It's not a slow car, it's a fast house

The sleeping area of our VW Vanagon has been modified to suit our needs. Through insulation, pegboard, L-brackets, paint and baskets we have made this area more functional, temperate and private.  These are excellent solutions for anyone that is living full time in a van or vehicle.

We often find ourselves in extreme temperatures. We realized that a great deal of hot/cold transfers through the windows. We also like the ability to guerilla-camp or be inside our van in a public area, without being publicly visible. The closing of the windows has allowed us better management of this.  These modifications have also reduced the condensation that accumulates when we are inside of a closed-up van.

The back of the van has two side windows in the rear section. The glass in of these has been painted with black primer and colormatch. This photo shows the side window painted in colormatch.   The inside of these windows has been sealed off with two layers of mylar bubble insulation from the hardware store. The sheets are cut to fit the window and spray glued onto the glass.   The final layer is a sheet of pegboard cut to fit inside the window frame. In this photo the pegboard is painted dark brown.  Then baskets were hung from the pegboard and filled with van junk.  But it was quickly noted that a lighter color would look better, so the pegboard was painted with a color to match the original cabinets.  and side window closed up pegboard) Artwork was spray glued onto the pegboard. 

Once the pegboard was painted to match it became obvious that the surrounding vinyl looked dirty, dingy and aged.  We had enamel paint tinted to match the original cabinets. This was applied directly to the factory vinyl.  Throughout the entire rear of the van this paint was applied. The difference was amazing!  

While this process may not be pleasing to all van owners, it works for us. Not everyone wants the entire sleeping area enclosed. Not everyone wants to splash paint around inside their van. But for our use of this VW Vanagon, this is an attractive and functional solution to our needs.