My Interior Layout

[One Awesome Inch]

I read Bob Well's book on vandwelling recently and he made a lot of great points. One of them was that some people just sort of figure things out as they go along and some people are planners. Guess I am a planner!

Below is a rough draft of a sketch up I did of what I think would work best for me in the standard 6 x 10 floor space of a van.

Please keep in mind these dimensions/measurements are VERY rough. I'm just trying to get the feel for where things should go and have a basic understanding of the space I will have.

A couple of notes...
-I plan to insulate heavily so that will have an effect on interior dimensions to some degree
- I want to have LOTS of Sterilite plastic drawers and will have them stacked as high as possible to the roof. Naturally they, along with everything else, will need to be secured/bolted down so they dont move while driving.
-I have not included venting/fan placement because I am not sure where to put them. Where I live its very humid so I definitely want lots of airflow but on the other hand doesnt that mean I'll be sucking all the hot air out of my van?... especially if the vent/fan is on the roof? I have been kind of thinking of having a vent right near my pillow so I can lots of fresh air, but then I may get too much cold air (right now its close to -10 Celcius outside). So yeah... still not sure what to do about the vents/fans.

Any comments on things I may have missed or how to improve things are much appreciated.

Also, anyone know the standard interior height of a typical cargo van from floor to roof? E250 etc...

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Another note...

I am thinking of adding a wall by the rear doors... built into my bed. Thus when you open the rear doors you just see a wall with the open area for storage under the bed. I need access to under bed storage from the rear but at the same time I want to button up this interior tight and heavily insulate it.

 

[Thoreau]

Hi Unity Gain,

'Nice job on the rough draft. That really can help a person visualize things in a way that pencil scribblings can't quite equal.
What software did you use?

I'll leave the van questions for those actually living in their vans to answer...but in looking at your draft I noticed the place assigned to a clay pot. I wasn't familiar with those, so I googled it and found a YouTube video of someone doing an experiment testing the effectiveness of his clay pot in a small bathroom. He used a couple of thermometers, one of them a digital one that measured temperatures on various surfaces.

The results of his experiment were not promising. If you haven't seen this yet, it might be worth checking out:

But perhaps you have better experience with clay pots, or can make a better one than he did.

In any case, good luck on your build!

 

[Gypsy Jane]

There having been lots of posts about clay pot heaters lately on FB, YouTube, groups, I bought a couple of pots and tried it out. I did the one with 4 tea lights in a baking pan with 2 pots over it. I recorded the temperature changes in the bathroom where the heater was enclosed and was seriously under-impressed. Some people may have better luck than I did, but I'm going to plant stuff in my clay pots.
- Gypsy Jane

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Hi Unity Gain,

'Nice job on the rough draft. That really can help a person visualize things in a way that pencil scribblings can't quite equal.
What software did you use?

I'll leave the van questions for those actually living in their vans to answer...but in looking at your draft I noticed the place assigned to a clay pot. I wasn't familiar with those, so I googled it and found a YouTube video of someone doing an experiment testing the effectiveness of his clay pot in a small bathroom. He used a couple of thermometers, one of them a digital one that measured temperatures on various surfaces.

The results of his experiment were not promising. If you haven't seen this yet, it might be worth checking out:

But perhaps you have better experience with clay pots, or can make a better one than he did.

In any case, good luck on your build!

Thanks! As to the software used I came across a pdf Bob Wells posted where there were different interior van layouts (I looked for it again, but no luck). sm_fc_stdplans2011.pdf

Then I found the one that resembled the one I wanted most and simply modified it using MS Paint.

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There having been lots of posts about clay pot heaters lately on FB, YouTube, groups, I bought a couple of pots and tried it out. I did the one with 4 tea lights in a baking pan with 2 pots over it. I recorded the temperature changes in the bathroom where the heater was enclosed and was seriously under-impressed. Some people may have better luck than I did, but I'm going to plant stuff in my clay pots.
- Gypsy Jane

Hmmm... well I plan to do some experimenting myself, but I watched alot of youtube vids and it seems promising. The thing to remember is that it may take an hour or two before the heat is significant. I will use the Mr. Heater Buddy for an hour to get the van warm and then rely on the clay pot heater for longterm warmth. That is, if the thing works!

The one that guy did in the bathroom was flawed in my opinion.

Anyway, I have some small clay pots and just have to buy the bolts so it wont cost much to try it.

 

[gymrat]

I find one of the things I use the most in my van is the front passenger seat with a swivel. This mod gives me a comfy place to sit and "opens up " an extra 2ft of space. Plus sitting in this seat I find I use the other area of the cab while I'm in that area - the driver seat to sit things down, the cup holder in the console, and the dash area.

