I was having a really hard time deciding If I was going to permanently modify my van to make it a full time camper that I could never put the original seats back into. Your video has convinced me not to permanently modify. Beautiful and intelligent design!
Yes I highly recommend the non-invasive modular approach. In the winter we take our camping stuff out of the van and convert it back to a regular van. This is also good if you need to transport more than two people, because with the build in place there's only room for two. Eventually, if you sell your van or if it dies, you can buy the same make & model and reinstall your build in the new vehicle.
Brilliant! GREAT job! I just bought a 2006 Sienna for use as a van and also as an overnight when I visit my kids 2 hours away. I'm getting ideas and this was very informative and exciting to see the incredible possibilities you guys have presented here. Wonderful conversion!
When reviewing designs, we also liked Eric's rear bench. However in practice we don't use it very often. The problem is that the height of the rear bench is such that you don't have much headspace. So it's not particularly comfortable to sit there, certainly for long stretches. I wouldn't change the overall design though
This is a beautiful build. I love the design and ease with which you can convert it to a camper in a matter of minutes. This is now my dream after buying, remodeling and being disappointed with vintage campers continuing to leak or need repair. I would love to be able to convert a panel van in much this way. Thank you for sharing your awesome design. Happy Trails!
Excellent video and smart build. It is the same as Eric's build and I think this is the de facto template for a minivan. Your visuals were very good, and the pace just right. I was hoping to see details like the sliding table hardware rail and leg, and you did not disappoint. This is a better alternative to the overpriced Lagun table. This table can be bigger and is more stable, not in the way, and no floor mounts. Essentially, this build breaks down into 4 components: Removable Floor, Bench Bed, Clothes Dresser, and Kitchen Galley. You could add a 5th piece behind passenger seat for a Toilet Cabinet, and/or Fridge. Fyi - Trelino toilets are made in Germany, come in 3 heights, light, robust, low profile and much cheaper starting at $300. Very nice to have when in a bind. Your wife will appreciate that! No more Portapotty dumping. See Humble Road videos to see them. This was most enjoyable to watch, you make great videos! Thank you for no music.
Thanks for your comments. We agreed that this design suited us best, after viewing lots of different designs and assessing the pros and cons. We opted not to have a piece behind the passenger seat in order to keep it feeling roomy, but yes you could add a fridge or toilet there. In the end we are not doing long trips away from civilization, so we've been fine with just a cooler and staying close to places where toilets are available
Such a simple clean design. i love it! do you have a site with all the dimensions and other parts like water pump, mattress etc i would love to try to make with with my son by far one of the best setups i’ve seen
Thank you very much for sharing your Toyota sienna van build. 😊 I’ve been binge watching “Eric enjoys earth” all day, so it’s no wonder that your video popped up based on the algorithm. :-) Great job! :-)
Nice work! It's good to see multiple applications of that side cabinet based on Eric's design. I'm hoping to do one of those as well. Mostly commenting because the first thing that jumped out at me was your bed cover. We have an old comforter that has that same pattern on one side. :-)
@@Seaturtle008 I left one middle seat in in case I have passengers and put the stow back row down. I use my van for a pick up truck hauling lumber, pine straw bales, etc It has 200,000 miles on it but on previous Toyota I got 300,000+ so I expect it to last. I haven’t made any long solo voyages yet but live in S GA so lots of camping available. Happy travels..minivans are the best vehicles. I’ve never had one.
Thank You Mike! we used yours and Eric's videos and just did the bed and cabinet.. and we will do more in a couple more weeks. I did watch this video like 30 times. lol. thank you!
Well done! That's a nice, clean build. I like that you use a cooler. I know that many van builds include a refrigerator, but the electrical needs are greatly simplified with a cooler. I think a cooler is the way to go if you're not living in the minivan.
Yes we definitely concur. As soon as you introduce a fridge, you need to get a second battery and it really starts to complicate the electrical setup. For people like us who just want to camp in our van, we find that the fridge is not necessary. In practice we've found that ice in the cooler lasts about three days, which is roughly hong long our water supply lasts as well. Our build is not suitable if you really want to go overlanding for days or weeks at a time. But for regular camping in your vehicle without the hassle of setup or driving a big rig in the city, we're really happy with our arrangement
Another great Sienna build. Love the modular builds, you and the others you have mentioned, are doing. Lots of great and creative ideas I’m collecting for my Astro van build. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Hello ') can you go into more detail about how to remove the tracks on floor from front seats. and especially how and what tools are needed to remove back seats. thank you!
Ours is a 2010 Sienna, the last year before they changed the middle seat anchor design and added the tracks. If you look at the picture at 1'53" you'll see that with all the seats removed there are no tracks, just the seat anchors. Eric Enjoys Earth has done a video showing his floor (ruclips.net/video/A5XxEZpDhpk/видео.html) - his van has the tracks like yours. Another video from 'I've got an idea' shows his floor design with a van that also has those tracks: ruclips.net/video/QjV44lxxyQg/видео.html
I believe it’s about 75”, as long as a standard full-size mattress. We had to cut the mattress narrow, but kept it the same length and just cut it into those four sections.
So very well done and explained. Thank you, as this is a positive as I shakily and ever so slow creep to the van camping side of life. (As much as I have enjoyed the little I have done, I can NOT for one second consider myself a camper. But the thought spells F R E E D O M to me !!! 🎉❤
Yeah the 1x1 strips under the floor are there to provide some stability for the plywood floor. I wouldn't say that it's *precisely* horizontally level, but it is approximately level. We found that trying to make things perfectly level is difficult especially because the van itself is often not on perfectly level ground. It's also not particularly important for the floor to be perfectly level, but we did try to make the sink counter and the table fairly level
Would you mind providing dimensions of the bed width and shelving width? How does a person get the curvature dimensions for the shelving by the back windows? I have zero building experience and am struggling with getting the measurements accurate. what thickness of wood did you use for the shelving? Thank you for any advice you can give.
