CAMPER VAN CURTAINS | D.I.Y.
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- čas přidán 2. 07. 2024
- A quick step by step on how I made some curtains for my camper van build. This is a pretty easy project that can be done in just an afternoon.
Materials:
Curtain / Fabric Material
Wooden Dowels
1" L Brackets and Screws
Plastic Drywall Anchors would be a good idea too for added strength.
Tools:
Drill
Small Drill Bit for Pilot Hole
Tape Measurer
Pen or Pencil
Scissors
Sewing Machine - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Excellent DIY how to video. The curtains look great !
I love this can’t wait to try this in the Morning ☺️😍
I have just subscribed! Purely because your dog is gorgeous :) from London
Best vid yet! Thumbs up
Good job.
A concise and actually well explained video 👏🏼
The inside of your van is looking great bro!
Thank you 🙏It’s a work in progress and each project seems to uncover another project but I’m enjoying it.
Those curtains look great, nice work!
Thanks I’m happy with how they turned out 👍
That was nice fabric...
Well done, you have helped us with our van build in Spain. Have you filled the gap around your windows yet? That's a part of our van build i am scratching my head about.
Having diy-ed multiple curtain designs, I'd like to share an alternative to your suggestion ... because, as always, which system is best varies with circumstances (ex: For an employer-leased van for stealth camping during work travel, removable adhesive for the smooth half of velcro at minimal attachment sites was appropriate).
Though my professionally- converted pop-top camper van came with rail-curtains & snaps, the plastic rails have places where they've already cracked, become unattached, &/or snaps have rusted &/or detached (screws stripped &/or expanded opening where flange/washer secured outer side of snap to outer side of sheet-metal) &/or sunken relative to fabric raising around them ... such that snaps holding outer edges of privacy curtains to van &/or where the meet eachother became unusable, etc..
Point? Simpler can sometimes be better.
So ... my personal favorite curtain system includes:
1) Sliding via cord that's easily detatchable from van and easily threadable (to remove and re-thread cord when laundering, , replacing cord, etc).
2) Some way to reversibly attach cord to van itself with cord side of attachment being both large enough to prevent accidental withdraw of cord tips into/through where curtain slides across supporting cord and yet these relatively large cord "anchors" can be removed for intentional separation of cord from curtain.
3) Neutral color for curtains such that people outside the vehicle can't tell whether it's just too dark inside the van to easily see in or whether there are black-out curtains.
4) Scotch-guard or otherwise protected from UV damage, stains, moisture, and mildew (condensation, rain &/or dew &/or misty fog if windows not completely closed or something indirectly when doors are opened &/or interior liquid splashes &/or sprays &/or steam &/or spills, etc) plus UV protected ... & yet won't obstruct cleaning (ex: Scotch guard will be removed by combo of laundry soap + hot water, but can be reapplied after laundering).
5) No metal touching curtain itself that could expose curtain to rust.
6) Curtain options for: Enclosing drivers compartment (+/- passenger area separately if can still safely drive, as with outside cameras in back in addition to either cameras on both sides or backset enough to see side mirrors); Full width behind driver's compartment.; Concealing sleeping area(s).; Enclosing toileting area.; Enclosing inside shower ... which every camper can & should have *see notes below.; & Changing area. Note: many of above can be combined.
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Sound complicated?
Needn't be.
Ex: 1 of my van's curtains is extra-wide with straps so it can serve multiple functions via: has 1 curtain that serves multiple functions via options to attach to: Visors' middle-facing &/or outer edges.; Manufacturer's standard hand-grips ceiling-mounted above entries for both sides of driver's compartment and side door.; Latches for clamping down closed pop-top.; Piggy-backing onto adjacent curtains.; Headrests on Driver's &/or Passenger Seats; etc..
Why? Real occasions I've had for using these options:
1) Full driver's compartment enclosure when passenger seat is swiveled backwards & driver's seat + front floor-wells stow supplies that require easy access to +/- access to dash-mounted Audiovisual components (which have included line-of-sight wireless headphones).
