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Van Life Diaries

Framing Our Campervan | The Van Life Diaries 7

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Updated on January 18th, 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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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

Check out our other Van Build posts here!

Putting in Van Subflooring: The Van Life Diaries 5

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When we built our first van in 2018, the most controversial thing we did was to not insulate under the van’s subfloor. We still stand by that decision because it was a standard height van, and every inch we could eek out mattered. Choosing not to insulate the floor gave us an extra inch of height. Also, as we’ve talked about before, we built our first van as a weekend adventure van. This new van is going to be our home about 30% of the year! So the internet can rejoice, we have decided to insulate the floor!

Even though we decided to insulate the floor, we didn’t start with insulation. We started with cutting the plywood subfloor pieces. Foam insulation may be easier to cut but it’s also easier to break when you are moving it in and out multiple times to test fit. So, we decided to cut the wooden pieces first and then use them as a template for the foam pieces.

We used scribing for the mostly square pieces and we used a tick stick for the more complex cuts around the wheel wells. Never heard of using a tick stick? You aren’t alone! It’s a technique that Andy learned from a boat building book written in the 80’s and we’ve used in several projects over the years! Check out 07:25 of our Van Subfloor Video for a full explanation!

Once all items were cut, we did a dry test fit of the van subflooring. Immediately we noticed a lot of movement at the gaps and decided that we would need to add in furring strips where the pieces came together to add strength. We put everything back together again and we were happy with the results and ready to start gluing and screwing!

We didn’t screw but rather bolted the floor in place using the tie-down anchors that are in the metal floor of the van. These anchor points allowed us to bolt the floor without having to add any additional holes to the floor of the van. So we glued the insulation to the metal floor, and the wood to the insulation and then bolted through both layers to the metal below. This floor isn’t going anywhere!

We will wait to install the pretty flooring until after we have installed the cabinets. It will be a pain to have to cut it around the cabinets but it also will be a significant weight savings as flooring is heavy.

Running Cost Breakdown

Note: All Costs are as of April/May 2024

  • Insulation for Floor: $56.91
  • Plywood for Floor: $135.66
  • Adhesive: $25.92
  • Bolts: $0 (Left over from a previous project)

New Costs: $218.49

Total Costs: $14,874.16

Check out our other Van Build posts here!

Cutting Holes in Our Van: The Van Life Diaries 4

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Updated on October 15th, 2024

The scariest part of a van build has to be holes into the body of the van. It isn’t particularly hard, but the consequences of doing it wrong are VERY high. And on top of that, it happens super early in the build and so you haven’t quite gotten into the rhythm of the work yet. We knew we had four major holes we needed to cut and they all should be done before we insulate, but some shipping delays meant that we could only cut three of the holes before we started on the interior.

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!

Cut 1: Bunk Window Install

Cutting a hole for our bunk window was probably the most nerve-wracking hole we had to cut. Without the bed being built yet, it’s pretty hard to figure out the placement of a window that is supposed to be above the bed and centered. We had to rely on our taped-out measurements, the placements of the ribs in the wall and just a dash of gut feeling.

We decided to go with a Van Window Direct Awning Bunk Window. The awing style bunk window was important to us because we wanted to be able to keep it open in the rain. We’ve had a few thunderstorms catch us by surprise on the boat, and a wet bed is the worst. An awning style window would allow us to keep it open to allow a cross breeze even when it was raining. If rain gets inside with this bad boy, we have bigger problems.

The other positive of the Van Window Direct version was how easy it was to install. Campervan HQ provided us with a very helpful installation video and it was as simple as cutting the whole, painting the edges, and screwing the window in place!

Cut 2: Roof Vent Fan

During our last van conversion, we thought we didn’t need a roof fan and quickly learned that it is an essential piece of kit. That meant that we had to cut through our insulation and ceiling in order to install it much later in the build. We learned our lesson this time and cut the hole of our fan very early this time!

We have also decided to upgrade our fan to a model that is able to operate in the rain, is multidirectional, variable speed and remote controlled. This led us to purchase the MaxxAir MaxxFan Deluxe 7000K.

Our Promaster has a corrugated roof and Vanlife Outfitters actually throws in free shims to fill the gaps and make installation a lot easier! Kudus to them for being so thoughtful!

Cut 3: Cassette Toilet Door

We are installing a Thetford C223 Cassette Toilet in this van build. I’m going to talk more about the decisions we made regarding our toilet for a later post, but we did have to cut a hole for the cassette to exit the side of the van. This was by far the hardest hole to cut because we had plastic trim on the outside of the van in the way and we had to preserve the sheet metal to be used in the door itself. They only provide a frame for the door. Andy did an awesome job with the jigsaw to keep everything clean!

