Vandog Traveller

Quit job, build campervan, travel

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My DIY camper – from rusty van to cosy home in 5 months

by 56 Comments

The van conversion is finally complete. See more pictures of the complete camper conversion here
ldv-vandogtraveller

I love the idea of living in a van

But I don’t really find the look and feel of most motorhomes or campers very appealing (I mean home like). Months of daydreaming allowed me to get a pretty clear image of how I wanted the van to be. No plans/layouts were drawn up or measured. It was pretty much built on-the-fly.

UPDATE: My book, From Van to Home, is now available as an instant download. It covers every detail of my conversion and much more. Read more about it and get it here

My van – a space for living

I used common materials found in DIY and home shops rather than using the specialised (and expensive) materials from motorhome/camopervan shops.

The result is something that feels pretty cosy and home like, and you can easily forget you are in a 10 year old van by the side of the road.

van-dimensions

Features of my converted camper van:

Here’s the van before conversion

The van is 10 years old. It was rusty, holey and hacked up. This is after repairing some of the rust on the floor – see removing floor rust 

before-conversion

Now it’s time to travel Europe!

For more images see the completed van conversion gallery

Make your own van home!

The ebook is available now to buy as an instant download here

from-van-to-home-book-cover

My books...
To make a van into your home... To live the life (new!)...
From Van to Home book Live in a Van and Travel book
Get From Van to Home here Get How to Live and Travel in a Van here
  • Jeff Hofer

    Absolutely amazing. The amount of functionality crammed into that van is brilliant.

  • jack daniels

    How do you get hot water in the shower?

  • tom

    How much did the project cost, sterling job

    • Sgt. Pinback

      I’s like to know this too please.

      • Identical van here, albeit mine is a minibus. I’ve lived in her on the road for 5 years now.

        In no particular order, my costs breakdown:

        3 x 80watt solar panels – £300 (eBay)
        1 x charge controller – £25 )eBay)
        1 x 300 watts pure sine wave inverter – £40
        1 x 22 watts netbook (laptop) for writing on which I do for a living whilst living on the road – £100
        1 x bed (self made with storage underneath) cost of the wood – £25
        1 x memory foam mattress – £15 (charity shop find)
        Various storage units (5) inside the van – total cost £30 (charity shop and skip finds)
        1 x CD player with remote control (very useful) – £50 (eBay)
        1 x TV/DVD (and mast/aerial) £100 (eBay)
        Rugs x 2 on the floor £10 (Local shop)
        Small wood burner and 4″ flue pipe – £155
        12V fridge – £5 (Charity shop)
        3 x 12V car batteries (£15 each local car breakers yard)
        Megabass speakers for the CD player – £15 (Charity shop)
        1 folding loo – £12 (eBay)

        Think that about covers most of the essentials. Total spend on the inside? About give or take: £900 total.

        Obviously you can deduct all of the non-essentials to get a basic conversion cost which in all honesty, if you’re not particularly fussy about achieving the best look possible, you’ll be looking at about £200 in materials.

        Obviously I’m only able to speak from my own personal experience here. Your tastes may of course differ to my own.

        • Oops sorry, a little 2 burner hob/grill – £25 (eBay).

          13KG Flogas bottle for the above (lasts for about 3 years cooking) – £20 (Trago Mills)

          • Sgt. Pinback

            That’s interesting, although I am more interested in the one on this site, as I can see the results.
            How much did the van cost, roughly (including everything needed to get it on the road?)

            I didn’t realise you could have a wood burner in a van! Is that legal?

          • Sure I understand.

            The van initially cost £1,000 with 12 months MOT.

            Wood burner in a van – legal?

            Now obviously some legalities are for the common good, other legalities however are just a load of humbug. When you’ve been doing this for long enough (like me) you don’t care so much for obeying all of the legalities in the system, which is exactly what one is trying to get away from. This is my life and I as a man (not a person), I’m free (within reason) to do whatever I want as long as I do not cause distress to others or breach their peace This is my God given inalienable right.

            Yes I’m a freeman on the land but I’m not so daft as to believe it’s good to drive around without an MOT, tax and full insurance. In this regard the van is fully legal of course. This is just common sense.

            Even with the flue pipe sticking up out of the roof out of the top rear end of the van and having had plenty of police cars behind me on the road at one time or another over the past 5 years, not once have I been pulled over for the ‘policy officers’ benefit quizzing me about the legality of having a wood burner on board. I think there is your answer. It’s of no consequence to them, otherwise they would take action if they felt so inclined for the purposes of issuing a fine (which wouldn’t be paid anyway).

