This is EVERYTHING that we used to convert our 2022 Ford Transit Van into a Camper Van

Hi everyone! We recently launched our full van tour on YouTube (it’s below, but also here) and the video is growing like crazy! Like the fastest growing video that we’ve every launched, we are very excited.

We had multiple many people asking for links to the products we used in the construction of Clifford our Ford Transit that we thought it would be best to put them all in one place. Which, if you are here it’s probably because you are looking for one of those products.

In this blog post we are going to showoff everything that in the video, from soap dispenser to our solar panels and everything in between. There’s a lot to go through in our van but we don’t want to jump to the scariest stuff first (which is definitely electric) so let’s start with the things that make Clifford not just a van but a home.

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Interior Components & Tools:

Vancillary DIY Headliner Shelf: One of our favorite additions to our Transit was the Vancillary DIY Headliner Shelf. It was super easy and gave us a massive amount of storage space in an area that was pretty useless. Watch the video here! Use discount code “KatieAndJoeOnTheGo” for a 10% Discount

Lagun Table Mount: There are many Lagun mount imitations on Amazon (Like this one) that are probably just as good as actual mount that we bought ours directly from Lagun. The kit was super easy to install and allowed us to have a table that we use for extra prep-space and desk space.

Large Cutting Board: We used a large Acacia Wood Chopping Board as table portion of our Lagun Table Mount.

B-Pillar Mount for Lagun Table: KnarlyVans has this and many others products on Etsy. Check them out, great fixes for small issues on the Transit, Sprinter, and Promaster platforms.

Tern Overland Arctic Tern Windows: There are multiple companies that make windows for vans but we chose Arctic Tern windows from Tern Overland because they seemed to be the gold standard. If they are good enough for $750,000 Earth Roamer vehicles, they are good enough for us. Check out the video as we install our Arctic Tern window.

Gas Struts For Overhead Cabinet: We used 12 gas struts for every overhead cabinet, two on each side. They do a fantastic job of keep the cabinet door up when we are looking for something and more importantly closed when we are driving.

Gas Strut for Bench: We used 2 of the slow close gas struts on our bench becuase the bench top is fairly heavy piece of 3/4” Birch. Since are sitting on it, we wanted to make sure there would be no flexing. The heavy-duty gas struts can support a maximum of 30lbs and two struts can support a maximum of 60lbs. We chose to go with two struts.

National Park Custom Sign: Katie had many great finds for Clifford the van but this one is probably her favorite. She found an ETSY seller who made us a custom National Park sign with our names on it. As we are about to embark on a tour of all 63 US National Parks, this was very well fitting. Look at how cute this is!

National Park Custom Map: To help us keep track of all the National Parks that we’ve visited, Katie’s second great ETSY find was a National Park map. This map comes with 63 little trees that we insert into the map as we make our way through the parks. Check it out here!

Kitchen:

We built our kitchen for one thing and one thing only, coffee. We love coffee, we might be addicted to it. We know it’s an issue but our mornings do not start until we go through the entire ritual of making a great cup of coffee. Here’s our current set-up.

Fellow Hot Water Kettle: There’s a reason why every coffee snob on the internet has the exact same water kettle and that’s because Fellow ~~has great marketing~~ makes the best one on the market. We really like this kettle because it’s very quick to get to temperature and then will hold the water at the exact temperature until you turn it off. When you’re making a pour over, this is a great feature.

Fellow Coffee Grinder: Once again, Fellow has great marketing and it looks fantastic the best bean grinder on the market. It’s expensive but their customer service is legendary.

Fellow XF Pour Over: This is a recent acquisition as we once had a CHEMEX 6-Cup Pour Over but the glass container scared us too much. It was too ornate, the handle, the spout, the bulbous base… we felt like it was only a matter of time before it broke. We were at a friend’s house in Michigan and they showed us their Fellow XF and we were sold, it’s matte black (notice the theme yet?) and kept the coffee so warm as you finished brewing it. It’s fantastic.

