In your work time wonderings, have you ever dreamed about traveling across the country in a slicked out mobile home van? If you have, these are the vans for you! My friend Mat from grad school, spent some time, as I did, wondering and wandering what he was going to do; for him nothing seemed to completely fit his ambitions. Corporate jobs, sales, jobs and office work were just not cutting it, so Mat started making these travel vans on the side. Low and behold, as with so many other things he tackles, they are really cool! A bit about Mat, he's just one of those guys. Mat is super easy going, dangerously smart, and just an all around good guy. I first met him while he and I were in grad school meandering through the Marine Affairs program at the University of Rhode Island; we both came from different programs, me law and him political science, and were complimenting our other graduate work with yet another degree. He and I may have been the only two not completely crunchy people in the program at that time. A few years later, for some forgotten reason we got back in touch, it turns out that Mat had moved to Florida with his girlfriend and I had done the same with mine. At the time I had stared a freight brokerage with another law school friend and Mat was looking for something to get into; we met at a bar, talked about what I was up too and Mat decided to give the freight thing a shot; simultaneously, he was starting his own van business. The rest as they say, is history. As to the vans, these things are super sharp and Mat makes them with the care and thoughtfulness any good parent would provide their children. If you ever meet Mat, you'll immediately get the sense of who and what he is all about, straight forward, pragmatic, and conscientious; his vans reflect all that, and are custom built to the buyer's specific needs. Thought is given to every aspect of these custom vans. We will get to the interior in a moment, but some aspects of the exterior worth noting are, a protective spray coating, and a deck on the roof of the van for lounging or setting up your own solar power, and an outside shower to boot. The interior comes with all the amenities, a bed, table, manual sink, refrigeration, storage, extra seating, and netting, so you can live a combination inside outside life, bug free. These pictures says it all! I'm not sure I have to add much here. The hard wood elements add a richness to the interior, the folding and storage elements are top notch and well thought out, and despite being a small and tight area there is plenty of surface areas to work on, prepare on and just generally use. Keep in mind everything is customizable to meet your needs, so if you're not big on sleeping in a bed, forget it and utilize that area as a home office, or if cooking is not your thing, use that area as an entertainment center. I can't say enough about his work and the product. If you're looking to ditch the normal and go on an epic adventure or just looking to fight the good fight as a weekend warrior, you couldn't do better than jumping into a Mango Van. Since these vans are custom built expect to wait a while to get yours, there is a consultation element, a build out element and a final punch list/final touches element to any van build; you'll appreciate this when all is said and one. Think of the process as a new home build, it pretty much is. Separate and aside, I personally think, and would really love to see Mat start adding his expertise and experience to not only vans, but small vessels, tiny homes, and container houses. These projects would not be to far of a stretch as Mat comes from a building background and has lived, and traveled the world in both vans and boats. If this sound like something that you might like or want him to do too, drop him a line, you never know he just take on your project. You can find at Mango Vans .com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/vansmango/ , or contact me here and I will make the introductions. Mango Vans home base is in Southern Florida, Mat Rosa is the guy, traveling and living is the name of the game.
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About the AuthorMat Rosa is owner and full-time van builder at Mango Vans. Other specialties include renewable energy, logistics for emerging economies, coastal conservation, and adventure tourism. Archives |