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THE D.I.Y. VAN
CONVERSION
THE
PLAN
Can
a guy with no experience
with power tools, carpentry, electricity or
plumbing
turn
a cargo van into a livable home-on-wheels?
The Plan. Ah yes, The Plan. I did have
one, basically: buy a ProMaster cargo van and
convert it into a livable RV. Good plan,
Rick. Top notch, top notch.
I would not have the luxury of garaging the van
throughout the project. It's my only vehicle,
so it's my go-to-work chariot every day, so I could
not let it sit with half-finished steps, like
cutting the hole for the roof fan on Tuesday and
putting the fan in on Friday. Rain and bugs
would have a lot to say about that.
And it already has plenty of stuff in it, including
an XL Twin bed on a frame, a desk, a chair and a
half-dezen or so storage bins. Hence, things
will have to be "worked around" as things progress.
I don't have a garage, so that was never a factor,
anyway. There are not many out there that will
accommodate a 9'6" tall van (including the fan).
Well, what I had to figure out first, I guess,
was: what
do I want in it?
THE
NECESSITIES
Bed, definitely. I'll be spending a third of
my road life asleep, so this was a high priority.
Desk suitable for laptop writing sessions. The Plan
includes pursuing a part-time, one-my-own-time,
copywriting career, so Maxx would be a
Vehicle-Bedroom-Office combo above all else.
Big fat-ass desk chair. Oh hell yes! Big
and cushy enough to lounge in when I'm not
"working." Sitting up on the bed is OK if it's
all you got, but the sheets get all in disarray, and
it's too easy to spill your drink on your
chest. Gotta have a big old Ahhhhh type of
chair to rock-and-roll around in.
More windows! Necessity as well as
enhancement. Original plan had windows going
in all around, but... well more on that is that
section.
Fridge. DC-powered. One consistent and
persistent PINTA of roadtripping was buying ice
every damn day to keep the goodies in the cooler
from goin' bad. And, with 8-pound bags going
for $2 or more in many places now, a fridge will pay
for itself in a few months.
Electricity. "Solah Powah" as the Bostonians
say. Gotta.
TV or a big monitor. Laptop screen and iPad
Mini are tolerable, but a nice modest 24" screen
will be jussst fine.
Dimmable lights, yesss.
Microwave oven, of course. I won't need a
freaking stove. I have one in my
cottage and I think I've used it 6 times in 2
years. The MWO will take care of most of my
heating needs, and one of those small propane grills
-- the kind with the skinny silver legs that fold up
to clamp the lid on when you're done -- will take
care of my grillin' needs when I get a burger
craving.
And storage! Lots and lots
of storage. If I'm gonna be toting everything
I own around with me, I need to reserve a good
amount of space (so I can keep a good amount o'
stuff).
OK, that's a good start. So, how to do
it? Well, buy some tools and materials then
... use 'em!
Home Depot became my friend. So did
Amazon. And so, especially, did
YouTube. I watched a LOT of videos and read
a LOT of articles. I'm not here to one-up
any of them. I'm here to pay homage to
them. I'll dole out copious credit at each
appropriate step.
TOOLS.
I knew I'd need to be cutting a good amount of
wood and screwing in a lot of screws, so a
circular saw and a drill were at the top of my
Tools To Buy List. First time in my life
I've ever had that list. I bought
cordless Ryobi tools, with an extra battery pack
and two chargers. I bought a Ryobi jigsaw
too. And a ridiculous supply of
blades. In one of the videos I saw, a
guy was trying to cut a hole in his van roof for a
fan and his jigsaw blade snapped before he was 1/4
of the way done. It was his last blade.
He persisted with a handsaw, but shut the camera
off. When he came back on, the sun was waaay
down, and he looked really pissed off. So,
mental note: buy a crapload of jigsaw blades.
I bought a crazy big set of drill bits too, and an
array of hole saws (I came to love those things!),
THE
PLANS
Probably my best friend of ALL, though, was
CorelDRAW, the graphic design program. I've
used it at work for more than 12 years, but it has
never served me as well as it did
here. I used Corel to make accurate charts
of the ProMaster's floor, ceiling, walls, and
irregular ribs.
Corel did not get deeply involved until about Step 5
or so, and from then on it was a clear MVP.
With a 1" = 10" scale, I put everything on tabloid
sized paper that I could turn to PDF or print out at
work. Everything was measured down to
1/4". I learned, for example, that your
standard 2x4 is only "nominally" 2x4, but is
actually 1.5" x 3.5", which equated to 0.15" x 0.35"
on my scale diagrams. Every stud, plank, and
panel was laid out with scaled precision, and I dare
say they came out pretty much right.
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