The Minivan Camper
When we are not out cruising on our boat, this is how we land travel — by minivan camper. We wanted a reliable car with good gas mileage that also allows us to sleep in it on occasion and the Toyota Sienna fit that bill (scroll down to see how we set up a rented Nissan Pathfinder to sleep in for a week).
Of course, a bigger van or small RV would be a lot more comfortable but it wouldn’t get great gas mileage or easily fit in an average parking space, and most of the time this is still our everyday grocery-getter. Also sleeping incognito in a minivan is much easier than in an obvious camper van. When we are camping there is no need to set up a tent and the bed is very comfortable!
In May 2024, after 12 years of having only one car, we became a two-car household again. We bought a 2022 4×4 Mercedes Sprinter to convert into a camper. We’ll still use the Sienna as our everyday grocery-getter but camping should be much more comfortable soon.
Check out all of our posts about traveling in our minivan and for photos from our most recent adventures check out our photo albums. We have made several cross-country trips and one trip to Alaska in our minivan camper (a 2004 Toyota Sienna) and are still happy with our choice. Check out our video about taking the minivan on the Alaska ferry! As of June 2024, we have over 305,000 miles on our little minivan camper van!
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MINIVAN SETUPS
The best thing about this minivan camper conversion is that we have made no modifications to the minivan. We just remove the middle row of seats and, depending on the setup, either remove the backseat or stow it down flat. Starting with the 2004 Sienna models the rear bench is a “stow-n-go” fold-flat seat turning the entire area behind the front seats into a flat cargo/bed area. We can convert everything back by simply removing the bed and putting the seats back in.
Depending on what we are heading out to do we have different types of beds and gear. We added carriers for our bikes and a cargo box for fishing and ski gear. The standup paddleboard and kayak are inflatable and stored under the bed.
Gear Intensive Trips
If we need to carry a lot of gear, as we did on our six-month trip up to Alaska, we store six ActionPackers below a sheet of plywood. Note that we went up there for work and did not camp for the entire six months. We spent several weeks on the way north and on the way south camping out of the minivan as well as a few shorter trips while up north.
The minivan fits exactly one standard sheet of plywood (4 x 8 feet or 48 x 96 inches) though we trimmed it by about two feet to gain space between the bed and the front seats. Make sure the plywood is not treated — that awful smell never goes away. The plywood also needs legs or a lip on it so it does not slide around. The ActionPackers get smashed after a while and we have been replacing them with these bins — they seem more sturdy as long as they don’t crack.
The Bed
We tried using foam but using an air mattress is more comfortable and not as tall, so you gain some headroom. Topped with some memory foam it does a great job of keeping out the cold that an air mattress attracts. More importantly, the whole bed can be rolled up and moved aside to make space for other things during the day. Just make sure to deflate it slightly when you go over mountain passes or it will pop! Now we use this air mattress (same as this) topped with this 1.5-inch memory foam (get something thicker if it is going to be cold). Much easier to store out of the way when we’re not using the bed during the day.
Storage
In front of the six Action Packers are three clear tubs. We each have one tub allotted to our clothes (if we stay at hotels this space is taken up by our favorite suitcases). The middle tub holds our backpacks which contain our electronics like tablets, cameras, and laptops. In front of the clear tubs are the chairs, the cooler, and other kitchen boxes. We also each get a gear hammock which are great for the stuff we use all the time like jackets, hats, gloves, and Kindles. They are a bit fragile so when we need to replace them we will go with these ones that are a parachute-type material. For more of our favorite gear check out our SHOP.
Long Camping Trips
Here is another way to set up the bed when most of our stuff doesn’t have to come along but we’re heading out to go camping for more than just a weekend. Mike built a platform for our bed and we use these shallow tubs like drawers under the frame. With the back seats removed, we are even able to fit our inflatable standup paddleboard and kayak under the bed.
Once the platform is in place and the front seats are pushed all the way forward, there is a good amount of space in front of the bed.
Sometimes you have to get something from way underneath the bed…
We drove the minivan to Alaska and back with some of it traveled on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry. Watch our video about traveling on the Alaska ferry here.
