and I can just take the lid off, pull out the shelves and hook it to the ceiling of the van and there's my whole wardrobe right in front of me. It's really great. So how to make this work. You can look at the various available hanging closet organizer shelves on Amazon, or wherever online and get the measurements and then go find a plastic bin that will fit, either online or in person. Ross dress for less, if you have that chain in your neighborhood, or you have access to that chain. They actually typically will have these hanging closet organizer shelves for around 10 bucks. Or any discount home store like Marshals… And other than that home Depot carries them. They're common just about any home storage department in home stores. And then finding a plastic bin, that has the same inside dimensions as the outside dimensions of the shelves is the trick, because you don’t want a bin that’s too big, or you'll waste space with extra footprint. T So make sure that the shelves actually fit in the bin nicely. And again, the taller the bin, the more... | |||
| 16 Feb 2021 | 002: How to keep your camper van clean: Control and reduce dirt in your campervan | 00:09:43 | |
👍 Campervan Storage Ideas and Cleaning Tips ✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting 👉 Take a Vanlife TEST DRIVE! HOW TO RENT a CAMPERVAN It's easy to let dirt get out of control in the campervan. I'll help you make it easy to maintain a clean and tidy living space while out on the road. Episode Transcript How do I keep my camper van clean? I find it a constant struggle to keep loose dirt under control in the van, especially my current mini camper. In some ways that's an advantage. The bigger the van, the easier it is to lose track of messes. But it's so easy to allow some dirt to accumulate on the floor, and then pretty soon it's in the bedding and then it winds up in cooking gear or wherever And so try to be constantly vigilant and at war against little piles of dirt here and there, wherever they may come from. Typically, it's shoes. It could also be something like mountain bike wheels or beach gear, or whatever your sport is… hiking shoes, hiking boots whatever. I mean, it's so easy to track dirt in. I have a, a little stunt kite I carry around and that thing will sometimes be half full of sand when I bring it in. Camper Van Cleaning Super Powers My superpower tools for keeping dirt under control are • Whisk broom • Small dust pan • Handheld 12 volt vacuum cleaner I keep a whisk broom and dust pan behind the seat pocket in my van. That means it's always within reach. So, that's nice. And when I see, oh geez, I tracked something in, I can real quick grab the broom and either just whisk it outside or it has a dust pan with it. And then of course the vacuum cleaner is just awesome. It's so great. When I see some dirt or even if I don't see it, I'll run the 12 volt rechargeable vacuum cleaner over the floor real quick every once in a while. You can even run it over your dashboard, door panels and pockets and center console… Through your drawer of cooking gear or whatever… any storage box anywhere, you can run that vacuum cleaner through there and reduce dust and dirt very quickly. But if that's not charged up, I'll grab the whisk broom or if it's just a small mess. You can head over to Vansage.com and just use the search function to search for “vacuum” and you'll see some of our recommended products for that. And I'll put the, a link in show notes to camper van storage ideas, an article we wrote with lots of cool cleaning tips as well. The Number One cause of dirt in your Camper Van What else? Shoes. This is the next kind of main point here with regard to loose dirt management: How to deal with shoes. I actually try not to wear shoes in the van at all, and definitely not in the living area. And I'll wear sandals or slippers up front during a long drive. You know, shoes nasty. No matter how clean they look, they're down on the ground all the time when you're walking around and they're picking up gawd knows what. And so I'm really diligent about what I do with my shoes when I come in the van. I try to take them off and then I put them in some kind of a sealed container. And by sealed I just mean, with a lid or in a plastic bag. And I actually store all my shoes in a plastic bin. That way they're not banging around on the floor and having dirt knocked off of... | |||
