Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / From Beltway Builds to Boulder Dreams: Brian Crider’s Journey into Van Life Mastery

Transcript

From Beltway Builds to Boulder Dreams: Brian Crider’s Journey into Van Life Mastery · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to the Grand Touring Motor Sports Podcast Break Fix,
• 0:03
  where we're always fixing to break into something motorsports related.
• 0:09
  Unwavering creativity, innovation, and the artistry are at the forefront
• 0:15
  of every build they conceive.
• 0:17
  Their team uses leading edge technology to construct a
• 0:20
  durable and truly unique vehicle.
• 0:22
  They work in a highly competitive field, constantly investing in
• 0:25
  technology and research to make sure that they stay ahead of the curve.
• 0:29
  And tonight Brian Kreider joins us from Boulder Camper Vans, and he's part of a
• 0:33
  team of artists adventurers, innovators and perfectionists whose passion is to
• 0:37
  create a one of a kind camper van for you.
• 0:41
  So with that, let's welcome Brian to break fix.
• 0:43
  Hello.
• 0:43
  Hello.
• 0:44
  Thanks for having me and my co-host Tonight is the one and only mountain man.
• 0:48
  Dan, glad to have you here.
• 0:49
  Like all good break fix stories.
• 0:51
  Everybody's got a superhero origin, but yours is a special one because it's.
• 0:54
  Kind of rare that we have folks who originated from the D M V, that's the
• 0:59
  DC, Maryland, Virginia area On this show, let's kind of dig into your past.
• 1:03
  Let's talk about the who, what, when and where of you, Brian, and how
• 1:06
  you founded Boulder Camper Vans.
• 1:08
  Yeah, what a story.
• 1:09
  You know, I grew up adventuring the blood.
• 1:12
  As a young kid, I was out in the yard or out in the woods climbing
• 1:16
  trees and climbing mountains and going skiing and just as much
• 1:20
  outdoors as I possibly could have.
• 1:22
  I was trying to grab as much as I possibly could leading
• 1:26
  into the camper van businesses.
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  I've always been in automobiles and modifying automobiles,
• 1:32
  and grew up in the East coast.
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  It was more of like a pimp my ride kind of vibe where you're doing
• 1:37
  the subwoofers and the exhaust.
• 1:38
  You know, I could be driving at night and look behind me and know what kind of
• 1:42
  headlights of that vehicle were much like.
• 1:44
  I'm sure that you guys could, so you understand where I'm coming from.
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  That's the beltway game.
• 1:49
  Yeah, exactly.
• 1:50
  So, 'cause camper vans really weren't a thing back when I was growing up, but I.
• 1:55
  Of my first vehicles that I had was a regular E three 50 van and decked
• 2:01
  it out in the most basic way where it just had a little bed in the
• 2:04
  back, a little cooler and a little hangout zone for me and my friends.
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  Whenever we would go camping, they'd be pitching their tents and I would
• 2:11
  just have a little comfortable space to sleep in in the camper van.
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  So, Really, I started from modifying vehicles to modifying vehicles that
• 2:20
  could get me deep into the woods.
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  Have some of those amenities that I felt comfortable as if I were at home.
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  Nice comfort above bed to sleep on a little heater that was in there.
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  Next thing you know, I'm helping one of my good friends back in Maryland where
• 2:33
  I grew up in Annapolis, helping him kind of do the same thing for his van.
• 2:37
  So that's really where the inception started.
• 2:40
  You'd started to modify your own van and then one of your.
• 2:42
  Friends, had you help him modify his, was that one of the first times
• 2:45
  you're like, Hey, this is something that people would be interested in?
• 2:48
  Or did you think prior to that that it was something people would be interested in?
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  Fan life word didn't even exist, so I was one of the first people
• 2:56
  to have the van in the East coast.
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  I feel like, I mean, there wasn't, I didn't know anybody and I had a big, big
• 3:01
  friend group growing up on the East coast.
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  But all of my friends and the people I would hang out with knew that I
• 3:06
  was the person to come to if you wanted to do something to your car.
• 3:10
  And as we all know, putting the neon lights underneath the subwoofers in the
• 3:13
  back, painting little pieces of the dash and putting a head unit in and doing
• 3:17
  all these things, that was our era.
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  You know, I'm 39 years old now.
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  I just think back that was where it was at the Fast and the Furious.
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  You know what I mean?
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  That was the time.
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  And so when I moved to Colorado back in 2013, 14, I realized that.
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  Hey, fast and Furious isn't out here.
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  The camper van is the Ferrari of Colorado.
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  Something that I quickly recognized that I could feel comfortable modifying
• 3:43
  these vehicles and starting a business out here that would be successful.
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  But I think when my friend first asked me, when I built my first camper
• 3:50
  van and he asked me to help him, it was definitely a spark, but I had
• 3:54
  no idea on the East Coast because.
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  It just wasn't a thing.
• 3:57
  Yeah.
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  Back when I was growing up, we're talking about, you know, mid nineties, late
• 4:00
  nineties, early two thousands when I was doing this, and it just gave me the
• 4:05
  confidence to be able to help people do the type of work that I'm doing today.
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  But I wouldn't say that anything to do with camper vans had sparked
• 4:14
  when I was really, really younger.
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  It was more just the confidence of helping people modify their vehicles,
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  which is in the general sense of what I'm doing now, no matter what vehicle it is.
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  People come to me because they put the trust and the confidence
• 4:27
  in me that I'm gonna be able to make their dreams come true.
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  You were just talking about getting closer to 40, being a petrolhead
• 4:33
  of a certain age as we all are here and coming from the east coast.
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  I remember in the late eighties, early nineties that.
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  It Camper van, if that was even a term in those times, was the
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  VW van again, or the early Euro vans, the Westie, the West Flia.
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  Those are the kinds of vans that we looked up to.
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  And if you had a unicorn, you could get the synchro with a
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  manual transmission, right?
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  Ooh, ah.
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  You know, that kinda deal.
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  But they were super rare, like nobody really had them.
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  I only know of like a handful of people that had them.
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  So I'm wondering, is that what you've been striving to bring
• 5:05
  back or bring to the masses?
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  Is those Van Agans that West Flia, the things that we craved as kids that
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  was the pinnacle of these camper vans?
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  I've spent time in those.
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  I've rented those.
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  I've been around those.
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  And you know, just to kind of be blunt, my only issue with that was.
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  You couldn't stand up in those.
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  I think the idea of those were that you could drive out into the woods
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  and sleep in a pop top and have a nice little couch in the back,
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  have a little bit of running water.
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  So I think that was really the foundation that brought these more
• 5:36
  sophisticated, more tech forward style of van that I build today.
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  So when you were growing up, did any of the.
• 5:43
  Older Dodge or Chevy or Ford, like conversion vans that had the seats that
• 5:47
  could turn around, had a little table and like little 13 inch TV in 'em.
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  Were any of those like inspirations for getting to where you're at now?
• 5:54
  Totally.
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  The Ford E three 50 that I had, it was four wheel drive.
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  I had a four inch lift on it.
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  It was, I.
• 6:00
  Super capable of getting me out there.
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  And you know, I definitely came across a bunch of different, more
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  RV manufactured vehicles that were, in my opinion, put together poorly.
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  And I traveled with my grandparents when I was younger in their 40 foot rv,
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  and I'm sitting in a van right now that doesn't have a generator, that doesn't
• 6:19
  have a black tank, more of a all electric vehicle when it comes to running the ac.
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  Running the water pump, you don't gotta be plugged into campsite.
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  It was a stepping stone for most, and I just think that it was a
• 6:31
  great iteration into the camping world as far as being in a van.
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  But compared to where we are fast forwarding, like with most vehicles
• 6:40
  that we look at today, it pales in comparison to where the technology is.
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  And because when I think about the ultimate vehicle, and I owe homage to
• 6:50
  the West Felia, but I wanna be off.
