One year ago I purchased a VW T5 van with the goal of transforming the van into a camping car for my own adventures. Now I found the time to write up what I did and show you how.

First of all, let me say I’m really thankful to my dad and to my best friend who both advised me so much with useful insights and tips and my dad for showing me how to manufacture the wooden interior properly.

In summary the conversion of the van took me nearly a year now but the core interior was about ~15 days of work (full-day). There are of course ways to spend less time on the conversion and there are constructions that are easier to do. If you need inspiration or tips, write me an email and I’m happy to share some experiences and thoughts with you.

I must say this was/is a fun project and I learned really a lot. I learned about cars, about electricity, about wood working.

I still have some ideas to improve the interior but the main things are built in now and it’s got approved by the German authorities as camper van.

Show me the van

With the professional help of the dad of my girlfriend (he’s a campervan electrician), I installed a second battery for electricity into the van. This took us together an entire 9-hours day.

It’s not enclosed on purpose currently as a wrapping case would limit the air supply to the electricity.

Bed and kitchen seen from the inside of the bus…

…and in the other direction.

The rear part with the eating table on top.

The stabilizing “foot” of the table.

The kitchen from the rear when not in use.

The rear of the entire van in an overview.

And now here’s the kitchen when ready for cooking.

…from the side…

…slightly more from top…

…detail view of the table when ready to be used…

…detail view of the electricity…

…and a detail view of the new wooden rear plate replacement.

If you still have an open question, ask me anything about this project!