Sexy Mature Woman In Van
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TravelTranscript
00:00and most importantly I've learned a lot about what I would do if I was to build
00:03a second van so I thought I would give you guys an updated tour now that the
00:06space is very much lived in. This Ram Promaster is the shortest of the wheel
00:11bases you can purchase. It is the 136 wheelbase and it is the 2500 which
00:16basically means it has a larger load capacity than the 1500 but a smaller
00:19one than the 3500. It also has a high top which is extremely convenient for tall
00:24people like myself. I am 5'10 and I have minimal insulation on both my floor and
00:28my ceiling to accommodate taller people. I built out this van in 2020 and the
00:33beginning of 2021. It took me a total of five months to build out and then I was
00:36on the road full-time. So as soon as you walk in you notice the full-length mirror
00:41and that is covering the closet door to my full-length closet. I also hold things
00:46like extra sheets and towels and some climbing gear in here but honestly it's
00:51mostly clothes. There are a few things of note up here. I'm currently sitting on my
00:55passenger swivel seat which I pretty much always have faced towards the
00:59interior of my van as an extra seat. It's so convenient and I think these things
01:03are pretty affordable as well. I do have to crank the seat all the way down so
01:07that I can see my mirrors when I'm driving but that just means that it's a
01:11reclinable chair as well. One of the nice things about the Ram Promaster is that
01:15all of the bulkhead storage compartments are already built in whereas I think in
01:18the transits they're not and so I'm able to keep so many things up here
01:22including a stand-up paddle board which is extremely convenient because I don't
01:26really have any other place to put it in my van and storage really is a constant
01:30game of Tetris. I have this place between my driver's seat and my closet where I
01:34keep things like a foldable table, my backpacking equipment, all of my exercise
01:39equipment. I have paint canvases and some miscellaneous odds and ends as well and
01:43so yeah I fit a lot into pretty much every single crevice I possibly can. One
01:48thing I would definitely recommend in your van if you're not doing a partition
01:51is one of these insulated blackout curtains. It is so nice for privacy and
01:55it actually really does keep the space in here either cool or hot depending on
01:59what I need. Before we move on to some of the different sections of my van I do
02:03want to talk about the flooring and the ceiling because those are some of the
02:06biggest regrets I have about my van build. I think I prioritized headroom
02:10just a little bit too much. I ended up using eighth inch cedar planking for the
02:15ceiling which is so beautiful but unfortunately it's really fragile
02:19especially where you connect the planks. As I was installing it some of these
02:23broke and I've even had an entire ceiling panel fall at one point in my
02:27van which is obviously not ideal and I think if I had used quarter-inch
02:31plywood it would have been a lot more durable long-term especially as I'm
02:35driving on some crazy roads out here. The flooring is the first thing I did in my
02:39van so it's the thing I did with the least experience. When I embarked on this
02:42van build I had no idea what I was doing. I watched a lot of van build videos and
02:46tried to do my best research but sometimes I didn't do enough research.
02:50For my subfloor I installed long furring strips and between that I put foam
02:54insulation. The problem is that I didn't put in enough furring strips and now I
02:58have compacted the foam insulation so there are literally places beneath your
03:02feet where you can feel the ground move. I think a big part of this is because
03:06Eliza continuously jumps off the bed onto the same spot and so the worst
03:10place in the van is right where she lands but it's not her fault it's mine.
03:14I know it's my fault. The second problem that adds to this is that I only
03:18installed quarter-inch plywood on top of the furring strips and foam insulation
03:22which in hindsight was so silly and I definitely should have gone with half
03:27inch plywood. This would have made it a lot thicker and more durable so that
03:31maybe I wouldn't be having this problem. And then on top of that I went with
03:35flooring that I also regret. I went with this vinyl sticky single plank plywood
03:40that you install one by one by laying them on top of each other and I just
03:44don't really think it's that durable. I now have cracks in my flooring that are
03:48so embarrassing. I literally have some of them covered with duct tape and a rug so
03:52that people don't see them and you can imagine what a huge project it would be
03:56to undertake fixing all of these mistakes. I would basically have to gut
04:00my entire van. Maybe I'll be able to do it in the future but for now I'm kind of
04:04gonna have to stick to the duct tape. Hey it's Maddie from the future here to talk
04:07about today's sponsor Bottle Bottle. I also have this channel's first ever
04:11giveaway of three of these water bottles that I'm gonna talk more about at the
04:14very end of this video so make sure you stay tuned for that. Bottle Bottle is a
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04:21shakers, and can coolers to keep you hydrated all day every day. I have the 32
04:25ounce and the 40 ounce water bottles here and there are so many things that I
04:28love about these water bottles and I haven't had any water bottles like them.
