I'm selling the van I lived in for nine months. It's a 2013 Transit Connect with a full camper build inside and a previous life as a beer‑service van outside — which turns out to be the best stealth camouflage there is.
Fair warning: it's covered in tap-beer-service branding from a previous life. I figured I'd peel it off eventually. Nine months of city streets and trailhead lots later, I never did — because it's honestly the most useful thing on the van.
Stealth camping has one rule: don't look like a camper. Work vans are invisible. Nobody looked twice, nobody knocked on the window, and I slept in places a Sprinter with a roof deck could never get away with. Your call once it's yours, but I'd leave the wrap alone.
You can't stand up in it. In exchange, it parks like a car, turns like a car, and fills up like a car. For me, that trade was the whole point.
If you want a walk-around apartment, this isn't it. If you want something you can drive downtown, park on a normal street, and sleep in without anyone noticing — that's exactly what it is.
Nine months straight — mountains, forests, cities, and a lot of in-between. Everything in the build is in there because I needed it, and all of it held up: the fan made summer nights sleepable, the fridge meant no ice runs, the solar kept everything running off-grid.
If you're curious what that looked like, here's the photo album from the trip, and below is a heatmap of everywhere the van has been.
You're buying a used camper from a person, not a dealership. Here's the stuff I'd want to know if I were you.
The 12V marine deep-cycle battery is nearing the end of its life. It still works and holds a charge, but plan on replacing it. It's a standard size, sits in an easy-access spot, and swaps out in minutes — the solar and inverter setup around it is solid.
You cannot stand up inside. This is a sit, cook, sleep, and drive-anywhere van — not a walk-around apartment. See "small is the point," above.
Around 140,000 miles on the odometer. It ran the whole nine-month trip without drama, and I've kept up on maintenance — I was living in it, so I had a pretty strong incentive.
