Down and Dirty: The details of my van build
There are a lot of things to consider when building a van from price, to aesthetic, to functionality. I prioritized price when building my van; of course I splurged occasionally on important things, but for the most part I did a pretty low budget build. I am extremely fortunate because my dad is a mechanic, electrician, builder, and general fix-it guy so I had all the (free) help and tools I needed for the build. My goal for this post is to try and detail each part of my build so it can be helpful to others following the path to van life. I’ve divided it up into 6 sections: interior, electrical, plumbing, storage, kitchen, and exterior.
Interior
My van is a 1991 GMC Vandura. When I bought it it was in decent shape- minimal rust, running engine, doors that work etc. It had a wheelchair lift that required removal, but other than that it was your typical conversion van.
The first thing I needed to do was remove all of the seats and seat brackets from the back of the van to make a clean starting point. In older vans like mine it’s not uncommon to have bolts that are rusted or broken to the point that you can’t remove them with normal tools. I had a few bad bolts under the back seats and had to cut them off using a plasma cutter. You can also cut bolts using a torch, but I find torches harder to use than a plasma cutter. With the bolts cut I was able to remove all of the seats as well as some plastic cladding on the outside of the van.
The next part of clearing out the back was to remove the carpet. Carpet removal is pretty straight forward, just cut a section so you have something to grab onto and start ripping. Some spots left glue residue on the metal which we cleaned off with lacquer thinner. Something to watch out for with carpet removal is that there are screws holding the carpet on the edges and they can sometimes be very stripped and difficult to remove, I ended up having to drill a bunch of them out of their holes because they were impossible to unscrew from the body.
After removing the carpet I found that there were multiple holes in the metal floor from the seats that used to be there; these holes needed to be patched to prevent moisture from entering underneath the floor and wreaking all kinds of havoc. Between the carpet and the metal on the floor there was a thin layer of foam insulation, it was in decent shape so I decided to keep it instead of buying new insulation for the floor. To patch the holes in the floor we cut away the surrounding insulation and cut small squares of sheet metal to fit over the holes. I got to try my hand at welding for the first time by welding the sheet metal squares in place over the holes. We then sealed the patches with silicone and covered them with 1/4" plywood- I used the plywood to raise the level of the floor to be even with the insulation. Once the holes were all patched I laid 1/4" plywood across the entire floor to act as my base for the laminate flooring.
The flooring for the living area is tongue and groove laminate flooring. It is a waterproof floor which is very important for an active lifestyle. I bought mine at Menards, but you can get flooring like this in any home improvement store. A floating floor like this is pretty easy to install if you do it right, I did it wrong and it was very time consuming and I broke a couple pieces along the way (oops). I would recommend watching videos on how to install the floor and planning which direction you will be laying it.
Another thing I discovered about floating floors is that you shouldn’t attach them to the layer underneath (hence the term “floating”), they need to be free to expand and contract a little with temperature change. I screwed my kitchen cabinet into my floor as well as my bed so when the floor heated up it expanded and buckled a little, I couldn’t unscrew all of my cabinets so the only fix I could do was replace the warped floorboard and make sure to keep the floor out of direct sunlight as much as possible.
Overall I’m very happy with how the floor turned out. I finished the edges off with some metal trim to keep them held down and to prevent people from kicking up my floor when they walk in. I also added a welcome mat on the step of the side door, its very cute and adds a nice homey touch to the space. I got the welcome mat at BigLots and cut it with scissors to the right size then screwed it in place with sheet metal screws)
The walls and ceiling of the van are covered in fabric which was in great shape and just needed a deep clean. I bought some fabric cleaner and scrubbed all the surfaces until any dirt was gone. The walls had spray insulation behind them which I decided to keep rather than install new insulation and risk ruining my walls. I would have liked to put wood paneling up for a more rustic look but I couldn’t afford it for this build, maybe next time. Keeping the gray fabric walls pretty much solidified the color scheme- neutral colors with a sea-foam accent.
The last part I’ll add to this section is my passenger seat modification. I decided to put my passenger seat on a swivel base so that I could turn it around and use it as another seat for my living area. You can buy after market swivel bases for many van seats and install it yourself. My swivel mount was easy to attach to the seat but the holes for it didn’t line up well on the floor of the van, they were over too far and the seat wasn’t centered (not cute!). I drilled new holes in the floor for the mount and we got it centered and installed. I think it was a really good decision to get the swivel seat; if you have more than one person in the van it really helps you stay out of each others way without having to lay on the bed.
