Using Sketchup To Design Your Campervan Conversion Layout

How to use Sketchup to Design your Campervan Layout

Van conversion research is not complete without watching Greg Virgoes YouTube channel which contain in-depth instructional videos about converting a campervan. Greg started his van build at a similar time to ours which was great to start with but we had to do our build much quicker so we soon passed the stages that Greg was working on. Below we include the videos that helped us with our build and more posts will follow on key stages of the build process.

Most campervan builds will start with a quick sketch on the back of an envelope to capture basic ideas of how you want to use your campervan and what you think are the essentials. 

I recommend taking time to really think about what you need in your van as we are all different in our requirements. To help you explore your options and build a virtual version of your van I recommend the following videos from Greg Virgoe. 

How to Design Your Campervan in Sketchup

Sketchup is free 3D modelling software you can access Sketchup here. It's pretty easy to use and Greg guides you through the steps to create a 3D version of your campervan. Once you have the shell built to scale you can then start planning your interior layout. 

So here is our campervan shell built using Gregs instructions. From this we were then able to start to plan the internal build and Greg has a video on this too.

Next you will want to start playing around with the internal space of your campervan. Using Sketchup means you are working with the correct dimensions of you van and creating internal structures to scale so you can see visually how your design is going to work. 

Watch the video below and by the end of it you should be able to start building your internal space. At this point you can do many different layout variations. Make sure you are doing everything to scale then you will have a plan with correct dimensions to follow during your build.

Draw your Campervan Interior

Below is one of the original 3D models I created for our campervan. I already had an idea of the layout I wanted in the van and as you can see the finished build wasn't much different to the original plan.

As you can see from the plan above the only major change during the build process was the elimination of the high level kitchen cupboards. Don't be afraid to make changes during your build- once structures are built, how you feel about the space may change a little. For us we had plenty of storage space without the upper cupboards and also I wanted a comfortable working space when using the kitchen area and at 5'10" I didn't want to stoop or whack my head on them whilst cooking.

I hope this post helps you plan your campervan conversion if you do have any questions just CONTACT US and will do our best to help.