Meet Moby, the Mobile Home + Office
Updated: Sep 18, 2020
On a personal note, I'm so excited to be nearly done with renovations to our camper van, Moby (named after Moby Dick - the white whale).
When everything went fully remote because of COVID, we packed it all up, left Seattle and got to work on this home on wheels . Now, our hard work has payed off! We're going on thirty days of living and working on the road (taking all the necessary COVID precautions).
So far it's been (mostly) smooth sailing, and to celebrate I thought I would post a quick van tour here!
Process
We purchased the van - a 1996 Ford E150 - back in early February 2020. Most of the structure was already built in, but we (and by me I mean mostly Steven) did a total re-haul on the electrical system. We installed solar, an inverter and plenty of outlets to keep all our laptops and camera batteries charged throughout the workday.
We added lots of lights and storage options, improved the pull out bed and built extension options for the counter so we could have dedicated kitchen and desk space.
We also repainted the interior (including the seaweed mural!), made insulated window covers, sewed new cushion covers and added lots more personal features to make it feel like home.
Final product
Living room mode, kitchen mode, office mode and bed mode
While not quite as roomy as a Sprinter, we feel that making the transition between spaces is actually a great way to break up the day. The physical moving around and setting up our "rooms" provides some much needed structure to our schedules.
A few of our favorite details
Lots of work went into the little details that make us actually want to spend time in the space. We filled the walls with photos of past trips and odes to places we lived before, like the little whale hook that we found on the old boat we lived on in Seattle.
Moby in the wild
All in all we've been pretty happy in here. While we don't plan to move in permanently, we know Moby will be our home for many extended trips to come. And as for right now, if you get an email or a call from me - it's probably coming from the van, somewhere on the road.