Homemade Camper Van: Simple, Easy Curtains

This is the first of a series of instructables about the construction (in progress) of my stealth Toyota camper van.

The object of a stealth van is to be able to park anywhere, and blend in with other on-street vehicles. This way you can live in your van, and travel from city to city without paying for anything but gas!

The first thing about a stealth van is, you can't be able to see that someone is in it. And that means you need blackout curtains, so that you can have a light on at night without people seeing you.

Another important thing is keeping heat in in the winter, and out in the summer. So there are 2 main criteria for curtains in a stealth van:

- Good insulation value
- 100% Opaque

I do not want to hide in a dark van all day, so there is a 3rd I will add:

- Easy to install/remove

Step 1 Gather materials

There's a material that suits these criteria perfectly! It is called "Reflectix" and is pretty cheap: $15 for a 10' x 24" roll. It's available at any Home Depot or similar store. The pictures on it even show uses that involve putting it in your van!

To get them on and off quickly and easily, nothing beats Velcro. At first I worried that Velcro would be considerably more expensive, because it has to go around the perimeter of the windows, but luckily, it turns out you don't need much. Save yourself a hassle and get the sticky-backed kind.

I got Velcro at Michaels', a craft store for $3.50 for 3 feet. I bought 9' because I didn't know how much I'll need to do the whole van. The 2 rear windows so far took about 1 and a half feet... looks like I overestimated?

Comments

[Mr. Morbid]

Good instructable! This might help me a lot acctually. But, I am considering a no-window panel van. They are sometimes bigger and wouldnt be prone to getting broken in to.. but no sunlight, ugh. Still undecided! But, get those other camper van instructo's up. Can't wait!

[PKM]

Could you install a flat sunroof into a panel van? Not visible from street level, little break-in risk, you could put a removable panel on the inside to block light at night. I'm just wondering if cutting a bloody great hole in the roof of your van makes it structurally unsound or will invalidate your MOT/DOT/whatever "roadworthiness".

[wysiwyg99]

I realize your post is almost 4 years old, but no one else ever replied. Your questions have little to do with the subject of stealth vans and really don't make a lot of sense. First of all, why would you NOT be able to put a sunroof on a van? If they can be put on cars, why not vans? And how would such a small area jeopardize the roof's integrity? And why would you need to cover a sunroof at night? Maybe a street light is directly above it? I'm assuming you don't even have a van but if so, a sunroof would be impractical and a waste of money and time. In a van that you're living in, either part-time or permanently, a roof vent should be used, or preferably, a Fantastic roof vent with a fan. that blows in both directions and acts as a vent and a cooling fan.

[monkeyamongmen]

Don't cut the roof supports, haha. I'm planning on undertaking exactly this project in a month or two before I do the interior of the cargo van I plan to purchase.
If all goes well I'll have pictures here.

[Rectifier]

There is one problem to note with this method that I came across. If it gets very hot (trip through the prairies in summer hot) the velcro adhesive will melt and the curtains will be hard to keep up. I ended up redoing them with small rare-earth magnets, but have not gotten around to updating the instructable. I am actually working on a whole van website, but the website is coming along slowly because I'd rather work on the van, and I don't want to put up a disappointing unfinished site, so it's not even up. So far I have built these side curtains, a front shelf/curtain divider, a countertop with sink, water tank and propane stove, roof vent, drop leaf table/bed into that van, and done insulation. working on flooring, cushions and a micro pellet stove for heat. Trying to document it all in pics as I work, so I believe the site will be very helpful to van builders.

[mayesma]

Hi there, thanks a lot for your explanation of this project! I'm planning on using Neodymium magnets in lieu of velcro as well because we'll be x-country touring through hot summer months in our van. Would you mind explaining how you affixed the magnets to the car and insulation for easy removal? Ideally, we'd like to take them completely off during the day and put on for night time only. Thank you! ~Melissa

[jottoh12]

Hey Rectifier....didya ever get your website up and running? Just wondering!

[Mr. Morbid]

Yeah, thats awesome. Send me a link once its up =]

[wysiwyg99]

I guess if you're wanting to block light and don't care how you do it, Reflectix would be the best, cheapest way to go but a shiny material like Reflectix isn't suitable for a true stealth van. To keep people from seeing any light inside your van at night, first of all, you need dark 5% tint and secondly, your curtains or other window covering material should be black, at least on the side showing on the outside. Anyone looking at a van's windows at night and see nothing but black would think nothing of it and just think they were looking at dark tint at night. Shiny aluminum would be a dead giveaway that someone might be staying inside. We're talking about STEALTH here, not energy conservation.

[solarbipolar]

I'd like to see someone come up with an ingenious way of doing this to a modern minivan, like a Chrysler Voyager. The windows are odd shaped and very difficult to block out all light from peeking out at night. Hanging curtains is very complicated and not effective. I tried cutting pieces of corrugated plastic like is used in yard signs. Painted them black. It tucks into the window channels very well but it's difficult to cut the exact shape and it's hard to find corrugated plastic quite wide or tall enough so you can do an entire window with one piece instead of two. And when you paint the plastic black, you can still see the outlines of the sign's letters. My solution would be to find black corrugated plastic large enough to fit each window. The reason I would choose black because it would look like the window tint. Anything lighter in color would not look right in a minivan. A reflective surface is not needed.

