Hello! New to the forum. First post to be exact. My husband and I have been lurking for a while and doing some research for the past 6 months and feel (kind of) ready to pull the trigger on purchasing a van to convert. I would love some extra insight on choosing which van to purchase. We have a few options. A bit about us: Late twenties, no kids, husbands a mechanic, I work in med research at NASA. My dad who will be helping on the build is an engineer/carpenter. Would love to get done with this project for no more than 15k. We are starting small, see how we like the thing before we go big. Some background of what our goals are:
- Would love a small kitchen (really just place to store a couple cold items and 2 burners). I feel like feeding myself on our camping excursions is my number one priority
- Need something versatile that we can eventually do a 4x4 conversion on but until then, needs to be able to drive on a beach (probably will do a winch until conversion)
- Looking to fit a double bed, we don't need rear seats as we only plan for this to be a 2 person van and will sometimes accommodate our dog. Basically, I am okay with the van being mostly bed, some under storage and kitchen. We travel light and the dog would love to sit on a bed instead of a bench seat while riding. I'm not sure we will ever consider a poptop but I guess anything is possible.
- This will not be used for any trips longer than a week. Mostly for long weekends camping at the river, lake, or beach.
- Needs to be reliable as I would like to be able to take this out on my own and although my husband is a mechanic (the plumbers toilet always leaks!!) we still are looking for something with some longevity. Texas is also a huge state, we live in Houston, and most places we will be driving to are at least 3 hours with 90% highway.
I appreciate any suggestions or tips on things to avoid. I have read a bit about people preferring vans with no windows but a part of me kind of wants them. I do see how there could be a security/privacy issue so I am open to suggestions. Here are a couple links of what we've been having our eye on. We are trying to buy a van for less than $4k and minor mechanical issues are okay since my husband has done a lot of rebuilds on old cars and seems to know what he's doing - at least to me.
He leans more towards a Ford but there seem to be some solid Dodge options out there. Thanks in advance yall!
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1996 FORD ECONOLINE CLUB WAGON
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2005 FORD ECONOLINE E350 Work Van
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2003 DOGE RAM 3500
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2001 RAM B3500 Extended Cargo Van