In the beginning…there was Mabel - the project that got me hooked on woodworking! It’d be rude to move to NZ and not convert a Campervan really, so I went all-out with the help of my partner, Rachel, and designed & built our beautiful camper, making use of every inch of space available. Bear in mind this was before I developed any significant skill in woodworking & joinery and is NOT a representation of the much more precise skills I now possess!

Mabel started out as a carpenters van with heavy duty drawers and the remnants of it's previous life as a minibus before it left Japan. The conversion started with stripping it back to the bare frame before spraying the interior metal white, installing insulation and lining with plywood.
Our plan dictated that electrics must be put in before everything else, so wires could be mostly hidden under the floor, with our battery and electrical systems tucked in under the side cabinet. Thankfully 12v electrical isn't too difficult to get your head round, with the necessary fuses and wire gauge calculations being the main areas of concern to avoid fire hazards.

Then came the fun bit of building our interior. The kitchen was carefully designed to use every available bit of space. This was a challenge to do practically, particularly the stove space and wide-but-shallow kitchenware drawer, but it has served us well in keeping the van organised and relatively tidy! Some basic plumbing provided our sink with water via a powered pump and we were able to squeeze our 2 water containers into to often-underutilised back corner of the kitchen.
We opted for baskets on shelves for the remainder of the storage to keep it flexible and allow us to pack our food etc outside the van. There's also a great little fridge in the large drawer beside the door.

The bed is split in 2 sections, the small section including a large, deep storage drawer for blankets, board games etc. and also acts as an extra seat for the fold-down table if needed. The large bed section pulls out to form the complete double bed and also allows access to another storage area under the bed, also accessed from the boot - this is where our camping chairs usually live.
A small door in the rear section of the bed opens to permit skis and poles to be kept inside the van, but out of the main floor space of the kitchen.
Once again, space was optimised by building hiking boot storage into the space under the bedside cabinet, which also has a small bookshelf beside the flexible touch light, which also acts as USB phone charger!

Finally, the most significant storage space is the side cabinet. This is ideal for storing clothes, which we often keep in travel organisers on longer van trips. The cabinet door also serves as the fold-down dining table and there is additional open storage and charging ports to the right of the cabinet.
We stuck to our favourite colour scheme, teal, along with some warm wood tones and a mountain theme to make it feel like home!

Mabel has served us well since completion in May 2022 and taught me a great deal about construction, basic plumbing and electrical and, of course, the joy of woodworking! It’d be a lie to pretend it was all smooth-sailing though. The lowest point was me blowing a fuse while wiring the reversing camera and convincing myself I’d broken the van beyond repair…now I know more about vehicle electrics!
The construction was primarily plywood and simple butt-joints, screwed together. Thankfully my woodworking and joinery skills have developed greatly since this project and I'll certainly be doing the construction differently in the future!