Our Van Life Tool Kit: What Tools Do We Travel With?
Do You Need a Van Life Tool Kit? Absolutely. Every van lifer should have some level of “van life tool kit” on board. Our homes on wheels go through an earthquake a day as we drive around, especially off road. This makes things prone to loosening, or even breaking. We guarantee you that there will come a point that you are off grid, and something goes wrong (big, or small!). Being able to fix things on your own will not only save you money, but also time and stress of having to find someone who can fix your specific van build. Our Van Life Tool Kit In this guide, we are sharing what we personally carry as van lifers. Your specific van life tool kit may vary depending on how you travel as well as, what you are comfortable working with. We will leave comments along the way to help you decide what is best for you to carry in your personal van life tool kit. Tool Kit = Packout In order to keep our basic tools organized, we made space for a Packout in our garage. For us, this works great as we often do fixes, or travel van building gigs that require taking all our tools out. Our Packout carries all of our tools except our recovery, and campsite gear. General Tools for Your Van Life Tool Kit Screw Drivers [ Magnetic Tipped Flat Head and Phillips ] Scissors 3M Double Sided VHB Tape Headlamp Tape Measure Needle Nose Pliers Socket Wrench Set [ Craftsman, Dewalt ] Drill Bit Set Cordless Drill [ Ryobi, Milwaukee, Dewalt ] Cordless Impact Driver [Ryobi, Milwaukee, Dewalt] Extra Battery + Charger for Drills Travel Sewing Kit Utility Knife Tools for Electrical System Electrical Tape Handheld Wire Stripper and Crimper tool Spare GFCI Outlet Yes, we’ve replaced one of these while boon-docking! WAGO connectors Be sure to get the right number of connections. We use 3 a lot. Multimeter Spare wire We carry 16/2 because this is what we use in a few places. Use this electrical calculator for your needs Spare ring terminals (left over from your build) 16-14 12-10 Related Reading: DIY Camper Van Electrical System Guide Tools for 80/20 Allen Wrench Set [ US & Metric ] Thread Locker Spare connectors Spare Bolts and T-Nuts Related Reading: 80/20 Van Building Guide Tools for Plumbing Systen Spare water filters Plumbers Tape Spring Clamp Tools Only if you have a hydronic heating system. Related Reading: DIY Camper Van Plumbing Guide For Off Roading / Emergency Situations Traction Boards GoTreads (we like these because they double as leveling blocks) MaxTrax Portable Air Compressor (we use the VIAIR 300P-RVS) Tire Deflator We use this to control our airing down. Portable Jump Start Kit Sometimes there isn’t someone around to jumpstart a dead battery! For Setting Up Camp Often times, we need tools at campsites for firewood collection, clearing trees, and splitting wood. Here is what we keep on board for making campsites more home-y: Axe For wood splitting Silky Saws Tsurugi Curved Handsaw – for firewood collection Katanaboy 500mm – for
