Every month, we are sharing everything we accomplished in our van build, The summary below includes the tasks we completed, tasks we started and the items we purchased. We are first time van builders and we are sharing this information to help you plan your own van build.
Tasks We Completed
this is where most of the work happened this month. It’s important to have a good plan before starting such a big project!
1. Our Layout
We built our 3D model and finalized the layout of our van. We built our 3D model using a free trial of Inventor. Watch our Factory Floor Removal Video for a sneak peak of our layout!
2. Our Budget
We created an extremely detailed budget for our van build. Jake and I are both Engineers, and we both have project management experience. We are sharing our budget as well as our actual expenses as we progress with our van build. If you’d like to take a look at our budget, as well as get some tips for creating your own, click the links below to navigate to our budget blog post, or watch our YouTube Video on how we created our budget.
Budget Blog Post
3. Our Electrical/ Solar System Design
We built an electrical calculator to correctly size our electrical system based on our needs. Next month we will hopefully purchase our solar panels! We wrote a blog post on how we designed our electrical system as well as created a free calculator for you to download and design your own system. Click the links below to go to the blog post and youtube video.
Sizing Your Solar Blog Post
4. Removing The Factory Floor
Our van came with a 1/2″ factory floor. We removed it so we could clean the van floor, frame, insulate and then we plan on adding the factory floor back in and using it as our subfloor.
Items We Purchased This Month
- Our Van!
- Maxx Air Vent Delux
- Rustoleum Paint
Watch From The Beginning
We share our van building journey on our Youtube channel hayleyandjake and release videos every Wednesday. Click the video below to start from the beginning. Remember to click Subscribe! It’s the easiest way to support us.
We hope you find this summary helpful for planning your own build. Make sure you check back each month for our monthly progress. If you have any questions, leave us a comment and we will get back to you!
Happy Travels!
– Hayley and Jake