Dave Anderson and Szu-ting Yi wear a lot of hats: guide, writer, photographer, filmmaker, speaker, vagabond. They say their travel schedule-spending up to half of each year overseas-means it makes more sense to live in, and work from, their 2012 Nissan NV 2500 Mobile Office. We caught up for them just before they left for another stint in Asia.
Year, Make, Model
2012 Nissan NV 2500
Does the vehicle have a name?
Magic
Years owned?
3.5
How did you get it?
My partner Szu-ting pooled our savings, traded in our cars, secured a loan, and purchased it new from the dealer.
What do you do for a living?
Szu-ting and I wear several different hats in our quest to make enough money to pursue our goals. Szu-ting is a writer and occasionally does short programming contracts for various high tech companies. I am a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and motivational speaker (dave-anderson.com, @davide_anderson). In addition, we own an international trekking and climbing business, LittlePo Adventures. LittlePo provides custom trips for small groups of clients traveling to Taiwan, China, and Mongolia. Fortunately for us, the ability to connect to the internet is easier than ever, so we are able to organize and conduct all of our various work-related projects on the road.
Balancing earning enough money to support our lifestyle and having enough time to pursue our climbing goals led to living in Magic. We often spend three to six months in Asia each year, so having a permanent residence would require us to spend more time earning money and less time climbing.
How did you modify the vehicle, if at all?
Magic came as a bare cargo van and we did almost all the customization ourselves. We bought the van when we were renting a house in Las Vegas that had a large garage where we could work on the van build. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and we moved out before the customization was completed. For the next year and half we lived in Magic while completing our customization. Luckily, we had several friends who graciously let us park in their driveways for extended periods while we renovated on our van. We also spent a lot of time at Lowe’s and Home Depot parking lots working on the van.
We insulated the vehicle, added custom side windows, installed a couch that folds down into a bed with locked storage underneath. We built lightweight wooden cabinets along the sides and back of the van. In the kitchen we have a foot pump to pump water into the sink. Magic has a 20-gallon fresh water capacity, a 5-gallon drainable grey water tank, and a propane stove. We also have two solar panels and a battery bank that meets the power needs of our DC fridge, phones, laptops, and runs our roof vent’s fan. For cold weather, we have small catalytic heater that runs off propane. We also purchased an adapter that allows the front passenger seat to swivel and face the living area. For safety we installed a propane and CO2 sensors and have a fire extinguisher. We do not have a bathroom and rely on pee bottles for the middle of the night.
How many states has the vehicle visited?
Magic has traveled to 10 states plus several international visits to Canada. We follow the typical climber migration patterns to take advantage of climbable conditions throughout the year. In the summer (when we are not guiding in Asia), we spent our time at Wild Iris and the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, Index and the Cascades in Washington, and Squamish. During the winter, we head south to Red Rocks and Joshua Tree. During the shoulder seasons, we spend most of our time in Utah frequenting Maple Canyon, Indian Creek, and Zion National Park as well as Yosemite.
Sports?
Our primary “sport” is climbing-sport, trad, alpine, and big wall. As a result, most of the storage areas in Magic are filled with ropes, cams, biners, quickdraws, haul bags, portaledges, ice axes, crampons, etc. We also have associated trekking and backpacking gear that we use during our climbing adventures. To stay fit on the road, we have a climbing hang board and TRX type fitness system that attach to the side of Magic.
What do you love about your vehicle?
In the past I had lived out of a car, minivan, and pickup truck, so I had a good idea about what features were important in making Magic be a comfortable long-term home.
Stealth: From the outside, Magic looks like a typical work van, which allows us to park on the side of any city street to sleep for the night and not draw unwanted attention. We purposely don’t have any stickers, bikes strapped on the back or rocket boxes on top that might indicate to a would be burglar that we have expensive gear inside. In addition, having all outdoor gear locked under the couch/bed means a thief would have to do more than just break a window to steal everything we own.
Functional kitchen: Being able to cook tasty meals inside has several advantages. During bad weather a great kitchen reduces the temptation to eat out, which costs extra money and might not be as healthy as a meal you cook yourself. Having a fridge to keep food fresh eliminates hassle of dealing with ice and allows your perishable food to last longer.
Room to stand up: Magic’s inside ceiling height is 6’1″ and although it sounds like a luxury, being able to stand up to cook, stretch, and get dressed in the morning is huge for the long-term.
Awareness of our environmental footprint: Before we moved into Magic we only had a vague idea about how much household utilities we used. The USGS estimates the average person in the US consumes between 80 and 100 gallons of water per day. Szu-Ting and I use around one gallon per day. A typical three-bedroom house will use around 500 gallons of propane for cooking and heating for a year while we will use around 20 gallons. Of course we take showers, use flush toilets, fly to Asia, and drive around 15,000 miles in Magic each year, so we are still contributing to global warming, but at a much smaller level than when we lived in a house.
