The layout of my van was based on two things; lots of research and lots of thinking about what I need.

It is easy to start adding ALL the features, but I did my best to stop the wish list from becoming the shopping list!

For the main part, it will be one to two people traveling in my van. The van can take three people legally so I wanted to have the potential to sleep three if I really needed it.

I also made these two videos to help give you ideas for different layouts:

10 Van Conversion Bed Designs

10 Van Conversion Kitchen Designs

Citreon Relay Layout & Design

(Dodge Pro-master)

The following describes how the layout for my newest van. The design I ended up with provides the following;

• Super king-size bed
• Seating for (snug) 6 around a table
• Decent kitchen workspace
• Ample storage while keeping a nice spatial feel

Below are the basic measurements – dimensions are in Centimetres. If you want to copy it – feel welcome! I am very happy with the use of space.

Bed configuration

If you are shorter, with the Citreon (Dodge Promaser and others) you can probably go for a side-to-side bed, but mine has to be long ways as I am too tall. The best thing is to get in the van and see what will work for you (remembering that you will lose a little width when you fit the van out.

Windows

Where you put your window/s will define some of the other elements of your design. In my van I put the window opposite the kitchen – the area for a large glue-on window are too low for the kitchen side and on the sliding door it gives a nice view when at the table.

Windows are a mixed blessing – it is great to have more light and more views from inside the van but if single glazed especially – as most glue-on windows are – are detrimental to your insulation and when the sun shines can bring-in a lot of unwanted heat.

Double glazed/skinned windows tend to be expensive and small. For this reason I just went with one big window on the sliding door. Good light,  nice views but not too much heat gain/loss.

Kitchen unit position

The other major decision for your van – where you put this determines what space is left for seating. The layout above (for a van without a shower cubicle) is as optimized as I could get for all-round space use while having a mostly-fixed bed.

Bulkhead

The bulkhead is the bit that separates the body of the van and the cab. Most panel vans have one made of sheet metal in place.

On both vans I have built I have separated this off from the main living space. Many people keep this open and have a swivelling ‘captains’ chair (or two) giving them more seating and giving the van a larger area. When done well this can make the whole van feel more spacious and can be a good option for a van conversion.

That said, this does come with some downsides;

• The front of the van can get really hot. It is basically a mini greenhouse and the effect of this can make the whole van hotter in summer and colder in
• To counteract this people put big foil things in the window to reduce the . but they only work partially
• You have to put these big foil things in the windows every time you park in the sun (which will be required for the solar panel)
• Blocking out the light coming in during the mornings when you want to sleep and stopping light getting out when you are stealth camping is harder

Having a divided bulkhead gives me the following advantages;

• Stealthier look - all the time
• No daily put-in/take out of insulation in the cab
• By cutting the cab out of the living space the van it does not feel like you are living inside a van – I like this
• It is easy to make it dark and no light escapes through to the cab
• I have an insulated hatch so if I want to access the cab without going With this I can let more light in or let the sun warm up the van on a cold day.
• The windows in the front do not get condensated as much (from moisture created in the living space) making preparing to drive in cold weather a easier
• Security is improved; you cannot get in to the body of the van from the cab - typically the easiest part to break into
• Saves money - swivel chairs are expensive

The downsides are just to do with the overall space and seating - but the efficiency it allows makes up for it in my eyes. Plus, I really do love that it does not feel like a van when you are inside. 

The bulkhead of my Citreon Relay Van (the grey picture frame/cork-board opens downwards to access the cab).

Again, planning is all good – and a scale drawing is VERY useful to help you understand the space you are working with and where you can fit components but once you start building your van theory meets reality and you will make various changes and compromises.

below are my scale drawings (using Illustrator) to work out dimensions based on components 

Ford Transit Layout

(My first van)

I drew over pictures of Transit Vans to work out my basic plans. I used Illustrator but you can also use software like SketchUp or OnShape to draw up your van design. If you are low-tech you can simply just cut out shapes to scale and move them around to understand your layout  options.

The side profile turned out to be fairly accurate in terms of what I built.    The only error was not realizing that the seats project back in to the van so I had less space than first imagined. It also meant that I put the shelf over the bulkhead.

On the below design, the pink dotted lines on the image below show the approximate workings for how the fabric panels and cupboards will work.

The top-down view shows the basic simplicity of the design I was aiming for. In reality nothing is nearly as simple as it looks – but the end result does feel reasonably uncomplicated.

As you can see I was counting on the ability to store most of my things either beside the bed (clothes and personal effects) or under the bed (everything else). It is also worth mentioning that there is also a good amount of storage over the cab.

The top 3 kitchen drawers are used mostly for kitchen utensils – the fourth (bottom) draw is mostly used for tools, spares and other useful things.