- 15 minutes ago
A detailed vanlife tour in Asbury Park, New Jersey follows Charles as he walks through his well-kept 1998 Coachmen B-class campervan and explains why it has been such an important part of his life. He talks through the layout, from the awning and rooftop air conditioner to the generator, heater, storage, and the quiet, insulated ride that makes the van feel like a compact home on wheels.
Charles also shows the custom touches he has added for real-world living and touring, including a private shower setup, water storage, curtain changes, and organized space for clothing, tools, and music gear. As a traveling musician, he uses the RV for quick turnarounds between beach days, gigs, and travel, and he shares practical advice about starting small, learning the mechanics, and building a van that fits your needs.
This campervan motor home RV walkthrough blends lifestyle, travel, and hands-on customization, making it a strong fit for viewers interested in van life, B-class RV tours, motorhome interiors, and DIY campervan ideas. It is also useful for anyone researching compact RV living, musician van builds, or real-world travel storage solutions.
SEO: campervan tour, vanlife walkthrough, B-class RV tour, motor home interior, DIY shower setup, traveling musician van, compact RV living, campervan storage ideas, and practical vanlife inspiration for RV fans, road travelers, and anyone searching for detailed campervan motorhome tours.
A super detailed campervan, motor home, and RV dwelling tour centered on Charles, a traveling musician from New Jersey, who explains how this van supports both his work and daily life. He walks the viewer around the exterior and interior, showing the awning, generator, heater, air conditioning, water systems, storage, and the clean, carefully maintained condition of the vehicle.
The tour highlights the van’s real-life use as a mobile home base for beach trips, music gear, and fast travel between locations. Charles explains the custom shower area he built, the privacy curtain, the organized cabinetry, and the simple systems he uses to stay comfortable on the road without relying on a campground setup.
This is a practical vanlife and RV walkthrough with a strong lifestyle angle, ideal for searches around campervan motor home tours, B-class RV interiors, DIY van conversion ideas, and musician travel rigs. It also fits viewers looking for van life inspiration, compact RV living, and hands-on touring content.
SEO: vanlife tour, campervan motor home RV dwelling, B-class RV interior, DIY campervan shower, musician travel van, RV walkthrough, compact motorhome living, and detailed van conversion ideas for viewers interested in road life, mobile living, and practical campervan design.
Charles gives a complete campervan tour from the beach in Asbury Park, showing how his 1998 Coachmen B-class RV works as both a home and a travel tool. He points out the generator, rooftop AC, heater, water tank, storage spaces, and the careful upkeep that keeps the van looking clean and ready for the road.
The most memorable part of the walkthrough is the custom shower solution he built himself, along with the privacy curtain, organized hanging space, and smart storage for towels, clothes, and music equipment. As a professional guitar player, Charles explains that vanlife has made his life more efficient by letting him shower, store gear, and drive straight to work without stopping home.
This video is a strong match for vanlife tour searches, campervan interior walkthroughs, RV dwelling ideas, and DIY motorhome upgrades. It is also useful for anyone looking for travel van inspiration, musician van builds, or practical small RV living content.
SEO: campervan tour, RV dwelling, vanlife walkthrough, DIY motorhome shower, musician van build, B-class campervan, small RV living, and practical vanlife ideas for viewers searching for detailed campervan interiors, mobile home setups, and real-world travel van tours.
Charles also shows the custom touches he has added for real-world living and touring, including a private shower setup, water storage, curtain changes, and organized space for clothing, tools, and music gear. As a traveling musician, he uses the RV for quick turnarounds between beach days, gigs, and travel, and he shares practical advice about starting small, learning the mechanics, and building a van that fits your needs.
This campervan motor home RV walkthrough blends lifestyle, travel, and hands-on customization, making it a strong fit for viewers interested in van life, B-class RV tours, motorhome interiors, and DIY campervan ideas. It is also useful for anyone researching compact RV living, musician van builds, or real-world travel storage solutions.
SEO: campervan tour, vanlife walkthrough, B-class RV tour, motor home interior, DIY shower setup, traveling musician van, compact RV living, campervan storage ideas, and practical vanlife inspiration for RV fans, road travelers, and anyone searching for detailed campervan motorhome tours.
A super detailed campervan, motor home, and RV dwelling tour centered on Charles, a traveling musician from New Jersey, who explains how this van supports both his work and daily life. He walks the viewer around the exterior and interior, showing the awning, generator, heater, air conditioning, water systems, storage, and the clean, carefully maintained condition of the vehicle.
The tour highlights the van’s real-life use as a mobile home base for beach trips, music gear, and fast travel between locations. Charles explains the custom shower area he built, the privacy curtain, the organized cabinetry, and the simple systems he uses to stay comfortable on the road without relying on a campground setup.
This is a practical vanlife and RV walkthrough with a strong lifestyle angle, ideal for searches around campervan motor home tours, B-class RV interiors, DIY van conversion ideas, and musician travel rigs. It also fits viewers looking for van life inspiration, compact RV living, and hands-on touring content.
SEO: vanlife tour, campervan motor home RV dwelling, B-class RV interior, DIY campervan shower, musician travel van, RV walkthrough, compact motorhome living, and detailed van conversion ideas for viewers interested in road life, mobile living, and practical campervan design.
Charles gives a complete campervan tour from the beach in Asbury Park, showing how his 1998 Coachmen B-class RV works as both a home and a travel tool. He points out the generator, rooftop AC, heater, water tank, storage spaces, and the careful upkeep that keeps the van looking clean and ready for the road.
The most memorable part of the walkthrough is the custom shower solution he built himself, along with the privacy curtain, organized hanging space, and smart storage for towels, clothes, and music equipment. As a professional guitar player, Charles explains that vanlife has made his life more efficient by letting him shower, store gear, and drive straight to work without stopping home.
This video is a strong match for vanlife tour searches, campervan interior walkthroughs, RV dwelling ideas, and DIY motorhome upgrades. It is also useful for anyone looking for travel van inspiration, musician van builds, or practical small RV living content.