04:32They have this really convenient dual use lid design where you can use the
04:36straw to drink from or you can pour directly. They also have this really
04:40awesome feature at the bottom where you can unscrew it and store things like
04:44pills, vitamin, tea bags, and even small snacks for your everyday adventures.
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04:52hours and cool for 24 hours and they come in a lot of beautiful colors as
04:56well so that you can pick one that really suits your personality. Both the
05:0032 ounce water bottles and the 40 ounce water bottles are double insulated
05:03stainless steel, BPA free, and dishwasher safe. Bottle Bottle is offering you guys
05:08a special discount 15% off when you click on the link in the description box
05:11below and use my code 15MADDIET. Again that's 15% off an already
05:16affordable and beautiful and high quality water bottle. It's a pretty good
05:20deal so thank you so much to Bottle Bottle for sponsoring today's video and
05:23don't forget about that giveaway at the very end. This side of the van is what I
05:27consider my kitchen to be and I do have a lot of room for storage. This is my
05:31pantry area where I store all of my dried foods in addition to a drawer down
05:35here you can see all of the food underneath a cutting board I keep here.
05:39This cabinet right here is where I keep all of my plates, bowls, vitamins, teas, and
05:44some miscellaneous things that all relate to eating or imbibing rather. And
05:48one of the fun features of my van is my spice rack. I basically got a bunch of
05:53these little mason jars just on Amazon as well as this magnetic strip that I
05:57originally was gonna house my knives on and then I just put these little labels
06:01that these jars came from on and it creates a nice little pop of color and
06:05it's super convenient for when I'm cooking in the kitchen. I do hang my
06:08knives and I've never had a single knife fall. A lot of people get really worried
06:12about that but it's safe and I've driven some crazy roads out here. I do have some
06:17additional drawers over here. This first one is actually office supplies so not
06:21related to kitchen but I needed to house all of these things somewhere convenient
06:24and easily accessible and then underneath it I have all of my utensils
06:28and can openers and some additional spices. This last little cabinet is
06:31actually where I house all of my propane that powers the oven which I'll
06:35get to in a second but basically the propane is in a sealed box and then
06:38there's a hole going out the underside of my van. Propane sinks so if there is a
06:42leak it'll leak out into nature instead of leaking inside my home. And yes the
06:47star feature of my kitchen is definitely my oven. I really like it because it has
06:52a three burner stove. I do end up using the oven sometimes but what I really
06:56love is that it has a stovetop just like you would at home. A lot of the vans that
07:00I've seen that don't have an oven compartment have a two burner stove or
07:03even sometimes a one burner stove and because of how much I prioritize cooking
07:07I really love being able to have access to three burners. I probably use the oven
07:11maybe twice a month sometimes more sometimes less depending on what I'm
07:16feeling but even when I'm not using it it ends up being a perfect storage space
07:20for all of my pots and pans and if I didn't have an oven those would just be
07:24going in a drawer anyway. This last little section down here is where I
07:28store my Dometic fridge. I originally really liked this fridge but honestly it
07:35has been continuously breaking on me and doing some weird funky things and I
07:40really wish that I had a freezer in my van as well specifically for ice. I made
07:45one really exciting update to my van last year and that was getting the
07:49Chinese diesel heater installed in my van. It's pretty much the only thing I
07:52didn't do on my van personally basically because of sheer laziness but it was so
07:57nice to have it done for me. My van is actually diesel and so the guy who did
08:01it was able to tap directly into my fuel line and it just made a world of
08:05difference. Even though I have a pretty well insulated van I do have windows and
08:10to be honest even if you don't have windows and you have a really well
08:13insulated van if you were in cold places it's going to end up getting really cold
08:17at night. My first two winters in the van were pretty miserable and I ended up
08:21killing many plants because of how cold it was inside. You can get the really
08:26expensive Lobasto heater I think they're about $1,000. For all I know they
08:29last a lot longer but this one has worked excellently for me. All you need
08:33to do is search Chinese diesel heater on Amazon and it'll pop right up. I have had
08:38to change its glow plug one time but it was really easy so I would maybe
08:42recommend purchasing one of those. If you do go with this model it's pretty cheap
08:46to do that too. And the special bit that you need alongside the glow plug. This
08:50area is what I call the bathroom in my van. Obviously I end up doing dishes in
08:54this sink as well but I ended up using butcher block for all of my countertops
08:58and I just cut out the piece for my sink which is really nice because I can cover
09:02all the dishes that I don't feel like doing and it looks really clean and tidy
09:07in my space all the time. That's one of the benefits of picking one of these
09:11undermount sinks. I will say mine is pretty shallow and that is because
09:14underneath it I have my nature's head composting toilet. I almost exclusively
09:19use my nature's head composting toilet. I rarely go in public places. I honestly
09:25don't understand how any van lifers do without having a toilet in their van.
