Automotive

Ultimate gear head camper van clears space with foldaway bathroom

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The garage served as the basis of the CoPilot FOMO design, hauling sports equipment and accessories and doubling as a workstation
CoPilot Vans
The fold-down yellow table offers a place to put your drink or do some outdoor cooking, while the flip-up gray top inside the doorway serves as a footrest
CoPilot Vans
The cassette toilet slides away under the bed when not in use
CoPilot Vans
Dometic dual-burner stove/sink combo
CoPilot Vans
The long storage drawer holds things like helmets, gloves, camping gear and more
CoPilot Vans
The FOMO van's gear slide makes for easy loading and unloading
CoPilot Vans
Fold-down workbench
CoPilot Vans
The bike clamp on the other door doubles as a shower head holder
CoPilot Vans
Lights integrated into the rear door panels let bikers tune and tinker after nightfall
CoPilot Vans
The passthrough bed is one of the CoPilot FOMO van's hidden tricks
CoPilot Vans
The single bed offers plenty of length for a full adult
CoPilot Vans
The Lagun table rotates around to serve as a sofa dining table, passenger seat workstation and kitchen prep space
CoPilot Vans
CoPilot cabinets and storage cubbies with retention straps
CoPilot Vans
This swivel seat includes an available Espar heater integrated into its base
CoPilot Vans
This thin doorway drawer holds flip-flops or other small things
CoPilot Vans
CoPilot extends its drawers right down to the floor to maximize space, relying on the mountain-themed overlay to provide protection
CoPilot Vans
When it's time to pack up, the mattress cushions fold away
CoPilot Vans
Looking forward from the back of the CoPilot FOMO
CoPilot Vans
A couple of twist locks hold the tool roll on the door for easy tool access
CoPilot Vans
Lift away the access panel and reveal the shower floor
CoPilot Vans
The main bed area includes a reading light and fan
CoPilot Vans
The touch-based reading light is easy to adjust
CoPilot Vans
Slim storage chests keep essentials close at hand next to the bed
CoPilot Vans
The custom cargo box is available as an option
CoPilot Vans
The rungs of the ladder and framework of the cargo box are built from a tracked beam that allows for easy accessory mounting
CoPilot Vans
The original FOMO was built on a Mercedes Sprinter, and CoPilot also offers the package for the Ram Promaster and Ford Transit
CoPilot Vans
Loading up the bikes
CoPilot Vans
A custom touch of the original FOMO, this dog bed/storage chest lets Duke ride right between his owners
CoPilot Vans
Dometic fridge/freezer in lower kitchen drawer
CoPilot Vans
CoPilot FOMO van shower room curtain set up
CoPilot Vans
The custom side flares add a rugged look and interior bed space
CoPilot Vans
The garage served as the basis of the CoPilot FOMO design, hauling sports equipment and accessories and doubling as a workstation
CoPilot Vans
View gallery - 31 images

One of the world's ultimate camper vans for mountain bikers and dog lovers, the FOMO camper van from Colorado's CoPilot Vans packs a smart, efficient floor plan that saves plenty of space for gear and tools. It manages to sleep a family of three, carry bikes, skis or whatever gear you need, keep the dog's tail wagging, provide a gear workshop and offer full bathroom capabilities. A few swinging, sliding, folding and swiveling parts, including a shower trapdoor and hidden tunnel bed, make it all possible.

Adventure junkies at heart, CoPilot founders Auston and Jen Wilson first designed the Mercedes Sprinter multi-sport adventure van as their own personalized rig. It was meant for chasing adventure in high, vast reaches with bikes, skis, inflatable paddleboards and climbing gear along for the ride. Unlike your typical van life couple, they needed more than a two-sleeper, a three-sleeper big enough to accommodate the official "copilot," an equally adventurous golden retriever named Duke.

Fold-down workbench
CoPilot Vans

With visions of gear and adventure dancing around in their heads, the Wilsons started from the rear garage and worked forward. They secured down a gear tray for two mountain bikes and kept building until they had a functional mini-workshop. A fold-down worktop on the driver-side rear door provides space to wrench on small components, and a set of small twist-locks higher up hangs the tool roll to keep tools close at hand. The passenger-side door holds a bike clamp that doubles as an outdoor shower mount.

The long drawer next to the gear tray packs in more storage space, and the passenger-side trunk houses a water tank and air compressor system. Hookups on the trunk face provide quick connection for the shower and an air hose sized to reach all four van tires that's also useful for pumping up mountain bike and dirt bike tires.

The bike clamp on the other door doubles as a shower head holder
CoPilot Vans

After looking over that impressive garage area, we thought for sure the van would be downhill from there, little more than a standardized living area. We were wrong – the cabin is every bit as detailed and well-equipped as the garage.

The unique interior layout centers around an L-shaped sofa bench that extends well forward of the rear edge of the van door frame. The outside sofa frame has a drop-down outdoor table top and a mounting track with an O-ring for tying off the dog leash. On the sofa frame front-end, a flip-up footstool lets the occupant of the swivel passenger seat kick back with feet high.

The fold-down yellow table offers a place to put your drink or do some outdoor cooking, while the flip-up gray top inside the doorway serves as a footrest
CoPilot Vans

The kitchen on the driver-side wall includes a flush-lid Dometic dual-burner stove and sink combo, filtered drinking water system, slide-out Dometic fridge box, and storage drawers and cabinets. it doesn't offer much counter space when the stove and sink lids are flipped open, but the adjustable Lagun table swivels over to provide prep space while easily swinging back in front of the L sofa or front passenger seat.

In back, the transverse double bed is fixed high to accommodate the bikes below and to make room for one of the real tricks of the conversion. A small door below the end of the bed slides open to create a third sleeping berth, cushions atop the water/compressor trunk combining with the longitudinal part of the sofa into a 30 x 80-in (76 x 203-cm) bed for an extra person (or dog).

The single bed offers plenty of length for a full adult
CoPilot Vans

All that furniture leaves no room for a full-time bathroom, but that doesn't mean the Wilsons go without. The shower pan sits below a flush access panel in the central camper van floor. Pop the panel open, and the shower curtain sits folded neatly inside, pulling up and attaching to the ceiling and pan to create a shower room. The toilet slides out separately from below the bed.

Lift away the access panel and reveal the shower floor
CoPilot Vans

Auston and Jen received so much positive feedback when they released a video walkthrough of their van, they decided to offer the floor plan as the CoPilot FOMO. Many of the particulars of their build are custom equipment, but the base conversion includes the fixed high bed, sofa, kitchen with stove, sink and fridge, indoor and outdoor showers, cassette toilet, vent fan, and 76-L fresh and gray water tanks. Also included is an electrical system with 100-Ah lithium battery, 200 watts of solar and 2,000-W inverter/charger. The FOMO package starts at US$35,000 and can be built into a Sprinter, Ford Transit or Ram Promaster, with the customer supplying the van.

The original FOMO was built on a Mercedes Sprinter, and CoPilot also offers the package for the Ram Promaster and Ford Transit
CoPilot Vans

The ladder and cargo box hanging off the rear are available optionally. Each uses tracked beams in its construction, allowing owners to quickly mount up accessories like bike fork or jerry can mounts. You can learn more about those and the other intricacies of the original FOMO build in the nine-minute walkthrough video below.

Source: CoPilot Vans

View gallery - 31 images
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2 comments
guzmanchinky
The writing in the shower pan is priceless...
ljaques
I don't know about $35k, but that's a really nicely laid out RV. (Nix the battleship gray color, though.)