| 07 Apr 2021 | 052: Is this the BEST AWNING for your Campervan? | 00:08:00 | |
| 08 Mar 2021 | 022: Understand online reviews to find the best Vanlife gear | 00:12:23 | |
| 05 Apr 2021 | 050: Tool belts, aprons and bags: Time saving tool organization. | 00:11:00 | |
| 10 Mar 2021 | 024: Safe, long lasting Electrical connections | 00:09:00 | |
| 01 Sep 2021 | 118: Cook PERFECT BURGERS 🍔 Every time! | 00:16:00 | |
| 14 Jun 2021 | 105: How to cut foam for custom campervan or RV mattresses, beds and cushions | 00:13:07 | |
👉 New snap knives on Amazon In this episode of The Campervan Podcast from Vansage.com, we answer the questions: And this applies to us because so many of us are creating custom campervan mattresses and cushions and bed sections. There are a lot of people asking this question online. I've cut many pieces of foam myself for custom mattresses, bed sections and cushions. And it's not difficult. You can do it. The best DIY approach to cutting a foam mattress is with a snap blade knife because the long sharp, thin blade will easily cut through the foam while allowing you to maintain a straight accurate cut. Conversely, the best professional approach to cutting a foam mattress is with a foam cutting tool. Well, here's the thing with foam cutting tools: They cost several hundred dollars. The only advantages to using a foam cutting tool are that the cut will be slightly more straight or clean, and you can make the cut quickly. So just real briefly, first of all, there's no reason to spend several hundred dollars on a foam cutting tool, unless you're going to get into the foam cutting business. Don't spend the several hundred dollars for a tool that you'll use once every several years. And as far as the speed and accuracy of the cuts go, here's what you're going to find: When you use your snap blade knife, or some of the other tools I'm about to talk about here, you'll find that the cut will be a little bit imperfect. You'll find that cut is somewhat imperfect, but you're going to cover it up with a mattress cover or a cushion cover. And no one will be the wiser. The only people who know that my foam mattress cuts are a little bit jagged are me and you. So don't worry about that. It's not a big deal. Again, the, the characteristics you're looking for in a cutting tool for foam are Snap blade knives: The nice thing about them is that they provide a long, straight, very sharp, almost razor-sharp edge. And of course you would want your snap blade knife to be new. So you extend it all the way. If you're not familiar with snap blade knives, the way that they work is the reason that they are called snap blade knives is because you come out maybe it's an inch and you use this section of blade for a while until it's dull and then you snap it off and then can slide the knife out, another click and there's another section of blade there and it's new and sharp. When cutting foam, the length of the knife doesn't have to be the same as the thickness of your foam. In other words, if you have a six inch piece of foam, six inch thick piece of foam, your knife, even if it's only three inches long, that's fine because no matter what, you'll need... | |||
| 07 May 2021 | 083: Why and How to Change Your Own OIL 🛢️ (rebroadcast) | 00:14:22 | |
| 18 Mar 2021 | 032: How and why to change your own campervan oil | 00:15:56 | |
| 02 Mar 2021 | 016: Reclaim childhood interests | 00:08:24 | |
| 02 May 2021 | 078: Vanlife Personal Safety & Security ⚠️ | 00:13:11 | |
| 01 May 2021 | 077: Vapor Barriers: Evil or must-have? 🍄 | 00:10:15 | |
| 22 Mar 2021 | 036: Cooking tips for delicious power saving meals | 00:08:31 | |
| 22 Oct 2021 | 130: Should you "INVEST" in a Campervan? | 00:08:06 | |
👉 Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting Do camper vans hold their value? | |||
| 22 May 2021 | 094: Interview: How to build a profitable Campervan rental business with Outdoorsy's Evan Hopkins. Part 3 🚙 | 00:09:57 | |
🚙 This is part 3 of my five part interview with Evan Hopkins, Vice President of Global Sales and General Manager for Canada, Australia and New Zealand at Outdoorsy.com. | |||
