Abroad Reach Travel

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Van Plumbing: This Time With a Toilet!

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Updated on May 25th, 2025

In our first van build, we had a very simple van plumbing set up. It consisted of 5 gallons of water, and a tiny water pump, and that was about it! When we started designing for this second build, we knew we would be spending a lot more time in the van and would need a lot more than just a running water sink! And most especially we were going to need a toilet this time!

In the interest of transparency, please be aware that the following may contain affiliate links and any purchases made through such links may result in a small commission for us at no cost to you. We appreciate you shopping from these links!

Fresh Water

Let’s start with the fresh water side of the plumbing system. We have a 28 gallon fresh water tank from Northwest Conversions. This tank is filled from the outside using a gravity fill. We have chosen a locking water fill so that there is no way anyone can mess with it. Not that we would expect that but just in case.

Fresh water van plumbing set up, including water tank, water filter, outdoor shower mixer and water pump.

The tank draw is located at the bottom of the tank and runs to a 3 gallon per minute 12v pump. From the pump the water then runs to a household carbon filter. From the filter the system starts to split. The first split sends one pipe to the bathroom area and the other towards the kitchen.

Cold water is then sent to the bathroom bidet, the kitchen faucet, the rear outdoor shower, and to the water heater using pex tubing. Yes, you read that right, our hand held bidet is cold water only, but we primarily use it as to flush the toilet so it’s not as big a deal as you might think. It allows us to use less toilet paper and less water to “flush” than the built in flush option on our cassette toilet.

water pump and water filter in a van plumbing setup

After we spent the first year living on our Alberg 30 without hot water, I said I would never go without it again! We have a 2.5-gallon electric water heater. It runs off the AC side of the electrical system and it draws 1440W so we do need to be a little careful about what else is running on the inverter at the same time, but it is significantly less complicated than some of the other choices for hot water. Two and a half gallons may not seem like much, but we are used to taking “Navy” showers so for both of us to shower only uses about 1.5 gallons of water total.

The output from the water heater goes to both the sink and the shower.

To turn on our shower you turn on the shut off valves, and then set the mixer temp, and set the pressure. Then the water can be turned on and off on the shower head itself. We typically feed the shower head into our little pop-up shower tent so having that control on the shower head is really handy!

Man wearing glasses, poking his head out of a pop-up shower tent in a field.

Our sink faucet is the same faucet we’ve used in both of our boats. It is a pretty low flow faucet, which you want when you are trying to conserve water. BUT my favorite feature is the button on the faucet head that allows you to “hold” the water. It really cuts down on water usage which is important when you only have 28 gallons!

Our faucet flows into a huge sink! I wanted to have the biggest and deepest sink we could fit. This sink is 22″ x 18″ x 9″. My only complaint about it is that the bottom is just a little too flat so we do end up with standing water sometimes. I love the filter cup and the grate at the bottom! The size makes doing dishes super easy, and the sink can double as a basket for items on the counter in a pinch.

Gray Water

The sink drains into a 5 gallon sceptor water tank that we use as a gray water tank. We carry an extra of these tanks so our total gray water capacity is 10 gallons. We have an RV adaptor on the sink drain and then Andy designed an adaptor for the tank so that the tank is fully sealed and the hose has no way of coming off when we are on the road. It also allows us to easily disconnect the grey water tank to dump it! This adaptor is now available in our store, as well as the option for a print your own file if you have access to a 3D printer.

Black Water

For the dreaded black water, we decided to go with a Thetford cassette toilet. The version we have allows for the cassette to be removed from the outside of the van, so it isn’t necessary to drag it through our living area. This Thetford toilet also has a built in flushing system that can be hard plumbed but over the years on the boat we’ve found that a handheld bidet does a much better job in these low-water situations.

The toilet empties into a 5 gallon cassette that can be emptied at any dumping station, or in a pinch a household toilet. We have a back-up cassette that give us a total of 10 gallons of black water capacity. We’ve found that we do not smell the cassette at all until it is very full and yes, we do use it for #2.

We will do a full breakdown and review of this toilet in a future post, as we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to use, dump, and clean! We think it’s a great option for campervan toilets!

