This 2001 Ford Ambulance Has Been Converted Into a Functional and Fully Off-Grid RV

Christy and Seth are full-time living in an ex-ambulance on a 2001 Ford E-450 chassis, called Mitty. It still keeps its original white and blue painting, but the exterior cabinets were converted to fit the required needs. On one side, they added all the camping stuff and an RV fridge that can also be accessed from the inside. At the back, we find a shower and a toilet cassette. Below that is all the plumbing, a 5-gallon (19-liter) gray water tank, and another 2-gallon (7.6-liter) water tank for the diesel heater.

A garage-like spot was installed on the right side of the vehicle. It is separated into two parts. The top part can also be accessed from the interior and holds mostly house stuff. The bottom part has all the things you would find in a normal garage, such as tools.

Two more outdoor compartments are located on the front side. One is used to store a 40-gallon (151-liter) freshwater tank, a filtration system, and an IV warmer that is used to keep the water warm so it does not freeze in the winter. The other one has a 20-pound (9 kg) propane tank and an extra 2.5-gallon (9.5-liter) water tank. To complete the off-grid system, 700 watts of solar panels were mounted on top of the roof. In addition, we also find a solar charge controller, a 30-amp DC/DC charger, two 206-amp/h batteries, and a 1,000 watts inverter.

Christy was not a huge fan of this lifestyle. But she realized that exploring the world in an RV is more entertaining that bothering with finding the perfect accommodation. The ambulance was bought off the Facebook Marketplace for only $7,000. They ended up spending between $12,000-$13,000 to convert it into what they would call a mobile home. Another $8,000 was spent on making sure that the vehicle will be able to withstand all their travels.

As you might have guessed, an ambulance does not offer quite a lot of interior space. That does not mean that it is less functional. Let’s dive deep into the kitchen area, which is quite an enormous space. There is plenty of cooking space provided by the counter space and tons of storage supplied by the upper and base cabinets. These came with the ambulance, but they were repainted and restored.

The kitchen comes with a truck fridge, a copper sink with a 7-gallon (26.5-liter) gray water tank underneath, an oven, and a stovetop that can be covered by a piece of the countertop. That wooden piece can also be attached to the Lagun mount and transformed into a desk for Christy to work on. The extra space around the oven was used to create two pantry drawers.

Since storage is an important part of a motorhome, the couple had to make sure that they had enough of it. At the same time, it had to be nicely hidden, so they added all the electrical parts, laptops, crafting items, and the AC behind a long upper cabinet. As I said before, the outdoor fridge can be accessed from the inside and it is also hidden inside a cabinet. All the clothes are stored in three large cabinets around the kitchen area and underneath the bed.

The couple added a few cute decorations close to this area. Some of these decorations are a few small decorative wood shelves on which plant pots with Velcro glued on were added. Four teensy-weensy wall clocks with different time zones were installed high on the wall. Two of them are showing the specific time for the cities in which they have their job.

On the opposite side from the kitchen, we find an area that is used as a bedroom, living room, and office space. The couch is custom-made and can be transformed into a queen-size bed by unlocking the slides and stabilizing it onto two 500-pound (227 kg) drawers. Next to this space is the shower cabin that is accessible from the outside and from the inside.

The couple noticed that they were spending a similar amount of money or less living inside the ambulance as they did in a normal house. But a huge perk is that that money is mostly used on diesel to travel around the U.S. rather than paying a mortgage or bills. An already converted RV might be easier to live in, but it is also more expensive. A school bus or even an ambulance might be a better choice if you also want to transform it yourself.