It was about two years ago or so when we started thinking about purchasing a van. Today we have instant access to an unlimited supply of information on the internet. Before the internet, you were limited to finding information via magazines, through friends, from your own knowledge, experience and what tools you had. Now, we just sit at our computers, tap out a few phrases and wait for the results. These websites have saved us some time and experimenting of our own, so we wanted to share their sites as more of a “thank you” as we don’t make any money off of the links.
The first van and resource that caught our attention was Christian Schaffer’s van, http://christianschaffer.art. Here was someone who was actually living in a van. She’s done a great job explaining her story mainly though videos and photographs.
While Christian helped with some of the work, she hired a company called Gone With the Van which also has some information and examples of how they accomplished certain parts of the van conversion. What we really came away with was Yulia Burova’s video and discussion about creating a healthy non-toxic environment which lead us to using sheep’s wool for insulation. Yulia is now a health consultant Yulia Burova
The one site that had the most “how to” videos but also was well researched and thought-out was Ken and his daughter Kara’s build called the “KaraVan”, https://ourkaravan.com; an incredible amount of information and videos.
Alternative/additional power is a must for a self-contained van. Another website loaded with information and videos on building a power grid for your van is Mobile Solar Power Made Easy, https://www.mobile–solarpower.com. He’s a young guy and fun to watch.
There are companies that will build it for you and others that build them to sell. Purchasing a van that is already built can be fun too, but when you do it yourself you get to add all kinds of personal touches. You have the freedom to try several options before you finish. The conversion companies have a plan and process which can limit what you want in a van. They also have the tools and crew to build them.
There are a lot of YouTube videos and websites about van conversions. While there are similarities, each has a bit of its own personality, which is what is cool about doing it on your own. Some people sleep in tents, in their cars, in a hammock between two trees. It doesn’t really matter what everyone else does. It’s what you want and are capable of doing. As long as it’s safe for everyone riding along it doesn’t matter how you do it. Even with the fantastic job Ken did, I found there are aspects I prefer to do differently. For instance, I love working with wood – he doesn’t. But, best of all, it’s fun, it’s a learning experience and we can say “We did it!”