Choosing your van

The van picker

VanPlot ships real interior dimensions for 27 vehicles across 159 size/drive variants — the Fiat Ducato and its Boxer/Jumper/ProMaster siblings, Mercedes Sprinter, Ford Transit, VW Crafter, Renault Trafic, Vito/Metris and more. To keep that manageable, the picker works in two stages: choose the vehicle first, then that model's size · drive variant (for example L3H2 · FWD).

Under the picker you'll see the variant's interior length × width × height and its approximate payload — the planning numbers the whole app works from.

Two shortcuts: a search box above the picker narrows both lists as you type — "sprinter l3", "ducato h2" or a badge name like "jumper" all work, accents ignored. And if your vehicle isn't in the database at all, choose Custom van body when creating the project: type the cargo area's interior length × width × height, the exterior dimensions, wheelbase, kerb and gross weight (payload is worked out for you), whether the walls are straight or tapered, and how many front seats. The van then behaves like any other — the Body panel shows your numbers instead of the picker, and the weighbridge report notes that axle positions are estimated.

1. When creating a project, pick vehicle and variant right in the New Project form.
2. In the editor, open the Van inspector (the Body button in the toolbar) to change either at any time — your items automatically re-settle into the new interior.

The shell build-up

Real conversions don't put furniture against bare metal — they build a sandwich: insulation, battens, and a plywood lining, on the floor as well as the walls and ceiling. The Shell build-up section of the Van inspector is where you spec yours, and it's the one place the whole van's insulation is described.

Pick an insulation material for the floor and for the walls & ceiling — XPS board (waterproof and compression-resistant, the standard floor choice), PIR/polyiso (the best warmth per millimetre), sheep wool (breathable, forgiving around ribs), or Thinsulate — and the section tells you how many millimetres of insulation each surface has left once its battens and panels are taken off. Add battens, a 12 mm plywood subfloor, and 5.5 mm lining panels with their toggles.

Thickness is not cosmetic: the Build-up thickness figures — floor, walls (each) and ceiling, 0–200 mm, insulation + battens + panels — move each surface inward by its own amount. Items clamp to the reduced interior, the Max buttons fill to the finished walls, a teal inner outline shows the usable space, and the stats HUD reads the standing height and width between walls you actually end up with. The section also tells you how many centimetres of standing height the floor and ceiling cost you.

1. Drag the Thickness label left or right to scrub the value, scroll over the field to step it, or click and type an exact number.
2. Hold Shift while scrubbing for 10× steps, or Alt for fine steps.
3. Turn on Show build-up in 3D to see the lining, battens, and floor sandwich in the van — generated from the spec, so there's never a plank to place by hand.

Beyond the vehicle: the body itself

The Van inspector also controls how the van is drawn and cut — panel-van vs box-body style, exterior paint, per-panel visibility with camera auto-hide, and exactly-sized window, roof-fan, and hole cutouts. All of that has its own article: see The van body & openings.