Electrical
Having a good electrical setup is very important, both for efficiency and ease of use/troubleshooting. I got an second 12V battery to power my living space. Obviously there are many different kinds of batteries and you need to choose one that fits your needs; I chose to get the cheapest 100 AmpHour battery I could find, it would hold enough charge to run my fridge continuously as well as support small electronic devices like my waffle maker or laptop charger.
Most van builds I saw charge their battery using solar panels and a charge controller, I couldn’t afford that setup yet so I chose to use a battery isolator (I got a True Smart Battery Isolator). A battery isolator connects to both the car battery and the secondary battery and will charge the secondary battery when the car is running and the primary battery has enough charge to do its duties. Since I would be driving very frequently I would have plenty of charging time for my battery. A small note on the isolator: make sure that you ground it to the body of the van or it wont work properly, I made the mistake of grounding it improperly and my battery wouldn’t charge and my isolator was flashing on and off continuously (this issue was discovered in a menards parking lot on my way up north, luckily I had the tools to fix it on the go).
My electrical system consists of both 12V and 110V parts. My fridge, lights, dimmer switch, and a usb charger run off 12V. I connected a fuse block to my battery to distribute the power to each component, if one of these components overloads the fuse will blow which protects the rest of the system from overloading. I got an inverter to go between the battery and 110V outlets in my van; there are several levels of power for inverters, but I chose the lowest again because of budget. I have a KRIËGER 1100 Watt 12V Power Inverter, this one has a nice display that tells you if there are issues with the power and shows how much charge your battery has. The 110V outlets in the van can also run off of external power by plugging an extension cord into the van from an outside source, to do this I installed a transfer switch. A transfer switch plugs into the inverter and uses power from the battery unless an external power source is plugged in, in which case it will switch to using that power rather than the battery. The transfer switch goes from the inverter into a circuit breaker box where my 110V wires all extended from. The purpose of the circuit breakers, like fuses, is to protect the wires and electrical system from an overload in an isolated part of the system. In such a small space its good to have extra precautions to prevent any kind of electrical issues like overheating or fires.
The lights in my van are 12V LED puck lights, I got acegoo RV Boat Recessed Ceiling Light and they are great- easy to install and super bright. There were already wires run throughout the van for lighting so I used those and rewired their power so that it went through a switch panel and to my secondary battery rather than the car’s battery. There was a light switch panel already installed in the van which selectively turns lights on and off, this seemed like a really useful thing so I moved the panel to the back so I could easily use it from my living space. The lights weren’t too difficult to rewire because their wires were very accessible and easy to follow, the tricky part was connecting them to my dimmer switch. I chose to install a dimmer switch in the van because the LED lights can be very bright, and although I can turn them on and off individually, I wanted the option to dim them. The dimmer I chose was the JOYLIT Touch LED Dimmer Controller, this controller gets wired directly into the main power line for the lights and can control all of them at one time using the wireless remote. I had some issues figuring out which wires were input and which were output but after a while I finally got it and my dimmer was working just fine.
My advice for wiring your electrical system would be to draw the system out on paper so you know where wires are coming from and can easily figure out what to plug in where, I didn’t do this and I really paid the price (lots of rewiring and replacing fuses). Another good thing to do is really read up on each of your components (fuse blocks, circuit breakers, inverters, etc.) so you know how they should be wired and how to do it safely. If you forget to turn something off or connect things wrong it could lead to a nasty shock, some crazy sparks, or the destruction of one of your components so be careful!
Plumbing
There really isn’t that much plumbing in my build, I have a sink and thats about it. My water is held in a 6 gallon jug under my counter, it is pumped with a marine foot pump to my faucet, and drains through my sink to a gray water tank or straight outside. I have an extra water jug that I keep in the back of the van in case I run out in the main one, but there is no plumbing involved there, just a lift and replace job (which is harder than it sounds because those jugs are HEAVY).
The jug I keep under my counter has a quick connect fitting on the end so that I can disconnect the hose when I need to refill or replace the jug. I installed it by cutting a hole in the lid of the jug, placing the fitting in the hole, and covering it with a ton of silicone to make sure it wouldn’t leak or move. For the hose I used food grade 1/2" hose that I got at Menards, it goes through my cabinet behind the drawers and out the side where it connects to my footpump. Then another hose goes from the footpump up to my faucet.
