My Van Build
I had hoped for a white van to keep things cool but a blue-grey is what we found, and my wife loves the color!
Finding a Van
We were eager to do a van conversion a few years ago but were delayed when the pandemic arrived. Not only were we basically stuck in our odd town due to border closures but all vans, among so many other things, were in ridiculously short supply, and extremely expensive. During this time we found ourselves car camping and loving the ability to hike so much over the fall/winter. This year we again went on a search for a van and eventually sourced a Sprinter 144 4x4 2500 with suitable clearance for our off-road camping, and took the plunge!
Starting from the floor up
The van was really just a basic shell when we got it. It had a ceiling exhaust fan installed, and some after market wheels and tires, but that’s all. Our first task was to remove the factory deck to lay in some close-cell foam insulation. We used a ½” closed-cell, foil-faced foam called “Duck Liner,” which we had not heard before. It works great. Not only does it cut thermal bridging through the floor but it also basically silences the interior floor from road noise. After installing the insulation we carefully reinstalled the factory decking, which we used as the base for everything else as well as a finish floor.