OXO Single Serve Pour Over: For a quick single serving we’ve got an OXO Pour Over. It’s easy to use like a good pour over should be.

: We love to pick-up a bag of coffee beans when we are out on the road but when we are at a single address long enough to ship things to, we always get La Colombe. We’ve been drinking it since we lived in NYC, which is quite some time ago. Don’t know what to order? Joey enjoys the lighter roast COLOMBIA – SAN ROQUE and Katie enjoys the AFRIQUE – MEDIUM ROAST. When we are out on the road we sometimes get lucky with the a cold Triple Latte can.

Yeti Rambler: If you spend all the time, energy, and money to make good coffee make sure it stays warm enough for you to drink it.

Isotherm Cruise 130 Refrigerator: One of our most expensive purchases for the van has also been one of the most obnoxious. There are many refrigerators out there for van builds but we’ve really only seen this one and the cooler styler ones like the Dometic CFX3. When we first bought our Isotherm Cruise 130 we might have blown the power unit by plugging in the AC Cord into the DC input but who is to say. We had to deal with getting a new circuit board from Isotherm (which was fairly easy) the next issue came with the lack of installation on how to replace it. We figured it out, but a 20-min project became a 4-hour one.

Once installed we realized the refrigerator is very temperamental. Too much food in the fridge, air flow suffers and things get warm. Not enough food in the fridge, freezer gets too cold and freezes. Too much weight on the shelves (we are talking a few pounds) and the shelves fall off the extremely small channels that they slide into dumping everything on top of the shelf below. Probably for the best, this has caused us to purchase smaller amounts of food at a time.

Also, biggest issue is that a pint of ice cream does not fit in the freezer. Rookie mistake Isotherm.

Here are a few other options that you could look at: OFF Indel B CR130 Cruise and Dometic CRX 1065E Refridgerator:

OXO Food Containers: We got back and forth with these. We like how they look and how they function (when they do function) the issue is when we gain/lose elevation, the suction of the is either too much/not enough and the lid pops off the base. Making them completely useless. We stopped storing dry food in them and instead just used them as buckets for pre-packaged foods like apple sauces,.

Handheld Vacuum: We got lucky at Home Depot one day and found a RIGID handheld 18V Vacuum for 1/2 off. I guess they were selling through their stock? It works fantastic! The only issue is that we can’t find a replacement filter for it but you can wash out the one it comes with if you’ve got time to let it dry. If we had to buy another one I’d probably go for the Dyson V11 because it’s gotta be the best looking vacuum cleaner of all time.

Water System:

Soap Dispenser: Super easy to install and matches our kitchen faucet perfectly. Plus it’s built to last, commercial grade 304 stainless steel and interior durable PE plastic.

Fancy Soaps: I don’t know why Katie smirked when she called my soaps “fancy soaps” but I think it smells niceand cleans your hands pretty well.

Kitchen Faucet: We wanted a kitchen faucet that had a pull down sprayer so we could easily point it outside and spray ourselves down or anything else that had gotten dirty. This faucet had a matching soap dispenser and was relatively easy to install. The only issue we came across was due to how thick our kitchen butcher block was.

Shower Head / Bidet Sprayer: While the description says bidet sprayer, we thought it would be absolutely perfect for a shower head. It’s super low-flow and it has an on/off toggle meaning we have complete control over how much water is coming out and because it’s on a hose complete control where the water is flowing.

Shower Rod: One of Katie’s best finds for our van build was this shower curtain. The Extend-A-Shower articulating shower rod for RV is the perfect solution for adding more space and comfort to your shower experience. When we need to use the restroom, we push the shower rod out and have 2x the space. When we aren’t using the restroom, we push the rod into the restroom and we’ve got more space in the kitchen galley.

Shower Curtain: We liked it because it had a nice pattern and it is machine washable.

