It's time for Horace to find his next adventure.

Maybe it's with you. :)

Friends, my adventures with Horace the Campervan are coming to an end, and I'm looking for the next folks who want to go adventure with him.

I'm moving back to the US in the middle of February, and despite my wishes, I can't take him with me (I think he wants to stay in NZ anyhow.) If you're looking for a regular-sized van that's tardis-like in its inside-to-outside ratio, read on. Horace might be for you.

There's an everything-you-could-want-to-know writeup below, and I've also put like 80 photos up, and an almost 30-minute tour walking you through everything - they're all at the bottom, along with my contact info.

Technical specs and boxes you might be looking to check.

✅ No issues. Runs great, has had regular service and maintenence.
🚐 1998 Ford Econovan, - 208,000km. Drives like a car, looks like the emoji. (No special license needed!)
🏆 Certified self-contained through 19 November 2023.
🧾 Fresh WOF for the new buyer (it's due in early Feb, and I'll get it renewed.)
🗳 New registration, too. Current one is through 12 Feb 2022, and I'm happy to renew for however long you'd like at cost, and pass it to you ready to go.
🕹 Manual transmission, 5 speed.
⛓ Timing/Cam belt replaced about a year ago, at 178,000km, so good to for another 30,000-70,000 km.
⚫️ Brand-new tires. Heavy load tires, less than 200km on them. New brakes about 2000km ago.
💑 Comfortably fits two people. I traveled in Horace solo (I'm the third owner), but the previous two owners were a couple from France and Germany, respectively.
☀️ 150W Solar panel, built-in battery, plenty of power for laptops, drones, whatever you've got.
💧 25L water tank, 25L greywater tank, electric pump.
📏 Fits people up to at least 184 cm comfortably. I'm 184 cm, and I just fit. If you're much taller, it probably won't work. If you're any shorter, you'll have tons of headroom.

Ok. I think that'll satisfy the box-checkers. Let's get into what makes Horace so great, and more details than you asked for.

The top three best things.

👩‍🍳 The absolute best thing is the layout. Horace is set up in a way that gives you a real kitchen space, with room for cutting boards, full size-fridge, a cooktop and a sink and a full, queen-sized mattress. And a giant table with seating on both sides. And tons of storage. It's like living inside of a transformer. It's amazing.
⚡️ The next best thing is the power setup. You'll have a 200Ah (amp-hour) lead-acid battery, with a 1000W inverter. But you'll also have the ability to plug in to powered sites and use shore power. You can even use that power to charge up the internal battery. Except that you won't need to, because there's also a solar panel, and the living-space battery is also charged by driving. I've used an energy-heavy laptop in Horace, doing video editing for hours, while running a real fridge 24/7 in summer, and it's been a breeze.
🚐 The third best thing is the driving. Horace drives like a normal van. Visibility is great, power is good, and the weight is distributed well, so things don't feel weird or top-heavy. Nothing creaks or shifts when you're driving. He's gone up super-steep driveways, over all of the mountain passes, up and down and the steepest street in the world in Dunedin without issue.

Batteries included.

I'm leaving Horace with everything, so he's ready to go for someone to literally get in, and drive off on their adventure. I'll be living in him full-time in the three weeks before I leave the country, to make sure sure everything works, you have all the supplies you need, and that there won't be any surprises.

I'm also happy to include a lot of stuff you'll want out there, like:

Two camp chairs
A folding table.
Sheets, pillows, and pillowcases, and a packing cube to keep them clean.
A super-warm wool blanket for those cold southern nights.
Cookware: pots, pans, knives, spatulas, everything you need to cook real food.
Plates, bowls, cups, and silverware.
Sitting stool for the kitchen.
Dish soap, sponges, bottles.
Tubs and storage containers that fit the space exactly.
Spare water container (4L)
Mason Jars for food, snacks, coffee, or whatever you'd like
Tea kettle for fresh coffee or tea every morning.
A mini-growler for stopping at craft breweries, and taking some for the road (fits in the door of the fridge.)
Storage tubs and boxes that fit the storage area perfectly.
Power boards with USB and regular plugs, wired in to the van.
Chem toilet, tablets, and the toilet paper for it.
Jumper leads, spare oil, spare gasoline.
Tools for improvements and repairs.
Mosquito netting
Solar Shower
A heap of sandfly/mozzie sticks -sandalwood and eucalpytus. (I'm a sandfly's favorite meal, and have tried everything from DEET to weird oils - and these things *actually work*.)
Trailer-mounted bike rack (if you want it)
More that I'm not thinking of right now.

