His fabulous studio apartment is hidden inside a work truck!

Hey guys, Jenny here. Welcome to my channel where I take you on tours of tiny homes and people living alternative lifestyles. In this week's video, we're taking a look at a cleverly built miniature studio. And while the inside might look like something that you'd see in New York city or San Francisco, you'll see that the outside is actually a stealth van. Jason built out this van himself so that he could live in the city comfortably while attending a grad program and avoiding the high cost of living. I'd love to know what you guys think about this one. So make sure to comment below. And if you like these kinds of videos, subscribe and hit that bell so that you get a notification every time I post a new video. But right now we're going to jump right in and take a tour of Jason's stealth van studio. Hi everybody. I'm Jason. I'm excited to show you my van, the stealth studio. Before I built the van, I was living in Colorado and Fort Collins. I was in a big house. I had like five roommates. I started thinking, you know, why don't I do something different? I knew that grad school was going to be in my future and grad school for urban planning. That means I'm going to be in a city. It's going to be expensive to live. I don't want to accumulate a lot of debt. You know, I'm doing a mid career shift into this. So the idea of having my own apartment on wheels essentially was very enticing. I wanted something that was stealthy that was not noticeable that I could feel safe and unnoticed in. I ended up finding a box truck on Craigslist and it had the pass through from the cab to the back already installed, which made it perfect. And so I ended up buying that and, uh, let the games begin. I did most of the build myself. I did hire my friend, Matt. He did the design and some of the really intricate parts of the build. One of the things that I had to remember as I was building this is that so many people that were doing this are 80% outdoors in nature and 20% in the city. And I'm basically flipping that script. This is essentially meant to be an apartment on wheels that looks like a work truck on the outside so I can park it wherever. So making this an urban stealth vehicle, like this little touch here, it's a construction vest that a friend gave me and I just stick it on the dash. My friends joke with me that I should also have like an empty bag of like fiery hot Doritos or something. I don't know. It, uh, it, it adds a little bit of the, you know, this is just an old work truck. That's what I'm going for on the outside. I haven't had a knock. I haven't had any issues so far. I moved into this at the beginning of 2021. So I've been in it pretty much all year and I've been really enjoying it. I can be in a city for months at a time and really get a feel for it. This allows me to have that urban lifestyle without the crazy urban rents that we're seeing right now. This is a 2004 Ford E350 box van. And I decided to go with a box van just to have a lot more space. You know, it's a 15 foot long box. It's eight feet wide. The thing I really like about it is the area that extends over the cab. It really gave me a nice loft space. So this Ford has a V10, I think it's a 6.8 liter engine. Doesn't get grace gas mileage, probably like seven to 10. Generally it kind of depends. I do spend a good chunk of my time in the city. You know, and a lot of times I'll park somewhere for four to seven days at a time and I'm just biking around or taking transit in the city. So, you know, it's not like I'm constantly driving this. So the gas mileage hasn't been too big of a killer at this point. The truck has dualies on the back, which I am really liking. These dual tires are so nice. Not only do they add to ride quality, but they've actually saved me in a pinch. I did have one of the tires blow on me while I was on the interstate and I heard the noise, but didn't notice anything with the vehicle. The vehicle just kept driving straight and fine. So the dualies, you know, ended up being a nice kind of safety factor, which was great. We're on the back driver's side of the rig. Got this box that we mounted. And what this does is this has the 12 gallon fuel tank and that's for the heater. I wanted a window just to, you know, get some natural light and then be able to have views when I'm in the mountains. But you know, since this is designed for urban stealth, it was important not to just have a random window showing up on the side of the vehicle. It looks like a vent, which is the purpose. And I'm short, so it's hard for me, but I can open it. And then I've got a view when I'm like here in the mountains. What's cool though is even if I'm in the city and I've got this covered because we've got these louvered vents, I can still from the inside slide the window open and still get airflow in the city. When I'm in stealth mode on a hot summer night, this has been like a lifesaver. It's been so nice to be able to get that airflow coming in while maintaining my stealth factor. All right, here we are at the back of the vehicle roll up door, right? Yes, but no, it was a roll up door, but obviously that would be a huge mess and get in the way of insulation and take up space and just be really dirty. These are the old panels from the roll up door. So we were able to upcycle those, reuse them, but we decided instead of doors coming out, that it'd be cool to make a patio out of this. So actually I just push a magic button and then bring this down and it turns into a patio slash garage, which is really nice to have a little extra storage back here. So this works out as a patio or a stage. I've actually been able to have some musicians on here. It kind of creates some cool opportunities that you normally wouldn't have in a van. I've got two latches, one on each side. And then so when I close it, the latches would shut and then they're electronic. And so I actually have a switch inside the van and I can turn that switch off, which kills power. And then people can't get in here, which of course is really important. This is on the passenger side and this is actually a 44 gallon gray water tank and we've got a skin around it to protect it and spray foam around it. So this tank is ready for four seasons and the 44 gallons has been great. I generally can go easily like 10 to 14 days, uh, with this. And then I have 55 gallons of fresh water inside. How do we get in? Well, actually through the cab. So follow me. Let's talk about the layout of the stealth studio here. So behind me I've got the loft area. I'm able to use my full size mattress. This is what I had in my former place sleeping in here is really comfortable. And I actually like the fact that there's this narrow sort of opening. And then these, these shelves on each side, it kind of makes it feel like a nest in there. One of the things we did, I'll actually turn around real quick as we did put a vent here. And so there's actually fans on the other