SEO: campervan tour, RV dwelling, vanlife walkthrough, DIY motorhome shower, musician van build, B-class campervan, small RV living, and practical vanlife ideas for viewers searching for detailed campervan interiors, mobile home setups, and real-world travel van tours.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Hello, this is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel up here in Asbury Park, New Jersey, hanging out
00:07for the day, and I bumped into a gentleman here. His name is Charles, and he has a really cool
00:13camper van, and he agreed he wants to give us a tour today. He uses this thing a lot, and
00:19he's had it pretty much since brand new. Hello, Charles. Welcome to New Jersey Outdoors.
00:24What do you say, Patrick? How are you today?
00:25I am great. Can you tell us a little bit about your van?
00:28Absolutely. So, what this is, is it's a 1998 Coachman B-Class van, which of course we know, and the
00:39motor, I believe, is about a 351 cubic inch motor, and it is one absolute magnificent piece of equipment this
00:51is.
00:52I've owned about, hmm, I've owned about five RVs so far, and this one, my car, is the one that
00:59really, I think, represents really great luxury, and a very comfortable ride.
01:05It's just a magnificent, we call it a magnificent piece, and so, you know, to give you a little basics
01:12about it, what it is, of course, it's your high-top van, fiberglass, naturally metal frame body.
01:22It comes with a lot of really nice pieces of equipment, such as my awning, so oftentimes what I'll do
01:29is I'll go to the beach, I'll take a seat by the grass, I'll roll out the awning.
01:34I believe this will come out to about 10 feet, very comfortable, and I sit out for a little bit
01:38before my wife and I go out to the beach and catch a little sun, very enjoyable.
01:44And, of course, we have pretty much about everything there is to have within an RV.
01:51It's probably, I'd say, an RV that has literally everything in it that the A-classes would have.
02:00So, for example, we have here, we have our heating framework, which, of course, is, I believe it's about a
02:0616,000 BTU, if I'm not mistaken.
02:09And, naturally, you know, on cold nights, no matter how cold, whether it be 15, 20, 30 degrees, if you
02:16have this thing pretty much lit up to, you know, 70 degrees, 75 degrees, it works wonderfully.
02:22And it will keep you at a great temperature, 60, 65, 70 degrees.
02:26And it runs off of, naturally, the secondary battery, which, of course, this contains.
02:31And, you know, I mean, I run it all night long and very, very little power based off of the
02:37battery.
02:39This here is just a framework for, I believe, what would be the refrigerator, which I really kind of don't
02:45use too much.
02:45I may use it for a little bit of storage and whatnot.
02:48But, you know, generally, if I go off and if I'm, you know, traveling, I'll stop at locations and have
02:54a little lunch or a little dinner rather than keep things stored within there.
02:57So, that's kind of a moot thing for me.
03:01Generator.
03:01Of course, it has the 2.8 kilowatt generator.
03:06And, principally, what I use that for is, you know, sometimes if I'm out, if I'm at the beach or
03:12if I'm in the parking lot of the beach, I'll start that up.
03:15It'll cool down from my, you know, 13.5 Dometic air conditioner there.
03:22And, you know, it keeps the cab really beautifully cool.
03:26And then, of course, every now and then when I want to use the microwave, this comes in perfectly handy.
03:33On a couple of my other RVs, what I would do is I had a hitch built on the back
03:37end.
03:38And I would have to run out.
03:39And I would have a shelf made.
03:41And a beautiful shelf it was.
03:43Custom made.
03:44And I would have to run out.
03:45And I would pull the cord to my Honda generator.
03:48And, oh, you know, if it was raining, it was a pain in the rear end.
03:53But with this, naturally, I just basically press that button within.
03:58And the generator starts every time.
04:02And it supplies me with everything I need.
04:05And it's a wonderful thing.
04:07So that generator will power not only the rooftop air conditioner, you're saying a microwave, and maybe some electrical outlets
04:13inside?
04:14And my little vacuum cleaner as I'm in there.
04:16And later when we take a look inside, I'm a little bit crazy as far as cleanliness goes.
04:22So, you know, maybe a day or every day, I kind of make sure that the sand is out.
04:26And I make sure it's really looking beautiful within.
04:29And so it will do absolutely both the top-end air conditioner, the microwave, and my little vacuum, my little
04:38110 Shark.
04:39Works great.
04:40I know it's hard to tell from on camera, folks, but this van is a very clean van.
04:45Yeah, it's particularly for what I don't know if it's a 98 or 99.
04:51The sticker inside says 98.
04:52But I got to tell you, there's not one single drop of rust on this entire vehicle.
04:57It was absolutely meticulous.
04:59And fortunately for me, that's a great thing.
05:04On the back here, we have our availability of our little beach equipment.
05:08So, you know, when my wife and I want to go out and hit the sand, we just basically roll
05:14some of this material up here onto the ladder.
05:16And, you know, we just hang a little bit of my little wheelie thing here, our little chair.
05:23So, let's say a little carrier you could roll out onto the beach with a cooler and chairs.
05:27Cooler, chairs, and naturally with little balloon tires here, it makes things rather effortless.
05:32And it's a great thing to have.
05:33And with the level of beaching that I do and that we do, forget it.
05:38If you don't have this, terrible.
05:41And, of course, I've got my little clamp and carry chair racks here.
05:44And I just use it kind of like a holder for my umbrellas.
05:49And I have them on both sides.
05:50And sometimes I have the duality of both umbrellas here.
05:53And, you know, sometimes it gets hot out there.
05:56So, the umbrella really fits the bill for us.
06:00And what I'm going to do is I'm going to open up the back door here for you guys to
06:04give you a little idea of what we're doing back here.
06:06So, that door perfectly clears that side.
06:09That's great.
06:10You don't have to shift anything over.
06:11No shifting, you know.
