ive done lots of starlink conenctions for clients here in UK< some of them just pick up dish from house and take it along in RV when they go away, very usefull tech, would always advise rj45 adapter and seperate acecss points ( as shown) not useing wifi boosting always with starlink...
That's the Swiss Army Knife of trailers. I love it, and the whole idea of a trailer to compliment the van. I think you may have just planted the seed of an idea for my retirement.
In one word: Wow! As an IT specialist, I am impressed with the layout of the wiring under your desk in the trailer. Well done. The details you put in throughout the cargo trailer is amazing. It is well organized, clean, functional, weather conscious, practical, streamlined, ergonomic, esthetic, genius, and unique.
Thanks! That would be great! Windows were in our original plan, and we even purchased them, but in the end I needed to use the wall space for storage, didn’t really have time for reframing, and also wanted to keep the rig looking more mysterious and not have people being able to see inside easily.
Absolutely! We got to the point where it was a better use of money to get the service vs driving to a library or somewhere to catch a good wifi. (And up until recently canadian cell plans had been pretty limited, and expense!)
@@kageandellie Sure if you don't mind giving your money to a degenerate radical right, white supremacist supporter of a modern day Hitler. But convenience is so much more important than moral standards.
A little too extravagant/polished for my taste, but I'm sure you guys love it! Full of awesome ideas and The Man owns Milwaukee tools, so I know he's got great taste. This is a sweet build, I can't lie. The removeable panels, the sockets that go up with the desk, so much f*cking utility in this build, smh. Lookin' good, Guys. 😎😎😎
Thank you! And yes, it is polished on appearance (although I haven’t washed this for several months!🧐😅) and does take time to maintain. For my work I do mostly grid connections for solar system installs at private residences. The owners pay a lot of money to my solar client, so I need to show up looking presentable and trustworthy, the rig looking good helps with that. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! PACKOUTS Rock!
This is a cool setup! As a fan of tiny homes, I like how you didn’t just buy and retrofit a larger tiny home to fit your needs. You just bought a smaller trailer and retrofitted this. This feels like the more environmentally conscious option out of the two.
Thank you! Yes, we originally wanted to go Tiny Home, as we LOVED them as well, but there are just WAAAYYY too many restrictions in Canada about where you can have them... it has gotten a little better the past couple of years, but our laws here are very traditional still and it was too much of a deterrent. Thanks for watching Shay!
@@kageandellieoh really? Interesting, I didn’t know that. I wonder how long it will take Canada to catch up to the US in terms of acceptance of tiny homes and tiny living and readjust the laws to allow more of them.
Thank you Richard! It is definitely one of those things we had to build to make life possible or else we would have burned out quit the nomadic life entirely!
Love the build. And love the guitar content! We are full time RV people in a 5th wheel, with a bunkhouse turned into a full functioning tech office. We run an IT consulting practice, as well as a Guitar Effects Pedal company out of our RV. I was drawn to your video because I always have this thought to buy a Class A Diesel Pusher and outfit a Trailer for the office and workshop. I may actually do that someday! But once I was engaged, you gave me so many ideas that will apply to any type of road life, not just van and trailer. As always, our office workspace is always evolving. So I’m always soaking up all the knowledge I can find. For example, I have a similar monitor setup. But I take it down when we travel and put it on the bed, with a few guitars. That is getting old. Was thinking to put a blanket over it and tie it down where it lives. Was literally going to give it a shot on our next travel day. And you just confirmed this for me! Thanks for the great video. I have subscribed!
just stumbled onto your channel, fellow tradesman Canuck, very impressed with your rig! just getting into the rv life and will definitely be using more than a few of your ideas as I build it out.🍻
Aw man that's awesome! It is a goal to help give others ideas of what they can do for themselves! Glad we could be of help &/or inspiration! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the video guys! This is very similar to what I want. I had been wondering why people with the RV Sprinter van setup didn't try to tow a second trailer with it for things they didn't have already in the sprinter cabin. Great work guys very inspiring, I look forward to sharing a similar video someday!
Haha! Thank you, it is a pleasure to inspire others! We love that trailers are so much easier to maintenance, and in Ontario, we only have to pay for the license plate ONCE and not annually!
Omg, LOVE your setup!!! We have very similar, on the outside… we need you to help us on the inside!!! Husband also uses a utility trailer for his work stuff, it’s a disaster. Hope we bump into you on our Canadian travels, we do coast to coast for his business, we are just touching on year 2 for living like this and loving it. We’d love it even more if we were properly set up for winter. We’ll be watching you guys!!! Thanks for sharing! Safe travels!
Wow! Thanks for much for watching our trailer conversion tour. We can relate to work trailers getting out of control! What type of business are you doing across Canada?
He’s been in the cleaning business his whole career, on the supply side. Has an amazing network across Canada so he visits his clients to show them how to use products. He imports new green solutions for industrial/institutional use from the USA and these need to be demo’ed to really show the efficacy so off we go from one province to another.
That's an amazing business to be in that allows you both to explore so much of Canada and meet really interesting people along the way when you showcase what the US products can do for them!
This trailer build is absolutely amazing - WELL DONE! So many well thought out spaces and everything is so CLEANLY installed. And yes, there are hassles to towing - BUT I think your setup and being able to "stake" a spot with the trailer also has its benefits. Any plans for a cassette toilet and small amount of water for use when the trailer is not near the van?
Thanks! No plans to put a toilet in the trailer.. but funny story: I was doing a job where Ellie left me for about 5 years to take care of running around and the rumble was getting stronger.. it was time to release the chocolate hostage! I'm in a populated area.. building full of rental units (so I can't use a toilet inside).. BUT we did have a bucket full of spare/fresh peatmoss on board! (It's for our composting toilet). I closed up the trailer, hopped inside and did what needed to be done! 💩
You know, I wanted to not like your setup because I can't tell you how many of these types of builds I've seen that I'm just not crazy about. However, I like what you guys have done with the trailer. It seems like a great fit for your needs and I think it was well thought-out and constructed. It even looks good! Great job!