Sorry for the late reply. @ericenjoysearth2756 has good tips about how to shape the side cabinet for the contours of the van. Basically you attach a marker to a stick or ruler, and then hold up a piece of cardboard vertically and run the stick along the edge of the van so that the marker draws the contour onto your cardboard. Then you cut out the cardboard and adjust the cut so that it is close to the shape of the van's contours. Finally, trace the cardboard onto your wood panel and cut it with a jigsaw. It's not too important to be exact with these cuts - as long as you get the contours of your shelving unit close to the contours of the van, it will fit well. It doesn't have to fit perfectly, because you're usually not storing tiny things on those shelves. We used ½" plywood for the shelves, and ¼" plywood for the front panel of the shelves
@@AdamStear I added a reply to the main comment with some more info. Also, check out @ericenjoysearth2756 and his main van tour video - he shows the process of cutting out the shelving unit to match the contours of the van
I accidentally came across this post and wanted to ask a first question that may have been asked but I didn't have enough time to scroll down for it yet. So here my simple question: How much Total weight of Wood...and others that you put in this van for this project? Thank, and I'll get back to watch this post again so soon.
I don't know how much the collective weight of the wood is; we've never weighed it. Generally, my assumption is that the collective weight of the wood is roughly the same as the collective weight of the seats we removed, so the overall weight of the van is the same in either configuration
Sorry for the late reply. The bed platform sits about 9¾" from the van's floor. The vinyl floor sits on top of the van floor, so the bed platform is 9¼" from the vinyl floor.
Did you do that thing, where you convert it and you can get the energy from the alternator from the engine? And store it in a jackery? Also you would need some kind of roof vent or fan, to get air at night. Because you don't want to crack the windows for safety.
We didn't mess with the van's electrics. The Jackery comes with a cable that connects to a cigarette lighter to charge it while you drive. No need to do any "conversion" or tap directly into the alternator. We didn't do a roof vent or fan - I wouldn't want to cut into the van's roof or do a major modification like that; I think the risk of creating leaks would be too high. For ventilation we keep the second row windows open - if it's hot we keep them as far down as they will go, if it's cold we just keep them open an inch. We have screens on the windows to keep the bugs out. Usually we stay in campgrounds where safety isn't as big a concern. Most of the videos we have watched about other van conversions do something similar. If you're planning to modify your vehicle to put in a roof vent, I would suggest you get this done by a professional. But even then, I don't think a roof vent will help much if it's hot outside overnight - you will likely want more air flow than that.
Hey Mike, I'm local to Vancouver myself and this build of yours will be inspiring my own build in a 99 Sienna. Looking forward to spending as much time as possible at some local lakes and rivers this summer. I am wondering if you have plans for the bed and cabinets that you'd be willing to share? I am not terribly handy, but when I have decent instructions I can do ok. Let me know if you have anything on hand!
Hey Luke; nice to hear from another local. I'm sorry but I don't have any plans - we did a lot of our work with just some rough sketches and trial & error. Your '99 will be different than our 2010 anyway, so specific plans may not work perfectly. We haven't installed our camping setup into our van yet this year, but when we do I'll try and take some measurements and post them up on our channel
Nice. I like your calming voice too. Can you explain how you bolt the floor into place please? I’m not familiar with c anchors (just sea anchors 🙃), cheers.
The floor is connected to a seat (not "C") anchor. If you look at 2'08" of the video, we use a U-bolt around one of the seat anchors of the second row seat on the driver's side. The floor has two holes and we line it up over the U-bolt, lower it down, and then attach the nuts to the U-bolt and tighten (you can see the attached U-bolt 2'20". Because the floor is pretty heavy and rigid, it only needs to be attached at that one spot and then it doesn't move around
What a fantastic job!! I am curious how you were able to pattern the contours ? Everything fits so well! Did you use a jig of some sort to get your contour patterns so tight?
Yes we used a jigsaw to get the contours as close to the shape of the van as possible. The video explains it a little, and @EricEnjoysEarth goes into greater detail about the process for building the cabinets
4:30 this what I'm trying to find a solution thank you. I want some support like the original Eric design but also want it to be free like Rob's. what happen if you screw that long bar to the bed platform? will it be better or worse?
We originally screwed the long 2x4 to the end of the bed platform. The main problem was that you can't really fit anything large in the trunk area, like a cooler or bins for your cooking supplies. The removable solution (by cutting the notches from each end of the long piece and also at the ends of the bed platform) allows us to put the support in place if we want to sit on the end of the bed, but we can easily remove it if we need to put in or take out anything large in the trunk area.
It’s very nice build out. Do you height of the legs for the bed frame , the rear , center and front. Seem like it a different size. I have 2006 van. It’s look very awesome. Thx for sharing
Sorry for taking so long to reply. When fully laid flat, the bed is 44" (111.76cm) x 74" (187.96cm). The sections of the platform are 18½" : 18½" : 18½" : 2½" : 16". The bed is pretty narrow - narrower than a double bed (a double bed is 54" wide), but because you are "walled in", we find it quite comfortable for two people because you can move all the way to the edge of the bed which you can't normally do with a regular bed
The bed platform is about 9¾" from the van floor. We set the height with some trial and error, testing different heights using blocks before we made the final cut for the legs of the frame. You want a height that is tall enough to sit comfortably and put things under the bed, but short enough that you can sit upright without hitting your head on the van's ceiling. Depending on your height this can vary.
Thanks for the kind words, but I would not recommend attempting to add some lap belts to a self-build. The bench would not be safe, especially without headrests
Hi Mike, I am gazing at the photo, at 1：55 of the underside of the floor trying to figure out what I need to get for the floor support and their cut dimensions. I figured the two playwood support pieces are the same plywood as the floor board and they are fastened to the floor board flush at the edges. What are the dimensions of the two plywood support? Also how long are the 2x2 and 1x2 and the spacings between the strips? And the short 2x2 plus 1x2 at the front corners? Could you please talk a bit more details? Thank you!
Hi Brixia, Yes the two plywood pieces on each side are cuts from the same piece of wood and attached flush to the edges. The width of those plywood pieces are roughly the width of the tread area in the van that they sit on - the exact width is not really important. For the 2x2 and 2x1 supports, we had to do a bit of guesswork to figure out where they should go - the floor of the van is uneven so we wanted to position them to provide stability for the floor. The first 2x2 is flush to the top of the floor. The first gap is 6⅜", the second gap is 3½", and the third gap is 5⅜". We added some 2" foam in between these supports (not shown in the picture from 1:55 in the video). Bear in mind that these measurements apply only if you have the same van as us (2006-2010 Toyota Sienna). If you have a different van or a later model then you will need to do your own measurements to set up a stable floor. The length of the short corner supports is not really important, just a short length to aid in stability. I would recommend that you cut your pieces a bit long, attach with tape, and then put the floor down and see if it wobbles or bows in places when you put pressure or walk on it. Then adjust as necessary. Hope that helps!