• 6:53
  Right.
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  I want to be for season, I don't want my water to be freezing.
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  I wanna have a big enough battery system to be out there for weeks on end.
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  I wanna have solar panels and, and they didn't have those kind of concepts
• 7:05
  back when they created that, right?
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  It was just, Hey, here's a vehicle that you can sleep in and.
• 7:11
  Have a foot pump that shoots water out of the faucet, but it still wasn't there.
• 7:16
  And so like me, and there's a couple other companies out there that have really
• 7:20
  kind of pushed it as far as electronics go, but a functional standpoint, stuff
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  not rattling, going down the road, not having to have a gasoline generator
• 7:29
  running off the back and annoying everybody else in the campground.
• 7:32
  So, Definitely homage to the West Felia, but at this point, like comparing a Mazda
• 7:38
  Miata versus a Porsche nine 11 turbo.
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  You know what I mean?
• 7:41
  Yeah.
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  So much different world now, and I'm excited with all of the technology that
• 7:47
  has come out today because until I.
• 7:49
  10 years ago, there was never a battery that could keep you off
• 7:52
  grid for, you know, a week or two.
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  There wasn't the solar capacity that you could put on top of a camper van
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  that could, you know, recharge your batteries the way that you wanted to.
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  So there is finally now a foundation to where you can actually really
• 8:05
  get out there for the real people that like to travel and be on the
• 8:09
  road for extended periods of time.
• 8:11
  Everything exists in order to do that.
• 8:13
  You know, I think all of this experience that I went through from the pit, my
• 8:17
  ride kind of exhaust, subwoofers, rims, tires, suspensions, all this really led
• 8:22
  up to the confidence of me being able to start my own company and being able
• 8:26
  to modify a brand new, at the time, 2016 Sprinter and cutting holes in the
• 8:32
  side of it, and so on and so forth.
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  Yeah, so I, I think all of it played an inspiration of where I'm
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  at today, the love that I have for taking something like a Ford or a
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  Dodge or a Mercedes from this stock.
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  Not very exciting vehicle to turning it into something
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  that is much more capable of.
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  Whatever it is that you're trying to do, but when you make modifications to it, it
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  makes it unique to the person that you're working for or unique to who you are.
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  All of it was an inspiration.
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  My life ever since I first started driving when I was 16, my first job again was
• 9:06
  for, you know, an auto manufacturer that kind of made modifications to vehicles
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  and that's always been a love of mine.
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  So, There's not one specific point in my life where I can say, oh, that
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  was the inspiration, but it's really been a multiple event that's led me
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  to where I'm at today, and it gave me the confidence to be one of the
• 9:24
  top five builders in the country.
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  You mentioned in the early days, you know, there's a lot of D
• 9:29
  I y, a lot of figuring it out.
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  Probably a lot of trial and error, but then you hooked up
• 9:32
  with this automotive manufacturer.
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  Did you find yourself becoming a fabricator?
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  Did you go formally through training or schooling to do this kind of stuff, or did
• 9:41
  you sort of just figure it out over time?
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  You know, I've always been torn between schooling and street smarts.
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  The short answer is I figured it out on my own.
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  I.
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  Laying down beads of welding or hooking up electrical systems and learning
• 9:54
  my lessons on where I went wrong.
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  So I'm really a self-taught person that was able to quickly learn from
• 10:01
  my mistakes and become a really well-versed jack of all trades, where
• 10:06
  I know how to be a fine woodworker.
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  I know how to be a master electrician, um, as they would say a master of none,
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  but really good at just about everything.
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  I really pride myself on the kind of knowledge that I've taken in over the
• 10:19
  course that I've been ever since I was young of just being able to do what I do.
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  Never went to a formal school.
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  I went to a community college for a while.
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  Did a year or two at University of Maryland, but it wasn't for me.
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  I just wanted to kind of be out.
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  In the thick of it, just learning on the streets and actually putting down my foot
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  to what I specifically wanted to learn.
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  And for me, school was almost a diversion, kind of just being
• 10:45
  where I wanted to be already.
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  You mentioned growing up in Annapolis, which is the capital
• 10:49
  of our fine state of Maryland.
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  So I gotta ask a very Maryland centric question.
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  What high school did you go to?
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  I went to Srna Park High School.
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  There you go.
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  There you go.
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  Yeah.
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  Yep.
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  Srna Park.
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  Grew up in Annapolis for a long time.
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  That's where all my family's at, and I spent 28 years in
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  Maryland and never, ever left.
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  So that's where a lot of my roots have been put down.
• 11:09
  Being a van guy, what's the best van in your opinion?
• 11:13
  Well, you know, there's really only three vans on the market that could really,
• 11:17
  in my opinion, ever be considered.
• 11:19
  It's the.
• 11:20
  Mercedes Sprinter, the Ford Transit and the Dodge Pro Master, and really the
• 11:26
  Dodge Pro Master, I don't even offer to build on because it just strictly doesn't
• 11:32
  have four wheel drive or all wheel drive.
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  So it's like building on a foundation that just can't handle the adventure that.
• 11:40
  I seek and our clients seek.
• 11:41
  So really it narrows it down to two, which is the Mercedes Sprinter and
• 11:45
  the Ford Transit because both of these vehicles, just like a home, have a
• 11:49
  very solid foundation in, in terms of solid foundation, I mean a really good
• 11:54
  chassis, but a chassis that offers the ability to be able to get you out there
• 11:57
  into those dispersed campgrounds to get deep to where nobody's at, because.
• 12:02
  I don't want to be at the KOAs.
• 12:04
  I'm not a blacktop type of guy, so my ultimate favorite and what I'm
• 12:07
  in now and what I had a choice to choose from is the Mercedes Sprinter.
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  When I think about the vehicle that I chose, I think about ground clearance.
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  I think about aftermarket accessibility.
• 12:17
  I think about all these different factors.
• 12:19
  That go into getting ready to spend 50 to a hundred thousand
• 12:23
  dollars on converting this vehicle.
• 12:25
  And in my opinion, German engineering has been a really
• 12:29
  solid foundation to build on.
• 12:31
  And so the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is definitely my favorite.
• 12:37
  My guys that I work with, favorite and a fan favorite of
• 12:41
  most of the clients that we get.
• 12:42
  This is actually a really great segue into talking about your build process
• 12:47
  and what that entails for folks that are interested in getting into quote
• 12:51
  unquote camper Van Life or Van Life.
• 12:53
  You know, we all know that this exploded during c I d, you know, you couldn't get.
• 12:56
  An RV or an Airstream or anything.
• 12:58
  It's very, very difficult and the prices went through the roof.
• 13:01
  Looking at what you guys do at Boulder Camper Vans, is this what I like to
• 13:04
  call B Y O V, which is bring your own van, in this case, a sprinter, a
• 13:09
  pro master, or so on down the line.
• 13:11
  How does it all work?
• 13:12
  So, yeah, it's definitely a B Y O V for sure.
• 13:16
  Since the beginning of our company, we've never supplied the van.
• 13:19
  There's so many different options out there when it comes to just the two
• 13:22
  chassis that I'm really talking about, which is the Ford and the Mercedes.
• 13:26
  There's low roof, medium roof.
• 13:28
  High roof in both versions of the Mercedes Sprinter and the Ford Transit.
• 13:33
  There's the 1 44, which is the shortest Mercedes, the one
• 13:37
  70 and the one 70 extended.
• 13:39
  Then there's 15 different colors and there's leather seats versus having
• 13:43
  navigation and different safety features.
• 13:45
  So it really doesn't make sense for us as a company to have 10 random bands
• 13:50
  sitting on the lot that we're not gonna know if it fits the person's build.
• 13:53
  So do you guys have any like preferences for like gas or diesel
• 13:57
  chassis or two-wheel or all-wheel drive chassis, or is it whatever the
• 14:01
  customer decides and brings to you?
