Really informative post. Thank you. I have been looking at the Storyteller vans, but It’s at least a year wait. Wild. I like the Storyteller interior shower and the “groove lounge” multi use sofa chair. I have also read their sound insulation is great. Just wondering whether I should consider a smaller custom shop. I worry, having owned 5th wheels, campers, tent trailers, a Lance, etc. that a smaller shop may not have the same level of feedback/tweaking that a high volume custom shop may have. I want a quiet ride, 4x4, interior set up shower, and a descent amount of fresh water, and oh, I like the dual alternator, lithium, power that is on the Storytellers. I know I sound Storyteller centric and I am, but I just don’t want to wait a year. Haven’t seen a used one in a month. I really appreciate hearing about your experience.
New van, new adventures
- Thread starter ericvs
- Start date
ericvs
Active member
The nice thing about a van like the storyteller is that you don't have to really make too many decisions and they build pretty much the same van over and over so they get it dialed in. The van you see is the van you get from them.
Small custom shops get you exactly what you want, but there are many more decisions and time and stress etc. Sometimes the vision in your head isn't exactly the vision that is in their head or what the end product is.
I feel like most custom shops could get you exactly what you want, but my guess is they won't be any sooner than a year, maybe even longer depending on how long it takes to get a van to them etc.
I looked for an already completed van when looking for mine, but nobody has the layout that I wanted, so I ended up getting AdventureVansColorado to do mine to my specs. They did a great job and I don't feel like it is a camp trailer style build, but a legit van build. That being said, if you like the Storyteller van exactly how it is, I would put down a deposit and get on the list. You never know, someone might back out of their agreement and then a van is ready to go. A friend of mine was about to take delivery of his StoryTeller, but last minute decided to keep his current van, so boom! a van was ready for the next person in line.
Don't think of it as waiting a year, think of it as taking a year to plan all the awesome trips you will take in your new van.
Small custom shops get you exactly what you want, but there are many more decisions and time and stress etc. Sometimes the vision in your head isn't exactly the vision that is in their head or what the end product is.
I feel like most custom shops could get you exactly what you want, but my guess is they won't be any sooner than a year, maybe even longer depending on how long it takes to get a van to them etc.
I looked for an already completed van when looking for mine, but nobody has the layout that I wanted, so I ended up getting AdventureVansColorado to do mine to my specs. They did a great job and I don't feel like it is a camp trailer style build, but a legit van build. That being said, if you like the Storyteller van exactly how it is, I would put down a deposit and get on the list. You never know, someone might back out of their agreement and then a van is ready to go. A friend of mine was about to take delivery of his StoryTeller, but last minute decided to keep his current van, so boom! a van was ready for the next person in line.
Don't think of it as waiting a year, think of it as taking a year to plan all the awesome trips you will take in your new van.
ericvs
Active member
Baja 2022 Pt 1
We had planned to do a Christmas jaunt down to Baja, but the annual snow-pocalyse hit the day we planned to leave. With little desire to become a fixture on I5 somewhere between Seattle and northern California, the trip was postponed to a nicer weather week. That week happened to be in Feb. warm temps and sun greeted us all the way down I5 to baja.
We did a friday night depature and actually spent the night at Seven feathers Casino, which had a nice RV parking lot. so that worked for the first night. Saturday was a big day 16 hours but that got us all the way to Glamis. Did a quick couple of hours in Glamis checking out the cool rigs and enjoying the desert.
This is the view from the Hugh T Osborn Lookout Park
Bunch of cool rigs:
Saw this dually Renegade, thought it was worth a picture.
_______
Saturday afternoon we crossed into Baja. Wanted to the the Calexico/Mexicali crossing since I haven't done that one yet. Everything online said east was a breeze, and they were right.
Choose the non-declare lane and stood inline behind nobody to get our FMM.
The drive to Hwy 5 isn't as stunning as that to Hwy 1, but it was still very cool and very not busy.
We had made a reservation at a RV campground in San Felipe on the first night.