@@MikeGoetz Thank you so much! I have 0 carpentry experience/skill but your info-packed video with detailed narration has encouraged me to take on the "fun project". Super helpful. Thank you.
Hello Mike ! Very Nice project. Very Neat ! I'm also making a van conversion and I also use Eric loves Earth video to give me ideas. I Have a 2013 Sienna, same as Eric. I'm having a hard time figuring out what height the bed is going to have, with the matress and everything. Can you tell me what it the free space you have between the car'S floor and the bed structure you made, especially at the spot you are sitting ? Thanks for your help
Sorry for being so late at replying. For the platform height we ended up doing a bit of trial and error. We put the platform on some temporary blocks, put the mattress on top and sat on it to try and get the maximum height without hitting your on the ceiling. Regular van seats are tilted to give you more headroom, but with a flat bed platform you want it to be high enough to store things underneath, but not too high that you can't sit up straight. As luck would have it, we ended up with a height that was just tall enough to fit our rubbermaid bins underneath. The platform is about 9¾" from the floor of the van, and when you put the mattress on the platform the top of the mattress is about 14" from the floor. I'm 5'10" - you may have to adjust these if you are taller
Thanks! Sorry I don't have any schematics or diagrams, but I am hoping to make a website to provide this eventually. When we built our van we didn't a lot of schematics; instead we took the design concepts we liked and then adapted that design and measured for our van. Good luck with your project!
Each cushion is about 18½" x 45". If I were to do it again I would cut them a little shorter (like 44") - right now they fit pretty snug and it makes it harder to switch between bed mode and couch mode once you add the bedding. If the mattresses sit a little looser then it's easier to raise and lower the bed. For the mattress width it's important that they are snug in bed mode, with the mattress brackets in place, so that they don't separate when you're sleeping on them. So in my opinion they can be a bit looser on the sides, but they have to snug front to back.
I need some help with my 2010 Sienna XLE making the storage you have covering the left side rear. Do you have the measurements by chance or can tell me how you contour cut your boards so perfectly?
Sorry for the delay in replying. We matched the contours of the van by creating a tool that basically involved attaching a marker to a long stick. Then, hold a large piece of cardboard vertically, run the stick along the edge of the van, and the marker will mark the contour onto the cardboard. Cut out the cardboard along the line from the marker, and now your will have a rough cut of the contour. Put the cardboard against the van's edge to see if the contour matches; adjust as needed. Once it's good enough, trace the cardboard edge onto your piece of plywood and cut with a jigsaw. It's important to note that the edge doesn't need to be *perfect*. As long as it's close enough it will create the cupboard space you need
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. The platform plywood we used is ¾", and although it is nice and sturdy it's also quite heavy. You could probably get away with good quality ⅝" plywood
Nice concise video and great build! Mike it looks like your bed, cabinets, counter top (maybe the floor too) are level with each other - please confirm. Did you start by parking the van on level ground to build the interior level, or did you do a best fit to suite the interior of the van (and then choose camping spots accordingly to get the interior level)?
This is an excellent question and one of the more difficult elements of our build. Our driveway and carport are more or less level, which helped in the construction process. We wanted to make the build as reasonably level as we could, and we spent quite a bit of time augmenting the underside of the floor until we had it fairly (but not perfectly) level. Had we tried to make the floor perfectly level, it would have beed raised up by probably more than four inches towards the front, which felt impractical. The most important decision with respect to levelling the build was the sink cabinet, which is not actually level with the floor. We made sure that cabinet was as reasonably level as we could make it, because not only does that impact things like the drainage of the sink, but also how level the table is (since the table connects to the aluminum side railing attached to the sink cabinet). At the time, we weren't sure whether it would look more aesthetically pleasing to have the sink cabinet *even* with the slope of the lower edge of the window that it sits next to, or if it would be better to make it level. We chose the latter and I'm really glad we did. Although the lower edge of the window *looks* level with the naked eye, it is not. When we use the van for camping we try our best to find a level spot (I use my phone's level sensor - part of the measure app on an iPhone - by placing it on the center console tray). Because we tend to camp at campgrounds, it has not been a problem to find level ground. Some people pack levellers (graded heavy-duty plastic ramps that you drive onto), but we haven't used or needed those. Just like any camping, it's most comfortable if the vehicle and bed are level
Nope! We don't do builds for others (some companies do this sort of thing; I'm sure that you can search them out). Like @EricEnjoysEarth, we're providing our video to help the community to do your own build - it really isn't very difficult and it will always be cheaper to do it yourself. Doing your own build also allows you to customize to your preferences and make it exactly the way you want it
@@jamesmadison3687 The bed platform is 44" wide. The frame is a little narrower - about 40" (the platform overhangs the frame about 2" either side). A wide platform is better as you can store more things underneath without the platform feet getting in the way
Our van is the 2010 model, which is the last model before they put in the trollies for the middle seats. You can see from our video that we had the older-style anchors which were easier to cover with the floor
Hello Mike & Rachel, Thank you for sharing your build. This is especially helpful to me because I plan to have similar build on my 2010 Sienna. Would you mind sharing a couple details: (1) dimensions of the table; (2) dimensions of the hard floor and is it U-bolted at two places or one? (3) how is the storage unit fastened at the top? Thanks in advance for the info. Happy and safe travels.