I used a marine foot pump for my water because it uses less water (and electricity) than an electric water pump and it is easier to use for washing dishes than a hand pump. I was worried that it wouldn’t pump enough water at first but after using it it was easy to see it was the perfect choice, it pumped plenty of water and was really easy to control.
For the sink and faucet I wanted to keep the price low but also find something that looked decent. What I ended up doing was using a big serving bowl that I found at Meijer as my sink, it is durable and also looks great. If you’re going to take serving bowl route make sure you get one that is durable- stainless steel bowls are good, as well as bowls that have a layer of epoxy on the inside. I cut a hole in the bowl and put a marine sink drain in it since marine drains don’t take up a ton of room under the sink. For the faucet I got a cheap drinking water faucet and I mounted it on a couple of pieces of driftwood that I found at the beach (idea courtesy of mom, thank you mom). The whole setup looked really nice together and was actually pretty cheap.
Water can drain from my sink in two ways: it can drain into a small gray water tank I have beside my counter, or it can drain directly outside through hole I drilled in the floor. From the sink drain I attached a garden hose splitter so that I can choose where my water drains to (or if it drains at all). From each end of the splitter I used marine bilge hose to direct the water to the gray water tank or through the hole in the floor. I love having the option to drain water directly outside because you don’t need to worry about emptying your gray water tank or it smelling up the van, but having a tank is important because you can’t always dump gray water on the ground wherever you are (like your friends driveway).
Storage
The MOST important part of a van build is the storage. If you’re planning on living in there you’re going to want all the storage space you can get, cue montage of me looking on pinterest to find the best van storage ideas. My van came with quite a bit of overhead storage: it had 2 long upper cabinets along the side and one in the back that had speakers in it. I took those cabinets down and cut the holes a little bigger for easier access, I also added new doors to them so things wouldn’t fall out while driving. The upper storage cabinets are made of oak and were a light brown color originally; I didn’t like the original color so I decided to burn the cabinets with a torch to make them black, this allowed me to keep the super useful storage while making it fit the look I was going for.
In the front of the van between the driver and passenger seats there was a compartment that held a TV, VCR, radio, and light switches. I liked the idea of having storage in that space, but the unit wasn’t designed for easy access since it was made for non-moving things. I took the compartment down and removed everything inside, then cut holes in the side for easier access to its contents. To prevent things from falling out when turning I ran elastic across the openings, this allowed me to reach things in all parts of the compartment while keeping them from moving around too much. I put doors on the end so that I could get bigger items (pots/pans) in and out easily since they are used so frequently.
The greatest amount of storage is held beneath my bed. Under there I have 2 large drawers, one smaller drawer, my electrical cupboard, and storage for a few things between the bed and the wheel wells. On the ‘living room’ side of the bed I have a large drawer that holds all of my clothes (its seriously a huge drawer, I have a lot of clothes). A trick for fitting lots of clothes in a small places- ROLL THEM! I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but man it really works. On one side of my closet drawer is my electrical box, it has my battery, inverter, transfer switch, circuit breakers, fuses, light dimmer, and lots of wires in it along with my car jack and a few small tools. It’s really nice to have the electrical so accessible from the inside of the van because it makes fixing any problems much easier. On the other side of the closet drawer is the wheel well; I put a frame around this section to make it look nicer, it is primarily used as a place to shove my camping chair and reflectix when I’m not using them. The wheel well area is nice because its a very long space so you can fit things in there that you couldn’t in normal drawers.
In the back of the van I have the other 2 drawers; the big one (the same size as the closet drawer) is used to hold my outdoor equipment, toys, and toolbox, the smaller one holds more vacuum bagged clothes and all of my shoes. One of the wheel wells in the back (the side that doesn’t hold my chair) has a compartment for my extra water jug. The back of the van also has two slide out chairs that sit underneath the drawers and slide along the floor. I love love love having these slide out chairs, they are great for sitting down after a hike with muddy boots, relaxing with the van backed up to a beautiful view, dipping your toes in the water if you’re close to a lake, enjoying a chill breakfast with the fold down table on one of the doors, really they are the ultimate chill spot in the “garage”.