06:12And what's very enjoyable is as I come back here and whatnot and I take a look, you know, once
06:21again, as meticulous as the outside is, the interior is about the same.
06:26The rug is immaculate.
06:28It's been with me for about 20 years.
06:31And let me see if I can, yeah, I can even do this here.
06:35And in a little bit, this is a little bit of a homemade thing that I did myself, which I'll
06:40show you in a little while once we go inside.
06:43But this is a little bit of a water containment system that I built.
06:47And it carries about two gallons of water.
06:49And two gallons of water actually absolutely does the trick on any shower that I may need.
06:55Our viewers love to see the adaptions van owners do their vans to make them suit their needs.
07:03Well, I'll tell you, Patrick, to be honest with you, I go to all the B-Class RV shows and
07:08whatnot, whether it be Florida, I go to.
07:10And then I also go to Hershey.
07:12And I'll be really honest with you.
07:15Although the vans that are built today, which I'm pretty familiar with, whether it be Road Track, whether it be
07:20Pleasure Way, whether it be any of those, Zion, quite honestly, they're beautiful, beautiful crafts.
07:27But they're very hard for me to take a shower in because I feel that the compartment frames are very,
07:31very small.
07:33And, you know, to take a shower like this could be a little bit tough.
07:37So what I've done, and we'll see, so to show you shortly, we will take a look and see how
07:42I kind of customize my own shower, which is extraordinarily comfortable.
07:47So here's your back end, and one of the things that I did, to be honest with you, because I
07:51performed in New York City rock and roll bands for many years, one of the things that I did is
07:56I built these, I don't know what the technical term is, but I bolted these into the back frame of
08:02the door.
08:03And when I shut the door, what I'll do is I'll drive essentially basically a pipe through both of these
08:10ends here, which makes it impossible to open the door.
08:14So when you're dealing with like 1960 Les Pauls and Marshalls sitting in here somewhere, you definitely need to make
08:23sure that nobody can kind of get in at least easily.
08:26And when you run a pipe between these two levels here and you lock it down with two end bolts,
08:33you'll never open these doors up.
08:35And that's a great thing.
08:37We don't want any of our dear friends, our RV people or our van people to be impacted by thieves.
08:46And then on the other side here, naturally, what we have here is, you know, we have our hot water
08:50heating system here.
08:52And what we do is, I believe it's a six gallon capacity.
08:57I don't use it a whole hell of a lot, to be honest with you, because, you know, I just
09:03don't have the opportunity.
09:04I don't really do a lot of technical camping with this.
09:07What I principally use this for and what I used it for was for essentially traveling and rock and roll
09:12bands.
09:12So, you know, I would basically leave one location.
09:16I can one day be in Lake Apakon.
09:17I can get a call and say, listen, we need somebody down in Stone Harbor to sit in for Lee
09:22Guitar.
09:22And guess what?
09:23Right from the beach or wherever I would be, I would just jump into this, take my shower, and be
09:28there within X amount of hours.
09:31Down here, of course, we have our exhaust ports for the gray and the black water.
09:37And, you know, it works great.
09:39I don't know the capacity, to be honest with you, but I get a sense that it might be about
09:4410 gallons, 12 gallons for the gray and possibly 6 for the black.
09:49But I'm really not sure about that.
09:51But I can tell you that they work pretty well.
09:53Just in case our viewers don't know, gray and black tanks, gray would be your sink and shower waste.
09:58And black would be your toilet waste.
10:00So they do separate them.
10:01Some vans do have combination tanks with gray and black tanks combined.
10:04But this doesn't have separate.
10:06That's the most preferred.
10:07Yeah.
10:08And essentially here we have, of course, an auxiliary shower.
10:12So if in the event that a day like today, which is about 90 degrees, nice and hot, you know,
10:17it's really great to be able to just kind of hose down outside and, you know, feel the air.
10:21And it's just a wonderful thing.
10:26Here we have, of course, our fiberglass flare.
10:29And here we have our connections.
10:31I believe it's a 30-amp system, in which case, basically, if in the event that you're at location and
10:38you need to develop some serious electricity, basically you would simply do your plug-in.
10:44And I always prefer the little bit of times that I use this.
10:48I would always, personally, I never liked the ones, the adapters that would basically come straight, straight out.
10:54I always liked the ones that came out and created that 90-degree drop because I'm always concerned about the
11:01weight factor on the threads of this vehicle.
11:04The crackage and things of that nature.
11:06But, you know, and so it goes right in and lights up the whole framework.
11:12Here is where we load the water.
11:15And thank goodness, it's a lock system.
11:17So therefore, you know, you don't have to have any concern too, too much about people, you know, doing nefarious
11:24activity.
11:24And I'm sure I'm not the only person that thought of that.
11:27But a nice lock system, I think, is very, very important to have.
11:32Naturally, this is our level of where we do our gasoline.
11:37And, you know, it's, I don't know what my mileage is.
11:42I think I would think, I would assume it's about 15 miles to the gallon.
11:46You know, and that could be a little bit scary to some people.
11:49But you know what?
11:50This is our life.
11:52This is what we do.
11:53So if it's a little investment into gas, no problem.
11:58And, you know, here we have our, you know, 1998 top or top fiberglass frame.
12:05And it's just wonderful.
12:06It gives myself headroom of about, let's see, I'm 72.
12:10I'd say it's about 80 inches within.
12:13So it gives me quite a bit of headroom from above.
12:18And I've never had any leaks except my window leaked a little bit.
12:22But maybe I'll be able to eventually get that going.
12:25But, you know, so, and again, the thing that we love about it,
12:29that Patrick really noticed about it when he came running out today to look at my van,
12:34if you look down the framework of the van, I don't know why,
12:37I don't know what the magic is that Ford has,
12:39but I got to tell you, this thing is 20 years old, and it shines like a new van.
12:45How wonderful is that, Patrick?
12:47Yeah, most people don't realize that my van is, you know, 22 years old.
12:50Unbelievable.
