When I converted my first van, I decided to start a site to document the process in hopes that I could contribute some knowledge back to the van building community that I relied so heavily upon.
Below, you will find my work-in-progress build log for my 2004 Mercedes Sprinter conversion. Soon, I will begin writing about my second conversion — a 2015 Ford Transit. I will also begin writing some more generic pieces on component selection, product reviews, etc.
Enjoy!
About this page (extended edition)
Over the past couple years, I've built two camper van conversions: one Mercedes Sprinter and one Ford Transit. Along the way, I've done a great deal of research and learned a lot. I decided to contribute that knowledge back to the van building community by creating this page.
Initially, this page was going to be a complete build log of my first van — a 2004 Mercedes Sprinter. I completed several posts, but slowed down as life got busy.
After about a year and a half of traveling and part time living in that van, I decided to sell it and build something a little more modern. Thus, in September of 2016, it sold and I immediately purchaced a 2015 Ford Transit.
The next two months were spent completing the second build and juggling my day job. As time has allowed, I've been thinking about a plan for this site.
Alas, the new plan! I will try to finish documenting the first build with the photos and notes I took. However, I don't plan to do a complete build log of the second build. I figure, by now, the internet is full of build logs of all degrees.
Instead, I would like to write a little more specifically about the components I chose, why I chose them and how they've performed. I think this will be a valuable contribution to the community as I found component selection to be one of the more time consuming processes. I may also discuss various building techniques I found to work well. And finally, I would like to put together mini shopping lists for people to use for various parts of the build (eg. X sink, Y faucet, Z fittings).
I think, together, this would be a huge help to some people who find themselves a bit lots (as I did) when starting a build.
Prepare yourself, because my bed-building process winds a path through experimentation. I clock in at around 5‘9” tall. If I owned a NCV3 Sprinter van, I would orient my bed cross-ways, no question. However, since I owned an older T1N van, my height is almost exactly the width I have to work with inside the van.
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At the beginning of my search for a van, the average price tag on the Craigslist listing I saw left me pretty disenchanted with the idea. I expected the prices to be higher than your average Astro van, but seeing old, rusted out, 300k mileage vans still listed for $20,000 was a shock. Luckily, these price tags only reflects the sellers hopes and dreams, not necessarily reality.
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Over the years, I’ve spent quite a bit of time traveling, camping and living off and on in the back of my 2001 Ford Escape. This has been my dream vehicle for over a decade now: it’s four wheel drive, seats four, sleeps two with room to spare and it’s beefy enough to tow a trailer. I’ve traveled in it for months at a time. With two people traveling long term, it’s tight and you can’t take much gear, but it’s doable without much fuss.
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