Cost Breakdown

Note: All Costs are as of April/May 2024

Previous Costs: $23,521.20

New Costs: $1,122.04

Total Cost: $24,643.24

Check out our other Van Build Posts here!

DIY Roof Rack for Promaster Campervan

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Updated on May 25th, 2025

Roof racks for campervans can be super pricey! Since we are building on a budget, we knew we needed to create a DIY roof rack that was both effective and inexpensive. We managed just that with the roof of our Promaster 157 DIY roof rack.

Maxxair Fan

In a previous post, we talked about how we installed our Maxxair Fan. It’s worth mentioning here that we installed that fan as far to the rear of the van as we could to give us plenty of space for solar panels. Installing it as far back as possible also gave us some flexibility when we had to make some roof layout changes late in the build.

Solar Layout

We knew we wanted to fit as much solar as possible on this build since we have 900 amp hrs of lithium batteries that will need to stay topped up and a fully electric kitchen. We have had awesome luck with Rich Solar Panels on both of our boats, so we started looking at what Rich Solar formats would fit best. We landed on their 250-watt panels, which fit perfectly width-wise. We knew we could fit 3 panels with all the space we had. This would give us 750 watts of solar, with the potential to squeeze in a smaller panel when we were done.

Man installing solar panels on a DIY roof rack on a white van.

DIY Roof Rack

The next step was figuring out how to mount the panels to the roof without spending an insane amount of money for a roof rack.

The promasters have t-studs on the roof for roof racks from the factory. When Andy started looking at the options on the market for mounts to use the studs, he was really not happy with what was available. Most of the options put pressure down on the sheet metal roof and up on the t-stud. This can cause problems if they are overtightened, and can trap moisture and dirt under them.

Andy ended up designing a brand new mount that we are calling the Penny Promounts. The Penny Promounts sandwich the t-stud between layers of stainless steel and don’t trap dirt or moisture. They make it easy to attach two unistrut rails where we could attach solar panels. The total cost was just over $200.

We wanted to provide the DIY campervan community with a more effective and less expensive alternative to what was on the market. We’ve spent the last year testing and perfecting our roof mounts and we’ve now made our Penny Promounts available for purchase in our store!

Solar Panel Brackets

Now that we had somewhere to attach the solar panels to, we had to tackle the how! Andy also designed up solar panel brackets that made it super easy to attach our metal framed solar panels to the unistrut using unistrut nuts.

We’ve also made these solar brackets available for purchase in our store. They make installing metal-framed solar panels so much easier!

Air Conditioning

We thought we would eventually put in an air conditioner unit, however we didn’t think it was in the budget right away. After our first shakedown trip, I quickly realized that I was having a ton of anxiety around leaving Aiden in the van. Even in just 65 or 70 degrees. We also came in around $5000 under budget initially, so we decided to take some of that money and install an air conditioner.

We picked the Dometic RTX 2000 because it was the only model with good reviews that would fit without us losing any solar. It wasn’t pretty, and the interior of the van looked like a scene from dexter for two days. We had to shift the solar panels around to make space. There were also some real Gwen and Andy shenanigans involved in getting the 70 pound unit on the roof without breaking any solar panels or ourselves.

A man and a woman using a tractor to lift an air conditioner next to a white van.

Installing the AC was one of the best decisions we made in this build. I can’t imagine not having it. We can leave Aiden without worrying and it’s really great for days you’re stuck in the van working when it’s hot.

Starlink Mount

The last item on our roof is starlink. Starlink is a necessary evil in our life. It’s the only form of reliable internet we’ve found for Andy to continue with his job on the move. We knew we wanted to have it mounted to the roof so he could work while I drove, but we also wanted to be able to move it off the roof if we had obstructions like trees.

We have modified our Gen 2 dishy to sit in a wedge mount that was designed by Jason over at Everlanders. That mount has magnets on the bottom, and then additionally is clipped to the unistrut rail. The extra wire is curled under the wedge mount so we can just pop the dishy off the roof, unravel the wire and set the dishy in a more open area. It has worked great for us! We rarely have to remove it from the roof but in places like Shenandoah, or here in New England it’s been incredibly useful to be able to move it around.

Man on a ladder showing a magnetic starlink roof mount.