Haha! Yes, there is a LOT of stuff out there, and such a wide range of ideas! I will take winning you over as a high compliment, thank you! It is definitely serving us well.. even right now we are enjoying the long weekend at our favorite park by Lake Erie, sitting at the desk and uploading another video! Thanks for watching!
We certainly tried to do that! We had a basic trailer for 3 years prior and really had time to figure out what we needed to make life work more easily!
Thank you jonnyrocket! It took a lot of time to think through and find the right balance to make nomadic existence work up here in Canada (combined with my particular career choice!)
That's a cool idea. I have been thinking about something similar. I am not in the trades, so I don't need it to be that big, but it's definitely smart for your situation. Jason
Thank you! We're planning on rolling through NB in the next couple of months! We've been swamped with work as of late but doing our best to put together content as often as humanly possible!
Thank you! We do enjoy making videos in our precious spare time and have a lot of stuff in the works, but it's about having the time to get stuff completed! We love being able to share ideas and experiences and being able to inspire others! Hopefully we'll get some time next weekend to get some more videos done!
Just came across this video and absolutely LOVED it!! Your content is fantastic, and that trailer is next level. You won't mind if I steal a ton of ideas for my own build, right? I'm now a fan and a subscriber. Looking forward to following your journey.
Just found your channel and watched this video all the way through. The channel really stands out from so many others. You both have great personalities that come across as friendly and informative. I have been thinking of a trailer build and you have totally changed the way I will do it and want in it big as yours. Could you please link to some parts like the wardrobe, StarLink connectors and desk. You have got me hooked. Seriously refreshing channel. Thank you for all the hard work of making it for us :-D. Stephen
Hi Stephen! Thank you so much; we are immensely touched by your comment! We know there's a crowded space out there for vanlife and van building, and that is fine.. we just have fun making content, try to be who we are, and make a good video that is worth the viewers' time! We are happy to have inspired you to build in a direction that works for you! As for parts.. just on a simple note, the wardrobe is literally just an IKEA PAX closet (wide enough to fit our freezer!), an IKEA sit-stand desk frame with our own countertop installed on top, and the connectors for the starlink are just outdoor rated ethernet connectors that are sold as a male/female set form amazon. If you need any other information or need to talk through anything regarding your build, I'd be happy to connect with you over zoom or facetime. Feel free to reach out to us through our email: kage.ellie.north@gmail.com Thanks again - it was an amazing comment to receive this morning!
It's great, but can be very challenging depending on where you are and how you make money! We are 100% grateful for doing it though; for Ellie and me, it has brought us closer together than we ever could have dreamt. We've been together 8 years, but feels like 16!
Thank you! We're happy to have been able to put out as high of quality content as possible; as a downside, it becomes infrequent! :S Lots more in the works!
I feel like an electric dirt bike would be perfect for a setup like this, you could definitely fit two of them in the trailer and you could charge them while you're on the road.
That is really cool! If I could get into the nomadic lifestyle, that's the way I'd like to do it right there! Such a great idea to have your trailer setup like that.
Thanks Edward! This is actually our second trailer we’ve had.. the first one was a lot more bare bones. It took some time in this life to figure out what we needed and would benefit us the most, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome! It really works well too as I can be left on a job (I’m an electrician) and Ellie can go on material or grocery runs - divide and conquer!
@@kageandellie It turned out great, funny thing, I was thinking about doing something like this, but inverse, since I already have a trailer (camper) I thought about buying a van to tow it, and use the van for something like a garage, unfortunately, there's no travel in my job, but still would be useful for increased cargo. I like your idea a lot better! lol
Yeah, us too! It is a 3500 dually van so it has a lot of torque for pulling. We also added in sumo springs in the rear and a red arc brake gain controller. We actually have been through the Rocky Mountains with this whole rig, and it has done incredibly well. Not that I would want to do that every day…or in winter!
@@kageandellie ........But What About The Fuel Cost Of Pulling A Heavy Load Every Time?........And How's Driving In Small Roads And Small Spaces Especially If U Need To Back Up The Van? For Me 'Though, Van Life Is Good For A Weekender Use Or Vacation Use But Not To Replace A Stationary Home With A Home Address. It Is Still Better To Have A Home With A Very Stable Foundation And With Enough Space For You To Walk Around. It's THERAPEUTIC For The Mind And Body. But Every Individual Is Different. Maybe Other People Love The same As What You Are Doing. Which Ever Way, LET US ENJOY LIFE & ENJOY EARTH.......
Ah thank you! The process of learning really started in 2018 with the van build, followed by the school of life and the university of RUclips! It’s been a growing journey, but well worth it. I would say, even as an electrician by trade, we didn’t learn much about these types of power systems be wise of the off grid nature.. it was all learning on RUclips, and in particular Nate and Steph from explorist.life!
This is my first time seeing you what do you do for work that you leave all the pool just wondering and what I've seen about your trailer fantastic so smart I can't wait to see another new video.
Hi Bruce! Thank you! Yes we run our own little electrical contracting business, mainly installing solar systems all over Ontario, but also do small jobs along the way and help out other electricians who need an extra set of hands to get their work done! We have some videos on that topic that will be coming out over the next few weeks, as time permits! Thanks for watching, and I hope you’ll enjoy the content we have coming out in the future!
Beautiful build! Would love to see a video just about your Starlink setup. I totally agree that taking down the Starlink and bundling up wire is a pain. Thanks!
That is awesome! That makes my day! Good luck with the build! Feel free to hit me up anytime if you need some specific advice or more info on anything! (IG or Email)
Very well thought out build. Execution was also top notch. There is one thing that makes no sense though... why store the clothes in an open air environment that shares the same space as fuel tanks? Those sweaters will eventually smell like gas. I think sealing the clothing up or sealing the storage for the fuels would solve this issue. Have you had the trailer weighed? I'm curious what your pulling around. For me after all my research I think I want to go with the Toughbuilt Stacktech system. I am just constantly blown away at how well designed their system is. I lived in a 24ft RV for 6 years and one of the biggest reasons for me to change is I missed having a workshop. This is a nice solution to having that on the road. As I get older having some land to return to and make self sufficient wins out over my desire to live on the go.
Hey! I had to look that ToughBuilt system system up.. I like the fact they are black! And the side accessories are cool too! We have not had any issues of fuel smell at all yet. They contain diesel, when I think might have less odor than gas..? I keep the containers clean, wipe them up from any spillage, and keep the caps tight. If there ever is an issue, I can just swap things around in the trailer to resolve that. They are mainly there for the trailer heater top up...because the fuel tank I put in was WAY too small! Ya, having tools and a workshop are so helpful.. and I totally understand the home base somewhere. In the next couple days we are going to be finding out if we are going to be going a bit more that way. We might be doing less "on the road" and more working on rigs at a shop, with some jobs that take us abroad. It takes a lot of run a business on the road. It's been 6 years for us as well! Doing the mobile thing in Canada is also a lot more challenging in Canada as culturally, public accessibility, and legally it's against those expectations.
@@kageandellie I wish I would have bought land a long time ago. It would have been nice to have a home base to return to with some shipping containers for storage to lock up when traveling. One of my major reasons for stopping is that feeling of not being welcome. Cops banging on your door because you are sleeping in random places. I mainly was in Norther California which has a large population of people in Rv's and some places hate them. Santa Cruz you could park for an hour and have cops asking you what your plans are while Berkley I parked in a warehouse district for months and never had one cop visit my Rv. I was on a small budget so I rarely paid for a spot and it got old. I think if I would have known that I could drive to my homebase and chill there and get more resources and work on projects I might have lasted longer.
Thank you! I don’t know exactly how much the trailer weighs, but the whole rig is just shy of our 17,000 lbs max. No trailer we are about 18 MPG and with it is 12 MPG. We upgraded the fuel tank to 47 gallon as well.. huge time saver there!
@@kageandellie Not terrible when you look at the convivence of having the extra space, all your tools and with the added fuel capacity and solar. You have a lot of what you would get in a class A but with an ability to drop the trailer an go shopping or run other errands if you needed to. Well done guys!
Love the design of the trailer, while my wife and I are not looking at living in a van full-time, having a garage/office that can travel with us would allow us to be on a longer vacation while I still work.
That sounds great! It could make life so much easier.. we do love having a comfortable desk available as well! Funny thing as well.. if you ever see our short “vanlife hot tub”, we set it up in the trailer when we winterize at a campground down south! So multipurpose! 😅
@@kageandellie I design and fabricate clone M416 trailers, our plan would be to have a Sprinter with a trailer like your, but to caravan with our Ford E350 pulling one of my trailers with the all the bikes (family of 6).
Amazing build! Any plans to release tutorials for some of these components? The Starlink roof plug specifically, I'd love some more details on 'gotchas' and a parts list that worked for you.
We didn’t film much of the build due to time constraints, but I do have some content for the StarLink install that I should put together as I think there are a lot of people who can benefit from it!
Seems to be lots of electricians watching this - judging by the comments - and milwaukee fans - and also travellers - it certainly combines everything - great idea -
Thanks! Why should the life of travel be limited to only the laptop workers!! This certainly is harder and more complicated, but opens up for some neat opportunities!
I dig the Starlink mounting port. We use ours atop our Class A, I wouldn't want to "trust" the rear ladder for regular use, so I did something very similar - the pipe mount Starlink sells on their accessories website works perfectly on a regular metal closet rod - so I used the longest one that would slide into the pass-through basement storage easily (exactly 8 feet), and it fits reasonably well into the flagpole mount "mounted" to the rear RV ladder. A slight wobble gap was inside, but a few layers of aluminum speed tape fixed it perfectly. I'm guessing laundromats are cheaper in Canada than they are in the US, though; after a few $60-$70 "laundry stops" during our part-time RV life, the washer & dryer were the only "must-have" when we swapped our first RV for the second one. I think I would have been tempted to put the combo Splendide in the build. Rocking-cool trailer, though. Props. I hardwired our Starlink through the chassis as well, but I'm using a "decent" quality Cat6 coupler (and carrying replacements) in the wet bay to attach the Dishy when it goes up on the closet rod. I love your connectors, I'll be looking for a set of those.
Thanks NordicVetMBA! Sounds like you've got a great setup there as well and have put some good thought into it! That is a crazy amount for a laundomat run! Wow! Our average experience was only $10-15 a week..(2 loads, Ellie says..) I am definitely happy with those connectors.. they were quite pricey, but great quality. I picked them up on amazon when we were in florida.. we can't get them when in Canada.
@@kageandellie@kageandellie I think I found the connectors you are using well worth the cost, as the "indoor-grade" cat-6 ones I have been using are hit & miss for reliability and usually will fail after a couple of months of use in the basement of our motorhome. Admittedly, I use the wet bay for the connection point, but that way I can sneak the dish-side of the cable through the water hose or sewer line opening in the bottom and avoided the need for another opening on the "road side." On the laundry, we normally saw $4.50 per wash load and about the same for a dryer load (and those were small loads), so if we were doing four or so loads, it was tipping $60 quickly (assuming one had a bedding load or whatever). Love your channel.