12:51And Ford must have used really good paint on these commercial vans back then.
12:54I've got to tell you the truth.
12:56You know, I've owned quite a few Dodges, and I love Dodge very much,
12:59but I'll tell you, the paint at any level just does not stand up like Ford does.
13:06And sometimes the chassis doesn't stand up on Dodge either.
13:08I'll tell you what, Charles, this is a beautiful area here.
13:11You found to hang out here for today.
13:13Yeah, yeah.
13:16It really works for us.
13:17So what do you think?
13:18Do you think we want to take a look inside?
13:19I think my viewers are dying to go inside.
13:23So what we have here, folks, is basically, I kept it very, very much stock.
13:28I didn't do too much modifications, but the little bit of modifications that I did,
13:33I think you'll really come into appreciation of it, particularly when it comes to the shower.
13:38Because when I watch some of these videos with, let us say, the vans that I see that are developed,
13:45a lot of times I say, oh, I wish I had a shower.
13:48I wish I had a shower.
13:49A shower and a really great large shower is the easiest thing to put in.
13:54And I'll show you how we do that in a second.
13:57So, Patrick, come on up for whatever we've got to do.
14:00I'm just going to kick my shoes off because it's very clean in here.
14:03Yeah, yeah.
14:04Well, I got, as you can see, what I do is I put down these secondary rugs
14:08so we can never have to worry about the original framework of the rug.
14:11And we run it right on back.
14:13But lights, let's see.
14:16I'll put on some lights here for us.
14:21And we'll put a little light on things.
14:24So, as I said, this is pretty much a standard stock van.
14:30But some of the things that I've done here might be of interest to people.
14:34So, one of the things that I did here is I just felt as though that as far as the
14:40hot and the cold water
14:42and the faucets and whatnot, again, for me to sit down and heat up for 20 minutes or so
14:48with the propane and whatnot and wait for the hot water and then it cools down.
14:53I said, nah.
14:54All I do here, Patrick, now is I have this little container, which is essentially a coffee container.
15:00I believe it's probably a gallon, maybe a gallon and a quarter, which is plenty.
15:08I simply load it with hot water and that will stay hot for two days.
15:12Literally two days.
15:13And when I, you know, a little bit of hand washing, a little bit of teeth brushing.
15:19And that's really what I really do with it for the most part.
15:22And it works well.
15:24I took one of these things here.
15:25I load a little bit of hand soap into it.
15:27And it just makes it very comfortable.
15:28I do a little hand washing here and a little over here.
15:32Then I just grab my towel up here.
15:34And, you know, I'm ready to rock and roll.
15:37And, of course, what I did here is rather than having just the curtains that came stock with the van,
15:47what I did is just to make it a little bit more private because sometimes you're worried about somebody like
15:53maybe peeking in.
15:55What I did is I just simply went to my individual that does curtains and things of this nature.
16:02And I just basically put a nice little curtain right across here.
16:06And what this does for me is it really blocks things out.
16:09And I think you would agree that it really looks nice.
16:12And it really performs very, very well.
16:15And, you know, when you're sleeping in here, you're sleeping in some beautiful pitch black framework.
16:23And then, let's see.
16:25You're at that location.
16:26So we'll come back a little bit.
16:28Then we'll come up a little bit for you.
16:30The couch is your standard everyday kind of couch.
16:34What this will do, and to open it up, and I've got to tell you, it's a technique.
16:41And I'm sure everybody that owns it, Patrick, if I can ask you if we can just roll this seat
16:46forward.
16:47So if you can just do that there.
16:50Perfect.
16:51And what we do is we essentially bring this forward.
16:55And I'm going to ask you just a little more, my friend, to bring that back.
16:58There you go.
17:00We roll it forward just like so.
17:02And then I do a little lift.
17:04And we have plenty of space under here.
17:06So I have my little 2003 Marshall, which rips faces off of people's head.
17:13This is a little, wonderful little Marshall.
17:15My little PA system that I use for when I go out and play a little bit.
17:20In here we have, I believe, I don't know, I would say that's about a 20-gallon tank.
17:24Maybe about a 40-gallon tank, I would think.
17:27Pretty big.
17:27Yeah, pretty big.
17:28But you get a lot of storage under here.
17:31And, of course, I use it for my equipment.
17:35And I think one day what I'm going to do is I'm going to develop a little bit of a
17:38locking system in here, too.
17:39So that, essentially, if anybody does come in on me, it makes it just a little tougher for them to,
17:44you know, take my stuff.
17:50And then it just, one, two, three.
17:51And I think this way gives me about 30 inches.
17:55And then once we do the crossover for the sleeping here, this will give me, you know, gives us a
18:01little bit more space in here, which is what you could use.
18:04And pretty comfortable.
18:08It's pretty easy to do, too.
18:10One, two, three.
18:11You know, I just had some of these auto mechanics come in and do a repair on me.
18:15And they didn't know how to work this.
18:17And I really felt bad because I didn't tell them first how to do it.
18:20And when they opened it, they scratched the hell out of my wall.
18:24Oh, yeah.
18:25Would you look at that?
18:26Nope.
18:26Boy.
18:27I'm like, couldn't you figure it out before you opened it and tried to force it that way?
18:32But par for the course.
18:34Down here we have plenty of storage.
18:36So we have our cabinetry down here, which I keep, you know, come paper plates and a little bit of
18:42paper goods here and a couple forks and a couple knives when I travel out.
18:48And that's very ample.
18:49And, of course, here again, from the internal, we have our 16,000 BTU heater, which will roast you.
18:59Very quiet.
19:00Works wonderfully.
19:01And no matter what the temperature is, this thing will keep you absolutely warm throughout the entire evening, throughout the
19:08entire winter.
19:09And over here we have our sink with our two burners and, you know, our propane tank.
19:19What would that be?
19:20I don't know the gallon, how many gallons, perhaps about seven gallons, but I'm not sure.
