The journey to my van life built from scratch… no previous knowledge of van build. Started the project in my head after a cancer scare Instagram: @vanlifecali
Why hello there folks as everybody doing today okay so i wanted to show you a little progress of my van built i started this project well i purchased the van like less than 20 days ago and it was just your regular old chevy express cargo van which was used for i think it was the owner was the electrician and so he used them for work i had to go ahead and strip
Everything and rebuild it and so today i want to show you the progress as you can see i have already made the bed it’s a queen-size bed actually let me explain the van to you a little bit first this van is a chevy express 2003 and the model is 3500 that means it’s a heavy duty extra long extended van so it’s a little longer and it made it possible for me to
Make a nice sized queen-size bed in there and so here it is very long which i like and so let me show you what i’ve done in the back as you can see i have done led lights and here’s the bed queen-size bed down here i made a little bit of storage room and he’s long and it’s kind of dark so he can’t release the insight but i could put tents and folding chairs and
You know long things what have you awnings things like that i could put it in there if i wanted to i could the store my batteries in there i got a leather jacket working right now which is perfect for my led lights and for right now i’m just gonna use you know this kind of batteries for my energy needs because i’m not planning to live in the van so i don’t need
Any of those you know fancy solar panels and systems so i got one more storage right here like i said you know for folding chairs and cleaning supplies and charcoals and barbecue and grills and this door system is really simple it’s just a piece of quarter-inch of plywood cut to size and then i put another piece of wood here so we just light it open and close
It’s a nice little cheap way of making doors and so here it is to look from the back of the van i’m gonna take you to the kitchen and everything that led lights are nicely hidden under the molding there so that’s kind of cool and you could change the colors you know that there’s red and purple and whatever color you like some wood lights that’s why we use it for
And on this christmas time it’s holidays so i’ll put up a little bit of christmas lights also on top i used wallpaper and you know i used the installation all around the walls and the ceiling and the floor for the walls and the ceiling i used the one inch installation and then a quarter inch of plywood on top of that and then i painted this side i put the crown
Molding actually that’s a base molding i used it as a crown molding because i like the size as you can see there i got a smoke detector already for safety safety is number one and here we go i’m gonna take you to the front and show you some of the things i’ve done in the front oh before we do that i am going to make a nice little storage here on this door it’s
Going to be folding plywood platform here and in there i’m gonna store my one of my stoves for cooking so we could cook out here back here and for the windows covering i used black foil this material the black is foil paper that i found the user for production of like movie industry they use this under sets so you know if you need to buy black you know stuff you
Know they have a lot of materials they use for production and i use magnets strong magnets too and i cut it into shape and i put some installation in the back i glue them together and i’m just attaching them with strong magnets so this whole thing comes off when i need the letter view and i need the light in the van and and nighttime it will go on for privacy
And a little bit of installation same thing over here just comes out very easy and goes back to place really easy just cut it to size and shape and alright let’s go to the other side and this is my favorite spot in the whole world i come here to relax make videos for you guys and mainly come here to read the bible and i the making of this video i’m planning to
Study the book of john a little bit today okay so here we go here’s the insight i got the plant and it’s alive because we like to purify the air with we filter the air with plants and green here i used break veneer quarter-inch and this panel this wall here as you can see and this is a black blackout curtain which i use for that area there for privacy and to
Block the light all right so over here i got the sink system and what i have done here is as you can see it’s christmas time so i got the christmas decoration everywhere that would be my christmas tree right there with the grinch and so let me show you down here i’ve done the sink system really simple i used two two gallon buckets for grey water so you know
One is in use we’ve hooked up to the sink and one is for backup because i’m using a three gallon clear drinking water and so i just left one of these gray water tanks for backup really simple this is a stainless steel salad bowl mixing bowl i purchased from walmart for like seven dollars i made a hole in it i i know a lot of people do that and it’s funny from
For this whole sink system that i’ve created the most expensive part is the soap dispenser it was like $27 this is my faucet water pump right there it’s a battery-operated i got it from amazon for like $13 or something like that and it has a battery inside and it charges you could recharge it with a usb cord which connects to this guy here is a battery i just
Left this battery here i purchased a battery for like ten dollars it’s gonna operate my sync system and also this led light that i have up here is powered by this battery here and so this whole thing over here really simple to do like i said the most expensive part was not the faucet not the battery it was the soap dispenser right there and i got i’ve got some
Crystals right there my favorite lazy owl coffee cup and on top here behind these knobs which are also hooks and it’s a little cabinet leather storage here you know i still have to paint that area there i think so i’ve got to let a storage room there and then let’s see right here this is the bed like i said it’s a queen-size bed nice sized bed over here and what
We’re gonna do so it’s going to sleep too very comfortably i mean – like five five five eight in height you know i’m six feet tall so i’m gonna be sleeping on the floor which i’m gonna bunk down here as you can see i’ve got a mattress over here which will pull out and i will open it up here goes to the back over here it sleeps a 6-footer like me very comfortably so
This van built will sleep three people and so we got some greens over here i love plants i got my candle over here i have another storage here for one of these emergency toilets and then i got my tools and i stove i’m gonna store here so this goes in here and i found this guy here i’m gonna go ahead and use this as a marker of all the places i’m going to travel
To hopefully i’ll mark all over the place i’m gonna go all over us and so here it is folks it’s almost done i got a nice closet here when i’m done with the closet i’ll do another video i think i’m gonna put a cooler there i’m looking for a yeti 35 if anybody has one for sale i’m buying so let me give you a longshot it’s merry christmas we got the christmas rug
Christmas lights and i wish you a happy holidays folks i know thanksgiving is coming up and i’m pray for a peaceful and joyful holiday for everybody leave me comments suggestions and let’s become friends thank you for watching and talk to you guys soon
Transcribed from video
Stealth Chevy express 3500 cargo van camper conversion tour— By CalVan