Full-Time Nomad Shares Her Favorite Van Gear

0:01 Hi. Van life gear with Connie here. And I'm so excited today because one of my good good friends and a nomad had joined me in the Black Hills and we've been spending the past week vacationing, being a sightseer, and doing a lot of hiking, and marveling at all the wildlife we have come across here in the

0:27 Black Hills. Her name is Sheila. And I'm going to introduce her so she can tell you about some of her favorite gadgets and then also she recently built out her van and we're going to get a tour. Hi Sheila. >> [laughter] >> Hi Connie. >> Thank you for joining us. I'm so excited. Didn't haven't we had a

0:49 wonderful week? >> It's been awesome. You've done such a great job being my tour guide cuz you know the area so well and we've done so many of the great things here. It's wonderful. >> Yes, it really was a pleasure. Well, I I'm so excited to hear about gadgets that you like or dislike, but

1:06 more importantly we've got to get a little bit of history on you. >> Oh. >> [laughter] >> Can you tell us um just how long you've been on the road and what motivated you to do so? >> Okay. Uh well, uh I had a fear of being homeless long long ago and then I came across a book about

1:24 a woman called Peace Pilgrim >> [clears throat] >> who basically owned nothing and except the clothes that she was wearing and she wouldn't sleep inside unless somebody offered her a place to sleep and she wouldn't eat unless somebody offered her something to eat and she lived that way

1:38 for 28 years spreading a message of peace and love for your fellow being. Well, so I kind of realized, oh, well, if I end up homeless, I can always walk. >> [laughter] >> And that then went into, well, I like riding my bike so I had dogs. I couldn't become a nomad at that moment with dogs because the dogs

1:57 were too old to be able to cover the miles I would cover. So, I waited until the dogs had passed and then I broke my ankles. Anyway, long story short, 17 years after I conceived the idea of being a nomad, I finally got on the road. And uh at the time that I did, it was 2021. It was in

2:16 the middle of COVID and the van prices had gone way up and I couldn't afford anything. >> [clears throat] >> So, I started out in my little 2002 RAV4. I did a no-build build and I did take the back seats out and the front passenger seat out. And so, I had plenty of room in there, but I couldn't

2:32 stand up and I really wanted a a tall van so I could stand up. So, eventually, I kept looking and I found a van that I could afford and um so, I've been on the road for almost 5 years full-time now. This is my third vehicle. Um so, I had the RAV4, then the first van, and then now this van.

2:52 And I tend to put about 30,000 mi a year on my vehicles at or the first Yeah, no, that that's maybe the first year was even more than that. >> [laughter] >> Um anyway, this van is not It's probably 2/3 done. It's It's very livable, but it's nowhere close to being done. So, I'm just continuing to work on it as I

3:12 have a moment. I tend to be the person who sets up camp in National Forest or BLM land and I did buy a tent to be my shed so I'm not a ranger magnet when I'm out, you know, camping and working on the van, but it's been mostly worked on on public lands and built on public lands. And except for

3:32 countertops that you'll see and the paneling on the walls and the cupboard doors themselves, it's all built out of scrap wood. So, I feel really happy about that. All right, great. Well, we're going to get a full tour here shortly, but we got to talk gadgets now. >> Okay. Talk about gadgets.

3:49 >> Being it's van life gear with Connie, I thought maybe we better touch on that. So, what's one gadget you wouldn't want to live without? >> Uh I wouldn't want to live without. Well, there are probably a few, but this little electric teapot, this little kind of light green electric teapot.

