Ultimate Camper Van build (start to finish)

[Music] [Music] welcome to the pigeon this is my 2015 f ducat it's the 2.3 engine and when I bought it it had done 69,000 M but that is all of the boring stuff the interesting stuff is what is going on in the back of here and in this video I'm going to take you through step by step everything that it took to take this van from the dirty old Builder van that it used to be to the absolute beautiful specimen that we are currently within plus I'm about to take this van to the Arctic Circle I'm literally getting on a boat tomorrow morning so you don't want to miss that you know what to do but that is enough talking for now let's just crack on with showing you this build and at the end of the video there's a couple of little bits that I wanted to talk to you about some upgrades that I'm going to be doing when I get back from the Arctic and and also I just want to tell you a couple of the bits that I would have done differently if I was starting this van again so the first job was to take out all of those wooden panels and the bulkhead so now we're left with a blank canvas I've removed the double passenger seat that was in there and switched that out for a single so now there's a nice walkway so you can get straight to the cab there was about 50 screw holes Left Behind from where those wooden panels are so I've treated them for rust and I've filled them up with some sealant and a pop rivet just to prevent any future problems I've just put the sand deadening on the walls and this is going to take away any excessive road noise and vibration in the panels I've left these two back ones here cuz that is where the windows are going in on the floor I've used dead and Duo by dodo mat it's basically sound deadening and insulation in one easy to use product I've just removed this metal strut here it was up on this side panel and that just gives me a little bit of extra usable width in the van so I can fit a full siiz double bed across the back and that is the dodo thermol liner down on the wheel arches all of the panels on the wall and is on the ceiling as well this is just the old apply flooring back in here temporarily but what I've just done is I've bolted these side support pieces onto either side of the van and that just gives me a nice stable platform to mount my bed frame and that is now the bed beams all in place and these are fully removable so if you need to take them out you can just pop them straight out of those brackets now I've used heavyduty velcro to secure these so that they can come up if I need to remove them but at the same time they're nice and solid that's the rear windows fitted these are both tinted from the outside they have this little pop out section here so you can open them and they also have a fly screen that is the maxair deluxe fan just gone in and that is the large window fitted on the sliding door and this one is also tinted from the outside I've carpeted the wheel arches and I've just laid down the ply floor now the ply is made up of three pieces and I didn't want to screw directly into the van so I've put a tiny bit of scker flex under the corners of each piece to stop them sliding around and I've fixed them all together using pocket hole joints then I've applied some wood filler and sanded that back to fill any holes and slight gaps between the joints and by the time the furniture is in here and screwed down to the floor this is not going anywhere and that is now the vinyl floor glued down and in place I've just put some doo therof in the walls for some added insulation now the old ply panels used to come pretty much up to the top there but I didn't want that I wanted separate panels so I've cut them down with a jigsa carpeted them and these have been secured in place with nothing but four strips of heavyduty Velcro so once again no need for Unnecessary holes in a van plus I've now painted these bed support pieces black both of the side pillars have now been carpeted now I've only them up to a certain height for now cuz there's still going to be shelving and some wiring going in along the top and before I put the carpet on I just covered over some of the larger holes with some aluminum silver tape I've just glued these blocks to the wall and that's just so that when the panels go up there's not going to be any Flex in them if I'm leaning against them whilst I'm set up in bed the thermo fleece is now in place as well so these have just been made out of the top half of the original plier and I've just covered them into material that I found on eBay and once again these are secured in place with nothing but some strips of heavyduty Velcro along the edges I've just carpeted around the Inside Edge of this window frame the thermo flee is in and that's the carpeted door panel in place now because it's on the door it is going to be getting slammed so I have had to screw this one in place I've used these little gray screw caps just to make it look a bit neater and obviously from the panel I've cut out the section for the window and using the exact same method that is now the rear door panels done that is the thermo fleece and the velcro strips in place for the main panel and there she is what a beauty now now this one's been covered in a leather effect vinyl and the bed board is now in place now I'm really happy with this I have just cut this out by hand with a jigsaw but it's come out really neatly and that's just been secured in place with some pocket hole joints along the floor and up the walls and I've just used this black silicon edging which is self- adhesive just to finish off the top and the inside of the door my kitchen pod has finally arrived this is an induction hob I've got a sink here as well there's a little popup section on the end for extra workspace the drawers are soft closed and they won't come open whilst driving and I've secured this down to the floor with eight screws in total there's also some screws that are securing it to that bed board and to make sure it's extra secure there are two of these L brackets inside and they are just directly attached to the B pillar