 

[Zil]

Don't forget to subtract the wheel wells.

 

[Patrick46]

I thnk it look fine...except I hafa ask how tall you are???

Your bed show's 6'1" (73") which is how tall I am.

but experience has shown me that there's no way I could ever sleep in that!

...when you took that measurement....were you measuring the FLOOR width, or did you come up the 2 feet or whatever height you're planning on building your bed's platform at and measure the width from there?? (cause it's gonna be ALOT LESS!!)

 

[Donedirtcheap]

I like the layout. Good job but forget the clay pot thing. It doesn't matter if you use clay pots, metal pot or pan etc, the heat of the candle is the heat of the candle. One candle is giving of X number of BTU's and 2 candles is twice as many BTU's. The clay pot does get hot but the energy released into the area is the same as if the clay pot was not there. The clay pot is not producing or multiplying BTU's. Its impossible.
If you could find out how many BTU the candle produces you could then have a measuring point with which to start.
It also depends on how well each different van is insulated and how much air is being exchanged through venting.
You could heat the van at 30 degrees below zero, it will just take hundreds of candles and it wont matter if the heat goes directly into the air or if the heat hits a clay pot and goes into the same airspace.

Sorry to get off track on the whole candle thing but A is A and B is B. A btu is a btu.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Hi UG good attempt but I think you will be back to the drawing board as soon as you measure your E350 standard van. I have a kurbmaster and this design would work in it but I have 78 inches in width wich is substantially wider then a normal van. I think you will find that sleeping across the way you plan is not possible unless you are under 5'5" or plan on getting some kind of special van. you might consider putting your bed where your stackers are and having then under the bed and or at one end of the bed. good luck with your planning

 

[Van-Tramp]

Agreed, I think you will find the interior width of a van to be less than 72 inches (6 ft). Mine is 5' 11" across (I am 6 ft tall myself). To accommodate myself, I built my bed to be 42" wide so I can sleep diagonal when I want to stretch out. It takes some getting use too, but it is do-able.

One thing I stopped doing is devoting a space just for my porta-potty. It is only used a few minutes each day, so you can free up some space by planning for that item to get tucked away somewhere. Mine goes under my bed. And I will 2nd the advice on the passenger seat facing rearward. It gives you a comfortable place to relax and opens up the entire floor plan even more. Maybe put in a curtain instead of a hard-wall to separate the living space from the driving space?

My van is the extended version so I have 12 feet of length to play with.

Also, I noticed you do not leave any space for your side doors to be used?

You might like Google Sketch Up (Free CAD program). I used it to get exact dimensions of all my "furniture" in the van to test different builds. Here is my current layout: You can tour my van online

 

[One Awesome Inch]

I like the layout. Good job but forget the clay pot thing. It doesn't matter if you use clay pots, metal pot or pan etc, the heat of the candle is the heat of the candle. One candle is giving of X number of BTU's and 2 candles is twice as many BTU's. The clay pot does get hot but the energy released into the area is the same as if the clay pot was not there. The clay pot is not producing or multiplying BTU's. Its impossible.
If you could find out how many BTU the candle produces you could then have a measuring point with which to start.
It also depends on how well each different van is insulated and how much air is being exchanged through venting.
You could heat the van at 30 degrees below zero, it will just take hundreds of candles and it wont matter if the heat goes directly into the air or if the heat hits a clay pot and goes into the same airspace.

Sorry to get off track on the whole candle thing but A is A and B is B. A btu is a btu.

Good points and I generally agree. From I have read the key with the clay pots is that they radiate the heat out. With a regular candle the heat is going to rise straight to the roof. With the clay pot heater, the heat slowly radiates out from the pots meaning the heat stays lower for longer where the vandweller resides. I tried it a little bit last night but still dont have the proper materials to give it a serious go. What I did notice is that even the 4 tealights I used gave off quite a bit of heat by themselves. In a well insulated van I think 8 tealights would get it fairly toasty... but it would take a while for the heat to increase. Thats why I would use the Mr. Heater Buddy for 30 minutes or whatever to get the warmth in the van quickly and then rely on the candle power to maintain it. Apparently each candle gives off 80w of "power" so 4 would be 320w and 8 would be 640w. That seems pretty decent to me. Anyway, its all academic at this point since I am not living in a van at this time and until I am I wont be able to verify the truth.

