Camper Van Conversion
I have been a maker for decades. I have fabricated custom vehicles, re-modeled homes, and built RVs. The one thing I can appreciate is custom builds. As beautiful as they are, if I measure and cut each piece as it goes inside my van, I will not be done for at least 6 months to a year. I don't have time for this process anymore in my life. I want to spend less time building and more time playing.
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So here is what I need: 1. Sound Deadening 2. Insulation 3. Walls. 4. Interior
1. Sound Deadening.
First, I need to "sound deaden" the van walls and floor. There is not a "kit" for this so I used Front King Duct Insulation which has an R value of 3. This is an easy DIY process. You will need a roller to press the material down firmly. You need to cut a panel for any open spot. You don't have to go crazy like I did covering every square inch. Remember we are adding another two layers of insulation after this step. I used 5 rolls of Front King Duct Insulation and placed it in the ceiling, walls, and floor. With the help of my son, this took about 2 hours. My cargo van also had the typical floor roar around 65mph. I lifted the stock floor up and cut 1" strips of the Front King material. I placed them in the valleys of the van floor. This took the hum away instantly.
2. Insulation.
Again there is no quick kit for this so I decided to go with Thinsulate and a can of 3M 90 spray glue. Thinsulate has an R value of 5. My son and I measured open spaces in the van's ceiling and walls. Then with basic scissors, we cut out a rectangle of the Thinsulate material. We started in the back and just worked our way forward. When you do this process, you don't need to spray the entire area down with glue. Just hit the corners and the middle. I only used a half can in my entire van. This process took us 4 hours.
3. Walls.
So with my new found love for bolt in kits, I found pre-fabricated walls for my Sprinter 170. These walls are a corrugated composite material with an insulation rating of R4. I ordered the Duratherm product from upftisupply.com. We had unpacked the material the day before and laid it out. We installed all of it in 2 hours.
In just one morning, my van now has 3 layers of insulation all together equaling R12. Building the rest of the van with the Duratherm wall liners will be easy. The material is simple to cut. You can even take the wall down and then put it back up. Mounting heavy cabinet brackets or murphy bed items to the metal wall of the van will still be easy to do. For building your van walls in two hours, this is by far the fastest way to go.
4. Interior
This was the easiest part. Installing a TNTvans Camper Conversion System only took 45 minutes. We had previously assembled the items we wanted to put in the van the day before. We then placed each item in the van, marked the holes in the floor. Installed floor anchors. Then bolted each unit down. It is that simple. We now have a bed, benches, storage, kitchen area with cooler slide out, and a sink.
Outcome:
In 8 hours and 45 minutes, my van is ready to go play! Now we can go out camping and find out what we really need and what we don't. The TNTvans interior is modular and easy to build with. If we want to make a change in our setup, we can. From diesel heaters to swivel chairs, all of that can be installed later. I bought the van this week and there is no time to waste, now let's go on an adventure.