19:24But I can tell you that it takes me about six months to unload that tank.
19:31Over here, of course, we have, you know, all the implementation and all the material here where we have our
19:37battery disconnect here.
19:39As we all know, we have our little informational piece here.
19:44So let's see how we're doing.
19:45On the fresh water, not so good.
19:48Holding in gray water, nothing happened in there.
19:51But, of course, we've got plenty of propane, so that's the most important thing of all.
19:55And, of course, here we've got our generator with 70.2 hours on it.
19:59Can you imagine that?
20:00That's pretty low hours.
20:01And that's it.
20:01And that's true.
20:02And all it takes is one push of the button, and no matter what, win, lose, or draw, the thing
20:07starts up, and it absolutely works wonderfully.
20:10And that's a pretty well-insulated compartment.
20:12It's not terribly loud inside here.
20:15Yeah, I would say.
20:16And I think that, you know, I'm not sure I would necessarily sleep with this thing buzzing away.
20:23But, again, I principally use it when I want to do a little bit of my microwaving and if I
20:29need to turn on that 13.5 air conditioner.
20:33And it handles it beautifully.
20:36And then, just like so.
20:39How convenient and how easy is that?
20:41And here, of course, we have our refrigerator, which I use for just a little bit of storage of water
20:49containment systems.
20:50Well, I'm estimating that's probably about a three cubic foot, and it runs gas and electric.
20:54What about battery?
20:55And battery as well, I believe.
20:57But, you know, to be honest with you, I have to plead, I've never used them at that capacity.
21:02The only thing that I've really used it for is kind of holding these things here, which I fill with
21:06kind of water,
21:07so that throughout my trip, if I need a little bit of water or if I need a little shower
21:12water, I'm ready to go.
21:15So, yeah.
21:16So, what I'm doing back here now is pretty interesting.
21:21And what I've done is, you know, my girlfriend said to me when I bought this way back when,
21:26she said, you know, you've got yourself, you could just look back here,
21:29and if she's like, you know, tinkling, I mean, that's embarrassing.
21:33What am I going to do?
21:34So, I said, you know what, let me help you with that.
21:36So, what I did is, originally, I had taken a curtain, I put it across, it was very nice,
21:42but then one day I said, you know, I'm really very good here with this level of room.
21:47So, what I did is I widened it out a little bit, I put it on a little bit of
21:51a curvature,
21:52and it looks a little more fancy-schmancy that way.
21:55And, naturally, the same material that I used here, I used here.
22:01And, if you want to switch that around, I used it up here as well, Patrick,
22:04because, you know, it saves me a little air conditioning when this is closed.
22:09And, you know, this is some nice storage room, nice storage area in here.
22:13And this was designed to be a bed, too?
22:14This was designed to be a bed.
22:16So, of course, what we do is we, you know, we pull it out like so,
22:20and then there's a mattress that goes in there.
22:21But, you know, I'm not sure I personally want to be climbing up here and climbing down,
22:28you know, particularly in the middle of the night.
22:30So, I pretty much use it for storage when need be.
22:34So, with a mattress on there, you probably have about 18 inches between the ceiling and the mattress?
22:39I would say a touch more, but I could be wrong if I have my, uh...
22:46No, I don't have it here, my trusty, uh, thing, but I would say...
22:50It's probably designed for kids.
22:51Yeah, yeah, I would say probably designed for children.
22:54Um, let's take a look.
22:55We just so happen to have our material here.
22:58So, if you get it right, I'm like, holy smokes.
23:02Yeah, we got 21 inches from top to bottom.
23:04Okay.
23:0520 inches, 20 to 21.
23:06So, that, I mean, you know, win, lose, or draw, if I had to be up here, uh, I could
23:10do that.
23:12Okay, so, anyway, of course, we've got our rooftop, uh, exhaust port here,
23:17or a little vent fan here, which really works wonderfully.
23:21Uh, you know, it takes a little temperature out if need be.
23:24It takes a little humidity out if need be.
23:26I could feel the air moving.
23:27Yeah.
23:28Just by, it sounds like it's just on low speed.
23:30Yeah, and, you know, to tell your viewers, if in the event that they have the opportunity,
23:34I would also get one that, of course, naturally takes the material and the air out,
23:39but I would also get one that can reverse and brings it down in.
23:42Good tip.
23:42Yeah, that, that works well.
23:45And then one of the things that I did is if in the event that I have to, you know,
23:49have a little extra clothing, what I've done is I've connected these things here on both sides
23:54so that, you know, if I have to run back and if I have some extra clothing and whatnot,
23:59those things come in handy.
24:00And I think I got these at, um, I think I got these at, uh, what is that marine place?
24:06West Marine.
24:06And I can just throw that there and let them hang there and you'd be surprised how much
24:12clothing this can really handle.
24:14And what I did also, Patrick, is, uh, along this framework here, I built another little,
24:20uh, rod here so that if in the event that I needed some extra garments, I can essentially
24:25put them right about here and they really have no impact or negative impact.
24:29The thing that I really like about this van and the thing that I really try to do is I
24:34try to minimize anything that, that creates a blockage for me.
24:39I, I want, I want to be able to go in and out.
24:41I don't want to have to dance around or jump around things, you know.
24:44Now I know our viewers are going to ask and I think I've seen this before and I figured
24:47it out.
24:48Tell us what the O-rings are for.
24:49Yeah.
24:50The O-rings, what I do is sometimes when you're driving and you're, you know, going from here
24:54to there and there from here, um, the clothing can shift.
24:58So this prevents the clothing from shift, comes back and forth.
25:02And quite honestly, sometimes what I'll do is to be a little more meticulous.
25:07I'll ensure that my, sounds crazy, but my, uh, my shorts, uh, are within this framework.
25:15I may have my shirts within this framework.
25:18I may have my long pants within this framework.
25:22Um, so that's just a couple of things.
25:24You're just like me.
25:25You're just, you know, organized.
