Up next in 10
Adventure Van Expo 2021! Chattanooga, Tennessee
6K views
May 3, 2025
The Van Builder HQ team headed down to Chattanooga, TN to cover Adventure Van Expo 2021! We came across so many great companies and super-rad vans! Visit https://www.vanbuilderhq.com to learn more. Interested in buying a van? Check out https://www.odysseycustomvans.com Support Van Builder HQ on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/vanbuilderhq
View Video Transcript
0:01
[Music] all right welcome nick ellerman and
0:07
jamie here we're headed to adventure van expo we're in chattanooga excited to see all the vans and uh
0:14
check out this event how cool
0:25
is your band expo they had a like especially parking for rebels and
0:30
storytellers like see over here on the left yeah so i can see
0:36
wow and someone has to drive all those in right no those people all people those individuals own it they just buy a
0:42
ticket so they don't park together the camaraderie
0:50
wow cool this is the only non-high top
0:58
wow this is awesome
1:25
yeah i mean i didn't i just didn't want any distractions
1:34
that's over over landing with the tip or the top [Music]
1:43
all right guys we're adventure van expo chattanooga tennessee and we got the van set up we got our
1:49
vents in front on him here and then i'm gonna be in the tent tonight
1:55
my brother's gonna be inside so yeah we got everything
2:01
ready to go so um yeah we'll be coming back here later and
2:08
then uh we're set up for tomorrow morning to cook breakfast and i got a table and
2:13
everything outside hang out have a good time and enjoy the final day which will be sunday uh at the
2:19
venture event expo but right now we're gonna go tour all these hundreds of vans there's so many vans let's start walking
2:32
this is just people that are camping this is not even the show
2:38
and then you kind of see everybody that has their
2:43
mercedes or a rebel they actually have specialty parking so that they can
2:49
you know park together um jamie let's just make one more hook up around here
2:57
yeah i want to see the storytelling
3:14
kits on the back
3:22
that's awesome
3:31
[Applause] i mean i didn't think lifting the video would make that much of a difference
3:37
oh are you going to do that with yours will you do that for the
3:43
other ones i don't have a plan for it but that's why i'm here plans might change i
3:48
need ideas inspiration and there's my van
3:54
i'm just hanging out all right let's go look at some vans inside oh there you go
4:02
is this better weather for filming yeah what's that uh is that overcast i'll film you walking over here
4:16
wow look at that that's cool
4:22
[Applause] this lens is so wide it makes everything
4:29
look small so this is this is almost 100 percent what the band i'm building number fandom
4:36
so we've got the uh see it's even got the same roof i want you to stand in front of me talk about
4:42
it i like the wheels too oh god
4:48
what i'm not paying attention to my photography they're all blown out
4:58
you want to talk about this one oh no because it looks like what you're going to do yeah there's the people okay
5:30
it's cool i guess i'll just go right to left yeah
5:36
journey right there he's nice wow
5:45
yeah sorry nova i think it would have been intense
6:00
you need some b-roll now
6:07
flare space this is flare space hey i'm good
6:14
yeah so these are the bump outside
6:20
this uh oh what you bought no no no uh i might do this on van too
6:25
but this got the bump outs on each side and then they uh cool the the bed and
6:30
the mattress it comes as like a whole entire kit but that's the flooring i got but i got black
6:37
nice
6:44
i can see why you sell vans here so that's the owner okay
6:49
you know uh oh you just said hi i just i was just saying hi
6:54
but uh if you buy two of their kids uh
7:03
this is going to be awesome footage
7:18
what's up guys
7:33
30 frames 60 frame was 2x this could be a segment yeah all right you want to talk about the
7:39
flare space no but this is this is your product right here so it's it's what is it it's a bump out
7:45
so that you can get more legroom okay you can stretch out and then they integrate the uh the
7:51
awning windows oh this is an awning this is the slider but you could do an audio here too that's another bump out
7:59
yeah and then this company right here rig rap they make graphics for
8:05
this temple this layout and then you can you know buy this
8:10
stuff down here too but uh okay yeah now we'll drive
8:18
all right let's check out some more vans so this uh this company
8:24
heard the name
8:38
this is yeah so that's tell me what i'm looking at
8:44
this is like the rear garage of the van it kind of looks like
8:51
oh man the ceiling's really nice yeah yeah talk about this you get your water system over here so you got your water