 

[wagoneer]

Call me crazy but my bed is directly behind the drivers seat being 5,9 It works for me and easy to jump in bed from the drivers seat 2.5 ft under for storage behind that is my dia plate lockable tool case use it as a bed/bench when closed 6 ft long just fits flea market stuff behind that because I unload from the back. jammed full right now.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

I took that 73 inch bed length directly from the pdf picture I chopped up. I assumed it was accurate but if you guys says its more narrow than that I believe you. If I recall their van was a E250.

That said, I *really* do want the bed in the back as it frees up a considerable amount of space. However, as Van Tramp pointed out maybe going to 42 wide on the bed would be best. Then again I aim to buy an extremely high quality mattress and their standard width for a twin/single is 39. Have to think on that some more I guess. I am not too keen on foam though.

As a musician I have to keep my gear with me including large-ish speakers and I intend to use the space under the bed as storage for that stuff. I would use the sterilite drawers for food, clothes and tools and pretty much everything else. Luckily I am a minimalist so I dont need much aside from the necessities and my music gear.

I want the van sealed up pretty tight to increase insulation and plan to build a wall right across the sliding doors. This van would be used for urban stealth camping pretty well 100% of the time in the city that I live in as I have family ties and a full time career I cannot leave. I want to have a wall to separate the driver/passenger area from the living quarters and use a sliding door or pocket door to get into the back. I often give people a ride home from work and would try to keep my vandwelling a secret so I can't flip the passenger seat around.

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I found the website from which I modified my interior plans. Mine is second from the top/left. They have lots of other interior plans too. Pretty cool.

http://www.sportsmobile.com/1_std-rb-plans.html

 

[masterplumber]

I'm fairly familiar with Sportsmobiles. To get the 73'' wide they build a recess in the wall and only insulate it with one layer of reflectex and cover it with carpet I believe. They also do the recess at the widest point in the wall (look closely and you'll see the walls are curved). That point may not be the height you need to get the storage area under the bed you want( if I recall there's less than a foot under the bed). If you look at their build info you'll see there is only a max of 69'' width on most vans if you do "normal" insulation and cover the walls even with the van ribs. Just some food for thought. On the other hand, if your under 5'8'' or so you'll be fine and have much more open space as you indicated. Good Luck.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Good info. Thank you. I did not know that about Sportsmobile.

Anyone know the interior height (from floor to roof) of your average cargo van?

 

[Van-Tramp]

Since it seems the size of your bed is very important to you, you may want to consider placing your bed length-wise on the driver's side of the van. This will allow you to put in a 39" X 6' mattress and still have room to move around it. Then you can work on placing your storage and 'kitchen' areas between the mattress and your driver's seat. Basically, everything sits on the drivers side and the "hallway" in the floor plan becomes 2-3 foot along the passenger side of the van... the Rialta floor plan way (smaller bed in our vans though).

With a little planning, you do not lose much storage or counter-space and you have your full-length bed.

 

[daminc]

Good info. Thank you. I did not know that about Sportsmobile.

Anyone know the interior height (from floor to roof) of your average cargo van?

pretty sure its 53" from floor to roof on a ford..back door openings are 49" high

my bed also measures 72" on one side (near the doors), and its almost 75" on the other side right over the wheel wells. I did it like the sportsmobile using the reflectix and carpet where the inner body opens up wider.. the bed is about 14 off the floor to get that width

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Since it seems the size of your bed is very important to you, you may want to consider placing your bed length-wise on the driver's side of the van. This will allow you to put in a 39" X 6' mattress and still have room to move around it. Then you can work on placing your storage and 'kitchen' areas between the mattress and your driver's seat. Basically, everything sits on the drivers side and the "hallway" in the floor plan becomes 2-3 foot along the passenger side of the van... the Rialta floor plan way (smaller bed in our vans though).

With a little planning, you do not lose much storage or counter-space and you have your full-length bed.

That just *may* work for me. Thank you. I'll definitely give it some more thought.

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Good info. Thank you. I did not know that about Sportsmobile.

Anyone know the interior height (from floor to roof) of your average cargo van?

pretty sure its 53" from floor to roof on a ford..back door openings are 49" high

my bed also measures 72" on one side (near the doors), and its almost 75" on the other side right over the wheel wells. I did it like the sportsmobile using the reflectix and carpet where the inner body opens up wider.. the bed is about 14 off the floor to get that width

53 inches? Oy. I was hoping for more.

 

[Patrick46]

yup....just checked and my E350 is 53" tall inside, and 70" wide inside, just above the wheel tubs.

 

[daminc]

yup....just checked and my E350 is 53" tall inside, and 70" wide inside, just above the wheel tubs.

only 70" is that metal to metal inside? What year e-350 do yo have Mines an 03