Henry of Japan's vanlife stories worldwide

Vanlife is about living simply and in harmony with your surroundings. The Japanese have perfected the lifestyle. 

📸 by @maohenry (Henry) 
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* Vanlife Stories Worlwide 
* Vanlife 
* Global Roadie

Helena Shie and her tale of how she shifted to vanlife

Helena has always wanted to have a van for a long time and, above all, to travel everywhere with it and be independent of planes or hotels. 😊 One time, she went on a vacation and lived in a caravan. There, she realized that she really wanted to have her own van and not a caravan. As a driver, having a home on wheels means more flexibility.

📸 by @helena_shie 

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* Vanlife Stories Worldwide

Brad Wood and his 2013 Vauxhall Movano L2H2 campervan

Brad Wood and his 2013 Vauxhall Movano L2H2 campervan

Let's sart with the van pre conversion:

2013 Vauxhall Movano L2H2. 

Only 47,325 miles. 

Full Vauxhall main dealer service history. 

2 owners from new. 

MOT 13th April 2023 (no advisories). 

Dual sliding doors. 

Rhino roof rack + ladder. 

We’re the 2nd owners of this van, original owner bought new as a work van for his local business based in York, hence the mileage being so low and it was absolutely perfect for us. 

Changes made by me since ownership: 

Major service at Vauxhall Sheffield earlier this year (doesn’t need anything for 18k miles now). 

New Brembo front discs and pads. 

New Bosch battery. 

New Michelin stealth wipers. 

Reverse camera installed with screen up front. 

New spare wheel with new tyre. 

The build:

High end floor, roof and wall insulation

2 sliding windows installed on either door

Custom one off worktop built from one solid bit of wood

One off table also built from same bit of wood

Handles of doors and cupboards built from that wood too (it was a big piece)

Dometic dual hob + sink combo

Loads of storage and finishing touches

Decking on the roof - easily our most loved and most used feature

Electrics:

We wanted the electrics to do us well because I’m constantly using my laptop and charging cameras/drones/phones as well as running a fridge and a fan

Full Victron system, everything can be monitored via bluetooth from a phone app

150w solar panel

Victron MPPT 75|15

Split charge relay (Victron Orion Smart Charger)

Victron 240v inverter charger

100ah battery

MaxxFan Deluxe 12v vent/fan

Vitrifrigo C51i fridge

2 x 240v mains plugs

2 x 2.1a USB plugs

12v charger

12v LED strip above kitchen area

3 x LED spotlights in the roof

Water:

We’ve installed a shower out the back which served us great when living off grid in Europe

70L Fiamma water tank

Shurflo 7LPM water pump

Fiamma expansion tank (gives a smooth flow of water rather than up and down that you get in some caravans/campers)

Shower system out of the back with mount

Gas:

We opted for a refillable LPG system by Gaslow which means we never have to move the gas bottle and it’s a lot cheaper in the long run. Also as different countries have different gas suppliers you can’t exchange Calor gas overseas, so at the end of each country we would have had to get rid of the bottle which would have cost a small fortune

Full 11kg refillable Gaslow system with adapter mounts for every country

Other info:

We’ve just done an almost 7000 mile tour in Europe in this van and lived in it for just over 2 months, we’ve calculated on average 34mpg. We lived off grid in this van for up to a week at a time before needing to refill the water

There’s loads of other accessories we have added: 

Thermal blinds for the front from Just Kampers. 

Fire extinguisher. 

Full Europe driving kit. 

First aid kit. 

Steering wheel lock. 

Bags of paperwork/ receipts. Majority of the stuff is still in warranty

We really wish we could keep the van because of how perfect it's been but the plan was to always build the van, travel Europe and then sell up to use the money for backpacking Asia & Australia. 

Bad points:

This van lived the first 40k miles as a works van and has some age related marks which really only show when you get close enough to it. 

£22,000

Brad (07427 636396), Sheffield, UK

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* Conversion for Vanlife, 

* vanlife  

* Indian Roadie eGranth September 2022

Noel Farrell completed self conversion of a pre-owned 2012 Mercedes’ Sprinter van in 2 months

2012 Mercedes Sprinter Luton conversion almost finished after 2 months of hard work, but it was worth the efforts. 

I bought it a few months ago in early 2022. I'm told that the van was used for transporting movie sets by its earlier owners. 

- Noel Farrell in Ireland 

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* Conversion for Vanlife, 

* vanlife  

* Indian Roadie eGranth September 2022

Richard Hoyles completed self conversion of a 2015 Mercedes’ Sprinter van

Here's my 2015 Mercedes’ Sprinter van in mid August 2022 during the couple of nights I spent living in it during a trip to Arundel, a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of South Downs, West Sussex, England. 

The van has already clocked 210,000 miles on the odometer. I have done the entire build myself spread over 3 years as and when time and finances permitted, after acquiring it from its previous owner in early 2019. 

I am using a portable camping toilet at the moment. Note the toilet under under installation in the centre cupboard. It will end up on a pull out tray as such. The shower will be on one of the back doors, and will have a screen to put around whilst having a shower. 

There's still a lot more of work to do on it. 

I can see it steadily getting to the finishing line.

(Self conversion by Richard Hoyles) 

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* Conversion for Vanlife, 

* vanlife  

* Indian Roadie eGranth August 2022