Relationship therapy: Magic has also helped Szu-ting’s and my relationship become stronger. Being constantly on the road together, the farthest we are apart is often the length of a rope, which took some getting used to. Living in a 80-square-foot space has forced us to deal with disagreements and other issues as they arise in a constructive manner as there is no place to hide physically or emotionally.
But the biggest thing we love about Magic is the freedom to work from wherever we happen to be parked, live comfortably, and pursue our passion of climbing.
What do you not love about your vehicle?
I am not a big fan of driving in city traffic, and finding parking for Magic’s 25-foot length is not always easy. Recently someone hit one of Magic’s side mirrors when we parked on a narrow Seattle street.
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On a daily basis, when you are not parked at a climbing site, but just day to day living, how do you deal with bathrooms and showers? That is, if you’re not out adventuring, where do you park, where do you shower, and how often do you move your vehicle?
Hi Jerry,
Many people ask us these same questions. We use public showers found at some campgrounds, climbing gyms, swimming pools usual and shower around twice a week. That probably sounds gross to most people who take 1 or 2 showers a day. But your body gets used to you not washing away of the layers and skin and body oils. Now, if I took a shower twice a day my skin would be so dry it would crumble away! For the bathroom, we have two pee bottles in the van. For “number two” we use public toilets and have adapted out rhythm to be morning poopers. We also have disposable waste bags http://www.amazon.com/Go-Anywhere-Toilet-Kit-12-pack/dp/B001P6ZFG2 for emergencies. This system works well for us and we didn’t have the expense or loss of living space that a shower/toilet would require in the van and we don’t have to deal with cleaning a septic system.
In terms of parking to sleep. We actually do spend most of time at climbing areas, either campgrounds or public land nearby. If we are climbing in Red Rocks outside of Vegas we often park on a quiet side street in a residential area. We find that near condo developments people often have to park a second car on the street and we just blend in. When traveling we stay at rest areas, truck stops and Walmart parking lots. We have never had any issues in terms of safety while front country camping. During non-climbing days we usually spend out time at a local library for wi-fi access and a quiet place to work.
Nicely done! I too am curious about the lack of a toilet.
Thanks Dan,
Check out the answers above!
I love this! We are planning on living out of my Honda Element for the next 3 winter months to ski around the US and expand our new business, Radventure. I’m so jealous of this situation you set up for yourself. Is there any way you could disclose approximately how much the full build out cost and any resources you used for ideas of what to make? I have a feeling after 3 months of being in the Element we will be ready for an upgrade!
I appreciate your comments about not putting the gear on the outside, I’m a little worried because we have a rocket box and ski clips (with our ski gear exposed to everyone) on the outside. It was a great point to bring up!
Best,
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
The Nissan was $27,500 new (still paying the loan off) I did not keep track of all the receipts, but I would estimated we put in an additional $10-12,000. Big items were the solar panels and battery bank $2500, custom windows $800, fridge $700, swivel front seat $500. The rest just added up. Good Luck with your adventure!
Dave
Hi Dave! I am considering this exact vehicle for a similar build out to do both travel nursing and mountain running. What types of climate have you traveled to? Do you worry about freezing water lines? In your opinion could you weld a back platform onto this vehicles frame in order to carry mountain bikes and other gear? Did you do all the work yourself? Where do you store your battery and propane tank?
Sorry lots of questions! I’ve seen a few setups with a shower installed off the back door but that eliminates stealth and cold climates. I’m considering an inlayed drain with a pull down curtain for a foot pump shower somewhere.
If you could change one thing now, what would it be?
Thanks!
