DIY Camper Van

Completed project first, right? This is the kitchen all closed up.

Kitchen again, opened up.

This is the sink cabinet, on the other side of the van.

Bicycle Garage

Bed folded up

Bed folded down

Bench storage

Under-foot storage

Zippered black-out curtain for access to the cab.

All the powertools we used. Honest! I was lucky to already own a decent drill and angle grinder. I was able to borrow a sander and a soldering iron from one friend, and both saws from another. I had to buy the router, but it was cheap from Harbor Freight and worked well. You could skip the circular saw if you are more patient than me.

Cargo mode! This is how Rosie looked when we first got her. Steel wall divider behind the seats, nasty oily wood floor.

Ugly window protectors make her look like a prison van.

Step 0: Round up a helpful assistant

Remove the steel wall divider, nasty floors, and prison van window protectors. All were riveted in place, so we spent a long time drilling out and cleaning up dozens and dozens of rivets. That's all done in this picture. Under the floors were some oil-soaked burlap sacks? I am guessing it was down there as a sound-deadening material. We tore it all out. In this picture, I am using brake cleaner and manual labor to clean up the oily residue.

Time to paint! We masked the windows with newspaper and tape, then went to town. A lot of the interior walls will show after the build, so we wanted them all to look good. We used plain white appliance spray paint, which matched the existing paint well and dries to a nice hard finish.

Frame floor. We wanted an inch of foam board insulation under the floor to keep our feet warm. No more than an inch because we didn't want to give up any more headroom. I ripped boards to create the 1-inch strips of wood to match the foam thickness. Lots of work but couldn't think of a better way. This picture shows the mock-up of the layout with most of the framing just sitting in place.

The silver stuff stuck to the walls is sound-deadening. Before we put it on, driving this van on a bumpy road was like sitting in a drum. Too many big flat sheet metal panels in the walls. Normally people use Dynamat, but we used this stuff: (https://amzn . to/2ML9mhh) much cheaper and does the same thing.

Screw down framing. Then cut 1-inch foam boards to fit tightly in place between the framing. Guess and check and modify and recheck. While cutting foam, make sure to create as many tiny balls of foam as possible that stick to your eyebrows and arm hair and make you look ridiculous.

Cut 3/4" plywood floor panels to fit over the foam. More guess and check and lots of miles on the jigsaw. Put liquid nails adhesive everywhere. Screw down plywood.

Insulate the walls and doors. We put denim insulation (https://amzn.to/2D6UrJx) all over so we didn't have to deal with nasty fiberglass. I use my lungs, like, every day. Try to keep them healthy!

Cut 1/4" plywood to cover the newly insulated wall cavities. Sand them, pre-drill them for the sheet metal screws that will hold them up. Paint them a tasteful light green.

Hey! Not looking too shabby!

"How big are chairs?" Find a chair you like. Measure it.

Copy chair geometry onto 1/4 inch plywood. Stand them in place for mockup picture.

Glue 1x2s and 1x3s to your 1/4 inch plywood chairs for strength. Use Titebond (https://amzn.to/2IuCngN). Do the same show for the long part that will be behind your heels. Rip a long board that will become the floor of the upper storage area behind the lean. Screw and glue everything together, then put it in place and screw it into the walls and floors.

Nice! That's looking Bench-ish.

Build a bicycle garage. It is upside-down in the picture. More 1/4 inch ply and 1x3s. Screw and glue it all up tight! The diagonal board is jammed in there to ensure everything stays square.

Flip bike garage right-side-up, put it in place, screw into floors and walls until everything is really solid. Pre-drill all your screw holes so you don't split the wood. Forget to remove working beverage of choice before taking picture.

This foam board will be the insulation and finishing for the large panels in the upper walls were the side windows would be in the passenger version. We cut the boards to fit precisely, rounded the corners and tapered the sides to match the metal in the van. Once the foam is cut, we wrapped it in bulk denim from Walmart. The fabric is glued on with contact cement (https://amzn.to/2UBnUCS), the only truly permanent adhesive I know of for mismatched non-wood materials. It melts the foam a bit but not bad.

Fold the fabric over the edges carefully to make sure the other side is taut and looks good.

More contact cement in the van where the foam will go.

Boom, two foam panels in place. Looks decent.

Also in this image, the bench seat and lean is in place. The seat is 1/4 inch ply with 1x2 reinforcement on the bottom. The top two sections are 1x6 boards. We attached all three parts with full-length piano hinges (https://amzn.to/2PhjCis), then screwed and glued the whole assembly in place. We put those foam discs made to protect your floors from furniture legs underneath the hinged panels to make sure they close softly and don't rattle.