We also had to have the placement pretty exact for the layout of the interior. There was only about 1.5 inches of wiggle room with the design. So we used the tape out we did during the planning to make sure that the toilet would sit in the middle of the cabinet it will live in. We also had to miss the structural support ribs. We even brought in cardboard to double check that there was enough space on either side of the toilet before cutting the hole. This also led to us having to shorten the width of our bed by about three inches to make it all work!

Once we cut the hole, installing the door itself was easy and we are excited that we will be able to empty the cassette without having the risk of spills or leaks in the interior of the van!

Tips for Cutting Holes in Your Van

  • Measure three times, cut once! The old saying is measure twice cut once but the consequences of cutting wrong in this case are a lot higher so we typically have one of us measure and mark, the other one of us verifies that measurement/markings and then we measure a third time together. Using multiple sets of eyes has caught more than one issue for us in the past!
  • Using a step drill bit to make your pilot holes can be really helpful and will give you more control over the size of the hole than a hole saw might.
  • Use a sharp jigsaw blade! We suggest starting with a new metal cutting blade with fine teeth.
  • Cut from the inside when possible to protect your exterior paint.
  • Use tape to keep your saw from scratching paint if you can’t cut from the inside!
  • Make sure you wear safety glasses or face shield and ear protection! It’s very loud! Also long sleeves are a good idea because those metal chips will be hot!
  • Don’t forget to debur, sand and paint your cut edges! This is a great way to get rust if you forget!

We will have more holes to cut in the van, including one more large hole for our slider window but shipping delays have us waiting! No big deal though, it will be easy enough to do later on in our build.

Running Cost Breakdown

Note: All Costs are as of April/May 2024

New Costs: $1306.23

Total Cost: $14,655.67

Planning and Prepping: The Van Life Diaries 3

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Updated on August 22nd, 2024

I am a big fan of the planning phase of any project. Prepping? Not so much. Planning is the dreaming and organizing, two things I’m great at. Prepping is just all the little stuff you have to do before you can actually start on any of the fun stuff. It’s tedious and in most cases it is stuff that you’ll never see once the build is complete. Lame.

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!

Who Doesn’t Love a List

List making is one of my favorite hobbies and the beauty of building a van means there are a lot of lists to make. Wants and needs lists. Things to purchase lists. Things to do lists. Videos to film lists. Andy does not get the same thrill from this part of a project which is why it usually falls to me. We are good at playing to our individual strengths.

I started with our “needs and wants” lists. We try to do something similar to this for every project because it helps us prioritize the most important parts of a project. It is the “big picture” dialed down to bullet points. I thought I would share with you all a bit of those items here:

Gwen NeedsAndy NeedsGwen WantsAndy Wants
Queen Size or Bigger BedRoof Vent FanOvenTrailor Hitch
Hot Water HeaterShowerA/CA/C
StovetopEnclosed Toilet SpaceAt Least 25 Gallons of WaterElectric Appliances
Refrigerator Bigger than a Dorm FridgeOverhead LightingSpot for Trash and LaundrySpace for foldable bikes
ToiletTwo Computer Work StationsSpace for Camera GearIndoor Shower
HeatSpace to Sit up in Bed
At least 76 inches of bed length

Now that we had our van, and our priority list I could start dreaming up layouts.

Planning Layout(s)

Andy had quite a few projects going on with work and boat projects so when we were ready to start putting together layouts we decided that I should do the initial planning and then he would take my “draft” and put it in CAD so that we had a better model for planning how much wood and paneling we would need.

I started out with pen and paper but quickly grew frustrated with visualizing what it would look like. Until I found Vanspace 3D. A program that is relatively user friendly for someone who doesn’t know CAD but still allowed me to create three dimensional models. I took our list above and started playing with how I could fit as many items as possible into the build.

It became apparently pretty quickly that an indoor shower was going to take up a lot more space than we were willing to give up for a “nice to have” item. We are no strangers to showering outside, we primarily shower outside on the boat and we only showered outside for the first eighteen months we were cruising. So this was not a huge compromise and one that is going to make a lot of the other items on the list possible.

The next problem was figuring out how to have an enclosed toilet space without it taking up the same space as a shower/toilet combo. Andy had the brilliant idea to use something similar to what we had on our Alberg 30 and utilize the “hallway” as part of the bathroom. The door that will hide the toilet will double as one of the walls of this “bathroom”. With this idea we are also able to use some of the space above the toilet as a cabinet! Win-win!

Taping Out the Design

The last part of planning was to tape out the design on the floor of the van. This allowed us to check widths of walking areas and the bed. It also gave us a great visual to realize that our original plan for a banquet behind the driver’s seat wasn’t going to work. We reworked that idea and are actually more excited with our new plan but I’ll share more on how that will work later on!

Once we were happy with the tape out, Andy took our dimensions and made a CAD model so we had a working model to plan materials purchases and to reference as we build!

Prepping for the Build

The last thing we needed to do before we could actually start the build was to remove all the old contractor equipment and do some touch ups to pain on the interior.