Did some touristico stuff on sunday around town
Looking up at the Cerrito de la Virgen de Guadalupe
Faro de San Felipe
After spending the morning in San Felipe, we ventured further south to Puertecitos. They have a campground and a short walk to some hot springs. Was a great time.
You had to keep moving around in the springs as they would warm up and cool down depending on the tide. We did a night soak and it was so good we went back for a morning soak also.
After our soaks we pushed further south to Campo La Poma. Wind had picked up so had a couple of fun kite sessions. Had the whole place to ourselves, it was spectacular.
On our last night in La Poma we did a long beach walk out towards the point and did a little beach cleanup on the way back. Was actually not that bad, but now it is a little bit better
La Poma was great. We spent two nights there, but then figured we better go see more of Hwy 5, so off we went.
We had planned to do a Christmas jaunt down to Baja, but the annual snow-pocalyse hit the day we planned to leave. With little desire to become a fixture on I5 somewhere between Seattle and northern California, the trip was postponed to a nicer weather week. That week happened to be in Feb. warm temps and sun greeted us all the way down I5 to baja.
We did a friday night depature and actually spent the night at Seven feathers Casino, which had a nice RV parking lot. so that worked for the first night. Saturday was a big day 16 hours but that got us all the way to Glamis. Did a quick couple of hours in Glamis checking out the cool rigs and enjoying the desert.
This is the view from the Hugh T Osborn Lookout Park
Bunch of cool rigs:
Saw this dually Renegade, thought it was worth a picture.
_______
Saturday afternoon we crossed into Baja. Wanted to the the Calexico/Mexicali crossing since I haven't done that one yet. Everything online said east was a breeze, and they were right.
Choose the non-declare lane and stood inline behind nobody to get our FMM.
The drive to Hwy 5 isn't as stunning as that to Hwy 1, but it was still very cool and very not busy.
We had made a reservation at a RV campground in San Felipe on the first night.
Did some touristico stuff on sunday around town
Looking up at the Cerrito de la Virgen de Guadalupe
Faro de San Felipe
After spending the morning in San Felipe, we ventured further south to Puertecitos. They have a campground and a short walk to some hot springs. Was a great time.
You had to keep moving around in the springs as they would warm up and cool down depending on the tide. We did a night soak and it was so good we went back for a morning soak also.
After our soaks we pushed further south to Campo La Poma. Wind had picked up so had a couple of fun kite sessions. Had the whole place to ourselves, it was spectacular.
On our last night in La Poma we did a long beach walk out towards the point and did a little beach cleanup on the way back. Was actually not that bad, but now it is a little bit better
La Poma was great. We spent two nights there, but then figured we better go see more of Hwy 5, so off we went.
Last edited:
ericvs
Active member
Baja 2022 Pt2
We ended up driving all the way down to the intersection of Hwy 5 and Hwy 1. Surprisingly, it was raining and super windy down there. We stopped at the little restaurant there, had a hot chocolate and headed back north on Hwy 5.
We spent the night at Rancho Grande and I think the Sea Shepherd was making an appearance. It doesn't look like it in this photo, but it was super windy here. It was rocking the van the whole night.
Also, used a very desolate pit toilet in the am.
Found a couple of pullouts off Hwy 5 that lead to some cool things:
So many different cactus
We were on our way back and found a little gem of a place just north of Santa Maria. Most of the beach access points were gated so we drove a bit further north, found a turn off 5 and took this road:
Which lead us to an awesome beach that we had all to ourselves
It got windy, so got another kite session. Just me and the birds!
Then we found a few clams and had a rad dinner and drinks
It was so dark out there, the stars were amazing.
The food was pretty good also
Overall 10/10 trip. Can't wait to get back down there.
We ended up driving all the way down to the intersection of Hwy 5 and Hwy 1. Surprisingly, it was raining and super windy down there. We stopped at the little restaurant there, had a hot chocolate and headed back north on Hwy 5.
We spent the night at Rancho Grande and I think the Sea Shepherd was making an appearance. It doesn't look like it in this photo, but it was super windy here. It was rocking the van the whole night.
Also, used a very desolate pit toilet in the am.