Great questions! The table is 35"x16", and we find it to be big enough for having a meal or doing work, but small enough that we can still get around the table on either side. The floor is 66.5" (width of the van) x 40". If we were to do it again, we would cut the floor about half an inch shorter (66.5"x39.5") so that we could remove it while keeping the bed frame installed. Right now it is just a tiny bit too long for us to do that. The floor is bolted in just one place - under the sink cabinet on the forward driver's side seat anchor. The floor is already reasonably heavy and sturdy, so the single U-bolt is enough to keep it firmly in place. The storage unit is attached to the rear grip handle at the top. We purchased a basic 'lashing strap' from Home Depot and cut the strap length to about 18". We thread the strap through two slots at the top of the storage unit and then around the handle behind the unit. If this is unclear let me know and I can include a video to show you how we did it. Between this strap at the top and the U-bolt at the bottom, the cabinet is very secure
@@MikeGoetz Thank you for your detailed reply. I appreciate it. Would you locate this 0.5" floor reduction (from 40 to 39.5) on the forward side behind the seat or the backward side in front of the frame, or doesn't matter? The location of the U-bolt hole may change as a result? I watched the video a few more times and now it's clear to me how the strap fastens the storage cabinet. One more thing: on the floor behind the front passenger seat there is a bolt that holds the spare tire. I might make an access hole (with removable hole plug) for the wrench.
I would keep the floor as far forward as possible, but just cut it a bit shorter so it doesn't extend quite as far back. Doing so would allow us to remove the floor while keeping the bed platform in place, which could let us put one of the second row seats in if we needed to. In that scenario the location of the U-bolt hole wouldn't change. Making a hole in the floor to access the spare is a good idea
@@MikeGoetz Thank you! I am so glad to know the huge benefit of reducing the floor by half an inch! My adult son is coming to visit and joining us on a camping trip in the near future. I thought I would put the middle seat back and sleep in a tent! I so appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions. Very helpful!
I’m getting ready to buy a Sienna minivan but worried about the battery dying from leaving the sliding door open for an extended period of time. Have you ever had this problem? Thanks!
Good question. In general when we are using our van for camping we turn off the interior lights and use our portable battery-powered light for lighting. When the interior light switch on the dash is OFF, the sliding doors do not keep any interior light illuminated. The front doors have small lights that light when the door is open even when that switch is off, but we don't tend to keep the front doors open very much. So to answer your question, we've never had this problem and we've never drained the battery through using the van as a camper. Another option you can look into is replacing the interior bulbs with lower-powered LED bulbs. That said, our preference is to not rely on the van's battery for anything other than starting/running the vehicle itself
We went with ¾" plywood which is very sturdy and has not warped. Depending on the weight it is supporting, ½" might be too thin or it may warp which would make it more difficult to raise or lower the bed.
This is an excellent question. In hindsight, I think we overcompensated on the bed frame and platform. I'm no expert on the types of wood to use, but I suspect it would have been fine to go with ⅝" ply or possibly even thinner if the wood is sturdy. Similarly, I think you could go with 2x3's for the bed frame whereas we used 2x4s. You probably also don't need as many crossbeams as we put in. The whole thing is very stable which is good, but I suspect you could have similar stability with lighter materials. The weight of the storage cabinet and the sink cabinet is negligible, but the bed platform and frame are heavy. I've never actually weighed them, but I suspect that the weight of our camping setup is equivalent to the combined weight of the seats that we removed.
I realize in hindsight that it wasn't clear what section of the van you were referring to with respect to ½" plywood. We used ¾" ply for our bed platform not ½". My comments still hold about the bed platform - thinner plywood might be suitably strong, but I would also be concerned about warping. We used ½" ply for the cabinets, and I think this was fine. Unlike the bed frame and platform, the cabinets are very light so I don't see much reason to go thinner than ½" ply for those. The floor is also ½" ply and I wouldn't go any thinner on that either, because you wouldn't want the floor to bend or warp too much. Sorry for the confusion.
Eric would be proud of you.
Absolute nicest mini van conversion I have seen yet. Great work
I was having a really hard time deciding If I was going to permanently modify my van to make it a full time camper that I could never put the original seats back into. Your video has convinced me not to permanently modify. Beautiful and intelligent design!
Yes I highly recommend the non-invasive modular approach. In the winter we take our camping stuff out of the van and convert it back to a regular van. This is also good if you need to transport more than two people, because with the build in place there's only room for two. Eventually, if you sell your van or if it dies, you can buy the same make & model and reinstall your build in the new vehicle.
Wonderful video, and really great design -- thank you for making and sharing!
@MikeGoetz - May I message you about your floor install?
Brilliant! GREAT job! I just bought a 2006 Sienna for use as a van and also as an overnight when I visit my kids 2 hours away. I'm getting ideas and this was very informative and exciting to see the incredible possibilities you guys have presented here. Wonderful conversion!
Awesome build 👏 doesn’t break the bank and very practicable. I love that your wife is your helper
🙏
I love how there’s a little bench in the back if you wanna sit with the back door open.
When reviewing designs, we also liked Eric's rear bench. However in practice we don't use it very often. The problem is that the height of the rear bench is such that you don't have much headspace. So it's not particularly comfortable to sit there, certainly for long stretches. I wouldn't change the overall design though
Excellent! Just bought our “retirement travel van” and I really like your approach!!
This is a beautiful build. I love the design and ease with which you can convert it to a camper in a matter of minutes. This is now my dream after buying, remodeling and being disappointed with vintage campers continuing to leak or need repair. I would love to be able to convert a panel van in much this way. Thank you for sharing your awesome design. Happy Trails!
Excellent video and smart build. It is the same as Eric's build and I think this is the de facto template for a minivan. Your visuals were very good, and the pace just right. I was hoping to see details like the sliding table hardware rail and leg, and you did not disappoint. This is a better alternative to the overpriced Lagun table. This table can be bigger and is more stable, not in the way, and no floor mounts. Essentially, this build breaks down into 4 components:
Removable Floor, Bench Bed, Clothes Dresser, and Kitchen Galley. You could add a 5th piece behind passenger seat for a Toilet Cabinet, and/or Fridge. Fyi - Trelino toilets are made in Germany, come in 3 heights, light, robust, low profile and much cheaper starting at $300. Very nice to have when in a bind. Your wife will appreciate that! No more Portapotty dumping.
See Humble Road videos to see them.
This was most enjoyable to watch, you make great videos! Thank you for no music.
