Three Biggest Mistakes In My First Month of Van Conversion
I know for sure these won’t be my last, but I figured I’d keep a running tally of what my top mistakes are each month of the van conversion. I am going to keep it to a month so I don’t pile on too harshly over the small stuff but also don’t forget to mention the things that I wish I had known or been warned about. So here goes nothing, my top three biggest mistakes in my first month of self-converting my van.
Priming with a Rustoleum primer that doesn’t work with galvanized metals. I did a TON of research and didn’t see this come up even once. When I went to Lowe’s for my first supply trip I purchased Rustoleum’s all metal primer with the kind of naive enthusiasm that only comes from someone who doesn’t know what the eff they are actually doing. Consider this my PSA: PURCHASE SOMETHING THAT SPECIFICALLY CALLS OUT WORKING WITH GALVANIZED METALS. I spent hours stripping the first primer and top coats so that I could put the correct primer down, and almost had a mental breakdown in the process. The right primer is important because otherwise your paint job will begin peeling and eventually fall off, leaving your metal exposed and at risk for rust. Fun fact, Rustoleum has an incredibly helpful customer service center, I called them like three times and each time was a lovely and informative experience. 10/10 would recommend. In the end I finally went with Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer. This primer is water-based, can be used on galvanized metals, contains rust inhibitor, and is mold and mildew resistant. Literally all the things required for protecting van build materials. I have also been using this on every single piece of wood I am using to build with, and plan to continue to do so. The only place it won’t be used is where I will be staining visible wood.
Almost installing the Maxxair fan interior flange screws into the wrong holes. This was simply a matter of not reading the directions fully because I thought I had it figured out after watching hours of install videos. I had seen some people use the four flat white topped screws to attach the fan to the flange after the flange has been installed. These are, in fact, meant to install the interior flange to your ceiling. The right screws needed for attaching the fan to the exterior flange are called out in the directions, so READ THE DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY. I was lucky enough to catch my mistake.
Measure Twice, Cut Once. I am so glad that I have been living by this mantra since day one. After installing the bunk windows I was feeling more confident in my abilities, but was having trouble creating a good template for the larger kitchen window. I spent so much time focused on that, that I breezed through drilling pilot holes through the template from the inside and transferring it to the outside. By the time I had outlined the template, taped everything up and was ready to start cutting I took one last step back and realized as I looked at the back bunk window in relation to the one I was about to cut, that the one I was about to cut looked too high. Turns out there is more than one way a template can be transferred, even with two holes. If I hadn’t taken on last look I would have cut my window an inch too high, and that can’t be undone. Crisis averted, but a very close call.
Okay, okay - two of these are almost mistakes, but the only reason I caught myself is my OCD-brain has to quadruple check everything. If calling these things out helps even just one person in their van conversion that would seriously make me so happy. I have had so much help a long the way by reading other van lifers’ blogs, watching countless hours of videos, and generally researching everything to death. I hope that I can now pay that forward.