Ladder Access

The very last roof-related item, is our collapsible ladder. We decided against a mounted ladder. Primarily because of expense, and this collapsible ladder has turned into one of our favorite pieces of gear we carry with us! It is super light, easy to stow, and gets pretty tall! It costs a fraction of what a mounted ladder would have cost and still gives us all the access we need to be able to inspect, clean, and shovel the roof!

Man on a collapsible ladder next to a white campervan.

Cost Breakdown

Note: All Costs are as of April/May 2024

Previous Costs: $20,581.29

New Costs: $2939.91

Total Cost: $23,521.20

Check out our other Van Build Posts here!

Off-grid Electrical Set-up Basics for Camper Vans

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Updated on May 25th, 2025

We’ve been a part of several van build forums and Facebook groups for the last few years, and one thing has become abundantly clear. Building an off-grid electrical system is where most people struggle with their DIY van builds.

In this post, we will start by explaining the basics of setting up an off-grid electrical system. Then, in the second part, we will walk you through our system and the decisions we made for our Promaster campervan build.

In the interest of transparency, please be aware that the following may contain affiliate links and any purchases made through such links may result in a small commission for us at no cost to you.   We appreciate you shopping from these links!

The Three Parts of an Off-Grid System

An off-grid system will consist of three separate parts:

  1. A storage system, i.e. batteries, where you can collect power and use it when you need it.
  2. An input system: how you’ll get power into your storage system.
  3. An output system: how you will use all that power you’ve stored up!

Storage System

The storage system is batteries. Batteries are the heart of your system and allow you to have electricity when the sun is down, or the engine is off.

A man installing three lithium batteries in the back of an off-grid electrical van

Sizing a Battery Bank

To know how to size your battery bank, and many other components of your system, you’ll need to do a little legwork to figure out how much power you will be using. When you live in a house or apartment, it’s easy to forget about some of the power draws since electricity is just a flip of a switch. But when you start having to create and store your own power, it becomes a lot more important to think about things like, how much power does it take to charge my phone overnight?

There are several online calculators to help you figure out your usage, but many of them will calculate your monthly or yearly usage. We recommend figuring out your daily usage. Jackery, a portable power station company, has a great article that breaks down in depth how to calculate your 24-hour usage.

We also recommend using a electricity usage monitor, to see what your average daily usage is on items like laptops, cellphones, and small appliances while you are still in your house or current living situation. An average daily usage over a week or so is a great number to use for those items. We were surprised when we used one prior to moving on to the boat in 2020. Andy’s laptop used a lot more power than the “average” laptop estimates online. We found it super helpful in coming up with our numbers.

12 Volt vs 24 Volt Batteries

Off-grid electrical batteries, no matter their chemistry, come in several voltages. The most common are 12, 24 and 48 volt. We are not going to go into 48-volt here, as those are typically used in much larger systems than you would need in a van or boat.

12-volt is the native voltage for many items you’ll install in your van, like water pumps, LED lights, fans, etc. This is the main advantage of 12-volt batteries because you will not need any additional items like step-down transformers to run these crucial pieces of your system.

The advantage of 24-volt is the higher voltage so you can use smaller (and less expensive) wires. Also, many of the higher power inverters (like those larger than 3000W) are 24-volt.

There isn’t really a difference in cost, weight, or footprint between 12-volt and 24-volt when you break it down to per usable Watt-Hour.

Types of Batteries

Two major battery types are used in off-grid systems: Lead Acid and Lithium.

Lead Acid

Lead comes in several formats: flooded, AGM, and sealed lead acid. For the purposes of most van builds you would most likely want to use AGM or sealed if you decide to go the lead acid route. Flooded lead acid batteries vent hydrogen gas and require a good deal of secondary work to make them safe in confined living spaces.

The only real pro of Lead Acid over Lithium is that they are significantly less expensive upfront than Lithium. However, this gap is closing every day.

Lithium Iron Phosphate

For the purposes of this article we will only be talking about the LiFePo4 batteries. Other Lithium options are more expensive and have safety concerns when used for this purpose, so we cannot recommend their usage.

LiFePo4 batteries are lighter, smaller, and have much longer service life than lead-acid batteries. They also are able to be discharged significantly lower without harming the batteries. Lead Acid should only be discharged to around 50-60%, while LiFePo4 batteries can be discharged to pretty much 0% without issue.