Thanks for your comments. We agreed that this design suited us best, after viewing lots of different designs and assessing the pros and cons. We opted not to have a piece behind the passenger seat in order to keep it feeling roomy, but yes you could add a fridge or toilet there. In the end we are not doing long trips away from civilization, so we've been fine with just a cooler and staying close to places where toilets are available
Great video. Thank you for making it and for acknowledging the other channels that served as your inspiration. ❤
Such a simple clean design. i love it! do you have a site with all the dimensions and other parts like water pump, mattress etc i would love to try to make with with my son by far one of the best setups i’ve seen
Thank you very much for sharing your Toyota sienna van build. 😊
I’ve been binge watching “Eric enjoys earth” all day, so it’s no wonder that your video popped up based on the algorithm. :-) Great job! :-)
This is genius. I'd probably do a somewhat simpler conversion, but mine would also be less functional. Very well done.
This is so practical ,reminds me of the original VW bus camper.
Great job! Innovative, well thought out, and very practical!
Wow, lots of great ideas here. Thanks for sharing!
Most innovative build yet. This is going to be my go to build in the future. Thank you for sharing.
This is my retirement dream... great job!
Beautiful execution, definitely inspired by Eric enjoys Earth. I like your rear access hatch ratchets. Have fun out there!
It's a glad idea. I will try to make my car. Thank you for sharing.
Nice work! It's good to see multiple applications of that side cabinet based on Eric's design. I'm hoping to do one of those as well. Mostly commenting because the first thing that jumped out at me was your bed cover. We have an old comforter that has that same pattern on one side. :-)
This video “hits the nail on the head” as my own van goals align with yours for van multi utilization. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thank you for sharing. Love that you can convert it back to regular van.
Great set up. I’m working on my 2008 Sienna. I got some good ideas from you. I’m a 70 year old solo camper and I’m not into stealth myself.
I am working on our 2008. Right now. We are partly done with the bed and partly with the side cabinet
@@Seaturtle008 I left one middle seat in in case I have passengers and put the stow back row down. I use my van for a pick up truck hauling lumber, pine straw bales, etc It has 200,000 miles on it but on previous Toyota I got 300,000+ so I expect it to last. I haven’t made any long solo voyages yet but live in S GA so lots of camping available. Happy travels..minivans are the best vehicles. I’ve never had one.
Very creative. Looks great. Thanks for sharing.
Well made and excellent design for a conversion that is not permanent.
Really good job! I’ve been looking at a bunch of Sienna vids to get ideas for my 2007, and this is one of the best thank you.
Thanks for your kind words
Neatest, simple, great spaces in a build to date
Thank You Mike! we used yours and Eric's videos and just did the bed and cabinet.. and we will do more in a couple more weeks. I did watch this video like 30 times. lol. thank you!
Thank you for your comment; glad to hear that we could be helpful and I hope you enjoy this project
Great video! Would love to see a more in-depth video about the couch/bed. I just purchased a 2004 Sienna to build a camper. This is very helpful.
Danny Hustle check out ROCK n ROLL van beds on RUclips. There's a pleathora of them. Some with detailed instructions
Mike, Love your Sienna video. Hope to see more videos from you some day. Subscribed.
Nice work. Bro, your setup is clean AF.
I love this. I am currently building out my minivan and documenting on my channel. Glad I came across you guys.
This is the best conversion. I feel that I could fo this as a project.
Fantastic van build, thanks for the thorough and easy to watch video. Happy car camping 😊
Very nice design. Thank you for sharing.
You did a beautiful job on this van! Thanks for the video!
Well done! That's a nice, clean build. I like that you use a cooler. I know that many van builds include a refrigerator, but the electrical needs are greatly simplified with a cooler. I think a cooler is the way to go if you're not living in the minivan.
Yes we definitely concur. As soon as you introduce a fridge, you need to get a second battery and it really starts to complicate the electrical setup. For people like us who just want to camp in our van, we find that the fridge is not necessary. In practice we've found that ice in the cooler lasts about three days, which is roughly hong long our water supply lasts as well. Our build is not suitable if you really want to go overlanding for days or weeks at a time. But for regular camping in your vehicle without the hassle of setup or driving a big rig in the city, we're really happy with our arrangement
@@MikeGoetz Thanks for the additional wise information!
Another great Sienna build. Love the modular builds, you and the others you have mentioned, are doing. Lots of great and creative ideas I’m collecting for my Astro van build. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
One of the better van builds
Hello ') can you go into more detail about how to remove the tracks on floor from front seats. and especially how and what tools are needed to remove back seats. thank you!
Ours is a 2010 Sienna, the last year before they changed the middle seat anchor design and added the tracks. If you look at the picture at 1'53" you'll see that with all the seats removed there are no tracks, just the seat anchors.
Eric Enjoys Earth has done a video showing his floor (ruclips.net/video/A5XxEZpDhpk/видео.html) - his van has the tracks like yours. Another video from 'I've got an idea' shows his floor design with a van that also has those tracks: ruclips.net/video/QjV44lxxyQg/видео.html
This is so cleverly done! I think it is almost exactly what I want to do with my van. Thank you for the video.
i love this van!! I hope you do more videos
Mike, I love your build. In the video you state that the bed is 44 inches wide. May I ask you how long the bed is? Thank you and Very Best.
I believe it’s about 75”, as long as a standard full-size mattress. We had to cut the mattress narrow, but kept it the same length and just cut it into those four sections.
this one is definitely one of the nicer ones from the rest!
Wow Mike... I didn't know you were so handy! Congratulations on a job well done. I could never do that...
Thanks Ben!
So very well done and explained. Thank you, as this is a positive as I shakily and ever so slow creep to the van camping side of life. (As much as I have enjoyed the little I have done, I can NOT for one second consider myself a camper. But the thought spells F R E E D O M to me !!! 🎉❤
Well done! I am considering a similar build for my recently acquired Sienna. What are the dimensions of your sink unit?
nice job ! enjoy your travels .
Great thinking!!!
Great build!
Thank you for the simplicity of the video, Looking at 1:55 min about the floor; I was wondering did you make the floor precisely horizontally leveled?
Yeah the 1x1 strips under the floor are there to provide some stability for the plywood floor. I wouldn't say that it's *precisely* horizontally level, but it is approximately level. We found that trying to make things perfectly level is difficult especially because the van itself is often not on perfectly level ground. It's also not particularly important for the floor to be perfectly level, but we did try to make the sink counter and the table fairly level
Love the design. And with not using a lot of fancy tools, makes me think maybe I could do this, too. 👍🏻😊
Amazing
Thank you for sharing !!!!