4:07 >> Yeah. >> I use it every day. I love it. It's been a little bit of a life changer for me because until I got this, I was using a little squatty uh propane butane um thing with a little screw-in burner on it. >> Uh-huh. >> So, it wasn't the steadiest thing, but it worked and it worked for years. But

4:27 now I have this. I've had it for probably oh, I want to say 8 or 9 months. It pulls 600 W, so it does pull some power, but it only does that for about 5 minutes to boil the water and it'll boil 3/4 of a liter of water. >> Perfect. >> And I love that thing. >> [laughter] >> Well, >> [clears throat]

4:46 >> since your beginning almost 5 years ago, you said. >> Uh-huh. >> Uh what's something you added that made a big difference in your life? >> Aside from a heater? Uh >> [laughter] >> Well, that's a good one. >> The heater's a good one. The heat Yeah, the heater was a a game changer. This

5:03 heater I've been having problems with, so it's going to probably end up getting replaced. It's a diesel heater, which I love diesel heaters and I will replace it with another diesel heater, but this particular one I'm having problems with, so. But heat is a great thing. And then let's see,

5:17 another thing is um a game changer. Oh, the sink. Okay, so there's a faucet, a gooseneck faucet you can see on this sink. And this is I I fitted this into I bought a little metal sink. This is a This came with a full setup for a campground, a campsite. So, it came with a collapsible

5:38 tub and you'd clip this whole thing onto the side of the collapsible tub. And then a tube runs down and to a a tube and a wire run down to a my water tank. It's just a 6-gallon jug. And I'm going to Can I get out and show you? >> Well, we'll take a We'll take a walk through the van.

5:56 >> got you. Anyway, it hooks on to a It's got a pump and a filter and the tub and the thing all built into one unit that you can buy for I think it cost me 250 bucks. This is the second one I've had. I like this sink so much cuz it puts out water really slowly. So, I'm not wasting water.

6:14 Now, why is it not running? >> Nice. >> But it's so I can wash my hands. I don't have to do pouring, you know, that was the big game-changer for me. Um it puts out water slowly, but nicely. So. >> Very good. >> Now, in the beginning, I know I know I know you were in the RAV4, but can you

6:35 remember anything you thought you just absolutely have to have and then didn't? >> Oh. Uh wow, in the RAV4? Uh well, I know there were things that I never got to, but I was full-time and I was in the RAV4 for about 5 months. So, I would have needed them. I'm trying to think in the RAV4,

6:57 everything was pretty much used. >> Sure. Then after you transitioned to a van >> to a van, yeah. >> Was there something you never did use? [laughter] >> Probably Yeah, I'm sure there are. Uh I'm trying to think of Well, okay. So, here's one thing about my personality. I've never particularly liked to cook.

7:14 And the van, I'm like, "Oh, well, you know, I'll make new habits and I'll be a good person." And >> [laughter] >> So, in the prior van, I had a Coleman camp two-burner camp stove. And I thought, "Oh, I'll cook with this." Which I did once in a while, mostly for potlucks for holidays.

7:32 But I'm not a cook. You know, boiling water is pretty much what I do each day and that pot takes care of it. This van, when I first bought it, it was built out with a build that turned out I really hated, so I just gutted it and started over. I just gutted it and started over. But it came with some really nice

7:48 features, one of which is this really neat induction cooktop, It's so pretty and I've used it exactly once for a potluck to make bean dip. >> [laughter] >> Bean dip, huh? >> Yeah, I like making bean dip. I'm a >> [snorts] >> That's something I can cook, bean dip. But look, see? It's this

8:08 very dusty >> Oh, that's nice. >> yeah. And it's all built in and everything, so yeah. I I like that, but uh-huh, I'm not a cook, so my personality did not change. I thought I would use it. Apparently, I don't. There we have it. >> Now, you had mentioned to me a while back some other things that you really

8:29 like. You want to point out, for example, I know you mentioned the light here. >> Oh, yeah. Okay. This doesn't have all the parts visible right now, but this little it's a light. Um it's just a touch button light. It's got three three layers. And it came with three different attachment methods. It's

8:48 magnetic here. And then this little clip. So this magnets right onto that. >> Nice. >> Yeah, and I can clip it anywhere in the van or the car. I took it in the car, too. And um it's been awesome because it actually I can point it different directions. I can put it over my fridge if I'm having trouble seeing into the

