We’re Ceri, Will, and Piglet, also known as To the Mountains and Back. We’ve been traveling in our self-converted Sprinter camper van since early 2019. We spent a lot of 2018 turning it into our cozy home on wheels.
We started living in our van during the winter. While many people might chase warmer weather, we embraced the cold, going as low as -30ºC. We traveled to the top of Norway, skiing and looking for moose along the way!
If you need tips on surviving winter in a van, you’re in the right place. But we’ve enjoyed plenty of sunny days too, so if you’re not ready for the extreme cold, that’s okay.
Our van is a silver 2014 Mercedes Sprinter with 34,000 miles on it when we bought it. It’s a long-wheel-base (170 inches) van with a high top and standard 2-wheel drive. We designed our kitchen to feel like a regular country kitchen, not like a typical camper van kitchen.
Our countertops are made from recycled scaffold boards stained with natural walnut. The cupboard frames are built from 12mm plywood and the doors from 18mm MDF.
Having a bathroom in our van was very important to us. It’s quite small, at only 76 x 56 cm, which is a bit smaller than we planned, but we didn’t want to make our kitchen any smaller.
Our bed is stored in the ceiling when we’re not using it. This setup reduces the space under the bed but allows us to have a big sitting area and a proper bedroom.
Since we work on the road, having a comfortable place to work and relax was crucial. We have two benches that are 204 cm long, 60 cm wide, and 44 cm high.
These benches also serve as storage space for clothes, ski boots, laundry, and outdoor chairs. One of the benches holds our fresh water tank, and part of the other bench contains our battery, fuses, and inverter.
Our van has five 100-watt solar panels on a roof rack that power our 300AH lithium-ion battery. We also have a device that helps charge the battery while we drive.
Follow Ceri, Will, & Piglet on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tothemountainsnback/
Visit their website: https://www.tothemountainsandback.com/
