Here are the top 6 things we regret about our campervan conversion. When converting a campervan yourself, you are likely to make mistakes or have regrets.
With our tiny amount of experience, things were bound to go wrong. It’s hard to get everything perfect, especially for our first-ever van conversion.
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1) White Interior Paint
Neither of us has a keen sense of interior design, so when it came to choosing paint for our furniture, we went with a very boring white paint.
I think we were scared of picking something a little more adventurous and then hating it. But now the white paint just feels sterile and boring.
And also, white paint gets scuffed and dirty-looking way faster. So having a darker color might hold up better against our adventures in the great outdoors.
Luckily, it’s never too late to throw a different color paint on there if we’re feeling up for the project.
2) Window Covers
Our campervan is a passenger van, so there are lots of windows. Covering those windows for privacy and also climate control is a must.
We decided to make window covers with Reflectix and black fabric. But for insulation against the cold, we added sheep’s wool in between. Overall, we like the design. But the way we executed it is one of the top things we regret about our campervan conversion.
The idea behind the black fabric was so that we could flip the covers around and completely “black-out” our windows.
We thought that this could help us do more stealth camping without getting noticed.
But we have only flipped the window covers to the other side maybe one time. So that functionality is practically useless, and we wish we had chosen fabric with a cool design to add some fun vibes to our home.
The other flaw in our design was cutting the Reflectix to fit the exact size of the windows.
This makes keeping the covers in the window extra difficult. It’s already difficult enough because things like velcro don’t work in the heat. So the best method is to use magnets. But we had to sew extra fabric around the edge to allow the magnets to sit on the metal window frame.
But this method often causes gaps. If we had just cut the Reflectix a little bigger, we could just attach the magnets around the edge of the Reflectix and it would probably work much better with fewer gaps.
3) Seat Cushions
For our bench, we made cushions using some leftover foam from our memory foam mattress pad.
It’s not nearly dense enough to make a comfortable cushion. It’s better than sitting on bare wood, but not by much.
And we made fabric covers for the seat cushions that we sewed permanently. We wish that they were removable so that we could throw them in the wash. They are definitely getting dirty and need a wash.
4) Portable Campstove
We opted to have a portable campstove (the Camp Chef Everest) for cooking. The price tends to be much lower for portable campstoves than built-in ones.
So admittedly, the price had some impact on this decision. But every time we want to use it, we have to pull it out of the drawer and connect the propane. And it takes up much more space than a built-in stovetop.
Don’t get me wrong, the Camp Chef Everest itself is great, if you are in the market for a campstove, you can’t really find a better option. However, pulling it out and putting it away gets old after a while.
We also were intrigued by the possibility of cooking outside, but truthfully we have probably cooked outside less than 10 times in a whole year! It’s just much easier to cook inside where all the other kitchen stuff is.
We are highly considering a built-in stovetop in the future.
5) Poor Bed Ventilation
Our bed has had mold issues twice in the first year. The solid plywood platform and memory foam mattress make for a wildly unbreathable combination. And because of it, we have had to deal with mold a couple of times.
Bed mold is a common problem in campervans and RVs and there are a couple common solutions. First, we added a “hypervent” layer underneath our mattress. It’s basically a plastic mesh that creates an air gap and allows air to flow underneath the mattress.
But passive airflow wasn’t enough to fix the issue, so we went above and beyond to fix the problem.
I installed two computer fans underneath our bed platform and wired them to an automatic humidity sensor. Now, anytime the humidity gets to dangerous levels, the fans flip on and dry it out.
Here is a guide that describes how we rigged up these fans on humidity sensors.
6) Built The Kitchen Counter As a Frame
In order to save weight, I designed the kitchen counter as just a skeletal frame. This mistake stands out as one of the top things we regret about our campervan conversion.
The problem with this design is that most drawers need something to mount them on.
So I ended up having to add in plywood dividers anyway. If I had just started by building the counter out of plywood from the beginning, I would have saved a bunch of time, hassle, and materials.
Takeaway
These 6 things that we regret about our campervan required some thinking to come up with. And we consider ourselves lucky for that.
But there is definitely room for improvement, or renovation projects if we are feeling up to it. Hopefully this post can help others avoid the same mistakes.
But enough with the negatives, read the Top 6 Things We Love About Our Campervan.
Save These ‘Top 6 Things We Regret About Our Campervan Conversion’ For Later
