Build YOUR VAN in 10 STEPS - From START to FINISH In only 10 MINUTES

Hey let us show you how to turn this, into this, in only 10 steps that will  take around 10 minutes of your time. Today i'm in the shop with sylvain my father. He's the one who built our van but he also built 12 vans now... Yeah he's finishing his 12th  build and today he's sharing all the little   steps to how to build your van in only 10 minutes. His explanation will take 10 minutes. If you're   planning to build a van, it's going to give you  a clear path of what to expect. If you're not   planning to build a van, it's still going to give  you enough information to see if this lifestyle or   this kind of project is a project for you. So don't  hesitate if you have questions just drop them in   the section below keep in mind this is a recipe  there's probably 10 000 ways of building events   this is our way and it works are you ready to give  me your 10 steps to build a van in 10 minutes go   so first step papa to building your van in 10  minutes identify your needs yep you get a lot of   orders from a lot of people what have you seen in  the last three years that marked you people need   to know you need to know what you want to do with  your van you're going to be sleeping in it forever   you want a permanent bed not a permanent bed  that type of thing that's what you have to decide   what is it going to be used for is it going  to be used a lot of time or just part time   and then from that you got to plan every  little bit you need in it because it's going   to dictate what you're going to build and how  you're going to build what's the most common   planning mistakes people tend to do adding  something at the very last second sometimes   is very hard at the beginning of your van you're  going to be doing things that you will need at the   end of your build so you're gonna plan plan  plan plan so that by the time you get there   you didn't forget about it when you  when you did your writing on a paper   find a cargo van or the type of van you're looking  for these days something very special is happening   uh big companies big delivery companies  are buying a lot of cargo vans for example   amazon bought 25 000 promasters in 2021 i  think that means people like us don't have   access that easily to those cargo vans anymore  and if you look online you'll see that the   used promaster is the same price as the new one  because the new ones are not accessible anymore so   big market out there big market for cargo vans  if a cargo van is what you want otherwise you   can check out any kind of used car selling  platform that you would usually use to buy   a normal car unfortunately though since  the van life industry is blowing out of   proportion these days finding a van to work  with is getting harder and harder i build a   lot of these vans whether it's ford transit  whether it's sprinter whether it's promaster   if you haven't done one before you can probably  fit whatever your needs are in any one of these   models the way you're gonna build it is slightly  different because the frames in there are slightly   different from one van to the other so you won't  probably see the difference yourself but for me   i don't build a promaster the same way i  build a sprinter or a transit transit so um   keep that in mind there's different techniques  to use depending on the frame that is in there   step number three of building a van in only 10  minutes it's a very paradoxical and it's very   weird but step number three is actually cutting  your van making holes in it making holes in the   van if you read on the internets you have all  the recipes you need to do nice cuts nice holes   you got to make all the perforation you need to  do at the beginning for example in the ceiling   you have to install this fan before building  anything else around same thing if you're going to   pass wires into your roof whether it's an  antenna because of your of your wii booth an   air conditioning or lighting or whatever windows  windows you have to think about everything that   it's going to cut the frame of your van before  you start building inside because you're not   going to have access to it if you don't do that  did your plan i want two fans one fan i want an   antenna i want whatever do the outside stuff  first and then switch to the inside after okay number four numero you have to see the title after  the number number four the rough stuff so we when   we start building inside i always start with two  things the flooring the insulation and the vinyl   of the flooring and the ceiling so all the  prep for the ceiling the bracketing of the   ceiling the framing of the ceiling and the  walls etc why do we start with those things   uh personally i do that because it's easier to  deal with installing your cabinets after you   can do your sealing around your cabinets but  that's a lot of work uh so it's a lot easier   to put the ceiling on and you saw the type  of ceiling we're doing and then to put the   cabinets on those ceiling and it's it looks  a lot better a lot less trimming to do and   it gives you the dimensions you're going to have  to work with for the rest of your cabinet same   thing for the floor the floor is going to be up  you could probably floor around your cabinets but   it wouldn't be insulated that's not a good idea so  if you put the floor on and then put your cabinets   after that now you got a good frame on top good  frame in the bottom and you know exactly what   you're dealing with in terms of size before you  put the ceiling on you got to think of your wires   we did the outside wires coming in you did that in  the last step where is your electricity going to   go some people are using the subfloor to do that  some people are using the ceiling the ceiling   to do that and again you have to go back to your  plan what kind of wires do you need for everything   planning planning planning we said wiring ceiling  floor and you're ready to go for the rest of what are the five essential tools that  we should buy when building a van basic   carpentry i guess you would start with a good  drill that can make holes and can screw screws   so first a good drill second uh all you need  to cut wood obviously so a good sea salt is   and of course if you get the money you get with  a bench top that if not everyone can afford this   yeah you use table saws with ten inch blades  for fine finish okay three you know a good   sander would help okay a good center is a must  all right number four of the tools you need to   build a van you know if you're gonna build your  venue you may use one of these all right or you   may want to use a nail gun uh a good nail  gun finishing type you don't need the big   i'm gonna make a deck type nail gun just a  finishing type and it's gonna help you do a lot   of things and uh last tool you would recommend  for someone building a van i feel like uh   well that's basic but measuring tapes we use  measuring tapes a lot i don't know if that helps   yeah definitely and there's many on the market  all right well thank you very much father good   work with the van behind you looks exactly like  the one i'm in right now okay all right goodbye step number five this is where you start your  cabinet making process and compared to other   bills that you saw online we do not assemble the  cabinets inside the van never we do the cabinet   making outside because of solidity because  of integrity and once we put them inside the   whole thing is very solid how do i know if the  cabinets will fit with