Van Build- Texas Pt 1

TEXAS!!!

Oh man… Alright… Here’s where we get into the nitty gritty… how am I maximizing the space in such a small area… I’ve got lots of stuff I want to keep very organized, easily accessible, and secure. I also don’t want it to get too crazy complex for when something breaks… 

Thankfully my buddy Scott came to the rescue! He has a RAM Promaster build with a very similar layout to what I was thinking, just with a few different needs than I have for my rig. He also has a big ol yard in the middle of nowhere & allowed me to do most of my build at his place. Needless to say… The day I got there was an immediate jump into work. 

After I emptied the van out from getting my stuff down there we evaluated my goals & looked at potential modifications to the early drawn out layout I’d had developed in my head with reality as it came together. Knowing that I wasn’t going to try for a horizontal bed layout it allowed for easy wall installation which we actually incorporated into the base of my bed platform for an even easier install. This allowed us to get the bed platform in very quickly & start to get an idea of what the living space would look like. 

We also took advantage of this moment & installed most of the electrical panel to my driver’s side wall as it has a lot of real estate to house everything in an organized way making troubleshooting any potential issues later simple. This also allows for maximizing the storage space while protecting the sensitive bits keeping this rig running.

One of the very first changes I needed to make was moving the cassette toilet from my original spot next to the fridge. I realized that I couldn’t have both a wider seat & the toilet. Thankfully, this was a fairly easy change as I just turned the seat on my passenger side into the toilet spot as well. Later in the build this will be crucial in setting up my computer set up as it opened up just enough space for my kit to be stored safely.

This process also made me realize there’s no “this is how you build a van” as I had to do things in a very different order than Scott did with his rig. I also had some different desires than he did because I am living out of my van instead of using it for projects & shorter trips.

Something I learned very quickly with the build… It feels like things are taking forever… until it comes together. On the next one ;)