Choosing the right van for your build.

Choosing the right van or ‘base’ van for your build is a big decision and one that we wished we’d have taken more time over. The van you end up with can either help or hinder what you want to achieve with your build so it’s important to give it some thought before you dive in and buy the first van you see (like we did on our first build!) 🙈

Take a look at our blog post on van basics which should help explain lengths and heights.

Here’s some things we’ve learned about selecting the right base van.

1. Ask yourself ‘What’s the main purpose of the van?’ Is it an escape vehicle for you and your partner or is it for all of the family and the dog? Being clear about your van’s purpose should help you understand what size of vehicle you need. The bigger the number of occupants (or berth) your van needs accommodate normally means the bigger the van needs to be. When we say bigger we mainly mean length. Which brings us to our next point…
2. How tall are you? I am 6ft 2in Aimee is smaller than me. That didn’t stop us buying a medium height van! D’oh!! Schoolboy error! What’s done is done and we learnt a valuable lesson. We will be buying a high-top next time! Some people buy vans that they plan never to stand up in, in which case this isn’t so much of an issue; but if you do plan to use your van (linked to purpose in point 1) and need to stand up in it then your height might dictate the height of the van you buy. It’s important to remember than if you are converting the van you will lose some of the height when you install the new floor and ceiling. A rough guide for the amount of height you will lose from a bare naked panel van to a converted van with new floor and ceiling is approx 50mm or 5 centimetres for each (or 10 centimetres in total).
3. What colour van should you buy? I really didn’t think this mattered to be completely honest as it can always be changed. Well kind of yes, but here’s what I know now. If you plan to tour Southern Spain in Europe you might want a lighter coloured van (white or silver) with air conditioning as opposed to a black van with no air con? Darker colours absorb heat, lighter colours reflect heat. Equally if you’re spending time in colder climates a black or darker van might not be a bad idea! You get my point right?
   So let’s say you buy a white van and think it’s fine I’ll get it wrapped or re-painted. A wrap can cost around £2,000 a respray can cost more than that, so if you can find a van colour that you’re happy with to start off with you will save yourself money and a huge amount of time.
4. How much or far are you planning on driving it? Cruise Control (more info coming soon)
5. Licence Restrictions – weight, 9 seater (more info coming soon)
6. Mileage (more info coming soon)
7. Condition (more info coming soon)