Bed and Kitchen Woodwork

bedbox frames

Kitchen sink front cabinets

bed/sofa headboard

dry fit

finished headboard

finished bedbox, which will be storage inside

Build Budget

The built is super simple, using many recycled things and self labor. So far expenses are:

144.00 for vinyl flooring and glue
60.00 gallon of white gloss paint and gallon of black gloss paint
50.00 two quarts of walnut finish
50,00 stainless sink and stove top, second hand
40.00 wood
44.00 Whale foot pump for sink water
3.00 tiles from thrift store for sink splash, thrift store find
free cabinet doors from other purchase
free wood carving from other project

Wanting a Campervan

I moved to Europe almost 10 years ago, and since then, hubby and I have bike-camped (ultra-light), camped in a holiday trailer park, moved to a caravan travel trailer and now.... our first campervan.

I've been researching it for years, as it was a hard decision between a caravan or a camper. Caravans were cheaper due to the taxes and prices here in Europe, so we started with that. There are no monthly taxes and insurance is super cheap.  A campervan only made sense financially if we could 1) do it affordably and 2) get our money's worth out of it.

Lots of time was spent on Marktplaats.nl, the local Craigslist type site for buying and selling everything.  Prices for old used vans really sucked here in Europe. In America I could get old vans dirt cheap, but here, cargo vans were at a premium.  Used campers also were expensive- and often came with a shit ton of miles/kilometers.

Decision day.
I was sitting at home, looking at my savings account and said:  There is enough there. Finally. It's time.  So the search started.  I looked at tons of vans. I researched the bureaucracy of my country (which is kinda strict, as camper vans get a deep discount on taxes) I stopped at my local friendly garage and asked for their advise. They recommended high top Sprinters, as they were very reliable and I would not have to do much to meet the government requirements of being able to stand up inside.

Finding Hera:

She is big. She is peacock blue. She is filthy from years of working as a tile installer's van.

She came with iron shelves inside, which will get reused and recycled.

Total cost after taxes: 4,000 Euros.

240,000km/149,129 mi

2003 T1N Mercedes Sprinter H2L2 Sprintshift

And while I really dislike this blue paint, I'm glad the owner did it, as the second coat of paint kept rust away.  She has almost NO rust at all.  Motor and transmission work fine. Lots of little things like worn door locks and sliding door problems.  She's pretty cool for the price though!!