How to Scribe a Wall in a DIY Campervan

When building a DIY Campervan, you will have to find a good way to fit your walls and cabinets against the curved shell of the van. There are several tactics to doing this, but this is the way that I have found to be the most effective. When we were building the walls, I showed in our video a way that I actually totally do not recommend. The way I show in this video is much much better and is a much better way to scribe a wall. With a bit of practice, this way is also incredibly fast. Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe!

[@carolko2444]

That is so clever! I have just spent the last 1hr watching scribing videos …..all complicated until I found you 🤗. I am trying make a platform for my car bed and just did not know how to scribe the inside car doors etc. I’m going to give this a go. I’m female, 74 and determined to make this work. Thanks for sharing . Cheers from Australia 🤗🤗

[@brucecggallagher1949]

Thank you ...good stuff...my 99 Sienna has undulating walls! Cheers from Victoria, British Columbia.

[@libertybell144]

Best scribing explanation I have ever seen!!!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Glad it was helpful. Cheers!

[@ceciliacecilia4162]

One of the best tutorials on scribing I've seen. (And I've seen a lot.)

[@zerobambiro]

For this case it works perfectly. If you need more details in the curve you need to take a smaller wheel or switch to another method. Smaller wheel means that you need to be very close to the wall already or do many steps.

[@petermasson3676]

I have enjoyed all your videos but this tip is the best. I'm building my van and I struggled with scribing edges. I tried this technique and it worked great. Thanks!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Oh YES!! SO glad it helped someone. Very good to hear! :D

[@brighterside8094]

You two work so well together, keep up the good work sharing your info. From Georgia

[@gordonteasdale410]

Excellent video. I have been looking for scribing tips. Your technique is simple and effective, thanks for sharing

[@ianfergie2615]

an amazing video, took something i was struggling with and made it very simple, thank you

[@jamesborsheim9382]

Very informative, much appreciated. Glad to learn how it can be done. THANK YOU!!!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for checking it out! :D

[@LosAngelesDrummer]

A compass/scribe is tricky to accustom oneself to use at first but overall it will work more accurately and quicker in the long run . Keep the pin and pencil horizontal for this type scribe. Wishing you safe and fun adventures. Very entertaining videos. Thxs

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Thanks for checking out our video! I had a hard time using the scribe because since everything else in the van other than the floor is not square, it kept throwing off my "level". Probably would get better with practice, but definitely an issue nontheless.

[@sungkim6923]

Awesome. Great inside love your Van!!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Thank you so much! :D

[@transchristine]

Thanks old mate, always had trouble doing this scribing.

[@Dickie2702]

I think somebody mentioned it already but you have made the simple look so complicated. Get a set of compasses and simply set them to the size of the largest gap and your done in one pass. It takes a few trial runs to get used to holding the compass square but not many and you can scribe anything in one pass. To go one stage further the panel you are demonstrating on needs to finish flush at the front. To achieve this perfectly simply offset the panel by say 50mm at the front. Set your compass to 50mm scribe and when the cut is done you have a perfect scribe and a board that is flush at the front. Good video for the uninitiated but whilst you are gluing popsicle sticks to something you could have done four panels and be having a beer. It is one thing having all the time in the world but if you are doing this for a pay check keep to the KISS principal.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

There are 100 ways to do this. Find the way that works best for you and your needs and go with it. It's good to have a bunch of different techniques in your toolbelt.

[@VANESSASDAILYLIFE]

*I’m gonna try this*

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Awesome! Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

[@xanaharmsen4014]

Any tips when you don't have a wall to scribe it from? So we are struggling with the wall for the shower. And both sides its 'air'. So its super tricky as the height needs to be perfect and the rounding of the ceiling but also the walls and the rounding there.. We are lost!

[@Nodoubtingthomas]

A carpenter's pencil would be perfect for the final scribe you did.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Indeed!

[@jobvandenoort]

Thats so smart! the circle line maker!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Works so well! :D

[@vizio213]

Good ideas, thank you!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

vizio213 No problem! Thanks for watching!

[@slaavichii1129]

I was lost. Thank you

[@m1ndf8ke]

Looks easy enough, thanks.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Pretty straightforward for the most part! Thanks for watching!

[@chrisjarrold]

Nice tip. Thanks. 👍

[@EXPLORISTlife]

No problem! Glad it helped!

[@thomasstaples4385]

Like it.... thanks for sharing

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Thomas Staples No problem! Thanks for watching!

[@erichlf]

A compass would do the job in one go and allow you to get all the way from top to bottom.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

I was actually able to get the overall line closer with this method than with the compass. The compass required me to be perfectly perpendicular to the cut whereas this way you could do it in a hard to get to area with your off hand upside down. That's how I felt anyway. Thanks for watching! :D :D

[@christoffer1973]

Do you have a vidoe on what kind of Cooler/Fridge box you have. And also why you choose that one. Waching your videos several times now :-)

[@EXPLORISTlife]

We haven't made a video for it just yet, but it is in the works. But a quick rundown... It's an ARB 50qt. (amzn.to/2uMxDN6) that is super energy efficient. We chose this one because of the ARB Reputation as well as the energy efficient properties of it. So far, it's absolutely amazing! :D

[@christoffer1973]

ARB is Australian and they have so many great "outdoor produkt" and car products..

[@Multiscan0001]

Glad to view a new video. It was very interesting, like all your other videos. Do you have any trips planned for July that you will film. Just a curious huge fan. 🚐👍

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Wow! A HUGE fan?! That really means a lot to us. Thanks so much! :D :D D: In early July, after we totally finish our van (we are waiting on our roof rack to be made/shipped), we will be headed to Ottawa Canada. We will be in a bit of a hurry to get there, but will likely grab a few adventures enroute. We will be in Ottawa visiting some friends and adventuring around there for a few weeks. After that we will be traversing over to Oregon by mid August to go to PCT days in Cascade Locks Oregon. We will be doing near-daily vlogs along the way and hopefully some more videos that have a little better production (I, Nate, just enrolled into a filmmaking class, so hopefully video quality will improve! :D) Thanks again for watching and following along! :D

[@Multiscan0001]

Adventure in a Backpack - Thanks for the reply. I'm sure you'll have a great time and hope to see a video of the new roof rack before you leave. It's great that you are going to study so that you'll be able to make even better videos. Wish you all the luck and have great fun. Can't wait for new video's... You both take care!

[@ImHewg]

How did you manage to scribe the whole cabinet on the other side? When you were making it, there's no wall for the scibing template to lean against

[@EXPLORISTlife]

I'm not really sure I follow the question. Could you hook me up with a re-wording? Sorry about that.

[@ImHewg]

Yeah, sorry about the messy wording, for the floor to ceiling cabinet on the right hand side of the video, how did you manage to scribe the side walls for the whole cabinet? There is nothing for you to lean the cardboard against when you are first starting off the right hand side. How did you manage to secure the template to a flat enough surface for you to scribe against when theres no architecture/starting point?

[@EXPLORISTlife]

No worries! Yeah, so we didn't even use cardboard for that one. We were able to get more precise on the wood itself. For that side, we just cut a piece of plywood to the height of the cabinet (square on the top and bottom) and then used this scribing technique as we pushed it into place. It took a few passes with the jigsaw, but was ultimately able to get pretty close. So, basically, the vertical uprights of the cabinets were the basis of the rest of the unit and we could make our other measurements off of that.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

...this is very difficult to describe without visuals... lol

[@EXPLORISTlife]

...and I don't know if it'll help at all as it's in a time lapse and goes pretty quick, but here is the video about making the cabinets: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmKVnXuPadOed7s

[@toddm9469]

Loving your design and attention to detail. I'm a new subscriber so I was wondering if you have costed out the project yet and I just haven't seen that mentioned yet?

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Thanks so much! Welcome Aboard! Our budget for the entire project is $40,000 and we are right on track. That cost includes the cost of the van. Also, $10,000 of that cost is eaten up by our roof racks, front bumper, rear bumper, and bumper boxes. Another $5,000 is our solar system that we will be writing about very very soon (as we are installing the panels today...)

[@RegalCampers]

Hello guys. Great video. May I ask if we are allowed to embed ANS put a link to your video on our website, please? we sell furniture for vans with square backs and your video is a great example on how folk can scribe them :) Kind regards Thanks in advance for your reply. Isabel

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Hey! Glad you found it helpful. That's totally fine, thanks! :)

[@RegalCampers]

Super cool. I will send a link to you too. Million thanks 😃👍

[@RegalCampers]

@@EXPLORISTlife Dear friends from across the pond, please find the link to our page where we have shared your video. with a million thanks. We have made the subscribe word "linkable" as well as your Channel name :-) we hope you like it :) . Do let us know if this is good or maybe you have additional info you might want us to link there? :-D regal-campers.com/assembly-guide/

[@scrbsprite34736]

a compass works too.

[@EXPLORISTlife]

+michelle holmes I was actually able to get the overall line closer with this method than with the compass. The compass required me to be perfectly perpendicular to the cut whereas this way you could do it in a hard to get to area with your off hand upside down. That's how I felt anyway. Thanks for watching! :D :D

[@shamailsyed439]

nice video, do keep the pencil level then it will be more accurate

[@koko-rl9zm]

Good ideas but a closeup would be better. Thanks!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

ko ko Thanks! Be sure to turn on 1080p HD and hit the full screen button if you are having trouble seeing the details. Thanks again for watching!

[@koko-rl9zm]

Thanks that helps! Also your van looks good!

[@EXPLORISTlife]

Fantastic! Glad that helped. Thanks so much!