• 14:03
  Out of all the vans that I've ever done, I've only built on
• 14:06
  one two-wheel drive vehicle.
• 14:08
  It just doesn't make any sense to me, especially being out in the
• 14:12
  state of Colorado to build a van.
• 14:15
  On a two-wheel drive, you're very limited on what you can do
• 14:19
  when you've got two-wheel drive.
• 14:20
  Got a lot of clients that want to go skiing, they want to go deep offroading,
• 14:24
  and between the ground clearance of a two-wheel drive vehicle and the
• 14:28
  drivetrain, it just doesn't make sense.
• 14:30
  So I stay super hyperfocused and 99% of our stuff is four-wheel drive or all
• 14:35
  wheel drive and the Mercedes Sprinter and the Ford Transit just because.
• 14:39
  Our company believes in building on a solid foundation, and really that comes
• 14:45
  from the drive train of the vehicle, and the Ford Transit and the Mercedes
• 14:49
  sprinters are the only ones that offer all-wheel drive or full wheel drive.
• 14:54
  I think that our clients have a sense for that, and that's
• 14:56
  what we're geared towards.
• 14:58
  Yes, I would build it on a two-wheel drive vehicle.
• 15:00
  I've done it very rarely.
• 15:01
  I wouldn't turn somebody away, but I think that after the initial
• 15:05
  conversation, they understand the importance of having all-wheel drive
• 15:09
  or four-wheel drive, especially being out here in the state of Colorado.
• 15:13
  Say one of our listeners here's this and is like, you know what?
• 15:16
  This is something I'd be interesting, but they have no
• 15:17
  clue about the different vans.
• 15:19
  Do you guys offer like a consultation call where you would get input from them
• 15:22
  of what they're looking to do and give recommendations of what chassis to go by?
• 15:26
  Absolutely.
• 15:27
  So yeah, a lot of the initial conversations, people haven't
• 15:30
  even researched the vans yet.
• 15:32
  They don't have a van, they don't know about the vans, and so most certainly go
• 15:36
  through a spec sheet of some of the things that we find as qualities and pros in
• 15:41
  vans to build on that foundation and then send them out and make recommendations on
• 15:47
  where they could go to find these chassis.
• 15:49
  We ask them to obtain the chassis, whatever chassis they want, and they can
• 15:53
  deal with the dealership at that point in regards to what chassis they want.
• 15:56
  And then they either have the van shipped to us or they will buy it locally and
• 16:01
  we'll just go pick it up from, you know, a dealership that's 20 minutes away.
• 16:05
  They obtain the cha and that obviously can be done with cash or just financing
• 16:09
  the vehicle like a regular vehicle.
• 16:11
  They come in with the initial conversation and asking us some questions, and if
• 16:15
  they like us, we ask 'em to put that on deposit of five grand and that five grand
• 16:19
  goes towards their invoice when we start.
• 16:20
  But we keep a super tight schedule, right?
• 16:22
  We're currently booked out right now until April of next year with custom
• 16:27
  builds specifically to each client.
• 16:29
  So we'll have a design meeting, we'll do CAD drawings.
• 16:33
  We have our engineer there.
• 16:34
  We have me there, we have our ordering specialist there so they can put all these
• 16:39
  things together after we talk to them.
• 16:41
  It usually takes anywhere from about hour and a half to two and a half
• 16:44
  hours of talking about, Hey, where do you want your kitchen galley, or What
• 16:49
  exterior components are you looking for?
• 16:50
  What type of floor?
• 16:51
  And so we choose all these different materials that at
• 16:54
  that point, once we know what.
• 16:55
  We're looking for, we'll put it into a very high-end CAD drawing
• 16:59
  that almost look very realistic.
• 17:01
  So we have a proprietary software that we use that allows us to give them
• 17:05
  very good visuals to make sure that we're all on the same page, they're
• 17:08
  getting ready to spend a decent amount of money, and they wanna make sure
• 17:11
  that the person that they're building with has a really good understanding
• 17:14
  and ideal on what they're wanting.
• 17:16
  Not only between the visuals down to you can see the wood grain and the wood,
• 17:20
  and the faucets, and the knobs and the floor and the rims, and you know, we
• 17:24
  also provide them with blueprints, more of your flat page blueprints that you'd
• 17:29
  see when you're building a house that shows, hey, here's how big this room
• 17:32
  is, here's how big this cabinet is, here's the space between the hallway.
• 17:36
  And so they have a really good.
• 17:38
  Understanding that we understand what they want down to the eighth inch.
• 17:43
  So after we have their design meeting, we get their blueprints to them.
• 17:47
  They sign off on their blueprints.
• 17:48
  Then that's when we make the invoice.
• 17:50
  And because we're a custom company and not a model-based
• 17:53
  company, that's when that happens.
• 17:55
  Right?
• 17:55
  We don't understand everything you want until we're done with that design meeting.
• 17:59
  Now we can make your invoice and you know, most of our invoices fall
• 18:02
  in between the a hundred K to 180 range as far as the work that we do.
• 18:07
  You know, there's three different places that a camper van
• 18:09
  company could put themselves.
• 18:11
  Really low end build, middle end, and then high end.
• 18:15
  And I've just always been an automotive guy and really appreciate Good.
• 18:19
  Quality components, good engineering behind the components that I pick,
• 18:23
  and in, in most cases, that costs more money in order to get that quality.
• 18:27
  We are definitely in the high end, not always necessarily financially, but
• 18:33
  just in the high end of the way and the style and the components and the
• 18:37
  craftsmanship that we do behind our vans.
• 18:40
  So the client will then make a 75% deposit on their invoice three
• 18:45
  months prior to us starting because.
• 18:48
  We don't just keep inventory, right, for the more basic stuff we do, but we've
• 18:52
  gotta order all those things specifically for the client three months in advance.
• 18:56
  Because some things take eight to 12 weeks to get.
• 18:59
  So we wanna make sure everything that's landed before we start the van,
• 19:02
  so we're not waiting for things that disrupts the delivery date of the van.
• 19:06
  Now, when you guys are doing the build out process, do you guys
• 19:09
  offer the option of like, say some.
• 19:12
  Pictures and stuff of the process for the owners to see the progress as it goes,
• 19:16
  or is it a surprise when they show up?
• 19:18
  To see it all done?
• 19:19
  It takes us about anywhere from two to three months to build a van.
• 19:22
  A lot of our clients are all over the country and sometimes outta the country,
• 19:25
  and so client comes and they get.
• 19:28
  Photos, or they come into the shop and they see every entire process, which we're
• 19:32
  proud of between, uh, the wiring or the insulation or the floor or the wall panels
• 19:37
  or the furniture being built so they can really feel confident about every layer.
• 19:41
  We understand that this client wants to see the process, so every two weeks.
• 19:46
  We take snapshots and videos or FaceTime and keeping them highly involved.
• 19:51
  So you know, if we're midway through the build and they're seeing
• 19:55
  something that they might wanna change, we're able to do that.
• 19:58
  And that's because we're not taking on too much, we're not growing too
• 20:02
  fast to, we're able to concentrate on satisfying that client.
• 20:06
  That's been our MO and the reason why we've got the reviews that we have and.
• 20:10
  The reason why we crank out the vans that we do is because we stay super
• 20:15
  concentrated on quality our client and what they want, and giving them the
• 20:20
  capability of, you know, it's not always fun, but making changes midway through.
• 20:24
  But that's why we work with those type of clients, and that's why the
• 20:27
  clients work with us is because just like there's plenty of people that
• 20:30
  want to build custom homes out there.
• 20:32
  We're the very last builder out there that builds to the quality
• 20:35
  that we do that would be willing to give it to you the exactly the way
• 20:39
  that you want it to be given to you.
• 20:41
  Very nice.
• 20:41
  Then they come pick up their van and there's obviously a tour of that and
• 20:44
  a lot of excitement and manuals that are handed over, and obviously the
• 20:48
  rest of the 25% payment that they owe.
