Building A Home
Beginnings
Van life is a dream many people share, myself included, but making it a reality is a whole different story. So where do I begin? Probably the best place to start would be when the idea of van life became, in my mind, more of a real possibility than an instagram pipe dream. I was sitting at a park in Seattle overlooking Puget Sound brainstorming housing plans for the summer. I would move to Seattle right after graduation in May and stay there until my job in California started in September. Finding cheap housing with good roommates close to Capitol Hill for 4 months was a nearly impossible feat and I quickly started to look for alternatives to traditional city life. Looking out over Puget Sound watching the sun set over the distant mountains really awakens the adventurer inside you. I felt like I needed to be out there, like the outdoors were calling me and saying “don’t do it, don’t sign a lease, just live in a van and travel”. And thats when the van life idea was planted, and man did it grow! I quickly took to Facebook marketplace and craigslist to search for cheap old vans that I could use as my home. My family got on board pretty fast and within a couple of weeks they had found a van for sale down the road from our house. I snatched that baby up, and as soon as I got home from spring break the build began.
My original plan was to do a crude build that focused only on functionality and to get myself out west as soon as I could post-graduation. That plan didn’t fly with my parents; they’re the kind of people who make sure anything they put time into is of the highest quality possible, otherwise whats the point? So the plan changed. Now I would complete the entire build at home where my dad could help and I would have access to literally any tool I needed. Looking back it was a better choice to stay home, who knew listening to your parents would pay off like that? My idea of a crude build that included a bed and not much else transformed into an elaborate plan that was constantly growing and changing. With so many resources why skimp on any part of the build? Of course I’ll take custom cabinets and a new paint job, who wouldn't? So what was originally my small project to build a moving home blossomed into a family endeavor that would teach me a whole lot about all things van building.
When the build began I was living in Ann Arbor, MI and finishing up my last semester at the University of Michigan. My van was at my parents house an hour away from me, so any van building required me to leave campus and drive an hour to Goodrich. It was not an ideal situation, but you godda do what you godda do. A couple weeks into the build everyone at school was sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing up my semester remotely was perfect because I could work on the van every day without any commute.
The Van
My new home was a 1991 GMC Vandura that had a wheelchair lift in the back and a few engine problems. My dad, being ta 10/10 mechanic, was able to diagnose and fix every one of the problems on the van, and soon it was running beautifully. Wheelchair lift removal became a whole thing, but once that was out I could start working on my build.
The Build
There is, of course, a ton of information I can give about the build, but I’ll save that for another time. Here I am focusing on the big picture.
I started the process by removing the seats and carpet from the back which revealed some old insulation and a metal floor with a few holes in it from the lift and old seats. I plasma cut and welded my way through the floor repair, after some instruction from dad, and then moved on to building the bed frame in the back. With the bedframe made, complete with slide out seats in the back, an electrical compartment, 2 giant drawers, a water jug compartment, and a smaller junk drawer, I started drawing up the kitchen. My dad was a cabinet maker for most of my life so I had quite the advantage when it came to kitchen design/building. We worked together on deciding drawer sizes and placement and we put together a beautiful kitchen plan.
So the bed was done, the cabinets were done, the new floor was in, plumbing and electrical happened in there somewhere (I’ll spare you the details because it was NOT a good time, but I learned a lot), next up was painting the body. Painting the body- the one thing that dad wouldn’t let me do because apparently painting cars is hard and requires a lot of attention to detail and stuff, whatever. I did my part and sanded the entire van to remove old paint stripes and rust spots, and then I wet sanded the entire van to remove sand scratches from the last round. Of course, there were things I could work on while dad was doing paint stuff, but the point is that I wanted to paint and couldn’t focus on anything else. After many days of hard work the painting was finally finished and Vanny was beautiful. Exactly what I had been picturing for months, it was finally the van I was wanting since the beginning. The project was finally coming to a close, even if it was a couple months behind schedule (I’m gonna blame it on bad weather).
I am endlessly thankful for my dads hard work and all the help he gave me throughout this project. And for my mom who’s (not always appreciated) critical eyes always watched over us to make sure we did good work. Also shoutout to mom for walking around recording everything we did, because heaven knows I wouldn’t have done that. This project wouldn’t be nearly as successful without both of them.
The Beauty… is in the Details
There are a few parts of Vanny that I am especially stoked about, so I decided to dedicate a section of this blog to those things.
- Oak frames- The wood in the van is all original, though slightly modified to fit the look I was going for. In the beginning there were oak window frames and upper cabinets in the back of the van. I’ve never liked the look of oak but wanted to keep all of the frames and cabinets so my mom came up with the idea to burn all of the wood until it was black and then cover it with a clear coat for protection. They turned out to be beautiful black frames and didn’t resemble the old oak color at all. A perfect addition to the black/white/gray color scheme I had chosen.
- Kitchen sink- The kitchen sink was made from a serving bowl that I bought at Meijer, it was cheaper than a camper sink and added well to the aesthetic. I used a drinking water faucet mounted on some old driftwood I had to make a cute kitchen sink setup that I love.
- Slide out seating- Having a seat on the back of the van was something I really wanted but had a lot of difficulty engineering. It needed to be small so that it didn’t take up drawer space, but strong so that you could sit on it and not worry about it breaking. My dad came up with the idea to wrap 3/4" plywood in angle iron to give it strength and then make a small space under the bed for the wood to slide into. The bed acted as a stop for the seats as they cannot slide out all the way and they cannot flip up when sat on since the bed is above them. It’s a truly genius system, I’m very glad my dad thought of it (he is equally as proud and always reminds me that it was his idea whenever I use the seats). Now I have low profile, extremely strong, durable seats that I can use to chill on the back of the van.
- Transfer Switch- This is not that unique to my van, but I’m still glad I decided to set it up now rather than later. I don’t have solar panels yet (too expensive for the initial build) so all of battery charging happens when the van is running. Having a transfer switch allows me to plug into external power and run my van off of something other than my battery, this can be a huge help when you’re parked at a campground or a friends place. I’m hoping to get solar power soon but until then I’m glad I have this little guy.
I will have another post covering all of the details of my build including pictures and recommendations for those interested!
The Transformation
I wasn’t very good at documenting before and after stages of the project, but what pictures I did find I wanted to share. So here are the pictures of the great transformation that the van underwent!
The Unknown
Having just completed a trip across the country, the van and I are now posted up in Seattle for the next few months. This summer my goal is to “live” in as many places around the pacific northwest as possible and get as much use out of my moving home as possible before I’m forced to settle down for work. I anticipate some crazy break down stories and 100% expect to run out of gas a few times, but I’ve got my tool box and a gas can and am ready for an adventure. Stay tuned!