25:26Let me tell you, I, I just came out of Patrick's, uh, van and it is spotless and meticulous.
25:33And you know what?
25:34It's the only way to really do it.
25:36This here, of course, again, if in the event that you need a little bit of extra, uh, you
25:41know, hanging materials and things of that nature, um, you know, once again, you know,
25:45just a little of that comes down and, uh, you know, sometimes you just, you just really
25:50need to have, uh, a place to put your hat.
25:54So, and speaking of hat, I've got a couple up here.
25:57But, um, yeah.
25:58So, and, uh, coming back this away into the, into the dark circles back here.
26:05And one other thing, Patrick, is, and, you know, very simply is, you know, we have these
26:09very comfortable and very nice, um, areas that you could put, you know, things in, articles
26:14in.
26:14And so the cabinetry is very, very nice as well.
26:17And, you know, just, just a little bit here and there.
26:20What's some noise level on here once you're driving down the highway, a bumpy highway?
26:24Is it, uh, acceptable, comparable to other motorhomes you had before?
26:28Scary quiet.
26:29Yeah.
26:30Yeah.
26:30I do believe that when they built this particular unit, as opposed to some of the road tracks
26:34that I've had, and I had an early Sierra and, and the Coachmans that I've had in the past,
26:39this thing, I think, was kind of built for luxury.
26:41I think that, you know, the springs and, and the, and, and all the equipment up front and,
26:47and all the baffling equipment and all the insulation.
26:50I mean, this thing, even 20 years later, rides meticulously quiet.
26:54Uh, over here, of course, we have our control factor relative to, um, you know, temperature
27:00within, uh, you know, so if I'm sleeping here at night and it gets a little bit chilly,
27:05all I've got to do is do a little reach up here.
27:07I push it over and the next thing I know, within a very short period of time, I'm nice
27:12and warm and nice and cozy.
27:15Uh, and over here, I stuck in one of those other things again.
27:18So, you know, in the event that I just have to have a little bit of extra clothing, a little
27:25phone holder over here.
27:27Um, these here, to be honest with you, were, were, uh, somebody put some holes in here.
27:34I, I actually had sold this to my very dear friend, uh, Dewey Rubastello, who we did some,
27:40a lot of concert tours with.
27:41And, you know, there was a couple of holes and he's a wonderful guy and I love him like
27:45a brother.
27:45I just want to say that.
27:47And, um, I don't know whether I or Dewey, probably I did it, but there was a couple drill
27:51holes here.
27:52And I said to myself, what am I going to do?
27:54I, I just can't have those drill holes there.
27:57Uh, I figured maybe a picture.
27:59I put a picture there, but every time I pushed this over, the picture got kind of knocked down.
28:02And so I said, hell with it.
28:03So I just put a couple of these there.
28:05And to be honest with you, they're fine for me.
28:07Okay.
28:08Here we have a little bit of cabinetry back here, Patrick.
28:11And, you know, uh, you know, I keep my towels here for my shower.
28:15It's a very easy reach.
28:17And, uh, you know, just here's my vacuum cleaners that I use fairly often.
28:20And if you look at the rug, you'll understand what I mean.
28:25Okay, so back here's the important thing for you guys, um, that have vans.
28:30And there's no van that you can't do this to.
28:34You can do what I've done here to any van you want.
28:37Um, I have a couple of vans that never came with showers, period.
28:40So what I did is I put my own shower in for 20 bucks.
28:44And I'll show you exactly what I did and how I did it.
28:47So, um, this here comes with what's considered a sit-down shower, as many of you may know.
28:54And, you know, it's this little kind of a thing here where you're supposed to sit in here.
29:00And we'll try to get as much light in there as we can.
29:05But, uh, you know, you're supposed to sit in here and take a shower and pull a curtain over.
29:10And I don't think so.
29:12I mean, it's just scary back here.
29:15So what I did is I said, hell with it.
29:18What I'm going to do is I'm going to create a stand-up shower.
29:22And again, not to reiterate a little bit, um, with some of the other program that I've seen,
29:30everybody's saying, oh, I wish I had a shower.
29:32And I don't really want to take a shower outside of, uh, I want to go to a campground.
29:36Or I don't want to go to a campground.
29:38Anybody can build a shower.
29:4036 by 30 is all you need.
29:42So what I did, very simply, is I came into the back end here.
29:48And I had taken standard shower frameworks.
29:53Standard shower, I don't know, railing, I guess we would call that.
29:56Looks like an extruded aluminum rail made specifically for these rollers.
30:01Yes, indeed.
30:02Okay.
30:02Yeah, which is, I think, uh, I don't know if the new ones have things of this nature,
30:06but naturally the ones of years ago had exactly this.
30:10And what I did is I simply ran it to the farthest distance here as I possibly could
30:15to get as much space as I could.
30:18Rolled it around.
30:19Rolled it, I'd say about two inches beyond this framework here.
30:23Secured it by this, by this unit, this stud unit.
30:28Rolled it right back all the way back here.
30:31So it's giving me essentially, I think, about 36 by, I want to say about 28.
30:37I'd like to have a little more than 28, but naturally I can't do it because of the cabinetry.
30:42So what I do, folks, is very simply, is I take my bucket, or my bin, we shall say,
30:51plastic bin that I got from Walmart, and I place it down.
30:57And this is something our viewers just go right to Walmart, they can find a bin just like this off
31:02the shelf.
31:02Absolutely, and any RV place you can get that rail.
31:05So what I do is I put my little bucket down here.
31:09And I stand in it.
31:13And then what I do is I take my shower curtain, and I place it right within the bucket.
31:19And I simply surround myself, which I'll do for you for a second, then I'll undo it.
31:23And it very comfortably goes around, just like so.
31:27And I naturally ensure that the shower curtain stays within the framework of the button, of the bucket, or the
31:36bin, I should say.
31:37And what that does is it gives me a very comfortable framework of a shower.
31:43And I have a little hosing system here that I built on my own.
