Meet Molly : My New VW Camper Van

Well, we got rid of Moby because we just didn't use her enough.  But then Molly fell into my lap.  She was a regular passenger van that belonged to my mother in law.  When she finally bought a smaller hybrid, I harassed her on a weekly basis about letting me have the Van.  She finally obliged - either from pure exhaustion or because I am her favorite daughter in law. She only has one son, so do the math :)

At first I only took out the second row captain chairs and installed a small sleeping platform which utilized the rear bench seat as part of the sleeping area.  After our road test to Oregon, I found it to be OK, not great.

So then I took out the rear bench and put in another sleeping platform.  Now it can fit a 6' 1" adult plus a 5' person sleeping in a "L" formation comfortably.  

I received a quote for $2500 for custom pullout sleeping platform.  No doubt it would've been awesome but I kept finding things I would rather spend $2500 on.  I decided to try my hand at putting together this  rig with some bed legs from IKEA and 3/4" maple plywood.  There is 11.5" of clearance, which gives me plenty of storage underneath.  The cushions are from Cushion Pros, they  can make any size you want.  The prices are very reasonable.  In fact, they were so much cheaper than some of the other places, I was nervous about quality.  My worries were unfounded and their customer service is top notch.  

Check out the blue box underneath.  It is the Holy Grail of storage bins.  The All Access Rubbermaid container comes in three sizes and has a clear door on the SIDE so you can access your stuff without having to pull out the box. Brilliant.  I use the SMALL size.  Which fits perfectly under the sleeping platform and can hold 4 sweaters, 4 pants, underwear and swim suits.

Cashmere & Wine : Space Saving Products

This collapsible wine flask from GSI ($10) is a must have.  Not only can it store an entire bottle of wine using 50% less space, you can fly under the radar when consuming alcohol on the beach.  Note that City Girl Camping does not condone illegal drinking *cough* *cough*.

Check out the side by side comparison:

With approximately 1.5 inches width left in the cooler, I was able to pack it without any problems. 

 

My second space saving tip for the day is cashmere.  This miracle material not only feels splendid next to your skin, it is the perfect temperature regulator.  I can wear the thinnest sweater and it will keep me as warm (if not warmer) than any bulky cotton sweater.  I promise you, it is worth every cent. Pro tip: Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus and Barney's all put their cashmere on sale starting three weeks prior to Xmas. I buy a whole year's worth of sweaters during this window.

Look at the difference between three cashmere sweaters vs. one cable cotton sweater.