Note: I wrote this initially in late 2020 but didn’t publish because I didn’t finish. I wanted to publish in case anyone was looking at a SUPER basic retrofit to make a minivan more viable for camping/overnighting. More current updates at the end.
2021 Setup
For 2021, I did a lot of range camping for Mapleseeds: I’d drive out to a range and stay overnight so that I could do the Mapleseed the next day and I ran most of 2021 van camping in an old ’03 Dodge Grand Caravan. In that van, I pulled the rear row of seats out and popped in a wood elevated sleeping platform that could fold over the middle row of seats. This let me store Mapleseed and camping gear underneath the sleeping platform. I also made some removable, velcro-backed mosquito screens for the windows to get some ventilation.
It worked really great and I preferred it a lot to my micro tent setup from last year. Advantages of the van over tent:
- Setup was incredibly fast
- Tear down was quick even in the rain (no drying out materials required)
- Nice and quiet even in high winds
But on the other hand, it was a bit tight when I brought one of my boys along and stuffing the whole family in the van is right out. On the coldest days, the van can’t hold the heat in very well and you were stuck running a warm sleeping bag similar to what’d be needed in a tent.
The Plan for 2022: Both van camping and tent trailer (popup camper)
In our current situation, full size camping trailers and new vehicles are a lot more expensive than usual. I’m cheap and I don’t want to buy anything at a higher than usual price.
Setup 1: Continued budget van camping
My van’s super old and rusty, so I don’t want to put any real money into turning it into some luxury van camper on wheels. If it was a bit newer, I might be tempted to build some nice drawers to better access the under-bed area. But that said, van camping in it was pretty cushy. I found a tri-fold foam mattress that’s comfortable and folds up, I have enough space for myself if I’m heading out to a Mapleseed and overall it’s far better than tenting.
Van Upgrade: Chinese Diesel Heater
I toyed with a few different heating options in the van over 2021. I tried candles but the van is just too drafty for them to have any real impact on the temperature. The little buddy heater was OK but due to the cramped spaces, it’s hard to find a spot where it won’t melt something. It also added a lot of water into the air and all windows ended up super wet in the morning. On a couple of really cold nights where I didn’t have warm enough bedding, I had to wake up and start up the van which was annoying and it took a long time to get the inside of the van warm.
The cheapest permanent solution is to setup a Chinese diesel heater. These “parking heaters” are pretty power efficient, they’re a sealed combustion chamber so you’re not putting fumes or water into your living space, and some of them come with thermostat functionality so you can set a temp and not have to adjust it through the night. Most importantly, they’re super cheap.
Chinese Diesel heater options:
| Output rating options | 2kw (7000 BTU) | 5kw / 8kw (17000 BTU) |
| Controllers | Basic | With thermostat, some with remote start |
| Output options | Single hose | 4 hose |
| Kit? | Build as kit | Enclosed “all in one” |
| Tank size | 10L (for kits) | 5L (for all-in-ones) |
Note that some kits lack output redirection vents, lack intake filters, fuel filters, hard fuel line vs soft, etc. Pricing is all over the place, so shop around.
I ended up buying a unit labelled as an 8kw unit even though these are really 5kw units. I only got it cause it was the cheapest AND it also came with the fancier controller unit. After looking through Aliexpress, eBay, and Amazon, I found that the cheapest option was on Amazon. I contemplated getting an enclosed version, but wanted more flexibility in mounting options and in silencing the loud tick of the pump so I decided to go for a kit. I picked the one with a thermostat so that I could set it and forget it.
There are a FUCKTON of YouTube videos on these heaters, but a lot of them don’t know what they’re doing. This old Australian guy knows his shit and he has a whole series of videos on these heaters.
To power the diesel heater, I’ll be getting a 60Ah Lifepo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery. These batteries are expensive, but they’re also light and better than AGM batteries for camping, and they’re not the same as the phone batteries that light on fire and fail after 3 years. I suppose I could hook the heater up to my vehicle battery, but I don’t want to kill it. I intend on re-using the lithium battery for the tent trailer and potentially for a small electric trolling motor, so I thought I’d get one lithium battery instead of 2 deep cycle batteries.
This dude has a pile of videos on lifepo4 batteries if you’re interested.
2023 Update
I didn’t end up installing the Chinese diesel heater in my van. Instead, I kept using the van as-is for the season, along with a folding foam mat (3″ foam folder from Walmart for ~$50). I have an air sleeping mat but the foam is imperious to punctures, is bigger, and has no setup time.
Instead, I bought a tent trailer and deployed the diesel heater to use in my workshop. The remote on the diesel heater makes it really handy to pre-heat the shop when I need to do some reloading.
The van is still going to be handier for overnighters at the range but for longer hunting excursions, Mapleseed weekends, and bigger shooting matches, it’s hard to beat the inside space of the tent trailer. I might do a blog or two on what mods I put into that tent trailer.
