The Goobsmobile

About the Project

No other place to start this project than the beginning!

I bought this van in February, 2021 after scouring Facebook Marketplace for weeks on end. On my way to buy a van that looked just "pretty good", I saw this van parked on the side of the road with a "For Sale" sign. Seeing that sign immediately made me forget about the original van I was going to buy. That was the best decision I could have ever made.

This van that I have dubbed The Goobsmobile is a 1992 Dodge Ram Van. Although the van was already converted to be a livable space by the company Roadtrek, I had my own vision for how I wanted this van to be.
Through many lessons learned, roadside misadventures, quiet contemplative nights, and bottles of wood glue - I brought my vision of a cabin on wheels to life!

Over the course of three years, I worked on and off to fulfill my vision! I started by stripping the van of its original interior, except for the cab because I had to keep that original. After demolition, I installed installation and framing into the van to serve as the bones for the van’s structure. Next was hooking up the electrical system for the van’s “home” appliances - this includes dimmable lights, a fan that can blow air in and out, a 12v fridge, an inverter for 120v power, multiple charging ports, and a water pump to push water from tank to sink! Once the electrical work was done, I could go about completing the van’s interior with the finished layout plan including a bed, a living room, a dining room, a kitchenette, and a foyer.

All of this was completed without any prior knowledge! I took on a backwards “measure once, cut twice” sort of approach, which while not the most efficient, taught me a lot about what it takes to build a home! If you ignore how bad some of the work is in the van, then it doesn’t look half bad.

As of August 2024, the van was finally completed!