CHOOSING YOUR VAN LAYOUT
Choosing your van layout can make or break your van build. This is a part of van build that starts before you do anything else in the van, this part is very crucial and you should definitely take your time when planning this out. Plan accordingly to fit your lifestyle as someone else’s layout might not work the best for your lifestyle even though you think it looks great. Especially if you’re planning on doing Van life for year or longer, your layout should fit your lifestyle and your needs as best as you can get it, so take your time.
Even with our build, it is funny to look back at our videos where we talk about the layout, and then compare it to final build, it has almost completely changed because in the beginning we were just excited and imagining it and comparing to other people’s vans, but the reality is, when we got past excitement stage and actually thought what would work the best for us, things started changing. You can check out our initial excitement plans in this video: https://youtu.be/ThXGhi8YAPY and then you can see how our final layout looked like in final step of van build in this video: https://youtu.be/kJKkITb0ocM
To choose the best layout for your van, you will want to ask yourself what will you be bringing on the road with you, for example if you’re bringing mountain bikes, you will need to accommodate a space for bikes under the bed area.
There are 2 main decision every vanlifer needs to make, FIXED BED or BENCH TO BED CONVERSION , Let’s talk details below!
FIXED BED LAYOUT
Depending of what type of person you are, you will either want fixed bed or bench to bed conversion, which this completely depends from person to person and there is no right or wrong. We personally went with fixed bed because we knew that eventually we will get to that point in van life where we won’t be “making” our bed every day, it will rather be there all the time, especially because we will have dedicated seating area( bench and passenger swivel seat) to work on.
Our layout in our finished sprinter conversion van is almost exactly like the one on photo next to this text, only difference is that our bed area is long ways and not sideways, due to me being 6’5″ we had to go this way because otherwise i would have really hard time sleeping and not being able to stretch. Another reason for bed being long ways are our mountain bikes, they fit perfectly right under our bed and we love to ride the trails or just take a ride around big city on our bikes instead of using public transportation. Another difference in our van layout is, our kitchen and bench area are switched up from photo next to this text but you get the point.
Check out some photos of our van on my Instagram.
This is what works the best for us, but if you want your van to look even more open, then second most used option below might work better for you.
BENCH TO BED CONVERSION LAYOUT
Another popular layout is bench to bed conversion layout. For this layout you need to be really disciplined as you will have to make and break your bed every day, which means when you want to sleep, you will have to break down the table, spread you cushions, sheets, comforter, pillows and everything that comes with making a bed, and then in the morning, especially if you’re working on your computer, you will have to put all the bed stuff away to be able to setup your work area, your benches and table.
If you’re not disciplined, it is probably a bad idea to go with this layout as you will end up with bed being setup most of the time anyways, and won’t have an extra place to work on. We are not very disciplined, so we went with fixed bed to begin with so we have storage for our mountain bikes.
Overall it all comes down to the type of person you are, and ask yourself if you will be doing this every day?
ed sprinter conversion van is almost exactly like the one on photo next to this text, only difference is that our bed area is long ways and not sideways, due to me being 6’5″ we had to go this way because otherwise i would have really hard time sleeping and not being able to stretch. Another reason for bed being long ways are our mountain bikes, they fit perfectly right under our bed and we love to ride the trails or just take a ride around big city on our bikes instead of using public transportation. Another difference in our van layout is, our kitchen and bench area are switched up from photo next to this text but you get the point.
Check out some photos of our van on my Instagram.
This is what works the best for us, but if you want your van to look even more open, then second most used option below might work better for you.
BENCH TO BED CONVERSION LAYOUT
Another popular layout is bench to bed conversion layout. For this layout you need to be really disciplined as you will have to make and break your bed every day, which means when you want to sleep, you will have to break down the table, spread you cushions, sheets, comforter, pillows and everything that comes with making a bed, and then in the morning, especially if you’re working on your computer, you will have to put all the bed stuff away to be able to setup your work area, your benches and table.
If you’re not disciplined, it is probably a bad idea to go with this layout as you will end up with bed being setup most of the time anyways, and won’t have an extra place to work on. We are not very disciplined, so we went with fixed bed to begin with so we have storage for our mountain bikes.
Overall it all comes down to the type of person you are, and ask yourself if you will be doing this every day?
Both of these layouts are based on long wheel base van, so if you’re converting short wheel base van, just make everything a little smaller to make sure it fits, for some shorter vans, you might have to take the shower out due to space, and to be honest, showers are not 100% necessary inside the van, outdoor shower located at the back of the van will do if traveling through semi-warm places only.
We have both, indoor and outdoor shower, but our main purpose of indoor one is because toilet is located inside it as well. And of course, some stuff you can only figure out if you need it, once you start living a new lifestyle inside the van.
You can check out more about our layout on my YouTube and Instagram
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