How To Build A Campervan Part 7: Complete! (Mostly)

23.12.2023 - 18:21 / forbes.com

After months of planning and building, it was finally time to give my Transit Connect campervan its first big test. Sure, I’d recently done a test run to Pinnacles National Park, but that was only for two nights and I could have left at any time. Due to the obligations of a work project, this first big trip had no such fallback. I’d need to live and work out of the van in a different state for almost a week.

I was optimistic, though, since the test run had gone well. I’d still had a few final things to do before the big trip, however, and less than a week to do them. Not least, I needed to figure out some way to add some heat to the van, since when I’d designed it, I never intended to do much adventuring in the winter. Ironic, then, that my first two trips were in the cold.

Follow my travels on my YouTube channel and check out my book about budget travel, appropriately named Budget Travel for Dummies . Also, check out the previous installments of this series:

While I was optimistic that my secret work location would be slightly warmer than Pinnacles National Park, it was still going to be quite cold at night. I bought a 12 volt space heater, not entirely optimistic it would do much. With just 12V, and a maximum of 15 amps, best case that’s just 180 watts. For comparison, a typical home space heater can be upwards of 1,800 watts. All the 12V space heaters on Amazon have terrible reviews, and I think this is because people are expecting home space heater performance when there just isn’t that kind of power available with a 12V system.

Performance was entirely… whelming. I didn’t expect much and I didn’t get much. That said, it did blow warmer air than ambient, and in the small space of the van and being well bundled under blankets and a sleeping bag, it was adequate. I was certainly warmer than I was in Pinnacles despite the night temps only being slightly higher.

I also purchased an electric blanket, also 12V of course, and that helped a lot too. In fact, if I have another cold weather trip, as long as the temperatures aren’t expected to drop below 40, I might just use that and skip the power-hungry space heater altogether. I talk more about both of these in 11 Best Accessories For Any Campervan Conversion.

Lighting was the next issue. I didn’t have time to install anything before I left for Pinnacles and let me tell you, it is dark in that van at night. When I returned I installed an LED strip around the panoramic roof using the rubber trim to hold it in place. The result is so good it almost looks like the van came with it, except for the dangling tail and power cable. I’ll figure out how to tuck those in somewhere. In the meantime, the result is a warm light that’s not too bright and pleasantly