Updated on May 4th, 2025
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.
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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 Needs | Andy Needs | Gwen Wants | Andy Wants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queen Size or Bigger Bed | Roof Vent Fan | Oven | Trailor Hitch |
| Hot Water Heater | Shower | A/C | A/C |
| Stovetop | Enclosed Toilet Space | At Least 25 Gallons of Water | Electric Appliances |
| Refrigerator Bigger than a Dorm Fridge | Overhead Lighting | Spot for Trash and Laundry | Space for foldable bikes |
| Toilet | Two Computer Work Stations | Space for Camera Gear | Indoor Shower |
| Heat | Space 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 allows 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 paint 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
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