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We found a total delivery van with only 3,000 miles after an intense bidding war.
Watch as we convert a £10,000 delivery van into a camper, tackling ventilation installation, upholstery, and cutting into the roof with no prior experience.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Van conversion requires patience and adaptability due to unexpected challenges.
- Proper measurements and planning are crucial before cutting or installing parts.
- Using factory holes simplifies installation and ensures a good fit.
- Upholstery and trim work can significantly enhance the camper interior.
- Ventilation installation is essential but can be tricky without prior experience.
What the video covers
- Purchased a delivery van with only 3,000 miles for conversion into a camper.
- Faced challenges due to lack of experience and vans not being designed for living.
- Attempted to install ventilation but initially ordered the wrong size.
- Installed brackets and shelving inside the van, learning through trial and error.
- Upholstered trim pieces and shelves to improve interior aesthetics.
- Cut into the fiberglass pop top roof to fit a large ventilation vent.
- Used factory holes and simple installation techniques for mounting parts.
- Discussed possible finishing touches like painting trims black for a shadow gap effect.
- Shared tips on measuring, cutting, and fitting components accurately.
- Promoted a discount code for Van Concept ventilation kits for viewers.
Chapters
- 00:00Van Purchase and Initial Plans
- 00:51Unboxing and Features of Ventilation Unit
- 01:55Installing Brackets and Shelving
- 02:54Removing Ceiling Panels and Fitting Issues
- 03:56Upholstering Trim and Shelf Pieces
- 05:06Fitting Upholstered Parts and Final Adjustments
- 07:27Preparing to Cut Roof for Ventilation
- 08:50Cutting the Roof and Installing Vent
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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We won it. Then we repaired it, ready to be converted into a camper. The problem is, vans are not designed to be lived in.
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And with zero experience, we're going to face a lot of challenges. That is not going to work out, is it?
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And today we're going to be cutting a hole in our roof. Oh, I don't think that's actually going to work. This camper build could get a little bit out of control because we've made a few—I won't call them mistakes.
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I'll call them wrong order. So, I think we should have put our ventilation in before we installed this, but we didn't.
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So, here we are. So, let's get our new ventilation unboxed. Oh, it's lovely. Oh my God, it's got lights in it. Oh my God, we haven't got cables for this.
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Do you know what else it's got? Go on. A blind. Oh, that's quite good.
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Wait. Ready. Wa. Mate, I'm going to do so much reading when I'm in bed.
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That's going to light up the universe. It's quite good, isn't it? Now he's got to fit it.
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Because me and Brad can't really read very well, we let Pete do that part. And that didn't work either. So, we decided to measure it. Now all we got to do is take our measurements and check that this is going to fit in the pop top.
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Fingers crossed. Oh, I don't think that's actually going to work. First mission is a failure. But we have ordered the correct size. So mission one foul. Mission two, this more cardboard boxes. Let's unwrap these together. [music] So there's lots of
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parts. It looks a little bit like a puzzle, but this is going to be for the bulkhead. [music] It makes it easier to trim it out and adds a shelf.
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So, what we need to do is install this first set of four brackets. Because I didn't want to read the instructions, I got the bracket and I started to figure out where it went. And this is where it
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went in the top bolt of the handle that you grab. And there's one of these for both sides. Pretty simple to install.
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So, this is the next two brackets. I think this slots up into the factory holes, which means all this has got to come down. Super. Luckily, I haven't glued any of this. It's all screwed. So, I pull down the LEDs I've already
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installed and start to remove the paneling. You know what I say? Proper planning prevents—Never mind. Enough of that negativity. Let's be positive. This shelf looks lovely. So, I slid it on to the two brackets that I've already
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installed. Now I need to figure out the others. That holds the back of the shelf. Holds the front of the shelf once it's tight.
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And then the other bit goes over it. Pure confidence in my eyes there. That is not going to work out, is it?
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After figuring out that's not going to fit, let's start removing more of the ceiling. And it doesn't fit.
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Cool. Now I'm going to remove even more of the ceiling. These are the sorts of things you could think about before you do them. Everything fits perfectly. So now I'm going to take it back off and we're going to upholster these. I have
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done a subwoofer before. So same thing. Done a parcel shelf. So I'm the man for the job.
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Why? Why did you do a parcel? Did you fit six bines? Six ban [laughter] and then someone nicked the whole shelf.
