The Build
About 2 months ago we sold our car and bought a short wheel base VW crafter. A big white van, but the smaller size of the big white van. For a year or so I’d devoured van build videos on youtube and planned and designed full layouts in my head. I even considered selling the house and going full time in the van but we scaled everything down a bit and decided to start with a simple campervan build for days off and holidays. In the future I can’t say that I’d never live in a van…. I could imagine us buying something bigger one day and doing a full conversion with solar and a toilet and all sorts, but for now, our little crafter is perfect.
After hunting for the right van it was a solid month of work to get it to how it is now. Everyday after work we’d come straight home and get at least an hour or two of work done. Every day off we were up and working as early as we reasonably could without upsetting the neighbours. Speaking of which, we actually met so many more of our neighbours while working on the van, purely from people coming to see what we were doing. It’s nice. I was hanging out the back of the van one afternoon trying to screw a piece of ceiling in when a neighbour I’d never met shouted down the street to tell me I was doing a grand job.
We’ve both learnt that we’re a lot more capable than we thought and that the internet can well and truly teach you how to do anything. We’ve insulated, built solid framework, learnt about self tapping screws and moisture barriers. Every piece of wood was cut to size, sanded and oiled. We love the kitchen in the van so much that we’re honestly considering building our own in the house in the future.
The van isn’t finished and I don’t think it ever will be. It’s an ongoing project that will chop and change the more we use it and the more we figure out what we need and what we don’t need. We don’t have any electricity other than a campsite hook up, but we’re still debating whether it’s worth getting some solar on the roof. We’ve only just installed a little sink, and next will be a tap with a foot pump. I’m looking forward to having such a long term project because I need constant productivity in my life or I go a little bit weird.
If you’ve thought about converting a van then I’d highly recommend you go for it. It doesn’t have to be super expensive like the kitted out ones you see on youtube with air conditioning and wifi. We’ve spent about £900 on ours, including getting the two side windows fitted. Use lots of reclaimed wood, borrow tools and be creative.