Laveo Dry Flush Toilet: The Laveo Dry Flush toilet might be our favorite addition to the van. No joke, the toilet. Don’t believe us? Check out Joey’s excitement here. Van Life is not always pretty but this Laveo Dry Flush Toilet sure is – but seriously, if you are looking for a toilet in your van/garage/tent/etc why deal with emptying out a pee jug or dealing with gross poop covered wood chips. This is what you need.

Super Absorbant Toilet Powder: We use this gel after using our Laveo Dry Flush (either #1 or #2). It rapidly solidifies uring into a firm and solid gel that won’t leak and is completely splash-proof.

Three Stage Water Filter: We bought our water filter system through RV Water Filter Store which seems to be the go-to for a lot of larger camper van manufactures, if they trust them we trust them. The filter system is 3-staged that includes x2 1 micron Sediment Filters (one as a back-up), x1 0.5 micron Carbon Block Filter, and x1 Heavy Metal Filter cartridge. One of the biggest reasons we were interested in this system is that it produces 3-4 gallons-per-minute with 55 PSI of source pressure. Which means our pump and our water heater would work perfectly together to push enough clean and hot water through our system for a nice shower.

Shurflo Electric Water Pump: Every water system inside a camper van needs a water pump to get that water flowing. After much research, Shurflo was the pump that came out on top. We we first turned the pump on we thought it was broken because it was so quiet. Make sure to grab a sediment filter to stop anything big from being pumped through the water system before it hits the water filter.

Grey Water Tank: Sometimes the best system is the simplest one. Since the only grey water that we produce comes from the kitchen sink we wanted an uncomplicated set-up for water to drain and for us to be able to dump it properly.

Shurflo Accumulator Tank: What is an accumulator tank? Well, in a small system like what’s in a van it’s a necessity. An accumulator tank is a bladder type pressure storage vessel and/or pulsation dampening device designed to hold water under pressure. The accumulator tank provides additional water storage to assist the pump in meeting the total demands of the system. It extends pump life by eliminating pump pulsating on/off.

Bosch Water Heater 4 Gallon: This tiny (13.75 W x 13.75 H x 13.5 D) hot water heater is perfect for a camper van conversion. The 4 gallon tank has a premium glass-lined interior meaning it has a thermal efficiency of 98%. The only downside is that there is not option to connect it to our 12V DC system (which would make it more efficient) instead we have to use our 120v AC system.

SHURFLO Wall Mount Filler/Regulator: Now how do we get water into our system? Our filler/regulator is accessible behind our sliding passenger door on the wall. Since we knew we were going to have a motorcycle on the rear hitch and opening the rear doors would be difficult, we wanted an easy way to fill-up our water tank. This is as simple as possible, we simply connect the water hose to the regulator and that’s it.

Hose Quick Connect: The quickest way to connect/disconnect our water hose is with a quick connect. It’s super cheap and makes filling up a water tank super quick.

Pex-A Water Tubing: Everyone has an oppinion when it comes to the best way to route water through a camper van but if your oppinion is anything besides Pex-A being the absolute best solution, they are wrong. We bought a Pex-A kit that included a all the tubing that we needed plus a good amount of brass connectors. We ended up buying a bunch of valves, etc. from local plumbing stores for our needs but this is a great place to start. Make sure if you go the Pex-A route you buy the Expander Tool that is absolutely necessary.

Electrical:

We purchased an Explorist.Life DIY electrical kit and don’t think we’d have a functioning electrical system without them. Here is everything that came in their $3,000 kit. We made multiple videos on installing the electrical components that we encourage you to check out to get a better understanding on what they do and how they interact with each other. We are not electricians but we are smart enough to watch hundreds of hours of tutorials on the subject and have a running electrical system.

Victron Energy MultiPlus 3000VA 12-Volt Pure Sine Wave Inverter and 120 amp Battery Charger: The Victron MultiPlus is a combined inverter and charger. Its many features include a true sine wave inverter, adaptive charging, hybrid PowerAssist technology, plus multiple system integration features.

