camper Archives - Thread of Souls

Part V: How to choose your bed, sofa, or hybrid for your camper!

This is the final in a series about our own campervan conversion. We’ll talk about the reasons we made the choices we did, pros and cons of decisions, and hopefully provide some advice for your own adventure!

We faced a major decision in the design of our camper. Where would we sleep, where would we sit, and how could we make it as comfortable as possible without sacrificing space? We went back and forth on this decision, visited several online and in-person shops, and did much research about what other travelers do. Ultimately, we reached a decision we are happy with.

There are two main ways a campervan’s sofa/bed situation can be designed. You can either have a permanent bed and a separate seating area, or you can have a bed that converts to a sofa. We chose the hybrid. From Amazon we purchased this sleeper sofa.

sleeper sofa campervan conversion — **Clicking on this picture will take you to Amazon’s product page.**

There are several reasons we liked it.

It was very lightweight so there was no issue moving it around.
It has 3 different positions depending upon our needs.
We could use it as a sofa and thus have more walking room inside the camper during the day.
We could fold it out at night for a bed.
It came with 2 extra pillows. (Added comfort)

Overall, it is fairly comfortable. Not likely something you’d want in our house to replace a bed, but with our padded camper floor we didn’t have any issues sleeping. It is narrow, so we both snuggled plenty and our cats often slept on top of us. But when you are out traveling in your camper you often sacrifice comfort for a richer and more adventurous experience.

You also could build a platform to raise this if you wanted to. That is not the direction we ended up going, though.

Other Options Aside from the Sleeper Sofa

After reading this, you may have decided that doesn’t work for you. Many who travel in a camper prefer to have a permanent, raised bed with storage underneath. While that does take up more of your “living” area, you are in a camper, after all, and are out to explore! So do plenty of research and discussion before committing to decision. But so as long as you have the time and money, most anything done to your camper can be changed later. It’s hard to tell until you are actually on the road.

This is the final post in our Campervan Conversion series. Learn how to complete your camper with our other entries!

Part I: Choosing Your Camper

Part II: Walls, Floors, & Utilities

Part III: Storage & Shelving

Part IV: Decor

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Campervan Conversion: Storage & Shelving

April 13, 2021September 6, 2023 Thread of Souls

Part III: Where to store your stuff!

This is the third in a series about our own campervan conversion. We’ll talk about the reasons we made the choices we did, pros and cons of decisions, and hopefully provide some advice for your own adventure!

One of the biggest uses when converting your campervan is storage. You are starting with a blank slate, and aside from some general built-in spaces, there is not much for storage. We jumped through so many hurdles trying to decide what to do about our storage. But what we finally ended up with was simple, streamlined, and carried everything we needed for the journey!

Cabinets

We ultimately decided to install two cabinets. We really liked them because they had good space within for heavier or larger items. However, the cabinets themselves are weighty, so knew we couldn’t just stick them anywhere.

We bought two from Lowe’s and screwed them into the wooden studs already in place on the wall. This was after we’d installed our aesthetic colored poster board so it did require some feeling about and keen “eye-balling” to ensure we screwed them in the correct places! We also bought handles for the cabinet, as well as magnetic latches. But that is up to you if you feel you need those!

But we absolutely loved the cabinets for their interior capacity and ability to hold items on top, as well.

Shelving

Shelving was, at first, a big puzzler for us. We didn’t want heavy shelves because we feared damage to our studs. We also needed some that had a lip on the front to ensure items did not slide off, which was surprisingly difficult to find! We shopped around at many stores and finally broke down and decided to build our own from scratch.

I (Ashley) was nervous about this idea because we’d never built a shelf from scratch before. But Scottie was excited and so we picked up what we needed from Lowe’s as well as a local craft store. Here are the parts you will need to recreate what we built for your own campervan conversion:

a simple board about the length and width for your storage needs
a smaller, thinner board the same length to serve as your front
2 square pieces of wood the same width as the board to serve as your ends
two metal “L” shaped brackets to mount underneath the shelf
8 screws (depending on the bracket you buy)
wood glue
items to decorate (if desired)
a drill

Our process to put these together was fairly simple. And once we had a system down it only took 2 days to build from scratch and install 5 shelves. The longest process was the wood glue drying. But we chose wood glue over more screws to protect the integrity of the board.