2) Behind driver's compartment curtain to conceal theft temptations &/or current use as camper (where camping isn't permitted).
3) "Stall" (between seats where portable potty can fit) for teen daughter to change tampons.
*4) Privacy surround for shower at either full height when pop-top up or for hand-shower vs sponge "bath" when roof is down. Ideally, my sink nozzle would telescope for hand- showering, yet that would either use up drinkable water or be able to switch to non-potable easier to obtain other water. Currently, we suspend a "solar shower" that comes with a long-ish hose & flow-controllable shower head that we usually fill with water heated to desired temp some other way. We protect the privacy curtain by suspending a shower-liner inside the "Stall". Trickier bit is privacy for dressing afterwards, but we just towel-dry enough to temporarily stand on mat along-side the tub that collects the shower water while disconnecting the shower-liner, tossing it into the tub of water, putting lid on tub of water and pushing it out of the "stall". Then we can finish towel-drying & grab clothes from driver's seat to get dressed. Afterwards, the disposition of the tub of water & shower-curtain vary with circumstances.
Though I've seen more clever compact stowable shower "systems", we're using a heavy-duty plastic file box big enough to stand in, hang the removable rectangular metal file-holder frame from the ceiling to support the shower-liner via standard plastic shower "hooks" & tuck the bottom of the liner within the walls of the box. Manual bulb siphon is used to drain the tub into grey-water containers if dumping or siphoning the water to elsewhere isn't an option. Between use, the tub stores shower system components, soaps/shampoos, waterproof "bags" with clean towels, sometimes damp towels temporarily, +/- water in containers (for &/or from shower), +/- sm amts of misc other cleaning supplies, +/- sm biobags, +/- sm amts of misc laundry, ... tends to end up having every nook & cranny used for easily-removable random storage overflow. What I did end up adding to the minimum system above is a wider ring around ~ elbow height, which I plan to tweek. Started with snap together hula hoop sections held in place by "straps" secured with strong magnet pairs inside and out (borrowed from what holds our cut up cheap sporting good store run-proof mosquito net canopy to our metal van). I'm thinking glue (like for repairing or waterproofing seams of tents) to secure straps (+/- snaps at one end of straps vs threading hoop through straps that are permanently attached at both top & bottom).
One benefit to snap-open straps = more options for hoops (ex: pop-open hoops like those used for pop-up tents, ladies' hoop-skirt hoops that slide into self for storage, plumbers' straps with kotter-pins ... though those could be threaded through non-snap straps, standard hula hoops or shower rods like for converting old-fashioned lion's claw tubs into showers, bended wire ... even from coat-hangers, etc).
Point wrt bathing, for which outdoors isn't always an option, is that even tiny-camping doesn't mean baby-wipes, pits & crotch, cold &/or pay coin/token campground showers, YMCA, intermittent hotel-stays, etc., are the only options.
Since one of my favorite parts of civilization (second only to antibiotics & other health-care when needed), toilets & washing are a huge part of "sustainable" camping (& long road trips). Not just in my opinion either. Many other people like access to their own toilets & showers (esp men who can't or won't poop using toilets that aren't theirs, sandy folks who camp at the beach, ladies after sex, young children who frequently don't complain that they have to potty right after you pass a sign saying "next rest stop" an eternity away, ladies with sudden menstrual onset or overflow, severe weather outside camper, gas stations that won't let the public use their bathrooms, etc., etc.)!
Your video here is great & much appreciate, & I hope my suggestions are understood to be inspired by you & in no way intended as criticism or me implying your education herein was incomplete wrt this the lesson freely shared in this video.
Thank you, from a grateful fellow camper! 🌹
Goodness! How long did it take U to write all that?!?
You've done alot more stuff you've not covered in videos, looks like LED in the tracks of the topper, a switch mounted in the wall for what I assume is the LEDs and what's that... a carbon monoxide detector for the diesel fuel heater?
What fabric did you use and how much is it per yard?