Notes

Honda Element Custom camper conversion | Full Time Van life stealth set up

[ Applause ] welcome to in my element. This is my honda element. I'Ve been living inside this thing for two years and i think it's about time we'll show you around. Let'S take a look: [ Music, ], all right, hi everyone. My name is steven aldaco and i've been living inside this honda element for just about two years now and if you've been subscribed to my channel already, you know that i go out hiking and outdoors and swimming and snorkeling and tango dancing all night long and one Of the things that has really made, that possible is this vehicle. Here i have a very simple setup. It'S like super simple setup, super easy, because i'm lazy and for me, if it works, it works so i'll, give you a little tour of this setup here. I hope you guys enjoy and if you like - and you want to see more of the honda element or if you have any questions, make sure to leave them down in the comments below and let's get right to it. Let'S get to the tour, it's my sleeping bag that i use to keep me warm and we're here in joshua tree got pretty cold last night and it did the trick underneath here i have this. I think it's about three inch thick memory foam and this is a tri-fold bed and honestly, i found it at walmart and i have two of them. So i have another one on this side and they mesh together like right next to each other, and it fits like almost perfectly inside of the element. So we can take a quick peek at the bed platform here, as you can see, there's like these bed slats and they kind of fold in and out like this, but most of the time it kind of stays out and yeah. That'S where i sleep, and it's really easy to take in and out so if i need to like take my bike inside for some reason or if i need to carry some gear or it just gives me options on how i can set this thing up. So, underneath the bed, i've got a lot of storage and i'll keep all of my food kind of in this like little basket: fresh foods, jellies, um, salt, pepper tunas. You know a lot of stuff that i don't have to cook, because cooking is a pain in the ass, in the back of the van and for water. Oh two and a half gallon jug, and this is plenty of water and i fill it up when i need to and replace it when i need to very similar to sage. We are living very similar lives, so up top here i have this like random net. Looking thing - and this is kind of where i store most of my clothes - you can imagine it like a a pile of clothes but they're clean, i'm sure, like a lot of us, have at our house so yeah. So this is my clothes um. Everything that i need to grab real quick, it's boom, it's right. There, i've got my yoga mat from teaching yoga, so i just boom. Take that when i'm going to class really easy, i'm teaching tango. I'Ve got my tango shoes and i can just grab those real quick boom and get ready to do some tango and underneath here i have a cooler and you can see the cooler is perfectly level with the bed, so this cooler actually doubles as uh support for The bed, so if i have any cold food i can just take that out. This is an arctic cooler and it holds ice for about four to five days. So yeah. This thing is pretty great, except that buying ice is a pain in the butt. So i rarely buy ice and i actually use some snow the other day to keep everything cool. Let'S go up front and i'll show you how it extends out to be like a full length bed. So, as you can see the bed platform, it ends up being right behind the passenger seat. So if i was laying out folding there's no way i can actually lay out. So this is where that trifold comes in handy and then also the way the honda element is designed. Let me show you how i get it fully. So, basically take this scooter all the way forward. You got ta undo the headrest, which is pretty easy on these cuts. Now i take the latch, pull it down and you can see it pretty much flush with where the bed platform is. Then you take the tri-fold mattress part flip it over. Like so use your blanket there and then i can crawl in easy peasy and i can lay down flat with more than enough room and it works great, nice and comfortable. So then, to put it back very same thing: flip up the trifold mattress cover it up. Flip this slide back push that down and then you're ready to have passengers in the passenger seat or, as i like, to call this. My office, which is my favorite part and i'll, show you that next. This is a new addition and it's probably my favorite part of the pan, and this is my office space. So basically i took a piece of plywood here and then i shaped it so that it fits snugly up here and using the door frame as more support. So i need the use of the door, so let me change camera angles, real quick. So this is my setup here. I do all my editing from an ipad pro which this is here i'll, have my phone resting in this little holder here. So if i need a second screen or whatever i've got my mouse, so i can connect it to my ipad. If i have some footage from the gopro or the drone i'll rest, the drone in the gopro up there and then i can, you know just wirelessly - transmit everything. One of the hardest things to figure out was internet and i'm still trying to figure that out. I use a lot of like hot spots from like starbucks or mcdonald's or wherever i am, and a lot of times. The internet signal will still reach into the car so like so i can be parked inside of the car using the wi-fi from the public areas and if i'm in somewhere, that's like really beautiful, like joshua tree right now or i do have the option to use My phone as a hotspot - and that gives me about 30 gigabytes of data with a t - i can go more into depth with that. If you want to, but that's kind of been a struggle of mine is trying to find internet wherever i am all the time, but but the hotspot will definitely come in handy when i need it so, underneath just to keep things