09:29That being said the nature's head is $1,000. It was a very expensive toilet
09:35but seeing as I use it exclusively I feel like I've gotten my money's worth.
09:39There are definitely much more affordable toilets in the market so you
09:43can definitely find one that doesn't cost $1,000. I have things like all of my
09:47toiletries in this drawer and then underneath here is where all of my
09:51utilities go like my broom and my fire extinguisher and my trash and random
09:55miscellaneous things that I might need. One of the things I love most about
09:59having this utility closet is that my trash is out of sight and also out of
10:03smell. I know a lot of van lifers don't have a designated place for their trash
10:07and it's really really nice to have it out of the way and in its own space.
10:13I tried to film this segment at the last spot I was at but it was so windy outside
10:17that you could not hear a single thing that I was saying so this is Maddie from
10:22the future again here to talk to you about my outdoor shower. I really don't
10:25regret not having an indoor shower in my van at all but what I do wish is that
10:29the water heater that I did install actually worked. If any of you guys know
10:33about a hot water heater van installer in Central California hit me up with
10:39those deets. But anyways my hot water never worked and so what I'm working
10:43with is a cold outdoor shower. I do have a curtain that I can hang up between my
10:47van doors but I've never used it a single time because anytime that I do
10:51end up using this outdoor shower it's when no one else is around and so I
10:55don't need to and I just wear a bathing suit just to be safe. Basically I have
11:00this nice little hose faucet right here and all I have to do is hook it up to
11:05the connection turn on the cold water and I can do a quick military shower
11:10outside the back of my van. It's definitely come in handy when I need to
11:14wash off Eliza's paws or give her a full bath when she decides to roll an animal
11:18carcass and I have taken some showers when it's really hot outside but I don't
11:24use it all that often. I prefer to just heat up a kettle of water and wash my
11:27hair in the sink and scrub myself down with a hot soapy rag. Again emphasis on
11:33hot water. I think if I did have a working hot water heater I would use
11:36this a lot more often. I tried my friend Sarah Yaks when we did a van swap. We did
11:40a whole video about that. Wow it's so nice oh my gosh chef's kiss that was by
11:46far and large my favorite part about getting to use her van. I also have my
11:50water inlet right here it's just this. I just connect a hose with a standard
11:54garden attachment and I can fill it pretty much anywhere and I have an
11:58adapter for places like Baja where it can be a little bit tricky to find
12:01garden hose attachments. I don't have a fancy water meter to see how much water
12:05I have but it's pretty simple I just lift this lid and then I can see how
12:08much water I have. This area is my dining room and living room and office and
12:13bedroom all in one. I have the standard dinette setup which basically means this
12:18table can pop off of its lagoon mount and then I can fit it in the center
12:22where I drilled in these extra wood panels. Then these back cushions come out
12:26from behind me down into the center and I have a queen sized bed. The main
12:30drawback of this system is that you have less room for storage. I know some people
12:34will raise the entire dinette setup higher so that you do have a little more
12:38room for storage but in my case I don't have much of a garage at all. The main
12:43asset of this kind of setup is that I have a very spacious feeling van. My van
12:48feels far more spacious than any of my friends who have a fixed bed and that is
12:52a priority for me. I think I would do the exact same setup if I were to do it
12:55again maybe lifting the bed about half a foot but I do like having the option of
13:00switching between the table and the dinette. That being said there is one
13:04special addition that I added to my van at one point about half a year ago maybe.
13:08I cut this piece of plywood to size and then stained it and if I'm too lazy to
13:14switch my bed over into office mode all I have to do is whip this out. I just
13:18keep it right next to my counter. I pull out my office drawer and it slides in
13:24perfectly just like that. I love this. I've used it a lot since I've made it
13:30and I just again I love having versatility in my van having all of
13:34these different options for how to use the space and that's what works for me.
