Grandma's Chevy Cargo Van Conversion to a Simple Camper Van

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Hi.  I’m Grandma Walker and this is the bare inside of my, new-to-me, 2006 Chevy 2500 Express XL Cargo van. I have had camping trailers and a motorhome in my earlier years but I always wanted to convert a cargo van into a simple camper van.  I purchased this ¾ ton, extra long cargo van on the 19th of July (2012) and started working on the conversion the end of July.   Before starting the conversion I spent many hours on the in the internet trying to find helpful information on how others had done theirs and the materials that they used.  There is a lot of information out there but not exactly what I was looking for.  Through this blog I am hoping that I can help others with ideas on how I did my conversion.

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Grandma con't. My camper van is a simple van with no bathroom, no running water, and no electric other than the use of an inverter. The 2006 Chevy 2500 extra long cargo van that I purchased had been well taken care off.  The outside looks like new and have been asked, “Is that new?”.  It has 91,000 miles on it but it does not show it.  The cab and seats shows very little wear and it runs like a top.  We won’t take about gas mileage!  But this is a second vehicle for me and I don’t drive very far to camp so mileage is not a big concern to me.  It was a one owner vehicle and was not a fleet vehicle so apparently the owner was someone who takes good care of his vehicles.  Take a look. It had what looked like a new rubber floor mat with insulations so I did not have to do anything to the floor of the van.  Here is a pic of the mat.I decided the first things that I wanted to do was have running boards installed.  I’m 70 years old and my my significant other is 77 so we really don’t need to fall getting in or out of the van.  The first step was at my knee level.

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Grandma con't. The running boards really dressed up the van. (see pic)  Next I needed a Fantastic Fan installed.(see pic) I ordered 2 windows for the back and they will be installed in a couple of weeks. Next came the insulation.   I decided that I would put two layers of bubble pack, overlapped. (see pic)Then the Reflectix Insulation on top of that. (see pic) I'm taking a break here.  I'll post more later.

She · Sep 17, 2012

I 'll be following every post grandma!! I also will not be having running water and bathroom. I am job camping so I can make it simple. The floors looks good enough to eat on....almost LOL. BTW your so young looking for 70!!! I had to look at the picture twice when you said 70. Whats your secret.....please tell. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" />

SoulRaven · Sep 17, 2012

looks like your on your way grandma... As the van takes shape the more you will want to work on it, keep up the great work...

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Hi She ... glad you like what I've posted so far.  It's a great feeling to show it of and tell them that you did it all by yourself.  As far as looking young ... Thank you very much!!!!  I don't know that I have a secret other than being very active all of my life and taking my vitamins, omega-3's and CO Q-10.  The color of my hair is all mine.  I have some gray coming in but so far it's staying quite brown.

SoulRaven · Sep 17, 2012

As you get into this life style you will meet some great people, allot of them are up in age and I have personally met some close to 80 and still kicking it as though they were 40... Age is in the mind... Stay active and eat right, skies the limit...

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Grandma's build con't...... Here are some pics of the inside of the van before I started. (see 3 pics) I picked my van up on a Wednesday and filled it up with things for a garage sale that I was doing with my friend at her house.  Got rid of most of the stuff and what I didn’t sell I dropped of at the Volunteers of America.  Now I just had to unload my tables and misc. other stuff before I could start work.I live in a Senior Community so all of the work that I did to the van had to be done inside of the van.  Everything had to be stored in the van.  When I got to sawing the pieces of wood I was able to do that in the parking space next to my van.  It was an inconvenience, yes, but I worked around it.All of the holes you see in the ribs, etc., I filled with bubble pack.

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Grandma's build con't....... I started behind the driver's seat. (see pic) At this point I had not decided to put the two layers on.  Later I came back and put another layer of bubble pack on this wall. I used duck tape to attach the bubble pack to the walls.  When I started on this side in some places the duck tape would not stick to the van very well.  Then, duh, the light bulb came on in my old head that the previous owner had been a smoker and the walls were coated with smoke.  So, I used Windex and paper towels and washed the whole inside of the van.  Then the tape stuck much better.   I tucked the bubble pack in every hole and crevis. (see pic) The wiring was all wrapped in a plastic tube and ran along the top on the drivers side. (see pic)  I wanted to try to insulate up to it and then from the ceiling over it so if I ever needed to get to the wiring it would not be such a job.  And later when I show the carpeting of the van you will see that I did the same with the carpet.  It could be opened up at the top to get to the wiring and then put back together without too much effort. In the picture above you can see the brown dots of the smoke on the roof.  That was all washed off as I talked about earlier.  to be cont'd

grandmawalker · Sep 17, 2012

Grandma's build con't...... Here are more pics of the insulation process. (see pics) Then I started installing the foil insulation.  The strips were quite wide so this went a lot faster and easier than the bubble pack did.  Here are a few pics. (see pics) ...to be con't ....