            Of course you don’t drive along with the thing lit. That would be just plain stupid lol.

          • Rozgonyi József

            Infrapanel for heating? It can be a mirror if you want. 🙂

          • Peter Murdoch

            Hey mate, I’ve got myself a minibus lined up done about 50000miles. Just wondering if you sold your seats for anything? And also if there’s any chance of seeing what you’ve done with yours that would be great. Cheers

          • neil brown

            Just spent £1020 to get my van back on the road after sitting for two years, cost 400 to buy more than I anticipated but lots done, welding, brakes etc etc

  • Jéssica Alves

    fuck that cool !!! maybe one day …

  • stephen zarin

    My dog & i lived in a ducato motor home for 2 years in the UK…..and loved it! I’m now dreeamimg [yet again]

    • Nika Van Alderaan

      Stephen I would love to rack your brains about this

  • Love it man – awesome van!!

  • Evelyne

    Hi Mike,
    I’m curious about how much the van weighs with all your options?
    Looks incredible!

  • Blimey yours is posh compared to mine. You’ve got a bloomin’ loo in there AND a shower!

    My loo is a big plastic water container with a screw cap on top for #1’s.

    For #2’s I use a folding festival loo, whack two bin liners in the hole, do your business, chuck the loo paper in, pull the bags out and tie a good knot in them and dispose of said bag/s in the nearest dog poo bin.

    For the shower, I use a 10L plastic water container. Using a braddle I pierced the plastic cap making a few small holes. Fill said bottle with water, put the cap on, jump outside in a pair of shorts if in public, tip the bottle upside down above my head. Voila! One working shower. Saves loads of space lol.

    • cruisepuppy7452a

      Oh that so sounds more like mine. Kidding. I think I prefer the good old ladies room at the quick trip for that. But thank heavens those days are behind me, no pun intended. But it is nice to know this gal can make lemon aide out of lemons when she has to

  • Nanette Francis

    Hi Mike — I see the overall outside measurements of your van, but what are the measurements of the inside living area? I’m thinking of doing something similar and want to see if my plans are on the right track, as far as available living space.
    Take care! 🙂

  • Indian-Share-Tips.Com

    Awesome man and we salute your indomitable spirit.

  • 如果你能读懂这些文字，你就是个老外

    solar but no fridge…?

    • cruisepuppy7452a

      Ah pay attention little grasshopper and learn. A fridge can be made from a cooler, dry ice, ice and water. I have done this too, and it works, when I don’t need it, its great storage.

      • 如果你能读懂这些文字，你就是个老外

        dry ice water and a cooler?

        What exactly could anyone learn from that again?

        Come one, I was just wondering why someone would throw solar panels on his RV and not combine an old fridge with a cheap inverter.. voila free and clean energy, completely self sufficient, unlike dry ice.
        Perhaps something you can learn?

      • Brad Nimbus

        lmao, dry ice, water and a cooler?

    • There is a fridge. A proper compressor one which can also be a freezer (but not both)

  • cruisepuppy7452a

    Very impressive. Looks a lot nicer than my suv, does not quite convert the same. lol. Hey, life is a journey and a house is what you make it. Nobody said we all had to be the same, live the same, ride the same bike. My only question, what happens when it breaks down in the middle of nowhere? Got a plan B? Always have a plan B.

  • Molly

    Love this! Thanks for sharing! Something to keep in mind for down the road after vet school. How do yo deal with temperature control? I’m looking for a way to make sure it doesn’t get too hot for my dogs if I have to leave them alone for a couple hours.

    • Open the windows and if it’s a really hot day put something in the window – cardboard or proper reflective stuff

      • Joel Tynan

        A little ghetto mod In Australia is put a little bit of water on the Window and then place aluminium foil over it

  • I’m very much thinking about windows yes/no and how many. What’s your idea about that. You hardly have any windows, would you do that again?
    – I like the light that windows give, the possibility to look out of the van, even when doors are closed.
    – I like without to be more able to stealth camp, look like a transporter, might even paint a logo on it 😉

    • Yeah, it’s a difficult one. If it helps though, my van get’s quite a lot of light. I wouldn’t change anything there. The big minibus windows at the back made a big difference and obviously loads of light from the front cab. I guess a van can still be stealth even with big back windows

  • Les

    use wvo,old engine oil,or any oil as fuel and stop buying diesel.
    Best way to clean any oil is with a centrifugal filter.
    These filters are available in the uk on ebay

  • Dream place

  • Lauri

    this is the most functional van conversion i’ve seen. very nice job!

  • Phred

    This sounds TOTALLY awesome but just ONE thing bothers me… what happens if someone decides to jack your van? They have essentially stolen your home from you!

    Do you use a standard anti-theft alarm or something a bit more sophisticated?

    • It bothers me also. It would be difficult to start and drive off though. I do have a tracker and immobiliser also

  • Konnor

    sadly, i just found this post. Insanely creative and inspiring work. I’ve been wanting to do something like this, and you make it look easy enough with dedication and patience. If you dont mind me asking, did you keep a track of expenses? more specifically, how much did it cost you in total? Hope you’re enjoying the road!

    Cheers,
    Konnor

  • jerry young

    been there done that in the 70’s nothing new, I built conversion vans at work back then so I like a lot of others made our own mini motor homes out of vans, mine was a 1971 Volkswagen bus, had a propane stove, sink, refrigerator, a table with seating that converted into a bed and a porta-potty, never got heating put in but we used it for summer fishing trips so it wasn’t needed, I do like the paneling you used

  • Orion Thompson-Hendee

    Duuuude, what happened to the video?

  • Yenna Wolf

    wow, super inspiring~ want to do this myself. yes how much did the conversion cost?

  • Jamie Terrin

    what brand of van and how much was it ?

    where you able to get euro side drive ?

  • Juan

    Hi man! I love youre capmpervan! I have a 50c13 iveco, which i will turn into campervan, so wanna ask you if there is anything you would do differently if you would build the van again, want to build something similar to yours, so want to know if you would change anything on the van. Is the sofa/bed good or is bed in the back of the van better? Is shower and toilet really neccesary? How about solar panels, can you live without it ? 🙂 Thanks!

  • David

    Hey Mike, found your site through google, immediately bought your book, want that you can eat tomorrow, lol. You live the dream man, I will too. Book price is too low 😉
    Will start reading tonight, building tomorrow (nah, not quite).
    Keep up the fun!

  • David

    Oh actually Mike, I got a quick question, maybe you know? In EU (not UK right now) is the conversion allowed without formalities/permission, meaning, do they during inspection check whether the former say panel van, has been modified, or in other words, does a van conversion officially have to be written into the van’s documents somehow?
    I saw Mark Andrews helpful comments below, that he never got stopped (lucky man), but here I might, so I’d rather try to do as much correct as I can… 😉
    (yet I do agree with Marks view that police “shouldn’t” be bothered as long as we harm no one! And if the gas bottle doesn’t explode on the road, everyone is safe…. lol)

  • These is a great result.A very messy and old van transform to a beautiful cozy and very homey van.Quit impressive.

  • chopper04

    Anyone got any good ideas for sealing the roof on the hightop ldv??cheers matt

  • Asid

    Thank you for being a great inspiration. I hope to join you one day when the kids are older.

    How big are/were the internal dimensions of your van please. I’m impressed you have a full shower unit most of the other camper conversions seem to have glossed over the need to wash in their plans.

    Buying your e-book when I’ve a spare £10. 😉 Have a great day!

  • Annie Warner

    Hi, I am wanting to get a van and fit for full time living on road, as opposed to my Sunliner cab over motor home – built on a small workman’s ute that is struggling with a 1 bedroom apartment on the back!
    What ‘breed’ is your van? I realise you are not in Australia as I am so we will most likely not have it here anyway but is would be useful to know…
    Also love the homely ‘feel’ and look of your set up. Also love your work desk/table and your sofa bed!

    • nice good luck. My van is an LDV Convoy. They’re made in England but I think some managed to get to Czech republic and NZ. They’re getting difficult to maintain now though – I’m just doing a new post now about this

  • Allison Olson

    Hello- just curious as to what wood you used for the ceiling and walls? I want the same look in my van I’m just not sure what wood paneling I should get so it isn’t too heavy.

    • Hey it’s just 8mm cladding. It’s very soft and light weight wood but gives a good finish I think

  • Francesca Zammit Cutajar

    gorgeous,,where did you get the wood paneling from?

    • Jason goodall

      Francesca Zammit Cutajar, Simon’s sister from St Chris? What are the chances of seeing a post on a random websit about camper van travel from someone I think I was at school with 35 years ago!
      Maybe it’s the free thinking education that leads us to sites like this!

      • Francesca Zammit Cutajar

        LoL ! Yes its me… Im not a person who posts either…but my boyf has a camper van in need of tlc…Anyway..Hi Jason !! Im in Malta..as is Simon.. lots of free thinking love 🙂

Old van to cosy home in 5 months

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