Camping box from Ello Camping, is it the ultimate modular system?

In this blog post, I’m going to explain what a camping box from Ello is, and how we used it to turn our minivan into a home on wheels within one hour of receiving it. I will also give you my opinions on the pros and cons of a camping box vs a custom-built camper van. But first, some background story!

Affiliated: We are a part of the Ello camping affiliated program. This means that we earn a small commission on purchases if you decide to purchase with our code. For you, it’s no extra charge at all but for us, it means the world. So if you enjoy and appreciate our work please use the link provided to purchase, you also get a whooping discount, so it’s a win-win.

How we ended up installing a modular camp box in our new minivan

When we came home with our campervan from a year of amazing adventures in Europe, we were BROKE. We sat down, talked, and quickly concluded that renting out our campervan is the perfect thing for the summer. It creates income and requires a minimum amount of work hours, hours which we could spend working instead. But we still had one problem, not a small one, if we rented out our campervan we would be homeless. We quickly started looking for a minivan that would work as our “summer house” to avoid that situation.

Is it more expensive to build a campervan than installing a modular box?

Building a campervan from scratch is difficult, and it’s not cheap. We learned that lesson the hard way with our big van Soda. It took us eight months and around 15 000 euros to convert her into a fully equipped campervan. That’s excluding the price of the van and all the repairs we had to do. We gathered the money we’d earned since coming home, prayed to the car gods, and bought a Citroen Jumpy 2013. Having a limited amount of money for building we tossed a mattress on the floor and called it a day.

Why? Because building it out would take us all summer and all of our money. We had too much fun planned this summer to afford that, and secretly we had other plans for the minivan. Said and done, we added the mattress, and it was a big downgrade on all levels of comfort for us. We had everything we could need in our big campervan, and now we didn’t even have a place to cook.

We installed an Ello camping box

The car gods ignored us, it didn’t take long before our new minivan had to visit the mechanic. Luckily someone else had heard us, Ello camping! In the middle of June we got a very interesting email from Ello Camping, they asked us if we were interested in trying out their modular system over the summer. Not completely sure what that was or what it included I started browsing Ello’s website for some information. Honestly, after a few minutes, I realized that this is perfect for us! Both excited and happy we agreed to borrow a minivan module from Ello camping over the summer. But what exactly does that mean?

What is an Ello camping box?

Ello camping box is a pre-made interior module made for campervans. It takes away the hassle of having to spend weeks and maybe even months researching and building a campervan. Basically, you just skip “straight to the good part”, and can start traveling right away. It literally took us around 30 minutes to install the module from we received it. After that, we had a home on wheels, ready, for adventures.

The camping box we borrowed from Ello Camping included a bed, a pull-out kitchen in the back, and a big storage space under the bed. It also had a water tap and a sink with a water system for both grey water and fresh water. That wasn’t all, in the pull-out kitchen there’s also space for a refrigerator box and a battery.
Suddenly we had everything we needed in the minivan, except for maybe a shower and a heater.

You can find a variety of different camping boxes at Ello Camping. Depending on what car or van you have you can find the perfect one that fits your needs and your adventures, check them out here.

Is it hard to install?

The question might even be, can I build a campervan in less than a day? I would go as far as saying, it’s easier to install the camping box from Ello camping in your van than it is to assemble a shelf from Ikea. It also takes about the same time and we didn’t need to use a single tool. One thing that you need to keep in mind for the installation is the weight. It’s a good idea to be at least two people when carrying the camping box inside the van. A little advice, remove the storage boxes in the pull-out kitchen to make it lighter. You can easily put them back in once the camping box is inside and properly attached to the floor. That’s how we built a campervan in less than an hour.

What we think of Ello camping box

We think our camping box has been absolutely amazing! Getting all the necessities we had in our big campervan into our minivan in such a short time is priceless! Yes, if you build your own van, you can build it and design it exactly how you want it. You can also add your own little details and smart solutions to it. But, the time and money that requires are super hard to predict. And if you’re working on a budget and on a window of time, you might just miss it.

That’s why the Ello camping box is so bloody genius! You know exactly what you get and you can buy the camping box that fits perfectly for your adventures. Also, just as quick and easy as you install the camping box you can also take it out if you ever need to use your minivan for something else like we did. That’s perfect! You need no DIY skills to install it as well.

Is it the ultimate modular system?

It’s pretty damn close, but nothing is perfect. There are a few things we want to change with the setup of our camping box. First, it was difficult to cook food on our portable stovetop when the weather was bad, especially with the wind. Some kind of solution to protect it from the wind is a good idea. We used a tarp over the back of our minivan when it was windy and raining, and that worked.

With that said, we would definitely recommend Ellos camping box to everyone, even if it comes with a price tag. Because, counting the hours you need to put down to custom build your campervan, Ello might be cheaper for you. And we had such a blast exploring Sweden with ours this summer!

Is it comfortable to live in?

The answer is yes! We lived full-time for three months in our minivan during the summer and it was just the best. But how is it to live full-time in a minivan and what did we notice?

The part where you can easily convert your vehicle into a camper and go on epic adventures is amazing. And to top it off, when you come back home you can convert it back into a car in 30 minutes. That’s revolutionary for us. If you are looking for a modular system that you can easily install without keeping it permanent, this is ideal for you. 

Specifications

You pull out the module with two little handles on the bottom, they also keep the system in place when it’s shut. There are four large drawers that we used for storing food, cutlery, camera gear, and some other random items. To the left, there was a cutting board you could pull out, and that way the kitchen extended which gave you more space to cook. We had a small camping stove but there is room for a bigger one as well. 

Behind the stove area, there is space for a refrigerator box and some more storage. On the left side, you will find the sink and hose, with 12-liter fresh water and a 12-liter grey water tank underneath.

A feature I really liked was that you can pull out the hose from the sink so you can use it as a shower, so smart. This is connected to a little switch to turn on the pump.

We found this setup to be perfect for a vacation, heck we even lived 3 months with it and it worked great.
Since the module is so versatile and you can pull out both the cutting board and one drawer to make more space for cooking, it made the whole cooking experience so much better.

We had our own battery system but Ello provides electrical systems as well, if you want the full experience, go for the fridge and electrical setup. Then you have a complete campervan without having to do a single thing.
It’s a really handy product, and the quality of the wood is great.

Discount code of 5 %

Affiliated: We are a part of the Ello camping affiliated program. This means that we earn a small commission on purchase if you decide to purchase with our code. For you it’s no extra charge at all but for us it means the world. So if you enjoy and appreciate our work please use the link provided to purchase, you also get a whooping discount so its a win win. 

If you are looking to invest in an Ello camping box we are so happy to be part of it. We can offer you a discount if you write in any of these codes in to your order:

OTFS-WUH2l-SE

OTFS-3MgAN-SE

OTFS-rFobe-SE

OTFS-no47B-SE

OTFS-m6206-SE

OTFS-R0G53-SE

OTFS-9814M-SE

Drop a comment if you decide to use one of the codes or if you need any help how to use the codes. If it doesnt work just letus know and we will provide you with a new code.

The modular system we went for is the: Camping box for Citroen jumpy with possibility to store, cook, water and sleep