Would you mind providing dimensions of the bed width and shelving width? How does a person get the curvature dimensions for the shelving by the back windows? I have zero building experience and am struggling with getting the measurements accurate. what thickness of wood did you use for the shelving? Thank you for any advice you can give.
I’d love tips on making the contoured cuts for the rear left shelf too. (2010 Toyota Sienna XLE conversion)
Sorry for the late reply. @ericenjoysearth2756 has good tips about how to shape the side cabinet for the contours of the van. Basically you attach a marker to a stick or ruler, and then hold up a piece of cardboard vertically and run the stick along the edge of the van so that the marker draws the contour onto your cardboard. Then you cut out the cardboard and adjust the cut so that it is close to the shape of the van's contours. Finally, trace the cardboard onto your wood panel and cut it with a jigsaw. It's not too important to be exact with these cuts - as long as you get the contours of your shelving unit close to the contours of the van, it will fit well. It doesn't have to fit perfectly, because you're usually not storing tiny things on those shelves. We used ½" plywood for the shelves, and ¼" plywood for the front panel of the shelves
@@AdamStear I added a reply to the main comment with some more info. Also, check out @ericenjoysearth2756 and his main van tour video - he shows the process of cutting out the shelving unit to match the contours of the van
Thank you!
Very nice build. Happy adventures.
I accidentally came across this post and wanted to ask a first question that may have been asked but I didn't have enough time to scroll down for it yet. So here my simple question: How much Total weight of Wood...and others that you put in this van for this project? Thank, and I'll get back to watch this post again so soon.
I don't know how much the collective weight of the wood is; we've never weighed it. Generally, my assumption is that the collective weight of the wood is roughly the same as the collective weight of the seats we removed, so the overall weight of the van is the same in either configuration
excellent video, Mike! Can you give your viewers, the height of the bedframe above the vinyl floor? Thank you!
Sorry for the late reply. The bed platform sits about 9¾" from the van's floor. The vinyl floor sits on top of the van floor, so the bed platform is 9¼" from the vinyl floor.
Did you do that thing, where you convert it and you can get the energy from the alternator from the engine? And store it in a jackery? Also you would need some kind of roof vent or fan, to get air at night. Because you don't want to crack the windows for safety.
We didn't mess with the van's electrics. The Jackery comes with a cable that connects to a cigarette lighter to charge it while you drive. No need to do any "conversion" or tap directly into the alternator.
We didn't do a roof vent or fan - I wouldn't want to cut into the van's roof or do a major modification like that; I think the risk of creating leaks would be too high. For ventilation we keep the second row windows open - if it's hot we keep them as far down as they will go, if it's cold we just keep them open an inch. We have screens on the windows to keep the bugs out. Usually we stay in campgrounds where safety isn't as big a concern. Most of the videos we have watched about other van conversions do something similar. If you're planning to modify your vehicle to put in a roof vent, I would suggest you get this done by a professional. But even then, I don't think a roof vent will help much if it's hot outside overnight - you will likely want more air flow than that.
Hey Mike, I'm local to Vancouver myself and this build of yours will be inspiring my own build in a 99 Sienna. Looking forward to spending as much time as possible at some local lakes and rivers this summer. I am wondering if you have plans for the bed and cabinets that you'd be willing to share? I am not terribly handy, but when I have decent instructions I can do ok. Let me know if you have anything on hand!
Hey Luke; nice to hear from another local. I'm sorry but I don't have any plans - we did a lot of our work with just some rough sketches and trial & error. Your '99 will be different than our 2010 anyway, so specific plans may not work perfectly. We haven't installed our camping setup into our van yet this year, but when we do I'll try and take some measurements and post them up on our channel
@@MikeGoetz thanks Mike!
Great work, I love it.
This is perfect!
Well done
Very nice! 😊
Nice. I like your calming voice too. Can you explain how you bolt the floor into place please? I’m not familiar with c anchors (just sea anchors 🙃), cheers.
The floor is connected to a seat (not "C") anchor. If you look at 2'08" of the video, we use a U-bolt around one of the seat anchors of the second row seat on the driver's side. The floor has two holes and we line it up over the U-bolt, lower it down, and then attach the nuts to the U-bolt and tighten (you can see the attached U-bolt 2'20". Because the floor is pretty heavy and rigid, it only needs to be attached at that one spot and then it doesn't move around
What a fantastic job!! I am curious how you were able to pattern the contours ? Everything fits so well! Did you use a jig of some sort to get your contour patterns so tight?
Yes we used a jigsaw to get the contours as close to the shape of the van as possible. The video explains it a little, and @EricEnjoysEarth goes into greater detail about the process for building the cabinets
4:30 this what I'm trying to find a solution thank you. I want some support like the original Eric design but also want it to be free like Rob's. what happen if you screw that long bar to the bed platform? will it be better or worse?
We originally screwed the long 2x4 to the end of the bed platform. The main problem was that you can't really fit anything large in the trunk area, like a cooler or bins for your cooking supplies. The removable solution (by cutting the notches from each end of the long piece and also at the ends of the bed platform) allows us to put the support in place if we want to sit on the end of the bed, but we can easily remove it if we need to put in or take out anything large in the trunk area.
It’s very nice build out. Do you height of the legs for the bed frame , the rear , center and front. Seem like it a different size. I have 2006 van. It’s look very awesome. Thx for sharing
great stuff guys. I wonder which size is the double bed when in use (in cm.???) Thank you and congratulation from Ital
Sorry for taking so long to reply. When fully laid flat, the bed is 44" (111.76cm) x 74" (187.96cm). The sections of the platform are 18½" : 18½" : 18½" : 2½" : 16". The bed is pretty narrow - narrower than a double bed (a double bed is 54" wide), but because you are "walled in", we find it quite comfortable for two people because you can move all the way to the edge of the bed which you can't normally do with a regular bed
Vraiment superbe, tu as les meilleurs idées. Félicitations
Do you have any plans or drawing with measurements? I just bought a 2011 and I work on the road and need a comfy hotel on wheels.
What I wouldn't give for actual plans for something like this!
Hi Mike, great video!
Couple of questions please. What is the height of the bed (without mattress) from the floor? Thank you
The bed platform is about 9¾" from the van floor. We set the height with some trial and error, testing different heights using blocks before we made the final cut for the legs of the frame. You want a height that is tall enough to sit comfortably and put things under the bed, but short enough that you can sit upright without hitting your head on the van's ceiling. Depending on your height this can vary.
