Practical guides for the part of the build that happens before the saw comes out.
Fridges, heaters, batteries, solar and more — ranked on published specs, every number sourced.
12 V fridges
Best 12 V fridge for a camper van: nine compressor fridges compared by fit, weight and draw
14 min read
Diesel heaters
Best diesel heater for a camper van: seven units compared on minimum output, draw, weight and price
13 min read
Hobs
Best camper van hob: gas, induction and diesel compared by heat, footprint, weight and price
12 min read
Roof fans
Best roof fan for a camper van: MaxxFan, Fiamma Turbo-Vent, Thule and Dometic compared
13 min read
LiFePO4 batteries
Best LiFePO4 battery for a camper van: ten 12 V lithium batteries compared by Wh/kg, €/kWh and current
14 min read
Toilets
Best camper van toilet: cassette, separating and composting units compared by size, price and what you have to cut
14 min read
Solar panels
Best solar panels for a van roof: 13 rigid and flexible panels compared by W/m², €/W and weight
14 min read
Power stations
Best portable power station for a camper van: 12 units from 245 Wh to 2 kWh compared by €/kWh, weight and solar input
14 min read
Inverters
Best camper van inverter and inverter/charger: 14 pure-sine 12 V units compared by €/kW, efficiency and idle draw
14 min read
· 9 min read
3D Warehouse uploads, free and paid 3D models, wrap blueprints and the makers' body-builder portals: where each van model comes from, why many have no ribs, rough arches and the wrong roof for your drive, and the four interior figures to check one against, per body code and drive. Plus when SketchUp or Fusion 360 is the better tool.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
A Ducato L3H2 with a bed, kitchen, wardrobe and three overhead lockers takes 9 sheets of 2440 × 1220 ply for its furniture: 194 kg in birch, 128 kg in poplar — 25 sheets and 339 kg with a subfloor and lining. Sheets, offcut and weight for 16 gallery layouts from the Build Pack's own nesting, and what 12, 15 or 18 mm changes.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
3.04 to 4.22 m of cargo floor, 1.78 m wide, 1.79 to 2.13 m high inside depending on roof and drive — all 13 Transit variants and the four Custom variants (2.56 / 2.92 m, H1 1.41 m, H2 1.78 m) from the van database. Why H2 is 10 cm lower with rear- or all-wheel drive, and what 350 L3 means.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
2.59, 2.83 or 3.06 m of cargo floor, 1.67 m between the walls, 1.39 m high in all three lengths — no Vito has a high roof. Interior and exterior dimensions, gross weight and payload per length, and what fits in each: rock-and-roll bed, kitchen, seat row. The Metris, V-Class and eVito share the shell.
Read the guide →· 10 min read
2.58 to 4.38 m of cargo floor, 1.76 m wide on every variant, 1.70 / 1.89 / 2.14 m high with front-wheel drive — and 9 cm less with rear-wheel drive. Interior and exterior dimensions, wheelbase and real payload for all ten Master bodies, what the 8–17 m³ labels mean, and the Movano / NV400 that share them.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
2.54 or 2.94 m of cargo floor, 1.66 m between the walls, 1.38 m (H1) or 1.91 m (H2) of headroom — and 1.97 or 2.50 m tall outside. Interior and exterior dimensions, wheelbase, gross weight and real payload for all four Trafic bodies, which roof stands you and which one parks in town, and the year that decides whether a Vivaro is a Trafic at all.
Read the guide →· 11 min read
2.61 to 4.71 m of cargo floor, 1.79 m wide on every variant, 1.79 / 2.08 / 2.24 m high — and 7 cm less in the H1 and H2 with rear-wheel drive. Interior and exterior dimensions, wheelbase, payload and what is left after a 600 kg build for all nine European Sprinter bodies, the US 144 / 170 / 170 EXT beside them, and why the LWB L3H2 needs an uprating first.