on the van I've just fitted some swivel bases to both of the front seats and to finish the windows off I've just fitted these blackout blinds so that's my new fridge in place obviously you access it from the other side there is a gap here but that's purposefully done and we'll get to that shortly the brand addition to the van are these Rogue alloy wheels they've got alterrain tires on there to help in difficult conditions and I've also put on these side steps and that is now the external hookup Point done so I can charge the batteries from campsites or electric vehicle charging stations so I've made this basic frame just out of Timber painted it black and that has just been screwed directly into the van to give a strong fixing point and that is now my wheel Arch water tank secured to that frame and that is my entire electrical install done now I've built this cabinet out of the left over wood that I made the bed board with and I'm not going to go into a lot of details because that could be an entire video in itself but just a basic rundown that is my inverter charger this is just an isolated switch so you can basically shut the battery off completely this is the links distributor so basically that runs out to all of the circuits in a van and connects everything to the battery next to that we've got the DC todc charger so that's going to charge the van whilst driving on the right hand side I've got two solar chargers and that is for different solar panels that are on the roof so they are going to convert that energy to charge the battery as well these are just some breakers that's just for a bit of protection then next to that we've got two 12vt fuse boxes and behind of that I've got all of these plugs ready to go so anytime I want a new 12vt circuit in the van I'll just plug it into one of those and send the cables out this is the victon serbo it's basically the brains of the entire system and then the heart of the system is obviously the battery now it's not actually connected right now but I've tested it it's all working fine this is a 560 a battery from fogstar and now that my solar panels are in place we can top it up from the Sun the entire roof rack has just been made out of unist strut and I've also bolted a light bar onto the front so the plywood for the ceiling is actually going to be attached to these metal braces but I've sier Flex some bits of wood in between those just for a little bit of extra support I've left gaps in the battern where the solar wires are coming through the roof and this double one here is not only CER Flex to the roof but it's also screwed directly into the metal braces and that is because that one is going to act as a support piece for my microwave shelf which is going above the kitchen and that is the thermo flee in covering the entire ceiling that is the ply panels now in place and the cables for the lights are all tucked up neatly Behind these holes and to finish it I've just put this Fabric in place and that has been attached using spray glue the lights are now in and connected and I've added this Max Air shade which also has some additional lighting and that is the plumbing now complete so we've got the filter pump and accumulator and that water runs up to the kitchen sink additionally the cold water line splits off and it comes through here into this truma Combi boiler now this is a diesel heater and a water heater in one so it sends the hot water back through and up to the tap and this model actually runs from the diesel tank but it also runs from electricity as well so I've put in a plug socket down there so that I can take advantage of that when I'm on hookup underneath the van I've made this contraption out of various pieces when I turn a handle one way I can manually dump my water and if I keep it turned the other way there's a button inside the van so I can dump my water automatically using a solenoid valve I've just mounted four SE CCTV cameras to the roof now these are going to be running and recording 24/7 but additionally I'm going to be able to see all around the van using this split screen monitor which I have inside my top lockers are now in place behind this I have insulated the wall and then I've just screwed in some 9 mil plier which I've carpeted and these are screwed directly into that 9 mil ply and I just put all of my body weight onto this they're solid and they're not going anywhere oh and also I've done what I said I wasn't going to do I've actually added some screws to most of these panels it's not that the velcro wasn't strong enough enough it's just that when you leaned against it there was a little bit of movement there and now they're completely solid against the wall I've now insulated and fitted the carpeted panels to the top of the walls above either side of the bed I've also scribed out and fitted this microwave shelf which is secured not only to the wall but also there is a battern which I left under the ceiling so that screwed up through the top of that and then underneath I also have this new spice rack and this is going to act as an additional support piece I've started building the main side unit for the van out of 15 mil ply and I've justed pocket hole screw joints to fix it together in the end here the bench seat lifts up to reveal the separator toilet this tool cupboard is going to be my wardrobe so I've just put a wardrobe rail in there as well and this part here also doubles up as a step to get into the bed now before I put it all together obviously I boxed the truma in and I ran all of the ducts to the various places in the van so I've got three of these vents here to let air out into the main living area and there's a fourth one which I've temporarily run through to the garage and this is just to stop my water from freezing ing up when I drive to the Arctic I've got these traction boards now on the side of the van is back up just in case I get stuck in any mud or snow I've just carpeted around the back doors and I've also carpeted the plastic panels and popped those back in place so that now I can remove those if I need to access any of the cables behind I've also