Victron Energy VE.Bus Smart Dongle: The Victron Energy VE.Bus Smart dongle is two products in one: bluetooth accessory and Voltage, Temperature-sense device. It allows us to connect to the VictronConnect app to monitor operation and also operate the system: change the input current limit as well as switch between Off, On and Charger-only mod

Victron Energy BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitor: The Victron BMV-712 is a shunt-based monitor that shows real-time and historical data about your energy usage and battery bank status. The information is shown on a physical gauge that we mounted to our custom Katie And Joe On The Go switch panel. It’s very easy to use but we usually check on our battery systems through the VictronConnect app on our phones.

Battle Born Batteries Lithium-Ion (LiFePO4) Deep Cycle 12V Battery 270Ah GC3: When we purchased our Battle Born “Game Changer” Battery they were the newest and hottest thing since sliced bread. Battle Born touted the unlimited mounting possibilities but when we actually went to instll them we were at a stand-still for almost 4-days trying to figure out how to mount them. You can watch the fiasco here. In hindsight, we would have gone with 6 Battle Born 100ah 12v batteries instead.

If you’ve got a larger space (like in a large RV/Trailer), the Battle Born Game Changer batteries would work great. The 270Ah 12V GC3 battery lasts 3,000 – 5,000 deep discharge cycles, providing up to 10-15 years of power. They can be wired in series or parallel. And because it is designed with safety in mind and doesn’t contain any acid, it can be safely mounted in any orientation.

Blue Sea Systems 6006 m-Series Battery Switch ON/OFF: This is our Master ON/OFF switch for our entire electrical system. It’s big, red, and easy to grab and turn-off if there is any issue.

Victron Orion Tr-Smart 12V-12V | 30A Isolated DC-DC Charger: The DC-DC Charger allows us to tap into our Ford Transit’s battery and alternator system and direct it to our house batteries.

Victron Energy Lynx Distributor: Since our electrical system is a fairly heavy duty we elected to install two Lynx Distributors. The Victron Lynx Distributor is a modular busbar and fuse holder system that can distribute overcurrent-protected DC power.

120V AC Distribution Panel: This AC Distribution panel receives/send AC power from the Victron Energy Multiplus to the various AC outlets in the van.

12V DC Distribution Panel: This 12V Fuse Block features enough space for 18 circuits at 20A each with a maximum amperage for the whole panel at 160A. This is more than enough to distribute power to all of your 12V loads around your camper (lights, fans, USB outets, refrigerators, etc).

30A Shore Power Cord: If you are ever going to go to a traditional RV Campground, you’ll need this 30A 10/3 Extension Cord. It plugs directly into our Shore Power system and will be the fastest way to charge your battery system.

30 Amp to 15 Amp 110V RV Adapter: If you are ever going to charge your battery system through a traditional wall outlet (like what you have in a garage) you will need this adapter. It allows you to use a traditional extension cord to charge up your electrical system through your shore power inlet.

12/3 Extension Cord: Story time, our first RV campsite’s electrical outlet was about 6” farther than our 30amp Extension Cord would reach. So, we paid for 4-nights i a lovely campground and were never able to hook-into the electrical system. If we had our 12/3 Extension cord we would have no issues and would have kept our battery levels at 100%. Lesson learned, we now have 50 feet of 12/3 Extension Cord in the van.

RICH SOLAR 100 Watt 12 Volt Premium Panels (Black): We’ve got 2 100 Watt solar panels in black. You don’t have to get them in black but they matched our roof rack so we thought why not!

RICH SOLAR Panel Extension Cable: These extension cables have fancy Make sure you pick-up Parallel Adapters to properly connect your solar panels to your electrical system.

Solar Isolator: The solar isolator disconnect is installed between the solar array and the charge controller to disconnect both the positive and negative conductors simultaneously.