Read the guide →· 10 min read
2.45 m of cargo floor on the short wheelbase, 2.85 m on the long, 1.70 m between the walls, 1.42 m high with the standard roof and 1.94 m with the high roof — which comes on the long wheelbase only. Exterior height 1.99 m (2.48 m high roof), the 3,080 kg plate and what is left after a build, and why the classic rock-and-roll bed is three-quarter width. T5, T6 and T6.1 share the body; the T7 is a Transit Custom.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
No van here clears 1.90 m with a roof fan fitted, and only a Berlingo clears 2.00 m. A Trafic, Transporter or Transit Custom H1 leaves the factory at 1.97-1.99 m and goes over the moment you fit anything on the roof. Exterior height for every van and roof, plus what solar and a dome fan add.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
L2 is 3.12 m of floor in a Ducato, 3.27 m in a Sprinter and 2.15 m in a Transit Connect. Every European van's length and roof codes decoded into metres, with the reverse lookup: the floor length you need, and the code that gives it on each body.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
2.67 to 4.07 m of cargo floor, 1.87 m wide on every single variant, 1.66 / 1.93 / 2.17 m high. Interior and exterior dimensions, wheelbase and payload for all seven Ducato bodies — and the Boxer, Relay/Jumper and ProMaster that share them.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
3.45 to 4.86 m of cargo floor, 1.83 m wide, 1.63 to 2.20 m high inside. Every Crafter and TGE variant measured — and why H2 is not a standing roof on this van, while H4 is the tallest in the 3.5 t class.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
One of these nine bodies cannot take a full camper build at all: a VW Caddy Cargo ends up 34 to 66 kg over its plate before you load anything. Gross weight, payload and what is left after a build, for every compact and mid-size van.
Read the guide →· 32 min read
29 vehicles and 197 variants measured against the five numbers that decide a layout: width between the walls (sleep across?), interior height (stand?), cargo length, payload left after a 600 kg build, and the 2 m / 6 m / 3.5 t running-cost lines. A computed table per body, six briefs resolved to named variants, the used-market year traps, and the six regrets people build in on purchase day.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
A high-roof van has about 31 m² of steel to insulate — 7 m² floor, 17 m² walls and doors, 7 m² ceiling. The shell area of eight common vans computed from their real dimensions, the boards or rolls that buys, what it weighs, and why Reflectix is not on the list.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Heat loss = Σ(area ÷ R) × ΔT plus glass plus ventilation. Worked for eight vans at −5 °C, bare and with 25 mm of board: which heater class each needs, how many litres of diesel a night burns, and why the cab glass is a third of the bill.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
No van fits an e-bike upright under a bed you can sit up in — the tallest, the Sprinter H3, is 5 cm short; under a lie-only bed the high-roof large vans do (Sprinter H3 1.28 m clear, Crafter H4 1.13–1.24, Ducato H3 1.21, Master H3 FWD 1.18, Transit H3 FWD 1.16, Daily H3 1.14, Sprinter H2 FWD 1.12); the rear-wheel-drive Master and Transit H3 miss by 1–4 cm and no other H2 does. A motorbike needs the same roof plus a longitudinal bed and an L3. Every base van, with the assumptions.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Sliding-door and rear-door apertures per platform from each maker's own documents, checked September 2026 (Ducato 1.25 × 1.76 m slider, Sprinter 1.26 × 1.82, Crafter 1.31 × 1.82, Transit 1.30 × 1.60, Master 1.27 × 1.78; mid-size 0.82–1.03 m), the cross-section rule for fridges, toilets and kitchen blocks, and the roof-height limit for standing a pre-built unit up inside, computed from the van DB.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Desk 1.1 × 0.6 m at 72–75 cm, seat at 45 cm, camera at 1.2 m, desk opposite the sliding door so it lights your face — and the two tables that decide where it goes: desk + seat against the width of every base van minus the 0.55 m door clear, and the wall left for a desk per variant after the door zone and a 1.4 m bed (L3+ on its own wall). Plus the 1.3 kWh a working day adds.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
From the planner's catalog: a 10 L calorifier is 18 kg full on 0.12 m² of floor, a combi air-and-water heater 25 kg on 0.27 m² (12 kg and €1,620 net over the air heater it replaces), an on-demand LPG unit about 5 kg on a wall, none 0 kg. The heater is the light part — the daily shower it enables costs 78 kg more fresh water on a three-day trip for two and a grey tank twice the size. Two tables, every assumption stated.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
A 600 kg build placed as the planner's templates place it puts 74–80 % of itself on the rear axle of an L2–L3 body and 84–103 % on L4–L5 bodies with 1.0–2.0 m of overhang — per platform from the van DB's drive, wheelbase and kerb figures and the planner's axle model. FWD keeps about half the van on the drive axle up to L3; Ducato L4 and Crafter L5 are the long FWD bodies to watch; AWD costs 170–240 kg of Transit payload and fixes snow, not a heavy rear.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