13:37Underneath these cushions there is a lot of storage. On this side I house all of
13:42my plumbing and water. I have 30 gallons of fresh water and that lasts me
13:46anywhere between two to three weeks as a single lady with her dog. On this side I
13:51have all of my electrical. I have 400 watts of solar power going into 400 amp
13:56hours of batteries but it's only 200 usable amp hours of batteries because I
14:00do have hybrid gel instead of lithium. I know a lot of people really do love
14:04lithium batteries and once you make the switch I know that it's hard to go back
14:07for people. That being said I really love my batteries and they are so so
14:11affordable so I probably would get them again just because they're about a
14:14quarter of the price as one lithium battery. I also store a lot of random
14:18things that can fit into tight corners in both of those compartments with room
14:22for things like camping gear and extra tools. I have plumbing and electrical
14:26tools under there as well. There is one more area of storage that I wanted to
14:29show you guys and that is right underneath where I'm sitting. This entire
14:33thing can slide off and it is full to the brim of storage. At one point I did
14:38make a little bit of an upgrade though because beforehand I had to slide this
14:42on or off to access anything and now this front compartment has access using
14:47it this panel that I added some velcro to which is extremely convenient because
14:51I have my drill and other tools down there and it also stores some of my
14:55shoes as well. The last major upgrade I've made to this van since I moved in
14:59it is getting Wi-Fi all of the time. For the first two years I did not have Wi-Fi
15:04very often and I would have to drive long distances in order to find coffee
15:08shops so that I could upload my videos every week and now I have Starlink.
15:12Starlink is a pretty expensive Wi-Fi. It's about $700 to buy the dish
15:17satellite and then $150 per month. I split this cost with my friends which
15:22really helps except for when I'm traveling alone like I am now. It's truly
15:26been so helpful because it means I can boondock for as long as I want or at
15:30least until I run out of groceries without ever worrying about Wi-Fi.
15:33Those are all the big spaces in the van. I think these last few touches are things
15:37I added to the van to make it feel more like me. I added a bookshelf. Reading is
15:41hugely important to me and I love that thing so much. It's both aesthetic and
15:45extremely useful. I have a bunch of plants in my van. I will say having
15:48plants is really hard. I'm constantly driving to different climates with
15:52different conditions and that really stresses plants out so keep that in mind
15:55if you want to put some plants in your van. I think it's worth it. I love having
15:59some live greenery in my space and I love taking care of them but it is
16:02difficult. I love the cubby behind my sink. It makes it so that I can easily
16:06access things like my painting supplies and my makeup and jewelry. Finding
16:10little pockets of storage is so so important in a van and the other one I
16:14wanted to mention is not specific to me but it is my dimmer switches. I have
16:18dimmers on both my kitchen and my overhead lights and I absolutely love
16:22them for the ambiance especially when I'm having a bunch of friends over for
16:25dinner. I don't really like having harsh LEDs on when the sun is going down and
16:29so being able to dim those adds a really nice intimate feel with my friends.
16:33Overall I really love my van. It is my home. It is my safe haven. It has treated
16:37me so well over these past two years. Obviously I kind of wish I had done the
16:41floor and the ceiling a little differently so make sure that if you're
16:44building a van be really mindful about the materials for the foundation of your
16:48home and be well researched before you do the install and if you can fit a
16:51fridge with a freezer try to do that too. But with that that is all I have for
16:56you guys. Thank you so much for watching. I appreciate you so much. Maybe I'll do
17:00another one of these in two years if I'm still living in the van which would
17:04honestly be kind of crazy to me but I wouldn't be surprised at the same time.
17:08I don't know we'll see but before you go I do think that Maddie from the future
17:12has a little more information about that giveaway and I will see you guys in the
17:16next video. Bye. You guys I've never done a giveaway on the channel and I'm so so
17:21excited. I'm going to be giving away two of the 32 ounce bottle bottle water
17:25bottles in addition to this beautiful 40 ounce water bottle. All you have to do is
17:29leave a comment down below of your favorite activity to do outside and which
17:33water bottle you would like if you are randomly selected. I'm going to pool all
17:37of these names into a lottery system and then I'll have the winners move over to
17:40Instagram so that we can direct message about how I can best reach you with your
17:44prize. I'm so so excited. I'm going to announce the winners in