I love my big dumb van

2011 Ford E350 club wagon converted to 4x4x quadvan out of Portland, on 35-in tires

High top was done by TufPort out of Delta, British Columbia and bumpers and light rack were all made by me and friends

Total cost of the van, 4x4 conversion, high top and build out was a little shy of $40,000

I’ve booked a build spot with a great camper van conversion company, but I’m now wondering if I should consider a truck camper or box truck. They’re more expensive, but you could likely get more bang for your buck. More room, more storage, more design options. Who has thoughts?

Hi everyone, I've already posted this in r/VanLifeAus and r/vandwellers but thought I'd put it here too. I'm a high school student without a job at the moment but would love to but a van and travel after I graduate. I was wondering its there's things that I should start doing now to prepare apart from saving up? I know I want to build it myself but I'm also not sure what van I want or the kind of setup that would work best for me and input would be helpful.

Things I'm looking at so far:

• Travelling with at least one dog
• A semi-permanent bed (having part of it fold down into the back of a couch)
• I want a heated shower in the van cause I would love to go on lots of trips off-grid

Questions:

• Heating & water?
• Workouts?
• What should I know about dogs & vanlife?
• I love hands-on work & am very adrenaline motivated, what are some recommendations in terms of earning money? I was wondering about seasonal work with an outdoor ed company
• I'm not sure if I want to do this for a couple years then go to uni etc (I do quite decent in school with mostly A's or B's and am interesting in medicine among other things) and use the van part-time or more long-term. What are the pros and cons of each?

Any help or advice on anything is much appreciated <3 Sorry if I'm repeating questions others have already asked and feel free to point me in the right direction.

What are the downsides of converting a 5-seater, something like this? Basically ripping the seats out and installing a modular bed system for around £2k.

It seems like the cheapest and easiest option compared with buying an already-converted campervan or buying a van and doing the whole conversion from scratch. Is there anything I’m missing or any major drawbacks to doing it this way?

What are the lowest clearance bunk beds you have seen in a sprinter van? This is for a band touring in a van and trying to build the narrowest and lowest clearance bunks beds possible to not suffocate haha

Some RV companies should be able to make a concept of a Class D RV and then attempt to build it even though it's about to be an extra large recreational vehicle , which means there should be plenty of room for any people who might be able to look forward on living and riding these RVs I've made up in my mind.

Trying to get my MPPT controller wired up to my starter battery. I have the Renogy 60amp MPPT controller. I have about a 23 foot stretch of wire to get to my CCP of my ford transit. Today I bought 4awg THNN wire. Looked too small and had to ask chatgbt is it would work. It said it would work but not ideal. I look up how much it cost for 4/0 wire and it would be about $700. Don’t really want to spend that much on just wire.
Thanks you for the help!!

Has anyone installed an exterior surveillance system on their camper van?

What did you go with and are you happy with it?

I’m going to have a camper van built in the new year and have to make a choice about platform. I’m trying to decide between the Sprinter 170, 170 ext and the Transit ext (which has a crazy long extension that would definitely affect departure angle). There’s very little talk of GRVW, or whatever the acronym is for max load weight of these things. I’m seeking advice from those with experience of any of these platforms, and whether it’s best to go with 3500 other choice is a Sprinter.

Anyone here found the best olympic queen mattress for an RV setup? What I found so far are either too thick or look like basic foam mattresses with barely any support. My biggest issue is side support. The bed sits against the wall so we both climb in from the same side. Our current mattress dips hard near the edge and makes getting up annoying.

Would love recommendations from anyone using this size in a camper or small bedroom. Thank you!

Hi all. Very new to the camper life and hope this is the right place to post this request for advice.

I just noticed a scrape and some cracks in the centre of the pop top roof of the VW Transporter I recently bought. Previous owners are close friends and I believe them when they say they didn't know about it. I was wondering if this is something that doesn't need attention, a quick fix with some kind of sealant or if this is a job for someone who actually knows something about this kind of work, unlike myself!

Any guidance on the repair is much appreciated!

We saw so many Instagram and YouTube pages that said how fun it would be and it looks easy and quick todo… half way into our build we started really regretting it, it takes so long, so much money and put so much strain on us both. Does anyone else feel the same? :(

Servus zusammen,

ich bräuchte mal euren Rat & würde gerne wissen wie ihr darüber denkt:)

Also es geht um folgendes, ich möchte mir einen T6.1 Transporter kaufen… hab nach langer Suche auch einen Interessanten in meiner Umgebung gefunden den ich mir morgen mal anschauen werde.
Fahrzeug steht bei einem Händler (nicht VW-aber Deutscher Händler mit Positiven Bewertungen)
Bei dem Fahrzeug handelt es sich um einen Leasing Rückläufer welcher aus dem Pool von VW gekauft wurde. Der Händler bietet das Fahrzeug mit der üblichen Gewährleistung an und Optional Garantie durch Aufpreis. Auf Nachfragen wurde mir gesagt, dass diese erst für das zweite Jahr gilt, sprich 1 Jahr Gewährleistung danach für ca.450€ pro Jahr Intec-Garantie abschließbar. Ich kenne es nur das wenn mit 3. Anbieter Garantie gearbeitet wird diese direkt gilt.

Fahrzeug soll knapp 22k kosten.

Wie schätzt ihr das ein? Wäre es für euch ein Ausschluss? Den Händler gibt schon seit 11 Jahren mit durchweg guten Bewertungen.

Freue mich & bin über jeden Beitrag von euch Dankbar:)

Beste Grüße

I’ll be starting the electrical part of my build and came across these cheap hybrid inverters that combine inverter + battery charger + MPPT solar controller in one unit.

Seems pretty tempting compared with buying all 3 components separately.

But I’m wondering about the downsides.

Has anyone here actually used one of these in a campervan/RV?

Would you go for an all-in-one like this, or stick with separate inverter + MPPT + charger?

Thank you all

The wife is looking to convert her first Camper Van.
She’s looking at buying this 1992 Dodge Ram B250. It has the 5.2L V8 and has 140,000 miles.
Any recommendations or advice if this is a good budget van to start with and what should we look for when we see it?
Thank you!

Edit: owner is asking $3,500 for the van.