• 20:50
  And when you're meeting with a customer and everything after they buy one, do
• 20:53
  you give them like a list of recommended maintenance and things like that for
• 20:56
  them to do to help keep the van in good quality as far as what we do?
• 21:00
  Yes.
• 21:01
  But most of that maintenance comes from Mercedes or Ford Oil changes and rotating
• 21:06
  your tires and luing up the transmission.
• 21:09
  All that comes from Ford or Mercedes.
• 21:11
  But as in regards to winterization and maintaining your batteries and maintaining
• 21:17
  the things that we do in the house portion of the vehicle, yeah, we give
• 21:20
  them a ton of education when it comes to that so they can make sure the thing
• 21:24
  is all tuned and lubed and ready to go.
• 21:26
  So Dan brings up a really good and interesting point
• 21:29
  if you're buying a new van.
• 21:30
  It's gonna be under factory warranty.
• 21:32
  Does any of the work you do in any way void the factory warranty or does
• 21:37
  Mercedes and Ford accept what's being done to the van and say, you know what?
• 21:41
  We're not really messing with the drivetrain.
• 21:43
  We're not messing with the engine.
• 21:44
  So the warranty is still in place 99.9% of the time.
• 21:48
  We don't mess with any of the factory components of the vehicle just because
• 21:53
  most of the vehicles that we get are pretty much fresh off the lot.
• 21:57
  There's still that factory warranty and we don't wanna mess with that.
• 21:59
  And if there's any issues that arise throughout the process, we
• 22:03
  handle it very professionally.
• 22:05
  We've got a one year warranty like most RVs do, but we offer a three year
• 22:09
  upgrade warranty for seven grand that you can put down that will cover your.
• 22:14
  Everything that we do for another three years on top of what you have,
• 22:17
  just to make the client feel confident that they've got that coverage and if
• 22:20
  anything happens, but our service bays are very slow just because we don't
• 22:24
  have a ton of issues, just because we take the time to do everything right,
• 22:28
  so we can avoid having anything coming back to us after an individual buys it.
• 22:32
  You guys also are basically tech support as well, it seems like.
• 22:35
  Oh yeah, absolutely.
• 22:37
  You know, think about all these different manufacturers.
• 22:39
  They got service base for a reason.
• 22:41
  Even these high quality manufacturers, there are things that go wrong
• 22:45
  and people that need things done, and so no different for us.
• 22:49
  Every van that we put out there, Is potential for that person
• 22:53
  needing assistance on something.
• 22:55
  So yeah, we most certainly offer tech support and I really think
• 22:59
  that's where people appreciate us.
• 23:01
  You know, I had some clients come in today, we've had their van for over a
• 23:05
  year now, and we only offer a one year warranty, but they left water in their
• 23:09
  water lines throughout the winter.
• 23:11
  They didn't winterize their van properly and they kind of fully admitted to that.
• 23:15
  And some of these water lines had busted.
• 23:17
  Took me about 45 minutes to replace some of these water lines.
• 23:21
  Like, oh, what do we owe you?
• 23:22
  And I'm like, man, don't worry about it.
• 23:24
  As it stands right now and been operating for, how is I long?
• 23:27
  That goes a really long way by not saying, oh, well that
• 23:30
  costs you three or 400 bucks.
• 23:32
  You know?
• 23:32
  It's all about putting a good taste in your mouth, creating a good quality
• 23:36
  van, and understanding and dealing with that person on an individual
• 23:40
  basis like they made a mistake.
• 23:41
  Definitely because that's something they're gonna tell all their friends and
• 23:44
  people I know about and every place they go camping, positive word like that is
• 23:48
  huge and customer service is a huge thing.
• 23:50
  Yeah.
• 23:50
  Yeah.
• 23:50
  And, and you know, not necessarily my intention when I do that, but just because
• 23:55
  that's how I'd want it done for me.
• 23:56
  So I operate this company based on how I'd want to be treated and
• 24:00
  how I'd want to be understood.
• 24:02
  So do I understand that that comes full circle?
• 24:05
  Absolutely.
• 24:05
  I don't do it with the intent of anything coming back to me, but I understand that.
• 24:10
  It feels good when somebody takes care of you that way, and hopefully again,
• 24:14
  it comes full circle to just him.
• 24:16
  Yeah, them telling a friend about it and then next thing you know, we could be
• 24:19
  getting a build out of it, which would be tenfold, but that's just how it goes.
• 24:24
  So let's switch gears a little bit.
• 24:25
  We've talked about how the vans are put together and how that process
• 24:30
  works, but let's talk a little bit more about some of the options that
• 24:33
  are available for these camper vans.
• 24:36
  When you guys do your builds, are there any modular items or removable items?
• 24:40
  Or I've seen some newer campers where they even have like grilling stations
• 24:44
  you can hook up outside and they that.
• 24:45
  Do you guys offer that sort of stuff with your builds as well?
• 24:48
  There's really nothing we can't do.
• 24:49
  Right.
• 24:50
  We've had people do, we've got these black boxes on the back doors that are about
• 24:54
  two to three feet wide by three feet tall.
• 24:58
  That where when you open it up, it drops down a shelf and there's
• 25:01
  a propane grill in the back.
• 25:03
  So yes, the capability of us being who we are, there's something,
• 25:08
  a new idea that a client has.
• 25:10
  That's where we get excited, right?
• 25:12
  Like we come across the guy like you that wants a little mini barbecue
• 25:16
  pit off the back, or a rooftop deck with a sun umbrella, take a kitchen
• 25:20
  deck out and put extra heats in.
• 25:22
  Have we done a smoker barbecue to pit off the back of the van?
• 25:26
  No.
• 25:26
  But next month, for the first time, we're doing a mobile tattoo studio in a van
• 25:32
  where it's got a shower where clients can clean up before their tattoo and it's
• 25:36
  got massage table that folds up in the against the wall or comes down so their
• 25:40
  clients can lay on and get their tattoos.
• 25:42
  It's got a ton of power in it so they can run their tattoo equipment and
• 25:47
  cool toolboxes that pull out with.
• 25:49
  All of their inks and their different needles.
• 25:52
  So not everything that we do is strictly for living in, we're
• 25:55
  working with different businesses, we're working with retailers.
• 25:59
  We've done all different sort of things where I can tell you from my
• 26:03
  perspective and my team's perspective, it makes us really excited to be
• 26:07
  challenged with something new.
• 26:09
  So if somebody came to us, And they wanted a mobile coffee shop or a mobile
• 26:13
  smokehouse, I'd be all in on that.
• 26:16
  'cause it's exciting to be challenged with different things and that's how we grow
• 26:20
  as a company and get the confidence to be able to take on anything is doing new
• 26:25
  things and new adventures and new vans.
• 26:28
  Like what sort of stuff is a common setup for like a bathroom and water and sinks
• 26:32
  and things like that within your builds?
• 26:33
  You know, from a water standpoint, we put all the water tanks.
• 26:36
  Inside the vehicle, which takes up just a little bit of space.
• 26:39
  But you know, I'm coming from a place to where it can get down in the
• 26:42
  single digits, and we offer up to 36 gallons of water on demand hot water
• 26:47
  systems, to where it's just constant hot water heating pads on everything.
• 26:53
  As far as the bathrooms go, we do outdoor showers off the back of
• 26:57
  the vehicle with a magnetic shower curtain when the back doors are open.
• 27:01
  But for those that like a little bit more privacy, we weld up a fully
• 27:05
  stainless steel aluminum enclosure.
• 27:08
  That goes into the van and, and it's got a nice teak floor in it,
• 27:12
  a toilet in it, a quick connect for the shower hose, a mixing valve, fan
• 27:17
  lights, and so it's a full wet bath.
• 27:19
  One of the biggest things that a builder has to be concerned
• 27:22
  with is any water getting out and ruining any, any, any of the stuff.
