Testing...

We'd been working on the van for awhile and we were feeling the need to go somewhere before virtual school started for our daughter. So we decided to take a test run to our favorite beach. We stayed at a campsite that had no hook-ups- either water or electric. So it was a test for our water tank and our solar panels. Here's some of the things we learned:

1. Don't over-pack. It's cool to bring the scooter to get to town but if you want to get back on the road quickly and find another cool spot, it defeats the purpose of the quick set-up, break-down concept that we've been working on. Still, we had a great time and I was really grateful to have our bikes and the scooter for this trip.

2. Screen doors are trickier than I thought they'd be. The screen door for the back of the van was important to keep the beach bugs out (there were lots!) and for air flow- especially at night for the "bottom bunk". It was attached to the van walls with multiple super strong magnets that were duct taped along the edges of the screen. Admittedly, this was a rush project. The screen was working pretty well until our dogs busted through it the first night to chase some night creature. They took it out completely and all the bugs swarmed in. It was a miserable night of sleep. When we got back, we attached the screen to the sides of the van. We've still got to add the tie-backs but we're hoping this works better. We also blocked the dog's view to the outside at night and that worked well. I'm thinking about sewing a curtain for this purpose.

3. Our water worked but our electricity had some issues. Some of the wires were switched and that made an unintentional back feed in the inverter. Basically, our battery drained quickly. Our refrigerator and fans didn't run through the night even though we had sunny days to charge our battery. Sean has since fixed the problem and now our solar panels can easily charge our battery with enough juice to run both the fans and the fridge through the night with energy to spare.

4. Our table mount cracked. We're still looking for a good replacement part.

5. We haven't put windows in the back or on the side yet. Windows for anyone riding in the back are pretty important. We're also still considering putting in a removable seat that faces forward behind the front passenger seat. We have seat belts in the back and I guess it's kinda like riding in a limo, but forward facing would still be better for safety and motion sickness reasons.

6. Our roof top tent made the drive pretty loud in the back. It's now sealed and hopefully that helps with the noise. It was also pretty crazy climbing a 10 foot ladder to go to bed. We're working on inside access now. It should feel much better for both quieter travel and a shorter climb to bed when that's done.

7. We brought infrared stove tops but, like AC, they need lots of energy. We don't have enough solar panels or battery capacity to cook with these. We have a small pocket stove for backpacking but we're looking for a good camp stove now for off-grid van trips.

8. We didn't finish our cabinets and drawers before this trip and the ones that didn't have magnets to hold them shut flew open right away. Duct tape was the temporary solution. Same goes for anything on shelves that was not secured with bungees. These were problems we expected when leaving. The rest were surprises.

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Here's what outweighed all of the van issues: