Welcome to Van and Boat
Welcome to Van & Boat – The home of travel
Welcome to www.vanandboat.com! Love to travel over land or water? Well you have come to the right place!
Hi, I’m Mark. I am a keen traveller, photographer, DIY enthusiast and web designer. Oh yes, almost forgot – I am also passionate about writing! Through a lot of hard work, I have been able to combine these interests by refurbishing a sailing boat and building a motorhome! This enables me to continue exploring and photographing our magnificent planet on both land and water. Van and Boat documents both the build as well as all of the exciting places that I travel to.
My Motorhome and Boat
As somebody who loves learning, I continue to thoroughly research each aspect of a project before I begin designing and making. This attitude has enabled me to complete all aspects of the boat’s refurbishment myself along with the complete motorhome build. This has included the design, plumbing, electrical system including solar power generation, heating and computer system.
By careful planning I have managed to keep my costs to a minimum by continuously researching the most appropriate and efficient components required. To further reduce costs and in an effort to be more sustainable, I have reused and up-cycled wherever possible. If have been unable to find the right component, then I have designed and made it.
I have included links to appropriate products that I have used, however for the sake of the environment, please consider purchasing secondhand! I have also included a number of guides written to help others completing similar projects. These guides are simply based on my experiences and research and should not be the readers only point of reference.
The following two photographs show my van before I started the conversion and then touring around Europe once finished!
The Site
My knowledge of web design has enabled me to fully design and implement this website without external support. Additionally I designed the V/B shield logo to include a van’s outline and boat’s hull combined. I have taken photographs at each stage of the build and will continue to update this site as time permits. All work including video editing, graphic design and this website has been completed on my 14 year old ThinkPad laptop running Linux. It goes to show that with a little care, you don’t always have to buy the latest model!
In order to cover my website’s running costs, it contains a number of affiliate links and third party adverts. By clicking on these links you will be helping me to further develop this website as I may earn a small commission.
I hope that this website will support others who are undertaking boat renovation or building a motorhome. It can be hard work, however it is worth it in the end. My motto is: ‘If you really want something, work harder than you have ever done before…. and go get it!’
Of course, if you are simply looking for somewhere to go on holiday, then there are lots of handy guides here too!
Travel Blog
As I keen traveller, I am always visiting somewhere new! Whether its by van, boat or even plane, I continue to update my blog with exciting places that I have visited. Remember to check in regularly, or even better, why not subscribe for further updates!
Freelance Work
My background in teaching combined with my extensive knowledge on DIY and travel enables me to offer my services as a freelance writer and web designer. If you would like me to work with you on a particular project then please contact me to discuss. Please also browse my freelance off-grid consultancy and off-grid kits pages for my other work!
Please take time to learn about my motorhome and my boat!
And Finally
All of my projects take a lot of time, effort and planning. I would like to say a big thank you to Erica for believing in me and to my parents for their support in completing these projects! Also, never underestimate the influence of a good teacher. My drive to design and build things is very much a result of the dedication of my former Design Technology teachers Nick and Don. Thanks to them too!
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