8:58
fill your washdown port so this looks like we've got two of them we got your fishing rods um yeah they've
9:04
got some live fly rods that's awesome
9:10
what is this right here uh it's hot water so you can take the little mini propane
9:15
bottles you can screw them in there and then you can have a wash down shower
9:21
it's awesome i love these panels right here yeah there's really very nice that's a really nice way to like
9:27
insulate because it's kind of hard to put something in here so you have like these little pieces to hold it in
9:41
yeah i like what they're doing inside they've got the sports
9:46
family
9:59
yeah so um
10:10
that's the same one that i'm putting in van number one it's huge so you guys can kind of look and see how big it is
10:18
and i like what they do with the cabinets because it's welded that's either one steel or aluminum and
10:24
it's just really secure it's kind of big on the safety thing where if you're an accident
10:30
you want to
10:41
this van also has so this one's got the uh
10:48
style turnout window so i'll be getting that and it actually has the awning style
10:53
uh rear bunker endeavours
11:10
yeah so this is different uh i think that's a 130 size
11:16
yeah all right i got the black stuff this is the speckled it's got like the speckles in it so i
11:23
was kind of hesitant but i really like this one were you thinking about making yours just open no mine'll yeah might not be
11:29
this open um if you look this is everything's modular so they'll
11:35
have like standard water standard power standard cabinet system and that's how you they can you know
11:43
you know somewhat scale is this kind of
11:49
cars it's challenging when you get like custom builds and this is what i'm looking forward to right here i'm trying to figure out the
11:55
best way to transition and so just finding these pieces because this is fine but transitioning from here
12:01
to here you know what's the best way to do that i got some awesome seat covers
12:07
got a shelf
12:19
uh
12:27
[Music] we'll talk about that
12:44
[Applause]
12:51
vanilla yeah yeah he's got that huge i like this
12:56
yeah many times
13:02
it takes me
13:19
vans but if he had a van this would be his i was like oh this is my speed yeah this is uh it's
13:25
my dream van you know i i build these all day long and i'm perfectly content
13:30
in my 86 van this is rover vans yeah rover vans
13:37
that we have up in up in chicago where are you guys at we're in oh right now very cool
13:44
you have a what's your company
13:57
yeah yeah we uh we've only been around since the beginning of the year yeah yeah yeah
14:03
so so we've done i believe four we've completed four four months so far
14:09
this year you know it's been slow getting started which i'm sure you know uh but uh it's funny
14:17
and then it obviously has to pull down the beginning of the season we went to the fan expo in the wood river
14:25
oh man double the size of this wow and it was like at the beginning of the
14:30
season and we had just finished uh two builds
14:40
and there's right there there's a reason why we've brought these
15:06
or the three-seater
15:33
[Laughter]
15:44
um
16:06
come on
16:19
and they changed
16:34
no we need to go to these are
16:40
all right over here at the rb components fan they've got like seats and stuff like
16:47
that that they sell and then bug screens and the bags i think people really like these bags so we'll go look
16:52
at them so they have the nate
16:58
they have their fresh water so you can't see what they're looking at they got all of it
17:14
so i'm also thinking about building sprinters because the components that are really there for you when you want to kind of customize
17:21
it um but yeah like you get i like this because like if you're in the bed
17:26
and you need to like just put your shoes up or you know get something like you have a bag right where the bed is
17:32
and then this is like for air chucks and stuff like that get some more nets
17:38
yeah the net that's really nice yeah i like that
17:45
and they've even uh they've been built uh this back step oh i didn't see the trailer got a
17:52
trailer attached typically there you go james
18:11
what is this so that's a evaporative cooler it's not
18:18
an air conditioner with a compressor it actually takes a water and circulates it in pine straw
18:25
on the top of the ceiling and then it actually cools the air they don't have it on right now but
18:31
i would like this they got paper towel holders oh it's got all the different pieces
18:54
i don't know if that's
19:02
this is
19:10
and check out titan vans we got a bunch of components from them for our van number one
19:40
um [Music]
20:06
we typically use the medicine
20:30
we just up like the free shipping like 4.99 it's kind of enticing it's great
20:38