• 27:25
  Outside of the shower, so, and something that doesn't make noise.
• 27:28
  So when you get these kind of RV shower doors, they tend to
• 27:32
  rattle going down the road a lot.
• 27:34
  So this is why we kind of do this rollup shower door that then comes
• 27:37
  down with waterproof zippers and it's a pretty thick canvas type of material.
• 27:42
  We've definitely dialed in the indoor bathroom as far as camper fans go.
• 27:48
  You mentioned like instant heat.
• 27:49
  I'm assuming you guys are using some sort of like inline tankless heaters.
• 27:52
  Yeah, because anything that holds water, like a water tank that's in your house,
• 27:57
  it's just gonna freeze and and bust open.
• 27:59
  So yeah, tankless is the way to go.
• 28:01
  I agree with that.
• 28:02
  Even in houses too, vans aren't well known for being, let's see, insulated.
• 28:09
  How do you guys protect people from the elements when they're not just using
• 28:13
  this for the weekend and they, you know, park somewhere, you know, like
• 28:16
  you said, at a K O A or an asphalt, they pull out their tent and they're
• 28:19
  on the ground, that kind of thing.
• 28:20
  When you're really living out of it, how do you deal with extreme
• 28:23
  hot and extreme cold conditions?
• 28:25
  How are you modifying the van to take into account the weather?
• 28:29
  One of the biggest things that we tackle in really every van that we do, so
• 28:32
  it really starts with the insulation.
• 28:35
  We use all wool insulation, and it's stuffed in every little
• 28:41
  nook and cranny inside the van.
• 28:43
  Every little hole, every little opening, it's stuffed and wool's
• 28:47
  got a really great R value.
• 28:49
  So that's one of the first things that we do.
• 28:51
  Even when we put our wall panels on, there's foam, there's fabric, there's a
• 28:55
  vapor barrier that we put on the back of every wall panel that kind of keeps all
• 28:59
  that temperature change within the wall and not allowing it to come in the van.
• 29:03
  But then it comes to the components that we use.
• 29:07
  We use a rooftop AC unit, kind of like you see on some of the bigger RVs and stuff.
• 29:11
  We work with a really great company called Nomadic, which offers a 12 volt
• 29:16
  air conditioner that draws very low power that you can set the temperature on it,
• 29:20
  and it just like in your home, it comes on and off when it's supposed to in order
• 29:24
  to keep that temperature in the van.
• 29:25
  One of the big issues with an air conditioner is that when the sun is
• 29:30
  beating on it, if you're in Moab, it just, it itself is getting very hot,
• 29:35
  which it's trying to battle itself before it can even put cold air out.
• 29:39
  We mount solar panels above the ac, almost like an umbrella, which not only gives
• 29:44
  you an extra 200 watts of solar power, but also provides that shade for the air
• 29:49
  conditioner, so it's not overworking.
• 29:51
  So AC that can run off of the batteries for eight to 10 hours, constant.
• 29:58
  And then when you wake up the next morning, the sun comes out, you take
• 30:01
  a little couple hour drive to your next location, the batteries are fully
• 30:04
  recharged, and then you can run it again.
• 30:06
  And then when it comes to wintertime, we use a system that is tied
• 30:10
  into the diesel or the gasoline tank of the factory vehicle that
• 30:14
  pulls fuel from that gas tank.
• 30:17
  And then goes to about a football size combustion engine that heats up
• 30:21
  radiator fluid glycol, and then goes over into a radiator that a fan blows
• 30:27
  over and blows out super hot air.
• 30:30
  Depending upon the size of the vehicle, we'll put four or five vents in the
• 30:34
  vehicle that can easily keep it at 80 or 90 degrees in single digits.
• 30:39
  You know, we have the option of electric heater, but electric heat.
• 30:44
  Really draws a lot of power and this radiating style of heat draws very low
• 30:50
  power, but it's just about cycling that hot glycol through the radiator and having
• 30:56
  a small fan blow over it, which draws very low power, which is what our goal is
• 31:02
  in order to create that really warm van.
• 31:05
  What about individuals that have like disabilities?
• 31:07
  Do you guys have ways to cater to them to help them out?
• 31:09
  We just got done building a van for a gentleman that his wife had ms, and she
• 31:15
  really just couldn't move whatsoever.
• 31:18
  Had a really nice wheelchair lift that we put in very specific, even to cutting
• 31:23
  some of the dash and the Mercedes sprinter so she could get in there properly.
• 31:27
  But yes, we're more than happy and capable of helping people with disabilities.
• 31:34
  Not to be cheesy, but just because you have a disability doesn't
• 31:37
  mean that a van can't be built for you to still enjoy the outdoors.
• 31:41
  We've crossed that bridge a couple of times, not many, but the times
• 31:45
  that we have done it, our clients have been ecstatic and they are.
• 31:49
  Fully stoked on their van.
• 31:51
  They've been traveling, sending us pictures all the time, left us a really
• 31:54
  good review and it feels good to be able to even tackle for a person like that.
• 31:59
  With us being track rats and staying at the track is becoming more and more common
• 32:05
  because some tracks don't have hotels and stuff close by, and then guys who are
• 32:09
  like myself, don't like to pay for a hotel and waste of time going to a hotel and
• 32:12
  coming back to track following morning, something like your guys' build is ideal.
• 32:15
  Deal first us with your vehicles.
• 32:17
  Do you know what sort of like towing capacity they have to where they
• 32:19
  can pull a race car behind them?
• 32:21
  They can pull wake boarding boats, which are about 10,000 pounds, 12,000 pounds,
• 32:25
  and most certainly can pull a race car.
• 32:27
  If you're gonna be considering towing something, I would definitely go
• 32:30
  with a dually, which as you guys know, is the four wheels in the
• 32:34
  back because they have a stouter chassis and more towing capacity.
• 32:38
  So you know, if you guys or anybody is considering wanting to tow something,
• 32:43
  I would definitely look at the 35.
• 32:45
  Oh.
• 32:45
  Hundred xd, Mercedes Sprinter.
• 32:48
  It's just a much more stout suspension, much more beefier tires and more
• 32:53
  capability of towing power as well.
• 32:55
  So yeah, there's no doubt, especially how light race cars usually are and that
• 32:59
  it could pull a trailer in a race car.
• 33:01
  There's a lot of dirt bikes and stuff out your way.
• 33:04
  Do you guys have a lot of motocross type guys buying vans and stuff or
• 33:07
  going out to the tracks with those?
• 33:09
  We've built a couple of vans for some motocross people where, you
• 33:13
  know, a lot of these guys like to have a garage in the back of the van
• 33:16
  with all their moto equipment, their helmets hanging up, all their tools,
• 33:20
  extra tires, and so on and so forth.
• 33:22
  Not being a big part of our business building for motocross,
• 33:26
  but there's no doubt in my mind that we couldn't handle that.
• 33:29
  Just talking to the right person and going through their mind and what they see as
• 33:32
  a design, I'm confident that we have the skillset to build exactly what they want.
• 33:36
  That's awesome.
• 33:37
  So it seems like you guys are.
• 33:38
  Anything a customer comes to you with, you guys are trying to definitely
• 33:41
  make a way to make it happen, which is an awesome thing to hear.
• 33:44
  Yeah, I mean, well said, and we do make it happen.
• 33:47
  There's very few things that I'm not willing to do, but 99% of the time,
• 33:52
  let's just have a design meeting around what you're looking for.
• 33:55
  You know, like I said, show you those blueprints and if it's on par with what
• 33:59
  you think that you like, I wouldn't put into blueprints or CAD drawings to
• 34:04
  what I didn't think I couldn't design.
• 34:07
  So if they are happy with the blueprints and the CAD drawings that come back
• 34:11
  to them, it's within my wheelhouse.
• 34:13
  Not to be cocky or overconfident, but when I think of the skillset that I have
• 34:19
  and the people that I have on what we can do, there's really nothing we can't do.
