Buying a Base Vehicle

So, you’ve designed your layout, planned where everything will live, and now you’re ready to start your conversion. Finding the perfect base vehicle for your campervan is the first step. We’d recommend checking websites like Gumtree and Autotrader, or getting in contact with van dealerships for ex-fleet vehicles. The nice thing about an ex-fleet van is that it’s usually had very regular services and been driven rather sensibly, so this way you can be sure the vehicle you’re about to spend hundreds of hours converting will be reliable!

Fitting Windows & Skylights

Once you’ve found your base van and you’re ready to start work, you should tackle all of the exterior jobs first. This includes fitting any windows and skylights you may want to include, as well as solar panels, and any exterior mounted inlets such as water fill points and shore power inlets.

The process for installing any of these products is similar, and starts with cutting a hole in the side of your van – which can be slightly nerve wracking! For this reason, we’d recommend measuring everything out and then check and check again. Measure twice, cut once, not the other way around. Once you’ve cut your hole, you will need to file any rough edges and then use the recommended adhesive for the product you’re installing to fix it in place. Once it’s firmly attached firmly, don’t drive your vehicle for at least 24 hours to ensure the adhesive is fully set.

Insulating

Although your insulation will end up completely hidden, it is perhaps one of the most critical jobs in a van build. Insulating your van well will ensure that it stays cosy in winter and cool in summer. We’d recommend using a mixture of eurothane insulation board such as Celotex, combined with a loose fill polyester (recycled bottle) wool. The insulation board can be used to quickly fill large cavities, and the loose fill wool can be packed into any harder to reach areas such as the metal pillars found along the length of the van. These materials have the best combination of thermal performance, cost and weight.

Once you’re done stuffing every cavity with insulation, you’ll need to attach a vapour barrier to prevent condensation build up. Using spray glue to hold it in place, an aluminium foil bubble wrap material can be used to completely cover the van, and make sure to seal all of the gaps with an aluminium tape. This will leave your van looking like a spaceship (or a conspiracy theorist’s hideout!).

Electrics

Now you’re ready to tackle your electrical system. For many, this is the most daunting job, as typically it’s the most expensive part of a van build, and there are a lot of different factors to consider. You will need to decide whether you want to opt for AGM or lithium leisure batteries, what size battery bank you need, how you will recharge them (solar power, electric hookup, whilst driving using a battery to battery charger, or a mixture of the three), and whether or not you need to install an inverter to provide 230V power.

Luckily once you’ve figured all of this out, the installation process itself is rather simple. Each product will be connected to the system using the relevant thickness cable, and all components will be connected to a central negative and positive busbar, which in turn are connected to the leisure batteries. All products should be correctly fused to protect both them and the leisure batteries from any current spikes.

If you’re worried about tackling the electrics yourself, we’ve created an electrical system design service called Nomadic Energy. When we first published our book, we started to receive lots of questions from people specifically about the electrical system, and it quickly became apparent that this was the area people needed the most help with. We hope that Nomadic Energy can alleviate stress around campervan electrics and instead make off-grid energy simple and fun.

Cladding

Now you can start to make some big visual progress! Cladding your campervan will quickly turn your van from spaceship mode to the beginnings of an actual campervan. You have a few options with cladding – you can opt to use thin sheets of ply which can be painted or covered in autocarpet, or you can use strips of cladding, either painted or just protected with a wax or varnish, to create a more cosy, cabin vibe.

The option you choose is mainly down to your personal preference on aesthetics. We went for painted cladding in our own van with the walls painted white and the ceiling left natural to create a Scandinavian inspired interior. If you do plan to paint your cladding, you should save this job for the end, as if you paint early on, you will inevitably end up getting everything dirty and having to repaint later down the line!

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