I have to admit you solved a huge problem with space with this trailer office. Makes perfect sense!!!! Great idea!! Do you have a lift kit on your van? What is the of height of your van and the trailer? How tall is your custom 11:32 roof rack box? When towing the trailer, how many mpg are you averaging?
Thank you! It beat trying to build from scratch! The van sits a little higher as a 4x4.. but we did add some rear sumo springs to help support the trailer tongue. The whole rig is below 9ft tall. The rack on the trailer adds about 10 inches? The compartment below the panels is about 7 inches of space. Sorry you'll have to convert this on Google: No trailer 13L/100 km, with trailer 20-22L/100 km Thanks for watching!
Congratulations on successfully completing the chemo treatments. I've been there; I've chased the house, the business, the assets and the success.. it all ends up empty. Tell me, if chemo didn't work, what would all of that stuff mean in the end? Don't forget to work on the spirit...that is eternal. I'll be prayin for ya.
As a network engineer, I was very pleased to see how you did the StarLink and WeBoost setups, including the weatherproof Ethernet reel and connectors!
Thank you! I do love the StarLink setup on board SO much!
ive done lots of starlink conenctions for clients here in UK< some of them just pick up dish from house and take it along in RV when they go away, very usefull tech, would always advise rj45 adapter and seperate acecss points ( as shown) not useing wifi boosting always with starlink...
That is some heavy duty ethernet cable for sure!!!
As a Sanitary Engineer ( Janitorial Service ) , I too am impress
At the CCIE level, just use electric liquid tape for perfect seal, and even better with the Starlink mini with built-in WIFI at 40W instead of 80W.
That's the Swiss Army Knife of trailers. I love it, and the whole idea of a trailer to compliment the van. I think you may have just planted the seed of an idea for my retirement.
That's a great description and giving ideas is what we're here for!
Outstanding level of organization in this build. Very inspirational for anyone looking to build their own recreational or work trailer.
Thank you Kevin! We’re so happy with it everyday, and want to be able to share ideas to help others!
I so agree 1000%
The electrician in me appreciates the conduit and electrical work. Most trailers on RUclips push me over the edge. Great job.
Haha, thank you fellow sparky! It's a handy skill to have!
In one word: Wow!
As an IT specialist, I am impressed with the layout of the wiring under your desk in the trailer. Well done.
The details you put in throughout the cargo trailer is amazing. It is well organized, clean, functional, weather conscious, practical, streamlined, ergonomic, esthetic, genius, and unique.
Oh man! Thank you so much!
As a matter of fact - I am enjoying the desk right now!
Best build I’ve seen! Mobile but with enough space.. awesome!
Thanks! That would be great! Windows were in our original plan, and we even purchased them, but in the end I needed to use the wall space for storage, didn’t really have time for reframing, and also wanted to keep the rig looking more mysterious and not have people being able to see inside easily.
this is probably the most ideal build I have ever seen. If I was to do this, this is definitely the way I would want to do it.
Awesome! Thanks, sharing ideas is what we’re here for!
Having a Starlink really is a gamechanger.
Absolutely! We got to the point where it was a better use of money to get the service vs driving to a library or somewhere to catch a good wifi. (And up until recently canadian cell plans had been pretty limited, and expense!)
@@kageandellie Sure if you don't mind giving your money to a degenerate radical right, white supremacist supporter of a modern day Hitler. But convenience is so much more important than moral standards.
This thing is phenomenal. One of the best special vehicle builds I´ve ever seen. Not only funtional but also great looking designs.
Wow! There is so much out there, thank you!
A little too extravagant/polished for my taste, but I'm sure you guys love it! Full of awesome ideas and The Man owns Milwaukee tools, so I know he's got great taste. This is a sweet build, I can't lie. The removeable panels, the sockets that go up with the desk, so much f*cking utility in this build, smh. Lookin' good, Guys. 😎😎😎
Thank you! And yes, it is polished on appearance (although I haven’t washed this for several months!🧐😅) and does take time to maintain. For my work I do mostly grid connections for solar system installs at private residences. The owners pay a lot of money to my solar client, so I need to show up looking presentable and trustworthy, the rig looking good helps with that. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!
PACKOUTS Rock!
Amazingly professional video and build. A lot of it goes over my head but still enjoyable to watch.
Hi! Thanks for watching and enjoying it!
This is a cool setup! As a fan of tiny homes, I like how you didn’t just buy and retrofit a larger tiny home to fit your needs. You just bought a smaller trailer and retrofitted this. This feels like the more environmentally conscious option out of the two.
Thank you! Yes, we originally wanted to go Tiny Home, as we LOVED them as well, but there are just WAAAYYY too many restrictions in Canada about where you can have them... it has gotten a little better the past couple of years, but our laws here are very traditional still and it was too much of a deterrent. Thanks for watching Shay!
@@kageandellieoh really? Interesting, I didn’t know that. I wonder how long it will take Canada to catch up to the US in terms of acceptance of tiny homes and tiny living and readjust the laws to allow more of them.
This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen
Aww thanks Trevor! ❤️ We arrived to be intentional and practical with how we built it out!
The trailer is a game changer..
Impeccable build,unit and trailer.🙏😎👍
Thank you Richard! It is definitely one of those things we had to build to make life possible or else we would have burned out quit the nomadic life entirely!
Ok… I’m not normally the jealous type but….. DAMN
Haha! Thank you!
