This is our 2020 Ford Transit van. It started life as a fleet rental, but left the urban streets of the lower mainland to become our home-away-from-home.
The idea of the van started a couple of years ago when we were camping at Salt Crick (creek) in Washington state. We were tenting in the midst of a heavy downpour while we watched someone else camping in comparative luxury in a similar camper van. Since then we did a road trip to Albuquerque NM in our SUV which confirmed we liked that mode of travel but felt it would be nice if we could stand up to put on our pants.
In 2024 we started shopping for ideas and learning what kitting out a van was all about. From there, we found the 2020 Transit van with low mileage and cruise control; everything else that it came with was great, but those were the basics. Planning out the van and sourcing components took the next month and then we got to work. The first cut is the hardest as it turns out; I didn't feel good about drilling that first hole into the body panel to install the side windows. After that, it got easier, and we made steady progress.
By summer we had the solar and electrical as well as some of the interior finished and did a test run out at Fintry Provincial Park, after that we added the awning and finished out the cabinets. Since then minor additions, tweaks and adjustments have been done to deal with drawers that pop open when rounding a sharp bend in the road and improving things like water pressure.
If there is enough interest, I can give a list of key components and the suppliers that I used. I stuck to better quality components but have the hope that future repairs will be easier by sticking with the bigger players (ie: Dometic, Webasto, Victron, etc).
Looks great and can’t wait to see it.