organized. I have some very simple storage containers here, so this one's like toiletries, like whatever i need shaving cream, uh mouthwash, sunscreen bandages, whatever that's all in underneath here. We'Ve got uh coffee supplies in here i've got like random electronics, wires, cable, but yeah. So all my electronic gear goes in here in here. Underneath i've got like a tool box, i've got a bear box, so if i'm camping somewhere and i need to you know - have a bear box, i've got that available. Uh some random things under there and i've got one suit. So if i'm going somewhere nice, i need to dress up boom. I'Ve got my suit ready to rock all right. So this is my cooking setup here, it's a very simple two burner coleman stove. It does everything i need really have this stanley pot to boil my hot water, and then i have another collapsible pan which i can use to fry up whatever i need to fry up thing. I love about this is that it collapses super super small, so it doesn't take up a lot of space and this design has been around forever and it has never caused me any problems and it uses these simple little green gas tanks, which you may have seen Already but and one of these gas tanks will last me more than a month, so it's a great cooking setup for me and i like it a lot all right. So this is the captain's chair uh it's. I tried my best to keep everything like pretty stealthy. So you know if you're looking - and maybe you think someone's like camping in here, but maybe not someone's living in it and that's what i really like about the honda element is that it's super stealthy. I, like i park anywhere and no one takes a second glance or a second look, because they just think it's a it's a regular suv. But little do they know i'm in the back of it and that's proved to be super helpful um, while i'm trying to stealth camp so yeah, it's great anyway, so back here i have just some weights. You know you got to stay healthy, while you're out and about i've got some hiking shoes and some dirty laundry underneath here, as well as some like weight belts. So when i go snorkeling or spearfishing or lobster diving - that's all in here - and i have this trunk and to be honest, if something's, underneath here in this trunk, like it, never gets access. I never touch this stuff on occasion, but rarely do i ever go underneath there. So yeah we've got that tri-fold mattress thing again. We just kind of lift that up, and we have this like super old-school vintage like trunk i've had since i was a kid look at k rock, if you guys remember, k rock anyway, so yeah underneath here, i just have a bunch of like little random clothes And it's like a drunk drawer again, but like honestly, i never ever ever go in here and just conveniently. This is also the same size as the bed frame, so it acts as support, really that's its main job yeah. If i ever have a passenger, it's the same procedure, pull this up, and then we have room to sleep to people if we need to so like i said that rarely happens, but when it does it's nice to have for privacy and installation, i have these reflectix Uh cutouts that i made um. I basically painted the other side, black, it's kind of old, it's chipping away, but it still works i'll, install that real, quick and then i'll go outside. So you can kind of see what it looks like. My windows are tinted, so you really can't see too much so yeah. You just take that kind of slide it in to place and there you go boom boom boom and let's go outside. So you can't even see it just looks like my window's black can't forget up top i've got my bike. It'S a rei bike. It'S got shimano parts, so it works really good. Those rocks and joshua trees, so beautiful and then this is a swagman uh roof rack. This is like something super cheap on amazon, but it works really well. Actually it does a trick so boom. So one of the main reasons i moved into the honda element was to save money for a trip to argentina. I did that had a great time when i came back, i realized you know. I really don't spend that much time at home. I was kind of out running from yoga class to yoga class, to dance class, to dance class teaching just back and forth back and forth. I decided hey like why not why not save the money and live into the honda element for a while, and i ended up really liking it now that i'm not saving up money for any trips, i'm really just trying to save up money to fire, or i Can fire is to like kind of live minimally, lower your footprint and then allow yourself to retire early, so saving all that rent money and investing? It has been like awesome and it's really helped me grow my like financial literacy and um like really put money aside for my future, which is really a great thing, and i never thought i would be able to do it because i don't have like a high Paying job or whatever so anyway, the honda element has really uh opened up a lot of doors. For me, i hate puns. It'S opened up a lot of doors for me and um yeah. If you guys have a honda element, you're thinking about converting it, send me a message: i'm happy to help out some of the people that inspired me were element van life. Of course there's another couple. https://outsideinaspen.com/best-avalanche-airbags/ think it was phil and chan i'll leave their their link right here or whatever and of course sage. I really like his setup and i hope to make my own little wooden cabinetry area here soon. So, thanks for the inspiration you guys um all right, i think that's it. I think i've got all the footage i need. So, thank you guys so much for checking out today's episode make sure to give this channel a like and subscribe any questions, leave them down in the comments below and we'll see you next time, happy hiking, [ Applause, ], y'all things in my 2005. Honda element that just makes sense suicide doors.

My Website: https://outsideinaspen.com/best-avalanche-airbags/