I need that, I am thinking about making my little trailer to a mobile Workshop as well
It's such a handy thing to have! (And makes you really popular at van meetups! lol)
Lol 😂😂😂😂😂 "I'm not normally the jealous type." 😂😂😂😂😂
Love the build. And love the guitar content! We are full time RV people in a 5th wheel, with a bunkhouse turned into a full functioning tech office. We run an IT consulting practice, as well as a Guitar Effects Pedal company out of our RV. I was drawn to your video because I always have this thought to buy a Class A Diesel Pusher and outfit a Trailer for the office and workshop. I may actually do that someday! But once I was engaged, you gave me so many ideas that will apply to any type of road life, not just van and trailer. As always, our office workspace is always evolving. So I’m always soaking up all the knowledge I can find. For example, I have a similar monitor setup. But I take it down when we travel and put it on the bed, with a few guitars. That is getting old. Was thinking to put a blanket over it and tie it down where it lives. Was literally going to give it a shot on our next travel day. And you just confirmed this for me! Thanks for the great video. I have subscribed!
just stumbled onto your channel, fellow tradesman Canuck, very impressed with your rig! just getting into the rv life and will definitely be using more than a few of your ideas as I build it out.🍻
Aw man that's awesome! It is a goal to help give others ideas of what they can do for themselves! Glad we could be of help &/or inspiration! Thanks for watching!
Dude. You are seriously upping your video editing game. Every one gets exponentially better. Great stuff… can’t wait to see you guys.
I appreciate that Jeff! Thanks for giving it a watch. See you soon. ~ Kage
Great work! With so much van life content, it's nice to see someone do something original and awesome!
Totally agree! 💯
Love all the organization inside and especially on the roof of the Trailer. Very well thought out and implemented! Nice!
Thank you very much!
Wow! Over the top design and function! Thank you for sharing!
You are so welcome and thank you for watching and commenting!
Thanks for the video guys! This is very similar to what I want. I had been wondering why people with the RV Sprinter van setup didn't try to tow a second trailer with it for things they didn't have already in the sprinter cabin. Great work guys very inspiring, I look forward to sharing a similar video someday!
I am so jealous right now, from the video quality to the set up is all perfect. I am just going to my happy place and cry! 😭
Awww you're too kind! I'd say the trailer is my happy place!
Very cool idea and exceptionally built 🤙🏽
Dude, this thing is sick! Great work!!
Glad you like it! Thank you!
Now that is how to build a trailer. Amazing job and extremely handy for your situation.
Thank you! We do love it; it makes our lives SOOO much easier!
This thing is insane! Bravo! This trailer spoke to my inner man. Now I want to build one.
Haha! Thank you, it is a pleasure to inspire others! We love that trailers are so much easier to maintenance, and in Ontario, we only have to pay for the license plate ONCE and not annually!
Omg, LOVE your setup!!! We have very similar, on the outside… we need you to help us on the inside!!! Husband also uses a utility trailer for his work stuff, it’s a disaster. Hope we bump into you on our Canadian travels, we do coast to coast for his business, we are just touching on year 2 for living like this and loving it. We’d love it even more if we were properly set up for winter. We’ll be watching you guys!!! Thanks for sharing! Safe travels!
Wow! Thanks for much for watching our trailer conversion tour. We can relate to work trailers getting out of control! What type of business are you doing across Canada?
He’s been in the cleaning business his whole career, on the supply side. Has an amazing network across Canada so he visits his clients to show them how to use products. He imports new green solutions for industrial/institutional use from the USA and these need to be demo’ed to really show the efficacy so off we go from one province to another.
That's an amazing business to be in that allows you both to explore so much of Canada and meet really interesting people along the way when you showcase what the US products can do for them!
Everything looks clear and organized. Great work! cheers.
Thank you! Cheers!
This trailer build is absolutely amazing - WELL DONE! So many well thought out spaces and everything is so CLEANLY installed. And yes, there are hassles to towing - BUT I think your setup and being able to "stake" a spot with the trailer also has its benefits. Any plans for a cassette toilet and small amount of water for use when the trailer is not near the van?
Thanks!
No plans to put a toilet in the trailer.. but funny story: I was doing a job where Ellie left me for about 5 years to take care of running around and the rumble was getting stronger.. it was time to release the chocolate hostage! I'm in a populated area.. building full of rental units (so I can't use a toilet inside).. BUT we did have a bucket full of spare/fresh peatmoss on board! (It's for our composting toilet). I closed up the trailer, hopped inside and did what needed to be done! 💩
You know, I wanted to not like your setup because I can't tell you how many of these types of builds I've seen that I'm just not crazy about.
However, I like what you guys have done with the trailer. It seems like a great fit for your needs and I think it was well thought-out and constructed. It even looks good!
Great job!
Haha! Yes, there is a LOT of stuff out there, and such a wide range of ideas!
I will take winning you over as a high compliment, thank you! It is definitely serving us well.. even right now we are enjoying the long weekend at our favorite park by Lake Erie, sitting at the desk and uploading another video!
Thanks for watching!
The expansion pack is brilliant.
Thanks! It's really made our lives so much easier!
My god that’s one of the most impressive rigs I’ve seen!
Haha! Thank you! It was a lot of work to build, some work to maintain, but certainly happy we went through with it!
Yea, this is a great setup!😮
Thank you!
Oh my God, you guys have everything figured out I love it❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
We certainly tried to do that! We had a basic trailer for 3 years prior and really had time to figure out what we needed to make life work more easily!
You guys rock! What an awesome living concept!
Thank you jonnyrocket! It took a lot of time to think through and find the right balance to make nomadic existence work up here in Canada (combined with my particular career choice!)
Wow. A truly amazing build-both van and trailer.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching!
That's a cool idea. I have been thinking about something similar. I am not in the trades, so I don't need it to be that big, but it's definitely smart for your situation.
Jason
Thanks! It certainly has made life easier for us! Happy to have been able to share some ideas!
this is a super awesome build. im not surprised you spent 4 years planning. ya got my sub
Aw thanks so much!
