After years of experience, we are happy to share with you our new and improved website on mastering van life with kids and pets. I’m not one to boast, but I feel we can now unquestionably say we are an expert van life family. Having lived in the van as our sole home (our vome); off-grid with no running water, electricity or septic; in every season and a few extreme weather challenges. After hundreds of repairs, upgrades and lessons, we’ve got this down to an art.

Van Conversions for Kids and Pets

When we first got the van, we were so elated to have a cozy place to sleep and a tiny kitchen that the hardships weren’t on our radar. Depending on what type of van build you have, the reality of needed upgrades catches up fast. Now we are pros, and van life with kids and pets is as easy as 1-2-3.

Our choices were a DIY or a budget-friendly van conversion company. We took out a bank loan for a 4×4 van shell, did a basic, rustic conversion by PataVans, whose waitlist has grown since back then. We love our build, even years later. Despite the conversation being fantastic for kids and pets, a year hasn’t gone by with huge DIY upgrades.

Our List of Van Upgrades for Growing Kids

Our van family is growing in age, not volume. Fitting four now adult-sized humans in a 22′ foot van requires creativity. Adapting is key, and I stand firm in my belief that Van Life, is the Best Life. Below I’ll list some easy to summon memories on all the DIY upgrades, with more detailed in other posts.

In chronological order, we tackled through the years: black-out window covers; insulation and road noise mitigation; a fresh & grey water tank system; a front-of-the-van twin-size double bunk bed; a half-slider van bunk window; a larger refrigerator which forced a new kitchen galley; a new high-elevation superior diesel heater; a major overhaul of the electrical system. Not small tasks; all of them worth it.

We also added bells and whistles like a suspension upgrade from Van Compass; a roof rack from Owl Vans; a ladder from Owl Vans; an awning from Fiamma; sidesteps from Roam Built; and a brush guard Roam Built. But this post will focus on the big projects.

Not to mention, some of the upgrades happened at super speed and in super laughable places between work shifts. Possibly even setting the record for the most absolute strangest places to upgrade vans, we installed a new custom kitchen galley with our wood working tools in the beach parking lot of Bandon State Natural Area; we installed a fresh & grey water tank system in the parking lot of a random Home Depot in Oregon.

Comfort Upgrades for Happy Pets and Kids

As I’ve mentioned previously, no one is a happy camper when the kids are up with glaring rest stop or RV-park lights beaming through the windows. The Strawfoot window covers was our first big van purchase, and as I’ve stated before, they still look brand new after years of kid wear-and-tear. Proper insulation for road noise and climate control was not on our radar when converting the van, so we did have to tear out some of the build to install, our only complaint with the original build. Another comfort upgrade was the half-slider van bunk window by Van Windows Direct, which didn’t even exist when we first got the van.

Big Van Plumbing and Electrical System Overhauls

After realizing the van was going to be our full-time home years back, and we only had a portable tank system, I went into panic mode. We DIY installed our fresh water & grey water tank system with rigged parts from Home Depot in an afternoon (we ordered the freshwater tank from Tank-Mart and our grey water tank from Sportsmobile). Our electrical system was failing us after a few years; I don’t want to relive some of the most stressful moments with a dead van while off-grid, miles from any form of civilization.

We spent lots on a total electrical system overhaul. Campfyre Vans in Reno did a fantastic job. Now we have a massive battery bank, which means no more dead fridge, dead diesel heat, and dead van. We can charge all our devices, and even run the Coleman air conditioner unit off-grid, for hours. A game changer, and now a necessity for our pets especially, as one one is elderly.

The electrical upgrade happened in stages, starting with what type of batteries, and then how many. Bottom line, with kids get the biggest battery bank you can afford. And lithium ion batteries to start. We are probably overweight but that’s another post.

Beyond Necessary Van Bedroom and Kitchen Upgrades for Kids

With growing appetites and bodies, our original van conversion wasn’t going to cut it. We needed a new sleeping system and fast. We created a front-of-the-van twin-size double bunk bed. This wasn’t without trial and error, but the current version has now held up for years. So we have (1) full size bed and (2) twin size beds in our 22′ van. We are currently working on a free DIY cheat sheet. Until then, contact us, we’d love to share how we did it.

Our original fridge was ridiculously small, only around 2.7 CF, and our kids eat us out of house and vome. It was a true celebration when we installed a 4.2 CF Vitrifrigo. Looking back I have no idea how I survived van life with kids for 3 years with the 2.7 CF fridge. But, new size fridge means the old galley was scrap. We had to custom make new drawers, a new garbage and freshwater tank door, the works. It was worth every bit of effort.

We hope this helps other Van Lifer’s, as we used to say in the military, to not re-create the wheel. It’s been a steep learning curve for us, with lots of colorful stories along the way.