Freely Roaming

07/02/2024

New video uploaded on YouTube about how these two vehicles compare in extended life on the road for a family plus pets. Link in our profile.

13/04/2022

There are a lot of reasons why building a DIY LiFePO4 pack is the right path for your project but with the current logistic troubles around the world, it has become harder and harder to procure raw cells. On the other hand, there are more commercial battery builders than ever and competition has driven down the prices of ready-made batteries. In this video, I will outline why you might not want to build your own DIY pack and unbox a great option from a US manufacturer who have high quality and reasonably priced batteries in-stock and ready to ship.

are a lot of reasons why building a DIY LiFePO4 pack is the right path for your project but with the current logisti...

04/06/2021

People always want to know what we cook in the van and today I decided to show you my DIY recipe for an In-N-Out Burger Double Double Animal Style clone. Since I am in Croatia at the moment, I had to use the closest ingredients I have available to me here. I think you will agree after watching today’s video that it came really close to the real thing.

always want to know what we cook in the van and today I decided to show you my DIY recipe for an In-N-Out Burger Do...

31/05/2021

We decided to install a snorkel kit on our Mercedes Sprinter van for several reasons. None of them are because we plan on doing a lot of river crossings. In today’s video, we share why and show you how we installed it.

decided to install a snorkel kit on our Mercedes Sprinter van for several reasons. None of them are because we plan on ...

16/05/2021

A lot of people have asked us about what we eat in the van. Well, we make a lot of things that you would expect. Pasta, quesadilla, stir-fry veggies, etc.. But we also are able to bake on our stovetop oven. We wanted to show you what we use to make all kinds of baked goods when living in a van. Enjoy our first cooking video!

lot of people have asked us about what we eat in the van. Well, we make a lot of things that you would expect. Pasta, qu...

16/05/2021

Interested in building a DIY solar system for off-grid camping? Well, this is the beginning of our solar system series to show you exactly what you will need to start thinking about building a simple and powerful photovoltaic solar system for your camper van.

you have your house battery squared away, you will want to find a way to keep it charged. This is the beginning of my solar ...

09/04/2021

It's finally time to talk about toilets. Enjoy!

people in a van p**ping around the world is not as simple as it seems. Here we talk about some of the dirty little secre...

09/04/2021

If you are a full-timer or part-timer or spend any time around a campfire with other campers, all conversations will eventually lead to p**p.
Today, we share how we p**p in the van as we travel the world. TMI? Maybe for some and maybe not enough for others. Ha.
Link to our latest video and blog on our profile.
If you have any other tips and tricks to add, we’d love to hear about them.

14/03/2021

Why am I smiling? Well, I think we finally solved our mold issue in the van.

During our travels in North America, we always escaped the cold moist weather by heading to the desert so mold was never an issue. That’s not easy to do in Europe so we installed some anti-condensation mats that should help mold from growing under our mattress.

With a dehumidifier and roof vents running as well, we are hopeful that we have things under control.

Anyone else try out these mats?

Link to our newest video in the comments below. @ Croatia

23/02/2021

We've heard about "Nomadland" for a while and looked forward to watching it when it came out. Thanks to Hulu and a VPN, we were able to stream it overseas. Here is Dan's attempt at a spoiler-free review of the movie. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/rflFBp0okRs

(Also, Dan is taking a break from FB so if you want to chat about the movie with him, he'd love to hear from you in the YT comments.)

have heard about this movie for awhile and looked forward to watching it when it came out. Thanks to Hulu, we were able...

23/02/2021

Not having a washer and dryer in our camper means we have to rely on various methods of keeping our clothes clean. In our latest video, we share 5 ways we’ve been doing laundry while traveling on the road since 2008. Link in comments.

@ San Felipe, Baja California

10/02/2021

Air suspensions are a popular aftermarket upgrade for trucks and vans that carry heavy loads. Whether it is a work vehicle or a camper, it can help smooth out the ride as well as prevent sagging in the rear end. But how do they affect the structural integrity of these larger, high-roof, unibody chassis vans like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter? Well, here is our experience that we would like to share with you.

installed air suspension on our 2018 Mercedes Sprinter Van 170 4x4 shortly after we bought th van to anticipate a build that...