9:07 fridge. I right now have it over my sink cuz I like having a light over my sink. It also comes with a like a flat round plate with a skinny stick that comes up. And so that was next to my bed for a long time. That was my lighting next to my bed at night. And then it also comes with one that you can fix somewhere,

9:25 which I have never. >> Yeah, I can see where that with all of its different uses >> Yeah. >> would be wonderful to have. >> that light, yeah. >> Perfect. Anything One other item. Let's talk about one other item that uh >> Okay. Okay. These things. These are suction cups that I I don't have a fixed awning on my

9:47 van. I don't want a fixed awning on my van. I have a shade cloth. I have various shade cloths that I will attach to the roof rack. Well, the last van I attached them to the roof rack, but this van I could not figure out how to make them stay how to keep the thing attached. Then I came across these nifty

10:06 suction cups. So, you put this up against the door of the van and it has to be not the door, but the anywhere on the van that you've got enough surface that it's not going to >> Kind of a flat surface, yeah. >> flat surface. So, you just put it up against there and then you pump pump

10:19 pump pump and it sucks itself onto the van. These things I do usually four of them along the top of the van and then I attach my tarp with carabiners. You know, I just >> Nice. >> So, I space these based on where the holes in the the grommets in the tarp are >> Sure. >> or the shade cloth.

10:39 Anyway, these things have held up in very high winds, very very high winds and I've never had a problem. I put 10 posts out on the outside and stake them down really well. >> Uh-huh. >> These things don't let go of the van. It's so awesome. >> Very nice and we will put in the description I'll put links to some of

10:56 these things she's been talking about here today. Okay, so I guess we're going to start outside here so you can show us your sink setup. >> Okay. Uh all right, so I told you about this gooseneck sink which that's very flexible there. And um this is part of it. It came with a it came with the

11:18 gooseneck thing on that's the faucet plus this box which I'm going to show you plus a collapsible tub. The gooseneck the gooseneck clamps to the collapsible tub. >> Got it. >> This is a solar panel for charging the battery if you want to? It does have the option of a USB charger also.

11:37 And Inside this box is the battery that runs the pump, the pump itself and the water filter. So, the water comes out of my fresh water tank. It comes into the pump. The pump pumps it out and then pumps it into the filter, which then goes up to the gooseneck. And the wire runs from

12:00 the gooseneck to the battery, so when you press that button, the water turns on or off. So, all of this can sit on a picnic table and be a stand-alone sink on a picnic table. I just happened to take it apart and put it in a sink that I liked, and that's how I make it work for me.

12:14 >> Very good. Well, I apologize for any wind noise. It's a little windy out here in South Dakota, which is not unusual. But anyway, let's move inside. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Very good. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> on in. >> Okay. >> go in first? >> Yes, you lead the way. >> Okay.

12:33 >> Okay, I'm just going to How about we start where I'm going to sit? >> Oh, what, on the fridge? >> Yeah. >> Okay. This is a a Setpower fridge. It It has two compartments, one small and one big, and they can both be either refrigerator or freezer. So, I can have one set to fridge, one set to

12:53 freezer, or I can set both to fridge or both to freezer. Doesn't matter. They're It's very versatile and it doesn't use much power. >> Nice. >> I think it usually goes along pulling about 39 W when it's running. >> Uh-huh. >> So, it's been great. >> In this weather, it probably doesn't run

13:07 much at all. >> No, it doesn't. Yeah, it's cold. Uh and then this right here, this is my sofa. I like having a sofa because my happy spot is sitting on my sofa, leaning I I tilt the driver seat forward, and then I can lean back against it with some pillows. >> Uh-huh. >> And then I sit there and look out my

13:25 door, and it's just the best place in the world. So, I [laughter] just stretch out my legs here and um underneath the sofa is a huge solar system. This van came with a huge solar system and that was with the prior build and then it had a few problems and so I I found a guy who actually was super kind and

13:48 super knowledgeable and he rebuilt my solar system for me in the location that I wanted it and I can charge my friends up when I need to. Yes, she can. So, how many watts do you have coming in, Sheila? >> 640 watts of solar coming in and I have four 100 amp hour batteries and then I've got a 3,000 watt inverter

14:12 and then I've got all the components, the solar charger and all these different things. I really don't know solar very well, so thank God I found an expert to help me with [laughter] that. >> That's wonderful, but yeah, she's she always seems to have solar for those of us that don't.

