Campervan Adventures

Essential Tools and Skills

Converting a campervan from scratch requires a working knowledge of a whole range of skills and the tools to match. Of course the more complex the build, and more features that a van has, the more skills will be required. Before undertaking any work with electrics or gas ensure that you are fully knowledgable otherwise get a professional to do the job.

Visualisation

This is probably the most important skill and process. Detailed internal measurements should be taken of the van and drawn out onto paper. A useful way of working is to create paper templates of the required furniture and move these around until you have a suitable fit.

Tools:

Pencil and Paper
Tape Measure
Set Square
Spirit Level + plumb Line

Carpentry

Most furniture will be built from wood, so skills with wood working are very useful. A jigsaw is incredibly useful for rounding corners and fitting furniture into curved walls. It may be easier to build furniture outside of the van then anchor it firmly to the floor.

Tools:

Pencil
Tape Measure
Set Square
Spirit Level + Plumb line
Jigsaw
Tenon saw
Electric Drill + variety of bits
Heavy duty screwdriver - phillips and slot head - electric may help
Hammer
Bradawl
Many screws and nails
Files
Plane
Glasspaper
Wet and Dry
Sanding blocks
Rags for staining
Brushes
varnish - heavy duty and stain

Electrics

Wiring the elctrics in a campervan is suprisingly complicated. There are usually three power supplies and several 12V circuits. Using a split charger and power distributor like the Zig units can make things a lot easier and safer. Remember that wires need to be placed out of the way - it may be easier to wire them into the framework of the van before any furniture is built.

Tools: