I used to camp in the van, before I had my camper Half Moon. I still keep a bed in there for those nights when I am traveling a long way and don’t want to set up the camper. Originally, I had a twin bed on a frame. At one point I put the mattress on the floor, but I don’t like that. Since I need more storage in the van/tow vehicle, I decided to use large storage bins for the bed base. Here is how it looks before I added sheets and bedding to the bed. That space between the mattress and the back doors is for chairs and other loose stuff.   Here is the view from the van’s side door, looking out the back doors:   Right now I have several cases of extra water in those two bins that you can see in the photos. In the third one to the far right I have winter boots, coat, hat, etc. Where I live and where I am going, it can snow just about any day of the year, so don’t laugh!

After situating the bed, I put up metal racks to hang things. You can see some stuff hanging to the left in the photo.I stuff in lots of gear, including a port-a-potti and some plastic storage drawers. I hate plastic as I have have said many times, but I bought all these bins and drawers a while ago, and decided that I have to keep it since it will never break down. I am stuck with it, but I don’t mind it in the van.

While traveling, the solar panel goes in the tow vehicle. I needed to figure out a neat way to store all the wires, and came up with the following. Its a piece of wood, with the charge controller and the two sets of wires (one set to battery, the other to the solar panel). It is not attached to the panel, I just have it leaning up against it.   More photos on the completely packed van in Part Two.