An 11 kg propane bottle needs a 370 × 370 × 730 mm cell with its regulator headroom. From the van DB and the planner's gas-locker tool: it stands under a sit-up bed in every H3/H4 large van and only just in an H2 Ducato, Sprinter or Transporter and a FWD Crafter H3; on the arch box only in a Ducato H3, Sprinter H3 or FWD Crafter H4; in the rear corner behind the arch only on L4/L5 bodies; under a 90 cm worktop anywhere; under a 46 cm bench nowhere. Every van, every place, largest bottle.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Three spec-sheet numbers set a running cost for life: over 2.00 m tall is a higher toll class in France, over 6.00 m long is a ferry and pitch band, over 3,500 kg is a different regime in France, Austria and Switzerland. Every base van sorted against the three thresholds — the Ducato L3 is 5.998 m for a reason — on top of the published €820–1,500 monthly diaries.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
18 of the 29 vans in the planner are six bodies under different badges: a Boxer is a Ducato, a TGE is a Crafter, a ProAce is an Expert — the same body inside. The Sprinter and Crafter are not twins (1.73 vs 2.08 m H2 headroom, both front-wheel drive). Every family with interior dimensions, and which badges switched bodies by year.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Only the Ducato/Boxer/Relay/ProMaster family is wide enough for a transverse bed without touching the walls: 1.87 m bare, about 1.81 m finished. Sprinter 1.79, Transit 1.78, Crafter 1.83, Master 1.76. Every base van with the verdict for a 1.70, 1.80 and 1.90 m sleeper, and what 12 cm of wall flares buy.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
A Ducato H2 is 1.93 m raw, about 1.86 m after floor and ceiling — fine at 1.80 m, tight at 1.85; a rear-wheel-drive Transit or Master H2 is 10 cm lower, a Sprinter H2 8–15 cm higher. Every common van, roof and drive with the standing verdict at 1.75, 1.85 and 1.95 m.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
A Ducato L3H2 keeps about 650 kg free after a 600 kg build and the EN 1646-2 reserve; a Sprinter L3H2 keeps 330, a Daily L5H3 48. Kerb, plate and headroom for every base van in the planner, so you pick one that never needs uprating.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
A Ducato L3 holds 6 × 100 W panels on its flat roof, 5 once the roof fan is in; a Sprinter L4 holds 8, a Transporter 4, a Caddy 2. Usable roof area, panel count at two real panel sizes, and what a fan and an A/C unit cost, for every base van in the planner.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Interior length, width and height in metres for every common camper van — Ducato, Sprinter, Transit, ProMaster, Crafter down to the Berlingo — plus the width between the wheel arches. Only one large body takes a 1.86 m mattress across, and it isn't the Sprinter.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
25 mm on each wall is 5 cm off the interior width — on a Ducato that is exactly the transverse bed. The maths of insulation thickness vs living space, material by material.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Every van layout is a variation on eight archetypes. The minimum interior length, width and height each needs — with the vans that clear the bar and the trade each layout makes.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
A fixed bathroom cubicle spends 0.7–0.9 m of van length — in an L2 that is a third of the build. The real footprint of every toilet option, from bucket to wet room.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Mid-size vans have 2.5–2.9 m of cargo and no standing height in the standard roof — layouts written for Sprinters do not transfer. What genuinely fits, measured against the real interior numbers.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Total payload can be fine while the rear axle is overloaded and the front is too light to grip. The lever rule behind axle loads, and where to put water, batteries and the garage.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Raise the bed for a bigger garage and you lose the room to sit up in it. The arithmetic of the squeeze, the 36–39 inch forum consensus, and how to tell when your roof cannot do both.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Four sleeping spots, four seatbelts and somewhere to sit out the rain — three family layouts with real dimensions, and an honest section on when a van stops being the right vehicle.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Interior width, length and standing height for the Sprinter 144″ and 170″, the Transit and the ProMaster — cargo floor length, width between the wheel arches, and which layouts each one physically allows.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
EN 1646-2 sets a minimum payload a conversion must leave free for people, water and gear: 10 kg per metre, 10 per berth, 75 per seat. Why self-builds fail on this number, not the plate.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
How a wall-folding bed compares with fixed and convertible beds on floor area, weight and build complexity — with the dimensions that make one work in a medium-wheelbase van.