talking to this guy earlier yes i'm a big fan of your guys layout so thank you you said odyssey van is the
20:43
company that
21:01
[Music]
21:24
yeah you have to be quite a bit of modification trains are bigger though luckily so you have to fail
21:42
so
21:48
does even the classic come with ac or is that no all upgrade option yeah all of our 144 builds start with just a
22:08
is [Music]
22:36
uh
23:21
so this is something we're pretty excited about are these like micro campers
23:27
oh man i think this is the mattress you got a seat that folds down and then
23:32
you got a full built in over here that's nice
23:39
oh there you go that that's cool a little dometic
23:45
nice great travis
24:28
yeah this is a short one i forgot what size this short is it is the i think it's a high roof
24:35
i'm not sure yeah um i'm gonna come around
24:48
you like this setup yeah i mean this is a really good layout so van 2 is this type of layout
24:55
it's a sink over here for cabinets and you see your headboard no cabinets so you can
25:01
sit up and then this is you know cabinets for your feet go under here yeah
25:07
um and i like this i like the lightness this
25:12
is this that's great
25:33
so right here this is uh this is water fill turns the water pump on
25:39
look at this that's like the it's got like a backlight ring
25:45
that's really cool i like the simplicity
25:51
that's great but see how see how cozy you can make it
25:56
now this isn't my style builds at the current moment mine's really slowly focused on adventure
26:03
but this is something for you know a couple younger cup younger couples and i like the younger couple
26:10
i gotta get some young little couple i need some food i believe i mean this is like
26:16
you can really i'm sure the batteries and stuff are over here do you like these panels
26:25
it's kind of kind of high top yeah maybe this one look higher or no yeah
26:31
i guess it is the high roof uh oh this is going to be nice this is really woodsy inside check it out
26:40
so this one i like is it they get the dinette and then they get the passenger seat i like the uh i like the storage
26:48
mountains yeah and like if you pack stuff a lot you put
26:54
mesh behind it and then you're like oh nothing can fall out right you just look at the aesthetic but also like i can cram everything i want
27:01
nice i'm very excited about that concept and i really
27:15
no it's not it's just different wood the wood's really nice
27:22
it's kind of a fun little feel yeah that's so cool
27:35
so these are the i guess these are the rental coins
27:49
who's this nick
28:11
do you know what company this is [Music]
28:26
[Music]
28:42
thank you
28:52
and then you got your shower where's this pole for your shower right here what's the pull forward
29:04
yes sir do you guys make this in-house yes yep we have all the metal trim work in-house
29:19
ford didn't skew on their dimensions much yeah we probably could i know i feel you it's because we that's why we
29:26
kind of we just one single piece we v-notch it bend it in to get it to fit good and
29:31
then rolled all the v-notches in and then that's a powder coat it's a
29:36
small they call it a light texture
29:56
out there
30:01
[Music]
30:47
oh yeah
31:21
oh nice and so this is the extended
31:26
170. this is this mercedes oh horseback pop it's a sportsman this
31:32
one has a luminesce roof right that's a shower two solar panels
31:55
they have sports bubble bands here and they've got them equipped with their roof racks i'm thinking the running
32:00
boards right here right here yeah yeah yeah so this is luminous
32:06
so they're known for real like very high-end aluminum products they're
32:13
they lightweight very expensive but they're kind of the fit and finish is you know very very
32:20
very good uh and then they come over here we got this stuff
32:25
we so think outside the van not in inside
32:34
like this carrier
32:43
right and then i thought about getting this one for the van i'm working on
32:48
what is that i just it's aluminum popper or whatever
33:04
i'm not sure if that's a luminesce but i think they've got the uh
33:22
lights box winch
33:32
some roto packs
33:51
i like the good all right so this is the company it has the shower
33:57
and it's kind of the only shower complete like that you can buy
34:03
it's just a thing that you walk in it's not like got the
34:08
components and stuff but it's the one that a titan vans had in their van so
34:13
oh i had to check it out here let's try it
34:32
so hopefully land number two i'm gonna be getting a shower from you guys already on band number two it happens no
34:38
no so i got two haven't sold both of me i put on yeah van number two is going to be
34:44
i guess you could call it man three are you uh builder yep awesome ariana north carolina okay
34:51
um what's your company odyssey
34:56
