My husband and I have spent the past year and a half converting an old rusty, broken-down concrete flooring van into a little home on wheels for us to travel the country with our dog. I am going to answer all of your burning questions about traveling in camper vans, whether you should self-convert it or pay a company, and my biggest regrets from our van build (like, never buy a Mercedes)!
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Is a camper van right for you?
Are you a traveler or a vacationer? My husband and I realized early on in our marriage that we vacationed differently than most of our friends and family members. When we went on vacation, we didn't want to relax at spas or stay at extravagant resorts (although those can be enjoyable, don't get me wrong!).
We want to explore the world. When we travel, we want to be off-grid; the fewer people we see, the better. We stayed at a few campsites in the Smoky Mountains, but we hated parking on concrete pads, being surrounded by people, and having 147 people pass by us at 2 am on their way to the bathroom.
That was when we discovered car camping in national forests, which is free (so long as there isn't a "no camping" sign). We loved the solitude of nature, waking up somewhere new every morning, and the freedom of having your home with you everywhere you go.
If you are a homebody, you probably are familiar with the discomfort of staying somewhere unfamiliar, like a hotel room or Airbnb. That first night getting used to a new mattress and weird sounds the AC makes. That is why we love sleeping in our car; it is comfy and just ours. I feel like this is one of those things where if you know, you know. And if you don't know I probably sound crazy!
All that to say, if you want to travel and see the world but then be in your own comfy bed at night, then a camper van may be something you would love. If you want to go on vacation and enjoy luxurious accommodations and wine and dine every night, then it probably is not for you!
Option 1: Converting a crossover or SUV
On the first car camping trip Kyle and I went on, we stayed on an air mattress in the back of our Toyota Rav4. It is the perfect size for a full-air mattress, but to be honest, it was not very comfortable. After that first trip, Kyle built a bed system so that we could put a real mattress above the wheel wells, and it had built-in storage underneath for a fridge, battery system, and solar panel. We absolutely loved this setup and we traveled in it for a couple of years.
There are several pre-built kits that you can buy and put together in the back of your SUV from the brand Van Packers. My in-laws have one for their van and love it. These will run you about 3-5k depending on your car, but they can be set up in a couple of hours
You can also build a bed platform. The purpose of this is just so that you can fit an entire mattress in the back and it won't be impeded by the car's wheel wells or seats.
Option 2: Converting a Sprinter-Style Van
If you want to invest more money into a more permanent setup, you can buy a sprinter van and either convert it yourself or pay for a company to do it for you. If you do plan to convert it yourself, just know that this will take hundreds of hours to complete. Kyle has worked on our van full-time for about 4 straight months. Of course, how long it takes you will depend on how complex your setup is.
If you aren't sure what a Sprinter van is, think of the Amazon delivery vans. There are several makes and models: there is the Ford Transit, the Dodge Ram ProMaster, and the Mercedes Sprinter. Within those, you can also get the high roof models (that you can stand up straight in) and there are different lengths. We have a 2013 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 high roof.
The pricing on these vans will vary WIDELY, particularly if you want to get a 4WD (which honestly, if you're going to be off-roading, you should).
Our Van Build: Meet Flo!
We adored traveling in our Rav4 until we got Dolly (our doodle). I love her to pieces but she is so chaotic in the van. We did one trip with her in which she ripped out all of our twinkle lights and we decided we needed more space. Kyle did an insane amount of research into all of the different van styles and scoured every used car website for months until he found our little diamond in the rough. We bought Flo in March of 2023 from a concrete flooring company that had a fleet of vans. They were extremely kind and even picked us up from the airport, took her to a mechanic for an inspection, etc. We paid $10,700 and drove the 16 hours home the next day.
We knew when we got Flo that there was some floor damage, but unfortunately, when we ripped out the plywood subfloor, we discovered it was much worse than we thought. The issue was that the van transported a lot of chemicals (they added polished finishes and sealed concrete flooring) and a lot of them seeped into the floor and caused rotting. We spent a couple of months completely gutting the van and Kyle attempted to fix the floor for a couple of months in his spare time but it was too far gone. We had a very difficult time finding someone to weld us a new floor, and ultimately it took us until about November to get that floor issue resolved. We paid $2k for a completely new floor to be put in by a local welder in Middle Tennessee. David Mead, you rock!
Once the flooring was in, we were able to work on the exterior. This is when we launched our YouTube videos, so I will link them below if you want more details on the work we did:
My Biggest Regrets from our Van Build:
Buying a Mercedes. They are difficult to get worked on, the parts are hard to find and extremely expensive to buy, many mechanics will not work on them, and we have had a ton of issues with our car (mostly, it won't start unless you jiggle the gear shift for 30 minutes. fun times!). If we get another van, we will probably get a different make.
Severely underestimating how long the build would take. It's truly laughable how optimistic I was about this build. For 1-2 people, a full build will easily take 4-6 months full-time (if it is your first time). I will add a caveat and say that Kyle is an extreme perfectionist and spends more time on detail than most people, so that does account for some of the time spent.
It is too soon to tell BUT, we wish we had bought a 4WD. They were way out of our price range, but we will make sure our next one has it after a very harrowing experience being stuck in the sand on our trip to Iceland that really made us regret the 2WD decision.
Sources & Materials:
We will write a complete source list when the build is over but here are the major parts and appliances we've used so far:
Exterior Van Paint (color is sandstone)
What do you think, would you ever build a camper van?!
xoxo,
Melissa
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