Wind the Van — Tech
Built in 2000 · anything but new · but just right for us
"How does a 25-year-old Fiat Ducato hold up — from 42 °C under the Turkish sun to -28 °C beyond the Arctic Circle?" The answer lies not only in the vehicle itself, but in what we have made of it — and in the people who helped us keep going in every country along the way.
"Wind the Van" is more than a vehicle to us — it is a highly complex, mobile ecosystem. As a trained automotive mechanic, Alex has continuously developed and adapted every system to the most extreme conditions. No garage appointments, no breakdown service — just tools, experience, and the necessity to keep moving. And when both were not enough, it was people: Michaelis in Georgia, a villager with a tractor, Vasilij in Russia, a mechanic who gave us his workshop for three days to repair the engine that had sucked in water while driving through a deep puddle, and a well-dressed stranger in Bosnia who was actually waiting for someone else but still helped pull us out of the mud. Across 24 countries, the road has taught us that technology alone is not enough — but technology and people together can make almost anything possible.
Heating Upgrade
The original Truma gas heater delivered 2000 W — sufficient, but no permanent solution for full-time vanlife across borders. On top of that, quite a few things in our camper already run on gas — the gas stove for cooking and a Camplux tankless water heater for hot water. Being completely dependent on a single gas bottle at -28 °C beyond the Arctic Circle simply didn't sit right with our sense of safety. The solution: a 4000 W diesel parking heater running directly off our camper's diesel tank — during installation you have to make sure it can't drain the tank completely. Twice the output as before, and one less appliance relying on gas.
Insulation — Layer by Layer
For the windows we cut laminate underlay to fit perfectly — each pane gets its own shape, traced and cut directly at the window. Two layers are joined with double-sided tape, with the silver sides facing outward — this way the insulation reflects both heat and cold equally. Cheap, effective, and the material is available at any hardware store. The floor got 6mm EVA foam mats as a base, topped with carpet tiles — individually replaceable if one gets wet or damaged. No effort, no tools, just pull it out and put a new one in. The same solution protects us from summer heat just as much as from winter cold.
Energy Management
240 W solar, two 100 Ah lithium batteries, a 30 A charge booster and a 1000 W inverter — enough for two remote workstations and video production, even on snow-covered tracks in Karelia. The charge booster reliably keeps our batteries alive while driving — no matter whether the sun is cooperating or not. For extra flexibility we also added foldable 240 W solar panels from Maentum, running through a separate Victron MPPT charge controller — handy when we're parked in the shade and the fixed panels aren't enough, or when we suddenly need more power. A 200 W charging station with 6 ports lets us charge laptops, phones, power banks and all our gadgets at the same time — perfect for the drive, so everything is ready for the next job. The inverter covers all our devices and is more than sufficient. The system is the result of six years of continuous optimisation.
Fixing What Others Would Walk Away From
The water pump — the one that gives us water pressure in the van at all — was replaced deep into the night, somewhere on the side of the road. We pulled out and rewired the leisure batteries in 38-degree heat — no shade, no putting it off, just getting it done. The fridge was replaced in a car park — thanks to the La Strada build, a two-day job we worked through step by step. We have dug ourselves out of snow and sand more than once. Living on the road means: you cannot wait. Anyone who survives six years of full-time vanlife knows their van inside and out — and that's exactly what makes us smile at night under the stars: the van runs because we understand it — and every problem we solve makes it a little more our home.
Technology is not an obstacle for us — it is the key to borderless freedom.
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