Frame out storage box that will live beneath your feet while sitting on the bench. Basically, the table had to be tall enough to fit the bikes, which sent the height of the bench, which required that the floor be higher. Why not add storage there? This is a few small pieces of 1x6, cut down to like 5 and a half inches to get the height right. The long pieces are 1x2s. Screw and glue!

Debate something cheap and crummy for the bicycle drawer, like plastic sliders and folding legs to support the end. Decide, nah, I will splurge on some Really sick drawer slides. https://www.cabinetparts.com/p/fulterer-drawer-slides-side-mount-drawer-slides-FULFR5400L60. Rue the effect on your credit-card bill. Await delivery. Unwrap these beauties. Feel your heart go pitter-patter.

Frame out the bike drawer with 1x3s, screw and glue 3/8 inch ply on the bottom. Install long 1x10 to support the wall-side drawer slide. Install drawer with shiny new slides. Open and close drawer nine dozen times, marveling at the smooth action.

Once again not too shabby. The black thing in the back of the drawer is a bicycle fork clamp (https://amzn.to/2Bezrk2) to hold the bikes in place.

Glue down table-top, made of a really nice piece of 3/4 inch ply with the corners rounded off. Add paint. and wood sealant. We used BEHR premium white outdoor matte finish paint everywhere. The non-beauty requiring wood was sealed with Thompson's Water Seal. The table top got many (many) coats of Varithane.

Build the non-moving part of the bed platform. The depth of this part will provide a hidden storage slot. Use jugs full of water and a heavy steel bike rack, and some crooked pieces of spare wood during gluing, because clamps are for suckers (read: clamps are expensive, and I don't have a friend with some to borrow.)

Build the moving part of the bed platform. 1x3s and 3/8 inch ply. You know the drill by now, screw and glue.

Install another full-length piano hinge to join the two parts of the bed platform. Proudly test-fit the assembly. Realize you are an idiot and the corner of the moving part interferes with the frame above the rear doors. Hang your head in shame.

Move back into shop, mangle beautiful paint work to allow cutting of a notch and gluing of reinforcement. Repaint. Try to convince yourself no one will notice.

Cut ceiling insulation. We used two layers of flexible 1/2 inch foam so we could bend it to match the roof. We wrapped the two layers first in white fabric to kill the chrome sheen, then in a layer of green burlap, to give the up-lighting (explained later) a nice texture to bounce off.

Glue the ceiling insulation up. The boards here hold them up while the glue sets.

Install final portion of the bed platform. It's a 3/4 inch piece of plywood that is piano-hinged to the top of the bench lean. It folds up against the wall when not in use and it held up with a latch. When folded down, the aluminum angle-iron laps onto the larger movable section. Try it out. It's very platform-y, but not too comfy. Needs foam.

Install over-cab shelf that sits on top of the door frame structure. Cut the headliner to match. Shelf is a 3/4 inch piece of ply, trimmed repeatedly to fit tight to the roof up front without actually touching it. Put a lip on the rear to keep stuff from falling out. Make it swoopy with your jigsaw because you can.

Cut out the kitchen uprights out of 3/4 inch plywood. Fancy jigsaw work on the back side to match the contour of the wall. With a bench and a bike garage on your resume, get smarter and plan ahead. Glue/screw shelf supports before paint. Sneak panels up onto apartment balcony for paint.

Paint, assemble, install

Somewhere in here your wonderful neighbor (forget Dos Equis, this guy is actually the most interesting man in the world) will casually invite you up for supper. Then he throws down with a friggen Beef Wellington?! This was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. Your dinner-party game is now forever sub-par.

Cut up beautiful piece of 3/4 plywood for main kitchen counter top. Make it swoopy on the front edge to provide maximum standing hip-room while maintaining countertop overhang over fridge door. See, planing ahead again! Plan ahead if you can. In this shot, I am test-fitting the stove.

Electrical day! Lots of cutting, crimping, soldering, heat-shrinking (https://amzn.to/2WAHYHb). Fast and fun after all the labourious cutting, sanding, gluing of woodwork. Use big wires for safety and efficiency (https://amzn.to/2S2XNYp).

This is the under-fridge electrical area. The big black box is the AGM deep-cycle battery (https://amzn.to/2Srlauo). The two boxes on the left are the solar panel controller and the house fusebox (https://amzn.to/2SjQniV). Grey box on the right is the inverter. It turns the van's 12V DC power into 115V AC power (like in your house) This one was a hand-me-down from a friend, and eventually quit working. We replaced it a few months ago with a new, better one.