| 17 Feb 2021 | 003: The value of having bicycles on board your campervan | 00:08:11 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting 👉 Take a Vanlife TEST DRIVE! HOW TO RENT a CAMPERVAN A talk about the advantages of having bicycles on board your campervan while traveling. Bicycles allow access to the areas you visit. Whether you're a serious cyclist or just need a simple, easy way to get around the campground or town you're visiting, bicycles are a great solution. Podcast episode transcript: The value of having bicycles on board your campervanLike so many people, I started riding bicycles at a very early age. But at some point in my teens, a friend loaned me a lightweight road bike, and I became obsessed. I worked in bike shops and I've been an avid bicycle rider of one kind or another ever since. Especially mountain bikes. When mountain bikes came along, I really got into those and I've been riding mountain bikes for, well, let's just say a long time. bicycles are the best way to see any area or even a wider region. If you want to get into a cycle touring, it's faster than walking obviously. But I think more importantly, it's slower than a car. And so it gives you the opportunity to kind of look around and stopping is not a problem, you know, when we're in the van or in a car or even on a motorcycle stopping is an ordeal. Right? Well, find a place to park and, and clamor out and all that stuff. Whereas with a bicycle, you just hit the brakes and either lay the bike down or put it on its kickstand or lean it up against something. And you're free to walk around a bit. So, yeah my advice is bring bicycles on the van, in the van, whatever it takes, you don't have to be a cyclist or be “into bikes”, you know, there's nothing wrong with a simple beach cruiser or even even a folding bike or maybe I should say, especially folding bikes. They're so great for storing away and you take it out and in five minutes, it's reassembled and it's ready to ride around some small town or the campground or down to the beach or whatever's around and local. You can go see it without packing up the whole van and driving around without towing a car or getting out a motorbike. The bicycle, folding bicycles, any bike, really just simplifies nearby travel. And again, if you wanna get into touring, bicycle touring or mountain biking, you can bring more gear, a more substantial bike and now you're good for many miles of travel on trails or roads all around the area that you're parked up at. Even a simple beach cruiser is a wonderful thing. They tend to be heavy and cumbersome, but they're one gear and you keep them on a rack on the back of the van or, or tie them down to a roof rack, or if you've got a big van store it in your garage. Another cool thing that's come along in recent years is e-bikes. If you just don't want this heavy exercise of pedaling everywhere and up steep hills and stuff like that, an eBike might be the answer for you. The prices come down and the quality's gone way up in recent years and they're readily available everywhere and it's just a bicycle with a motor, typically pedal assisted. So when you pedal, the motor kicks in and helps propel the bike forward and how much you spend will determine how fast the bike will go. And more importantly how much battery life or distance you have on one charge and also the weight. I was just reading about . I think it's Specialized bike company, they released an 18 pound electric road bike. Incredible 18 pounds. That's that's getting down into super light bicycle territory. So the possibilities are endless with that. And, and I've been fortunate enough to get to ride a very powerful, full on downhill bike with a powerful motor that's good for two or three hours of climbing and it's like free shuttling without a car. So you get to the top of the hill very quickly and then you get to bomb down. It's really great. Again, bikes | |||
| 04 Jan 2023 | 139: Interview: Doug Rice, owner of Laveo Dry Flush Portable Toilet Company | 00:33:44 | |
✅ Laveo Dry Flush Toilet Pricing and Product Details Laveo Dry-Flush Toilet owner Doug Rice interview What we talked about in this episode:
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting 👉 Take a Vanlife TEST DRIVE! HOW TO RENT a CAMPERVAN Transcript for Episode #139 of The Campervan Podcast. Interview with Doug Rice of Laveo Dry-Flush Portable Toilets After a successful career as a groundbreaking entrepreneur in the printing industry, Doug Rice bought a portable toilet company called Laveo Dry Flush, where he continues to exercise his generous, creative approach to business growth. Please enjoy this candid discussion and glimpse into the methods and experience of a true industry leader and innovator. James Petersen (author, interviewer): So, Doug Rice! Can we start at the start? You were in the printing business? Doug Rice, owner of the Laveo Dry-Flush Toilet Company: Yes. In 1979, I graduated from college, went to go to work for my father's packaging company, and he did not have an opening for me and he said, why don't you go start your own company. Labels like for cupcakes, labels for soup, labels in the grocery stores, shipping labels... So I basically did that and he thought in one year I'd be broke and I'd come back to him and he'd have an opening. Well, the interesting thing about the label industry, there's about six label companies on every corner in every city. So I did not realize the competition was so fierce. Very early on, I decided to change the model. Back then in 1979, 1980, delivery was three weeks minimum. I decided to be five days or less all the time. And everyone thought it would fail. I couldn't maintain that level of service, but I realized I had no plan B, I just couldn't compete with all these people, and not manufacturing labels for the first five years made even more difficult. So, For 38 years, we ran five days or less, and grew the company exponentially with a plant in Connecticut, plant in North Carolina, shipping cross country. I traveled all over the country picking up accounts because the onset of club stores made the demand for hurry up and make me some brownies for say, Sam's Club. The suppliers had a tough time getting labels in time and we always came through including putting a person on an airplane to send 'em across the country with labels just to get them through on time. We did whatever it took, and it paid off large dividends. James: Wow, interesting. Briefly, can you give, give us an idea of, of how you overcame that? Sounds like a longstanding framework that had been place for a long time. There must have been a reason for that. And so how did you kind of beat that problem? Doug Rice: It's very good analogy, going to the doctor. You're never the only one in the waiting room. Because doctors like to stack up a waiting room because they don't wanna miss any billing minutes. So conversely, on our label printing operations, no one wants their printing presses to go idle. So they stack up jobs three,... | |||
| 06 Apr 2021 | 051: How long will a 12v Fridge run on a battery? | 00:09:54 | |
👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing How long will a 12 volt refrigerator run on battery? We just wrote about a bunch of fridge stuff. And so I thought I'd chat about this just for a couple of minutes, because it's such a common question. It's all over the web. So it's a people also ask in Google search it's on forums and Facebook, and it's one of those questions that everybody has on their mind. I think even experienced vanlifers are often wondering; what's my fridge going to draw on this trip or whatever, or with this battery, et cetera. And mostly I'm here to say that it's complicated and there is no easy answer. You can't just say a 100 amp hour lead acid battery will run a fridge for X hours because every fridge and every user are different And so what I want to do is just run down the checklist that we made here. And, by the way, you can just go to vantage.com and type in fridge. And you'll, you'll see three or four articles about 12 volt refrigerators and things like power use and runtime, et cetera. We did a bunch of research on this just to make sure that we had it covered thoroughly and that we could offer a solid response to this question. There are several factors impacting how long a 12 volt fridge will run on a battery and those factors include the size of the battery, obviously in amp hours. And then quickly we get right to battery chemistry. So. Consider that a lead acid battery should not be run below 50% of charge because below that they start to break