Here was our process for putting together each shelf.

Mark on the largest board where the bracket holes are.
Screw in the brackets to the bottom of the board.
Mark on the wall where the board will sit using the additional bracket holes that will go into the wall.
Screw the bracket onto the wall, thus effectively hanging your shelf.
Using wood glue, set your smaller, thinner board along the front edge of your shelf to serve as its lip.
Follow wood glue directions to allow it to sit and get secured!
Do the exact same process for the two square pieces of wood to create ends for your shelf, thus securing your items.
Allow the glue to have 24 hours to set before testing its strength.
Go on a drive with the shelf full to verify you did a good job!

So overall we had two cabinets and five shelves, and they did well in holding what we needed them to. We had a few instances of a cup falling off one of the shelves if we hit a pot hole, but otherwise they were strong and protected our items!

You can read how we chose the camper we did here.
And all about campervan conversion walls, floors, and utilities here.

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Finding WiFi on the Road

March 25, 2021September 6, 2023 Thread of Souls

Working while traveling on the road isn’t ideal. Traveling is meant to be a fun experience full of adventure and new sights. But there may come a time when work must be done and you find yourself in the middle of nowhere and in need of internet access. It’s times like these that can make life on the road a bit frustrating but we’re here to help you through it because we experienced it.

Finding the Elusive WiFi

These tips are built for adventurers who don’t have WiFi built into their campervan, car, or RV. These guidelines are for more rugged trips where you’re farther removed from civilization. Perhaps on the beach enjoying the ocean breeze or you’re in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and you need the internet to see exactly what bear that was outside your window.

Traveling extensively in a vehicle can be exhausting – which we cover here – and if you add on finding internet to the mix, you’ll be even more exhausted. More often than not if you’re away from cell towers, your phone won’t have the necessary juice to connect to the internet. One bar may be enough for browsing Pinterest but it won’t be good enough to stream Netflix so you can watch Henry Cavill strike down monsters as the handsome Witcher Ge r alt of Rivia. Prepare to do some driving.

Parking Lots

There are many options when it comes to tracking down WiFi. One of the best is Starbucks (which is not one of our sponsors). Of course buying a coffee or dessert is preferably if you plan on parking outside and eating up their delicious WiFi – that is if you’re lucky enough to fit the vehicle in the drive thru and parking lot. Or you could just go inside if regulations allow.

Another location is McDonalds and trust us the urge to consume your own weight in nuggets may be high.

Public libraries are also great for finding WiFi and for hunting down that book on your read list. Or you could check out our fantasy series Thread of Souls.

Also, many rest stops may have their own WiFi you can pull from.

Hotspots

One we found most useful was a WiFi hotspot. If you are absolutely unable to locate a strong and dependable WiFi signal, the next best thing is to use your phone’s service. By either plugging it directly into the computer’s USB port or turning on tethering, you’ll have access to WiFi in no time, as long as the cell service is strong (three bars or higher should be fine).

Aside from using your phone – which will consume battery rather quickly – an actual hotspot device is another viable route. Keep in mind that these work similarly to a cell phone plan, each can be paid on a month to month basis or an upfront fee where you choose how much data you think you’ll use.

Hotels

If fast and reliable internet is something you desperately need, hotels may be the best choice. Though you will have to pay for a room if you want to use their service. Or you may be able to ask them for the WiFi password and if you’re lucky enough, they may oblige.

As we’ve learned from experience, doing work on a laptop in a camper isn’t the most comfortable. Having a table or area specifically designed for working is key. Backs and necks can get sore without having a chair with good lumbar support.

Working and traveling on the road is a time consuming process. There may not always be a restaurant, rest stop, or coffee shop nearby so plan accordingly and find whatever way works best for you.

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Campervan Conversion: Bed & Sofa