Fit-outs
Five ways to fit a van, and a few we won't
Whichever of these you choose, your van is stripped to bare metal and built back out on our own two bays in Bend, by the same two pairs of hands. If you asked me to pick one it would be the full build, because it is the one that gets the whole cabinet bench, the part of the job I'd do for free.
Mara
Services · prices on a 144 inch wheelbase
What goes into each one
Every price below opens the costs page, where the 170 inch numbers, the four payments and what moves a price up or down are set out in full.
Fit-out 01 · Full build
The full build
Everything in the weekender, then the kitchen, water, heat and storage that let two people live in the van for months. Every carcass is cut from birch ply at the cabinet bench, oiled three times and weighed before it goes in.
- Galley with a two-burner induction hob
- 20 gallon fresh water tank and a sink
- 12V fridge drawer under the counter
- Diesel air heater mounted outside, under the floor
- One cut-in window
- Full cabinetry and overhead lockers
- 300Ah lithium iron phosphate electrical system
- Insulation, panelling, bed platform, solar and lights
Fit-out 02 · Weekender
The weekender
A warm, quiet, wired shell with a proper bed in it. No galley and no water, for people who cook outside and travel light.
- Insulation, wall and ceiling panelling
- Fixed bed platform with storage beneath
- 100Ah lithium iron phosphate battery
- 200W of roof solar
- Lights and USB points
Fit-out 03 · Power
Electrical system
On its own, for a van that is already lined and only needs power it can live off for a week without a hookup.
- 300Ah lithium iron phosphate bank
- 400W of roof solar
- 2000W inverter
- Charging from the alternator as you drive
- Shore power inlet
- Labelled distribution panel
Fit-out 04 · Shell
Insulation and panelling
Closed cell foam on the metal, wool batting behind birch ply walls, and a slatted cedar ceiling you will smell for the first month.
Fit-out 05 · Our vans only
Upgrades and repairs
For vans that left this shop. In the first year, anything we built that comes loose or stops working is fixed at no charge, under our workmanship terms.
Before any of these
$150
Two hours with us at the bench and your layout drawn to scale, credited in full against whichever build you choose.
Booking ahead
7-9 months
Never more than three vans in the shop at once. Write and we will tell you the next open start.
Before you write
Vans we work on
- Body
- Full size panel van with a high roofEmpty from the seats back. We strip it to bare metal ourselves.
- Year
- 2015 or newer
- Mileage
- Under 150,000 miles
- Wheelbase
- 144 inch or 170 inchThe 170 includes the extended body, which is where the $72,000 builds live.
- Drive
- Front or rear wheel drive
- Getting it here
- You bring it to Bend and collect it from BendFlying in for handover? We will meet you at Redmond airport, 20 minutes north.
From Mara
We don't have a favourite make. Buy the one with the best service history you can find, because we will spend ten weeks or more on the inside and none of it helps if the van can't get you over a pass.
Mara
Not sure yours qualifies? Write to us with the year, wheelbase and mileage, and a photo of it empty if you have one.
Every weekender and full build
Things every build gets
None of these is an extra and none can be left off. They are why we can still answer a question about your van when you write to us two years later.
-
01
A labelled wiring loom
Every cable is marked at both ends, so whoever opens a panel in ten years knows what it feeds.
-
02
A drawn wiring diagram
Drawn by hand and taped inside the electrical cabinet door, where you will want it on a dark roadside.
-
03
A 3 inch wall build-up
Closed cell foam against the metal, wool batting behind it, birch ply on the face.
-
04
A battery monitor by the door
The first thing you see stepping in, so you know where the charge sits before the heater goes on.
-
05
Fire blanket and extinguisher bracket
Mounted in reach of the door, not buried in a locker behind the bedding.
-
06
Tie-down points under the bed
For bikes, boxes and anything else that would rather not slide on the washboard roads.
The short list of no
What we turn down
We would rather tell you here than after you have driven to Bend. One plain reason for each.
-
1
No propane inside, ever
Every build is all electric, cooking on induction, with the diesel heater outside under the floor, so there is no gas bottle or open flame anywhere near where you sleep.
-
2
No pop-tops or roof cuts
We start from a high roof so the height is already there, and we won't put a hole that size in a body we then promise is dry.
-
3
No buses, box trucks, ambulances, low roofs or motorhomes
Our panels, jigs and drawings are made for full size high roof panel vans, and that is the only body we know well enough to stand behind for a year.
-
4
No finishing someone else's build
We can't see inside a wall another person closed up, and we won't put our name on wiring we didn't run.
-
5
No wet bath or shower inside
Steam in a small box rots ply from the inside out. You get a cabinet for a portable cassette toilet and an outdoor shower point, nothing more.
-
6
No full build in under 10 weeks
Oil needs its time between coats and the wiring gets checked twice, so ten weeks is already the quick end for us.
-
7
Nothing there just to be looked at
No underbody light strips, no chrome trim. If a thing in the van can't be used, it doesn't go in.
Still with us? Then if your van fits, here is how it goes, from your first note to the half day handover.