31:48And I have my little electronic unit, my little switch that I use.
31:53And I let there be water.
31:55And I take my little shower in here very, very comfortably.
31:59What I do is I have this little netting in here.
32:02So I've got my little bit of a shaving cream in here.
32:05I've got my hair shampoo in here.
32:06I've got my sponge in here.
32:09And then I have here.
32:10So everything is really beautifully contained right within this framework.
32:14And again, to reiterate, many of the beautiful vans that I see, that I go and review,
32:21when I go in them, they're beautiful.
32:24But the shower areas are like, holy shit.
32:28Holy smokes.
32:29I can't, I can't, I can't fit in this thing.
32:34Anybody with a cargo van, you can develop this in a cargo van.
32:39This can be put in literally in 20 minutes, 25 minutes.
32:43And you have yourself a perfect, beautiful stand-up shower.
32:48How I develop the water ability is, what was that noise?
32:55That was a motorcycle.
32:57I thought maybe, you never know.
32:59I thought maybe the North Koreans were getting at us.
33:01Now this is that black bean we saw from outside before.
33:05Yeah.
33:05So what this is back here, Patrick, is I had a bucket sitting in here.
33:11And I thought it was unattractive.
33:13It worked perfect, but it just was not attractive for me.
33:17So what I decided to do is I went to Walmart.
33:20I bought a $6 bin.
33:23And what I did is I simply put or placed that bucket in here.
33:32And this bucket holds, I believe, about two gallons of water.
33:35So when I fill this bucket with hot water or warm water, it will stay warm for maybe about a
33:43day, maybe two days.
33:45So if I load it in the morning, and if it's reasonable temperature outside, 70 or 75, I load it
33:51in the morning, it's good at 10 o'clock at night to be able to take a shower.
33:54And believe it or not, this two gallons of water here, honestly, will completely give you a perfect shower.
34:02It's not like you have to sit there with 15 gallons of water continually.
34:06This two gallons, you hose down, you sponge up, you put your shaving cream on, right?
34:15You shave it up, sponge it down, water off, perfect shower every time.
34:22I see a lot of showers in RVs that have little paws on the spryer.
34:26But you actually used one that you controlled, just push on and off, instead of having the paws.
34:32That's really smart.
34:33I like some of the innovations you made.
34:35This here, right?
34:36Yes.
34:37Well, I'll be really honest with you.
34:38I used to go to Home Depot, and I used to get the standard hoses that you would buy at
34:43Home Depot.
34:44And they're good, but sometimes they're very stiff to a degree, and they kind of like swing around and bop
34:52you and move this over.
34:53I'm going to ask you, feel this hose.
34:57Unbelievable.
34:58That's what I've got to do.
34:58I have a rigid metal wound one.
35:01And, man, that thing whips around.
35:03It does.
35:04Even when I'm driving.
35:05Yeah, it does.
35:06And, you know, you don't want them to, you know, you're traveling.
35:10If you're in this thing and you're taking a shower and that metal thing's traveling low, you may go from
35:15a rooster to a hen real fast.
35:18But, yeah, so...
35:19And your clothes don't get wet, obviously, in the corner there behind you.
35:22Nothing gets wet.
35:23So, here's the great part to it, if I could, too.
35:25So, once I take the shower, Patrick, and everything is...
35:29I'm all showered and powered and ready to go.
35:33All I do is I take this shower curtain, I bring it in like so, and I lift it.
35:40No water gets through.
35:41I usually put it a little closer here.
35:43No water gets in.
35:44I drop it right into there.
35:45And within a couple of hours, we have a completely dry, perfect, beautiful, absolute terrific shower curtain ready to go.
35:55And the reason that I say that is in some of my other RVs that I built, I would have
36:01a little containment system down here that would hold it together.
36:04And after a while, it really builds up unattractive moisture within that area.
36:08Here, it just breathes and opens up for us.
36:11And then, of course, what I do is I take my bin, and sometimes what I'll actually do is I'll
36:19just simply put the shower curtain in here.
36:22I'm all done.
36:23Back to beautiful.
36:25You know what I mean?
36:27So, the front end here is your...
36:34As you can see, I want everybody to see how beautifully meticulous this is after 20 years.
36:39Do these chairs swivel at all?
36:39Um, you know, I don't think they do, because they've got these motorized mechanisms in them.
36:46So, I think that they really never built them for swiveling.
36:49And I've never really utilized that as a swiveling concept, per se.
36:53But, um, yeah.
36:55So, here it's a very standard, and I would recommend to everybody that ever buys an RV to do themselves
37:01a favor and put seat covers.
37:03Seat covers on their chairs.
37:07Because, with this particular one here, with this chair, if you take a look, there has never been, it's always
37:14been a seat cover.
37:16And the seat is, like, brand new.
37:20So, whenever anybody comes by, they want to buy your vehicle, the first thing that they're going to look at,
37:25when they open up that driver's side door, if they see a seat that is cracked and worn and frayed,
37:34I've got to tell you, it's not an attractive sight.
37:37So, my recommendation is always to place one of these pieces of material here, these seats, and you'll always maintain
37:44your chair to be a perfect chair.
37:48Um, you know, the air conditioning, perfect.
37:53When anybody, when you go to buy an RV, you go to buy a van, the first thing that I
37:58always do, as far as the air conditioning goes, is I bring a meat thermometer with me.
38:03And I place the meat thermometer inside of the vent.
38:07And I don't know how many people know what the vent should be reading, but I'll tell you this, you
38:13want to make sure that it's reading 45 degrees.
38:16You need 45 degrees out of this vent to cool off this unit.
38:21If this thing's blowing at 60, when you first buy something of this nature, if it's blowing at 60 or
38:28even 50, you're not going to cool off the van, and eventually you're going to either have to have that
38:33R134 replaced, or filled, or you're going to have to get a compressor.
38:39And I do believe on this particular van, for your viewers, this one has an oversized alternator and a compressor.
