camping

Have Van Will Travel: I Married a Creative Genius!

Have Van Will Travel: I Married a Creative Genius!

It’s been awhile since I updated you on our Chevy Cargo Van we are converting to a camper – nicknamed The Vamper and Second Chance. As life usually goes, it has been a full one with John’s work schedule. So Sunday’s pending no other obligations is the only day he really gets to work on it.

But today was a big victory in completion of the most time consuming part of the project – storage!

The back end of the van as you can see from the photo, is what John custom built for storage. The dividers he painted an antique white since the space is small, this will help keep it bright and make it appear bigger also.  Besides the plastic container storage if you look to the left and the right of the column of storage bins there is space on either side on the floor for storage, which is technically under my bed on the other side of that wall.

The open space on top right is where John’s bed will go and will run length wise of the long part of the van. And pending all keeps on schedule, that will be next week Sunday that he will build his bed.

Our drive-away awning tent that will attach to the side of the van for extra space and what will be our outdoor kitchen also arrived. We haven’t set it up yet, but here’s a photo of it from the website we ordered it from.

Kela III Std Air

So it is exactly what it says…we can drive our van away and the tent will remain standing wherever we camp. But when attached to the side, we can have the side van doors open. And it is the Airbeam technology which means no poles to deal with – just pumps up in about five minutes…so the relaxing can happen much sooner!

My task this next week is to find and order a camping stove. Once the bed is done and the stove is here, we plan to take the Vamper on a test run outing! Yay!  The kitchen inside the van still will need to be done, but at least now we can go and get in some R & R, which we think will help serve in designing the kitchen and the rest of the van.

It’s getting really exciting now…!!!

Past posts for Have Van Will Travel Journal

The Adventure Has Begun. New Home on Wheels. Who’d of Thunk?

The Conversion Begins

Inspector Approves of Phase One Conversion

She Gets a Name

First a Name and Now Mascots

Cozy Comfort

Flooring is In (video)

Cutting it Close

Slow and Steady Wins the Race (video)

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Have Van Will Travel Journal: Slow and Steady Wins the Race – and Makes for a Well-Built Van Camper (Video Progress)

Have Van Will Travel Journal: Slow and Steady Wins the Race - and Makes for a Well-Built Van Camper (Video Progress)

Some days it seems like our van conversion to a camper will never be done. But anticipation is a good thing. My dear, sweet husband, John has dedicated much of his free time (which is basically Sundays) to working on this project which will allow us a way to travel and do some longer weekend camping on a budget.

The last two Sunday’s he spent making templates which you can see in the photos above.

Today he is using those templates to cut out storage walls and beds in good plywood – video below.

Being that today is July 4th it won’t be all work and no play…and some leisure time for lunch and an adult beverage will be happening soon as we venture off for a “test” drive in the van to a beach bar and grill.

Happy 4th everyone!

Past posts for Have Van Will Travel Journal

The Adventure Has Begun. New Home on Wheels. Who’d of Thunk?

The Conversion Begins

Inspector Approves of Phase One Conversion

She Gets a Name

First a Name and Now Mascots

Cozy Comfort

Flooring is In (video)

Cutting it Close

Thank you for sharing and subscribing to my blog updates.

Have Van Will Travel: New Season & Kicking it into Gear Again

Have Van Will Travel: New Season & Kicking it into Gear Again

It was last August when we had the idea to convert one of John’s Chevy cargo work vans into a camper, which for short we call the “vamper.” We also named her “Second Chance.” At the end of this post are links to follow along with previous posts about our journey with the conversion thus far.

Last October we did take Second Chance to Tennessee, staying in her one night on the way there and one night on the way back. The week in Tennessee we stayed in a lovely cabin, only because the vamper wasn’t done yet.

We still have a ways to go and with winter it wasn’t possible to work on it. But it’s a new season and John has kicked into gear again.

The last two weekends he spent insulating it so well we can actually hear the radio playing and have a conversation riding down the open highway. Yay!

Today he is building his bed, cause after all, the Master Carpenter has to have his spot first.  As you can see in the photo above he designed it with storage underneath.

I didn’t see any plans drawn out for it and asked him how he knew to build it without looking at anything. He pointed to his head and said, “It’s all in here.  Just like you with your writing.” That made perfect sense to me!

My bed will run horizontally along the long side of the van above John’s.

We also placed the refrigerator in the van today to get a feel for it and to see how it looks(It is a 12 volt that will run off of the solar panels on roof via the Yeti) . John came up with the idea to place it flush with the two doors that open out on the side of the van. That way when we are in the tent (which I’ll explain about in a moment), we don’t have to hop in and out of the van to get something out of the fridge.  That guy, he’s always thinking!  🙂

As you can imagine, one has to utilize every square inch of this conversion to the best of its abilities and why we decided we would also need a drive-away awning. It will act as our kitchen/hang out spot. So we are looking at getting the Vango Airbeam Idris II Drive-away awning – which is exactly what it means – you can leave it up and drive away with the van when you need your vehicle to go site seeing for the day. 

Though a bit pricier than regular tents, we love that it is inflatable and will go up in a matter of minutes. As you know, when on vacation or longer weekends, every precious moment of fun counts! So we still have to figure out how to measure for which one we will need and then have it shipped here to the US from the UK. unfortunately no one in the US sells them. 

Vango AirBeam Idris II Drive-Away Awning – Low 2017

So we are making progress. Of course it never seems to be fast enough as one is anxious to just get on with the business of enjoying. But many great memories being made with this project and no doubt we will be talking about this for a long time to come.

Stay tuned as we will continue to work on it this summer…and hope to get out in it to a camp site or two in the area yet this summer and then a trip for vacation later this fall.

Past posts for Have Van Will Travel Journal

The Adventure Has Begun. New Home on Wheels. Who’d of Thunk?

The Conversion Begins

Inspector Approves of Phase One Conversion

She Gets a Name

First a Name and Now Mascots

Cozy Comfort

Flooring is In (video)

Cutting it Close