Chasing Waves, Not Campground Reservations:
Whitney and Russell on building a five-person family camper van - and the surf-chasing life that made them do it.
Russell grew up in England with a dad who converted VW buses so the family could chase surf. Whitney grew up in Wisconsin, went to college in Hawaii, and met Russell on a cruise ship. Their first trip together was to the south of France in a van called the Blue Beast — overheating, right-hand drive, barely made it to the coast. She loved it.
Life moved on. Houston. Florida. Three kids. Surfing on weekends. Hotels with bedbugs and $150-a-night cockroach rooms. A travel trailer that required booking Florida state parks 365 days in advance — which doesn’t work when you’re chasing swells. So Russell built Roxanne: a red camper van for five, with fixed bunks, A/C, a shower, a fridge that holds 10 days of groceries, and enough space for surfboards.
Now, through Paradise Camper Vans, they rent Roxanne to other families — because when they looked for a five-person camper van to rent before building, they couldn’t find one that could safely seat-belt all of them.
About Whitney and Russell
Whitney and Russell Thorn are a Florida-based couple who built Roxanne — a five-person camper van — for surf trips and beach adventures with their three kids. Russell has built four or five vans over the years, starting with VW campers in the UK. Whitney is the trip coordinator, grocery strategist, and the one who now drives the van solo when the swell calls. Through Paradise Camper Vans, they rent Roxanne to other families and plan to build more. Find them at paradisecampervans.com, and on Instagram, YouTube, and Outdoorsy.
What you’ll hear in this episode
• How Russell grew up doing surf trips in his dad’s converted VW campers in England — and how that shaped everything about how he thinks about building and traveling
• The story of the Blue Beast: the van that overheated on the way to the south of France, required blasting the heater to cool the engine, and introduced Whitney to vanlife for good
• Why a Florida travel trailer wasn’t working — $150/night private sites, 365-day state park booking windows, and a family whose travel plans depend on when the waves show up
• How Russell planned Roxanne’s layout entirely in his head before taping it all out on the floor — and the key decision that set it apart (all plumbing on one side)
• Whitney’s non-negotiables: fixed beds for four, AC, and the biggest fridge that would fit — and that holds about 10 days of groceries
• Why they added an indoor shower — not for themselves, but because an almost-teenage boy needs a door he can close
• The first trip in Roxanne: practically empty van, mattress in the back — and why none of that mattered
• What vanlife actually looks like with three kids, including the ongoing toilet conflict and
Russell’s 5:30am rolling door situation
• Why Whitney now takes the kids on solo surf runs and why Roxanne is easier to drive than Russell’s truck
• The Paradise Camper Vans story — and the family-sized market gap that nobody else is filling
Key takeaways
• Fixed beds aren’t a luxury — they’re a sanity decision. When you’re at the end of a long
travel day with three kids, configuring your sleeping arrangements is the last thing you want to do. Whitney made fixed beds non-negotiable. Four of the five sleep in permanent bunks.
• Tape the layout before you build. Russell and Whitney taped out Roxanne’s entire floor plan before a single cut was made — measuring, re-measuring, and moving things around until it made sense for five people. The result: a layout different from most production vans.
• Vanlife doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Whitney and Russell have a house, a 9-to-5, and three kids in homeschool. Vanlife is the tool that gives their family freedom on weekends and trips — not a full-time lifestyle. Most vanlifers, it turns out, are in this middle ground.
• A van is never fully built. You keep adding things and taking things away as you actually use it. The under-seat shoe storage was a recent addition. Something else will come next. Build what you know you need, then adapt.
• Get comfortable in the uncomfortable. Their philosophy for raising kids — and the same
advice they give families considering vanlife. Discomfort is the starting point for great
memories. The small space forces family connection, whether you’re ready for it or not.
If you’ve got questions about your own build, reach out. We’re always happy to help.
Want to explore more? Visit the Vanlife Outfitters Store to browse gear, learn from real-world builds, and get help choosing the right setup for your own vanlife adventure.