• 34:23
  That's awesome.
• 34:24
  Now we gotta switch gears a little bit.
• 34:25
  Talk a little bit more about hashtag van life.
• 34:29
  On a previous episode of Break Fix, we had former touring car racer
• 34:32
  Joey Jordan iv, talk about his Epic 35,000 mile journey from Los Angeles
• 34:38
  to Patagonia, which he did in a van.
• 34:40
  It wasn't a sprinter and it wasn't a ProMaster and it wasn't a transit, it
• 34:43
  wasn't a Westie or anything like that.
• 34:46
  He actually imported a Toyota High Ace from Japan sight unseen after doing
• 34:50
  some research because he realized, especially going to South America, that
• 34:53
  the high ace is one of these vehicles.
• 34:55
  That parts were plentiful pretty much everywhere, but in North America.
• 34:58
  He talked about the trials and tribulations that he went through on this
• 35:02
  journey, how the terrain was, how rough it was, you know, ending up in, you know,
• 35:06
  jungles to deserts and all, everything in between as he made this journey.
• 35:10
  And so when you really prep these builds for, let's say more extreme
• 35:15
  adventures, the people are really getting out in the middle of nowhere.
• 35:18
  What are you doing?
• 35:19
  What are some of the recommendations?
• 35:21
  What about suspension mods, tire mods, things like that.
• 35:24
  How do you take the van, especially the sprinter, to the next level?
• 35:27
  The first and foremost is all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive.
• 35:31
  That's the first thing.
• 35:32
  So get a van that has that capability.
• 35:34
  The second thing is, is that.
• 35:37
  We have a partnership with Fox Shocks where there's not ever
• 35:42
  been a van that has left our shop without a suspension upgrade.
• 35:47
  Not only to be able to really ride good going down the road with all the
• 35:52
  weight that we put in it, but still being able to have that capability of
• 35:56
  handling some really gnarly terrain.
• 35:59
  Suspension, most certainly.
• 36:02
  And suspension means for us.
• 36:04
  You know, you've got your factory shocks up front.
• 36:06
  We switch those out, but then we add a secondary shock up front.
• 36:10
  So if you look at any of our vehicles, you've got two shocks
• 36:14
  on the front, wheels on each side.
• 36:16
  So we up that dampening on.
• 36:19
  Both the front and the rear.
• 36:21
  We upgrade the rear with fox shocks and all of these are adjustable, so
• 36:25
  they have like mode one, two, and three right on the shock itself for
• 36:29
  hard, medium, soft, and then in the rear we upgrade the leaf springs, and
• 36:34
  I'm sure you guys know what those are.
• 36:36
  Also controlling some of the dampening and being able to hold the vehicle.
• 36:41
  Depending upon the weight that you put in the vehicle is the weight of
• 36:44
  the leaf springs and how many leaf springs that you put in that vehicle,
• 36:47
  and it also gives it about a two, two and a half inch lift as well.
• 36:51
  So the sprinter typically sits about 16 inches off the ground, up to
• 36:57
  almost 20 inches off the ground, just depending upon what you're doing.
• 37:00
  But then on top of that, we've used BF Goodrich all-terrain tires,
• 37:05
  which have just been really godsend for us as far as no road noise.
• 37:09
  Really good traction and snow mud, really, whatever situation you throw at them.
• 37:14
  So we've been putting those on since the very beginning.
• 37:17
  That's what I've got on my vehicle and I've never been stuck.
• 37:20
  You know, I've got the winch just in case that happens, which is another
• 37:23
  part of recovery process is having a winch on the front of the vehicle.
• 37:27
  Because if you're out in the middle of nowhere and you gotta get towed
• 37:29
  out, that could cost you a grand getting towed outta the woods.
• 37:32
  But, You know, a wench could easily save you that money for sure.
• 37:36
  There's not really much more than you can do other than changing the
• 37:39
  entire derive train, but that's just not something you mess with.
• 37:42
  And in this particular instance, if you're really gonna go extreme, is this where you
• 37:47
  would say diesel is really the way to go?
• 37:49
  Being able to go longer distances between Phillips diesel versus gas?
• 37:53
  It's 300 miles to 300 miles, whatever you're getting in your gas tank.
• 37:58
  For some people, diesel can be a little bit more scarce actually, right?
• 38:03
  When you're traveling in the middle of nowhere, you might
• 38:05
  not be able to find diesel.
• 38:07
  I personally have had diesel.
• 38:09
  My entire van, life, for the most part, have had not many issues because most
• 38:13
  of my travel has been within the us.
• 38:15
  Personally, why I like diesel, and maybe what you mean is that there's
• 38:19
  this preconceived notion that diesel operated engines, you can push
• 38:24
  those into 300, 400, 500,000 miles.
• 38:28
  That's why I'm a big fan of it, because unfortunately, at the
• 38:32
  end of the day, You're making an investment onto something that will
• 38:36
  eventually not be working anymore.
• 38:39
  Like at some point you're gonna have to replace the entire engine.
• 38:43
  So I think if you want to get the most longevity out of your investment
• 38:48
  and your investment is only as good as the engine is on the vehicle, then
• 38:53
  diesel is the way to go for the build.
• 38:54
  You guys have done like the EV upgrades for the off grid living.
• 38:58
  What sort of stuff have you to install them?
• 39:00
  You know, so we use a company called Viron.
• 39:02
  Viron is really the Apple iPhone of battery systems, not
• 39:06
  only from a visual standpoint.
• 39:08
  That's very little to do with it, but I'll start with that is
• 39:11
  everything's this really cool blue color, really nicely designed.
• 39:15
  Everything's Bluetooth and communicates really well together.
• 39:19
  Some really proprietary stuff like.
• 39:22
  When you go to plug your iPhone in, you've gotta use an iPhone cord.
• 39:25
  And some might find that annoying.
• 39:27
  But Viron is the company again, and they offer the batteries.
• 39:30
  They offer the solar panels, they offer the solar charge controllers,
• 39:34
  they offer the alternator charging.
• 39:36
  So when you're driving, it charges the batteries in the back, or God forbid
• 39:39
  you can't start your car, you can hit in a button on the side of the seat and
• 39:42
  it'll take power from the batteries in the back and jump your battery up front.
• 39:46
  You can be looking at their system and say, Hey, you know,
• 39:49
  I've got my starlink running.
• 39:50
  I got my fridge running, I got my laptop plugged in, and it's to the the watt
• 39:54
  of, Hey, depending upon your usage, you can survive like this for 10 days, six
• 40:00
  hours, six minutes, and six seconds.
• 40:02
  It's a very intuitive system that I think is very tech forward.
• 40:06
  They're sending out updates every week just to make sure that everything
• 40:10
  is up to snuff when it comes to.
• 40:12
  Coexisting together between all of the equipment.
• 40:14
  So as far as EV goes, you know, viron in my opinion is the best.
• 40:19
  I have got it in my van right now, but you know, as far as what I'm looking forward
• 40:23
  to, the future is an all electric van.
• 40:26
  And you're seeing these different Amazon vans going around that are all
• 40:29
  electric, but the only issue currently right now is they're around town.
• 40:32
  Right.
• 40:32
  Right.
• 40:33
  Screening, they can go from point A to point B and just kind of do small
• 40:37
  little circuits around town, but they don't have the capability of being
• 40:41
  able to do a 3, 4, 5, 600 mile trip.
• 40:45
  You know, because they're carrying around boxes and packages.
• 40:47
  We're talking about in our vans, 36 gallons of water, big
• 40:51
  battery systems, furniture, fridges, and so on and so forth.
• 40:54
  So they would die out even faster.
• 40:56
  So the technology is really not there yet as far as electronic
• 40:59
  fans go, or electric fans go.
• 41:01
  Mercedes really has the leading edge as far as technology, safety,
• 41:05
  equipment, aftermarket stability, so Mercedes-Benz definitely takes the cake.
