Owning a camper van was a dream for several years, but it didn’t seem possible to live in the Bay Area and afford housing as well as a place to park one. I ended up moving back to my home state to buy a house where I’d have a parking spot and a place to work on it.
Assembling my DIY Camper Van conversion over the course of several years, from start to finish, it’s been a time-consuming challenge. Starting with a stripped-down cargo van, I built in bed platform to sleep on and over my bikes and gear, then added a space to prepare food while on mobile adventures. While my work was shoddy and it wasn’t pretty, it did the job.
I’ve gained a good amount of experience over time, learning how to do a project like this. It turns out that with enough sanding and a coat of paint, it’s possible to make things look halfway decent. And while I wanted to tear the van down and do a revamp at some point, it’s time-consuming and a daunting task.
Two years ago, this decision was taken away from me when a (likely impaired) driver drove across four lanes of traffic head-on into the side of my van.
Fortunately, the driver was insured, and his insurance company was easy to deal with. There was a hitch, though: they required the inside of the van stripped down to a bare wall to do the work. And since it was a DIY build, no van contractor would touch it, as part of the gig was that they would have to restore it to the previous condition.
The insurance agent and I worked out a solution: they’d pay me a fixed price for the labor involved with tearing out the build. And of course, putting it back together.
In essence, I got paid to do my redesign – talk about making the best of the situation. And of course, this time, it would be better than ever.
My initial build was functional, if hard on the eyes. Still, it worked as a space for both sleeping and preparing meals, as well as washing our dishes, while traveling to mountain biking destinations. The goal for version two?
- Add light via a window. And a skylight/vent over the bed.
- Add a bench seat with seat belts.
- Make sure there was a spot for the refrigerator.
- Upgrade the pump sink, while maintaining ample area for food prep.
- Improve the aesthetics.
The main “living space” – adding a window
While I have also thought a lot about redoing the bed platform with lighter materials, there was nothing functionally wrong with it, so the focus was on the “living area”. Having a comfortable place to sleep and a space to store bikes inside the van were the primary considerations from the start. Being able to wash hands and prepare food was also important. After all, the point of the van was to save money while traveling. Food, lodging, and fuel are the biggest costs we incur while traveling, so ease of food preparation has been a primary consideration for reducing costs.
However, after a few years of traveling in the van, I knew I needed more natural light. While the inside was stripped down to bare walls, it was an opportune time to add a window. I found a great local vendor to the Portland area that offered a great product at an affordable price and even performed the installation, which gave me time to focus on the next task in the van build. (looking for a great option for a van window? read more the window at this article)
I also had a fan installed as well as a roof vent placed over the bed for fresh air while sleeping.
Adding a Ford Transit bench seat
The next step was to add a seat so hanging out in the van would be more comfortable. I really liked some options I saw with couches and bench seats, but the new life plan required something that would be compatible with a child seat. And man, van seats of this caliber get pricey. I ended up finding a Ford Transit bench seat for under $300 from a local van outfitter that shut down its business. And since safety was the priority, I had Van Specialties do the install. With the seat and installation, this ran almost $2,400k, which is the single most expensive upgrade I’ve done in the van. That said, I’m still ahead, considering many of the fancy bench seats I liked cost more than that just for the hardware.
Our Alpicool 12-volt 53 Quart portable refrigerator
For the first few years of adventure vanning, I relied on a cooler for carrying food on trips. The Canyon Cooler we have can keep items cold for days. That said, I’ve wanted to level up our van experience for a while, so on the advice of a friend, we went with an Alpicool fridge. (More details on a separate post)
I built a platform for the fridge right behind our bench seat, which was a snug fit. I’m not sure where I would have put it if I hadn’t been able to jam into the space. I utilized recycled pallet wood for the top, which ended up being a theme I continued throughout the project.
Van Electrical Power System
Sadly, my AGM house battery setup didn’t work well with the fridge, as it wouldn’t provide it with enough power. I wanted to upgrade it with higher-quality batteries, but we’ve since redone it, so it might be able to power it now. It works for much of our power needs, keeping our LED lights on, and powering our overhead fan.
I have been using a separate solution to keep the fridge powered: a Bluetti AC200P Power Station.
The Bluetti has been ok, powering our fridge for 3-4 days before running out of juice. Charging it on the road can be a pain, and we have yet to come up with a good solution. It has definitely had its issues, and I don’t fully trust it anymore, so we also keep our Canyon Cooler on hand. Between the two, we have ample room for both food and cool drinks. I’ll elaborate more on the Bluetti in a separate post.
Overhead soft cabinet bags for food storage
The first build setup had shelves sized around tubs I could slide in to hold cans of food and other dry provisions. Since the bench seat and fridge now took up this space, it needed to go somewhere else. While wall/ceiling-mounted cabinets looked really cool, I was concerned with how well they’d stay affixed to the wall. As well as what it would feel like banging our heads into them, which was bound to happen at some point. “Soft” cabinets seemed to be a good alternative, and I saw a really cool product called the Mule bag in other van builds. However, I’ve been pretty tight on the van budget, so I have been looking into less expensive options. I found a less expensive option that was manufactured overseas, which I ultimately tried out.
The other challenge was how to hang them. They had grommets on the inside, and I had the idea of buying alloy rails so I could remove and reinstall them when I needed space. That ended up being a whole thing, though. Overall, though, they’ve been a good solution for stowing our coffee kit, snacks, and other items.
Kitchen cabinet and sink redesign
The first version of the “kitchen” sink was a small cabinet that had just enough counter space to heat up water for morning coffee. I used an inexpensive hand pump to pull water up for our water jugs, with a second gray water jug.
That hand pump was a bit frustrating, though; you could only get one hand wet at a time! It was also prone to leaking, so much so that the manufacturer had to replace it under warranty.
I discovered a foot pump called the Whale Gusher, and it’s been a massive upgrade. The downside was that our water hoses were problematic. My friend Jason G recommended we upgrade to Pex rigid hoses, and thanks to his assistance getting it installed, it’s been flawless.
I ended up rebuilding the kitchen cabinet, making it longer. The previous cabinet couldn’t really hold anything underneath it, and van storage is always an important consideration for usability. We added a single-burner stove, and I built a storage area into the kitchen cabinet for it, so it would be easily accessible. (I got the idea from Jason G again). The best part though is the hinges Amanda discovered on Instagram. She found them on Amazon and ordered them up, which gave us another 14″ of counter space!
