Building a Sprinter Van Conversion: Ventilation, Insulation, & Walls Note: this post is about our first Sprinter Van, which we bought in May 2016, converted, lived/travelled in, and sold May 2018. About the Van. We used a metal bit of 1/8 for screws of gauge 8. Use this area to stuff as much insulation as you can. We decided that rather than paneling the van walls with wood, we would carpet it to get a better finish and make it seem warmer. The Van Build⦠After sleeping a few nights inside the un-insulated van in the middle of winter, we knew that insulation was a must! You can do without it though, using a portable stove running on alcohol spirit, a 12V compressor fridge and diesel heating such as Webasto and Eberspacher. Motorhome Planet Post author. UPDATE: RoostVans.com is building custom van conversions inspired by this build, hit them up. Iâve included a photo my van below. If you are converting a utility van with metal walls, you will need to glue studs to those walls so you have something to mount new paneling on. Scott Kilgour Industrial Insulation Engineer. Building your dream van can be the most daring, difficult project you have ever taken on.. The door to the opening (forth âwallâ) is aâdisappearingâ and self-cleaning Nautilus shower door . This blog also notes the use of 80/20, which was a PAIN! This looks smart, helps with insulation and is quite car-like in the effect it achieves. Both a great as well as a difficult thing about this part of your van conversion, is that there are so many options available!! BUT you canât let that stop you because itâs also SO much fun and a huge part of the journey to you being on the road. I bought an extened ford van and now I want to put up a dividing wall. In my case, I did parts of the van as needed and didnât do the areas that didnât need it. Weâve seen a lot of builds with lots of cedar or some kind of wood planks for walls and ceilings. Many people install furring strips over the entire walls when it is empty. Read well the instructions on the one you get. Campervan Floor, Ceiling and Wall Ideas. Use spray glue. We used a styrofoam insulation with a foil liner from Home Depot, only insulating the bare walls but not behind the door panels on ⦠The shower stall framing is a mixture of 1×2âs along the vanâs exterior wall, a framed 2×4 wall between the bed and the shower wall, and a 1/2â³ plywood wall at the front. Van Conversion Walls. Before closing off the wall cavity, I added some additional insulation. Earlier, the whole back of the van was spray foamed with polyurethane spray insulation, but this still left room for more thickness of insulation in the side walls.. No new insulation was added to the ceiling as the spray foam insulation was close to filling the cavity. I ⦠Yes, that gives them a nice cabin-y feel. The wet bath âroomâ is made of three walls: 1) front â facing the cab, 2) rear â facing the rear doors and 3) the back wall â the one up against the passenger side of the van in my layout. This effect can even happen just with sound waves hitting the walls. A common approach with smaller van conversions is to carpet the walls and ceiling of the van. Make sure you are drilling only the metal stud and that nothing is coming out through the exterior wall of the van. Note: updated on 15th May 2015. Attach studs to the walls of your van before you insulate. July 19, 2017 at 12:37 pm. Furring strips on my van conversion walls were a little different. It all adds up and we didnât want unnecessary weight on the walls on top of ... Read more Lightweight Wood Walls for a Travel Trailer or Van Most vans have a void in between the inside and the outside layer of the van. We wanted our van to feel bigger than it was, so we went with a light color scheme. If you take an empty sprinter and hit the wall with a stick, itâs going to amplify that sound as the panels vibrate, similar to a gong. With the drill (and a friend holding the studs), make a hole (pre-drill) that goes through the stud and the metal sheet of the van wall. You can build your van to look like a luxurious RV motorhome or something completely bare bones. Usually the biggest noise contributor in a van is is large, thin sheets of metal that reverberate. 8. This is good for smaller vans (think Westies) but not so great for a larger van that will likely have more weight and fixtures hanging on the sides and ceiling. We used a template to cut the ply, allowing it to follow the curve of the van and fastened using right angle brackets to the floor, side wall of the van and ceiling. I used 1/4â³ plywood for the panels. Ive been staring at this for a while and I cant figure out a way to get an outline of the inside perimeter. Building out a couple of inches further from the wall could have provided that completely square surface. The van build took about 2 months while working on it part-time and cost about $3,480. Benefits of a Conversion Van: Faster, Further, More Functional. Building out a Sprinter Camper Van â Adding Interior Walls There are a lot of steps required to convert a Mercedes Sprinter Van into a working Office or RV setup. 