Stove Install! (https://www.heatso.com/webasto-diesel-cooker-x100-with-installation-kit/) There are power wires, control wires, air and fuel piping to be installed.

Stove almost done. Big black hose is the exhaust sleeve, actual exhaust goes through a smaller hose inside the big one. Little white tube is the fuel intake. It Ts into the fuel return line beneath the van. Wiring hooked up, better routing to be done next.

Stove test / first meal in the van. Yum!

Roof fan! This will suck stale air out of the van. This is a Model 1200 Fantastic fan https://www.dometic.com/en-ca/ca/products/climate/ventilation/vents/dometic-fan-tastic-vent-_-52177

"Yeah, that looks decently straight..." Mentally prepare yourself to cut a giant f-in hole in your perfectly good roof.

"Ahh! What have I done!?!?"

Do ninja poses while you wait for the sun to go down, so you can install solar panels (https://amzn.to/2MKnUNY) without them being live. I have been electrocuted plenty of times already, thank you very much.

After the fan hole, its gets less anguish-inducing to drill holes in your perfectly good roof. Drill pilot holes for the panels and the fan.

Neat! Everything mounted up. It's all screwed down with short 1/4 inch sheet metal screws. Everything is sealed up with liberal application of self-leveling sealant to keep the rain out: https://amzn.to/2TmySM9 a year later and never a leak!

Here is the installed fan shown from inside the van. We built a wood frame out of 1x2s to give the mounting screws something extra to bite into, and it lend some extra stiffness to the roof panel.

Fridge installed! (https://www.westmarine.com/buy/isotherm--cruise-65-elegance-refrigerator-ac-dc-silver--14995211) Work efficiency increases by 0.1% due to shorter walk to cold beverages.

Lights! Power runs from the fuse-box under the fridge to switches (https://amzn.to/2SpfP6w) at the rear of the van. The bike garage and the bench-box are on separate switches. All the lighting in the van is this stuff: https://amzn.to/2Ttik5k. Some finicky soldering and heat shrinking required.

In the background: We are gluing down the sink countertop, using a few jugs of water and my better half as clamps. One of her many talents :)

More lights, a double-row of the LED tape light covers the kitchen counter in a bright light, and because it's a long strip, there are no shadows under your hands when you are working.

This is the general up-lighting in the rest of the van, looking back at the bed area. Those are baseboards running down the upper rail of the van frame. I glued a quarter-round onto the back of the baseboard to create a spot for the tape-lights to sit and shine up on the ceiling fabric.

Frame up and assemble the sink counter-top in the garage in one piece. Test fit in place. Again, 3/4 inch ply and 1x2s screwed and glued.

Install back panel in first cubby (where the door opens behind and there is no wall.) Paint and varnish. Install sink in countertop, then glue down the countertop. Once complete, screw into the floor and wall and the side of the bench. Solid.

Sink-side counter-top detail view. Under-mount sink (https://amzn.to/2MPE3C0) because I think it's sexy. The little hole at top right is for the spray nozzle. Sink drains down onto the ground behind the right-rear tire.

Kitchen-side again. The cubby to the right of the stove looks like it wants some drawers or something?

So we made some drawers! The top, middle, and bottom drawers are framed with 1x6s, 1x8s, and 1x10s, respectively. Bottoms are 3/4 inch ply. Glue and screw. The drawer slides are not as drool-intensive as the bike garage, but are self-closing with dampers, and work pretty nice. http://www.lowes.com/pd_380991-93052-TU9907SC2G20_0__?productId=50041764 The space underneath will hold cans of food and such, that we don't need at all the time.

Drawers again, shown partially open. I cut the hand-holds with the jigsaw and cleaned them up with a router and sand-paper. No knobs sticking out to catch your clothes when you walk by...

Under-stove cabinet. Built a shelf and some protection for the stove chimney. All 3/4 inch ply, pretty simple. The doors are just a frame of 1x2, with a 1/4 inch piece of ply glued in from the back.

Over-the-kitchen-counter storage. "How high should this shelf be?" We sized it with common household items.

Did you know it is compeltely legal to camp anywhere for free on BLM and National Forest lands, unless it is expressly signed otherwise? That is where we plan to live in this van. Free is good, but no facilities available. Dudes can walk outside and pee on a tree. This funnel is for the ladies (https://amzn.to/2t08egn). Still needs a lid.

Ah, much better!

Loaded up and ready to go!