the space that we have   with the walls and everything like first few vans  we did together i was like how do you make sure   it fits properly against the walls uh i made  myself a big square angle which is about two feet   by three feet and then you can see where you're  gonna your your furniture is gonna rest on these   main frames if you want your furniture obviously  to be looking straight and looking uh looking   great as we said we build outside we put it inside  and it's going to be an exercise of yeah i got   this ready i'm going to put my first furniture in  and then i'm going to confirm the my first cabinet   in and i'm going to confirm the measurements  of my second cabinet based on the first one   it's pretty neat it's a pretty neat way to do it  because i've seen so many people trying to figure   out all the angles while making the cabinet and  this is very hard because you have your structure   of the cabinet to take care of but you also  have the structure of the van to guess all   the time right so it's cool to have a rock solid  cabinet that you can just install when it's done hello step step number six 666 and this  is a step that people thought we would do   before in the process but no insulation and the  reason why we insulate only at step number six is   because next step is going to be installing the  cabinets that we pre-assembled and the cabinets   have back walls what happens when cabinets  have back walls you're supposed to be the   one telling the thing the back walls of the  cabinets are gonna hold the insulation in place   instead of just working in an empty cargo van with  you know insulation falling on your face for a   couple of weeks just wait until the back walls of  the cabinets hold all your insulation in place and step seven set it's a lego thing now yeah because  you have to put every little component together   you just did the installation of your cabinets  now you got water to deal with you get electricity   to deal with you got gas to deal with in some  cases so now you got to make all this work and   put it in at the right place uh at the right time  so we're talking about integrating your systems   i'll give you very very concrete examples sylvain  has to make sure all the wires go from the battery   to the according electrical components same  thing with the propane he has to make sure all   the pipings are linked to the right component  to make sure it works so this is called the   integration slash lego phase where you have to  plug and play all your different little systems yeah step eight the trimming or the accessory  trimming or the accessory cabineting or the   aesthetical aesthetic structures the stuff that is  not the cabinet but that is still wood what is it   tell me about it it's your favorite it's your  favorite part of the process what we call by that   is uh for example i use beams to support the upper  cabinets they have a lot of decorating functions   but at the same time they are structural and they  support the cabinets on the top so you can put   50 pounds per cabinet if you want so they have a  roll and they come at the very last time so it's   basically all the light structures not the light  structures but the structures that are that aren't   you know supporting cabinets or accessory  structures accessory structures that you   have to work on and it's very easy to work on  those structures once all the other cabinets   are installed because you have your final  measures right in front of you so accessory   structures number eight accessory structures  beams columns whatever you're going to put   trimmings in your van to make it look good because  it's going to be a component of looking good number nine is the finish shake the finish  shake so everything that is caulking   painting staining adding the colors you  want adding the little decorative structures   or i don't know pieces or handles that you  don't like yeah everything that hooks that   finishes the cabinet this is usually where  many human beings have enough skills to   work on their vans meaning you know how to paint a  piece of wood you know how to stain a counter you   do what you first thought of on your van but  it's actually the last step of the process   and when you design your van when you design  your cabinets you probably had that in mind   when it's done i'm gonna do this oh that  particular wall i'm gonna end up putting   that hook that's the stuff you probably  thought about when you did your drawing   looking at pictures and magazines and whatnot  well that's where you're doing it now for you   the final touches to make it look good  so because before the finishing phase   pretty much all the vans look the same they're  all a bunch of boxes and wood and bed and beds   and that's it i think the finish makes the van  look exactly like you want the van to look like okay last step last step but not least add stripes  okay bye no but a lot of people like you know   everything's done or almost done this is usually  where you would decorate you know buy your your   mats you would usually buy your beddings your  sheets you would buy some decorations for the   walls plants books etc so decoration we did a we  did a little clip on van decoration last summer   it's very easy to decorate you just have to to  be very moderate about how you decorate your vans   because it gets crowded very fast it's it's a 60  square feet interior so you can't really put some   boxes and whatever kind of decoration you have  at the same time decorating is very personal   oh you all you want your van to look like is your  is totally you so yeah last step is decoration and   this is where you can have the most fun and it's  the way it's it's the only step where nothing is   permanent so you can take it off whenever you  want and then you hit the road and you're done so that was building a van in 10 steps 10  minutes with synthetic if you have questions   about the van building process uh feel free to  ask sylvain is building his 12th van right now   you're finishing your 12th van he's starting the  13th van in a couple of days he kind he kind of   knows what to do and what not to do when you're  starting or thinking of a van project so if you   have questions i'll be in the comments section  with sylvain for the first few hours of when   this video will be online meaning today sunday  fire away your questions we'll answer them we're   gonna try but yeah go ahead with your questions  we're gonna give it a shot peace just let's stop cutting corners this expression is very  similar in french in english but look alright   means stop the coupe means cutting and liquid  means corners but for some very weird reason   in french we added the round notion so in french  you use the word wrong for round and we say   stop cutting the corners round and i think  we say that because of our french ancestors   they built everything round they eat everything  round and they even have round actors so that's   why we have ugly round buildings in montreal  so anyways stop cutting corners in english baby youtube

Channel: Vanlife Sagas

Views: 49,211

Keywords: vanlife, campervan, vanlife tips, vanlife tricks, diy van conversion, diy campervan, van essentials, vanlife essentials, van must haves, campervan must, campervan must haves, vanlife mistakes, diy van, travel, vanlife sagas, vanlife travel, vanlife USA, travel during covid, covid travel, US border, campervans, how to start vanlife

Id: 1bb1vCa5JkY

Length: 18min 40sec (1120 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 23 2022