14:27 >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> Too much power is not a thing. >> No, that's right. >> Yeah. >> So, let's move on then. >> Okay, so that's the solar system and the sofa, that's my living room. And then I like a feeling of spaciousness. For me, that's super important. So, when I built the other

14:43 van and when I built this van, it has to feel spacious. Um so, that's my aim and you can see that I'm I kind of accomplished that. This is a It's a 22 and 1/2 foot van, it's an extended. It's a Ford Transit 250 high top extended. So, it is longer than a normal van. My other van was

15:01 not extended and it was plenty long. This is what I happened to find, this is what was there, so I bought it. And um so, I put my bed across the back. It didn't used to have a bed across the back, but and the Ford Transits are kind of weird to build out cuz they have all kinds of

15:16 weird things on their walls, but I figured out how to make my bed go across the bed. It's 6 ft 1 in from wall to wall, like inner wall to inner wall. And it's a twin-size bed, so that's great. Super comfy. Um I have access to a shelving unit under here, like a little um Oh, here's a gadget I like, my

15:38 collapsible steps. >> [laughter] >> The bed is high enough that I need two steps to get into bed, so that's super cool. And then I've got drawers under there that I can get to from inside the van. >> I think I'm picking that up. Let me just see real quick. Oh, yeah. Okay, beautiful.

15:53 >> thing. >> Uh-huh. >> Yeah. >> Lovely. >> And that board keeps it from sliding forward when I'm driving. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> And then all the other I did build one drawer just cuz I wanted the experience of building a drawer. I'd never built a drawer before with slides and

16:06 everything. So, I have one drawer, but mostly it's cupboards with bins that I pull out, and those are my drawers. >> Uh-huh. >> And so, it works for me that way. There is going to be another shelf here that comes out maybe to here, just a little more storage, and then an upper cabinet,

16:20 upper cabinet, upper cabinet. So, I'm not done. And the electrical hasn't been run on this side yet, either. But, I can point out all the flaws in here. >> No, don't do that. It's beautiful. >> Yeah, it is. [laughter] I really like the space. And the van is turning out to be a real

16:36 dependable good home for me, so that's awesome. And um I like building things, so >> I know you built all these cabinets. >> Yes, I did. I built every one of Oh, the upper cabinets I had a friend build cuz I can't work with my hands above my head. But, I built all the lower cabinets and and the cab the

16:53 countertops, everything. I And I did the walls. The ceiling was there, and I tore it down and insulated it, and I haven't figured I think I'll put fabric over the ceiling. Anyway, so >> Well, I was camping near you when you made this countertop. And what did act What is it actually?

17:08 >> It's two 2 by 12s. I had a little medical emergency, but I wasn't willing to just go with a piece of bendy plywood on my cabinets at that point. So, I have I had bought two 2 by 12s and I flipped them over and I used pocket hole drills to pull them together. >> together, yeah.

17:28 >> all my camp friends, Connie included, Connie and Raven and Patrick and Tony and everybody had an experience of one kind or another that helped me figure out how you properly finish one of these and how to cut the hole for this. And I did it all. But I had a lot of coaching and it was awesome. So,

17:48 that was great, actually. >> Coaching is a nice word. >> Yeah, >> [laughter] >> it was good. And then this side I actually bought a piece of butcher block and I managed to cut it to fit the curve of the van wall and cut the hole for the sink and I mean, I've learned all kinds of things. YouTube University is awesome

18:05 and so are people who've done it before. >> Uh-huh, [laughter] okay. >> Yeah. >> Now, you had mentioned, can you open just one cabinet and show us how you use containers? >> Oh, yeah, sorry. That Oh, I have a safe in there. So, I That came with the van, too. So, >> a good thing to point out to the public.