12v Puck Lights: It seems like every single person who builds out a camper van uses the same 12v puck lights from Amazon and there’s a reason for that. They are low profile, dimmable, have a long lifespan, easy to mount, and only drain 0.2 amps offering 215 lumens. These are a no-brainer.

12v Electrical Switches: We used a few different electrical switches in our set-up as each one offered something unique to the situation like is it dimmable, did it provide a light, what was the load capacity. etc. Make sure you do your research when buying your switches to ensure they will work for your system. Here are the switches that we used. APIELE 19mm Latching Push Button Switch, ACEGOO 19mm Dimming Push Button Stainless, ZJWZJH 22mm Push Button Switch 15A, APIELE Rocker Toggle Switch

120v Electrical Switch: Most of the switches installed in the van are 12v switches but there is one 120v electrical switch and it’s for our water heater. Don’t forget to purchase the cover for it.

Electrical Outlets (GFCI) We used GFCI outletInstalling Explorist.Life’s Shore Power Kit In Our Ford Transit Camper Vans where there might be moisture present like our kitchen and in our water system beneath the bed.

12v USB Chargers (4-in-1): We’ve got this multifunctional 12v switch panel inside our charging cabinet. It combines a dual USB C car charger, cigarette lighter socket (that we added an Anker USB Charger), and a LED voltmeter digital display.

12v USB Chargers (2-in-1): We added a 12v USB charger in our kitchen space for quick charging of our phones, etc. This QC3.0 port can reach 18W, which is 4 times the normal charging speed. In the empty 12v slot we added the Anker USB C Car Charger for extra charging ports.

Anker USB-C Car Charger:We’ve got this USB-C Car Charger in multiple locations in Clifford the van. Up front where we sit/drive, in the kitchen, and in our charging cabinet. It’s nice to have to high-speed USB-C charge ports wherever we are.

Wireless Internet Setup: We’re working on a larger and more detailed blog post about our internet set-up but what you need to know is that we bought everything through MobileMustHave.com and their customer service has been absolutely phenomenal. We purchased the Speed Demon 5G Mobile Internet Bundle and selected a few upgrades. This package has everything that you’ll need for internet in your van set-up, it includes the Peplink MAX BR1 Pro 5G Mobile Router, the Parsec Husky Pro 7-in-1 Antenna (we chose the 15-foot cable length and magnetic mount), Fused Direct Wire DC Power Cable for 12-48v DC with 4 Pin Molex, and the R300+ 300GB/mo 50mbps Cellular Data Plan.

There are many different Cellular Data plans available through MobileMustHave.com and they all have a purpose. The great thing about the Peplink MAX BR1 Pro 5G Mobile Router is that we can have two different cellular data plans working together to build the strongest network for us. So AT&T & Verizon, or T-Mobile & Whatever else. If we were inclined to do so, we’d also be able to add Starlink to our system. MobileMustHave.com has given us a 5% discount code that we can share with our followers, so make sure you use it!

Heating and Cooling:

Domestic RTX 2000 Air Conditioner: Neither one of us sleep well when it’s warm so having a powerful air conditioning unit was a necessity. Outside of our batteries, this was the most expensive single item in our build. That being said, the RTX 2000 kept our van at a lovely 68* when we were in Death Valley National Park in the middle of April when outside temperatures soared to above 120*. It was 100% worth it. You will need the Domestic Air Conditioner Battery Connector Cable, a $399 cable that connects the Domestic RTX2000 Air Conditioner directly to your battery system. If you don’t use this, Domestic will not honor your Air Conditioner’s warranty. It’s a bit obnoxious but it is what it is.

MaxxAir 7500k Fan: There’s a reason why almost every single van build on the road uses a MaxxAir Fan, they work well! It has a powerful 10-speed intake / exhaust fan (meaning it sucks and blows). It has a thermostat to control room temperature and has a remote controller that allows you to control the fan from anywhere.