More on the slide out chairs: the concept for these came from a Pinterest post of a drawer like seat that slid out of the back of the van. I loved the idea but didn’t want to compromise that much drawer space just for a seat. The solution I arrived at was to use 3/4" plywood wrapped in angle iron as a seat; the wood would be relatively strong on its own and with the angle iron supporting it around the edges it would support any weight I put on it. to keep the seats from flipping when you sit on them I placed them underneath a false floor under the drawers and added a piece of wood on the end of the seats to keep them flat to the ground no matter how far they are pulled out.
Kitchen
My kitchen is small, but more than gets the job done. I have a large drawer that acts as my pantry, and underneath that I have a slide out for my fridge. I got a 12V fridge for my build because of its efficiency. There are a ton of travel fridges on the market and most of them are super expensive; I chose a cheap lesser known brand so that I could get a large fridge and pay less, it ended up costing around $300 for my 40L fridge and so far it has been working perfectly.
The other half of my kitchen consists of a smaller junk drawer, a cabinet that holds my water tank, propane tank, and larger cleaning items, and my slide out table. My table sits on two drawer slides and folds in half so that I can have a bigger table while still being able to store it in my cabinet. I also used magnetic strips to hold my spices, mixing cup, and some knives; these strips are really useful for holding up light things that you use often.
My plates, bowls, and larger utensils are kept in a small box that I made that hangs on the door of my van. The box was made to hold 2 sizes of plates and has 5 spots for spatula sized utensils, I made it out of 1/4" plywood and drilled holes in the back so that it can hang on the door and be out of the way. I keep my pots/pans and mugs in the compartment between the seats that I mentioned before. With all of this storage space I haven’t had an issue with finding places to put things, I have room for all the cooking items I need.
The last part of the kitchen is my stove- I decided to use a portable Coleman camping stove to do my cooking as opposed to building a stove into my countertop. This way I can take my stove outside if I want to cook out there, it also allows for more counter space if I need it. I have a 5 gallon propane tank that sits under my counter, there is a hose that runs from the tank to the stove behind the counter so that I don’t need to have a propane tank sitting on the counter when I’m cooking (any amount of extra space is really helpful in the van). When you use a stove in a van its important to have some ventilation either from open windows or a vent in the ceiling, I open my windows since I don’t have a vent and it works just fine.
Exterior
The main thing that needed to be done on the exterior was the paint, in addition to that there were a few rust spots that had to be fixed and I needed a new windshield. To fix the rust I ground it down with a flapwheel until the rust was all gone and then my dad filled the areas and painted them with rust reformer to prevent future rust. Luckily all the rust on the van was just surface rust and was easy to fix!
Before we could paint the van the rear doors needed to be replaced, the original doors were very rusty and the bottoms were completely broken apart. I found some good doors at the junkyard and took them home to put on my van, dad did some minor body work to make sure the doors had no rust or bumps and then primed them and we put them on the van.
Painting the body required a ton of prep work, sanding, wet sanding, more wet sanding, washing, it was a lot. First I sanded the whole body down to remove existing paint lines, if the body isn’t smooth before you paint then you will see everything underneath. Once the lines were all sanded down and there were no chipped spots or bumps I wet sanded the whole thing using 220 grit paper, this removed sand scratches from the previous round of sanding and got the van closer to being ready for primer. My dad did the final round of wet sanding with 400 grit paper and then I taped off all the windows and handles and it was ready for primer.
After priming there was another round of wet sanding with 400 grit paper. Once it was sanded again I taped off lines for the white portion of the van and my dad painted the white. Then we taped off the lines for the blue section and painted that. Once the painting was done we let it dry for a few days, then dad sanded it with 800–1000 grit paper and buffed it out with finishing polish until the paint was shiny. The whole process took many many days and lots of hard work, but it was well worth it in the end.
My advice for painting your car: if you don’t know someone who is experienced in painting cars you should just have it done by a professional. Its a super easy process to mess up and if you do it ends up costing a lot of money, car paint aint cheap.
Final thoughts
There are a lot of things that go into building a van, but if you take it one part at a time it can be much easier to conquer. Most of the things that I did I learned online and by myself, there were only a few parts of this build that I couldn’t do alone; so have confidence in your abilities to learn new things and don’t be afraid to make mistakes (ok be a little afraid sometimes because you can hurt yourself or break something major, but you know what I mean). Always be ready to ask for help from others, building a van will still be a huge accomplishment even if you had some help here and there.
There are, of course, some things I wish I had done differently and I’m already coming up with plans for my next build, but I am so happy with my van and love all of the adventures it has already taken me on! Stay up to date on me and the van on my instagram @anjalijustice.