About

This site started as a build log for family and friends. We never expected internet fame! It soon became obvious we were meeting a need that other DIY van converters had, so we’ve changed focus and kept writing. Here’s some background information.

Who are you?

Dieselfumes and Mrs. Dieselfumes prefer to remain pseudonymous. We’re not hiding from anything though. And writing about ourselves in the third person is kind of weird.

Dieselfumes runs a consulting company in the User Experience/Design/Content world. He has an international presence and using his real name would mess up Google search results for his business. His clients don’t typically want to hear about van conversions.

Mrs. Dieselfumes has a serious addiction. Riding bikes in the dirt. She is currently recovering from pro mountain bike and elite cyclocross racing, but not quite ready to let go yet. The van has become an enabler. But also made her soft.

The dog finally gave in to old age in 2017. She was 16 years old and should have died of lymphoma four years ago. She’s still a cutie, but her rear legs sag like an accessible transit bus’s doorway. We’re acutely aware that medical science can keep her alive longer than might be fair, but so far she’s still proving to be feisty and interested in traveling, so there’s a space in the van for her.

“Home” is the Pacific NorthWest. Specifically the Greater Seattle area. That means plenty of great mountain biking in the summer, and plenty of reason to travel elsewhere for the rest of the year (except for cyclocross season, of course).

What’s the site about?

We’re determined not to turn this into a “we sold everything and moved into a van look how wonderful our life is and yours sucks in comparison” type site. We haven’t moved into the van. Life isn’t always super-wonderful. Money still needs to be earned and self-employment sucks sometimes. The van is our way of escaping from the money-earning part of things during downtime between client gigs.

We try to show how we converted a bare van into something liveable. We realize your needs and choices may be different, so along the way we try to show some of the other options out there, and why we made the choices we did.

Obviously, as our build matures, there are less posts about construction and more about how we plan our travel and how we use the van and its systems.

What do other people say about the site?

We’ve had some really positive feedback about what we’re doing, which is one reason we carry on doing it. Here are some examples.

I just wanted to say how blown away I am by your immensely informative and well-written build reports that are on your website.
Your suggestions and insight are definitely the most inspiring I’ve seen regarding the many ways and best practices there are for conversions.
Thanks so much and please don’t stop!!
–Mirage

 

My boyfriend and I are about halfway through our build and we have been using your blog/website all along the way. It has be a great resource.
–Brianna & Brian

 

Thanks for your encouraging and informative reply to my build thread. I read your blog, and found it to be very clearly presented and hugely helpful.
–Redive

I love you too. How can I show it?

Simple. We have an Amazon affiliate account. If you buy things from Amazon after clicking a link on this site, we get a small referral fee at no extra cost to you. So just click here (or any of the Amazon links on the site) and feel good that you’re helping keep the wheels on this bus. We also participate in the Amazon EU Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de.

Just so you know, we aren’t some of those crazy 5-star Amazon reviewers who get stuff free. We research, buy, test, and use almost everything we link to. The other links are to things we’re using as examples or alternatives.

I want to get in touch

If it’s a van-related question, the best way is to use the comments section on a relevant page on the site. We read the comments and respond as soon as we can. Other people will benefit from the question and answer being public. If you still have a desperate urge to use email, address it to dieselfumes @ this site’s domain name.