38:47And that's really, really important, because, you know, when you want to, you know, this system will literally cool the
38:54back end on a very hot day.
38:56It will literally take the airframe, take it right to the back, and I don't need that R135 as long
39:02as this engine is running.
39:0454,000 original miles on this.
39:06How would you say the van, the van lifestyle, because everybody's going to use a van in a different way,
39:12how would you say that improved your life?
39:15Well, I use this van principally for business.
39:21I never, as I mentioned before, I never used it for camping.
39:24I'm a professional guitar player, and I've been playing it throughout the world since 1978, 1979.
39:32And how it improved my life, Patrick, is it recreated time and space for me.
39:38So, meaning that, once I sit in this chair here, and I start to drive, there's nothing behind me that
39:48I don't have, that I can't have, that doesn't work for me.
39:52I've got everything, whether it's a Les Paul, whether it's my amp, whether it's my clothing.
39:58So, it has recreated time and space for me.
40:03I don't have to go home and shower, I don't have to do this.
40:06It creates an immediate application of what I need.
40:10And it's kind of like if you took your home, you put wheels on your home, and you drove your
40:17home wherever you want it to be, whether it's to the beach, whether it's to the lake, whether it's to
40:21New York, and you park your house.
40:24You get out, you enjoy your day, and then when you're ready, you come back to your house.
40:30And then when you're ready to go home home, you just drive your house away.
40:34It's wonderful.
40:35So, I don't know, did that answer the question?
40:37Absolutely.
40:38Yeah, the most important thing it did for me is it really made my life extraordinarily concise as far as
40:45business goes.
40:45Because as I mentioned before, I could be in Lake O'Pakon, hanging out, doing whatever I do, maybe playing
40:53in the afternoon.
40:55And I can get a call, and with that call, they can say, you know, I'm doing something down at
41:01the Proving Grounds down in Atlantic Highlands.
41:04I could use a guitar player, can you be here in two hours?
41:08From Lake O'Pakon, I jump in this thing, I take a quick shower, grab my equipment, next thing I
41:13know, I'm down at the Proving Grounds on the water in Atlantic Highlands.
41:17And it's a beautiful thing.
41:20What advice would you give someone that's interested in getting a van or some type of smaller RV to enter
41:28this lifestyle versus building one on their own or buying an existing one and retrofitting it?
41:36Is there any advice you could give some of these viewers?
41:37Yeah, I'd say that's a fairly tough question, actually, to answer, I think, but I'll do my best with that.
41:46I think you've got to really know your stuff when you buy these things.
41:52You've got to know mechanics, you've got to know how to use tools, because I think it's about $150 an
41:59hour to have these things repaired sometimes.
42:02And you really have to know what you're doing when you get involved with this in a serious way.
42:11So, with that, I would say that, what would I recommend for that?
42:19I would say to, don't make too much of a crazy investment in the very, very beginning.
42:25I'd say you can start off a little low, perhaps you buy something that would be attractively affordable to you,
42:31because it takes a little time to build up to something of this nature.
42:34I started out with a cargo van that I built in, then I started out with a little Sierra, then
42:40I bought a road track, and then from the road track, I went to a coachman.
42:44And, you know, little by little, I learned my way around and about, and by the time I get into
42:50this thing, I'm so professionalized and so familiar with what I have to do that I just put it forth,
42:58and that's what we've got.
42:59So, you know, don't get too crazy initially, and be patient and learn your way through, because when you get
43:06into this thing, it's going to be like your armchair.
43:09You're going to make it your personal craft, and wherever I grab whatever I need, whether it's this or even
43:15something as simple as this, my little awning here, what do I do with this?
43:18I have my little headphone set that I put in there, and, you know, just little things, and start off
43:26small and be patient, and you'll have a magnificent experience.
43:30Is there any advice you could give to a solo traveler, someone that's maybe doing this as either a lifestyle
43:37or making their life easier in a manner like you are, a professional musician?
43:43Is there any, like, security thing or any tips you could give, like parking in the cities or any places
43:49that you found that you cannot park or that you can park and blend in?
43:53Yeah, I think generally, at one point, I think that the Walmarts would welcome you.
43:59I think that's been changing a little bit, if I'm not mistaken.
44:02I think that some of them no longer allow you within.
44:08Given the choice, although I love my B-Class, very specific RV here, given the choice, I'll be honest with
44:16you, what I think that I would do, Patrick, is I would buy, you know, like your stock ProMaster van,
44:22and I would do my best to make it look as though I'm not sleeping in that thing.
44:29You know, I wouldn't have a lot of material on it that would say, hey, there's somebody sleeping in this
44:34thing.
44:35So I would keep it, what is the word, I forget the word that they use for the van, in
44:39the van life, but surreptitious?
44:42No, it's not surreptitious, but yeah.
44:45So, parking.
44:47I mean, I've done everything from parking in Walmarts to sometimes I've gone to actually car dealerships, and I've slept
44:54in car dealerships.
44:55And I'll be honest with you, even though this looks very RV-ish to an extent, I've never had a
45:00problem.
45:03So, yeah, you know.
45:06Well, I appreciate the time that you've taken with us and our viewers on New Jersey Outdoors, giving us a
45:11tour of your beautiful van, and I love some of the tips that you share with us.
45:17And I'd love to hang out with you again.
45:21Patrick, I thank you very much.
45:22This was my first time ever doing anything like this, so I hope I've contributed to your people, to your
45:30readership, and your viewership.
45:31And Patrick does a great job here, and I'm very impressed by Patrick, and I'm very happy to be able
45:41to contribute to Patrick as well.
45:42Well, thank you very much.
45:43I'll share links, if he has any links he wants to share about his profession for bookings.
45:49Well, this is Patrick with New Jersey's Outdoor Adventures YouTube channel.
45:52I hope you enjoyed this video.
45:53Please like this video, comment, share, subscribe.
45:56I'd love it, and we'll see you soon.