My goal is for you to be able to take the keys, get in, and go. (And you are going to have so much fun!)

Let's get into the deets.

Details: Work/Life mode. The table.

When you're up and want breakfast, or to get some work done, you just slide the cushions to the side, pack up the sheets into their packing cube, pull out the slats, and pop the table up on the metal pole. In less than a minute, you have a big table with plenty of space. The previous owners regularly had five people in here for dinner. I'm not kidding about the tardis thing. It's crazy.

The table is higher than most desks, and I thought I'd end up lowering it when I first tried it out. But over the months of van life, I came to really like the height it's at. If you want a different height, you can change it by just cutting down the bar. Easy.

Details: Lounge mode.

When evening rolls around, maybe you'd like to chill out and watch a movie, or read a book? Horace has got you. Pop the table down, stack the cushions 3/4 over, pop the pillows against the wall, and you've got a sofa you can lean back and stretch your legs out in. After dark, flick on the LED christmas lights, and enjoy just enough warm glow to see, but not so much it keeps you up.

Details: Kitchen

Hungry? Head into the kitchen. Built around a corner and a camping stool, there's plenty of space to chop, prep, cook, and clean. I've added little touches like a sink cover you can use to turn the sinktop area into additional counter space, and the mini-fridge is an actual modern refrigerator that runs on 220, and works great.

A lot of van-lifers swear by turning their fridges off at night to save power, but I like unspoiled food. I never did, and still got 2-3 days out of the battery. It's a real fridge that really works.

The sink is deep and big enough to easily do dishes. It has an electric faucet that I've upgraded to push-button operation to help conserve water.

The cooktop is a gas-powered two-burner camping stove, and it works great. I cooked every day, twice a day without issue, from inside the van.

Which - key thing here - is clutch. A bunch of vans this size decide to have the cooking space in the back. Which means getting eaten by sandflies or freezing your toes off in lots of parts of the country. But in Horace, come rain, shine, or sandflies, you're comfortable cooking every day.

Details: Sleep mode. The bed.

The bed is a queen size foam mattress, split into four parts. Each part has a custom fabric cover (machine washable), made by the previous owners. (We've all done things to make Horace better, and you will too!)

Moving from table to bed takes about 30 seconds - you just put down the table, pop in the extra slats for the rest of the middle, and slide the cushions into place. Putting on sheets takes another minute, and then you have a full queen-size bed, ready for snoozing. The bed area is totally level, so depending how you park, you can sleep in either direction.

Details: Power.

The power system in Horace gives you lots and lots of options.

At a powered site? Plug in. That simple.

Staying off the beaten track, or don't want to pay for power? All good. You've got a battery.

The backbone of electricity is a 200 amp-hour lead-acid battery. There's also a 150 watt solar panel on the roof, with a Ridge Ryder Solar charge controller. There are basically three ways you can charge the battery: by driving (the separate starter battery is protected from draining by a relay), via the solar panel, or by charging using the mains battery charger.

Driving ~3 hours will give you a full battery from completely flat, and a great summer day of sun (with no usage) can also get you there.

I got about 2-3 days out of a full charge (tried to keep it above 50% since it's lead-acid), and that's with the refrigerator running 24/7.

Details: Water.

Water's pretty simple - there's a 25L freshwater tank, and a 25L greywater tank. The sink drains into the greywater tank, and you can easily check the water levels by just opening the cabinet and looking. 25L would last me 2-4 days, depending on how conservative I was.

Filling is easy - there's a hose that attaches to the top of the freshwater tank, and the other end screws on to any hose tap or filling station you find (there are a ton of them, everywhere in the country.)