down or, they break down more quickly. You shorten the life of the battery and batteries are expensive. And so the more you run the thing below 50% of charge, the sooner it will die and you'll have to replace it and this is one of the reasons that, with the newer chemistry out, specifically, lithium iron phosphate or LiFeP04, and even lithium ion in the form of the solar generators that are out available. I don't think it makes sense to buy lead acid batteries. Now I'm not here to rag on anybody who owns lead acid batteries. I've owned them in the past. They're wonderful things. Obviously they solve power problems for people. And if you’ve just spend a bunch of money on lead acid batteries, don't think that I'm telling you to run out and replace them. No, use them till they're used. Or until you're annoyed with charging, recharging them at 50% or... | |||
| 10 Apr 2021 | 055: Vanlife Jobs: Earn a remote living from your Campervan | 00:10:19 | |
| 17 Mar 2021 | 031: How to park your campervan safely in busy places | 00:08:39 | |
| 08 Apr 2021 | 053: Amazon VS Ebay for Campervan Gadgets & Gear | 00:09:52 | |
| 04 Mar 2021 | 018: The pros and cons of building with wood | 00:13:36 | |
| 01 Jan 2022 | 133: #3 of 7: Humble Road Custom Vans & Youtube Channel Creator George Mauro | 00:11:35 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting ▶️ The HUMBLE ROAD YouTube Channel Humble Road Youtube channel and custom vans, George Mauro InterviewWhat we talked about in this episode:
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| 02 Jan 2022 | 134: #4 of 7: Humble Road Custom Vans & Youtube Channel Creator George Mauro | 00:10:48 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting ▶️ The HUMBLE ROAD YouTube Channel Humble Road Youtube channel and custom vans, George Mauro InterviewWhat we talked about in this episode:
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| 13 Mar 2021 | 027: Perfection is the enemy of a finished campervan build | 00:13:34 | |
| 05 Jan 2022 | 137: #7 of 7: Humble Road Custom Vans & Youtube Channel Creator George Mauro | 00:14:14 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting ▶️ The HUMBLE ROAD YouTube Channel Humble Road Youtube channel and custom vans, George Mauro InterviewWhat we talked about in this episode:
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| 27 Feb 2021 | 013: Jenny Leveille, full time Vanlifer interview #6 of 7 | 00:12:40 | |
We meet Jenny, a featured writer at Vansage.com. We discuss how and why she got into Vanlife, and much more. | |||
| 13 Apr 2021 | 058: Campervan Sleep Hacks | 00:15:01 | |
Get the FREE Premium Podcast. 👆 Click HERE | |||
| 31 Mar 2021 | 045: Insulation: What's the best thermal break material? | 00:08:38 | |
| 09 Sep 2021 | 126: How do I mount a TV in my Campervan? | 00:08:50 | |
How do I mount a TV in my Campervan? Details and tips for mounting a TV in a campervan or other RV | |||
| 01 Jan 2023 | 138: Interview: Parker Witmore from Moonshot Campervans | 00:50:23 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting Parker Witmore of Moonshot Modules InterviewWhat we talked about in this episode:
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| 18 Apr 2021 | 064: #1 Tip for Vanlife Entrepreneurs | 00:12:32 | |
| 30 May 2021 | 100: How to repair rust on your Campervan Part 2 of 3 | 00:09:54 | |
| 18 Feb 2021 | 004: Surviving rain days in your campervan | 00:08:35 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting 👉 Take a Vanlife TEST DRIVE! HOW TO RENT a CAMPERVAN It's easy to resort to snacking and TV binging on rain days. This episode will help you make more productive, healthy choices when the rain just won't let up. | |||
| 23 May 2021 | 095: Interview: How to build a profitable Campervan rental business with Outdoorsy's Evan Hopkins. Part 4 🚙 | 00:10:44 | |
🚙 This is part 4 of my five part interview with Evan Hopkins, Vice President of Global Sales and General Manager for Canada, Australia and New Zealand at Outdoorsy.com. | |||
| 29 Aug 2021 | 115: Campervan & RV Hide A Key Hacks 🗝️ NEVER get LOCKED OUT of your Van! | 00:09:47 | |
| 20 Apr 2021 | 066: How to remove excess water from laundry | 00:09:21 | |
| 16 Apr 2023 | 141: How to stay safe while working on your campervan (E) | 00:16:06 | |