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Surely we're not the only ones that have put six bines in a parcel shelf. I thought that was what everybody did. So, with all of our experience, I'll start to spray up and upholster the first piece of trim. First bit is done. It's
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absolutely perfect, even the back. Now, I'm going to tackle the shelf. This is pretty easy because it's flat. So, I'm going to spray it up. Stretch the fabric a little bit, but not too much, and make sure it's nice and stuck. They've
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covered up these holes. So, now we got to drill through this. Probably tear it to bits so we can fix it. We wasn't too sure on how to make these holes without pulling the fabric around, but this seemed to have worked. And now me and
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Pete can bolt the brackets on because that's how we figure this goes on. So the other two are mounted to the van.
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And then these go on the shelf itself. We then slid it into position and we're bolting it to the factory holes because that's how it's been designed. It's a really good system. It's easy. Even me and Pete can do it. Now we're going to
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install the first piece of trim that we upholstered and again into the factory hole. So it's all easy to install. You don't even need to use your brain.
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Luckily for me, the side bits are designed so that they can go all the way down to the factory floor. But because we've insulated ply LVT, we need to cut the bottom. And to get that measurement, I'm going to
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measure from the bottom hole that we're going to be bolting it to and take that much off. It's pretty simple. And then I use a square to get it square. That makes sense. Now we can test fit it
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before we do the other side because there's two. Perfect. Now that they fit, all I got to do is wrap them in wrapping paper. I was a little bit worried about this because it's got some really tight curves in it,
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but this fabric seems to just take it. I just pushed it in with a little bit of glue and it all stuck. And now it's starting to look amazing. If you need any Christmas presents wrapped in cloth, just let me know. As you can see, my
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confidence is getting pretty high now because I feel like a professional. So, now it's on to the second one, which is the same thing. And rather than drilling the holes, what I'm doing here is I'm actually melting them because I think
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it's a better way of doing it. I've melted my holes. Now I'm going to fit it. Like the rest of the parts, these mount to the factory holes in the van.
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So it doesn't take a lot to get it into position. So I slid it in, put in the supplied bolts on one side, and now I can do the other side. It really is that easy. Or am I just really smart? Now
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that we've done that, we trim down all of the ceiling because they were too long and put them all back where they already was. That little kit from Van Concept is honestly—we sent a message. I said that is probably the easiest thing
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I've fit to the van. And look it because we said it was so good. They said if you want your viewers can have a discount. I haven't got the code yet. I'll tell you a bit later on when I get one. And then
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also, we're still debating 'cause the old cloth liner here is we might don't know whether we should dip black. So then it just looks like a shadow gap. Maybe you can let us know in the comments below.
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Maybe we'll do in the next video if you think we should paint that black or leave it standing out.
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We've got big bro's little bro. How quick is that? I would rather that one, but ChatGPT said, "Don't dare cut that into the pop top.
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Do not fit anything bigger than that." Let's unwrap another vent together. Wow. It's almost like we've already did this but in a bigger version. So, this is basically exactly the same, but this one is 400 x 400. Before I get up on the roof
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to cut a massive hole in, which could be a 10 G mistake, I'm going to mark inside like this just [snorts] so I can drill a hole in the middle and make sure we're centerish. It made sense to give myself
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a little reference. So, I'm going to mark it, make sure it's in the middle, inside, and then I'm going to drill up and out. Now, we've got ventilation in the van. Let's do the next job. Next job is climbing up onto the top. And I'm
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going to measure it all out and make sure it's center. And guess what? It wasn't, but it didn't matter. It's just slightly to one side, but it's center left to right, if that makes sense. Now I'm going to use a grinder and cut it
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out because that seems like the easiest way to cut this fiberglass roof or pop top. That's the top cut. But I can't get this off 'cause there's like a support piece for here. So I need to go inside
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and do it all over again above my head. This isn't fun. I'm getting a lot of dust in my eyes and a lot of dust in my face. But it's a job we got to do, so I do it. And now that that's out, we can
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give it all a c
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strip off around the opening. That way when I stick this down, it's going to have something to key to. It didn't seem like the smart idea to stick it to vinyl. It might come off. Now that I've keyed it up, I'm going to use the same
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adhesive that we stuck the pop top on with to stick this vent. This is sort of like a miniature pop top if you think about it. So, I'll go around the whole of the outside, making sure we got
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plenty on there because we don't want no leaks. And now we can slide it in together as a team.