gotcha yep um shower stalls have been popular i mean
35:02
when we first started putting shower stalls in our vans people were like showering
35:07
now everybody has a shower it's hard because i mean just building
35:13
there is
35:25
the one that i was talking about that's what 24 by 24 probably ish
35:39
it actually doesn't come in one piece it comes knocked down because of shipping nah so if you look on the back
35:44
wall you'll see rivets yeah you just rivet it together silicone the corners
35:51
and you're good to go yeah i mean that's
35:58
you can't complain about hype because you're in advance
36:04
no i i just like funny what you what you hear at manchester that's crazy that's crazy i like this that's very smart
36:13
that's like it's sealed it's thin you know you're not you're not compromised because you're not adding a bunch of you
36:19
know inches are so valuable every inch counts in a van this is a 36 inch that's
36:24
great okay yeah that's way different so that you can actually get in and close the
36:30
door and use the bat right the 30 your knees are tight
36:36
24 you got to use the door open and you can't like take the porta potty in it you probably want to take it out
36:42
to take a shower there's this one you can leave no i think i i don't know just for a little bit extra space
36:48
because it's easy but you certainly don't have to right
36:54
you can only do the tops for the lower roof you can't do uh really
37:00
yeah cause you can't do it on a mid roof okay i'll get you recording right now wait that one guy had a mid roof this
37:05
mod vans let's do this one
37:14
yeah it's interesting because everybody what is this uh bike rack
37:20
so this to
37:38
[Music]
38:01
so we're here at storyteller overland they got the three modes so mode
38:08
you know segment their vans so they got stealth one in the back is the i forgot what
38:14
mode that is that's the original one the one on the right over here is the other mode
38:22
let's check it out i kind of do it like the middle one is like low and on the right is medium and this is
38:27
high okay price range let's check them out
38:41
okay
38:48
[Music]
38:56
so this is what i'm going to do for van 2 this is the layout so the gallery is going to be over here is there um and then you just turn the
39:03
water but this is what this is their only thing that they do
39:08
so they got a fridge i mean a microwave and then they have the is that it's kind
39:14
of like a murphy style bed where it flips down and then you can work on it
39:22
yeah yeah so over there there's a power system and then over here
39:27
right here right here that's all the controls of the van it's one of my
39:33
favorites but i think the way that they're able to do this is like this is their only layout
39:39
so every single one of these bands is the same yeah i mean i can still do that but
39:51
in our system thank you
40:22
so the power system is on the right yeah was it it could have been related
40:37
so i mean that's what i was going to do is is to actually build up the boxes that high
40:42
so the bed comes on top of it you can't kind of change your mind
40:49
i mean this is basically ankle is so
40:54
um
41:06
it's the same thing the same layout
41:13
you have to buy this stuff
41:22
[Music]
41:33
actually here just keep filming [Music]
41:46
ca vans yeah and they've kind of upgraded each other
41:56
[Music] this is a very good company for uh out of canada
42:03
and humble road he likes to uh talk about that i mean use those there's that rv right
42:10
there
42:27
so the other two seats all the cushions on the table oh man
42:38
these things i don't know so this is alvin's
42:48
they do all the exterior components so this was ca vans yeah canyon canyon
42:56
probably california it says canyon van can your canyon adventure base
43:05
nice
43:18
that's your diesel generator so it looks like a rixie system but i think this might be their own system so i'm
43:24
gonna ask
43:38
so you guys will see that in other videos right there is that
43:44
your system yes
44:03
conversations
44:09
[Music]
44:16
[Music]
44:47
all right guys we're going to check out the new airstream interstate
44:56
wow all right interstate x uh four wheel drive so this just came out this is new
45:04
um dual rear wheels and then everything is
45:13
what's up guys hey man how's it going nick kelly
45:19
if we film a little video here of course yeah yeah i've heard a lot about the interstate x um yeah we just got it
45:26
maybe a week ago which yeah we have to keep this one for 120 days is display which we sold
45:32
immediately not here but i sold it before it came down yeah we've ordered a couple of them
45:37
as well you're looking around june to get one but yeah it's a fantastic build out here you've
45:43
got air ride suspension
45:59
inside yes it's so cool you got the lights turned on on the counter i don't know if they are here hold on
