It’s happening!! Our kickstarter is up and running and we are in the process of raising our goal of $10,000 to accomplish this conversion. While this is going on, the plans are well underway. This has been a somewhat overwhelming, but very exciting project to fall into my lap.
For a very long time I have been extremely interested in tiny homes and other small and or/mobile dwellings. I also have a good deal of experience designing and building my own furniture. Throughout this past year often in my workday I have pondered the possibility of a fully functioning grooming van and felt like that was probably something I would enjoy/be capable of tackling.
I did NOT expect it to actually happen. This entire van opportunity has been a whirlwind. I couldn’t be happier with the vehicle parked next to my house, slowly being gently dismantled and altered and upgraded, but it’s been quite a learning process.
Turns out, tiny houses, RVs, and campervan resources, which I was largely counting on, are not actually that helpful in this project given our unique needs:
We need a decent amount of water on board to give multiple baths in a day. This water must be somewhat heated (not hot, but a heating system is still necessary).
We need a considerable amount of electricity available to run our grooming equipment.
We are traveling from place to place throughout the work day
That’s not to say I was not able to find very helpful resources, I just had some special considerations to keep in mind. I especially found the youtuber, Greg Virgoe, extremely helpful with posts from several years ago detailing a sprinter van conversion. He has a background in engineering and is very skilled at breaking down complex systems into understandable terms. I also conveniently live with a partner who is an engineer with a passion for VW campervans (and has an awful lot of relevant know-how, skills, and useful tools). With a great deal of time utilizing all of these resources, I've come up with a PLAN!!
To start: PRIORITIZING. The most expensive part of the entire conversion is the electrical system. I was very surprised doing research into different options for mobile grooming units to find that many utilize standard propane generators. I’m really not sure how they are able to incorporate enough ventilateion to feel comfortable with that. I knew that I did NOT want to have to rely on a propane generator to function in our van. We will be running our system off a battery bank that will be charged as we drive/overnight at home (or perhaps with an extra alternator to independently charge the batteries as we drive/solar panels mounted on the roof). I did some rough estimates of what our electrical needs would be so that I could get an accurate budget and sense for what our grand plan was to make sure we could accommodate everything we need.
At this point, now that the system is generally planned out, it is being deferred until later on in the conversion process. The batteries and inverter system are the bulk of the cost so will have to wait until our kickstarter is complete and those funds are available. I am also going to need to recruit help from my resident engineer to get everything safely hooked up, so it is a project to tackle at a later time.
In deciding how to be able to run our entire system off solar energy - the water heater was a bit of a challenge. Water heaters obviously draw an enormous amount of energy. As a more sustainable option, that works given that we generally are driving in between appointments: we will be utilizing the heat generated by the car engine. Conveniently, the van’s radiator is easily accessable from the interior of the van, close to where the plumbing system will be established. I will divert the radiator hoses to a plate heat exchanger which will heat our 50 gallon water tank to the temperature that we set, automatically shutting off the system once the water has reached the desired temp. I will talk more about the details of this system later as I set it up.
There are a LOT of moving parts in this conversion. For the most part, I feel confident that I have a well thought out plan. I can tackle the majority of it on my own and have a small list of tasks I need some more knowledgeable and skilled help with, but luckily I have those resources available to me. I won’t bother discussing some of the more straight forward alterations (like installing a backup camera and monitor), but I am gearing up to start insulating behind all of panels I have removed and then to start some actual construction!
Before our kickstarter is complete, I am beginning to tackle the parts of the van that are relatively inexpensive but very time consuming. I have taken a lot of time figuring out the plumbing system in the van that will work best for us and now that I feel confident that everything will fit in our confined space, I can start some of the construction!
I removed all of the interior panels from the van to see what I was working with. This has opened up the van to not only allow me to insulate better and close off the interior to better suit our needs (keeping in mind that we will have a tub in the van so water damage is a concern) but also let me clearly see the van’s internal structure and areas where I am able to secure materials. Removing the panels also allowed me to see that a standard roof vent/fan will not fit our van and I will need to come up with a creative solution (more on that later).
I made a detailed model including the internal metal ridges in the van and points at which I can attach wooden struts. I then came up with a rough idea of what the table to place the tub on will look like (with space underneath to accommodate our bathing system and grey water tank).
This is different than any other building project I’ve done before. I generally plan, plan again, then do another plan and have basically all the details figured out before I even purchase materials. This time, that is not the most practical way to go about this. I’m primarily going to build directly in the van and adjust and figure things out as I go. This is mostly because the van is a weird shape (working around curved walls, windows and wheels) and I have some strange shaped things that need to be accounted for, like our large water barrel. I am taking advantage of one of the old chair mounts that I left in the van in order to have a sturdy platform for the heavy water barrel to safely sit over the wheel.
Okay - with all this planning done, it’s time to start some building! Updates to come!
Don’t forget to check out our kickstarter if you are able to donate any to this exciting project!!