Long time off-grid van guy here. '08 long wheelbase GMC Savana Duramax, around 410,000 miles is my current ride.
I've had a mess of vans over the years: an old VW van, a Ford Econoline long wheelbase I cut the top out of and put on a high top and adventured in for years, a Chevy Express long wheelbase diesel I had all over the US, and now my GMC Savana.
I've had it around eight years and been all over North America with it; a ton of backcountry camping along the Mexican border, beaches, mountains, forests, desert, etc. Much of it towing my off-road trailer. She's a workhorse, rigged up to be sleeping quarters when I need it, hauls my bike and a ton of gear, can be emptied quickly so I can haul cargo or help someone move, load lumber and building materials for off-grid, etc. Has two eight-foot e-tracks in the floor under the removable carpet for strapping down pallets or other cargo.
Here are a few images from the last two years on the road.
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Fueling up
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Interior setup a year ago or so.
There are side boxes down the length of each side with sectioned, removable, tops. They hold a ton of storage, mostly stuff I don't need to get to all that often, like vehicle fluids, torque wrenches, seasonal gear, etc. The side boxes support the bed board in a variety of positions. The cargo space between the side boxes widens at the rear to full width, then narrows slightly to the wheel wells and parallels, while still allowing full width between the wheel wells, minus the 3/8" thickness of the birch ply on each side. I want full width at the rear to funnel and center pallets when carrying cargo, and so there is no cabinet end to get bunged up by careless fork lift drivers, etc. You can see the end of the driver's side sidebox screwed to the door frame by the fridge in the photo above.
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Interior a couple months ago.
The bed you see in the back of this image can go cross-ways like in this image anywhere along the length of the van, or down the length of either side, or folded up and stowed the other side of the white half wall. I have another one for when my kid or someone else comes along so I have a bed down each side with full pass through to the front. I keep it sideways like this most of the time and have access through the side doors to about a three foot 'living area' between the bed and front seats. Can easily step from the driver's seat to the bed when at truck stops, rest areas, or urban stealth camping. If I want more room between bed and front seats, it's easily adjusted back as far as I want, though it would make hauling the bike a bit more cumbersome.
I've had vans in which I built out a full array of cabinets, pull out desk, counter with a sink, overhead storage with doors, etc. Over the years it's evolved to this kind of far more versatile and adaptable interior setup. Quite comfortable and cozy.
Getting ready to build a deep shelf or two on each side that will match the width of the side boxes below so I still have a full cargo area.
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Loaded up and rolling.
This van has been on a ton of trails marked 4wd and high clearance only, and though I'm not a rock crawler kind of guy, I've had it on some fairly gnarly trails both with and without this trailer.
As you can see, I keep a fairly low profile as far as hanging stuff all over my rig or having stickers all over. It is often mistaken for a govt or other official vehicle, or university research rig, etc. and that's absolutely fine with me.
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Beach camping for a week on the Gulf.
I couldn't ask for a better workhorse and travel van. I chose to keep it and invest in the trailer and basecamp gear instead of trading the van for a Land Cruiser, Tacoma, Tundry, Land Rover, or Jeep, etc, all of which I looked at and seriously considered. Already had the van, knew how to work on it, and had it rigged up the way I like. Made no sense to start over with a different vehicle that I couldnt sleep in and still carry what I want for photography and seasonal gear. This van consistently gets over 17mpg towing the trailer and closer to 20mpg without. The way I like to basecamp and stay out for months at a time (my last adventure was eight months straight), I'd be nuts to go for something that only gets 10-12mpg and have no trailer.
It's about as self-sufficient as one can be with a mobile lifestyle. I can go off-grid for months at a time and not plug into shore power.