What kind of content would you like to see from us? What interests you?
Yo, fellow Canadian here. You've earned yourself a new sub. New subscriber from New Brunswick 😁
This build is amazing! Keep it up
Thank you!
We're planning on rolling through NB in the next couple of months!
We've been swamped with work as of late but doing our best to put together content as often as humanly possible!
@@kageandellie beautiful place for sure. I enjoyed your video, please keep up the good work 😁
Incredible. You did such a great job with this trailer. Thanks for this video.
That was hell of a Rigg! Gj guys 👍😊
You guys should make more videos. Good information, great editing and quality. Enjoyed immensely. Also, Alberta is the best 😏
Thank you! We do enjoy making videos in our precious spare time and have a lot of stuff in the works, but it's about having the time to get stuff completed! We love being able to share ideas and experiences and being able to inspire others! Hopefully we'll get some time next weekend to get some more videos done!
All I can say is, Incredible!
Thank you!
Amazing well thought out build. Great ideas!
Thank you! We're happy to have been able to share some ideas around!
This is the most beautiful view ever,,,thank for your video
Thank you! Glad you've enjoyed it!
That's a awesome looking set up. Great job.
Thanks 👍 Glad you like it!
Having a workshop doesn't fit inside a van. Cool you found a solution!
Ya definitely not when you need to live in the van too!
Thanks; we're really happy with how much easier life is now!
Just came across this video and absolutely LOVED it!! Your content is fantastic, and that trailer is next level. You won't mind if I steal a ton of ideas for my own build, right? I'm now a fan and a subscriber. Looking forward to following your journey.
Thank you Glenn! Yes, please steal ideas; we're here to share them!
Thanks for the sub.. we have more interesting videos ahead!
Just found your channel and watched this video all the way through. The channel really stands out from so many others. You both have great personalities that come across as friendly and informative. I have been thinking of a trailer build and you have totally changed the way I will do it and want in it big as yours. Could you please link to some parts like the wardrobe, StarLink connectors and desk. You have got me hooked. Seriously refreshing channel. Thank you for all the hard work of making it for us :-D. Stephen
Hi Stephen! Thank you so much; we are immensely touched by your comment! We know there's a crowded space out there for vanlife and van building, and that is fine.. we just have fun making content, try to be who we are, and make a good video that is worth the viewers' time!
We are happy to have inspired you to build in a direction that works for you! As for parts.. just on a simple note, the wardrobe is literally just an IKEA PAX closet (wide enough to fit our freezer!), an IKEA sit-stand desk frame with our own countertop installed on top, and the connectors for the starlink are just outdoor rated ethernet connectors that are sold as a male/female set form amazon. If you need any other information or need to talk through anything regarding your build, I'd be happy to connect with you over zoom or facetime. Feel free to reach out to us through our email: kage.ellie.north@gmail.com
Thanks again - it was an amazing comment to receive this morning!
This set up is amazing!!!
Thank you!
So cool. I would love to try van life someday
It's great, but can be very challenging depending on where you are and how you make money! We are 100% grateful for doing it though; for Ellie and me, it has brought us closer together than we ever could have dreamt. We've been together 8 years, but feels like 16!
absolutely loved it! Awesome work! Congrats! Wonderful couple! I hope I can do mine someday.
Thank you! We're a happy pair of introverts! I hope you can do yours as well some day!
This is absolutely beautiful, love it!!!
Thank you so much!
A very enjoyable video - I watched it all the way through. You definitely dedicated time to make high quality edits.
Thank you! We're happy to have been able to put out as high of quality content as possible; as a downside, it becomes infrequent! :S Lots more in the works!
I feel like an electric dirt bike would be perfect for a setup like this, you could definitely fit two of them in the trailer and you could charge them while you're on the road.
Oh ya! That would be so fun!
Love it - congrats to both. Watching from Australia.
Thank you! It's fun to hear where people are watching from!
SUPER IDEA . POZDRAWIAM WSZYSTKICH BARDZO
SERDECZNIE .
Thank you! And thanks for watching!
that's a great idea. i want to try put in a sit and stand desk in a van
Do it!!! It is so great! If you have any questions, shoot us an email! (Check description😃)
This is some next level design and engineering!
Thank you! It's been fun to be able to creatively solve problems that make our lives easier!
Wow, what an awesome trailer.
Thank you so much!
What a great van and trailer, very good idea
Thank you! Took a few years of roughing it and finding what we wanted to make easier in life!
Just WOW!!! Incredible build!
Aw thank you @theicangram!
That is really cool! If I could get into the nomadic lifestyle, that's the way I'd like to do it right there! Such a great idea to have your trailer setup like that.
Thanks Edward! This is actually our second trailer we’ve had.. the first one was a lot more bare bones. It took some time in this life to figure out what we needed and would benefit us the most, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome! It really works well too as I can be left on a job (I’m an electrician) and Ellie can go on material or grocery runs - divide and conquer!
@@kageandellie It turned out great, funny thing, I was thinking about doing something like this, but inverse, since I already have a trailer (camper) I thought about buying a van to tow it, and use the van for something like a garage, unfortunately, there's no travel in my job, but still would be useful for increased cargo. I like your idea a lot better! lol
Yahoo!!! Canadians!! 🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦❤️❤️❤️
EH!!!!!!!
Great build. A small toyhauler might have worked as well.
Extremely impressed that a fully loaded van can also tow a heavy trailer.
Yeah, us too! It is a 3500 dually van so it has a lot of torque for pulling. We also added in sumo springs in the rear and a red arc brake gain controller. We actually have been through the Rocky Mountains with this whole rig, and it has done incredibly well. Not that I would want to do that every day…or in winter!
