Converting a cargo van into a camper sounds like a lot of fun – and it is. That’s why my wife and I decided to take the plunge, buy a beat up ’02 Dodge Ram Van, and make it our little curbside cabin. While we aren’t planning to move into vanlife full-time (yet), it will carry us on a month-long roadtrip and will serve as the perfect weekend warrior machine for traveling up and down the California coast for surf/dive trips.
Every campervan build is different, and we spent a lot of time trying to determine what was right for us. Our budget was small (<$5,000, including the van) and when money (and space) is limited, you begin to analyze the pros and cons of every little thing that goes into the van conversion.
Instead of keeping all of that research to ourselves, we created BuyitforVanLife – an organized braindump of the things we learned, helpful resources, and most of all – the gear and materials that we decided upon.