Weekend Trips
If we are just heading out for the weekend we use the air mattress and memory foam after lowering the back seats. We really like this air mattress (same as this) because it holds up much better than the rubbery air mattresses we all grew up with (and they don’t have that bad, plasticky smell). A cheap, queen-sized air mattress (60″ width) from Target or Walmart is very tall/thick, but since the mattress we prefer is not nearly as tall it fits great, and at just 55″ wide is a perfect fit. With the taller air mattress, you also lose some headroom when sitting up in bed. The photo below shows a cheap air mattress. Notice the bump on the left? With two people lying down that bump starts to grow in the middle and you end up wedged on the outside! Since the PVC-free air mattresses aren’t cheap we further protect it with this and we haven’t had to replace it in years. Just make sure the zipper can access the inflator valve.
Camping in the Florida Keys
After driving cross-country to Florida for work, we wanted to visit the Florida Keys. Camping in the Keys can be pretty expensive unless you are able to find a spot at the state parks. The campgrounds can get quite crowded, but even without reservations we always lucked out with either a last-minute booking or just showing up. We just had to be flexible and usually couldn’t get more than a couple of days in a row. For this trip, we had the platform bed with the air mattress (same as this). This gave us lots of storage under the bed.
On windless nights, Florida can be pretty buggy. We ended up buying a window screen repair kit and using the black spline to shove into the window track. The bottom was secured with a magnetic strip. It worked fine as a temporary solution but we had to remove it every day since we could not roll up the windows with it in place. We later purchased some of these screens but since they are only for the front doors there is still not enough airflow in the back. If you have a better solution please let us know in the comments!
Camping in a Rented Nissan SUV
While cruising the Inside Passage of British Columbia on our boat we wanted to explore the west coast of Vancouver Island. Since we have to leave our minivan behind when we go cruising we rented a Nissan Pathfinder SUV. We had to buy a cheap air mattress since our favorite air mattress (same as this) was back in storage but we were able to make a pretty comfortable bed after folding down all the seats. We also had our thick mattress topper and bedding from the boat.
BATHTIME
We each have a Sea to Summit toiletry bag and these awesome squeeze bottles for shampoo, soap, lotion, etc. The bottles are below the carry-on size limit and just enough for about 2-3 weeks of use for me. They are easy to fill and clean and have never leaked. They also stand up with the nozzle down so they are always ready to use. They are easy to toss in a bag with a towel and head to the campground showers. Check out more of our favorite gear here!
CAMP COMFORT
We love these folding chairs. They take up a bit more space than the chairs that fold into a tube shape, but they are so much more comfortable! We also have this small folding table for camping and picnics. They easily fit behind the front seats.
CAMP KITCHEN
We have a Jetboil which heats the water very quickly to make coffee or tea. We also have a bigger single-burner butane stove because it can be challenging to balance pots or pans on the Jetboil.
These plates and bowls are great! They can stand a ton of heat without melting and can double as a cutting board. They can even act as lids and keep our food warm while more is cooking. But they will get damaged by a direct flame.
We also love our collapsible cooler. We have an REI brand cooler but it seems to be similar to this one. To keep our camp kitchen supplies organized I like to use wine bottle 6-pack carriers (see how I also use them on the boat).
For doing the dishes these tubs are great. We have a whole bunch of them (they are stackable) since they are also great for holding parts while doing projects around the boat, cleaning fish, as a temporary aquarium, holding dirty shoes or wet clothes, you name it. They are super versatile.
Entertainment
We read a lot, but books can take up a lot of space. On our boat, we only have one bookshelf which is reserved for reference books and cruising guides (though our favorite cruising guide is digital. In the camper minivan, there is no space for books at all. So we each have a Kindle Paperwhite. The Paperwhite is backlit and can be read in the dark. So I’m not disturbing Mike when he is trying to sleep and I’m not using any electricity. Check out the post I wrote on how to get virtually unlimited free books for your Kindle from your local library — you can do this from anywhere in the world and it is 100% legal!
I recently got a Kindle Oasis which is waterproof and has a larger screen. Great for the beach and boat. The newer Kindles are able to play audiobooks via Bluetooth so my latest obsession has been listening to audiobooks from Amazon Audible. If you sign up with our special discount link you get two free audiobooks and an entire month free on us!
Checklist
Want a list of everything we might take camping? To get access to our free, downloadable, and editable packing checklist please subscribe to our website.
Storage for our Nomad Life
Since our boat is our only home, we don’t have much storage space. This little storage trailer is our garage and when we are out traveling on the boat we park the car in front of it. More on our storage trailer here. For more of our favorite gear check out our SHOP.
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