I really like your build. Great job!
Love your camper van. Great job!
Very nice. If you buy some Lap' Seat belts, you can transport 2 extra people if need too.
Thanks for the kind words, but I would not recommend attempting to add some lap belts to a self-build. The bench would not be safe, especially without headrests
Very nice ! thank you for sharing.
Hi Mike, I am gazing at the photo, at 1：55 of the underside of the floor trying to figure out what I need to get for the floor support and their cut dimensions. I figured the two playwood support pieces are the same plywood as the floor board and they are fastened to the floor board flush at the edges. What are the dimensions of the two plywood support? Also how long are the 2x2 and 1x2 and the spacings between the strips? And the short 2x2 plus 1x2 at the front corners? Could you please talk a bit more details? Thank you!
Hi Brixia,
Yes the two plywood pieces on each side are cuts from the same piece of wood and attached flush to the edges. The width of those plywood pieces are roughly the width of the tread area in the van that they sit on - the exact width is not really important.
For the 2x2 and 2x1 supports, we had to do a bit of guesswork to figure out where they should go - the floor of the van is uneven so we wanted to position them to provide stability for the floor.
The first 2x2 is flush to the top of the floor. The first gap is 6⅜", the second gap is 3½", and the third gap is 5⅜". We added some 2" foam in between these supports (not shown in the picture from 1:55 in the video).
Bear in mind that these measurements apply only if you have the same van as us (2006-2010 Toyota Sienna). If you have a different van or a later model then you will need to do your own measurements to set up a stable floor.
The length of the short corner supports is not really important, just a short length to aid in stability. I would recommend that you cut your pieces a bit long, attach with tape, and then put the floor down and see if it wobbles or bows in places when you put pressure or walk on it. Then adjust as necessary.
Hope that helps!
@@MikeGoetz Thank you so much! I have 0 carpentry experience/skill but your info-packed video with detailed narration has encouraged me to take on the "fun project". Super helpful. Thank you.
Super nice job you guys
Wonderful job.
Nicely done guys👏🏻
very nice.
Any chances you could give me the plans and dimensions
I love it Thanks
Sorry, we never developed any plans and dimensions when we were building out the van. I'm hoping to eventually publish some drawings; stay tuned!
Hello Mike ! Very Nice project. Very Neat !
I'm also making a van conversion and I also use Eric loves Earth video to give me ideas. I Have a 2013 Sienna, same as Eric. I'm having a hard time figuring out what height the bed is going to have, with the matress and everything. Can you tell me what it the free space you have between the car'S floor and the bed structure you made, especially at the spot you are sitting ? Thanks for your help
Sorry for being so late at replying. For the platform height we ended up doing a bit of trial and error. We put the platform on some temporary blocks, put the mattress on top and sat on it to try and get the maximum height without hitting your on the ceiling. Regular van seats are tilted to give you more headroom, but with a flat bed platform you want it to be high enough to store things underneath, but not too high that you can't sit up straight. As luck would have it, we ended up with a height that was just tall enough to fit our rubbermaid bins underneath. The platform is about 9¾" from the floor of the van, and when you put the mattress on the platform the top of the mattress is about 14" from the floor. I'm 5'10" - you may have to adjust these if you are taller
So inspirational!!! I love it
This is awesome Mike! I have a 2007 Sienna that I’m slowly converting. Do you have any schematics of your build available?
Thanks! Sorry I don't have any schematics or diagrams, but I am hoping to make a website to provide this eventually. When we built our van we didn't a lot of schematics; instead we took the design concepts we liked and then adapted that design and measured for our van. Good luck with your project!
Great job!
Hi there great video thanks for sharing. Quick question for you. What did you end up cutting your four cushions too?
Each cushion is about 18½" x 45". If I were to do it again I would cut them a little shorter (like 44") - right now they fit pretty snug and it makes it harder to switch between bed mode and couch mode once you add the bedding. If the mattresses sit a little looser then it's easier to raise and lower the bed. For the mattress width it's important that they are snug in bed mode, with the mattress brackets in place, so that they don't separate when you're sleeping on them. So in my opinion they can be a bit looser on the sides, but they have to snug front to back.
Did you save any of your measurements for the bed frame?
Excellent ❤
I need some help with my 2010 Sienna XLE making the storage you have covering the left side rear. Do you have the measurements by chance or can tell me how you contour cut your boards so perfectly?
Sorry for the delay in replying. We matched the contours of the van by creating a tool that basically involved attaching a marker to a long stick. Then, hold a large piece of cardboard vertically, run the stick along the edge of the van, and the marker will mark the contour onto the cardboard. Cut out the cardboard along the line from the marker, and now your will have a rough cut of the contour. Put the cardboard against the van's edge to see if the contour matches; adjust as needed. Once it's good enough, trace the cardboard edge onto your piece of plywood and cut with a jigsaw. It's important to note that the edge doesn't need to be *perfect*. As long as it's close enough it will create the cupboard space you need
Mike... love your video and plan to build a bed/sofa like you. Just wondering what thickness of plywood you used for the platform???
Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. The platform plywood we used is ¾", and although it is nice and sturdy it's also quite heavy. You could probably get away with good quality ⅝" plywood
Nice concise video and great build! Mike it looks like your bed, cabinets, counter top (maybe the floor too) are level with each other - please confirm. Did you start by parking the van on level ground to build the interior level, or did you do a best fit to suite the interior of the van (and then choose camping spots accordingly to get the interior level)?
This is an excellent question and one of the more difficult elements of our build. Our driveway and carport are more or less level, which helped in the construction process. We wanted to make the build as reasonably level as we could, and we spent quite a bit of time augmenting the underside of the floor until we had it fairly (but not perfectly) level. Had we tried to make the floor perfectly level, it would have beed raised up by probably more than four inches towards the front, which felt impractical.
The most important decision with respect to levelling the build was the sink cabinet, which is not actually level with the floor. We made sure that cabinet was as reasonably level as we could make it, because not only does that impact things like the drainage of the sink, but also how level the table is (since the table connects to the aluminum side railing attached to the sink cabinet). At the time, we weren't sure whether it would look more aesthetically pleasing to have the sink cabinet *even* with the slope of the lower edge of the window that it sits next to, or if it would be better to make it level. We chose the latter and I'm really glad we did. Although the lower edge of the window *looks* level with the naked eye, it is not.
