1999 Astro Dirtbag Mobile

It’s no sprinter, but she’s mine.
Here’s my 99 Chevy Astro Van with a few upgrades and build outs. When I got her she had 30K miles, this guy that lived on a boat had been using it for storage. Now it has a little over 100K. I started by gutting everything out of the back and putting in plywood and cheap carpet.

1999 Astro Van

Inside I have a twin size bed I built out of scrap wood and then through an Ikea mattress and costco foam topper. My sitting area is a crash pad and under the bed you’ll find cloths bin, med bin, couple food bins and my quidebook bin. You can kinda (red light) see my inverter (1200w) with some cords coming out up high.

Sitting Area

Bed Side

Bed Empty Side

Bed Empty Back

Uptop is all my climbing/camping/backpacking gear as well as 100w of solar and of course my bike.

Top Of Van

I bought all my solar system off amazon:

Battery Cables $22
Solar Panel Kit $185
Terminal Rings $5
Inverter $85
Deepcycle 35AH Battery $76
Inverter Cables $10

I kid you not, I drilled some holes on my roof, ran all the cables, plugged the holes with some silicon and everything worked perfectly. I was amazed. The only piece I have regrets about is the battery. It’s ok, but go bigger. My 35AH can (at night time, not charging) run some sweet ikea LED strips all night, charge my bose mini dock, charge my laptop and extended battery, charge my cell phone and that’s about it. Totally enough… unless you have a few days of bad weather and bad sun. This is what I’m going to get soon:

125AH Battery

The best decision I've ever made (as a van owner, I guess not being a corporate ass hole and moving into my van was the best decision I've ever made).

Newest upgrade, passenger chair swivel and I found a bay-view curtain rod.

Inside With Swivel

Front Swivel W Curtain

Found he curtain rod at Lowes that was really adjustable and easy to hang with a few of those bendy gear ties. The swivel I bought from some truck supply web site and had to pay someone to drill and weld it to make it work. Both are worth every penny and all the hassle with the amount of new space I have.

Last but not least, my kitchen.

Kitchen Empty

Kitchen

Back Of Van

Double burner coleman and a yeti. For God sakes, if you’re gonna live in a van, get a yeti. My stove is connected to an 11 pound propane tank that I keep pretty far in the back since that will last forever.

Hope you like her.

Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

I didn't know what a Yeti was, so I looked it up. For everyone else as ignorant as me, it's apparently a high quality cooler.

That is one of the coolest vans I've ever seen.
total cost?

Hey,
Funny enough I have almost the exact same van. It's a 99 Astro that is white with those same hubcaps. It has windows in the back though.

Anyways, where do you live with this van? I noticed you don't have any insulation. I'm asking because I want to tear out the interior because it's ugly but I'm worried It won't be suitable to colorado winters.

She's a beaute! Did you insulate it at all?

Tristan Higbee wrote:Looks great. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know what a Yeti was, so I looked it up. For everyone else as ignorant as me, it's apparently a high quality cooler.

Thanks man, also cool thing about the Yeti is it can handle dry ice. Basically a freezer.

RocknRone wrote:That is one of the coolest vans I've ever seen. total cost?

Total Cost Estimate

Van 5000
Solar 400
Bed and Kitchen Materials 500
Swivel 350
Yeti 350
Bike Rack 200
Cargo Top Carrier 250

Total 7050

Thanks RocknRone!

Ben Dueweke wrote:Hey, Funny enough I have almost the exact same van. It's a 99 Astro that is white with those same hubcaps. It has windows in the back though. Anyways, where do you live with this van? I noticed you don't have any insulation. I'm asking because I want to tear out the interior because it's ugly but I'm worried It won't be suitable to colorado winters.

I did't do any insulation because of space. My original build had a bed that converted into a queen for me and my ex. I hit my head on the ceiling every night. Maximizing every inch was my priority. Especially for bed height. Measure the tallest thing that needs to fit under so you have head room. As for warmth, ya it gets cold. I have down booties, down comforter and a 15 deg bag. I was plenty warm in Yosemite for the winter this year with snow. If I had a bigger van, I'd insulate everything. One thing that I still might do next winter is put something on the floor so my feet stay warmer.

Astro for life!

caughtinside wrote:Nice rig and thanks for the price breakdown. I had no idea you could get a solar system on a van for that little.

Ya man, every day I'm pretty stoked on how much free power I have. I'll never not have one now.

way to rig an awesome set up at a impressively low cost!

Dream machine. Thanks for posting.

How's your experience with the yeti cooler been? Sounds like you love it in your op? Do you buy blocks of ice for it, if you do how long does a block last?

Willie Wilson wrote:How's your experience with the yeti cooler been? Sounds like you love it in your op? Do you buy blocks of ice for it, if you do how long does a block last?

Block ice is what I always look for. If it's cold out a block will last me about 10 to 12 days and hot about 6 or 7. If I really have something I want to stay cold I'll wrap the cooler in a sleeping bag. Thats a huge help.

By Tristan Higbee
May 22, 2014
From Thailand

Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

I didn't know what a Yeti was, so I looked it up. For everyone else as ignorant as me, it's apparently a high quality cooler.

It's probably the next best thing closest to having a refrigerator but it's big $$$$$ I bought one used and it still broke the bank. Worth every penny though.
Here's a tip for ice blocks Tupperware in a chest freezer

i'm looking into getting an old astro and turning it into a living space...thoughts on all wheel drive?

nice set up.

Nice work!

I've heard the Yeti's are pretty badass, but if you ever get sick of ice and have some coin lying around you could try out an ARB fridge: store.arbusa.com/Fridges-C1…

I'm currently working on a camper van myself and that's the direction I took. Using a similar 100W panel + 65AH deep cycle battery + battery isolator to charge the spare battery with the alternator, the math tells me I *should* be able to run the fridge (50qt) without external power for quite a while. We'll see if that's actually the case when I'm done though...

BTW, battery isolators are pretty cheap (<$30) and easy to install. Throwing one in might be enough to ensure that you never end up with a fully dead house battery. I was able to find space in my engine bay for my isolator so the van internals weren't affected at all.

Nice rig. What are you using your inverter for primarily? I'm in the market and afraid to go with a cheap in price one as I fear it affects the quality. Do you have it hooked to a switch or an ignition switch?

Peter nichols wrote:i'm looking into getting an old astro and turning it into a living space...thoughts on all wheel drive? nice set up.

Hey Peter, the AWD is not a true AWD. You really only have 2 wheels driving at any time. The most hard core roads I've been on were some pretty wash boarded roads near the Red in KY and it did awesome.

Ryan N wrote:Nice rig. What are you using your inverter for primarily? I'm in the market and afraid to go with a cheap in price one as I fear it affects the quality. Do you have it hooked to a switch or an ignition switch?

My astro was pre-wired to have my alternator charge my additional battery but it never really worked well. Someone told me that an alternator was not great at replenishing a large deficit battery and would never be ideal for anyone really using a house battery as I do.

I've seen this van...and the owner, neither of which are impressive. Pretty cool troubler, though ;)

looks great! Just got a 2004 Astro, looking to do something similar. I might have to hit you up for some advice.