The quick and dirty report of how much money it cost to convert our 2017 Ram Promaster 2500 into a camper

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As indicated in previous posts, I thought I would update this blog every month with monthly spending reports. As the project dragged on longer than I had hoped (but not longer than I anticipated), there were some months with very few purchases or little progress in general. It turns out, if you don’t plan ahead properly you will end up taking extra time to think about things during the process. While we did do a fair amount of thinking about layout and created a general mental picture for the end result, the devil is in the details. That is one of the excuses you will hear me say out loud, but I might be a bit of a procrastinator.

Instead of providing monthly spending as we go, I’ll be very upfront with the amount of money we have spent up to this point. Later, I will publish more in-depth reports that break down the spending into chunks that makes sense.

Ok. Enough with the introduction, I know most people are curious about the cost to convert a Promaster into something you can use for camping. Here’s the big picture cost as of right now.

Cost to date

Upfront cost of Edith: $26,977.76
Cost of the materials and a couple of things I paid to have installed professionally: $16,790.80
Benefits of working on a project that exercises your mind and body: priceless
Total cost: $43,768.56

This sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but there’s a lot of stuff we were able to squeeze into the 6′ x 12′ space.

1. Running water for kitchen sink
2. Convertible dining and sleeping area
3. Butcher block countertops!
4. Electrical system powered with solar
5. Bathroom with a zero-water toilet (composting)
6. Custom cabinets for storage
7. A vented propane furnace for temperature control
8. Vent fan for temperature and humidity control

There are other things we have purchased that have yet to make it into the final build, but all-in-all, our van feels ‘livable’ now. We take it out on day trips as a nice way to socially distance while we are still getting some experience with the local trails. It gives us access to a bathroom, a refrigerator, a sink, a stove-top, and a place to hang out (and usually eat something).

Stay tuned!

I’m currently writing drafts to break down the cost of spending more specifically. The data has been recorded, I just have to dig through it a bit to make something meaningful out of it.