As an example if you were to put a 100A-Hr AGM next to a 100A-Hr LiFePo4 battery, the AGM would be larger, heavier, and would have about 50A-Hr of usable power, while the LiFePo4 battery would be smaller, lighter, and have about 95A-Hr of usable power.

If you can swing the upfront cost, we highly recommend going with Lithium Iron Phosphate over lead acid.

Output System

Output is the fun part of electrical. It’s how you are going to use the electricity that you have produced and then stored. Most builds will have both an AC and DC output, but we know a few people who have gone DC only but it can make life a challenge!

DC Output System

DC or direct current is the 12 or 24 v system that comes directly from your batteries. In most vans or RVs fans, lights, refrigerators, cigarette style chargers and water pumps usually run off the DC system and in some cases air conditioners can also run off DC power.

In its simplest set-up, DC will run from the batteries to a fuse box, and from the fuse box to the items it powers.

AC Output System

AC or Alternating Current is the 110V part of your system. Alternating current is used by most standard household appliances, computers, some air conditioners. Think anything that has a standard two or three-pronged plug.

In order to take the DC power being put out by your batteries, you need to convert it into AC power through an Inverter.

Inverters come in a variety of sizes but the most common in vans are 1500, 2000, or 3000 watt. This is another place where it’s a good idea to estimate your usage BEFORE you purchase your inverter.

Planning a fully electric galley? You’ll probably need something 2000w or larger. Need to just charge your laptop occassionally? You might be able to get away with something smaller. It’s pretty easy to figure out. Just take a peak at the owners manual for your electric appliances and you’ll need to size based on the maximum watts they draw.

Input System

Now that we’ve talked about all the fun ways we are going to use the electricity we are storing in our batteries, we have to talk about how to get the power into the batteries or input.

There are four major ways to input power to your batteries.

Solar

Solar is the most preferred option for off-grid electrical systems. It is silent and able to create power both on the move and while stationary. The only downsides are, that it requires a lot of space, mainly on the roof, and that if you have a few cloudy or shaded days in a row you likely will not keep up with your usage.

Solar requires a few pieces of equipment:

  • Solar Panels–The arrays that harness the sun to make power.
  • Solar Charge Controllers–Take the power coming in from the panels and safely put that power into the batteries.

Engine Charging

Engine charging uses an alternator to use your vans engine to create power that can be stored in batteries. There are two main ways to accomplish this:

  1. Second Designated Alternator: This requires attaching a second alternator to your engine that creates power only for your house batteries in the van. It requires a mount and the additional cost of a second alternator/ regulator.
  2. Battery to Battery Charging: This uses the van’s existing alternator and diverts some of the power going to the van battery to the house battery bank. This requires a battery to battery charger.

In most of our off-grid electrical setups, we’ve gone with the battery-to-battery charging option. In our current van we would have explored the second alternator if the Promaster had the mount for a second alternator, but it does not.

Shore Power

Shore power is essentially plugging into the grid temporarily. It is used in campgrounds or while mouchdocking at friends or family. It requires access to a power source outside of the van, so technically its not “off-grid” but having multiple ways to charge is so important that we are including it here.

When you plug into shore power, you’ll need a battery charger that will convert the 120v coming from a house or campground to 12v/24v to be stored in the batteries. In some cases, it can be used directly by your 120v system, depending on your setup.

Shore power requires an input plug and a battery charger.

Generators

Generators are like shore power’s loud and smelly cousin. It requires all the same pieces as shore power would. Instead of plugging into the power grid at a campground or house, you plug into the generator, which uses gasoline or diesel to create the power. Generators can be both portable or built-in, but regardless even after the cost of installing the system you’ll still be paying fuel to run it.

It’s also important to note that many campgrounds have limitations on generators, and when out boondocking most of your neighbors will be hoping you only use your generator sparingly.

Our Promaster Van Electrical System Components

Below are the components that we have used in our Promaster build. You may notice a theme that most of the components are from Victron. We have used other options in the past with mixed but mostly awful results. We would recommend any of the products below after years of using them in all four of our off-grid set-ups. If you are looking to save money on your build, buying cheap components is not where to do it. We would recommend doing a smaller battery bank, a smaller invertor, or smaller solar array over choosing most of the non-victron parts.