MaxxAir Fan Cover: On a bright evening (we’re looking at you Alaska) too much light comes through the fan so this cove stops that light. The issue is that the cover does not allow for air to move through the fan.

Eberspacher Airtronic Heater Kit AS3 B2L: The Eberspacher B2L is engineered to operate in extreme conditions and high altitudes. It can operate in temperatures as low as -46°C / – 50°F and at altitudes of up to 18K feet. This is possible thanks to its integrated altitude sensor, and unlike earlier models there is no additional wiring or installation required for high altitude operation. Ours is installed under the front passenger seat of our Ford Transit Van.

Garage and Tools:

Want to learn more about all the tools that we used to build Clifford the Transit van? You’re in luck because we’ve go the perfect blog post for you! Check it out:

Essential Tools For Building Your Own Camper Van

Since we had all the tools needed to build Clifford it was easy for us to grab everything that we needed to bring-along. If we did not, we would have purchased an all-in-one tool kit (something like this) that has as you would expect it, everything that you would potentially need. It’s important to make sure if you have any weird sized items (like M8, 1/4-20, etc) that you have at least two ways to address an issue.

Pex-A Expansion Tool: Knock on wood, we never need to use this but incase there is an issue with our Pex-A water system but incase a tube broke w’e’d be able to quickly fix the issue.

Drill & Driver: A versatile tool for making holes, driving screws, and assembling components. It’s like a screwdriver, but faster.

Screwdrivers: Both Phillips and flathead screwdrivers in various sizes.

Pliers: Useful for gripping, bending, and cutting wires or small objects. More useful than you can image.

Safety Goggles: Protect your eyes from debris and flying objects, especially if we ever have to get underneth Clifford to address something.

Work Gloves: There are a lot of sharp and dirty items inside a van, protect your hands with gloves. It cold out side? gloves. Chopping wood for a fire? globes. Gross Gas station pump? gloves. Get the point? Gloves.

Magnetic Picker-Upper: It’s magnetic and picks-up things that are metal. You drop a screw, bam! You got it back again.

Screwdrivers: Both Phillips and flathead screwdrivers in various sizes.

Car Battery Jump Starter: Safely jump start a dead battery in seconds with this compact, yet powerful, 1000-amp lithium battery jump starter – up to 20 jump starts on a single charge – and rated for gasoline engines up to 6.0-liters and diesel engines up to 3.0-liters. If this fails (which it should not) make sure to have a pair of normal jumper cables in your kit.

Road Flares: 9 Flashing Warning Lights that provide up to 50 hours that can be seen upwards of 1-mile away. Safer than a traditional flare and are rechargeable.

First Aid Kit: Ultimate Peace Of Mind: Our kit includes over 350 professional-grade medical and safety supplies, making it the perfect emergency kit on the road. Includes a range of frequently used supplies such as bandages, antiseptic wipes, gauze, gloves, scissors, and more.

Random:

Crocodile Wipes: These giant 15″ x 10″ cloths are designed to scrub and absorb, meaning you need less wipes to clean the same mess. We picked these up to scrub pots/pans/boots/etc but Joey has found out they working surprisingly well as a shower replacement. They are definitely a bit course but just think of it as a time for exfoliation.

Packing Cubes: We use these fabric packing cubes in our overhead cabinets to make use of all the space available. We bought 3 packs that include 4 packing cubes, one shoe bag, 1 large laundry bag, 1 toiletries bag and 1 accessories bag.

27 Gallon Storage Containers:To maximize the space under the bed we bought 6 27-gallon storage containers. The lids lock into place and they stack perfectly on top of each other. We’ve since removed 2 of the 27-gallon containers and replaced them with smaller 12-gallon containers. The smaller containers are towards the front of the bed allowing us to access them from the inside.

MotoTote Motorcycle Carrier: Joey has spent his entire life on a motorcycle so there’s no way that we can be on the road for any amount of time without bringing a motorcycle with us. We’ve been using the MotoTote system for a few years now and it has worked fantastic!