It's tempting to fly through the steps of cutting and assembling materials for that new bed frame or any other build project. This talk is about the how and why of protecting yourself while building. 👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing | |||
| 24 Mar 2021 | 038: Top 3 Project Organization Tools to get your van build done sooner | 00:10:46 | |
| 03 Mar 2021 | 017: Vanlife Cooking: Learn the difference between BBQ, Grilling and Smoking | 00:14:55 | |
| 04 Jan 2022 | 136: #6 of 7: Humble Road Custom Vans & Youtube Channel Creator George Mauro | 00:12:11 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting Humble Road Youtube channel and custom vans, George Mauro InterviewWhat we talked about in this episode:
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| 19 Feb 2021 | 005: How to stay safe while working on your campervan | 00:16:05 | |
It's tempting to fly through the steps of cutting and assembling materials for that new bed frame or any other build project. This talk is about the how and why of protecting yourelf while building. | |||
| 28 Apr 2021 | 074: Don't let comfort keep you from the great outdoors 🌲 | 00:09:13 | |
| 29 Apr 2021 | 075: Hacking Campervan fuel economy ⛽ | 00:10:30 | |
| 24 Apr 2021 | 070: PERFECT Your Campervan Design on the 1st Try | 00:07:50 | |
| 04 May 2021 | 080: How to INSPECT a Campervan for purchase 🕵️ | 00:13:18 | |
| 06 Mar 2021 | 020: Tips to get unstuck while designing and building your campervan | 00:10:24 | |
Listen in for how to stay motivated and moving forward on our campervan build. 👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing | |||
| 05 Mar 2021 | 019: How to win the battle against Vanlife sadness | 00:11:58 | |
| 27 Apr 2021 | 073: How to survive a Campervan fire 🔥 | 00:11:15 | |
| 30 Aug 2021 | 116: Surprising Reasons to Wash your Van | 00:13:22 | |
👉 Be Ready: FREE Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting List | |||
| 16 Jun 2021 | 107: What are the Best Everyday Carry Knives for Vanlifers? | 00:08:51 | |
| 06 May 2021 | 082: SAFE, Easy Parking & Pull Outs 🦺 (Rebroadcast) | 00:14:22 | |
| 26 May 2021 | 098: Vanlife Entrepreneurs: Surviving "The Dip" in your business 📖 | 00:10:40 | |
| 02 Apr 2021 | 047: Pros and Cons of Building with Aluminum | 00:13:34 | |
| 24 Feb 2021 | 010: Jenny Leveille, full time Vanlifer interview #3 of 7 | 00:12:44 | |
We meet Jenny, a featured writer at Vansage.com. We discuss how and why she got into Vanlife, and much more. | |||
| 11 May 2021 | 086: Nomadland Movie Review: Part 1 🎥 | 00:12:47 | |
Spoilers. A review of the film, Nomadland directed by Chloé Zhao, staring Frances McDormand, based on the book 'Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century' by Jessica Bruder. | |||
| 28 Aug 2021 | 114: Listener Q&A: Interior Rust Removal, 😴 Campervan Mattress Choices, Ending a Hiatus | 00:12:28 | |
| 15 May 2021 | 090: How to Create a Personal Campervan Build Guide (rebroadcast) | 00:08:59 | |
| 08 May 2021 | 084: How to Choose SAFE, QUALITY Van Conversion Tools 🛠️ (rebroadcast) | 00:08:33 | |
| 29 Jun 2021 | 111: What's the best mattress for a campervan? | 00:11:10 | |
👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing What is the best mattress for a campervan?When deciding on the best campervan mattress for your unique conversion van build, It’s important to keep the following in mind:
Probably the number one issue for camper van design and build with regard to beds and mattresses is that it's very likely that your mattress size will be a custom shape. So that eliminates the vast majority of manufactured beds that aren't basic foam. That is, foam that can be cut. You'll find on our site an entire episode about how to cut a foam mattress. And I will link to that in show notes. So I won't talk about how to cut foam in this episode, but I will talk about which foam or which type of mattress can be adjusted in size. But getting back to the best mattress for a camper van, my advice with regard to beds and mattresses in general, because I'm a very light sleeper, personally, the smallest sound wakes me up, and if I'm on an uneven surface or in some way, the surface is uncomfortable, then I'm awake and it's that simple. So beds are very important to me. My advice, is always to prioritize your bed