Vanlife Roadmap Podcast: Ep. 1

From Basement Builds to Vanlife Outfitters 

Zach Daudert on Curiosity, Camper Vans, and Building a Community the Hard Way

Vanlife rarely starts with a parts list. For Zach Daudert, it started decades earlier — with cardboard hospitals taped together in a basement, a teenage  obsession with fixing and building things, and a lifelong pull toward mobility, simplicity, and making systems work better. In the inaugural episode of the Vanlife Roadmap podcast, Zach shares the winding story that led from a childhood in  Colorado to building camper vans long before “vanlife” had a name — and ultimately to founding multiple companies designed to make vanlife less overwhelming and more intentional.

This is not a story about chasing trends. It’s a story about learning through doing, solving real problems, and building  something because it needed to exist. 

A Builder Before He Had the Language for It 

Zach grew up in Greeley, Colorado, spending much of his childhood building things and imagining adult worlds long  before most kids his age. 

As a child, he recreated a fully mapped hospital in his parents’ basement using cardboard, masking tape, and detailed  systems. There were intake forms. Recovery rooms. Even interviews with real medical professionals, recorded on  cassette tapes. 

Looking back, the pattern is obvious. Zach wasn’t just interested in things — he was interested in how systems worked. That instinct never left. 

Living in a Van at 17 — Long Before It Was “Vanlife” 

Zach built and lived in his first camper van at just 17 years old — a 1971 Volkswagen Westfalia he rebuilt with his dad and girlfriend. It wasn’t part of a movement, and it certainly wasn’t a lifestyle trend. It was simply a way to travel, see  the country, and follow the Grateful Dead. 

The van was basic. There was no polished interior, no optimized layout, and no online guides to follow. But it worked. It  gave him freedom, mobility, and just enough shelter to stay on the road. More importantly, it taught him how much you  could do with very little — and how quickly you learned what actually mattered once you started living in the space. 

Looking back, that first van wasn’t about building the “right” setup. It was about movement, music, and figuring things  out along the way — lessons that would quietly shape how Zach approached every van he built after that. 

Learning by Doing (and Breaking Things) 

As Zach lived and traveled in vans through his early adulthood, he slowly upgraded systems:

• Better electrical setups
• Refrigeration instead of ice
• Plumbing scavenged from RV salvage yards
• Marine components repurposed for mobile living

Without internet resources, he learned by dismantling old RVs and studying how they worked — physically tracing  systems to understand them. 

This hands-on, problem-driven learning shaped a core belief that still defines Vanlife Outfitters today: The best van builds are driven by use, not just gear.

Panama, Burnout, and Starting Over 

After years in video production and early web development while also founding a community training and resource  organization for creative professionals (Boulder Digital Arts), Zach burned out. He moved to Panama, and with the help  of a 5-person Panamanian crew and ex-wife, built a home from the ground up inside the crater of an extinct volcano,  and spent years living there on and off — growing food, gardening, and stepping away from constant digital work. But vans remained part of his life. When he returned to the U.S. and decided to build a modern camper van from a blank  cargo van for the first time, everything changed. 

This was 2016. 

There were still no clear resources. No centralized places to buy trusted parts. No clear guidance on systems design.  Even basic terminology was hard to find. 

So Zach did what he’d always done. 

He figured it out — and he documented it. 

Why the Blog Came First 

Zach started a blog to share what he was learning — not because he planned to build a business, but because he knew  others would run into the same problems he did. 

He wrote about: 

• Electrical systems
• Plumbing layouts
• Choosing a van platform
• Repurposing marine and RV components

The response surprised him. People weren’t just reading — they were asking questions. A lot of them. That revealed a deeper problem. 

The Real Pain Point Wasn’t Installation — It Was Sourcing 

Zach realized that one of the hardest parts of building a camper van wasn’t the physical labor — it was figuring out what  to buy. 

Parts were scattered across vendors who didn’t understand vanlife use cases. Shipping was unreliable. Support was  poor. Builders were overwhelmed by choice and conflicting advice. 

That insight became the foundation of Vanlife Outfitters. 

Not as a trend play. 

Not as a merch brand. [Well, he was planning to become a t-shirt mogul.]  

But as a curated store built by people who actually used the gear. 

From Blog to Business — With the Right Partner 

Josh Theberge was one of the early readers of Zach’s blog. He was building vans professionally during the pandemic and  running into the same frustrations — just at a larger scale. [See episode 2 for Josh’s story.]  

Together, they launched the Vanlife Outfitters store in 2020 with a simple promise: 

• Road-tested products only
• Honest guidance
• Real technical support
• A store that saves builders time, not just money

Vanlife Outfitters wasn’t built to sell everything. It was built to sell the right things. 

Community Over Commerce 

As Vanlife Outfitters grew, Zach and Josh kept coming back to the same realization: the vanlife community needed more  than products and online advice. It needed a place to gather that actually felt like vanlife. 

That idea became Peace Love & Vans.

Zach explains that while vanlife events existed in other parts of the country, there was very little for the growing  community on the East Coast. Rather than creating another expo or trade show, the goal was to build something  different — an event centered on people, not booths. 

From the start, Peace Love & Vans was designed as a camping-first experience. Vans camp together in a natural setting,  not a parking lot. Conversations happen more in van “neighborhoods” than at sales tables. Music, food, and shared  experiences are part of the fabric of the event, creating an environment that reflects why many people are drawn to  vanlife in the first place. 

Zach talks about how community is often what keeps people in vanlife long-term. Peace Love & Vans was built to  support that — bringing together builders, DIYers, longtime vanlifers, and people just starting out, all on equal footing. 

The result is an event that feels less like an industry showcase and more like a gathering of people who share a common  way of living. It’s a reflection of the same philosophy behind Vanlife Outfitters — build things with intention, prioritize  real-world use, and put community before commerce. 

Lessons for Anyone Building a Van Today 

Zach’s advice to first-time builders is refreshingly simple: 

• Don’t overthink it
• Don’t chase perfection
• Get started and use the van

Technology will change. Products will improve. Your second build will always be better than your first. What matters most is designing for how you’ll actually live, then making sure your systems support that reality. Electrical systems, in particular, deserve more thought than aesthetics — because they quietly determine comfort,  capability, and confidence on the road. 

Why This Story Matters 

Zach’s path explains why Vanlife Outfitters exists — and why it operates differently. 

It wasn’t built by marketers. 

It wasn’t built by trend followers. 

It was built by people who spent decades facing the same questions that today’s builders are asking. And then  answering them. 

Want to Hear the Full Conversation? 

Listen to Episode 1 of Vanlife Roadmap to hear Zach’s story in his own words — including the mistakes, the laughter,  and the lessons learned along the way. Follow along on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you’re planning a camper van build, exploring vanlife, or want to become a t-shirt mogul, it’s a great place to start.