@@kageandellie ........But What About The Fuel Cost Of Pulling A Heavy Load Every Time?........And How's Driving In Small Roads And Small Spaces Especially If U Need To Back Up The Van? For Me 'Though, Van Life Is Good For A Weekender Use Or Vacation Use But Not To Replace A Stationary Home With A Home Address. It Is Still Better To Have A Home With A Very Stable Foundation And With Enough Space For You To Walk Around. It's THERAPEUTIC For The Mind And Body. But Every Individual Is Different. Maybe Other People Love The same As What You Are Doing. Which Ever Way, LET US ENJOY LIFE & ENJOY EARTH.......
I Love this build !
Wow! Must be nice to have so many skills.
Ah thank you! The process of learning really started in 2018 with the van build, followed by the school of life and the university of RUclips! It’s been a growing journey, but well worth it.
I would say, even as an electrician by trade, we didn’t learn much about these types of power systems be wise of the off grid nature.. it was all learning on RUclips, and in particular Nate and Steph from explorist.life!
That's an awesome dream build
Thank you! We dreamt it and (eventually) did it!
Very impressive build!
Thank you harvmac69! We're really happy with it and how it makes our lives so much easier!
This is my first time seeing you what do you do for work that you leave all the pool just wondering and what I've seen about your trailer fantastic so smart I can't wait to see another new video.
Hi Bruce! Thank you!
Yes we run our own little electrical contracting business, mainly installing solar systems all over Ontario, but also do small jobs along the way and help out other electricians who need an extra set of hands to get their work done! We have some videos on that topic that will be coming out over the next few weeks, as time permits!
Thanks for watching, and I hope you’ll enjoy the content we have coming out in the future!
Awesome Video Design and everything about it wow!
Thank you! We may not get videos out fast, but we try to make them as good as possible!
@@kageandellie I appreciate the effort! The time you put into everything make the videos so much more enjoyable 😍
looks really good and organized. 😲
We love our organization! Makes life to much easier!
Thanks for watching!
never thought i would see too many drone shots in a van life video lol
Sick setup honestly
Thank you! We’re really happy with how functional it is for us!
Today we’re heading to the beach to finish our next video! :P
Beautiful build! Would love to see a video just about your Starlink setup. I totally agree that taking down the Starlink and bundling up wire is a pain. Thanks!
Thank you! I think you might be in luck!
We’re going to be recording a video next week of how to do the install/modification yourself!
@@kageandellie That is fantastic! You have a new subscriber! Thanks!
I love it!!! I am about to buy my first van to build and I’m looking for ideas and inspiration and you have given me many
That is awesome! That makes my day! Good luck with the build!
Feel free to hit me up anytime if you need some specific advice or more info on anything! (IG or Email)
Great job love the trailer and the van living aspect. Great job to the both of you. See you soon
Thanks Scott! Gotta catch up with you and Sara when we're back in Ontario...any more of your waste bins been stolen? [chuckle]
What a fantastic (vantastic?) build and great way to make van life even better. Very, very impressive!!
Thank you! We're really happy with how it has turned out, and it really makes a big difference for us *every day*!
Very well thought out build. Execution was also top notch. There is one thing that makes no sense though... why store the clothes in an open air environment that shares the same space as fuel tanks? Those sweaters will eventually smell like gas. I think sealing the clothing up or sealing the storage for the fuels would solve this issue. Have you had the trailer weighed? I'm curious what your pulling around.
For me after all my research I think I want to go with the Toughbuilt Stacktech system. I am just constantly blown away at how well designed their system is.
I lived in a 24ft RV for 6 years and one of the biggest reasons for me to change is I missed having a workshop. This is a nice solution to having that on the road. As I get older having some land to return to and make self sufficient wins out over my desire to live on the go.
Hey! I had to look that ToughBuilt system system up.. I like the fact they are black! And the side accessories are cool too!
We have not had any issues of fuel smell at all yet. They contain diesel, when I think might have less odor than gas..? I keep the containers clean, wipe them up from any spillage, and keep the caps tight. If there ever is an issue, I can just swap things around in the trailer to resolve that. They are mainly there for the trailer heater top up...because the fuel tank I put in was WAY too small!
Ya, having tools and a workshop are so helpful.. and I totally understand the home base somewhere. In the next couple days we are going to be finding out if we are going to be going a bit more that way. We might be doing less "on the road" and more working on rigs at a shop, with some jobs that take us abroad. It takes a lot of run a business on the road. It's been 6 years for us as well! Doing the mobile thing in Canada is also a lot more challenging in Canada as culturally, public accessibility, and legally it's against those expectations.
@@kageandellie I wish I would have bought land a long time ago. It would have been nice to have a home base to return to with some shipping containers for storage to lock up when traveling. One of my major reasons for stopping is that feeling of not being welcome. Cops banging on your door because you are sleeping in random places. I mainly was in Norther California which has a large population of people in Rv's and some places hate them. Santa Cruz you could park for an hour and have cops asking you what your plans are while Berkley I parked in a warehouse district for months and never had one cop visit my Rv. I was on a small budget so I rarely paid for a spot and it got old. I think if I would have known that I could drive to my homebase and chill there and get more resources and work on projects I might have lasted longer.
what an awesome build, I would just go further and added some windows next to the office in one of the V shape walls for a better ambience
I like the idea of the trailer, you could realy dial it into what ever business you were running.
EXACTLY!
Best of both worlds.
That is cool my friends it is incredible.
Thank you so much Eduardo! It makes our life so much easier every day!
Love the rig, very nicely done and well thought out! How much does the trailer weigh and what impact did it have on your fuel economy and maintenance?
Thank you!
I don’t know exactly how much the trailer weighs, but the whole rig is just shy of our 17,000 lbs max.