Our van was previously an electrician’s vehicle so there was some interior shelving that needed to be removed. We also removed the ladder rack from the top of the van and the divider from the driving compartment.

Once everything was cleaned out, we wire brushed all of the surface rust on the interior, primed and painted those spots so that we don’t have to worry about them getting worse!

Cost Breakdown

  • Vanspace 3D (One Year License): $27.00
  • Paint: $49.44

New Costs: $76.44

Total Cost: $13,349.44

We Bought a Broken Van: The Van Life Diaries 2

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Updated on May 24th, 2024

We bought a van with a broken transmission. Not just shifting a little funky broken, but truly will not go into any gear broken. Was this a good idea? Probably not. Andy and I have done a lot of crazy things over the years and this doesn’t even register in the top 5. The only crazy part of this idea was that we were about to own three cars and only one working transmission. Yup, you read that right. Andy was halfway through rebuilding the transmission in our 1973 Jeep CJ5. We decided that buying a van that needed to be towed to the house was a brilliant idea. *Insert eye roll here*

Why We Bought a Broken Van

When we sat down to talk about what our next campervan was going to look like, the very first thing both of us said was, “it has to be a high top”. Lavendar, our last van, was a Chevy Express low top. While she did the job, there is no way we could have lived in her full time. Even before my cancer diagnosis, we knew that we would be spending anywhere from 4-12 months at a time in the van, so we wanted it to be a lot more comfortable this time around.

We also knew that we were going to be on a relatively tight budget for a full-time build. We decided that we could afford to set a budget of $30,000. This meant that we needed to get a van for less than $20,000 if we were going to have enough left to do a decent interior.

In the US, there are three major options for high-top vans: Mercedes Sprinters, Ford Transits, and Ram Promasters. After watching Facebook marketplace for a few weeks, we knew that the Mercedes and Ford would be out of our budget. That’s ok though. Both are notoriously hard to work on yourself if anything goes wrong. Andy doing all of our maintenance and repairs is one reason we are able to make all out adventures happen. That meant we were looking for a Promaster.

We had three requirements:

  • Very little or no rust
  • No transmission issues
  • Under 200,000 miles

The problem we were running into was that almost every van on the market that met those requirements was in the $21,000-$23,000 range or was beat. And I mean beat. We test drove one that wasn’t even firing on all cylinders listed for $15,000, and another that didn’t have a single straight body panel for $18,000.

Then Andy stumbled on the listing for a 2017 Promaster. It was a 155 high top with 144,000 miles and not a spot of rust listed for $8500. We did some quick research on how much replacing the transmission would be and how doable the job was in a driveway. Armed with some cabin fever, cash, and a touch of delusion, we drove the 4 hours to check it out.

A Good Deal?

This van was in nearly perfect condition. Not a spot of rust on the body or the underbelly. A few minor spots of surface rust on the interior. The engine sounded great and the service records were impeccable. It also had 4 brand new all-terrain tires on it. We knew it was very unlikely that we would find a van in similar condition inside our budget. Even with the potential cost of rebuilding or replacing the transmission, we were making out with a good deal since we were able to do that work ourselves.

The owner of the tiny dealership offered to tow it the four hours back home for only $400. Hands were shaken and the deal was done.

Fixing the Transmission

The first hurdle of fixing the transmission was removing it from the van. We needed to get inside to see what was going on. Andy had high hopes that he could get it working for around $400. We were hoping for the best but planning for the worst. The worst in this case would be having to buy a rebuilt transmission for nearly $4000.

Andy managed to get the transmission out and into the garage so we could see what was going on. Without getting too technical, Andy thought that it might just need a new lift pump. Unfortunately, once we had it apart it was clear we were not getting out of this for $400. The inside had basically imploded.

Andy had already found a company who could get us a rebuilt transmission for around $3500 and in less than 7 days. The next hurdle was where to get it delivered because it was coming by freight and both our temporary digs and my dad’s house had posted weight limits because of the spring thaw. Fun fact, loading a 200lb Promaster transmission into the back of an ancient Volvo station wagon in a Home Depot parking lot is possible!

To say getting the new transmission in was a dirty job might be an understatement. Mud season in Maine is always fun but especially so when you are laying under a car in a gravel driveway. But after several hours of building cribbing and slowly bringing the transmission to the height we needed, it was bolted in. Andy ran some fancy software flash, and we had our moment of truth. It started and it went into gear!! We officially have a van to turn into our land home!

Cost Breakdown

While we were hoping that this was going to turn into an absolutely stellar deal, we still ended up significantly under our initial $20,000 budget for a running van and all repairs to make it reliable!

  • Van: $8,500
  • Tax, Title, Registration: $500
  • Tow Home: $400
  • Rebuilt Transmission: $3873

Total Cost: $13,273