Much like many other aspects of my life, designing my van build happened mostly on the fly and with very little planning. Luckily I’m an old hat at figuring sh*t out and making things work…. and doing things over. But thats not to say I went in with no plan at all, it was more that I went in with a few non-negotiables and build the space around them as I went. So lets start there.
The Non-Negotiable’s
The first thing I knew I wanted was a dual zone fridge/freezer unit, and I wanted a big one. In my first van I had a 12v chest fridge that got me through, but as an avid ice cream lover I knew I needed an upgrade. I went with the ICECO VL60 dual zone unit which ended up taking up the majority of my allotted kitchen space (worth it though).
The next must-have was a dinette area that was separate from the bed. I knew from the start that having a convertible bed would be a pain and I would likely never use my dinette if it meant making and putting away my bed every day. I went with a full size bed – as an average size single woman I really didn’t need any more than that, and two bench seats beside the bed facing each other (in case I ended up not being single). The seats were as wide as they could be while still leaving enough room for the kitchen cabinets I needed, this ended up being about 24″ which is a decently comfortable spot for one. The result of this design choice was that there was basically no more room left in my van for other things, which meant it was time to get creative.
The last thing I absolutely needed in this van was a partition wall. In my previous van I only had a curtain to block my living space from the cab and it made stealth camping and city living very difficult and uncomfortable. I wanted to be able to shut my door and do my thing in the back without worrying about who could see or if light was leaking through. Unfortunately this shortened the living area even more since I could no longer use the front seats as parts of the build. That wall took away precious inches of space, but it was definitely worth it in the end.
Bed + seating area for two
Partition wall
The Not-So-Sure’s
With a solid list of must haves, it was time to move onto the rest, my not-so-sure’s, if you will. When you’re building a van the world is your oyster… albeit a tiny oyster, but an oyster nonetheless. There were so many possibilities of things to include, but only so much space, time, and skill to include them. So heres what I decided was worth the precious little space I had left in the van.
I went back and forth on whether I wanted a shower in the van. So many people regret them and only use them as storage, and inconvenient and inefficient storage at that, but I was also sick of paying for showers on the road – especially in places that weren’t anywhere near a Planet Fitness! So shower it is, but where to put it?
Remember that non-negotiable of a stationary bed? Yea well… things don’t always go to plan. I decided to build a convertible bed that would turn into a full standing shower – since I don’t shower daily (or even every other day) it wasn’t going to be a constant hassle. This design took by far the most brainpower in the build, and I even gave up on a lot of it by the time I was finished. I’ll save the whole story and plan for another blog, but suffice it to say I put a complicated, convertible, recirculating shower in my van and I don’t regret it ONE BIT.
Moving on to the next not-so-sure: the toilet. As absolute human necessity… until you have to decide between that and your favorite collection of sweatshirts and pants. After spending over a year in my other van peeing in a Nalgene bottle (and missing more times than I’d like to admit) I decided that having a toilet would be worth a try in the new van, but with no budget for a fancy composting toilet I went with a simple cassette toilet from Amazon.
This toilet lived mostly in my shower, but lugging it out every time I had to pee got old super fast so after a few months I built a drawer into my bench seat for easier access to the loo. After a trip to Baja, Mexico where places to empty a cassette toilet are basically nonexistent I decided to upgrade to a simple composting toilet – the Trobolo WandaGO. No electrical, no fancy mechanisms, just a pee separator and a poop bucket – but my life was changed. I have nothing but respect for the Nalgene users of the vanlife community, but after having this luxury I’m certainly not going back.
Bench seat with toilet
Converted shower
Putting it all together
When people ask me how I design a van build my answer is always the same – I just knew what I wanted and there wasn’t really much room for anything else. I built around my non-negotiable’s and added as much extra storage as I could.
Heres an example of the process:
I know I want this big fridge so my kitchen cabinet needs to be at least big enough for that. And I know my bed will take up X amount of space so I have Y left for both the kitchen and the bench seats. For a comfy seat I should make it a certain width, so I guess the remainder will be kitchen cabinet. The fridge only takes up part of that space, so the rest can be small drawers that are sized to look good with the size of the fridge drawer. Oh and I’ll need a sink, so I guess I’ll just make that cabinet as big as possible while keeping a big enough space to get in and out of the van door.
And there you have it, my whole van is built.
Ok its not that simple, and I did in fact run into a ton of little alignment and sizing issues as I went, but for someone who is too scatterbrained to actually sit down and plan a whole build before building it I think it came out pretty well.
My Van Building Advice
If you have the organization and ability I would 100% recommend planning the build before building, you can pay a bit more attention to detail that way and not worry so much about how things will fit together. But if you’re like me and like to figure things out as you go, then go for it! Designing and building a van looks different for everyone, but no matter your process these are the things I recommend:
List out your non-negotiables and start building around them. A whole van design can come together pretty quickly when you start putting big things in like a stationary bed, or a giant fridge, or even a large seating area.
Look to others for inspiration, but don’t let it paralyze you. There are thousands of ideas out there, and it can be overwhelming trying to decide what things you want to incorporate into your own build. At some point the scrolling, googling, and pinning can turn into procrastinating and it can actually slow down your process. Take some time to really think about what serves YOUR life and what will work for you – do you need a super functional build? Or a lot of gear storage? Or are you hoping to express your creativity and design abilities? Build your van for YOU.
No matter how much planning you do, be prepared to make mistakes and start things over. Its part of the process, and its so dang frustrating, but it’s all worth it in the end. We’ve all been there, and it makes for great conversation around the campfire.
Oh and my last one – hang off your cabinets after you put them in. Better for them to fall during the build than on a bumpy backcountry road in the middle of nowhere. If your cabinets cant hold you up, then they weren’t built strong enough.
If you’re planning your own van build, I hope this helps you figure out your must-haves, or at least gives you the confidence to start!