Let’s start with a lesson we learned when packing the van for the last time, that is when moving full-time in the van: there shall be no such thing as unused space.

We really thought there would be some extra space left; you know, we got the bigger Transit model! We actually had to left some stuff behind (climbing gear, among others). Organized storage is the key!

We won’t go into the fabrication details (wood working, we’ve done that before in other articles); we will focus on showing off our layout.

Now, all this stuff MUST fit in our garage:

Yep, it does fit:

TIME SPENT ON THE JOB:  This was a few days before leaving our house, so things got chaotic at that point; we didn’t track how much time… 

TOTAL COST : Doesn’t matter anymore!! JUST BUILD LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW!!

MATERIAL & GEAR:

• It’s listed in the article below

RESOURCES:

• Time is definitely not a resource at that point.

HERE IS OUR GARAGE

First of all, the upper limit of the garage is the bed platform. The platform is 40in from the floor, but we probably could have make it to 38-39in. See our Platform Bed Installation Article: faroutride.com/platform-bed-installation/

Then, everyone needs a slide-out-bike-rack; here’s our: faroutride.com/slide-out-bike-rack/

Similarly, we also built a slide-out-storage-rack:

We carry 25 gallons of fresh water. To prevent the water to freeze in fall and spring, we fitted the tank inside the garage. The water tank and the bike wash installation are covered in our Pressurized Water System article: faroutride.com/water-system/

We use propane for cooking and hot shower. To play by the rules, we installed the propane tank inside a sealed and vented propane tank locker. It’s part of our Propane System Installation Article: faroutride.com/propane-system/

It’s a four-seasons van, we need to fit some snowboards & splitboards in there. Here is the board rack:

We added some 3M anti-erosion tape to protect the wood from the sharp edges of the boards. We still haven’t used the rack much. Because it’s relatively small (14″x 14″) for 2 snowboards & 2 splitboards, it might be a bit irritating to load/unload the boards often. Time will tell!

We first mentioned in this article that there should be no unused space, remember? Here is some storage we added a few days prior our departure, to pack more stuff inside the van. It’s not very sexy, because we didn’t have much time left at this point, but it does the job:

The storage doors are locked with a hook:

Before you ask, this white giant slinky (in the right corner on the next picture) is actually an air intake for above the bed. When the roof fan runs, air is pulled in through the intake. And, for MAXIMUM POWER, we also added an inline-fan. Here is the write-up about that: faroutride.com/floor-vent/

We wanted to have access to the garage from inside the van, so we don’t have to go outside in winter (and loose our precious heat by opening the doors). This is the perfect spot for a wardrobe!

We installed a regular wardrobe pole.

On one side of the wardrobe we store our backpacks, the backup heater, the leveling blocks, an ax (because we’re Canadian. and because we will chop your head off if you try to steal from us) and few other things too:

In the picture above:

• Lynx Leveling Blocks (Buy on Amazon)
• Mr Heater Buddy (we got rid of it and installed a Propex heater instead)
• Quick Fist Mounting Clamps (Buy on Amazon)
• LED Strip (Buy on Amazon)

There is some space left, but it’s a bit difficult to access… perfect! We added the off-season gear at this location (snowboard gear in summer, bike gear in winter):

In the picture above:

• Cargo net (Buy on Amazon)

We added some hooks here and there for our hydration packs and helmets:

And finally, the bikes and the van won’t maintain themselves, we need some basic tools stored in tool boxes:

That’s pretty much it!

We hope you enjoyed!

Oh wait, there’s more! We got tired of using our floor pump so we added an on board mountain bike tire inflator: faroutride.com/tire-inflator

ON SECOND THOUGHT

After 2 months, nope –> 4 years living in the van, we’re happy with our garage. We wish we had just a bit more time to build it up to our expectation (aesthetically), but it’s a garage so what the heck, it’s functional!