Solo Female Vanlife Self-Build Budget Conversion
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Jolianne grew up in a small town near Ottawa which was pretty ‘cookie cutter’ living with many of the residents working in various areas of government. Because of this, the idea of alternative living was never something she was exposed to. She was living in a one bedroom apartment working at a cafe when she hit 30. This made her somewhat self conscious, and felt as though she had ‘failed’. She decided to give up her apartment because it was too much and was going to move back home when a friend of hers suggested she check out the vanlife. As she began to research, Jolianne fell in love with the idea. She ended up buying an old van for $4700 with the intention of setting it up as a simple bedroom on wheels. But when it started leaking and forced her to tear out the interior, she decided to make it a little more fancy, and was able to convert it into a fully functional camper for an additional $5000.
The van is a 1979 Dodge B200. when she got It it had 98,000 kilometers on it. She found out later that the odometer doesn’t work, so this reading hasn’t changed. There’ve been a number of mechanical issues with the van that she’s had to address while owning it. The carburetor has been swapped for one that originally came from an Impala which has worked fantastically so far. They also changed the distributor and added a hood fan. All the repairs cost $12,000 which is mainly due to the fact that Jolianne didn’t really know a solid mechanic when she first moved to Vancouver, so she reckons with the people she knows now it could’ve been done a lot cheaper.
Jolianne was careful to be super thorough with the silicone work to ensure there wouldn’t be any more leaks, she even ended up taking a hammer to the backdoor to make it conform better to the weather stripping. The end result is a leak proof van that shouldn’t have any issues with mold going forward.
While the van originally had a grey water tank, Jolianne found that emptying it all the time quickly became a hassle. Since she only uses biodegradable products in the sink she decided to route the grey water directly out the bottom of the van, which has proven to be a lot more convenient. There’s also a propane tank under her van, but it isn’t currently plumbed to any appliances, so it doesn’t really get used.
She decided to put a wall between her bed and the back doors because it was way too cold in the winter. She used 1 inch foam insulation which she cut doors in to give her an easy escape path in the case of an emergency. Underneath the bed there are a lot of tools and little knickknacks. There’s also a sizeable drawer that gives her access to the under-bed storage from inside the van. She keeps an old sleeping bag that she cut to size for her windows. They hang on curtain rods inside the van and provide additional privacy and more insulation. The original van kitchen was in the back, which left a lot of exposed ports into the van when she removed it. To seal everything back up, she put back the original covers along with some metal backing.
In the cockpit she uses a Garmin since her speedometer stopped working, but it's great because it gives her a map that she’s able to use without cell reception. She replaced the entire headliner with cedar that extends back into the main living area of the van, and was able to salvage a wooden dash accent from another old van to complete the aesthetic. During the winter she keeps her cooler up front in between the seats as it’s the coldest spot in the van and means she doesn’t need to replace the ice as often.
On the side doors she has two options for curtains. A thick thermal option for winter, and well as a lighter sheer curtain. This allows her to still have privacy without sacrificing airflow during the hotter months. She keeps her boots and shoes in a cubby that are very accessible right by the side door. For the interior build she used cedar. It's mold proof and handles humidity very well which makes it a fantastic choice for smaller spaces where that can be an issue. It cost her $1.50 a board which made it very inexpensive to build with. Since she went with planks like this, it allowed her to buy wood as she needed and reduce waste.
The walls are insulated with one inch foam board and the floor is cedar plywood. She didn't want to put a floor on top or anything like that so this was her cheap solution. She decided to put a wall between her seats and the van so that it would be better insulated and also be way more private. Up top she has a really big storage space that she puts clothes and bedding in. The van has a very distinct ‘tin tile’ ceiling that Jolianne says cost her as much as the cedar. It was originally a kitchen backsplash which came in 2x4 foot sheets that fit the ceiling perfectly. She had some leftover pieces that she made into covers for her ceiling vent and fan are attached with velcro in place. When she first got the van she only had two vents for air circulation she decided to buy one Fantastic Fan and put it over her bed. She has a magnetic thermostat that she keeps over the galley and helps her keep track of the temperature and humidity in her van.
She has hooks all throughout the van hang things like her Kettle, coffee mugs, soup mug, and a little stanley travel mug which works perfectly for heating up water on her wood stove. Her countertop is an old desk that someone was selling that she cut up to fit in the van. She put in a sink that she got second hand for $15 and a hand pump. She finds the hand pump isn’t as convenient as she thought, so most of her water is gravity fed from a jug that sits on the countertop. Under the sink she keeps another of these water jugs as well as her Dometic Portable Camp Toilet which is handy to have in case of emergencies.
During the summer months she keeps her cooler in a large compartment under the counter. In the winter, this space is used for toiletries and some of her hairdressing stuff. She also has a propane Coleman stove for cooking outside, but her single burner butane stove gets way more use. In her opinion, it’s a must have for vandwellers that need something compact.
For heat she has the Cub model wood stove from Cubic Mini Woodstoves, which works fantastic in the smaller space. Underneath it she stores all her fire starter and wood for burning. She ended up putting a wall next to it to separate it from the bed, as when its running the stove gets super hot. This ensures that she doesn’t accidentally kick it when she’s sleeping. The bed is a 12 inch memory foam which she got off craigslist for $150. It’s five foot eight by four feet, which she cut from the original queen size that she bought. Underneath she has interlocking deck tiles which cost her about $50 for thirty pieces. This gives good airflow under the mattress to avoid moisture buildup, and is an effective budget alternative to hypervent which can be double the price.
Her advice for folks looking to getting into the vanlife is to put emphasis and money into getting a reliable vehicle right out of the gate. For folks looking at older vans, she’d say bring it to a mechanic or at least know a mechanic if you're gonna buy one. A lot of people say the shell needs to be good so that you can build in, which is something she didn’t hear before getting started and wishes she new before getting her van. If she could do it over, she’d start off by spending the money on a newer vehicle, put in just a mattress and slowly scale the build up as she could afford it. Other advice she’d give is to just do it and treat each failure as a valuable learning opportunity. There's a lot of frustration there's a lot of blood sweat and tears that go into a van build, but these frustrations help you grow into a more resilient, confident and independent person.
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