Vanlife Roadmap

Tim Jowers quit a 25-year warehouse career in December 2021, bought a ProMaster, and started building vans out of his Texas driveway with his son Ryan. Twenty builds later, he’s still in that driveway — and still loving it. Tim builds what he calls weekend warrior vans: complete, functional, and specifically without showers. In this episode he walks through why — the condensation issues, drainage problems, and cost math that make showers a non-starter. He also covers why cabinet work is the p...

What happens when a simple vanlife problem turns into a full product? In this episode, Dutch shares how dealing with bugs in his van led him to create the Bug Wall—and how trial and error, simple thinking, and real-world use shaped the outcome. In this episode, we cover: • Dutch’s background in carpentry and hands-on building • The challenges of designing a family van layout • Why bugs became a bigger problem than expected • How the first screen designs came together &...

In this episode of Vanlife Roadmap, Justin Shipp of Site Seven shares how family roots in the RV industry, a detour into custom bicycle building, and years of hands-on experience shaped his approach to van design. The conversation centers on a practical idea – better vans are not always the ones with more features, but the ones built with more intention. Justin explains why quality, simplicity, and real-world use matter so much, why some vans end up overbuilt or harder to live in, and what DI...

Vanlife Roadmap begins with a conversation that sets the tone for the series. In Episode 1, we sit down with Zach Daudert – co-founder of Vanlife Outfitters and Peace Love & Vans – to talk about his path into vanlife, long before it became an industry. Zach shares stories from building and living in his first van as a teenager, following the Grateful Dead, and learning van systems through trial and error. He explains how documenting his own build turned into a blog that expose...