design and the quality of your mattress over just about everything else in your campervan design and build and that would include the size of course of the bed and the fact that everything lays perfectly flat and smooth so that when your mattress lays flat on the bed platform. Getting back to specifically which mattress is best for your campervan, It's the one that is going to be most comfortable for you personally. Okay. If you're one of the very, very fortunate people who can sleep through anything under any circumstances, that's wonderful. I'm so I'm so happy for you for first of all, and I'm also so jealous. But for the rest of us, we want the mattress that works best for you personally. And so I'm just going to take this from the perspective of kind of the average sleeper. You know, your home mattress is probably going to be at least six inches thick. Typically in this day and age, more like 10 or 12 inches thick eight would be the absolute minimum for a home-style mattress. And so to make a mattress really work well in a camper van, you know, we want to be in the eight inch range and if you're going with a six inch mattress or thinner, then you'll probably want to combine that with a mattress topper. Mattress toppers, by the way, can completely transform a basic slab of say six inch foam from something that's barely sleepable into something that's wonderfully comfortable. For example, a high quality wool topper will allow your | |||
| 19 Mar 2021 | 033: How to turn bad experiences and circumstances to your advantage | 00:10:15 | |
| 16 Apr 2021 | 061: Top 6 Campervan Conversion Tools: Part 3 of 3 | 00:14:28 | |
| 11 Mar 2021 | 025: Low stress campervan drive time | 00:10:59 | |
| 23 Mar 2021 | 037: A brilliant new twist on the 12v Refrigerator freezer | 00:08:09 | |
| 03 Sep 2021 | 120: 💲💲 Etsy Selling Success for Remote Vanlife Entrepreneurs, Part 4 | 00:16:52 | |
| 29 May 2021 | 099: How to repair rust on your Campervan Part 1 of 3 | 00:12:43 | |
| 19 May 2021 | 092: Interview: Outdoorsy VP Evan Hopkins 🚙 | 00:09:56 | |
🚙 Evan Hopkins, VP of global sales and customer service at Outdoorsy.com talks about how Outdoorsy helps vacationers rent RVs, and owners earn money from their rigs. | |||
| 14 May 2021 | Episode 089: Top 10 Driving Stress Reduction Tips (rebroadcast) | 00:10:59 | |
| 25 Mar 2021 | Episode 039: Healthy, consistent Vanlife morning routines | 00:10:03 | |
| 25 Feb 2021 | 011: Jenny Leveille, full time Vanlifer interview #4 of 7 | 00:14:13 | |
We meet Jenny, a featured writer at Vansage.com. We discuss how and why she got into Vanlife, and much more. | |||
| 30 Jun 2021 | 112: How to build a profitable Etsy shop: Part 2.2. Choosing the right products to sell | 00:07:36 | |
Details about choosing the best product niche to sell on Etsy . 👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing | |||
| 12 Mar 2021 | 026: Slow cookers for Campervan cooking success | 00:12:52 | |
| 24 May 2021 | 096: Interview: How to build a profitable Campervan rental business with Outdoorsy's Evan Hopkins. Part 5 🚙 | 00:09:50 | |
🚙 This is part 3 of my five part interview with Evan Hopkins, Vice President of Global Sales and General Manager for Canada, Australia and New Zealand at Outdoorsy.com. | |||
| 31 Dec 2021 | 132: #2 of 7: Humble Road Custom Vans & Youtube Channel Creator George Mauro | 00:12:05 | |
✅ Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting ▶️ The HUMBLE ROAD YouTube Channel Humble Road Youtube channel and custom vans, George Mauro InterviewWhat we talked about in this episode:
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| 13 May 2021 | 088: How to Choose Campervan Interior Colors | 00:08:04 | |
| 26 Mar 2021 | Episode 040: The top 5 Van Conversion Skills every van builder needs to succeed | 00:13:11 | |
| 15 Feb 2021 | 001: Shop & workspace organization for smart, safe campervan builds and upgrades | 00:07:18 | |
👉 Be READY: FREE Checklist for Campervan Essentials Packing & Outfitting Discussion about the value of keeping your workspace clean and organize as you build, and how detrimental the oposite can be. There are some counterintuitive concepts here. Listen in to learn the how and why of clean and well organized shop, tools and materials. | |||