To maintain our running budget for these posts, the prices below are what we paid in April/May 2024.

Previous Costs: 17,481.51

New Costs: $3099.78

TOTAL RUNNING COST: $20,581.29

Check out our other Van Build Posts here!

Building Camper Van Cabinets | The Van Life Diaries 8

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Updated on May 4th, 2025

Cabinets in a campervan take the build from a mattress in the back of a cargo van to, “oh they meant to live in there!”. In our promaster campervan build we wanted to make sure we had plenty of storage so that we could stay out in the wilderness for long stretches and have everything we needed to stay comfortable on the road.

In the interest of transparency, please be aware that the following may contain affiliate links and any purchases made through such links may result in a small commission for us at no cost to you.   We appreciate you shopping from these links!

Floor-to-Ceiling Cabinets

Andy built our floor-to-ceiling cabinets “in situ” which means in place. He constructed the floor to ceiling cabinets by scribing the verticle pieces to the van walls and securing them to the floor with cleats screwed to the floor and to the ceiling using brackets that attached to furring strips on the ceiling.

The horizontal shelves stiffened up the whole assemble and those were installed using either cleats for the shelves that would hold a lot of weight, or pocket holes for those that wouldn’t have as much weight.

Floating Upper Cabinets

We knew that we needed our upper cabinets to hold a lot of weight. We planned to use 2/3 of them to hold the majority of our clothing and I can pack a lot of clothes in a small space. So we knew we needed to attach them to more than just ceiling furring strips in order to have the weight capacity we needed.

Andy designed the upper cabinets to hang over the metal horizontal van rib. That means that the structural rib would be supporting most of the weight and the ceiling furring strips were there for stability and additional strength.

To install the dividers for the upper cabinets, we used pocket holes. We built the entire assembly outside of the van and installed as one piece.

Kitchen Lower Cabinets

The lower kitchen cabinets are the most “traditional” cabinets in our van. The cabinets were built outside of the van and brought in as one piece. The cabinets were attached to the floor using cleats and the wall using the massive furring strip we had run on the lower horizontal rib. The butcher block countertop provides alot of stability to keep everything from rocking side to side.

Building Drawers

We had never built drawers before! This was the only major skill for this build that we had no experience with, so off to YouTube University we went! We found an awesome series of videos that Shara Woodshop Diaries put together on how to make drawers without any super specialized equipment! These videos were incredibly helpful! We were able to build all 9 drawer boxes for this build in just 6 hours with her awesome tips!

Drawer and Door Fronts

We originally thought we would be making our door and drawer fronts. I had my heart set on shaker style and when we started looking into making them we realized that it was going to be a massive undertaking. Since we only had a few weeks left to build, we ran some numbers and figured out it would actually only be about $100 more expensive to order our drawer and door fronts than we would have just spent in materials. We decided Andy’s time would be better spent putting in hours with his consulting job and we ordered all the drawers and doors from Fast Cabinet Doors.

Fast Cabinet Doors allowed us to have 14 pieces in custom sizes made in just 2 weeks. They arrived on pallet, and were already sanded and ready for their first coat of paint. We could have even had them bore the holes for hinges but since we already had the Kreg Cabinet Hinge Jig we did them ourselves. We were really impressed with the quality and the speed!

14 van cabinet door and drawer fronts laid out on tables ready to be painted

Painting Cabinets

There are a few key tips we can pass on about painting cabinets:

  1. Sanding is the most important part! Be sure you are sanding between every coat if you want that smooth finish! If you don’t sand between coats, or at the very least before your final coat, you will probably end up with that orange peel texture on your cabinets. Also that first coat of paint on bare wood is going to raise the grain and you’ll def want to knock that down with some sanding before moving to the next coat!
  2. Read the paint can! All that text on the back of the paint can? It has a ton of important information, like what temperatures/humidity the paint needs to cure properly. How long you should wait before sanding (see number 1). What should you use for solvents to wipe down your surface after sanding? All that good stuff! The paint company wants their product to look beautiful and last a long time, so they give you all the information to do a good job!
  3. Use good-quality brushes and rollers. I know it’s tempting to buy those $0.25 chip brushes by the bag but I promise you will regret it. Buy one or two of the nicer brushes and you won’t be pulling out your hair trying to remove 8234 bristles from your paint. My personal favorites are the Wooster Shortcut 2″ Angle Brushes. I use them for everything!

