Camperizzare a van is the dream of all lovers of outdoor and travel on the road. A van equipped simply with a bed for sleeping, a stove for cooking and a table for eating allows you to live wonderful holidays full of freedom.
How to Realize a Custom Van
If you do not want to limit yourself to renting a camper, camperizzare a van allows you to have one all for you at low cost. With a low budget and a bit of DIY you can have a fully customized vehicle according to your needs.
But how do you get a van?
Step 1: Choose the Right Vehicle
The first step is definitely to choose the most suitable vehicle. You can opt for a small vehicle, a vehicle of medium size or very large. The more adventurous maybe want to opt for a 4×4 van with which to do even off-road. These are the main categories:
Car / SUV / Stationwagon / SUV
Campering a car, SUV, Stationwagon or SUV is an option for those on a tight budget or those who don’t need a lot of space but just a comfortable place to base up to eat and sleep. Suitable for very short vacations or super-adaptable people.
Minivan / Van
Campering a Minivan or Van is an option that allows you to have a practical vehicle and at the same time a little more spacious than a car. You drive and you park easily and can be used every day. Some examples are the Volkswagen van California, T3, T4, T5 and Transporter, Mercedes Vito, Opel Vivaro, Ford Tourneo Custom. Inconvenience? Inside a minivan/van you will not be able to stand, unless of course you change the vehicle to a raised bellows roof. In addition, if you want to make the most of its spaces, you will have to organize resealable furniture inside. A campervan/van is suitable for short holidays or people who are easily adaptable to confined spaces.
Van
Campering a van is the best option for those who love the outdoors but do not want to give up comfort. The van is in fact the most spacious vehicle and probably the most suitable to be rvatized. The most used vans are the Ford Transit, Volswagen Crafter, Mercedes Sprinter, Fiat Ducato and the Renault Master. This type of medium offers the great advantage of the height that allows you to stand on the inside. You can also arrange fixed spaces inside without necessarily opening and closing beds and tables every time you need them. A motorized van is the vehicle that comes closest to an RV for comfort and livability.
Step 2: Thermal/Insulation Insulation Insulation
If you want to campervan, thermal insulation is a must-do. In fact, insuring the medium is essential to maintain an acceptable temperature inside: warm in winter, cool in summer. Consider that during the night, especially in the mountains and in winter, the temperatures drop a lot and you could spend very cold nights. Just as in summer the heat could spread more easily.
Thermal insulation is done by applying a layer of insulation material of your choice to the walls and roof of the van:
The material you choose can be applied with this spray glue. Any empty spaces should then be filled with the expanded polyurethane foam. Once sprayed it will expand into the hole filling it.
At this first layer of insulation material to insulate your van you will have to overlay a layer of Reflectix.
If you want to simplify and speed up the process, while still maintaining high performance, you can use this product that replaces them all:
- Armaflex 13mm sticker for basic insulation
- Armaflex 19mm sticker for superior insulation
The Armaflex Sticker is a highly flexible and easy-to-apply insulation product. It resists steam (which can cause rust to the body) and has a very low thermal conductivity. It is able to insulate from temperatures of up to 125 degrees up to -50 degrees and for this reason it is also used in industrial plants.
In addition to the walls and roof, the floor must also be insulated. To do this you can use some sub-floor panels on which you will then lay the actual floor that we talk about in the next step.
Step 3: The Floor
To create your own motorhome van you will have to think about all the details of the interior. One of these is definitely the floor that is sometimes already present while other times it has to be realized. In this case you can choose a suitable material. The most popular is plywood and clearly also all those materials that are used in the construction sector for the construction of wooden houses. Once you have chosen the material you just have to cut a floor of the right size or several parts to join together and place it inside the van, above the insulation layer.
To make it even more functional than your camperized van, apply a PVC or vinyl adhesive to the floor. You can choose between infinite styles, fantasies and shades or opt for faux wood laminates and real parquet.
Step 4: Bed and Furniture
Built the base of your van Camperizzato you just have to insert the bed and the various furniture. These can also be folding to optimize spaces when not used. For example, the bed could be built to close and turn into a sofa during the day.
Attention, the Italian law stipulates that the structure of vehicles cannot be modified. If the category of your truck will remain car or truck (and you do not intend to make it a real camper, much more complicated) the furniture can not be fixed to the structure. So you have to opt for removable solutions.
Online there are ready-made campervan kits to be hooked to the floor or to be jammed. You can also make your own furniture tailored to a more personalized environment. If you are a lover of Van Life You can indulge in many ways to achieve the means of your dreams.
Camperizzare a van: the Law
In Italy it is not very easy to camperizzare a van because the law is unclear about it and generates a lot of confusion. Moreover, given the usual bureaucratic difficulties, it is difficult to find information and to find trained staff in this area. One thing is certain: the vehicles suitable for campervans are divided into two categories: car and truck. The vehicle category is marked in the registration book.
The car category is for transporting people. Whereas that truck is for transporting things. A Volkswagen 9 seater windowed will necessarily be categorized on the booklet as car. A Volkswagen Transporter 2 seats with a closed load compartment will necessarily be categorized as a truck.
The camper category is a separate category, defined in the booklet from the outset. Turning a truck or car into a camper in Italy is unfortunately impossible for a private person. Some companies take care of it because the procedures are long and extremely complicated.
Campering a Van to Norma
You have two options to drive a van under the law: turn the category into a motorhome (see above) or avoid fixed equipment to maintain the car or truck category. In fact, on a car or truck you can mount (via hooks or interlocking) removable furniture and absolutely not fixed. In this second case you can use the vehicle in a holiday vehicle easily without changing the category in the RV.
Being the trucks of the means used also and especially for commercial purpose, those who buy them is usually possessor of a VAT lot and can enjoy some tax advantages. For this reason the use of trucks (for commercial purposes) is regulated by law and you can not set up a camper on a commercial vehicle.
So if you want to camperizzare a truck to use for the holidays, you should not buy the vehicle as a commercial medium. In the registration phase you must specify on the booklet that the truck will be for its own use. In this way the vehicle can be used for personal purposes: holidays, travel, transport of own things, sports equipment, furniture, etc. Without incurring penalties.