| 23 Feb 2021 | 009: Jenny Leveille, full time Vanlifer interview #2 of 7 | 00:13:04 | |
We meet Jenny, a featured writer at Vansage.com. We discuss how and why she got into Vanlife, and much more. | |||
| 26 Jun 2021 | 109: Portable toilet for Campervan travel? | 00:08:44 | |
What is the best toilet for a campervan travel? A frequently asked question and one that really does need to be thought through carefully. The best toilet for your campervan will depend on the size of your van: The best toilet for a minivan campervan
The best toilet for a low roof cargo van
The best toilet for a high roof van such as a Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit or Promaster
You know, we've got a great article on best portable toilet for campervan travel over at and we talked about just how great it is to have a toilet on board. 👉 Get the FREE Campervan Essentials List for Outfitting and Packing Some of the really obvious advantages are, if you have a toilet on board, you never have to worry about campground toilets or truck stop toilets, restaurant toilets, will they let me use the toilet, et cetera. So, it's really great to have one on board. So the question of, should you have a portable toilet for campervan on board I think is pretty cut and dried; you definitely should if you can. I think the answer is yes, unless all you're doing is boondocking and you can always go outside for most people. Just the issue of being able to relieve yourself in the middle of the night is huge. But there are a lot of other reasons to have a toilet in a campervan. What is the best portable toilet for campervan travel? It depends on your van and this is a very important thing. So you'll want to give some serious thought to this. Now, if you've got a Toyota Delica mini campervan, you may not be able to use a toilet inside at all. I'm running a mini camper right now and while I can relieve myself in the van, I prefer not to. So that's an issue. The smaller the van, the more difficult a toilet becomes. Probably the cheapest and simplest portable toilets for campervans are folding toilet bucket toilets. And then what I call a full squat tray toilet. I actually prefer this method. A couple of years ago, Squaty-Potty’s for home toilets were all the rage. They made it possible to, instead of sit on on the toilet, you could more or less squat over the toilet and it really is a much healthier way to relieve yourself. Now, not everybody is physically capable of doing a full depth squat. I hadn't really thought about it until I started lifting weights and got into squatting for, for exercise. And then. Yeah. Spending time in Asia, where people will sit in a full squat all day while they work. I've seen motor motorcycle mechanics that don't even have a stand they're actually squatting all day long and they can do it and it doesn't destroy their knees. That's a myth. It actually makes your knees more flexible and stronger. But anyway, I digress, except to say that if all you have is a shallow tray, And maybe a plastic liner, then that can be a great portable toilet for campervan solution. If you have the physical flexibility, you just use your tray and you wrap up whatever waste you've created and take that out to the garbage, which is what most municipalities want that just dumped in the garbage and that's it. So then moving on… There are also bucket portable toilet for campervan and that's just a toilet seat that fits on a five gallon bucket. You'll want to use plastic bags. Now you can get into a variety of mediums for that. You could do a homemade composting situation with the right medium. You could use kitty litter and cover it up there. You know, there's a lot of ways you can deal with... | |||
| 20 May 2021 | 093: Interview: How to build a profitable Campervan rental business with Outdoorsy's Evan Hopkins 🚙 | 00:09:40 | |
🚙 Evan Hopkins, VP of global sales and customer service at Outdoorsy.com talks about how Outdoorsy helps vacationers rent RVs, and owners earn money from their rigs. | |||
| 17 May 2021 | 091: How to build without Injury (Rebroadcast) | 00:16:05 | |
It's tempting to fly through the steps of cutting and assembling materials for that new bed frame or any other build project. This talk is about the how and why of protecting yourelf while converting your van for camping. | |||