Skip to content

21 guides

Camper Van Guides

The questions a buyer asks between deciding they want a camper van and signing with a builder, in roughly the order they ask them.

Cost

Cost

How much a custom camper van costs in 2026

The honest answer is a range, and every number that moves it is knowable.

18 min read

A camper van parked outside a small bank branch, with a signed loan document and a set of van keys on the table in front of it.

Cost

How to finance a camper van conversion

The loan you can get depends on the build you bought, and almost nobody says so.

17 min read

A camper van parked at a campsite at dusk, with a calendar and a stack of coins on the folding table outside it, standing in for the monthly arithmetic of living in a van full time.

Cost

What van life actually costs per month

The running costs are the easy half. The van is the line nobody puts in the table.

18 min read

Choosing

Three unconverted high-roof cargo vans parked side by side on a flat lot, each a different length and roof height, which is the choice every camper van conversion starts from.

Choosing

Sprinter vs Transit vs ProMaster for a camper conversion

The chassis is the one decision in a van build you cannot revise later.

22 min read

A finished camper van interior with its galley and fixed bed fills the left of the frame while the right shows the same van as a bare metal shell, its floor covered in power tools and cut timber.

Choosing

Buy a finished camper van or have one built

Four routes to the same driveway, priced in money, time and control.

17 min read

Two people stand talking across a workshop bench beside a part-converted van, a clipboard of build notes and a mug of coffee between them.

Choosing

Questions to ask a van builder before you sign

The questions are the easy part. Knowing what a good answer sounds like is the rest of it.

21 min read

A buyer crouches at the open rear doors of a used camper van with a torch, checking the wiring behind a panel that has been lifted out and propped against the bumper.

Choosing

How to buy a used camper van without inheriting a problem

The saving is real. So is everything the last owner did behind the panels.

18 min read

A high-roof camper van on all-terrain tyres stands at the end of a rutted dirt track with a loaded roof rack overhead and low dry hills rising behind it.

Choosing

4x4 and all-wheel-drive camper vans, priced honestly

The factory option, the custom build, and the case for spending the money on tyres instead.

21 min read

A camper van stands with its sliding door open on a belted rear bench and a pair of bunk beds along the far wall, two children's bikes racked on the back doors.

Choosing

Camper vans for families: seats, beds and the layout problem

Four people need four belts, four berths and the payload to carry them, and shops quote only one of the three.

21 min read

Building

A camper van drawn in cutaway from the side, showing a fixed bed across the rear above a storage garage, a galley running along one wall and a seating area at the front behind the cab.

Building

Camper van layouts that work, and one that rarely does

Layout is the one decision in a conversion you cannot undo later.

16 min read

A narrow wet bath cubicle inside a camper van with its folding door open, showing a shower head on the wall and a small basin below it.

Building

Camper van bathrooms and showers, honestly assessed

Four answers, three of them cheap, and a clear case for having no bathroom at all.

16 min read

The rear doors of a high-roof camper van stand open on a gear garage beneath a raised bed, with two mountain bikes and a row of labeled storage boxes slid in end to end.

Building

Camper van storage: the garage, the cabinets and the gear

Space is the easy half. Weight is the half that decides what you can carry.

15 min read

A camper van photographed from a high angle with four solar panels laid across its high roof, and a cutaway through the side wall showing the battery box and cable runs beneath the bed.

Building

How much solar and battery a camper van actually needs

Size it on your own daily draw and every other number falls out of it.

24 min read

The inside of a camper van wall part-lined with insulation batt and part-bare, with the steel ribs still showing through the gap and a roll of insulation lying on the floor beside it.

Building

Camper van insulation that keeps moisture out

The material matters less than the moisture, and the window to get it right closes early.

21 min read

A camper van stands in deep snow at dusk with warm light in its windows, and a cutaway through the side panel shows the diesel air heater under the bench seat and the powered fan set into the roof.

Building

How to heat and cool a camper van through four seasons

Heat is the cheapest comfort in a van. Cooling is the most expensive.

19 min read

A camper van galley with a stainless sink and a folding tap, the counter cut away to show the fresh water tank and the 12 volt pump plumbed beneath it.

Building

Camper van water systems, from tank to tap

Tank size is a payload decision before it is a comfort one.

21 min read

A half-finished camper van sits on a workshop floor with its insulation still exposed, a wall calendar hanging behind it and the fitter's tools laid out along a bench.

Building

How long a van conversion takes, start to finish

The build is measured in weeks. The wait is measured in months. They are different numbers.

14 min read

Owning

Two finished camper vans parked side by side on a suburban driveway, the nearer one with a hand-written for-sale board leaning against its front wheel.

Owning

What holds value in a camper van, and what does not

Most people sell within 5 years, including the ones certain they never will.

16 min read

A high-roof camper van stands on the platform of a public weighbridge with its side door open, water containers and gear boxes unloaded onto the ground beside the rear wheel.

Owning

Camper van payload: the number that ruins overloaded vans

Every pound the shop spends is a pound you cannot pack.

16 min read

A finished high-roof camper van waits outside a small county motor vehicle office with its new plate propped against the front wheel, beside a folder of registration documents and a printed weight ticket.

Owning

Registering and insuring a converted camper van

The paperwork is cheap to get right and expensive to get wrong, and the order matters more than the forms do.

15 min read

An inspector stands with a clipboard beside a finished camper van on a workshop floor, checking the build against the certification sticker fixed to the open door frame.

Owning

What RVIA certification means for a camper van

What the seal covers, who holds it, and where it stops mattering.

12 min read

Ready to shortlist a builder?

Ten American shops ranked by who we would send a buyer to first, with prices, lead times and who each one suits.

See the ranking