Vanlife: Rebuilt with bad carpentry

The van, as it came when I bought it, was built for sleeping and not much more. The whole back of it was filled with a double bed spring mattress. Under the mattress was a large drawer at the back and if you lifted up the mattress in front there was storage there - but it was difficult to do.

I decided to rip all of the original interior out and replace it with a storage cupboard / bench top along one side and a single bed / couch on the other.

My hope is that when the weather isn't pleasant, I can sit on the bed and make dinner comfortably inside the van.

While my skills at pulling things apart are excellent, my basic carpentry skills are almost non-existent.

On the top right here you see how it looks now. There is a small sink with a grey water tank below. A hand operated pump tap is on the way and will go next to it.

The long bench is really cupboards all the way along with lips in front and on the sides to stop things sliding off as we drive.

The far left cupboard with plywood hanging in front is the chemical toilet. The refrigerator will sit on the floor while driving and when stopped I put it on the back of the folded down passenger seat.

There is a sink with a pump tap. Under the sink is a large grey water tank connected to the drain.

There's a slide out desk for eating and laptop use.

Before the upgrade

Here's a reminder of how it looked before. The large drawer at the back was good but so big that things would get lost in there.

The mattress was so thick and the base so tall that I couldn't sit on the bed without my head hitting the roof of the van.

Living space was very small in the old configuration.

I'm sure that a few days away living in the new space with throw up lots of ideas for improvement but at least now I feel a bit more confident about modifying things myself.

I took the van to QRP by the Harbour and showed it to Peter, VK2EMU. When I mentioned my poor wood working skills he said "it's carpentry not cabinetry".