When we use the van for camping we try our best to find a level spot (I use my phone's level sensor - part of the measure app on an iPhone - by placing it on the center console tray). Because we tend to camp at campgrounds, it has not been a problem to find level ground. Some people pack levellers (graded heavy-duty plastic ramps that you drive onto), but we haven't used or needed those. Just like any camping, it's most comfortable if the vehicle and bed are level
@@MikeGoetz thank you so much for the detailed answer and explanation. I am going to follow suit!
wicked build!
Awesome video! Thanks! Would you consider building a kit for me for a 2021 Sienna ?
Nope! We don't do builds for others (some companies do this sort of thing; I'm sure that you can search them out). Like @EricEnjoysEarth, we're providing our video to help the community to do your own build - it really isn't very difficult and it will always be cheaper to do it yourself. Doing your own build also allows you to customize to your preferences and make it exactly the way you want it
@@MikeGoetz Thanks! I will consider doing it myself.
Can you tell me how wide your bedframe came out to be?
@@jamesmadison3687 The bed platform is 44" wide. The frame is a little narrower - about 40" (the platform overhangs the frame about 2" either side). A wide platform is better as you can store more things underneath without the platform feet getting in the way
Wonderful design and video. Did you cover the seat trollies with the floor?
Our van is the 2010 model, which is the last model before they put in the trollies for the middle seats. You can see from our video that we had the older-style anchors which were easier to cover with the floor
Hello Mike & Rachel, Thank you for sharing your build. This is especially helpful to me because I plan to have similar build on my 2010 Sienna. Would you mind sharing a couple details: (1) dimensions of the table; (2) dimensions of the hard floor and is it U-bolted at two places or one? (3) how is the storage unit fastened at the top? Thanks in advance for the info. Happy and safe travels.
Great questions! The table is 35"x16", and we find it to be big enough for having a meal or doing work, but small enough that we can still get around the table on either side.
The floor is 66.5" (width of the van) x 40". If we were to do it again, we would cut the floor about half an inch shorter (66.5"x39.5") so that we could remove it while keeping the bed frame installed. Right now it is just a tiny bit too long for us to do that.
The floor is bolted in just one place - under the sink cabinet on the forward driver's side seat anchor. The floor is already reasonably heavy and sturdy, so the single U-bolt is enough to keep it firmly in place.
The storage unit is attached to the rear grip handle at the top. We purchased a basic 'lashing strap' from Home Depot and cut the strap length to about 18". We thread the strap through two slots at the top of the storage unit and then around the handle behind the unit. If this is unclear let me know and I can include a video to show you how we did it. Between this strap at the top and the U-bolt at the bottom, the cabinet is very secure
@@MikeGoetz Thank you for your detailed reply. I appreciate it. Would you locate this 0.5" floor reduction (from 40 to 39.5) on the forward side behind the seat or the backward side in front of the frame, or doesn't matter? The location of the U-bolt hole may change as a result? I watched the video a few more times and now it's clear to me how the strap fastens the storage cabinet. One more thing: on the floor behind the front passenger seat there is a bolt that holds the spare tire. I might make an access hole (with removable hole plug) for the wrench.
I like your design of the removable trunk side cross beam of bed frame, making access to the under-bed storage much much easier.
I would keep the floor as far forward as possible, but just cut it a bit shorter so it doesn't extend quite as far back. Doing so would allow us to remove the floor while keeping the bed platform in place, which could let us put one of the second row seats in if we needed to. In that scenario the location of the U-bolt hole wouldn't change.
Making a hole in the floor to access the spare is a good idea
@@MikeGoetz Thank you! I am so glad to know the huge benefit of reducing the floor by half an inch! My adult son is coming to visit and joining us on a camping trip in the near future. I thought I would put the middle seat back and sleep in a tent! I so appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions. Very helpful!
I’m getting ready to buy a Sienna minivan but worried about the battery dying from leaving the sliding door open for an extended period of time. Have you ever had this problem? Thanks!
Good question. In general when we are using our van for camping we turn off the interior lights and use our portable battery-powered light for lighting. When the interior light switch on the dash is OFF, the sliding doors do not keep any interior light illuminated. The front doors have small lights that light when the door is open even when that switch is off, but we don't tend to keep the front doors open very much. So to answer your question, we've never had this problem and we've never drained the battery through using the van as a camper.
Another option you can look into is replacing the interior bulbs with lower-powered LED bulbs. That said, our preference is to not rely on the van's battery for anything other than starting/running the vehicle itself
Hi, I have a question on the bed platform. are you using 3/4 in fly wood or 1/2 in plywood
We went with ¾" plywood which is very sturdy and has not warped. Depending on the weight it is supporting, ½" might be too thin or it may warp which would make it more difficult to raise or lower the bed.
1/2" ply necessary in retrospect? Do you think you could've gone with a thinner, high-grade baltic birch?
This is an excellent question. In hindsight, I think we overcompensated on the bed frame and platform. I'm no expert on the types of wood to use, but I suspect it would have been fine to go with ⅝" ply or possibly even thinner if the wood is sturdy. Similarly, I think you could go with 2x3's for the bed frame whereas we used 2x4s. You probably also don't need as many crossbeams as we put in. The whole thing is very stable which is good, but I suspect you could have similar stability with lighter materials.
The weight of the storage cabinet and the sink cabinet is negligible, but the bed platform and frame are heavy. I've never actually weighed them, but I suspect that the weight of our camping setup is equivalent to the combined weight of the seats that we removed.
I realize in hindsight that it wasn't clear what section of the van you were referring to with respect to ½" plywood. We used ¾" ply for our bed platform not ½". My comments still hold about the bed platform - thinner plywood might be suitably strong, but I would also be concerned about warping. We used ½" ply for the cabinets, and I think this was fine. Unlike the bed frame and platform, the cabinets are very light so I don't see much reason to go thinner than ½" ply for those. The floor is also ½" ply and I wouldn't go any thinner on that either, because you wouldn't want the floor to bend or warp too much. Sorry for the confusion.