10/02/2021

Some of the most common questions we get asked are about bathrooms. How we take showers, what kind of toilets we use and how we wash our clothes. So in this episode we talk about exactly that. We also go over how we have done with our Freely Roaming YouTube channel in the first year of our starting this project. I hope you enjoy this one.

https://malimish.com/podcast/2021/02/06/episode-18/

Some of the most common questions we get asked are about bathrooms. How we take showers, what kind of toilets we use and how we wash our clothes. So in this episode we talk about exactly that. We also go over how we have done with our Freely Roaming YouTube channel in the first year of our starting....

24/12/2020

In this final installment of the DIY LiFePO4 build series, Dan goes over the exact cost of the build, what you might expect to pay, answer some of your questions and go over how the battery pack has been working.

this final installment of the DIY LiFePO4 build series, I go over the exact cost of my build, what you might expect to pay, answe...

24/12/2020

Starting next month, we will be releasing a monthly newsletter. We'd love to have you sign up if you haven't already. Thanks :)

http://freelyroaming.com/newsletter/

Stay up to date with the latest from FreelyRoaming by signing up for our newsletter.

22/11/2020

Finally we have the battery tested, recharged and ready to be installed into the van. In today’s video, Dan will show you how to safely remove your old battery, install the new one and reprogram all of your existing chargers to work with the new LiFePO4 battery.

https://youtu.be/l3XeyJGM0SI

Finally we have the battery tested, recharged and ready to be installed into the van. In this video I will show you how to safely r...

20/11/2020

Next up in our DIY Lithium Battery Build series is all about capacity. Now that the battery build is complete, Dan tests it to see if it will indeed produce 280Ah of 12-volt power.

This is the 3rd video in our 5 part series.

Part 1: Components
Part 2: Assembly
Part 3: Capacity Testing
Part 4: Van Install
Part 5: Q&A and Final Thoughts

https://youtu.be/bkzWgYvU7AY

The battery is complete and in this video I test it to see if it will indeed produce 280Ah of 12-volt power. It's a little longer...

17/11/2020

Guess what time it is?!?! It’s time to build our LiFePO4 battery pack!
In our two latest videos, Dan walks you through the entire building project. He breaks down all of the components he’s using, builds an enclosure, makes his own copper bus bars, and assembles the DIY 12-Volt LiFePO4 battery complete with BMS, cell balancer, shunt and temperature sensor.
Hope this helps some of you with your future battery upgrades. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Link to the first of the series below and link to the second video in comments below.

Time to build our LiFePO4 battery pack. This is the first part of the series where I will walk you through the entire process ...

13/11/2020

After using our Dometic CFX3 75DZ compressor fridge for a year, we wanted to give you some feedback on how we like it, how we keep it organized and how it works for a family of five.

After using our Dometic CFX3 75DZ compressor fridge for a year, we wanted to give you some feedback of how we liked it. Check...

12/11/2020

The time has finally come. DIY lithium iron phosphate batteries are cheaper per usable amp hour than AGMs... and that is not considering their 5-10 times more cycle life. Is the price finally right for those of us waiting to make the switch?

Well in today's video, Dan talks all about:

1) Why now is the right time
2) 280Ah LifePO4 Cells from Aliexpress
3) Shipping and packaging of cells
4) Daly 4S Battery Management System
5) Active Cell Balancer

This is the start of our DIY lithium battery upgrade series. Let us know if you have any questions and stay tuned for more videos.

The time has finally come. This DIY lithium iron phosphate battery is cheaper per usable amp hour than AGM. That is not consideri...

28/10/2020

How do we wash our clothes while living on the road full-time? Well, it really depends on the situation. Things that determine how we wash our clothes are:

•location
•weather
•on-board fresh water supply
•access to a water source
•ability to dump gray water
•ability to hang dry our clothes

You can also read all about how washing clothes evolved as we transitioned from living in an Airstream in the US to living in a truck camper in Mexico to living in a van overseas.

Would love to hear any other laundry tips you might have.