Emptying's just as easy - you just unscrew the greywater top, lift it out of the van, and pour it into the drain at a dump site (there are also tons of these, everywhere in the country.)

Details: Toilet & Self-contained.

For reasons I don't understand, tons of people approach van life deciding that they will never, ever use their portable toilet. They'll go in the woods, in the rain, on the side of the road, or hold it for hours. If that's you, cool.

If that's not you, Horace has a great little portable toilet, and a sectioned off compartment it's stored in. If you get the right supplies, it honestly works great. I've used it in remote places when I went way off grid up by Glenorchy, and there's literally zero smell once you've closed it up and put it away. Emptying at a dump station is also no big deal, not any weirder or stinkier than emptying the greywater tank.

Some folks get weird about toilets. If you're not one of them, you can get to some really amazing, wild and remote places and still have a proper toilet. It's pretty sweet. (If you are weirded out by portable toilets, there's also a spade in the cab. 🤣)

Either way, you'll get a cleaned and sterilized portable toilet. If you'd like a new one, you they're about $100NZ.

Details: Driving and The Van itself

Horace started his life in 1998, and from all appearances, lived a pretty normal life. He was converted to van life around the end of 2018, by a professional shop. They set everything up properly, anchoring it into the structure, and things are super-solid. (I've driven on crazy washboarded roads for hours, everything's good.)

The driving position is pretty far forward, which makes turning and parking easy. Good side mirrors, and I added small domed mirrors for extra visibility. You literally don't have any blind spots, which is awesome.

In terms of power, Horace is the slow-and-steady type. There's plenty of power there - I've driven him 120+kph when passing - but quick acceleration isn't the experience. If you're used to a sportier car (I was), you'll have a period of adjustment. If you're used to something more entry level, you'll feel right at home.

Mechanically, each owner has done a thorough check, and they've all come back clean. I've got the paperwork for the work I've done (replaced the header gasket, new tires, new brakes), as well as some stuff from previous owners.

The body work isn't fancy, and there are a half-dozen paint styles, but any rust spots have been sealed over, and structurally it's all good. (I actually really preferred how old the van looks overall, because I was traveling with a bunch of tech and camera gear, and nobody would ever suspect Horace as having high-end stuff.

You'll also get a stereo with CD player and bluetooth, super useful for navigation.

Heater works great, defrost is great, never tried the A/C (nor did the previous owners.)

Bonus details and awesome things:

The whole interior and ceiling are metal. This means that you can use magnets for everything. I made some magnetic mozzie/sandfly nets you can just pop up and down, and it works great.
Tinted windows and the normal-van size mean that you can just be incognito in lots of places. Everybody just walks by, and you can be sitting there, working away.
The curtains are good, and it gets properly dark in the van. No dawn wakeups!
Clothes/towel-drying lines in the cab. Do laundry, hang it in the cab, have dry laundry in the morning. Easy!

Issues & Improvements to make:

You will want to top up with oil about once a month, or every couple of weeks if you're taking the whole of the South Island in one go. I've had the engine checked by two mechanics (including a dealership), full steam cleaned, replaced gaskets and such, and there aren't any leaks - it's just an old engine, and it burns a bit of oil. Note that emissions are still all green though. Have had zero issues.
If I were heading off for another year of adventures, I'd consider upgrading to a Lithium-ion battery. They're just so much more dense these days that the added off-grid time would be cool to have.
Rear defroster and windshield wiper don't work. I had to get out and wipe the rear window I think once, ever, in a crazy weird wind kind of storm. Otherwise a non-issue practically, but wanted to mention it.

Test drives, and seeing the van in person

I'm going to be real - given the whole situation with Omicron and the flights and reservations I have coming up (and how screwed I am if I get exposed and have to self-isolate in the meantime), I'm not really looking to have a parade of people through the small van I'm living in.

In my ideal world, here's how I'd love to do things:

If you're interested, reach out, and ask all of the questions. Also, tell me a bit about you, and the adventures you want to go on!
If we're both really interested, we'll do a whole video tour where we can chat, and I can show you everything.
If after that you're interested enough to talk price, let's talk price. If we agree in principle, then
We'll set up a time to do a test drive and see Horace in person.

