Should you’re searching for a funds campervan, you may’t go flawed with a Chevy Astro. These pretty priced minivans could be discovered an AWD model; should you’re fortunate, you may uncover a Chevy Astro conversion van.
Conversion vans are the luxurious model of a Chevy Astro. They’d been upfitted with a higher fiberglass roof, varnished inside paneling, a tv, bucket seats, and rear slider home dwelling home windows with pull-down blinds, making these vans wonderful for an easy camper.
A Chevy Astro conversion van is uncommon and has a cult following.
I discovered one on Craigslist for merely $6,000 with 57,000 miles on it. We turned this Chevy Astro into an off-road camper and lived out of it for 3 years. Correct proper right here’s how we did it.
Making a Chevy Astro Van Camper Conversion
This video reveals a try the van’s inside so you are going to get an concept of what an Astrovan conversion van seems to be like:
Chevy Astro Conversion vans embrace a novel inside seating setup than fully totally different Chevy Astro passenger vans. There are two coronary heart bucket seats and a as soon as extra bench seat that folds flat on the push of a button.
We began by eradicating the 2 coronary heart bucket seats. Then, we added storage ottomans to the center of the van. When our as soon as extra bench seat was flat, these ottomans prolonged the mattress and offered a resting spot for our ft. That is furthermore the place we saved our garments in packing cubes.
With practically no DIY work, we had been in a position to begin sleeping in our Chevy Astro camper instantly.
My affiliate Tom is heavier and taller than me, so he slept on a plywood board coated with a tenting mat. I merely slept on the cushioned bench with my legs on the storage ottomans.
We didn’t have the rest put in all through the van nevertheless, however we may merely begin stealth tenting all through the San Francisco Bay home.
Camper Upgrades for Our Chevy Astro Conversion
We slowly added some gear to our Astro van to level out it correct proper right into a camper. Here’s what we added to our Chevy Astro van conversion:
And that’s it! We didn’t intestine and redo our inside, choosing the as soon as extra folding seat as a substitute. The storage ottomans furthermore doubled as tables, so we may put collectively dinner indoors when tenting in a metropolis or if it was raining.
Tom put throughout the AGM batteries beneath the van’s chassis utilizing a skid plate and bracket and wired them by way of the side panels. We knew we wished so as in order so as to add the batteries beneath on account of an Astro van has restricted inside dwelling, and it labored out absolutely.
The Astro van was now a tenting machine.
Along with Off-Avenue Capabilities to Our Astro Van Camper
We found boondocking quite a few months after beginning our van life adventures all through the Chevy Astro. I had under no circumstances heard of free tenting on public lands prior to, and this opened an entire new world of tenting alternate choices for us.
We had been joyful we’d chosen an AWD Chevy Astro van, which drove accurately on filth, sand, gravel, and snow, however it was so low it wasn’t good for off-roading.
We wished to go down even rougher filth roads to hunt out secluded campsites. The working boards wished to go, and the Astro van wanted a carry gear.
We discovered Journeys Off-Avenue, positioned in Prescott, Arizona, specializing in Chevy Astro van carry kits. We employed them so as in order so as to add a physique carry and leaf springs to the van. The primary carry was 3”, and the second carry 4”. You wouldn’t understand it should you checked out our Chevy Astro van conversion, however it has a 7” carry.
Chevy Astro conversion vans experience very low right out of the manufacturing facility, practically skimming the pavement. The 7” carry merely made the Astro appear to be a normal automobile. It rides significantly larger now whereas off-roading, and we’re grateful we put throughout the carry gear.
Off-Avenue Tires for our Chevy Astro
Regardless of getting a carry gear for our Astro van camper, we nonetheless didn’t improve the tires—huge mistake. Ultimately, whereas off-roading all through the Mojave desert, we popped not one however two tires concurrently. Tom patched each tires utilizing Restore-a-Flat and a tire patch gear, and we drove 65 miles to the closest tire restore facility.
We paid the tire place to put in off-road tires on our van: KO2 All Terrain Tires by BF Goodrich. It’s laborious to ponder we waited so extended so as in order so as to add hardier tires, however van life is all about discovering out, right?
The tires we chosen had been huge, although: 30×9. We stayed all through the tire restore place’s parking lot whereas Tom lower our fenders to go properly with the tires. Now our Chevy Astro has some huge footwear!
We haven’t had any components off-roading since we added the KO2s, and we chosen these comparable tires with our newer van, a 2021 4×4 Sprinter.
Whereas the Chevy Astro does accurately with elementary overlanding, it lacks the pliability of varied rigs, together with our Sprinter van. The Astro would do significantly larger with a change case, permitting us to shift the van correct proper right into a decrease gear. It lacks energy on filth avenue hill climbs, so we might have appreciated to be cautious the place we drove.
Residing in Our Chevy Astro Van Camper
We lived out of the Chevy Astro van conversion for 3 years, splitting time between the van and our sailboat all through the San Francisco Bay home. It’s laborious to ponder that two folks match contained throughout the minivan.
When tenting all through the metropolis, we cooked dinner whereas sitting on the bench seat. We set a one-burner cooktop on the storage ottoman, and to stop the range from burning the ottoman, we positioned it on an infinite picket reducing board.
When tenting out in nature, we purchased a small out of doors desk and two folding chairs to increase our dwelling dwelling.
Our favourite locations to camp in our Astro van camper had been the Arizona desert in spring and Oregon for the summer season season season windsurfing months.
Now that we’ve upgraded to a Sprinter van, it’s laborious to contemplate returning to the confines of a Chevy Astro minivan camper. Nonetheless I nonetheless assume it’s probably one of the best vans for van life, and it’d probably sleep two comfortably, making it an infinite plus.
Let me know you probably have any questions on Chevy Astro van campers!