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
When designing Magic, I knew I did not want to deal with the added complexity and associated cost of an elaborated plumbing systems. We are primarily rock climbers and if it is too cold we can’t climb, so we frequent environments that are above freezing at least during the day. If we are camping in the desert in the Southwest during the winter the night time temperatures can dip below freezing, so we decided to put all the plumbing inside Magic instead of under the (like most RV set ups do) Our fresh water system consists of one 7.5 gallon jug under the kitchen area and a foot pump to pump water into the sink. We also have a 7.5 gallon and a 5 gallon jug under the couch. We try and refill the jug under the sink by hooking up a hose we carry with us to an external water source. If an external water source is not available we manually refill the jug under the sink by removing one of the jugs under the couch attaching a short length of hose, place it on the kitchen counter and let it drain into the jug below the sink (the one thing I might change is to get a small electric pump to automate this process). We have a 5 gallon grey water tank that is under the kitchen area. When the tank is full we have a simple valve and pipe that drains through the floor (Nissan NV actually has a hole there, so I did not even have to cut one). The propane tank is also under the kitchen area. We have a 2.5 gallon tank that will last us several months if we are not using the catalytic heater very often. Most people freak out that we have the tank inside out living area. However, I like the safety of being able to easily turn the valve off on the tank after we are finished cooking/heating. In Europe it is standard practice to carry the propane tanks inside the vehicle. We also have a propane sensor. For a shower we have a solar shower we can hang on the outside of the van, but have only used it a couple times. For us using some wet wipes in between showers is the method that works the best. The battery is in the rear left corner of the van. In terms of carrying bikes, some friends of ours had a Astro Van with a rack the swung to the side, so that you could access the rear doors. One thing I would recommend is to think about the weight of what you are going to carry in the van and the materials that you use to do the conversion. It is pretty easy to go over the recommended allowance which decrease gas mileage and put excess strain on the engine and suspension. We did almost all the work ourselves, except the solar system and installing the side windows. Good luck! If you have more questions you can find my email on my website at http://www.dave-anderson.com
Love this! I’m also converting something very similar (2012 NV2500). Was wondering what you are using for the walls and ceiling! Bolts of felt fabric on top of OSB or Plywood?
Hi Lee,
The walls and ceiling have several layers. First is a layer of Reflexic attached with spray on adhesive to the exterior wall of the van, next 2 inches or so of polyester insulation (I got deal on a bunch of this at Jo-Ann’s Fabric Store, normally used for quilts and such) also attached with adhesive then another layer of Reflexic insulation, then a layer of 1/8 plywood (pre-stained so it will not absorb much moisture) screwed directly into the metal frame of the van with self tapping sheet metal screws. I also installed some 1×2 pine strips to the interior framing of van where needed. I then bought some cheap indoor/outdoor carpet at Home Depot and glued it to the plywood.
I really thought about the weight of the materials when building out our van, but next time I might use 1/4 plywood as the 1/8 would often crack when I was attaching it the frame of the van.
The idea behind all of this was to provide enough insulation, so that the warm air inside the van didn’t condense and form water droplet on the cold metal of the van’s exterior. We travel mostly around the southwestern US, so moisture is not that much of an issue, but if you are in the East or PNW it could be more of a problem.
The Reflexic is great stuff, we also use it as removable privacy shades and insulation on all the windows.
Nice Rig Dave
Thanks Marko!
Thanks for taking the time to write the article and respond to questions. I have a 2014 NV Hi-top that I’ve been building out as a mobile showroom and simple workshop. I saw your amazing video before I started and stole some of your ideas – thanks for posting that, as well.
I really like what you’ve done with your NV! I too have recently purchased a Nissan NV2500. I would like to have the passenger seat swivel in mine as well. However, I haven’t been able to find the swivel adapter for the NV2500 on line. Could you tell me where you purchased it? I would greatly appreciate it!
Hi Steve,
The only one we found in 2012 was this company might be more options (hopefully less expensive ones) now. http://www.swivelsrus.com/nissan_swivels.php
Hey Dave! Hey! Just wondering how you have set up your foot pump system in the kitchen. We have one of the marine foot pumps with tubing to a fresh water and gray water container, but it leaks at the pump connection. Any suggestions?
Hi Mallory,
We use a gravity system for the grey water. For fresh water have not had any issue with leaks with our pump. Here is a link to the kind we bought. http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/whale/product-21910-210020.html
I know they can crack if they get frozen though. Send me an email at kondus(at)mac.com and I can send you a photo of our set up.
What adapter did you buy for the swival chair?
Hi Chas,
In 2013 when we bought our swivel this was the only one available. It is expensive, but super easy to install and has worked flawlessly. One thing to be aware of it that is raises the overall seat height by 2-3 inches.
http://www.swivelsrus.com/nissan_swivels.php
Hi!
I have the same van and am working on the planning to do the conversion. What are the dimensions of your bed? Love your layout as it looks functional, but still has some space!
Hi Morgan, Sorry for the long delay in responding. I am traveling out of the country right now, so I can’t measure the bed exactly, but I think it around 56″ wide by 74″ long (which is in between a fill and queen, although little shorter).
Here is a link to some plans I followed for the couch/bed. I bought the same hinges and then modified the plans (longer side pieces of plywood) to extend the rear of the bed. One thing I would do different is lower the height of the couch. The 17” dimension is so high that my feet don’t completely touch the floor and I am 5’10.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=352049
Hi,
Beautiful camper van you have there. Glad you both enjoyed it.
How reliable is your van? any major issue?
I thinking of getting a 2012 NV2500 high top van to convert to a camper van.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Raymond,
We now have almost 100,000 miles on the van and have had essentially no issues. Just regular maintenance – oil/filter change and new tires etc.