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First half of our vent is in and it's dry 300 hours later. Now, the lighting part of it, we was going to permanently run it in, but what we're worried about is we're going to have to drill holes in
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this, and [music] then that's going to expose it to water. Not a good idea. So, we've decided for the LED in this, we're actually going to run a battery pack, and we're going to mount it inside up front out of the way. So, let me do
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that. Now, this comes down to risk and reward. It didn't seem worth the risk to drill a hole outside and potentially cause a leak just for an LED when we could install a battery pack right next to it and it's easily accessible. So,
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it's pretty good idea if you ask me. I'm super smart. Now that that's in, let's foam it up to seal the gaps.
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Right, we need to wait for that to dry. While we're waiting for that to dry, should we do another job?
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Let's do another job while that dries. So, this is an LED track. I've routed the edge of our step and then I've installed a little test piece. And then that's the dimmer strip or the diffuser.
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And then we're going to carpet the front and I'm going to connect it to that which is our door trigger. So when you open this, the step's going to light up.
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So basically, I'm going to make use of the original interior light. So when you slide the door open, the stair or the step should light so you don't trip over when you've had a few too many sheries.
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So let's mark it out because we need square corners. I use the router and then we just trim the last of it with the multi-tool because routers make a round hole and we need square holes.
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So the LED track we're going to be using is the same one that all co LED lighting put us up there. So that way it's all going to be uniform when it lights up over the night and you can show off to
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all your friends when you're camping [music] in the middle of nowhere. You're welcome. So now that we've connected all the wires, let's start sliding in our LED strip and putting all of the trims back again because we like removing and
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reinstalling and removing and reinstalling [music] stuff that we've already done on this van. It makes it enjoyable.
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Now that all of that is done, let's start trimming up the diffuser strip. I don't know why I keep calling it a dim strip. It's definitely a diffuser strip.
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And of course, we need to carpet the front to make it look nice because I don't really like the look of the tin foil that we've left there. With Pete's experience doing a subwoofer or some sort of parcel shelf and my experience
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doing the van, I'm getting pretty good at trimming now. Look at that. It looks seamless. That is one of the openings perfectly finished. Now, round the back, we've got the same situation. So, Phil's thinking we might make a feature out the
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back as well. Eventually, this should be like a little storage area when you open the back doors. And all of the stuff you need, so electrics, pumps, water should be under here. We'll see. So, I'm thinking by adding this LED on the back
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when you open the doors of the night, you can get to it all and retrieve your swimming trunks that you put there earlier. To route this out, I'm using a rabbit bit. So, that basically creates the groove. And then I screw the track
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down. Slide on our diminishing strip. No diffuser strip. That's what I meant. And then we can car it the rest. Lovely.
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What a transformation. Tidies up. Gets another job off the list while we're waiting for expanding foam to dry up there. It's nearly done. While that's still drying, we decide we're going to tackle another job. So, what Brad's doing here is cutting some strips to
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build a surround for one of our windows because we need something to screw our blind to. So, this is going to be that something. As well as that, we need to ply it because this part hasn't been done yet. because if it's difficult, we
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like to leave it as long as possible and hope someone else does it. This bit of frame here, we're actually going to glue this one because obviously that is single skin. So, don't really want to put screws and create outside
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coat hangers. Let's use some grab adhesive. Fill up the whole edge, including around the surround that's going to go around the window. Put it on. And now we can clamp this into position. So, make sure it's tight when
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it dries cuz nobody wants [music] baggy bolts. Well, I don't. Anyway, now that one's done, let's move on to another one.
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Now that's all dry, we're going to move on to the complicated bit. And they've got the professionals in to do that. And to stick it, I'm going to use this 3C Max Bond because we want maximum bond.
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Pete can also get you abs in 60 days for only $69.99. So, if you want ads in only 60 days, make sure you contact him directly.
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Oh, what's that? Yeah, I've got my own YouTube channel, so you can subscribe to that.
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Like the other side, we make sure we apply this liberally. I think that's the word. Because we don't want this to fall off ever. And then we can push on the second half. This is the bit that's going to make it look pretty. The other
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parts mainly just so that we can fix the blind through and it's not going to fall off. Now that's done. Pete gets on with the final bits of the trim. I think these are called bits of trim. the ply.
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He cuts the rest of the ply and gets it fixed in. And that's that done.
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That is all of the panels inside of the camper done apart from the back doors.
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Now, this would have been really easy if we kept all the templates. Someone threw all the templates. Yep. Make sure you throw all of your templates away. That way, you've got much more work to do.
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So, we let Pete do that because we didn't want to. And now he's just fixing them into position. Good job, Peter.