• 41:11
  You mentioned how the technology advancements have helped out tremendously.
• 41:14
  What sort of batteries are you guys running in?
• 41:17
  So all lithium ion batteries and rarely, rarely have any issues with my batteries.
• 41:23
  I've had them in here for almost three years now.
• 41:26
  The same batteries.
• 41:27
  I've got a ton of stuff.
• 41:28
  I never turn off my fridge In the wintertime, I've
• 41:30
  always got my heater running.
• 41:31
  I've got an induction cooktop, I got a coffee maker, got my laptop plugged in.
• 41:35
  I've got starlink running and I have never been to a campsite to where
• 41:39
  I've had to be plugged in or having a generator running, so, or their size.
• 41:44
  They're probably 10 inches wide by six inches in depth by 10 inches in
• 41:49
  height, and they're packing 200 amp hours in each battery, which is.
• 41:53
  Massive.
• 41:54
  And we're typically putting three or four of those in each camper van.
• 41:58
  They're all Bluetooth capable.
• 42:00
  So you can log into every piece of equipment in this battery system.
• 42:04
  Okay, how are my batteries doing?
• 42:06
  What are the temperatures of my batteries?
• 42:07
  Well, how much solar am I getting?
• 42:09
  How many watts of power am I using with all the stuff that I have on in my van?
• 42:13
  So, For people that are techie, much like myself, they kind of like
• 42:16
  to dive into this data and look at that, but it's also for the average
• 42:21
  consumer to where they make it really easy to understand and look at.
• 42:24
  Not only is there a five inch touchscreen in the van that kind of
• 42:27
  gives you all this information, but you can also do it from your phone,
• 42:30
  from their app that they've designed.
• 42:32
  To me, the personal experience of using this equipment has really given me the
• 42:36
  confidence to be able to consistently put this in the vans that I'm building.
• 42:41
  There's other things you have to think about when you're living in a van
• 42:44
  long-term like you're doing yourself.
• 42:46
  So are there any tips and tricks that you can share with folks?
• 42:49
  Things that maybe they haven't?
• 42:50
  Thought about or maybe you're constantly reminding a new buyer that they should
• 42:54
  be thinking about or adding, just like you said, like having a winch on the
• 42:57
  front, some recovery gear, things like that that they may have not considered
• 43:01
  when they're stepping into this van life.
• 43:03
  When I think about Van Life, I think about understanding the limitations of.
• 43:10
  What the van can do.
• 43:12
  Don't use a ton of water quickly.
• 43:14
  Wash your hands.
• 43:15
  Use paper plates that you can burn in a fire so you don't have to use
• 43:18
  water to wash all your silverware.
• 43:20
  Use biodegraded silverware.
• 43:22
  Think about your, your waste, having to clean stuff so
• 43:25
  you're not wasting your water.
• 43:27
  Think about using low voltage equipment so you're not pulling a ton of power.
• 43:31
  It really comes.
• 43:33
  With your off-grid capability and being able to limit your consumption
• 43:37
  of both battery power and water.
• 43:39
  'cause there's no really tips and tricks when it comes to furniture, right?
• 43:43
  And even though the technology has gotten much more forward than what it
• 43:47
  was back in the day, you still have to be very self-consciously aware of.
• 43:53
  Where your batteries are at, how much power you're pulling.
• 43:56
  And so other than the simple fact of just living in a small space and downsizing
• 44:02
  the things that you own, which my wife and I have done a very good job of
• 44:08
  understanding the limitations, what a van has to offer, but appreciating.
• 44:13
  Those limitations at the same time.
• 44:15
  So when it comes to a wench, I most certainly recommend that when
• 44:19
  it comes to having a suspension and making an all electric vehicle
• 44:23
  versus having propane that could leak and kill you in your sleep.
• 44:27
  Yeah, I, I most certainly recommend that, but personally, I.
• 44:30
  I don't like an indoor shower because it takes up a ton of space to something.
• 44:33
  I'm only using 10 minutes every other day, so I'd rather have a little
• 44:37
  mini pullout toilet, which I have right here sitting underneath me.
• 44:41
  You can't see it.
• 44:41
  It looks like it's a drawer, but a toilet pulls out.
• 44:44
  I use it in front of my girl if I have to.
• 44:46
  Not a big deal.
• 44:48
  I'd rather shower off the back in nature if it's freezing cold out.
• 44:52
  So what?
• 44:52
  I'm under hot water.
• 44:54
  I'll hop back in the van real quick.
• 44:55
  The water's going onto the ground.
• 44:57
  I'm not filling up any grade tanks or anything like that.
• 45:00
  Everybody's a little different in regards to their capability
• 45:05
  of being in a small space.
• 45:08
  It can be a challenge for a lot of people, right?
• 45:10
  I've had a ton of people that have come to me like, oh man, if I spent.
• 45:13
  A week with my wife in a van, we'd be done.
• 45:16
  Or I've had also people come to me and say, man, you know, if I could
• 45:20
  get out on the road with my wife and travel for weeks, we would thrive.
• 45:24
  You bring up a really valid point.
• 45:25
  The Sprinter in this case becomes basically a rolling tiny house as you're
• 45:30
  describing what's in there with you.
• 45:32
  It does take up a lot of room, you know.
• 45:34
  And you guys carefully measure everything out to maximize the amount of storage and,
• 45:38
  and all those things and the people space.
• 45:40
  And it makes me wonder though, if you are living out of the van
• 45:43
  itself, how does sleeping work?
• 45:45
  How are those arrangements?
• 45:47
  How many people can you sleep in the van and how comfortable is it?
• 45:50
  So I'm in the smallest they make.
• 45:53
  I've got a bed in the rear sideways sleeping my head on the driver's side,
• 45:58
  feet going towards the passenger side, and that can sleep up to somebody
• 46:02
  that's about six five in height.
• 46:04
  Also work with a company called Luno, L U N O.
• 46:07
  That makes a really cool inflatable mattress that goes up in the front cab
• 46:12
  where the driver and passenger seat are.
• 46:14
  I can sleep up to three in my van, legit.
• 46:17
  Of course, there's a hallway.
• 46:19
  There's a space in the garage underneath the bed where somebody could sleep.
• 46:22
  I mean, I've had a rack of people in here, but legitimately three
• 46:27
  most of the time, just two.
• 46:29
  And the bigger vans, because they get six and seven feet longer in
• 46:33
  the sprinter van than what I have.
• 46:35
  You can sleep up to five because there's pop tops that where you can crawl
• 46:40
  through the ceiling, like the West Felia pop top camper on the top of the van.
• 46:44
  So there's two up there, two in the bed in the back, and then the
• 46:47
  one bed that goes up in the front, up in the cab where you drive at.
• 46:51
  You can sleep up to a family of five seat, five sleep, five, have a kitchen
• 46:56
  galley, have a bathroom, and some of these bigger vans that we've done.
• 47:00
  When you guys do that and deal with a customer, does it have to be a brand new
• 47:03
  van they bring to you or are you guys willing to convert older vans as well?
• 47:07
  75% of our business has been new vans, but the other 25%, somebody will have
• 47:13
  something that's already built out or they bought from another builder or they.
• 47:16
  Bought from some di Iy backyard Billy that's built this van and
• 47:20
  will most certainly help 'em out.
• 47:21
  Silly to not capitalize on people that want a la carte work done
• 47:26
  or to not work on our vans.
• 47:28
  It doesn't really change the mentality that we have just
• 47:32
  because it's an older van, right?
• 47:33
  The Sprinter and Ford chassis hasn't changed for almost 15 years.
• 47:38
  It doesn't really bother us.
• 47:40
  We're most certainly willing to work on older vans or vans that have already
• 47:44
  been converted and having to do some demo to make it more up to snuff.
• 47:49
  Like we just had a client come in last week that had a 2015
• 47:53
  Mercedes sprinter that was built out and he just wasn't happy.