46:07
check it out guys the seats wow they are so nice unfortunately you still have every
46:13
safety feature that mercedes-benz offers you've got six airbags up front the mercedes-benz user experience
46:19
everything huge touchscreen
46:24
so how long did you say this is 24. they make them longer now is this a sprinter
46:30
this is the biggest one before
46:42
so check it out james so this is a light so this one back up
47:05
that's awesome
47:12
nice closet light that's cool that's 16 where's my battery here we got
47:18
to get going it's been one of my favorite so this is the uh this is noble so it's both freezer
47:25
drawer and fridge so it's huge
47:31
very big fan fan this lights up i wish we could see that
47:38
it's so cool you gotta turn on the car yeah look how roomy it is yeah there it
47:45
is there's a heating system yeah come on back here jam
47:54
so this is your bed so like you know you have like two guys in here one over here one over here um i don't know if they connect
48:01
well yeah i think they do and then storage down here is open nets
48:08
microwave and then check this out jame look at that this one porthole this
48:14
one's the closest i've seen to like
48:23
that's great what's this like 200 yeah uh way more than that
48:32
all right guys so i'm gonna take a couple pictures take it off a camera but yeah airstream interstate x
48:43
very big very very very roomy
49:00
for awesome
49:06
hey jamie yeah come back in here i'm sorry you guys say all right
49:12
let me take one more go ahead
49:28
thanks foxx
49:44
can we get inside no just keep going okay
49:49
hold on
50:05
that's huge
50:22
20.
50:40
we're going to check out the solas it's pretty popular for people that are just wanting to get into like van life travel
50:48
really like anybody older younger this one is the one that has the
50:55
top top up there and i mean it is really
51:02
that's pretty very roomy
51:10
yeah that's great
51:26
that's great like a set toilet got some vented windows
51:32
um i mean it's kind of black it's a got a gray tank but you can see
51:38
this is the thing when i talk talk about like how big it has to be within the vehicle i mean very little ground
51:44
clearance so he's gonna have to gotta pick and choose your adventures
51:50
get something like that versus something like this
51:59
back here storage
52:13
so it looks like we're at live more camper vans
52:26
uh
52:44
yeah i like the cutting board i think i got an elevator bed yeah yeah
52:49
that's nice so you can have a dinette and the bed you're gonna kind of best of both worlds
52:57
you can have whatever you want in a van you just gotta pay for it you have whatever you want
53:04
if we do i'm gonna do like the colorado boys with like this red and white you're asking me
53:10
something that i like i'm gonna do that um
53:26
it's a very i was like famous but people like that so this and this is not part of it
53:34
check this out surfboard oh this big boy
53:42
oh what's this terra wagon get that
53:47
vent here
54:04
okay
54:14
hey guys how are you doing showcase capabilities
54:33
hey look at that so these are these showman seats are super nice so these guys are blue ridge adventure
54:40
vehicles and they're located in uh like right outside of asheville north carolina
54:46
and we're gonna get this because the batteries run out
54:51
this is really nice i mean this is i've been watching their builds and this is
54:57
this is uh this is cool
55:03
because they do they do all this stuff they build these cabinets that's really nice
55:08
that's a differentiator for sure yeah that's nice
55:15
yeah i definitely want to meet the guy yeah we'll definitely check out your website you know
55:27
this right here this is a seat you can buy it folds down and up so when you have it folded out of the
55:33
way your walk i forgot who's herself
55:50
all right that's it for adventure van expo chattanooga tennessee it's been awesome i got to look at a lot
55:55
of vans i've talked to a lot of van builders i get a good idea what i'm going to what i want to do fans one and
56:01
two i'll make a couple changes i even have an idea for a part i'm gonna
56:07
talk to you guys about that later um but it's like nice to see the vans kind of
56:13
see what they have as far as layouts go and moreover
56:20
everybody that's here like who who all came to this you know family
56:25
brought their dog over here
56:37
i think what i'm going to do is i'm going to sign off here we're going to go in and do some more detailed video on some parts that i kind
56:43
of look at one more time but hope you guys enjoyed this video and i'll see in the next
56:49
[Music]
#Campers & RVs
#Events & Listings
#Expos & Conventions
#Specialty Travel
#Tourist Destinations
#Transportation
#Trucks
# Vans & SUVs
#Vehicle Shows