She · Sep 17, 2012

Looks nice and neat. Now your ready for winter!

peacetara · Sep 17, 2012

Very Awesome! My plan seems pretty similar to yours so far, except I'll be living in mine while doing the conversion. Turns out I didn't take delivery on my new van today, they are replacing the brakes and rotors, and they ran into a parts location problem, they are supposed to come in tomorrow, so hopefully tomorrow will be my first night in the new van! Looks fabulous so far! I'm curious about bubble wrap, why did you decide to use it? I never would have thought bubble wrap as an insulator, but I guess it would be. With Love, Tara

grandmawalker · Sep 19, 2012

Hi Tara.  Thanks for your post.  In answer to your question about using bubble pack for insulation.  I got the idea right here on the Cheaprvliving Forum.  Here's a quote from a post by "dofman": "Bubble wrap is a good insulator.  Use with small bubbles = layer it 6 times.  Attach with duct tape.  It worked fantastic for me." Than another tip came from "Big Blue": "Ive been to several stores and read tons of info on insulation.  From all that I gathered:1.       Spray foam is toxic and gives off gasses regularly<ol style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1" start="2"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Anything with aluminum of any kind on steel with an electrical current induced with causes rust.  (your battery is grounded through the chasses)</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Have a vapor barrier."</li></ol>I learned a lot from studing the forum before I started.  Grandma

blkjak · Sep 19, 2012

looks good "grandma" .... nice van .... blkjak ....

peacetara · Sep 20, 2012

Hi Grandma! Awesome! Bob on my conversion topic said I should do styrofoam. Since I'm planning on taking it down later so that I can find the ribs to do my bed construction, maybe I should do the bubble wrap for now, and then just add styrofoam on top of that.  There is an insulation topic going on too, I'll watch that and see what happens over there before I commit. Anyways, YAY for your new home! I hope you get to go out in it soon!

grandmawalker · Sep 29, 2012

Grandma's Build con't.... Now that the insulation was all up it was time to install the support boards to tack the carpet too.  If I had it to do all over again, I would attach the cross boards before I put on the foil insulation.  I was not able to see where the holes were in the ribs.  Seems 9 times out of 10 where I drilled to put a screw in I would go through the board and then zoom …. Nothing behind it.  How aggravating!   I used my 12 volt drill to drill the holes and then used varying lengths of drywall screws to attach the boards to the frames.  Here are a few pics of the framing. (see pic) These are 1 x 3 wood composition strips that are used for mopboards.  There were the cheapest 1 x 3’s that I could find.  They worked great.

grandmawalker · Sep 29, 2012

Grandma's build con't..... It was about the 3rd week in August when I got to this stage.  I wanted to have it completed to go camping with over the Labor Day weekend so I really started working 8 to 10 hour days.  In the process of hurrying, I didn’t take any pictures of the framing process.  You will see some of it when I show the carpeting process which comes next. In early August I came across some carpeting that I liked for the interior.  It was at Walmart’s home and garden center where they had an indoor / outdoor carpet that was on sale.  I fell in love with the green print carpet at first sight.  The regular price was $79.97 but it was on sale for $40.00.  I put it in my cart.  Then a few days later when they stocked the shelves with things for college dorm rooms I found several smaller mint green carpets that matched perfectly with the carpet I had purchased earlier.  I bought all 5 of the green ones they had.  Now I was all set with my soft green décor.   Now came the fun part.  My neighbor said that she would help me with the carpet but I was ready to do it late the Saturday afternoon when she was not at home.  Now mind you, this is the Saturday before the Friday before Labor Day that we were to set out on our first camping trip!  So I tackled putting one green carpet up on the ceiling by myself.  I piled two cabinets on top of one another to hold up the carpet and also ran a couple of ropes up over the wooden braces on the ceiling and under the rug to hold it up.  Then I started stapling the carpet.  Here is how that first rug looked after I finished.

grandmawalker · Sep 29, 2012

Grandma's build con't....... In this picture you are able to see the 1’ x 3’ boards used for attaching the carpet too.  Notice on the left behind the driver side wall is a large piece of pressed board.  We found that laying along the side of the road …..  FREE Materials.  I love ‘em. The next day was Sunday and, Linda - my neighbor, came to help hold the carpet for me.  We had quite a day twisting and turning while holding and stapling up the carpets.  I found that the 5/8” staples were not long enough in several places to hold the carpet.  After I completed the carpeting I purchased some long carpet tacks and went back over tacking up the carpet in several places.

grandmawalker · Sep 29, 2012

More of Grandma's carpeting pics ..... Wall carpeting around the windows on passenger side and drivers side. (pics)

grandmawalker · Sep 29, 2012

Grandma's build con't..... It is now Monday before Labor Day Weekend.  Now it was time to build the bed frame and install the cabinets in the kitchen area.  This camper is to be used for simple camping with no bathroom, running water or electric installations.  In my mind, if you are going camping you cook outdoors.  If it rains you open a can of pork n beans and have bread n butter. J   We camp where there are bathroom conveniences …. Or a woods. Let’s go back again to early August. I love to go to Garage Sales.  I was very lucky and found my kitchen cabinets at these sales.  The first cabinet I purchased was this two door cabinet for $3.00. (see pic). Then I found this old dirty 3 drawer cabinet for $3.00 also. (see pic)  I did not take a picture of this cabinet when I bought it.  I wish that I had.  It was very old and dirty.  It had old paneling on the sides that stuck up 6” above the top of the cabinet.  It also had old brown labels stuck to the front of each drawer. It must have been in a work shop someplace for many, many years.  I removed the paneling and cut off the boards that stuck up on the top.  Then I took the drawers out and took a brush, soap and the garden hose and went to work.  Scrubbed it all down, inside and out.  Put it in the sun to dry.  The next day I took a sheet of sandpaper and sanded the outside and the inside and outside of each drawer.  It really turned out nice as you can see in this picture. At another garage sale I found this tape deck cabinet for …. You guessed it….. $3.00. (see pics) I planned on laying this tape deck cabinet on it’s side, as you see it here, but it was too long so I had to cut it down.  These two step stools made up my work bench.  No skill saw, just a hand saw was used to do all of the cutting.  I did this work in the parking space next to the van then swept away the sawdust.

Grandma's Chevy Cargo Van Conversion to a Simple Camper Van

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