The Van Conversion Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Converting a Campervan

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Want to wake up to a breathtaking new view every morning? Have you been dreaming about owning a vehicle to fuel your adventures? Building a campervan gives you total freedom to create your very own rolling home. Escape the daily grind, hit the open road and re-write the way you live. It’s also possible that you might need to manually add the APN settings in the unit. You’d need to put the sim in your phone, find out the settings (screenshot them) then log on to the router and add an APN access node (this will be in the menus somewhere but it will all depend on your specific device). Nice and handy book, lots of analyses and ideas. At the end, its up to you, how you decide, what suits you the best, how you design your own project and rebuild the van.

The campervan electrical system is for many the most daunting part of a camper conversion. It’s typically the most expensive and there are so many factors to consider! You will need to delve deep into understanding solar panels , charge controllers , campervan inverters and how to size one , if you want to include electric hook up , lithium leisure batteries , which battery monitor you should use …the list goes on! Many people would never consider converting their own campervan. They would simply buy a pre-converted van or motorhome, or employ a professional van builder to save them the time and effort of planning, designing and building something themselves. If you are cash-rich and time-poor it makes sense. You get instant access to an adventurous nomadic lifestyle, and the vehicle itself has a relatively low depreciation rate, meaning it’s not a bad investment. Taking on a project like a van-conversion is a huge task, with about a million potential downfalls – so knowledge is power! I haven’t even chosen a van yet and I’ve already read through most of the boo, it’s been so interesting and refreshing to see all the information you need pulled into one place! Couldn’t recommend enough 🙂Batteries are typically the single most expensive component in your build, so it’s important to choose the heart of your electrical system wisely. Shop Batteries Once you’re done stuffing every cavity with insulation, you’ll need to attach a vapour barrier to prevent condensation build up. Using spray glue to hold it in place, an aluminium foil bubble wrap material can be used to completely cover the van, and make sure to seal all of the gaps with an aluminium tape. This will leave your van looking like a spaceship (or a conspiracy theorist’s hideout!).

I particularly like the detail given around/import placed on the design process – I work in product development and it was inspiring to see familiar concepts used in such different applications! Is there something I need to do to the router?? Or am I better off buying a different router (the same as the one you suggested above) just for travelling in the EU?? We wanted to achieve a clean, Scandi vibe in our van so we chose to include a lot of exposed wood. This meant we bought high-quality birch ply for visual areas, and attached it from one side to avoid any visible screws. It’s little details like these that are hard to do on the fly and will work much better if you plan ahead. You can mount the urine diverter in a couple of ways. If you have mounted your siphon to the wall of your DIY composting toilet, you could screw the urine diverter directly into your ‘toilet seat’, or the lid of your van toilet. Alternatively, you can cut a recess for the urine diverter to sit in, as we did. You can either do this with a router or a multi tool. We used a multi tool as we were mounting it into a bench seat that already existed in the van and it was easier to get into the space, but if we were doing it from scratch we would have probably used a router. Very well thought out and so far full of helpful advice and information. This especially applies to me. I want a home on wheels for myself, so only a large single bed a single comfortable chair necessary. Thank you for your advice.If you don’t have a campervan toilet, dig a hole at least 15cm deep and 50m away from water sources. Take away any toilet paper and dispose of it properly in a bin. Be a force for good Converting a van is like building a tiny house, but without having to wait three years for planning permission”

Even once our own build was complete, we found ourselves answering hundreds of questions about the process, and so we continued to refine our knowledge to ensure we were giving people the best possible guidance. We have now easily spent enough time to have converted several vans (each!) understanding the van conversion process and the most efficient way of taking your very first idea, to your very own home on wheels. Brilliant distillation of all the current knowledge regarding conversions, presented in a ‘text book’ manner but with plenty of engaging insta-worthy pictures. Whether coffee table or serious van-geek this is the most relevant and comprehensive vanlife book I have found in 2021. In the window kit from Van Demon, you receive a little pot of primer for the windows, and a tube of glue. You need to make sure to apply the primer to the window early on, so it has enough time to completely set before you push the window onto the van.Converting a van is no mean feat. It’s a complex endeavour that will likely take a fair amount of time and money, but it’s also a rewarding process to navigate, providing you with lifelong skills and years of adventures once complete. It’s important to spend time researching your build to understand what’s possible before you commit to designing and building your van, as it will make the process easier and ensure you don’t make any costly mistakes. To Buy or To Build Peat moss has typically been a popular bulking material for composting toilets in the past, however it is incredibly bad for the environment. Peat moss is harvested from peat bogs, but these are extremely valuable in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (acting as a ‘carbon sink’). The book is great. I have also used your shopping list tool. All really helpful, my only issue is that as you are selling and promoting certain products there is a slight concern about impartiality. On the shopping list tool there a a few gaps –‘we are working on this’– will you tell me when yo’ve filled them! Thanks again, John For a detailed explanation of the water system installation process, have a read of our article: How to install a campervan water system .