Category: van conversion

How difficult can it be to build a box and call it a bench? Except, with this box I wanted a removable shelf, two lift tops and a way to secure items within the bench … and be strong enough for me to sit on it! Well, I did accomplish that!

And another box … Ram Promaster vans have many places for water bottles, but lack storage space in the front area, thus I built a box … thank you mini Kreg pocket-hole jig … made that project easier!

Small touches to add, but I am essentially done with this project! Kudos to the people who build out their van with refrigerator, stove, water system and other items to make their van a place to live in for months at a time! And kudos to those who do the conversion and have their final product looking professional! 

My work is done … not the prettiest, but will suffice for what I need … and I am proud to say, I did not make one hole in the van! Sixteen hundred dollars … due to the fact: I bought 2 ft. by 4 ft. pre-finished birch plywood for my bench and only one 4 x 8 ft plywood (which cost 3 times the price of a year ago). Also the 4 Aolisheng ball bearing lock-in drawer slides were costly, but I hope to enjoy their use! I do not have to many left-over pieces of wood, screws and nails. I am so happy I had bought an electric powered screw driver!

Where did the month go? For a 3 week and 5 day period of time, every day except for 2 days in that time, I put in 104 hours of work! This does not count the other hours I had been thinking, sketching, watching YouTube videos and at various stores to buy items, ask a million questions of those employees and buy other items on-line. 

With gratitude: I am so appreciative of my neighbor allowing me to borrow his power saw and he offered a few good ideas too. I am equally appreciative of my partner who delivered more than one lunch and snack to me during these weeks, helped me on my most awful day dealing with the sliding drawers, and provided insight when I needed it! 

Surprisingly, a few people did stop and ask what I was working on. I appreciated their positive comments. It also provided me time to talk about possible upcoming USA and Canada travels during the next 2 years. I am a world traveler who has put my international travel on hold for 2 more years with hopes the Covid virus will have died down around the world. Plus I wish for civility to return to humankind. There has been too much ugliness in attitudes and behaviors towards one another about a variety of issues and I just do not want to participate in any of it. Thus, solo travel right now is best for me to wander and see North America’s beautiful places, be outdoors and to follow the birds! Retirement is to be full of life while we are capable of doing what it is we wish to do. This year I enter another decade of my life and I want to live it. Never do I want regrets for not being active in the outdoors. Therefore, this year I will travel to meet others across our country, enjoy our national parks and monuments, bicycle some trails, visit birding hotspots and historical sites, and work on my sketching, writing and photography skills. I look forward to travel in Australia, Chile and Italy in 2024! Maybe I will see you on the road … stay healthy and happy and let me know when and where we can meet! Namaste.

Was I feeling like an old person rolling out of my tent morning after morning? Maybe. The rolling part was easy; it was the getting up off the ground that seemed troublesome some mornings as I would mutter and ask myself “am I getting old?”.

With the van I decided a priority would be a mattress a few feet above the ground … even if it was just a foam memory mattress topper with my ensolite and Thermarest sleeping pads underneath; yes the same ones I use when tenting. So, I cut a full mattress topper to 43 inches width and kept the 75 inch length. I am high off the ground due to my bicycle stored underneath, thus less head space, so cannot comfortably sit up bed, but can scrunch enough to read a book in bed. 

I equate this “capsule” to the Japanese pod hotels at their airports where one can catch a quick night’s sleep. I will have a good night’s sleep, roll off the mattress to the floor and be on my way in the morning! (Remember I have the luggable loo to step down on, if I need it.) 

I even built a small shelf for a container to hold night time needs … headlamp, alpaca socks and other night stand items. I must admit, this van conversion is more than a “glorified tent”! 

For air flow in the van, I purchased air vents for the front 2 windows. No doubt there may be times I need more airflow so I also purchased a small fan to plug into my GoalZero. But the best air flow will be when the sliding door of the van or the back doors are open! Creating screens became a necessity as I decided to not use one product where you remove the van’s weather-stripping to install the screen and then put the weather stripping back on. Way to dicey for me to consider that option. Another company discontinued their manufacture of screens so I was left with my own creation for the rear of the van and am awaiting a purchase of the sliding door screen!

I never thought any of this project would be easy! Already my mental gymnastics in deciding what to do next, how to do it, and what is best, has my brain flipping! My main support for each side of the bed frame is a 2 inch by 4 inch by 43 inch board bolted into the van frame. Because I want no new holes in the van, I stick my fingers into existing holes and simultaneously put a bolt and washer through wood and another washer on the inside part of  the hole …  and blindly feel where I can put a lock washer and finally screw a nut on to hold it all together! I only have to do this eight times! Here is why people doing these constructions are creating videos of their work … I no doubt would be more clear with my process if I did create a video, but that will not be happening! A peek of what it looks like. These photos show one bolt, the bed frame bolted in and with bed slats and some additional framing, and how I kept D-rings exposed for future use: 

My new Ram Dodge Promaster cargo van is an empty shell! What should I work on first, that is the question! Since this van has wall liners already installed and it will become my “glorified tent”, I am not going to insulate the van. If I am cold, I have my winter sleeping bag. If I am hot, I can sleep on the ground under the stars or in my tent, which I will always carry on my travels … I was a backpacker!

For starters, I removed a few plastic rivets from the side wall to eventually bolt the bed frame to the van, or so I hope! (I did not want to drill any holes into the van, but instead to use existing holes.) Never knew anything about rivets, but a local person suggested I use a plastic tool to remove the rivets and thus not damage the van’s wall liners. Worked perfectly!

With the lower wall liners off, I installed noise deadening material and also did some of the roof to finish the one box of Klimat I had purchased. The noise deadening material was not a necessity. The wall liners were good enough, but with them off why not add the noise deadening layer.

Halfway through the noise deadening installation and not appreciating the upper body workout, I took a break to shop for wood needed for next steps in this construction. My ACE neighborhood store did not have all the lumber I would need, so to the big box store I went! (Apparently with building materials supply chain issues, larger stores get building materials before our neighborhood stores.) Other items I ordered online.

I am taking this project in sections; steep learning curve ahead for me. I wanted to build a bed frame with appropriate support and high enough to fit my bicycle underneath. Can I get my fingers into the holes to bolt the frame to the van ? Can I figure a way to have the bicycle slide out enough for me to unlock the fork from the tray and then lift the bicycle off? How does one install drawer ball-bearing slides? With my reading of various material, You Tube videos, and brain I hope to determine all that is needed. And then to put it all into action to complete what I need!

This is a low roof van, thus I need the bed frame and bicycle work to be accurate. While I can stand in this low roof van, when it comes to me eventually sleeping on the bed there is little room for me to sit-up. Inches are important in the construction of the framing for the bed and bicycle. This van barely makes it in height into our garage; 3 inches to be exact. The 118 inch wheelbase is okay for the garage too and I can fit into parking spaces just as passenger cars. The width of the van is huge…80 inches…75 inches within inside walls… allowing one to sleep from side to side in the van …. Nice!