WTB Camper Van

Hi everyone,

Is there a site or forum that is ideal for finding new or used camper vans? I'm ideally looking for a lightly used, fairly well set up van.

I can't afford the businesses that special build them for you.

Thank you!

J

www.vanlifetrader.com

As someone who builds them professionally and has owned 5 converted campers it is VERY BUYER BEWARE out there.  There are a huge number of vans being sold these days that were built by someone building a complex (potentially dangerous) thing for the first time ever.  I have lots of stories of vans burning to a bare shell as a result of amateur electricians.  Even many that were "professionally built".  I HIGHLY recommend finding a builder you REALLY TRUST who is willing to inspect any used camper you might be considering.  We do several of these inspections a month and see some really crazy things.  

Van Life Trader is the place to go, unless you plan to build out yourself (in which case the usual used vehicle markets are a better/cheaper bet - ebay, craigslist, etc). Andy's warning is a good one, but no need to be too scared... From a safety perspective, I think there are a few things to look out for, but all are pretty straightforward. 

- Electrical - Risk is you burn down the van, like Andy said. What you want to check is that the wiring is done well and properly fused and gauged. You don't need to check every wire to see what sort of craftsmanship went into it. Look for large, high-current wires and run the basic calculations to see if they're properly sized and fused. Just reading a few build guides on vanlife electrical systems should give you enough info to assess whether it's sketchy or not. This is slightly more critical if the van has high-current devices like an induction stovetop, in which case you should check the wiring all the way to those devices.

- Heating - Risk is you fill the van with CO while sleeping. If you have any sort of heater, check that the combustion loop is properly vented. Install a CO detector if there isn't one already. Better yet, have two.

- Propane - Risk is you blow yourself up. If you have a propane system, check for leaks and that there's a proper, normally-closed solenoid installed. Install a propane detector if you don't already have one. 

- Seating - Risk is that you get in an accident and discover your seat wasn't properly bolted to the frame. If you only have a driver and passenger's seat, probably not a big issue, but check any seats that were added after the fact if you're going to use them while driving.

- Furniture - Risk is that it comes undone in a crash. Just check the attachment approach and give the cabinets a good shake to get a sense of how solid things are.

- GVW - If the build is complex and has lots of added furniture and components, it's probably a good idea to go to a weigh station and make sure it doesn't exceed the safe load.

Other than those risks, I don't think there's anything too critical in the build that could cause death or bodily injury. Good luck finding a van!

My coworker "built out" his van himself. As i'm looking at it with him, looking at all the random wiring to stuff he's hooked up, I ask "you put fuses inline with all this stuff yea?". He tells me no, no fuses, because it's "a ton of extra work". He also wanted me to hook up a diesel heater for him by drilling holes in his fuel tank. Can confirm, most people building out vans have less than zero idea what they are doing. A trained monkey would be much better. 

Having done a build out a few months ago- 

If you don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a quality custom builder, but you also don't want to learn how to be a carpenter, plumber, and electrician, I highly recommend doing a bolt in solution (also including electric and plumbing).  It took me about 4 solid days to install everything, mostly on my own, with essentially zero past experience.  I actually did the entire build from inside the van with no significant staging area outside the van itself.  I’m happy to send you a private link on my website that documented my build if you PM me.

I would certainly recommend against getting some random semi-pro build off the internet, there is A LOT that can go wrong.

These are perfect answers, thank you everyone! This helps a lot. Hopefully I can find something for a decent price