6. Upholstered wall panels offer the look and feel that you get when you spend the big bucks on a custom van build. Thereâs a lot of debate on how effective this stuff is as an insulator on the camper van walls though. We built lightweight and sturdy cabinets for our camper van conversion. This took 20 packs of 8mm pine cladding in 1.8m lengths to clad the walls and ceiling. This step of the van build was where we really came to realize the difficulties imposed by the curved walls and weird protrusions in a van interior.We worked with and overcame those difficulties! There is no single way to convert a van, which is why we highlight numerous options and ideas to best suit your budget and taste. But we began to reevaluate that plan as we began bringing in loads of heavy items during the remodel. Apply pressure everywhere to make sure it is well glued. Do this to all the doors and walls. Cost was £96. Cut 2 inches (5.1 cm) x 2 inches (5.1 cm) wood studs the height of your wall. The wall nearest the kitchen is made from 12mm ply. Heres the problem. Iâm here to help you plan every bit of your conversion, share my story and how I did it, and give you tips on where you can save money if youâre doing it on a budget! After fitting the wooden frame for the cladding walls , itâs time to fit the cladding. Van Life Guide: How To Build A DIY Camper Van Conversion. Reply. In hindsight, it would be beneficial as you could then, in theory, build most of your cabinets and shelves outside of the van. This is also speculation on our part since we havenât approached the build in that way. Add more insulation to make your van âenergy efficientâ Stuff all crevices with fiberglass insulation. Since the vanâs walls are not flat and the wall panel would need to curve slightly in order to make a smooth transition to the slider door area, I shaved the 1×3âs down with a belt sander. Right from the start, we knew we wanted wood paneling finish in our DIY camper van conversion. Build your own camper van, but don't put other people at risk. Casper is a 2016 Ford Transit 250, standard length (130â³ wheelbase), low top Cargo Van, which I bought slightly used for $24,000 with a little over 18,000 miles on it. As you get a clear list of your wants and needs, and before you really start drawing out the details or building that campervan bed frame just yet, think about how your wiring and piping will come together.. An organized van is an happy van⦠so having our coats, shirts and mountain biking gear neatly away from our sight when we donât need them make us feel more organized (and happy). How to Build an Adventure Van DIY Camper Van Build A do-it-yourself (DIY) van build will likely require you to learn a host of new trades, from sheetmetal work cutting in windows and vent fans to cabinetry building and electrical & plumbing. We used the Kiravans Easyliner 4 way stretch carpet in Wheat to get a nice warm but light look to the van. With the LePage and Nashua, you need to spray on both surfaces (the bubble wrap and the wall) and let it sit for 2-5 minutes before glueing it together. It also isnât (quite) as difficult as you might think. Place the bubble wrap to the appropriate surface on the walls of the van. Knowing all of the possible options to put in your camper will help give you an idea of what you want vs what you need.. Weâve created this guide to help you decide how to build your camper. Of course nothing is straight in a van, so framing the shower stall took lots of scribing and approximations. It looks a lot cleaner, has a nicer finish and also helps to further insulate the van and reduce condensation build up while cooking and sleeping. Optional: Make soffits for wiring or improved appearance. The area where the wall paneling meets the ceiling paneling can be boxed in. We developed a ready to install Interior Mounting System for Roost available to purchase through their website.. Itâs hard not to love the interior of a raw planked boat hull or the look of a Japanese hot soaking tub. We were afraid it would also be dark. The point here is that itâs much easier and quicker to hang a coat (or a shirt, whatever) than folding it; ⦠We purchased a 2015 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 Crew High Top 144â³ Wheelbase model in hopes of creating a mobile travel RV / Office. It is fairly easy to obtain a nice & clean finish with the tongue and groove paneling: each plank will sit flush to the adjacent planks, creating a uniform & continuous surface. Outside Van, considered by many to be one of the premier van builders, discusses why they choose upholstered walls for their vans in this short video. For a studless how-to, check out this post by Gnomad Home. If you arenât putting wooden walls up in your van then unscrew or pop out the covers of the void areas that come with the van and pop them back on when youâre done. It is most effective with an air gap so this needs to consideration before adding the next layer of insulation. A DIY camper van conversion can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands. Propane gas in a camper van can be used for cooking, heating and running the three way fridge (works on 110/220V, 12V and propane). A van conversion can range in price anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. For the walls and ceiling, we chose Valspar Tempered Gray 4004-1a. Adding some insulation. It is starting to look like a campervan now! The inside of most camper van walls consist of ⦠Photo: Moterra Campervans. 7. It is quite the task to create a waterproof box inside a van. This Sportsmobile build-out on a Mercedes Sprinter van provides tons of inspiration for your campervan interior. Good luck with your wool but it will be saturated very quickly. Make sure it has well adhered to the van walls and floors, all joints taped up and then rubbed properly down. When we first started building out our Airstream, one of the top things on my wishlist was wood plank walls. Having the wall and ceiling meet together perfectly isnât necessary. How To Build and Install Cabinets In Your Converted Van Figure out how many cabinets you want and layout Upper cabinet frames Attach the upper cabinets to wall Upper cabinet doors Upper cabinet outside walls Building and attaching the lower cabinets Some van builds attach plywood walls directly to the plywood frame. Make sure theyâre on the inside of the bathroom so theyâre subsequently hidden by the wall panels and shower tray.