just carpeted around the edges of the bulkhead and I've put in this plastic trim piece at the top along with that there is also a plastic trim piece along the threshold mounted to the side of the bench seat I've now added this multiposition table so that can be pulled out and placed wherever you like and underneath that I've also added this cushion seat I've just added these custom fitted thermal blackout curtains now these can be unzipped at the sides rolled to the top and kept out the way if you want the cab area to remain open I've also fitted them around the back doors now these ones Dro down just about to the height of the mattress and as you can see these are currently in the open position I've finished all of the furniture with this self adhesive silicon edging I decided to put the switch panel up here on the top of the Wardrobe so I can reach it from the bed there is also one in the cab and these control all of the lights in the van the dump valve for the water to come out outside plus my CCTV and my TV as well and talking of CCTV that is my monitor now installed so now I can see all around the van without having to open the curtains or get out plus that is my 12vt Smart TV installed up on the wall along the top of the sliding door I've now added some insulation and I've placed all of the wires in the correct places ready to be plugged in and the final piece of the puzzle above the sliding door I have what I call my data center and yes I'm aware that there's still plastic on some of these screens but what we have here is a 5G mobile rotor so that gives me Wi-Fi in the van next to that is the truma controls next to that this screen will control my entire electrical system and next to that is the DVR and that'll record my CCTV footage 24/7 my air fryer is now in place there's some aluminium heat protection behind it plus there's a vent for the heat to escape and along with that I've also now installed my microwave very ious plug sockets have now been fitted into the van so I've got two under there I've got two below it there are two in this cupboard here and there's one inside this little cubby hole just for the microwave I've also fitted some PD ports I've built some additional storage into the Gap that was next to my fridge this is mainly going to be for water bottles but really you could put anything you want in there there is now some underlighting under my top lockers which I think looks really nice on that leather wall I've also added a down light underneath my microwave just to light up the kitchen area and finally I put this switch in here for my water pump so that is right next to the sink where I'll need it and that brings us to the present day now there's a few extra little bits that I want to talk to you about like my shower for example which I have down here I'll show you that in just a sec but for now I just wanted to mention the insurance side of things I keep getting asked who did I get insured with is it a proper camper van insurance and the answer is yes they insured me at the beginning of this build as a Jac camper in conversion and they agreed a value of what it would be worth when it's finished and about 2 weeks after I took my insurance out the lady rang me back and she actually said she'd been watching my videos since I told her about the channel and she said if I wanted I could offer my audience a 10% discount on the quotes so all you got to do when you're ringing for a quote just say that you saw on adsventures Channel about them and then they will apply a 10% discount on that and as for the shower situation technically this wasn't part of the build which is why I didn't put it in the main section but this is my ever shower it's basically a shower in a box now a few episodes ago you might have seen that my friend Josie was kind enough to demonstrate this for us but if not I'll be using it myself throughout the Arctic trip it's a recirculating shower so it barely uses any water I've got hot water in here as well so hopefully I'll be able to make good use of that so I said I would tell you the things that I would do differently if I was to do this vanan again to be honest I've been thinking about it and there's actually only really one thing and that was the electrics I would have done the electrics earlier on in the build just because it was quite hard getting the wires behind some of the walls and there's not really anything else that i' change as such cuz I am really happy with it at the moment I'm sure I'll find things along the way but some bits that I'm going to add to it as soon as I'm back from the Arctic trip is I need a wardrobe door cuz at the moment my clothes are just going to be flapping all over the place I also want to add some little trim pieces along the edges of the floor so that when you open up the sliding door you can't see the edge of that wood and finally I want to add some lighting in the bedroom area and underneath my data center that I can turn on with my voice so I can just say lights out lights on as for me I need to get get home Chuck some stuff into the van I'm so unprepared for this Arctic trip honestly it's going to be a bit of a mental experience but I hope you guys are going to stay tuned and watch that and come along for the journey with me I want a massive thank you as always to anyone who's donated to the channel by buying me a brain self for a link in the description below the next time you see me I will be getting on a boat with the pigeon and the epic adventure to the Arctic will begin

Channel: Adz Ventures

Views: 312,683

Keywords: van life, vanlife, van life uk, van camping, stealth camping, van stealth camping, stealth van camp, uk stealth camping, uk van life, campervan, uk vanlife, van life in the uk, off grid camper, off grid campervan, off grid van life, van life vlog, stealth camper, stealth van camping uk, camper van, fiat ducato camper, peugeot boxer, citroen relay, van build, camper build, campervan build, camper van conversion, Ram pro master, Ram promaster

Id: eV1_fLiv3TA

Length: 14min 58sec (898 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 22 2024