After being invited to do a little road trip to Yorkshire, we finally decided to get some back seats in the van, it would mean that the others involved wouldn’t have to hire a car and make it easier to travel with more people in the future too. I wanted a bench-type seat that could be used as a bed too and we snapped up an old ambulance bench for next to nothing.

It was located on the east coast and we drove out to pick it up (making the most of the trip by stopping over and visiting Horsey Gap and Somerton Church ruins). It turned out the guy we got it from was into off-grid ventures and van living too, which gave both us and him an extra smile, knowing we would continue the seats legacy of freedom. And as a bonus, he gave us a little sink too.

The trip was just a few days away and we did the refit in a few hours with the help of big brother. The old bed was cut down and moved to the other side, and we changed the access to the storage under it from a lift up top to an open side, under here we fit two crates with gear that can be pulled out and placed at the end to create another bed. The space between the seats can sleep another person on the floor, so we can now sleep all 3 of us full length instead of one of us being sideways across the van which was a little short for comfort. The kitchen area was moved to behind the front seats, with an extra long hose to the cooker meaning we can take it outside to cook too. Here’s the result.