I always enjoy hearing from others who have built their own caravans, especially when accompanied by photos and descriptions. If you follow this blog you probably saw Kevin’s original photos here recently with a short post about his build. If not, you can read about it HERE.
Classic vardo layout with underbed storage, box bench seats, and slide out bed.
The perfect classic profile combining an arched roof and a beautiful dutch door.
The actual living space of a vardo is the great outdoors with the camper itself serving as a secure sleeping and foul weather quarters.
The promised follow-up is finally here as I have posted the images and text he sent. Honestly, this is my favorite kind of living wagon where old and new technologies are melded into a practical, yet affordable dwelling whether for long-term living or just overnight luxury travel. As shown here, there is a great use of fine woodworking and joinery combined with modern materials and hardware to create a rugged and practical living space that is road (and off-road) worthy.
Here is the rest of Kevin’s mighty fine vardo project (his original text in italics).
This shot offers a view of the short bench with built-in AC/Heat ducts, one for cooled/heated air (right), and one for return air (left). As well as accommodating air circulation, the bench provides handy storage. Also shown is a 110 volt outlet that provides power to the interior when the Vardo is attached to the generator or some other power supply. There are three interior outlets (the other two are hid pretty well), and three exterior outlets on the camper. There are also 12 volt power plugs inside the camper that are tied to the vardo’s battery. These are great for charging phones and running fans at night. It gets pretty hot along the Texas/Mexican border.
You can see a top view of the access doors to the under-bench storage provided in the long bench. You can also see the flip up section that turns this bench into a single bed. On the side of the door, if you look hard, you can see the hinged corbel that provides some of the support for the flip-up section. At the top of the photo you can catch a glimpse of the bungee net that provides overhead gear storage. This works very nice for carrying fishing poles and a broom.
This is how the “chuck box” (cooking box) is stowed when traveling, or when not in use. The small counter top is very handy when brushing your teeth and emptying your pockets at bed time. Underneath, as can be seen, typically is stored a pickers stool, a larger folding camp table, and a folding chair.
This wagon can haul a whole mess of Hunting gear. A trip to the desert requires a lot of ice and water. Everything is packed for travel, keeping the weight forward and the trailer stable on the road.
A photo of our south Texas hunting camp, with the Vardo set-up. We always get a bunch of comments and compliments along the way. The wagon provides comfortable accommodations for 1-3 hunters.
The chuck box gets unloaded and set up for use in camp.
This vardo looks very familiar to me and I think I’d be right at home in it. Thanks so much for sharing this with us and the community.
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I fully disassembled , repaired some problems, refinished, and did a full set-up on my Banjo. Not surprisingly, it was a bigger job than I hoped for but really paid off in the end. When I built this one several years ago it was something of a rush job while working and traveling so some details were never attended to as they should have been. The action now is great and the fretting couldn’t be better in my opinion and I already see some real improvements in playability. I’ve been happily sneaking in a little practice after breakfast on most days and even a little at lunch if I’m motivated. Finally, I’m coming back to becoming an actual player reviving skills from 30 years ago. I’m a little sad that I ever let music fall out of my daily life but better late than never I suppose.
Preindustrial Craftsmanship 