Often with DIY van conversions during the design phase wood is used almost everywhere. Dodge ProMaster vans, Ford Transit and Mercedes Sprinter vans all receive wood very easily once the initial framing is complete. Vanlife for many is a vision of driving across America, boon docking and camping in a van that resembles the inside of a barrel. When designing our van conversion we absolutely wanted to use wood. We chose locally cut cedar, one to support our neighbours and two because it’s such a fine wood with exceptional colour and we could mimic the interior of a boat. But we also knew we wanted other materials as well. To break the visual lines of the van, to soften the texture of the conversion and make life nicer as we camp or overland. Whatever we used on the van interior design had to be durable, easy to clean, something that would not fade in the sun or tear easily. We wanted a material that would help absorb some of the road noise as we traveled. But most of all it had to look professional and be easy to build and install. After much consideration we arrived at vinyl as the right material for our interior van panels to accent the wood. Vinyl checks all the boxes about durability and sound, it’s available in all kinds of different colours and textures and after some experimentation proved to be very easy to work with. We really loved the results in our van so much we ended up using it in more places in the conversion than we expected. In fact we ran out !! Some panels in the van build were simply plywood covered with the vinyl. Some of the van interior van panels received foam and then the vinyl. The foam added a softer texture and swanky look to the whole van build.

These panels sit above our bed see the bed framing here:    • Van Build Series  Promaster Bed Fram...  


And over our basement which holds our bike rack    • Stealth Van Build Basement Bike Rack ...  

We are planning a road trip to northern Ontario when we're done https://www.ontarioparks.com/en