With the state of the world right now,
it's not uncommon to hear comments such as, "let's sell all our sh** and hit the road".
If you are one of those people, you may be surprised at how easy it is to transform a van into a habitable living space.
Benefits of doing-it-yaself is that you can create a space uniquely yours, and it can work out significantly cheaper than buying a ready-made camper. You can tailor the space to fit your needs, and enjoy the process as well.
Step 1. Buy a van
Step 2. Clean it
So you bought your van? Now it’s time to give it a good clean first.
Step 3. Take measurements
You need to know the exact measurements so you can make a plan.
Step 4. Make a plan
Now it’s time to make a design for the van. Consider what is important to you. What will be able to fit in it, and what won’t? Do you need a bathroom? Do you want to cook inside? How much storage do you need? These factors will influence what steps you will need to take.
Step 5. Insulation
Depending on where you are going to travel in your van you might want to install some insulation. You can put this on the bottom and on the sides and the roof of the van.
Step 6. Flooring
The floor will be the base of the whole camper so the first step is to make a ply sub-floor.
This will make it easier to fasten the frames for the bed, kitchen, and cabinets later. We first made a mold from cardboard. Use a jigsaw to cut out all those bends and corners. Then drill through the wood and the bottom of the van and fasten it with screws.
Step 7. Build the foundation
After the flooring, it’s time to build the foundation/framing. Since we were living in the van while building it, we did it step by step. We decided to make the bed in the back, so that we could store our entire solar system and the 100L water tank beneath it.
Step 8. Build the interior
We used a selection of ply and cedar to clad the interior.
Step 9: Hook up your solar or electrical system
We used a full solar system to support our electrical gear.
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