No trailer we are about 18 MPG and with it is 12 MPG.
We upgraded the fuel tank to 47 gallon as well.. huge time saver there!
@@kageandellie Not terrible when you look at the convivence of having the extra space, all your tools and with the added fuel capacity and solar. You have a lot of what you would get in a class A but with an ability to drop the trailer an go shopping or run other errands if you needed to. Well done guys!
Love the design of the trailer, while my wife and I are not looking at living in a van full-time, having a garage/office that can travel with us would allow us to be on a longer vacation while I still work.
That sounds great! It could make life so much easier.. we do love having a comfortable desk available as well!
Funny thing as well.. if you ever see our short “vanlife hot tub”, we set it up in the trailer when we winterize at a campground down south!
So multipurpose! 😅
@@kageandellie I design and fabricate clone M416 trailers, our plan would be to have a Sprinter with a trailer like your, but to caravan with our Ford E350 pulling one of my trailers with the all the bikes (family of 6).
Nice setup I love it.
I'm glad you like it!
If you haven't seen it in action, it's in our vlog - Comforts of the Grid.. Would love to have you back!
well laid out! Im a class 8 mechanic and me and my wife are looking to do the same with my career. ❤🎉 Well done!
Do it! It's a great way to live some adventure on the road while making money! Why should all the fun be left to the laptop workers!
New too the channel # 2,3** k , nice setup you’s have 🤙. Well, over 10 years combined myself on the road
Bad ass trailer build!!
Thank you!
Really a nice set up!!
Thanks!
Amazing build! Any plans to release tutorials for some of these components? The Starlink roof plug specifically, I'd love some more details on 'gotchas' and a parts list that worked for you.
We didn’t film much of the build due to time constraints, but I do have some content for the StarLink install that I should put together as I think there are a lot of people who can benefit from it!
@@kageandellieI would ditto that. Great work on the build and love to see some of the how to builds.
Seems to be lots of electricians watching this - judging by the comments - and milwaukee fans - and also travellers - it certainly combines everything - great idea -
Thanks! Why should the life of travel be limited to only the laptop workers!! This certainly is harder and more complicated, but opens up for some neat opportunities!
@@kageandellie I would have to split it half work tools half kitesurfing but certainly the funked up trailer is a great idea.
Great rig!
Thank you!
I dig the Starlink mounting port. We use ours atop our Class A, I wouldn't want to "trust" the rear ladder for regular use, so I did something very similar - the pipe mount Starlink sells on their accessories website works perfectly on a regular metal closet rod - so I used the longest one that would slide into the pass-through basement storage easily (exactly 8 feet), and it fits reasonably well into the flagpole mount "mounted" to the rear RV ladder. A slight wobble gap was inside, but a few layers of aluminum speed tape fixed it perfectly. I'm guessing laundromats are cheaper in Canada than they are in the US, though; after a few $60-$70 "laundry stops" during our part-time RV life, the washer & dryer were the only "must-have" when we swapped our first RV for the second one. I think I would have been tempted to put the combo Splendide in the build. Rocking-cool trailer, though. Props. I hardwired our Starlink through the chassis as well, but I'm using a "decent" quality Cat6 coupler (and carrying replacements) in the wet bay to attach the Dishy when it goes up on the closet rod. I love your connectors, I'll be looking for a set of those.
Thanks NordicVetMBA!
Sounds like you've got a great setup there as well and have put some good thought into it!
That is a crazy amount for a laundomat run! Wow! Our average experience was only $10-15 a week..(2 loads, Ellie says..)
I am definitely happy with those connectors.. they were quite pricey, but great quality. I picked them up on amazon when we were in florida.. we can't get them when in Canada.
@@kageandellie@kageandellie I think I found the connectors you are using well worth the cost, as the "indoor-grade" cat-6 ones I have been using are hit & miss for reliability and usually will fail after a couple of months of use in the basement of our motorhome. Admittedly, I use the wet bay for the connection point, but that way I can sneak the dish-side of the cable through the water hose or sewer line opening in the bottom and avoided the need for another opening on the "road side."
On the laundry, we normally saw $4.50 per wash load and about the same for a dryer load (and those were small loads), so if we were doing four or so loads, it was tipping $60 quickly (assuming one had a bedding load or whatever).
Love your channel.
Awesome build!!!!😊
Thank you! 😁 Glad you liked it!
Sick. ❤❤❤ Congratulations 🎉
Thanks! It's been a lot of fun coming up with all of this stuff.. and the list ain't done yet!
I have to admit you solved a huge problem with space with this trailer office. Makes perfect sense!!!! Great idea!!
Do you have a lift kit on your van? What is the of height of your van and the trailer? How tall is your custom 11:32 roof rack box?
When towing the trailer, how many mpg are you averaging?
Thank you! It beat trying to build from scratch!
The van sits a little higher as a 4x4.. but we did add some rear sumo springs to help support the trailer tongue.
The whole rig is below 9ft tall. The rack on the trailer adds about 10 inches? The compartment below the panels is about 7 inches of space.
Sorry you'll have to convert this on Google: No trailer 13L/100 km, with trailer 20-22L/100 km
Thanks for watching!
Thanks…what solar panels do you have on both rigs? What manufacturer/model?
goodness I am so glad I invested in myself and my businesses, Big house pools and land over anything like this, eeek
Congratulations on successfully completing the chemo treatments.
I've been there; I've chased the house, the business, the assets and the success.. it all ends up empty.
Tell me, if chemo didn't work, what would all of that stuff mean in the end? Don't forget to work on the spirit...that is eternal.
I'll be prayin for ya.
@@kageandellie chemo didn’t work :), that’s a easy one my friend, owning things that makes the soul happy makes ya thrive