Pre-owned Tempo Traveller van conversion for vanlife by Vimal Geethanandan

Pre-owned Tempo Traveller van conversion for vanlife by Vimal Geethanandan. 

A lot of you wanted to know my journey of building Maaya, my self converted van home and things related to that. 

As I mentioned earlier, it is a dream of more than 3 years; more than 2 years of working various things for it and more than 1 year of working in it. 

The basic idea of Maaya started when I realised how much people are giving to me and how much I wanted to give back in one way or the other. But I can't stay at a single place. That's when I thought, why can't I take my home to the road and that is where this dream started. 

After all the dreaming and drooling, I started with a food truck. I thought that would be a logical step, then I sold it. After that, I did crowdfunding, then I sold tea on the road, I sold toys on the road, I worked various things including as a freelance content writer, as a delivery boy, as an interior designing intern, helping my mom setup AirBnB at her place and managing it etc. 

Finally, with the help of so many people including my mom, I got to buy the van I have dreamt off. 

Then started the struggle of converting that into a private registration vehicle as I bought it as a commercially registered vehicle. 

Funnily enough, I thought I can get it done in 4 days, in reality, it took me 4 months. I used to go to the RTO, which is like 25 kilometres from the place I was staying at that time, every day, to convince them that there exists a provision in the Government, which is being mentioned in their own website. I went to their head office to get permission from them. Literally, I tried everything I can. I used to stand before the office from morning to evening, to not miss the chance. 

After 4 months, I got the registration as Camper Van/Trailer (Private Use). 

My happiness knew no bounds. 

In the meantime, I went to Maharashtra, with just the inspector's order copy of conversion, without RC, in the hope that I'll get the RC immediately. But after that also it took me another two months. 

After the whole saga, I started the conversion. I learnt everything and I did everything by myself. One of my juniors from school, joined me and stayed with me for the whole year to help me out without expecting anything. 

Every single day, it was a struggle, it was a trail and error process. I lost some money. As I did everything myself, I saved some money, this is the exact reason, it is very difficult to share the exact amount I spent. 

But my friends who helped me in the building process at various times, started a van building company. If you need a professional help, I can help you send a quotation. 

If you are doing it yourself, I'm dropping in few important things to remember via the process I built Maaya.

Process of building: 

1. Design and Planning: 

This is most important part. Based on the size of your vehicle and your requirements, plan your layout. 

Van is an extremely small space, so you need to be very frugal and very attentive to every single space available. 

And note down your needs prior to designing. For example, I needed a full bed rather than a bed that converts into a sofa, a living room rather than a full time shower etc. 

2. Welding and Tinkering

If you are buying a second hand vehicle, there can be places which need some tinkering work. Fortunately, I got a pretty good vehicle. But it is important to get it done. 

Then, if you need to build anything which needs strength, get it done with iron. I did it for my bed frame. Because mine is a full bed. 

3. Insulation: 

Insulating your van is the most important and the very first logical step of building your home in the van. Choosing right kind of insulation matters. After a lot of research I went with PIR insulation boards. These are effective and does the job pretty well. 

Note: Always remember, van is a pretty hot place, no matter how much you insulate, there's some heat you have to bear. But insulating definetly helps to some extent. Without that, it is very hard to live in it. 

4. Plumbing: 

Depending on your layout, you can go with an over head tank or a DC motor which pumps water. 

Most importantly, don't forget any connections and make sure all the connections are tight enough to avoid lekages. 

With experience, I'm saying, leakages can be frustrating, too much frustrating. 

I have a 220 litre water tank underneath my bed and a DC pump. All my grey water goes to the tanks underneath my van, which I can dump responsibily at places I want. 

I chose to have hot water at all places there's a water connection. Now, though, my gas geyser is not working, will get it repaired some place. 

I have two showers, one indoor shower, which I can setup whenever I want and one outdoor shower. I have a commode inside for emergency purposes which also has water connection. 

I have a water filter which filters water for me. 

Know basics of plumbing, basic things you need, like Teflon Tape, Mseal, Clamps, T connectors etc. 

5. Electricals: 

I went with a 350 watt solar panel, two 120 Ah Batteries, one 2200 VA solar inverter. 

I can choose to connect it to any power source in a home and directly draw power without involving the inverter. 

You can also choose to go with increasing the size of your Dynamo, so that driving will also charge your batteries. 

I chose to go with all AC appliances and get all the power from the inverter. The primary reason is DC appliances are costly and there's not much difference in power loss. 

Know basics of electricals before starting, use right kind of sq mm wires as it can cause a little power loss. 

You can watch YouTube videos to understand connections and they explain it pretty well. 

6. Wood work: 

I chose wood for building everything because wood acts as a secondary insulator. It is also easily available and available at cheaper rates. I chose plywood because of my budget constraints. 

I took the machines for rent. But I'll suggest you to buy them because you never know how much time it'll take to build yours and you can save a lot of money. You can also, sell them on OLX/QUIKR after you are done. 

7. Painting: 

Initially I thought I'll use laminates but then I realised lamintaes can come off with time, so I went with wood painting. It came out well. 

8. Arrangements: 

According to the layout you chose, you must have already bought the required appliances just place it accordingly and your van home is ready to move. 

Lockdown, lack of money at times took me an year long to build it. Everyday, I used to think, another two days, another week etc. 

But, like it happens to me always, universe has always been kind. 

From making me meet a completely random stranger in the head iffice whi turned out to be my cousin's senior to complete strangers sending me money randomly when my bank balance became zero. 

Will always be grateful. 

PS: My inbox is always open, you can always DM me and I'll always reply.

PS2: For those who don't know me, I'm a nomad and travelling in India for more than 4 years now in various capacities. I live in my self converted van home Maaya. ❤️

I have uploaded most of my building process almost daily through stories on Instagram. Get on to my Instagram and check the story highlights 'Maaya - Our Van' (instagram.com/inspiringwanderer) 

Courtesy: Vimal Geethanandan. 

Facebook profile link: 

https://www.facebook.com/vimalgeethanandan 

Post link on BBTI: 

https://m.facebook.com/groups/backpackingIndia/permalink/1773694456137754/  dated 2021-01-07. 

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* vanlife, 

* vanlife stories worldwide, 

* Conversion for vanlife,