How To Strip Out Your Campervan And Prep It For Converting

So you’ve just purchased your new (or old!) van, and you are excited to start making it into your very own dream home on wheels! But where on earth do you even begin?

In this post, we will share with you how to strip out your campervan and prepare it for your conversion!

Before we started doing anything to our van build-wise, we needed to gut all the plywood out & the bulkhead, clean every crevice & corner we could, treat any rust & just general give it a good tidy up!

As you can see in the pictures below, our van needed a REALLY good clear-out, along with plenty of rust treatment!!!

So grab a coffee, take a seat & have a quick read of this post in which we will take you through the simple steps of how you can get started prepping your van for your dream build!

* DISCLAIMER: There are so many ways to convert a campervan, different materials you can use & methods of doing certain things. We are not experts, we are simply sharing what we have chosen to do & what has worked for us after hours and hours of research. So although we write our blog to help others with their build & recommend products and materials that we have used - please always do your own personal research and do choose methods that you feel comfortable with or that suits your van build & needs!

In This Post

Materials And Tools We Used

Sugar Soap (or a cleaning solution of your choice)
Hammerite Kurust Rust Converter
Hammerite Direct To Rust Metal Paint
Long Brush
Dustpan and Brush
Bucket (for water) & Mop
Wire Brush
Sponge/Cloth
Detail sander/sandpaper

To check out all the products & materials we used in our van conversion, visit our Amazon StoreFront!

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links as part of the Amazon Associates Program. If you choose to purchase anything through one of our links, we make make a small commission (at no extra cost to you!) Thank you for your support!

Step 1: Remove Plywood Walls & Floor

The ply lining on the wall and floor wasn’t in great shape at all in our van – we just couldn’t wait to get rid of it!

Overall it was a straightforward task, all you need to do is remove the screws on each bit of ply with a drill & then pull it right off.

We did happen to find many of the screws were rusted, making them a bit more difficult to remove, so we had to prise those ones off with crowbar!

TIP: some people re-use the plywood on their walls/floor, so that could be something for you to consider if you are looking to save some money instead of buying more ply!

However in our case, as the wood was in such bad shape, it was straight to the dump with it!

Step 2: Take off the Bulkhead

Then it was onto removing the bulkhead which separates the cab from the back of the van.

This was a bit more of a challenging task as we had more really rusty screws that just didn’t want to let go!

Despite this, again it is pretty straightforward, you simply have to unscrew any screws and bolts & it should come off.

Note: It is really up to you if you want to remove the bulkhead or keep it. It will just depend on your own preferences & the layout plans you have for your own van.

Personally, we decided to remove it because we are going to build our own partition wall, between the cab & the living space!

Step 3: Hoover, Brush And Scrub

Next, it was time to get our clean on! 🧼

Did you notice that photo above? We couldn’t believe the dirt underneath the ply floor, goodness knows how long it had been there!

We used a brush to take away most of the surface dirt & then used the hoover to get rid of the rest, making sure to get into all the nooks & crannies as we went!

There were also remnants of Velcro strips still stuck on the floor which had held the plywood down, so we did try to remove that as much as possible, but we couldn’t get rid of it totally.