Let's Go, Jane!

This week felt like a lot of researching, sourcing, and designing—and not much hands-on doing. Although, when I look at pictures, the van does look completely different inside. Primarily because I finished insulating and then installed the ceiling planks. It’s noticeably quieter when I drive, now that all the surfaces are covered. It no longer sounds like the inside of a tin can.

I came away from the vanlife festival at the beginning of the month with lots of ideas for what materials I could use on the ceiling. In the end, it came down to cost. While I love the look of those individual slats that run the length of the van, between the plywood and the slats the materials would have been about $600 and I’m not sure how I would have installed them by myself. One guy used teak boat decking, and while that would have been much easier to install, the cost was closer to $1,000.

In the end, I went with your basic ¼” cedar tongue-and-groove planks. For $150 I was able to pick up enough planks to cover the ceiling and then some (between the knots and the thinness of the material, it’s not all usable). I knew the planks were too thin to attach with screws, because they would split, so I needed to pick up a cordless brad nailer. Poor me, having to buy another power tool. I’m going to have trouble parting with them after this project!

Then came the part no one really talks about: getting everything you need, in the right order, at the right time. I have a stack of cedar planks, ready to install. I could purchase the nail gun in person, but because it’s an enclosed van and humidity is a concern, and because the planks are made of cedar, I needed stainless steel nails to avoid rust or discoloration. As long as I’m ordering the nails, I may as well order the nail gun. Unfortunately the brad nailer made by Milwaukee (my favorite power tool company) is prohibitively expensive so I decide to go with Ryobi.

The next day, the nail gun arrives, but the nails are delayed by a day. Day three, nails in hand, I open the box with the nailer only to find that while this Ryobi tool comes with a battery, the battery is barely charged and there’s no way to charge it without a dedicated Ryobi charger. None of the local stores have a charger so I order one. Day four arrives, along with my package, and I finally have what I need. It’s late afternoon by the time the battery is charged, so I only have enough time to do three planks before it gets dark. Day five at the crack of dawn I’m on my phone searching “how early can I use power tools in a residential neighborhood.”

In the end, the ceiling went up quickly and it was immensely satisfying. I am getting better at scribing, that technique where you use a compass to trace a line around an irregular object. You can see the rounded corners around the skylight. I LOVE the nail gun. It’s so easy to use and it made this project a breeze. I’m leaving the outside edges of the ceiling open for now because I’m not sure what I’m using for wall material and because I want to make sure that I have all the electrical wires I need while I can still run them across.

While I was waiting on all of that to come together, I turned my attention to the water system. I used Gemini to brainstorm the design for the fill port (I broke up with ChatGPT after one too many hallucinations) and it had me chasing my tail for hours one day. I wanted a quick release fitting for a 1.5” hose. It’s easy to find quick release fittings for a ⅝” garden hose, but not so easy when the hose is 1.5” in diameter. Gemini sent me to Tractor Supply Co. for what turned out to be this industrial camlock that was totally overdesigned for the van. In the end, I found a pool fitting with a valve that should work in my setup.

I also spent some time researching upper and base cabinets. I have settled on a design for each and started building the base cabinet for the fridge yesterday. I will have to build in place, and in modular fashion, since I am working alone. Without someone to hold up the other end of something, or help me lift a heavy piece, I have to get creative. Luckily I have YouTube and a whole community of resourceful solo DIYers. It may not have felt like much day to day, but piece by piece, the van is coming together.