More than anything else painting is what is going to elevate the look of your cabinets from “homemade” to “professional” so it is definitely worth time and attention!

woman painting a camper van cabinet white with a paint crush
woman painting a camper van cabinet white with a roller

Van Cabinet Closures

Keeping your stuff where you left it while bouncing around on bumpy and rocky roads is a super important part of van cabinets. We used strong magnet closures for most of our cabinet doors but when it came to our drawers we needed something a little more robust because some of our drawers are heavy. Andy designed and 3D printed use the perfect closures which have been keeping our doors shut for over 20,000 miles. We are now offering those closures for purchase in our store!

Specialized Tools for Campervan Cabinets

Budget Breakdown

Previous Costs: $15,537.19

Note: All costs are as of April/May 2024

  • Countertop: $219
  • Paint: $102.94
  • Paint Supplies: $62.88
  • Edge Banding: $51.67
  • Drawer Slides: $78.58
  • Pocket Hole Plugs: $7.97
  • Door and Drawer Fronts: $991.06
  • Door Hinges: $43.29
  • Additional Lumber (We used some left overs from other projects): $277.31
  • Total Cost of Hardware (We didn’t separate hardware by area of the van but most of it was used in cabinets so I’m including it all here): $109.62

New Costs: $1,944.32

TOTAL RUNNING COST: $17,481.51

Check out our other Van Build Posts here!

Framing Our Campervan | The Van Life Diaries 7

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Updated on May 4th, 2025

Framing is the foundation of all the other parts of a campervan build. You must have a way to connect your cabinets, bed, and appliances to the body of the van so that your build will be structurally sound. Without solid framing things will wiggle, rattle, flex, and potentially fall over while you drive!

In the interest of transparency, please be aware that the following may contain affiliate links and any purchases made through such links may result in a small commission for us at no cost to you.   We appreciate you shopping from these links!

Key Reminders About Framing a Campervan

Before we get started, there are a few key reminders about framing a campervan. The whole point of framing a campervan is to attach the interior to the body of the van. That means that you will be working with the structural components of the body while framing!

  1. It is always a good idea to reference your vehicle’s build-out manual. This will include what you can and cannot remove, any important weight information, etc. For the Promaster, you can find it here.
  2. Before using any screws, double-check that the screw can’t go into the exterior panels of the van.You absolutely do not want to put holes in the van exterior!
  3. If you choose to use RivNuts like we have below, we highly recommend a step drill instead of a regular drill bit to make your holes. You are less likely to accidentally go too far and hit an exterior panel.
  4. This is the last step in a van build before your layout is cemented. Now is the time to double-check any measurement and make sure you don’t have any last changes you want to make.

Should We Skin It?

Many people choose to skin their vans on the outside of the ribs to make walls. While this does make for beautiful-looking walls, it adds a lot of weight and you will also lose inches in the width of your van. As much as 6 inches in some places! Yikes!

We are choosing not to skin the entire interior with paneling for both weight and width savings. So all of our framing is done with that in mind. We will add wall paneling in those places that are still exposed after the cabinets are installed.

Ceiling Furring Strips

We started framing our campervan on the ceiling. We used 1/2″ furring strips that are rivnutted to the ceiling ribs. This will give us plenty of places to screw our ceiling into and get a great “bite”. Each strip had three rivnuts that helped us get the furring strips to sit flush with the slight curve of the roof.

Later we will run screws through our ceiling wood and into these furring strips to keep everything nice and secure.

Cabinet and Bed Framing

We decided to do horizontal cleats around the middle rib as our framing for both our bed and our cabinets. Our original plan was to use rivet nuts here as well but when we realized that my (Gwen’s) fingers were small enough to reach inside the rib we opted for the easier option of bolting through the rib cutouts and using large washers to spread the load.

