Perfect Stealth Camper
Introduction
We bought an empty cargo van and built our own camper inside; this counts as one of our tiny houses! We probably should lead with that sentence to make the rest of this blog entry make sense.
Hindsight is 20/20, or so the saying goes. If I had it all to do again, here’s my thought process for building my own stealth camper. Each of these topics are explored in greater detail in other blog posts, but for clarity’s sake, I’m combining the thought process here. We built our own van/camper/bug out vehicle from the ground up and learned a lot along the way.
Base Vehicle
Start with a large van, Mercedes Benz or Ford Transit, but insist on Diesel fuel and 4 Wheel Drive. The van should be tall enough for you to walk through, but consider you will add some insulation to the floor and flooring; these things have thickness that must be accounted for in your calculations of your height versus the vehicle interior height. Get the dually version for more carrying capacity. Get the wide body or delivery UPS type van version for the wider width. Even a few more square feet makes a lot of difference. Order the vehicle with a second alternator if possible, or at least the bracket for mounting one; this will make a difference when you build out your electrical system. Get a factory installed Class 3 trailer hitch. Get dual fuel tanks if possible.
For example, I’m just above 6′ tall and I cannot sleep crossway in our van; there’s simply not enough room. We therefore designed and made the beds run with the long dimension of the van, and put a walkway between the beds. A wider body van would have given us a choice of bed design we simply didn’t have to begin with.
Bustle Rack
On the top of the van, mount a full vehicle length and width bustle rack with solid sides. Go for something about 12″-18″ tall. This makes the van taller, but gives you ample storage space and room to hide all of the things that make the van a camper, like toilet vents, extra luggage, and other non-essentials.
Vehicle Color
I would choose dark blue. This color hides better at night, and if you later choose to paint it a dark color, starting from a dark base is better than trying to cover arctic white.
Vehicle Mods
Get swivel Seats, or buy and install the swivels yourself. The seats become your living room.
Bumper Guard, Cow Catcher. Whatever you call it, about $1000 for a tough steel frame to absorb the energy of a deer impact is a really good trade off insurance wise. Consider these days, a #100 deer strike will likely fire off your air bags and this often makes your vehicle a total loss. I would rather replace a bent up bumper guard than lose all the work put into building the van.
Fuel Choice (gasoline, diesel, propane)
I would insist on diesel, even though it is more expensive. Diesel storage long term is easy and the fuel is not as combustible as gasoline. In a pinch, you could learn to make your own bio-diesel, but making gasoline is beyond the backyard hobbyist. Standardizing on one fuel makes life much easier to live, but may make your initial investment increase. Traveling across borders with propane, or on a ferry with propane tanks can be troublesome. Also, some jurisdictions have road signs displaying check points before you enter tunnels or other passageways. Propane inside the vehicle is dumb and illegal in most cases, unless properly vented. Why bother? Just go with diesel and tap into your existing fuel system.
Generator
Because you chose diesel, get a diesel generator.
Cabin Heater
Go with Espar on this choice, and get the diesel version.
Cook Stove
I understand there are diesel cook stoves available for purchase. When I was initially designing our van, I could not find one in the USA. Have an induction cooker single or double “burner” for backup. Throw in a dorm sized microwave for convenience, too.
Power
My optimal system includes: solar panels, as many as will fit across the top of the van, 48VDC system, a MPPT charge controller, several LiFePo4 (lithium iron phosphate) batteries with built in battery management systems, and a 48V to 12 VDC converter for all the cabin appliances. With 12VDC, all of the goodies at truck stops become available to you! And they have a lot of things besides CB radios!
Air Conditioning
Conventional AC units with compressors draw way too much power; most campers complain about tripping breakers and overloading circuits. Go with a swamp cooler design from Fresair. These devices are 12VDC, low power, and require a water tank; they use evaporative cooling. You’ll get some benefit from your solar panels covering your roof and creating an air gap between the panels and the top of the van. This way, the sun does not bake the top of the van directly. You’ll also need awnings on both sides of the van to keep the sun from baking you. The real trade off is this type of AC does not work well when the humidity is very high.
Toilet
Natures Head composting toilet is the solution for your toilet needs. This solution comes with pros and cons. The Pros are it requires no black water tank, which helps with the stealth aspect. You’ll need a ventilation hose for fumes, and this should go to the top of the vehicle where it will be hidden from the side view, but not necessarily the above view, depending on your bustle rack design.
Insulation
Sound proof insulate the bare metal with some expensive sound proofing sticky sheets or, in my case, I used a metal roof repair compound that was thick, sticky, and had a foil backing. The material bent nicely around the curves of metal. Pay special attention to the wheel wells as there is a lot of sound generated here. Next is the cabin insulation. We used a 1/2″ thick roofing foam product left over from when we had a metal roof installed on our house. In the ceiling and walls, we used a closed cell spray foam; that was a messy experience and next time, I will take the van to someone else to do the spraying.
LineX
I highly recommend this product. I had my van roof done, and it is very tough, especially when tree branches scrape against you. I’m considering having the bottom half of the van, all the way around, covered in LineX. The material is some tough rubber and is damn near indestructible.
Refrigerator
You can get a refrigerator that uses three sources of energy: 12VDC, 120VAC, and propane. These models use ammonia as refrigerant and are much more expensive. I’ve heard the argument that why not just get a regular house refrigerator, one that is very efficient, and design your electrical system with enough reserve to power this device overnight. I agree. The home or dorm refrigerators are much more available, cheaper to buy, and they are now very efficient. Plus, a three power fridge requires problematic propane, if you choose this option.
Water Heater
Get a small, on demand, electrical water heater, or get a diesel burning heater. Also, try to get a water heater that has two water lines for hookup to your engine radiator system. This way, whenever you drive for a period, the heat of engine coolant will heat your drinking/bathing water. Upon your arrival and camp setup, you’ll have a nice hot shower waiting, without the wait for water heating, or the consumption of any energy or fuel to heat this first tank of water.
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