Found a couple of pullouts off Hwy 5 that lead to some cool things:
So many different cactus
We were on our way back and found a little gem of a place just north of Santa Maria. Most of the beach access points were gated so we drove a bit further north, found a turn off 5 and took this road:
Which lead us to an awesome beach that we had all to ourselves
It got windy, so got another kite session. Just me and the birds!
Then we found a few clams and had a rad dinner and drinks
It was so dark out there, the stars were amazing.
The food was pretty good also
Overall 10/10 trip. Can't wait to get back down there.
Last edited:
ericvs
Active member
Wanted to do a few upgrades to the van. I was debating between the agile leaf pack or the van compass add-a-leaf. I was pretty close to getting the agile leaf pack, when a set of the add-a-leafs came up on marketplace, so that sealed the decision.
They weren't too bad to install and it lifted the saggy van butt up about 1", which was perfect. the biggest struggle was getting the centering bolt to all line up.
very happy with how they turned out and much cheaper than the agile leaf pack. haha.
2nd project was fixing up some wiring that I had previously done. I was just using add a fuse connectors to test out what I added and make sure I wanted to make them permanent.
I also wanted to have my ditch lights attached with my high beams and I added a switch for the grey water tank. Back under the drivers seat I went. I ended up running all the fuses in a factory fuse holder under the seat, which was pretty cool, I even added an updated page into the owners manual to remind me what everything was along with labels on my wiring. I was thinking about using the heat shrink labels, but figured I would always forget to use them, so just went with a small label maker I got off amazon.
The first two rows are the factory fuses, and then the bottom row is the stuff I have added. looks pretty clean and I have room for expansion. This is the fuse panel under the drivers seat.
And you need a bunch of these to make the connections
and just some pics of the wiring. looks pretty clean-ish
Here is where I was really happy with the upgrade, I got some SPDT switches from DIY Van in Hood river and a CANBUS reader from CANM8 so I could have a high beam and reverse light signal (reverse lights in the future). So with this switch I can either turn the ditch lights on (up to I) or have them controlled with the high beams (down to II)
This is much easier than fumbling with high beams and a ditch light switch when on some twisty back road.
They weren't too bad to install and it lifted the saggy van butt up about 1", which was perfect. the biggest struggle was getting the centering bolt to all line up.
very happy with how they turned out and much cheaper than the agile leaf pack. haha.
2nd project was fixing up some wiring that I had previously done. I was just using add a fuse connectors to test out what I added and make sure I wanted to make them permanent.
I also wanted to have my ditch lights attached with my high beams and I added a switch for the grey water tank. Back under the drivers seat I went. I ended up running all the fuses in a factory fuse holder under the seat, which was pretty cool, I even added an updated page into the owners manual to remind me what everything was along with labels on my wiring. I was thinking about using the heat shrink labels, but figured I would always forget to use them, so just went with a small label maker I got off amazon.
The first two rows are the factory fuses, and then the bottom row is the stuff I have added. looks pretty clean and I have room for expansion. This is the fuse panel under the drivers seat.
And you need a bunch of these to make the connections
and just some pics of the wiring. looks pretty clean-ish
Here is where I was really happy with the upgrade, I got some SPDT switches from DIY Van in Hood river and a CANBUS reader from CANM8 so I could have a high beam and reverse light signal (reverse lights in the future). So with this switch I can either turn the ditch lights on (up to I) or have them controlled with the high beams (down to II)
This is much easier than fumbling with high beams and a ditch light switch when on some twisty back road.
ericvs
Active member
3rd and final project for this round was shocks and struts. The factory stuff has been really great really, no complaints, but seemed like time to swap them out. Went with Bilstein B6 struts and B6 Dampmatic shocks in the rear with the agile offroad double shear bracket. Also did brakes at the same time, just went with factory spec stuff. I got about 80k miles out of the factory brakes, so was pretty happy with that for such a heavy van.
Overall pretty easy install on everything, nothing was corroded or hard to remove so can't complain.
Overall pretty easy install on everything, nothing was corroded or hard to remove so can't complain.