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They look amazing. Almost like factory. While Pete's doing that, rather than standing around with my hands in my pockets, I'm going to design this, which is an edge for our seats to make it look a little bit more like a seat. We are
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slowly moving through the van, getting loads of bits done. Now, Phil's add this nice little nosing to this boxing in that we did for the toilet that goes in the bathroom. So, we're going to start carpeting stuff. Is it called carpeting
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or is it called upholstery? You'll have to let me know. I think it's upholstery.
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Anyway, with all of my hours of experience, I get our upholstery and start up aholstering. And I make sure I do it in completely random order because that's what I wanted to do. I've done one wheel well and one seat. Now I'm
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going to move on to this big one because I've had enough practice. I'm going to be so good at it. This upholstery is making the van look lovely and upholstered. And if you want some of it, this stuff is from Vanstyle UK. So make
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sure you go check them out because it really is transforming this camper. And all it is is a bit of upholstery if you think about it. The reason I'm making this look quite easy to do is because this stuff actually stretches four ways.
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What a complete transformation. Just having a bit of carpet on the wall. Look, this bit raw building van. This bit luxurious camper. There's just loads more carpeting to do.
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I love how he says it like he's doing any of the work. Because I'm thinking ahead for whoever wins this van, I'm going to make a little access panel for these pipes. So, if there is ever a problem, which there
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won't be cuz I did it, you can take it off. If if there's a problem. If there's a problem, I think you mean Peter.
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I'm just going to check that fits. It will cuz I've already checked it once.
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Oh, it's perfect. Now I'm going to do the rest of it. Well, I say I am. Phil is.
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I'm not doing it. Love this job. [laughter] I suppose I better get on with a pulsing this because if you didn't know, this van is up for raffle and the time has been set. So, it's going to go very soon
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to one of you guys. And if you want to win this or a chance of winning it, make sure you head over to ukcartech.com and grab your tickets.
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This section of wall is fully carpeted. It's not carpet material covered thingied. So, we're going to fit one of our blinds cuz these safari windows that we got so you can look at the animals actually come with blinds. So, I'm going
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to fit that on right now. And you won't believe this. I haven't read the instructions. That's so unusual. So, let's figure this out together. Oh, it turns out you just put four screws in the corners. Really easy to install. And
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then some caps. The good thing about these is what's that? You don't want no flies, but you want the breeze.
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Nice. What's that? You want everyone to leave you alone? Bye. While Brad's playing with the blinds, I'm going to move over to the back doors. There's two of them, believe it or not, and upholster the panels. And we've actually
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decided to only do the panels because I've seen a few campers where they trim up to the edge where the rubber seal is.
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And in my opinion, it just seems a little bit unfinished. But that is of course just my opinion. So, we've opted to just do the panels like this. And I think the color of the van suits it anyhow. And the last job is another
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blind. The other door is done. Now, Flawless is back from Flawless Flooring, the one that laid the floor and done a fantastic job. Now, Flawless, what are you going to do for us today?
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Lay some floor. [laughter] Obviously. Obviously. But you're going to tie that one into that one. And you're going to also try and match the pattern so it runs up the step.
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Not try. I'm going to match your pattern. You're going to match. Confidence. That's what I like to see.
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So, we get out a laser and start lining up the original herring bone that we've got. And you may be wondering, why didn't you do this bit of floor before?
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That's because this step wasn't here. We built this after. And now we want to match it through to make it look really good, which makes sense because the rest of the van looks really good. If you see the video where we did the main floor,
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you would know that Reckless did that one as well. So, it made sense to get him back to do this little part because he's really good at it. And if you're curious, the glue that Flawless is using to stick this down is actually a hybrid.
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So, basically, it can be used as a pressure sensitive glue or a high temp glue. And using high temp like we are makes sense in a camper because you can imagine when this thing's parked up when you're not using it, it probably gets
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pretty hot inside and we don't want this floor to foul in the future. James got the floor wrapped up and me and Brad moved on to our ventilation because basically this is in two parts and it doesn't quite fit the width of the pop
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top. So, we're going to use adhesive and fill the gap after. If you want to buy some tickets for this amazing camper, you can get them at ukcarttech.com or link will be in the bio below. That was a busy one. We've got loads of work
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left to do. Limited time. Until the next one. Love you. Bye. What are we upholstering it with? You ask this.
Topics:van conversioncamper buildroof ventilationDIY campervan upholsterypop top roofvan interiorVan Conceptcamper ventilationhome improvements
