A Short Promaster is the BEST Van For a Camper Conversion

This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. Today I have Douglas on the channel. He has the Short Ram ProMaster. This is a 136 inch wheelbase. Thing's only about 18 feet on the outside, but you got to see what he has inside. He has a shower, a toilet, a dinette, a sofa, a bed, and a full kitchen. So join us for the tour. Hi my name is Douglas. This is our 2014 Ram ProMaster 2500. We picked this van just because it's a really short wheelbase. It has a high roof so you can get the full standing height inside of it. And I'd like to show you guys around what we created here in the last couple months. To start out with the floor, we actually used a life-proof flooring just because we wanted it to be durable, easy to clean, and just overall it gives it a nice appearance inside the van. As we step inside, you'll first see the Virtua Frigo 85 liter refrigerator. We picked this one specifically just because it has a really large freezer storage so you can actually fit a reasonable amount of stuff inside. As we go towards the rest of the kitchen, we have a nice large sink with a faucet with hot and cold water. We have a soap dispenser built in and it dumps into a 10 gallon gray water tank. As we go to the first drawer on the left, we actually designed our control panel to be inside the drawer. The reason for this is because originally we actually had it up here and my girlfriend decided that it just took up too much space so I had to come up with a different solution and honestly this works out a lot better because all these lights and bells and whistles when you turn them on, you can put them away and then you don't have to see it when you're in the van. Additionally, we have another control panel which controls all the AC outlet systems. Everything is labeled with engraving so you can see what everything does and it also includes a timer for the hot water tank so you can never forget to leave it on. As we get a little lower, you can actually see the hot water tank for the system. It's an ISO temp. To the left of that, you can see that there's an accumulator, a pump. All the plumbing is actually located in this area so it's very easy to look at everything when you're inspecting it. If you open up the drawers, you can see that we maximized the storage space and we actually indented the drawer so it would actually go right around the sink drain and then the other one is just some more storage. We fit an Instant Pot. We fit our stove. We fit everything we would need and then if we go over to the stove, we decided to put a countertop stove just because it's easy to use and we also installed an outlet to the side which makes it very easy to plug in. We finished the top of the countertop with a bamboo countertop. We also put the backsplash which is actually a piece cut from the bamboo countertop and then we additionally for the walls, we actually used a half-inch shiplap that we refinished with this nice white color. Additionally, we added recessed LED lightings that's actually RGB and dimmable. What's nice about it is that it actually has an indirect frame so the lighting doesn't actually hit you in the face. Additionally, the whole van, the roof, the walls, the floor is covered in a half-block wall. The ceiling is actually a cedar shiplap paneling so we refinished it with a nice stain. We also included LED lights that are actually dimmable. The last thing we have on the roof is actually a 12-volt air conditioner so you can so you don't ever have to turn on your inverter when you're using it. Back up front, we didn't actually do a swivel seat. We decided that it took up too much height. If you look at the bottom here, we finished this edge allowing for a nice transition to the front of the cab. Up front, we actually, since we don't have any windows in the rear, we actually installed the backup camera that actually works as a dash cam too for the front and back. We additionally added some swivel, some blackout curtains just to include some privacy. We added these flexible bins in here just to make it easy to work with and then we also, behind here, we added the smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector just for safety. If we work our way back up to the upper cabinets, you can see that they're on slider so they don't interact with each other but there is plenty of room to store all your items. The inside of the cabinets are actually finished. We used the rub on poly so it was very easy to do and we pretty much did that for any pieces of exposed wood. Moving to this side is actually where the shower is located. It's a very simple process. All you do is remove one of the cushions, you flip open the door and then all you have to do is remove the composting toilet and then all you have to do is just attach the curtains. Once you have it all set up, it keeps all the water from escaping but let me show you inside. We have a very simple system with a shower sprayer and then if you look right here, you can see that there's a ball mixer so you can control your hot water and your flow but also additionally, the faucet is on control so it maximizes saving water. The drain dumps out directly into a 15-gallon water tank that's actually heated and it has a remote control ball valve so if you see this switch here, it actually opens up the ball valves. Additionally, the tanks are actually on heating pads. If you turn on the water gauges, you can actually see that I put a temperature sensor that gives you the temperature of the water in the tanks. Right above that, you have the fresh water gauge and then you have the gray water tank gauge. With this simple switch, you're able to use