side of this. And that allows for getting airflow up there. And then what's cool too is there's a lot of, uh, hidden little built-ins. So back here I've got like little built-ins for, you know, here's some pants and shorts and all that sort of stuff. We needed a ladder to get up to the loft, but you know, ladders take up room and they move around and they can just be finicky. And I like to climb. And so I thought, well, why don't I just do like a climbing wall, hold ladder. The thing people really like is this, it is a pullout closet and it's, you know, I got my dress shirts and some sport coats, and then there's a shoe rack down here. It just slides in and out. And then there's a latch for when I'm driving to keep it in place with this arrangement, because we wanted to kind of bury all the utilitarian stuff. The electric is actually tucked back here, but we do have a distribution panel over here. So that gets me access to my fuses and circuits. And then if I want to do a quick disconnect to the battery or shut off the solar circuit, I've actually got a little drawer hidden in the climbing wall here. And so I can get access to those switches pretty quick. That's something I would definitely recommend if you are in a position where you kind of have to bury your electric, at least try for those things you're going to maybe use more often, try to have them accessible. At least on this side, we've got a stereo cabinet and the stereo is great. Uh, it's nice and loud, especially being in this cabinet. I think helps a lot. I've also got a wifi extender so I can mooch wifi. And then I've also got a cell signal booster in here. So this is kind of like the electronics cabinet, keep that stuff out of the way a little bit. We've got a little closet in here, 55 gallon drum of fresh water. It's a food grade drum that I was able to find for pretty cheap. I've went as much as like two and a half weeks with, with that amount of water on board. I like to cook a lot for the kitchen. I wanted a lot of counter space. I wanted to have easy access to my most used appliances. I don't feel like I've made any sacrifices. This is, if anything, an upgrade from what I had before. And I do basically the same stuff in the kitchen that, you know, I did when I lived in a house or apartment. So I'm really liking that I have such a great space here. And then I've got these Mason jars. The lids are screwed into the underside of this cabinet. And that's pretty cool because I'm able to just unscrew them and use them as my drinking glasses. But then when I'm driving, they're not rattling around or taking up counter space, have a fridge, something I'm going to upgrade at some point. It's a little smaller than I'd like. And I have a microwave, which I love for heating leftovers up. And then I do have an induction cooktop so I can pull that out of the drawer and use it. I ended up going with a deep sink, which I'm super happy about. I don't like doing dishes, but obviously, you know, you're not going to throw a dishwasher in a van. A sink has been perfect. One of the best parts of the build is all the storage and these upper cabinets have worked great. We used an ebony stain on them and I'm really happy with this color. It contrasts with the white. Very nice. It's a little unique too. I haven't seen too many vans with this color contrast. So I thought it'd be, you know, give this its own kind of flavor. It's one of the better features of the build and it's out of the way too, which I like. So this is one of my favorite spots is just chilling on the couch, chilling on the couch, listening to music a lot. The couch is something that, you know, at some point I'd like to upgrade, but you know, anytime you're doing a build, you do some things where you just want to get them done. And that was the case with this couch. It was, you know, this section was the last area to get done and I was just ready to be done building and moved in. And so I had some friends that were kind enough to give me their couch. It had been ate up by rabbits as a big sectional and I was able to salvage enough of it to cut it up and, and use it as a tiny little couch in here. And it actually works out, works out well. And then behind me I've actually got a wind sock from the snow kiting expedition that I did with a bunch of friends years ago. We crossed North Dakota with snow kites and spoke to like 10,000 students. It was really fun. This is the backside of the stealth studio. So this is where I have my desk. I went kind of big on the desk, maybe a little too big, but, uh, you know, I knew I do some remote work and gig work and there's grad school coming up. And so I definitely like having a bigger desk. I don't like my desk constraint. Retrofitted a bathroom door actually is what the desktop is. So it's something that I already had and it works pretty well. I'm pretty lucky with all the insulation I have in here. I mean, we have two by three studs in the walls and have lock and then spray foam in the floor and ceiling. So, you know, really up until the mid eighties, it's fine in here. I can run fans and I can live, but it's been getting hotter than that, you know, climate change, right? And so I did want some AC and I decided the cheap easy solution for now is a portable air conditioner. And at some point I might do a ductless mini split, but for now this works pretty well. It vents out into the garage. So it blows the hot air out and blows cool air. And it does suck up a decent amount of power, but you know, I can run it for short stretches, cool it down in here and make it a little more livable. Part of being a stealth studio, you know, an apartment on wheels is you do need a shower and a bathroom obviously. Uh, and you know, having the box truck did give me an opportunity to actually have a real shower. So I'll pull the curtain. I've got my composting toilet in here. It's a nature's head. And so when I want to shower, I just pull that out. And then this is a regular like 32 by 32 shower pan from, you know, one of the hardware stores. Definitely recommend if you can get some sort of shower. I mean, the gym works, but it's nice to have this on board. I've been applying for grad programs and you know, doing some gig work. This is nice because it gives me a ton of flexibility and options. I can, I can do that stuff from anywhere. And then I also don't have a ton of overhead. You know, I'm able to keep my expenses really low right now, which is nice because I am in a period of transition. I learned that you have to figure out like what your needs are and stay focused on that and then design your build around that. And that's like the advantage of this lifestyle, right? Think about, you know, what are your goals? What are you trying to accomplish? Where do you want to be? And then, and then build something that works for you. Thanks for watching this week's video. Make sure to like share and subscribe and I will see you back soon with another tiny house or alternative home tour.