18:20 >> [laughter] >> So, this So, here is an example. It's just a dish pan. So, I do that and then over Let's see here. >> Oh, that's okay, Sheila. You don't have to open that. >> one here is the one to show you though because it's the one that's got most of the Yeah, let's see here.

18:37 My backup heater, always important to have a backup. Oh, my hinged doors, I love my hinged doors. Okay, so you can see I do >> Uh-huh. >> that kind of thing. That's how I do it. That's basically Instead of drawers >> Sure. >> I've put things in. And then anything that won't fit in a bin or the bin won't

18:55 fit, then you shove it in there in all the nooks and crannies. >> Sure, sure. And why the why the the double doors? >> Because this side I built first. These doors warped as soon as I painted them, so I'll have to replace those. But this door here, particularly, if I was going to open it like this, this door would

19:15 have opened and blocked the aisle, and it can't open any farther cuz of the sofa there. >> Ah. >> So, one of my friends had the idea of making a hinge. >> And it works perfectly, and it does it and when this door is no longer thing, this opens all the way. >> Uh-huh. >> So, yeah, it's it was just a perfect

19:33 perfect solution for me. I really love >> Very good. Very good. >> it even more when they're not warped anymore. >> [laughter] >> And you have all of your AC along the wall here. >> Oh, right now, because I haven't wired the passenger side of the van yet. Yes, I All my plugins are here. So, I've got

19:50 um bunch of 12-V pluginny things here, right? Where I can put my USB A and C. This is my WeBoost hooked in. There's my refrigerator, and then I have two outlets here that are they'll handle 1,500 W of power, and they've got an AC plugin plus USB A and USB C. And then this one here

20:11 is because I needed something that was going to handle the draw from a high-voltage thing, like a toaster oven or my cooktop here. So, this will It's just a little 6-ft extension cord. Um I didn't want to run Romex. It's super simple. >> Uh-huh. >> And this will hold 1,875 W. That's So,

20:31 that one is what I use when I run an electric heater or the cooktop or >> Sure. >> toaster oven, yeah. >> Okay. >> So, and eventually, the other side will have like the refrigerator will be plugged in over there, and it's just I haven't wired the other side of the van yet. >> Understood. Now, I heard you mention as

20:49 you were showing your gadgets there that you have a WeBoost also. >> Oh, yeah, that's a recent purchase. >> And what does that mean to you? >> Okay, so, I am a boon docker, and I am frequently in places where my cell signal is nonexistent or very weak. And I'm okay with that for a day or two

21:09 or five, but when I'm someplace for a long time or I'm going from place to place like that, it gets a little old to not [laughter] have cell service when I want to just scroll and do stuff on net at night. And so I decided I looked at a whole bunch of different options. I do not want a monthly bill.

21:25 So I don't want something like Starlink, and I bought a WeBoost, which basically takes whatever cell signal is in the air and it just boosts it. So generally I notice my WeBoost will give me two extra bars. Sometimes it'll give me one to two extra bars on my cell service. So >> Perfect.

21:44 >> that makes all the difference for me. If there's no cell service, it doesn't do anything for me, but most of the time there's at least a weak bar and I can get two bars out of it. >> Gotcha. Besides, how can you attend YouTube University if you don't have cell service? [laughter]

21:57 >> Yeah, exactly. I mean, my gosh, how am I going to build my van without that? >> Well, Sheila, first of all, it's been such a pleasure having you visit me here in the Black Hills. Let me get you a little in there, a little bit better. There we go. Okay. And then to take the time to tell us about your gadgets and

22:17 your beautiful van. Thank you again, it's been great. >> Thank you, Connie. You're awesome. I'm so happy you're my friend.