one gray water gauge to see the levels in either of the gray tanks. You have the simple water pump switch and then if you look here, we have our battery control system so you can see what your battery percentage is at, your capacity, your voltage, how much current you're currently putting into the system or putting out and then lastly, we have the air heater that has a temperature sensor so you can set the temperature and forget it. If you look at the cushion material, we actually used an outdoor fabric material that's actually waterproof and it's easy to clean. If we move forward to the dinette, you'll see that you'll have very easy access and space to sit down with two people and then additionally, you can have it, you can drop it down and then the person sitting at the shower can actually use this as a dish also. And then if we go forward to the bed area, it's a really easy step to get it into the bed mode. All you have to do is remove these two cushions, the blanket, pull the bed sheet over and then the bed just slides out. Put the cushion in place and you're pretty much done with the bed. This is a queen size bed. It's a little bit shorter but the width is the same. As you can see, we actually made bump outs across the walls of the van. This maxes it out just to be a 6'2 headroom and if we pop this out, you can see the framework of the bed. We use this slat system and additionally, we have the aluminum extrusion that everything is bolted to to make it very sturdy. Now, we're going to get to some more of the technical parts of the van build. If we pull this cushion out of the way, you can see that the 800 amp hours of lithium batteries are located here. These are all heated so if the temperature is too low, they'll automatically kick on the heater just to make sure they keep working. If we open this compartment, you can see that we have the Victron Lynx distributor along with the DC to DC charger and the solar panel charge controller. There's a master switch for all the systems. Everything is fused. If we move over to the middle, there is actually a hidden compartment right under this step. This is where some more storage is and additionally, you have access to the air heater that's located back there and it actually pumps the air into the cab area but it also pumps it back into the garage. Over here on my right, right under this cushion is actually where the 30-gallon freshwater tank is located which actually extends over into the garage area which is where we're heading next. Oh, right before we get there, I wanted to show you that I actually finished out the inside of the door card which allows it to have a nice clean finish. Additionally, the windows we actually selected are open and you're able to get some nice fresh airflow with a bug net so you don't have to worry about anything coming in during the night. Starting out on our left of the garage, this is actually where the rest of the freshwater tank is located. We made this nice boxed-in area so you can store stuff on top and you can see the level of the water tank as you're using the indoor fill. All of this wood here located is actually finished with a poly coating so it keeps it nice and protected from the humidity and water. On the floor here, we actually have a coin flooring that makes it very durable. Above here, we also have that same LED recessed lighting. All of our wire in the van build is actually in this nice channel so you can find every cable that goes to the left side of the van. Over here, we have our nice 3,000 watt inverter charger and this is the second of the 400 amp hour lithium batteries on the van build. This green thing is the short power plug that we have located on the right side of the van. All you do is plug it in and then you have access to the charger batteries either at the campground or at home. To the right, you actually see that we have the prime design ladder. Originally, our thought behind it was we're big into skiing and we actually attach our ski racks to this ladder allowing us to store our skis vertically and saving space inside the van. If we go towards the top, we actually have a 12-volt air conditioner with a 400 watt solar panel in the middle and then a max fan in the front. Well, Patrick, thank you so much for having me on the channel and I was able to show you what we came up with. This is really just a passion project for me. During COVID, we actually built a short school bus which we really loved and we learned so much from but we just realized we wanted something a little smaller. We intended to keep this to travel across the country but life changes and things happen so we're thinking of selling it but honestly, all the inspiration from Patrick and all the tours he's given us, I hope you guys took something away from our build that you can put into your own. Douglas, thank you very much for taking the time today to give the tour of your awesome creation. I love the fact that for one, you finished all these cabinets on the inside which is great because you throw gear in the back, stuff's wet, the wood's not going to absorb it. I've never seen like all the system controls inside a drawer before. That makes a lot of sense because you have lights flashing all night long and someone could bump into one of the switches. Having them in there is pretty sharp. I like the shower, the way that the toilet's removable. It's a composting style toilet. The bed is a sofa, a twin bed, a queen bed, and you have a dinette all in a 136 inch wheelbase van. Great job. I'll make sure I put a link in the description if you decide to sell this thing so our viewers can pop along. This is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel. Thanks for joining.