# Camper Van Conversion Repair and Build Out Work

> A camper van conversion is a cargo van carrying an aftermarket interior, and repairing one means dealing with that interior first. OCRV Center works on roof penetrations for fans, solar and Starlink, cabinet mounting into thin sheet metal, lithium house banks, inverters, Webasto and Espar heat, insulation and the body damage sitting behind a finished wall.

Source: https://ocrv.biz/vehicles/vans-camper-vans/camper-van-conversion-repair/
Business: OCRV Center, 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. Serving Tustin, California.
Ballpark range: $5,000 to $80,000. Posted rates at https://ocrv.biz/prices/

## Weight, and where a builder decided to put it

A finished conversion routinely adds well over a thousand pounds to an empty van, and the number matters less than the placement. Water carried behind the rear axle changes how the van sits and how the rear suspension behaves. A house bank mounted high in a cabinet raises the centre of gravity. Cabinetry down one side only pulls the van off level on its springs, which shows up as uneven tyre wear long before anybody blames the build.

The first thing checked on a conversion coming in for body work is ride height corner to corner. If the van sits low on one rear corner it explains a lot of otherwise puzzling damage: a rear quarter that keeps contacting kerbs, a sliding door that binds, a rear door that stopped meeting its seal.

### What gets recorded at intake

- Corner ride heights, loaded as the van arrives.
- Location and mounting method of the house bank and inverter.
- Fresh and grey tank position relative to the rear axle.
- Whether the cabinetry is through bolted, riveted or bonded to the sidewall.

Custom build out work, whether that is a camper, a mobile office or a mobile medical layout, is posted at **$5,000 to $80,000** across 40 to 400 hours, with the full set of bands on the [prices page](/prices/).

## Every hole in the roof is a leak waiting for its turn

A factory cargo van roof has no holes in it. A conversion roof usually has four or five: a MaxxAir or Fan Tastic vent, solar panel feet, a cable gland, often a Starlink mount, sometimes a second fan. Each one is a cut through the outer steel and each one relies entirely on sealant and a gasket to stay dry.

They do not fail evenly. Fan flanges fail first because the fan vibrates and the roof flexes under it. Solar feet fail next, especially where a builder bonded them with a construction adhesive rather than a proper roof sealant such as Dicor with an Eternabond overlay. Cable glands are the sneakiest: water tracks down the wire itself, inside the loom, and appears at the terminal block metres away from the hole it entered.

Water in a conversion does not run out. It lands on insulation, wicks along the plywood substrate and rots a cabinet base from underneath while the visible surface still looks new. By the time a stain appears on a wall panel the damage is usually a foot in every direction. Water damage restoration is posted at $750 to $15,000 across 4 to 60 hours, which is the honest range for how far a small leak travels before anyone notices it.

If a conversion comes in for anything at all, the roof gets looked at. It costs a few minutes and it has caught more expensive problems than any other single check on these vans.

## Cabinets in thin steel, lithium under the bed, heat in the floor

Van sidewalls are thin, curved and structural. A cabinet run screwed into that skin with self tappers will loosen, then oval the holes, then telegraph a line of dimples down the outside of the van. Done properly the load goes into the factory ribs and captive nuts, or into a spreader plate bonded and riveted across several ribs so no single point carries the shear.

Electrical is the other place builds go wrong. A lithium house bank with a Victron, Xantrex or Magnum inverter draws serious current, and the failure points are consistent: undersized cable between bank and inverter, a shunt installed on the wrong side of the negative bus, no fuse close to the positive terminal, and a chassis ground landed on painted steel. Twelve volt work with auxiliary battery and inverter is posted at $750 to $7,500 at 4 to 30 hours, and solar with an MPPT controller and lithium bank runs $1,500 to $12,000 at 8 to 40 hours.

Auxiliary heat from a Webasto or Espar unit is a diesel or gasoline burner with a fuel pickup, an exhaust and a combustion air intake, all routed under the floor. Most no start faults trace to the fuel pickup, the exhaust routing or a glow pin at the end of its service life rather than to the controller. Auxiliary heat augmentation is posted at $1,500 to $5,500 across 8 to 22 hours. Insulation and sound deadening, which is what makes a van habitable in the first place, runs $750 to $4,500 at 4 to 20 hours.

## The interior comes apart before the body comes back

This is the sentence conversion owners least want to hear and most need to. A dent in the rear quarter of a bare cargo van is a panel job. The same dent on a finished conversion is a panel job with a cabinet removal, a wall panel removal, an insulation removal and a wiring run to move first, then all of it back afterwards.

Access is the reason. Metal is worked from both sides where possible, and there is no both sides on a van with a finished wall in the way. Cabinetry repair, refacing and custom build work is posted at $500 to $7,500 across 4 to 35 hours, and wall panel and headliner work at $500 to $5,500 across 3 to 22 hours. Those hours sit on top of the metal and paint, not inside them.

Everything removed is photographed in place, tagged by location and reassembled onto the original fixings. Where a builder used a fastener that should not have been there, it gets replaced with the right one and noted on the invoice rather than quietly repeated.

The shop is in Yorba Linda, a short run from Tustin on the 55, open Monday to Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm and Saturday 9:30am to 3:00pm. Systems evaluation is $150, applied as a credit against an authorized repair. We stand behind our work. Request a Quote through the [contact page](/contact/).

## Questions

### Can you find a leak if I do not know where the water is coming in?

Yes. The roof penetrations are checked first because they cause most conversion leaks, then window and door seals, then cable glands. Water tracks along wiring and framing, so the entry point is often well away from the stain that made you call.

### Will you work on a conversion I built myself?

Regularly. Owner builds are assessed on how the interior attaches to the shell rather than on who built it. Anything that has to be corrected to complete the repair safely, such as an unfused battery cable, is quoted and explained before it is touched.

### How much does a full camper van build out cost?

The posted band is $5,000 to $80,000 across 40 to 400 hours. A light build with insulation, panelling, a bed platform and basic twelve volt sits near the bottom. A full build with lithium, solar, heat, plumbing and cabinetry sits well up the range.

### Can you install a lithium house bank and inverter in a van that has neither?

Yes. Twelve volt electrical with auxiliary battery and inverter is posted at $750 to $7,500 across 4 to 30 hours, with cable sizing, fusing at the battery, a properly located shunt and a clean chassis ground on bare metal rather than paint.

### My Webasto heater will not start. Is that a body shop job?

Auxiliary heat is on the systems list here. Most no start faults come from the fuel pickup, the exhaust routing or a worn glow pin, not the controller. Auxiliary heat work is posted at $1,500 to $5,500 across 8 to 22 hours.

### Do I need to empty the van before dropping it off?

Remove personal belongings, food and anything valuable. Fixed cabinetry, appliances and installed systems stay, since the shop needs them in place to understand how the build is put together before anything is disassembled.

## Related

- [Vans and Camper Vans](https://ocrv.biz/vehicles/vans-camper-vans/)
- [Sprinter Vans (All Conversions)](https://ocrv.biz/vehicles/vans-camper-vans/sprinter-van-repair/)
- [Modular Vans](https://ocrv.biz/vehicles/vans-camper-vans/modular-van-repair/)
- [Solar Panel Installation and Repair](https://ocrv.biz/services/electrical-repair/solar-panel-installation-repair/)
- [Interior Remodeling and Repair](https://ocrv.biz/services/interior-remodeling/)
- [Custom Storage Solutions](https://ocrv.biz/services/custom-fabrication/custom-storage-solutions/)
- [Roof Repair and Replacement](https://ocrv.biz/services/roof-repair/)
- [Prices and Posted Rates](https://ocrv.biz/prices/)