Read the guide →· 11 min read
Free and paid van design software and apps compared: Vanspace 3D, VanCAD, VanKit, Vanometry, SketchUp, VanLogic, Plan your Van and ours, on price and weight.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
LPG is heavier than air, so the drop-out vent in the locker floor is the rule inspectors actually measure. Locker sizing, the 100 cm² minimum, and the details that fail a G607 or Qualigaz check.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Medium or long wheelbase for a van conversion? A layout-feasibility answer, not a driving-feel answer: the 40–60 cm of extra cargo floor an LWB buys, and what fits at ~3.0 m, ~3.5 m and ~4.0 m — fixed bed, bathroom, garage — van by van.
Read the guide →· 6 min read
Tank size only matters as days off-grid. Realistic litres per person per day, the grey-tank constraint that ends trips before the fresh tank does, and winter freeze zoning.
Read the guide →· 6 min read
Litres per person per day for drinking, dishes and showers; fresh and grey pairings that fit real builds — 40 L weekender to 150 L full-timer; and why tank placement is an axle-load decision, not a plumbing one.
Read the guide →· 9 min read
A worked method for sizing a lithium bank and solar array from a real load table — fridge, heater, laptops, induction — with three example setups from weekender to full-timer.
Read the guide →· 6 min read
3.12 m, 3.71 m or 4.07 m of cargo floor — what each Ducato length allows, with layout patterns that work (and don't) at every size.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
EN 721 asks for permanent high and low openings sized by floor area — not a fan you switch on. What the standard requires, why wall vents count half, and what condensation really costs.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Worktop at ~90 cm high and 50–60 cm deep, an aisle of 45 cm minimum and 60 cm to live with — plus hob and sink cutouts, fridge formats, and three galley layouts measured against real van widths.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Five two-person layouts that actually work — fixed-bed tourer, convertible weekender, office-on-wheels, wet-room build and the budget minimalist — with the dimensions that make each one fit.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
At 12 V a 3 % drop budget is 0.36 V, so run length sizes van cable more often than current does. How to size conductors and fuses, and why the fuse protects the wire.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Insulation, ply, furniture, water, batteries, solar — component-by-component weights for a typical self-build, and how fast a 3.5-tonne van runs out of payload.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
A category-by-category budget for a DIY conversion — realistic ranges for insulation, electrics, water and wood, plus the running costs nobody puts in the spreadsheet.
Read the guide →· 6 min read
Bed heights and garage volumes, measured: what it takes to fit two bikes, e-bikes, surfboards or ski gear under a fixed bed — and what that does to the headroom above the mattress.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
The space tax of a bathroom, measured: what a 70×80 cm cubicle displaces in an L2 vs L3 van, what the water weighs, and four layouts from no-bathroom to full wet room.
Read the guide →· 6 min read
Weekend-warrior versus full-time build schedules, phase-by-phase hour estimates, the steps that always overrun — and how much planning up front compresses the calendar.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
Payload, axle loads and centre of mass explained for self-builders — what 3.5 tonnes really leaves you, and how overweight builds fail inspections and void insurance.
Read the guide →· 7 min read
The first big layout decision, settled with numbers: floor area gained, garage volume lost, kilograms added, and the daily faff factor — plus when a transverse bed beats longitudinal.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
Which steps come first and why — rust, holes, wiring, insulation, walls, furniture — and the classic out-of-order mistakes that force builders to tear panels back off.
Read the guide →· 8 min read
A step-by-step method for getting from empty van to buildable layout: zones, templates, weight checks, budget — and the mistakes each step prevents.
Read the guide →