My ideal would be to show the van to one person, and it's the person who's going to take him home. Will it go that way? Who knows, but I can at least try!

💉 Vaccine note: I'm fully-vaccinated and boostered, and will mask up for any in-person interactions. Given the above travel, if you're not double-vaccinated, I won't be doing any in-person test drives. Apologies, but it's just not worth the risk given what I have going on in my life right now.

Price, and Deciding Horace's next people.

So if it isn't clear by now, I really love this van, and more than anything else, I want it to go to a person or people who are excited about it, and ready to take it on some adventures. Having a good home for things I cherish as I'm leaving NZ (after 5 years) is really important to me - so if you saw the pictures and read this and your heart went "ding ding ding!" (like mine did when I saw the listings a year ago), please be in touch.

I'd love to sell Horace for $10,000 or something near that. If you're in the ballpark, make an offer, and let's talk!

Taking Horace Home!

I fly out of NZ on 16 Feb, and if it works, I'd love to keep using Horace right up to then. I'm also happy to figure out really anything with the right buyer. So in short, 16 Feb is the latest you'd be able to take delivery, and we can talk if you want to do sooner!

Also, for safety - before I do a handoff of Horace, I'll do a thorough, top-to-bottom clean with disinfectants, so you can relax, and not stress about the Covids. Happy to do anything else that would feel good for safety.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading this novel. This post was really written for just one person - Horace's next adventure partner. Maybe it's you!

Look forward to hearing from you!

-Steven

027 282 0070

[email protected]

Video Tour (it's almost 30 minutes, but it gives the best view of how the space feels, and all the little details.)

Some samples of the adventures you can get up to (and video of Horace driving)

Photos from the road, to inspire you.
(click to open full-size in a new tab)

This is literally every day. From Ngwai.

Sleep under giant trees.

Wake up to a river bubbling by.

Meet the locals. (They're already friends with Horace!)

Get away into some amazing, remote places.

Stay at a brewery. (Brewtown is great! Tell Phil I sent you!)

Watch the sun set.

See the best of Aotearoa New Zealand.

And remember it.

Now, for all the Horace detail photos you could ever want.
(Actually though, if you want more of something, just ask!)

Exterior

Table

Kitchen (the video does a much better job than these photos.)

Bed/Couch

The bed base is the table top, and four slats

Bed at night

Video of the bed set up, with me in the shots for scale

Storage

I've removed the grey sliding doors for all these photos - all the spaces under the benches completely seal up, as you can see in the table photos.

You can also access the storage from the ends.

And from the top.

Power strip with USB installed inside the storage area.

You might arrange it differently, but I wanted a whole section for craft beer. There's great stuff up and down the country!

Tool cabinet, with toolbox included. It has everything you'd need to fix anything inside the van.

Cab (totally spaced on getting more cab interior photos. Let me know if you need more!)

The dragon is from the first owners!

Van life essentials to get you out of trouble. (Spade and TP, too.)

Plenty of 12v power in the cab for phones ory any other accessories.

Actual maps included for when you don't have signal.

Self-contained certification good through the end of 2023

Rego ready to renew - will renew to whatever time period you'd like (3,6,12 mo) before you get it.

WOF is every six months, and hasn't been any trouble. I'll have a fresh one ready for you.

Easy level parking for a great night's sleep.

Self-contained / Toilet

Self-contained toilet for getting properly off grid. Comes sterilized, and with all the supplies you'd need to use it.

Dedicated, partitioned compartment for it. I never had a single issue with smells.

Water

Simple and effective. The green hose attaches to any spigot in the country. Note the greywater tube's loop acts like a sink trap - no smells coming up from your greywater tank!

Spare 4L water you can take on a picnic, to the beach, etc.

Electrical

200 AH Lead-acid battery, 1000W inverter, and powered-site lead. (To use powered sites, you just switch the van's main circuit from the inverter to the mains plug.)

Solar Charger Controller. There's also a relay I forgot to take a photo of which means driving the van charges both batteries, but nothing can discharge the starter battery.