Also, look at those baby Luka cheeks. ❤️

https://freelyroaming.com/how-to-do-laundry-on-the-road/

27/10/2020

While traveling in Europe, we needed a way to plug into 230V AC shore power when our other methods of charging were not sufficient. For a couple of years we used a dedicated charger for this. Now we are using a great little hack that will work anywhere in the world. It involves using an appropriately rated power supply from a laptop and our secondary Victron SmartSolar MPPT charge controller. Do this at your own risk and make sure you are familiar and comfortable with modifying any electrical equipment before attempting it yourself.

Read all about it in our blog below and/or watch our video all about it.

We have always tried to keep our systems in our campers as simple as reasonable so it can be easily maintained and repaired as necessary. It is especially important as we have been traveling in our camper van internationally over the last several years. We also need our systems to be as compatible a...

25/10/2020

We have had a couple of bouts with mold under our mattress in the van after cold winters. With 5 people in the van, we produce a lot of moisture. We have wanted to do this for awhile and finally got around to drilling ventilation holes under our mattress.

We went with holes instead of a raised ventilation insert because we didn’t want to give up another inch of height.

We didn’t have to deal with mold under the bed in any of our other campers. It was probably due to the fact that we spent most of our winters in the desert which is harder to do overseas.

Love to hear what solutions have worked in your campers.

https://youtu.be/r8fWUEHFH2U

We have had a couple of bouts with mold under our mattress in the van after cold winters. With 5 people in the van, we produce a lot of moisture. We have wan...

21/10/2020

Instead of using a fixed tank in our van, we instead opted to use three 7-gallon Reliance Aquatainer jugs for our fresh water system. They’ve been working out really well for us as we travel overseas but thanks to a new little hack, our system is now even more useful.

Blog post and video are live.

Hope this helps some of you.

We use Reliance Aqua-Tainers in our water system in the van and it has served us very well over the last 2 years in the van. It gives us a lot of flexibility when we are camping off grid and fill up water wherever we can. Each jug can hold 7 gallons of water and with 3 of them, we can carry 21 gallo...

20/10/2020

There is no one way to roadschool your children. The way that works best for one traveling family may not work for another. For our family and travel style, we use an eclectic travel-based method. It is a “mix and match” approach that allows us to customize the education for each individual child at any moment of time.

Today on the blog I share the current resources we are using in the 2020-2021 school year. Our method of learning includes everything from workbooks to apps to online resources to the real world. Our three children are currently in the 3rd, 6th and 8th grades. I break down our curriculum and supplies by following subjects: Language Arts & Reading, Math, Social Studies, Science and Art.

Hope this helps answer some of your roadschool questions.

There is no one way to roadschool your children. The way that works best for one traveling family may not work for another. For our family and travel style, we use an eclectic travel-based method. It is a “mix and match” approach that allows us to customize the education for each individual chil...

10/10/2020

We are excited to share podcast #17 with you today!

In this episode, we interviewed Peter, Kathy and Abby of Famagogo. We talked to them about how they transitioned to living on the road as a family of 3, how they make a living, how they became ambassadors for Winnebago and their plans for the near future.

In addition to the podcast, we also created a video podcast of the episode as well.

https://youtu.be/SpCTS-0no7g

in this episode of our podcast we interviewed Peter, Kathy and Abby of Famagogo. We talked to them about how...

08/10/2020

When you are designing the electrical system of your camper van, how much solar and how many batteries to get is a common and reasonable question to ask. There are several schools of thought on this topic depending on who you talk to. The reality is that there is no one absolute right answer to this. A lot of it has to do with your budget, how you plan on using your camper and when/where will you be traveling.

In today’s blog, Dan will lay out multiple scenarios for you so you can find the solution that is best for you. His topics include:

-3 Watts to 1 Amp Hour Rule
-What Is Your Budget?
-Basic Solar System and Battery ($400)
-Solar System and Battery System for Digital Nomads ($1,500)
-I Want To Run My Air Conditioner. Sure, But..
-Advanced Solar System and Batteries ($5,100)

Hope you find the third post in our DIY electrical series helpful.

https://freelyroaming.com/how-much-solar-and-battery-do-you-need-in-your-camper-van-build/

When you are designing the electrical system of your camper van, how much solar and how many batteries to get is a common and reasonable question to ask. There are several schools of thought on this topic depending on who you talk to. The reality is that there is no one absolute right answer to this...