[Canoejim]

HI: We have been building our own campers since the 1950's. In all that time we have camped just about everywhere. We have never blocked out windows (we do have curtains) and in these years we have never been bothered or even asked what we were doing. I do admit we go to bed early. Not knocking black out windows, just saying how things have changed. Good camping ...Canoejim

[qwertzui]

Dont use MDF, its over twice to three times heavier than Plywood. Wantthe best option, but not the cheapest. (but will be in the long run byfar from fuel savings)  marine Plywood. 
When you think camper conversion......think boat technology.

same for batteries... use AGM batteries for dual systems, much betterfor many reasons than normal. , use led lighting.  etc etc

i am on my 3rd conversion and have travelled most of Australia.

[qwertzui]

7-10 mm for plywood is more than adequate, even thinner if it is braced.Use wire baskets underneath .

Chipboard MDF 19mm normal  20-30kg /sq/m
Plywood 10mm normal     8-10kg/sq/m.


Enjoy Trev downunder from eire :-)

[themagicbadger]

I know this is off the subject a bit, but I've just bought a Vauxhall Movano which I'm making into a stealth camper. However, I'm getting conflicting info from all the carpenters I know about what to panel the van out with. Some say plywood, others say I could get away with MDF. They all disagree on how thick the material needs to be, and they all have different ideas on the best insulation to use. My priorities are: 1. doing the job well so it lasts, 2. keeping the costs down as low as possible; and 3. keeping the weight down as I have to use this van as my everyday work transport too. Petrol costs in the UK are horrific at the moment. Any advice appreciated!

[cathyb59]

A stealth van is a great idea. The ability to live economically and anonymously seems sound to me. Stove, water storage, sleeping room. An urban camper!

[starlitdreamzz]

I would love to see more pictures, or the website you mentioned! I have a 1986 Toyota Van that I'm turning into a camper van and there aren't that many of the Toyotas that have been turned into camper vans that I can find online... so it would be awesome to see more of yours. Even if you wanted to email them to me, that would be cool!

[jvilter]

I just googled for "van curtains" today and found your Instructable. It sure beat the way I was going to do it, with cotton fabric and hooks. I bought a roll of Reflectix and some velcro and didn't even need the velcro, just cut the Reflectix a hair bigger all the way around and it tucks in nicely. Thanks for the idea.

[Rectifier]

Great! The reflectix curtains are still sturdy in my van to this day. I redid them with magnets instead of velcro for the ones I want to put up and down - the magnets are way more durable. I think you'll find that tucking them results in them falling down on you at night - that happened to me when the velcro failed and I was just tucking them up. But, maybe you have something better to tuck them into. I really need to post some more van stuff, but I'm all caught up working in my trade these days and don't spend much time in my van anymore. Now it's just a weekend camper van instead of a lifestyle - a lifestyle which I rather miss, actually. But gas is just too expensive to live in a van these days!

[jvilter]

I'll get back to you in about six weeks, when we return from our vacation. I'm taking the velcro along with us if friction proves not to be our friend, long term.

[safarijoe]

Check out www.cheaprvliving.com. This site has several articles on campervans and stealth living. You can add your own page . some cool ideas.

[tippymcstagger]

I look forward to reading more of your camper conversion instructables.

[nfceagles]

Or you could just buy a VW Eurovan Camper. Curtains already installed. I drive one daily.

[Rectifier]

This is instructables, it's not about buying pre-made vans! Haha. Also, all the handmade mods on this van to make it livable are looking to come in at a total of under $500. That's much cheaper than the premium paid to get a pre-camperised (especially VW) van, especially because my time is currently worth much less than my money (I'm injured and on worker's comp.) Also, when stealth vanning, you want your van to look like just an ordinary parked minivan or work van. The Volkswagens... well, they look like a camper van. And with the lights on at night, you will light up around the van pretty well despite curtains - not the complete blackout of Reflectix curtains. By the way, coming soon, an instructable on the rear counter/stove/sink unit that I am working on! Also, 12v fluorescent lighting on the cheap!

[lebowski]

Good start. I'm looking forward to more campervan conversion instructions. I was just looking that the bus conversion from the steampunk guy. It's pretty impressive and he has a the skills to pull it off.

http://www.vonslatt.com/bus-main.shtml

I did own a '88 toyota cargo van for a while that I would sleep in after windsurfing. It's pretty hard to beat those old 4 cyl. toyota engines, they'll run forever. It wasn't the most comfortable ride I've ever had, but the turning radius was awesome.

Can you take pictures during the day next time? That would help a ton.

[Myself]

Tweaking the monitor contrast (tilting my laptop screen) pulled details out of the gloom and made the image make a lot more sense. Try it! I've gone so far as to tape bits of mosquito netting over the windows of my Toyota Matrix so I can car-camp with some ventilation. Windowscreens! One of these days, I'll sew some magnet strips into the sides of the netting so I can stop wasting gaffer's tape.

[cinstructable]

Anyone else wondering why?

[Rectifier]

Why the curtains, or why the stealth van? The reasons for both are explained in the text... As for why I am doing it, because I want to see the continent without getting ripped off at motels and campgrounds...

[anniemac]

I think this is a wonderful instructable. And the idea of a "stealth van" is very cool and close to my heart. I hope you post more in your stealth van adventures.