Spikey
This is the tale of how Spikey became our dream adventurous home-on-wheels.
The tale begins with the name… ‘Spikey’…
Papsi (German-slang for dad), one of the heroes of the story, who is actually called Ralf, but preferred the name Spike in his younger years.
From start to finish, Papsi, aka Spike, has been a huge support. From researching vans, to making a 21-hour journey to the South of Germany to buy the van (thanks for that Deutsche Bahn), to making interior modifications.
Papsi’s knowledge and experience in all things handy, of which Tilo and I lack thereof, materialised Spikey in ways that wouldn’t have been possible without his support. And so, the van was named Spikey as a recognition of Papsi’s sweat and many swears.
Another person who Spikey owes his badass-ness to is Tom, Tilo’s brother.
Tom is an amazing ideas guy with thousands of hours of research regarding travelling and overlanding under his belt. Thus he provided much-needed counsel and helped us order essential parts needed to kit out Spikey.
The three musketeers (Tom, Tilo, and Papsi) relentlessly worked on Spikey, pulling 12-hour working days, transforming him to an off-road capable overlanding rig as well as a comfortable home on wheels.
Lastly, we can’t not mention Mutti (German-slang for mum) who was a huge support throughout this stressful period. Providing many yummy snacks, helping to scrub Spikey clean, washed all the covers, and buying all things necessary to make Spikey a comfy home.
Without the Spitze family, Spikey wouldn’t be who he is today. We are incredibly grateful for Tom, Papsi and Muttie for dedicating their summer to working on Spikey, when they could have been chilling out in the garden house, enjoying sunshine.
Like every epic action-pact scene, this process is better depicted in a montage… Epically full of “Scheisse”…
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… after much yelling and swearing…
Spikey was born.
For those of you who are interested in more details of Spikey, this section is for you.
Just like any other home, Spikey has a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and a heating and electrical system! But unlike most homes, Spikey can move at 150 km per hour!
The most important thing to survive – drinking water. Spikey has a 120 litres freshwater tank + 40 litres of extra water canisters. Let’s say two people drink about 6 litres per day, and use 1-2 litres for cooking, cat-showering and brushing teeth. That comes to about 8 litres per day. That means we can live in Spikey for 20 days without running out of water! How about that for self-sufficiency!
Spikey is also kitted out with a 200ah LiFePO4 (lithium) battery, connected to 3 solar panels (in total 330 watts), which are fitted on the roof. To put in perspective, our battery can charge a phone around 80 times. We have been on the road for a little over 7 months now and have not been able to drain your battery more than 4% at a time! It’s always at least 96% full!
How about the views, you may ask. Well, we have 7 windows and 2 skylight roofs – one above our bed. This makes a wonderful star-watching experience from our comfy bed.
Best of all, our bedroom has a 45-inch movie screen with a projector and sound system, perfect for a rainy day!
And last but not least, Bua’s happy place – the kitchen. Spikey has two stoves, a kitchen sink (with hot water, something our apartment in Bangkok didn’t even have) and a fridge. It has already produced a variety of veggie stews, chocolate cakes, fruit cakes, olive & sundried tomato sourdough bread … next, it’ll be cinnamon rolls!
Spikey has an 80 litre diesel tank which gives us a range of at least 800 km per tank. So think Bangkok to Chiang Rai, or Whangarei to Wellington, or Munich to Hamburg, or 1cm on the map in Patagonia.
Thanks to exterior modifications such as a completely new suspension set up, including a lift kit and fully adjustable air suspension for the rear, and 16 inch all terrain tires, Spikey has a ground clearance higher than a Jeep Wrangler, which is essential for off-roading and rough terrain.
When we thought of living in a van, never did we ever imagine it to be this comfortable. We get to enjoy being outdoors when the weather is beautiful, and when we feel like cozying up, we can lazily lounge on our bed or work on our desk and enjoy the views with our blinds down. The home-cinema set-up (thanks to Papsi) also provides us with the guilty pleasure of movies and TV series whenever we want! What a life!
Many of you ask if we like living in a van. If we have not sold it to you already, we absolutely love our Spikey and are super stoked to be travelling this way for 2024!