Section 9 of 9
Resources
We didn’t build this van in a vacuum. Most of what we know came from other people who did it first and shared what they know. These are the resources we actually used, in rough order of how much they shaped our thinking.
FarOutRide
The single best resource on the internet for building a campervan. Methodical, thorough, well-organized, and Canadian. Their electrical guide is excellent and they also sell an interactive electrical planning tool that we used directly, as well as a water system planning too. They create and sell quality conversion products in their store including a line of 3D printed parts that you can buy from them or where you can buy the designs to print yourself.
Engineers Who Van Life
An engineering mindset applied to van building — which means actual reasoning, not just “here’s what I did.” Good for understanding why you’d make a particular decision rather than copying someone else’s system and hoping it works for you. Especially strong on water and electrical systems.
Humble Road
George builds masterpieces and he’s going to tell you about every bolt. Some of it goes further than most of us need — “overengineering with George” is an affectionate description — but the depth is the point, and you can calibrate to your own project. The cardboard-aided design approach came from here, and his thinking on insulation shaped ours too. The Humble Road workshop builds probably a dozen vans per year and they’re very high-end, often people’s retirement dream rig.
Stoke Loaf
Maybe not as comprehensive as some of the others, but we follow these folks and they’ve produced some genuinely useful content. Their Scopema swivel seat install writeup is one of the better how-tos we found, and their general build documentation is solid. They also write a lot about “beyond the build” van life issues and that’s super helpful, too.
The Wanderful
thewanderful.co/van-build/getting-started
The original “doing pull-ups on my 80/20 cabinetry” guy. Some of it leans aspirational, but there’s real useful information in there and it’s a good place to start if you’re trying to understand the 80/20 approach to van furniture. He also sells various van life products.
Ford Transit USA Forum
If you’re building a Transit, this is required reading. Every quirk, every spec, every “what does this wire do” question has been asked and answered here. Finding the answer is another matter — the search is not its strongest feature — but it’s in there somewhere. And don’t worry; the occasional “hurr, hurr, you’re not ‘merican” moron gets slapped around and set straight by the regulars pretty quickly.
Wilderness Vans
Our original plan was to have these folks build us a van, and if we ever do van number two, we’ll get a Wilderness pro build. Canadian made, extremely high quality, and they’ve been building vans for more than a decade. They also sell many of the parts and components that you’d need to convert a van, and are the only Ford Transit Quigly Q-lift certified installer in Canada. And if a Transit or Sprinter is too small, they also do F-550 ‘Grid’ conversions that are go-anywhere extreme expedition vehicles. Awesome stuff.