• 47:56
  Stuff was rattling going down the road, and we came up with a game
• 47:59
  plan to remove some old things and put some new tech in, and some new
• 48:03
  furniture in and kind of updated.
• 48:05
  Is there a market out there for used vans?
• 48:08
  Yeah, there most certainly is.
• 48:09
  Absolutely.
• 48:10
  You know, if you go on RV Trader or Van Life Trader or even check out
• 48:15
  our website, we do consignment vans.
• 48:18
  There most certainly is to the people that kind of want to get into this first line
• 48:24
  of experience to see how they enjoy it.
• 48:27
  And then, you know, we typically get those people that have already
• 48:31
  had the experience of RV our van life that now know what they want.
• 48:36
  They know exactly how they want it to be built.
• 48:38
  How does the market look right now for used vans and everything?
• 48:41
  I think it's pretty strong.
• 48:42
  Kind of stepping back a couple years ago when Covid was hitting and everybody was
• 48:47
  kind of diving into Van Life and all these people that were used to kind of traveling
• 48:52
  and doing all that first class stuff.
• 48:54
  They bought something and now that Covid has settled down, they're
• 48:58
  kind of coming into the market and selling some of those things.
• 49:00
  But I think the used camper van market, there's plenty to choose from out there.
• 49:06
  Like with the old Chevy and Ford conversion vans of like the eighties
• 49:08
  and nineties, that after a couple years, like lost their value.
• 49:11
  Do you think the new camper vans are maintaining value better?
• 49:15
  Back in the day, those Chevys and those old Ford vans, They've gone up in value.
• 49:20
  I just sold a old Chevy van that the guy paid 30 grand, 40, got $90,000 for it.
• 49:27
  I think it's the idea of having a converted van that draws the value up.
• 49:32
  Most of our clientele that have built a van that've actually sold it for
• 49:37
  more than what they've paid for it.
• 49:39
  Not only can you get what you put into it, but in some cases, depending upon
• 49:44
  the quality of the build, you could get more than what you paid for it.
• 49:48
  So I think that the market's really strong still in regards to not
• 49:53
  depreciating like other vehicles.
• 49:55
  Your regular vehicles go.
• 49:57
  We've talked a lot about your past.
• 49:59
  We covered the present van life, but now let's take a moment and talk about.
• 50:03
  What's next for Boulder Camper Vans?
• 50:05
  Brian, you got any spoilers?
• 50:06
  Anything you can tell us?
• 50:07
  What's on the horizon?
• 50:08
  Some new projects, something exciting that our audience should know that
• 50:11
  Boulder Camper Vans is embarking on.
• 50:13
  If I told you I'd have to kill you, but I'll tell you no.
• 50:18
  So.
• 50:19
  You know, a lot of our focus has been on just van chassis, but there has been some
• 50:25
  play and some ideas and some CAD drawings and some interest on box style vans where
• 50:32
  you buy a van that's got no rear on it and you do a box style of camper van, which
• 50:39
  gives you much more space to build within.
• 50:42
  Also there has been some talks of competing with or creating a Ford
• 50:50
  seven 50 and six 50 chassis into more of a extreme off-road rv.
• 50:57
  So yeah, I would definitely kind of be on the horizon in the next
• 51:00
  year or two of some of these bigger expedition vehicles coming out from us.
• 51:04
  Well with that, Brian, we've reached that part of the episode where we
• 51:08
  get to wrap up with any shout outs, promotions, or anything else you'd like
• 51:11
  to share that we didn't cover thus far.
• 51:13
  Automobiles and automobile engineering and automotive engineering have really
• 51:18
  been in my blood ever since I was a little kid, and so combining that with
• 51:24
  the adventure that I was super steeped in, it really just all came together in
• 51:28
  the inception of Boulder Camper vans.
• 51:30
  I wouldn't be where I'm at today without the team that I've got.
• 51:34
  So I really want to give a really big shout out to Reese, Mitch,
• 51:38
  Christian, Austin, Brooke, Maddie.
• 51:42
  You know, I'm only one guy.
• 51:43
  I am only one brain.
• 51:44
  So, you know, I think as a collective, we're a massive brain that makes
• 51:47
  everything happen the way that we do.
• 51:49
  Massive shout out to the team that I have.
• 51:52
  'cause I wouldn't be where I'm at today without the people and
• 51:55
  the love and the vibration that we have in the shop without them.
• 51:59
  We've got an event coming up where every month we do a vans and coffee.
• 52:04
  So for the local community set of cars and coffee, which I'm sure that you guys
• 52:08
  are very familiar with, we do a vans and coffee, we're doing donuts and coffee and.
• 52:13
  D i y builds come out, other van builders come out, and it's just
• 52:18
  nothing but love for the van community.
• 52:22
  We work with a bunch of really other good companies, Dometic, which we've
• 52:26
  got a giveaway coming out for one of their really cool 12 volt coolers
• 52:30
  to where you could travel in your vehicle or travel in your camper van.
• 52:33
  So Dometic a really big partner of ours, and we're giving a
• 52:37
  giveaway to about a $1,200 cooler.
• 52:39
  Check out our Instagram profile for that.
• 52:41
  Agile offroad, Cali Bamboo, isotherm fridges.
• 52:46
  We're hiring now, so if there's anybody out there that's in the
• 52:49
  Boulder area or Denver area, or somebody that wants to create some
• 52:53
  really badass fans, we're hiring.
• 52:55
  We're looking for woodworkers, electricians, plumbers, all
• 52:58
  these different kind of people.
• 53:00
  You're into a job.
• 53:01
  Yeah.
• 53:01
  Come check us out.
• 53:02
  Boulder Camper Vans is a completely custom, highly detailed camper van
• 53:06
  conversion company, probably based in Boulder, Colorado since 2016.
• 53:10
  Interested in learning more about how to convert your van and take
• 53:13
  hashtag Van life to the next level.
• 53:15
  Be sure to check out their website, boulder camper vans.com or follow them
• 53:19
  on social media at Boulder Camper Vans on Instagram and Facebook, and some
• 53:23
  awesome videos on our YouTube channel.
• 53:25
  Venture awaits.
• 53:26
  Well, Dan's absolutely right a venture awaits.
• 53:29
  All of this is super exciting.
• 53:30
  And Brian, I can't thank you enough for coming on.
• 53:32
  Break Fix.
• 53:33
  This has been a topic that we've wanted to cover for such a long time, and a
• 53:37
  subject matter expert like yourself.
• 53:39
  I mean, the community of Van Lifers is huge, but folks like yourself that.
• 53:44
  Are passionate about these builds, these mods, this type of setup is pretty
• 53:50
  amazing and getting inside your head, even for an hour or so has been an
• 53:54
  absolute tremendous wealth of information.
• 53:56
  So I appreciate everything you're doing for the community.
• 53:59
  Hopefully one day we'll be pulling some of our race cars
• 54:01
  around with a boulder camper van.
• 54:03
  This is super cool and, and thank you for coming on.
• 54:05
  Yeah, thanks for having us and appreciate your guys' time as well
• 54:09
  and putting the word out about us and couldn't appreciate you guys more.
• 54:13
  Yeah, I mean, just nothing but love for all the people that we work with.
• 54:21
  If you like what you've heard and want to learn more about G T M, be sure to
• 54:24
  check us out on www.gt motorsports.org.
• 54:28
  You can also find us on Instagram at Grand Tour Motorsports.
• 54:31
  Also, if you want to get involved or have suggestions for future shows.
• 54:35
  You can call or text us at (202) 630-1770 or send us an email at
• 54:41
  crew chief@gtmotorsports.org.
• 54:43
  We'd love to hear from you.
• 54:45
  Hey everybody, crew Chief Eric here.
• 54:48
  We really hope you enjoyed this episode of Break Fix, and we wanted
• 54:51
  to remind you that G T M remains a no annual fees organization, and our goal
• 54:57
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• 55:01
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