Get Into Van Life for Free

The last few months have involved some major life changes for me, and for a variety of reasons I ended up with an elderly ex-builder's van as my vehicle. It cost me £2,500.

Being on a low income, but needing a break, I decided to turn the van into a camper of sorts; I'm not planning to live in it, just using it as a tent on wheels.

Here's how I managed to take my first steps into van life for no extra cost, using nothing but stuff rescued from the trash for materials, and just my Leatherman for tools...

I've slept in cars in the past, for various reasons, and every time I have woken up to condensation all over the inside of the vehicle. Ventilation is needed to get rid of the moisture I breathe and sweat out in the night.

I can't just leave a window open; this is rainy Old Blighty, and I'm planning on staying in the wettest part of it.

I'd kept the weird plastic bag that garages put on car seats when they sell them. It fits over the passenger door, held away from the door by the wing mirror. I added strips of masking tape to make the fit neater, then added a "frame" of masking tape on the inside. I cut away the plastic inside the frame.

The plastic keeps the weather out, while opening and closing the window provides ventilation.

I struck lucky for the windscreen, and scored a large fabric banner that used to be part of a shop display.

Patches of sticky-backed velcro at the top & bottom corners, and strategic points along the curve of the screen, hold the fabric in place.

The last two photos show all the ventilation/privacy in place.

You could use an old shower curtain or heavy net curtains. They all serve to obscure sleepy little you from prying eyes, but let the morning sun in to wake you up.

There's no escaping that Nemo was a builder's van for over a decade. The second hand car-dealer's poor valet guy spent two days digging out the debris; the floor is still not exactly pleasant to rest on.

So, I disappeared into my dad's loft space, and came back with some offcuts of carpet. Chopped to size with my Leatherman, they jigsawed into place and made the floor a lot more comfortable to kneel & sit on. The biggest piece curled up at the ends at first, but a couple of days of gravity fixed that.

You always need water when camping. The cheapest (free) storage is ex-soda bottles. The soda bottles in the photos will soon become ex-soda bottles...

Nemo came with a certain amount of plywood bodywork in the cargo space. Three two-litre bottles fit nicely on the shelf, and I used used screw-in hooks and paracord to make brackets to anchor the bottles to the wall, standing on the wheel arch. I used two lengths of cord to hold the bottles - that meant I needed 8 hooks.

Just in case I lose or break a bottle, I knotted the cord to each hook between the bottles as well as at each end. Keeping the loops snug, it takes two hands to lift a bottle out, but the set-up held well on some rough roads.

I want to be warm in the evenings, maybe toast some marshmallows or heat a saucepan or kettle for coffee. Awkwardly, my van insurance bans the storage of liquid or gas fuels in the vehicle. That means that, to be able to camp spontaneously, I have to use solid fuel.

I was going to make my own rocket stove, but mainly succeeded in making smoke.

So, this is the only step I spent money on: I bought a small "emergency" stove that runs off non-fossil fuel tablets, for £5.00 from a hiking store. When not in use, it folds to the size of a paperback book, in use it stands on an old brick to reduce the danger of starting accidental fires.

Some time ago, I salvaged a wooden first aid kit box from a skip - it is now the cooking box, holding the stove, pans and long-life food (tins of beans & sausages, packet soups etc). I also transferred the fuel pellets to an old Oxo stock-cube tin, to stop the smell spreading.

If you want to keep your costs at zero, you could just build a traditional campfire, but remember to do so only where allowed, and safe.

That's it - a cheap van turned into a tent on wheels at (almost) no cost, using only my Leatherman, in a couple of relaxed hours. If I hadn't been taking photos & drinking coffee, it might have only taken an hour or an hour & a half.

Nemo did well on his first night out as an actual camper - I slept well, even though it was pouring down, the inside of the van didn't get wet with condensation, cup-a-soup for breakfast, and I was up and down the fells before the first of the early-birds was tying their boots at the bottom.

I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to be up in the fells just after dawn, and to basically have the entire countryside to yourself, then to head down again, giving a cheery greeting to all those people who thought they were early risers until they saw you...

I'll update Nemo as time and money allow, but future projects will hopefully include adding storage and a table, maybe even some kind of awning.

If you have suggestions or tips, I'll gladly listen. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy what I've done do far, and that it encourages you to make the first steps in a new lifestyle...