It worked well, but if you decide to do something similar we highly recommend wearing gloves while you do it because the openings can be sharp and my knuckles were pretty scrapped up in the end!

The last thing we needed to consider was how would we secure our upper cabinets and the tops of our floor-to-ceiling cabinets. For our floor-to-ceiling cabinets, we were able to use the ceiling furring strips and some angle brackets. And for the upper cabinets that will be going over our bed, we will be using a combination of the ceiling strips and a pretty ingenious way of hooking the cabinets onto the upper horizontal rib. But more on both of these when we talk about building cabinets!

Tools for Campervan Framing

Budget Breakdown

Previous Costs: $15,130.48

Note: All costs are as of April/May 2024

New Costs: $433.71

TOTAL COST: $15,537.19

Check out our other Van Build posts here!

Campervan Insulation: The Van Life Diaries 6

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Updated on May 4th, 2025

Campervan insulation is one of, if not the, most important step. Have you ever gotten in your car on a 75-degree day only to find that the interior is 95? Or have you had to scrap the ice from the inside of your windshield? Of course! Cars, or vans, are very poorly insulated against the elements. To make a metal box a comfortable home, we have to do a lot to insulate it from temperature extremes.

Plan First!

For us, this started with mapping out our interior layout. We needed to know where all of the electrical and plumbing would be on and in the walls, as well as where the cabinets would be. Laying this all out before we insulated allowed us to run conduit where needed before we blasted some of the ribs with spray foam.

Choosing Between Campervan Insulation Options

Once we had our layout confirmed, we could start putting up insulation panels on the walls and ceiling. Remember, we already insulated the floor before we laid the subfloor on top! There are several other options out there for campervan insulation, and they all have pros and cons:

For this van, we decided to go with a combination of a few options. We used extruded polystyrene on the floor because of its great compression strength. We used expanded polystyrene foam on the walls and ceiling because our Home Depot was out of 1-inch XPS. But, it turned out to work very well because of the EPS’s flexibility.

Andy installing expanded polystyrene foam as campervan insulation.

We used spray foam in a few ribs where we knew we wouldn’t run wire, and we filled the rest of the ribs with Thinsulate. We also used spray foam in gaps around the EPS panels. In the rear and slider door we used Thinsulate as it wouldn’t obstruct any door mechanisms.

Gwen installing Thinsulate in campervan rib over sliding door.

Choosing your insulation can be daunting but every van is different and everyone uses their van differently so thinking about your build, the locations you will travel, and your budget is a great place to start.

Campervan Insulation Installation Tips

Spray Foam Can Be Used as an Adhesive

In our first campervan, we struggled to use spray foam as an adhesive, but we are redacting that statement. Spray foam can be used as an adhesive for foam panels and a good one at that, but it does require some patience, and you’ll need to brace the panels for about 24 hours while the foam cures.

As Tempting as it is, Don’t “Snap” Foam Panels

A sharp box cutter or razor is your best tool for cutting foam panels. I know it can be tempting to score and snap, but you are way more likely to end up with jagged edges or run perfectly good foam. Scoring and breaking the panels is fine for very short cuts but learn from our costly mistakes on this one!

Gwen cutting expanded polystyrene foam with a utility knife.

Wear Protective Clothing

Spray foam is permanent. It will not wash out of clothes or hair. It will not wash off your skin. A Tyvek suit is a great idea or you can go Andy’s route with a ratty old hoodie, gloves, and some painter’s tape. He has ended up with more than one haircut because he ended up with spray foam in his hair.

Andy wearing protective clothing while using spray foam insulation over his head.

Use Smooth Cuts for Trimming

You don’t want to saw at foam panels or spray foam, as this will create a huge mess. Your best bet is slow, smooth cuts with a very sharp knife.

Real-Life Results

As I finish writing this post, the thermostat in the van says 75.6F, while the outside temperature is 18 degrees and snowing. The insulation we chose has kept us cool during 95-degree days and warm in temps as low as 5F. We have certainly put it to the test in the last few months and we are extremely happy with the job it’s doing!

Tools for Campervan Insulation

Budget Breakdown

Previous Costs ($14,874.16) include the floor insulation.

Note: All costs are as of April/May 2024

New Costs: $256.32

TOTAL COST: $15,130.48

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