What models can you convert into a cascade camper?
The vehicle model we convert is the RAM ProMaster City Cargo van (Not Wagon edition) - 2015 and up. If you have a van other than a ProMaster City Cargo van simply stop off at a RAM dealership on your way here and trade your van in on a ProMaster City Cargo van :-)
Can you convert my “X” van, SUV, or any other type of vehicle?
Simple answer is nope. Long answer: We are all about building the best campervans we can with everything you need and nothing you don’t at a price that is accessible to as many people as possible. The way we do this is through a standardized production process where every campervan we build is the same battle tested design. This allows us to build lots of high quality campervans at a low price. If you are looking for a custom van builder check out our buddy Preston with Preston Vans.
Is the camper insulated?
Yes! We install 12mm closed cell foam insulation under the paneling on the ceiling and the walls, we find this works very well. For most people this is plenty of insulation but if you plan to live in your van or camp in extreme cold or hot additional insulation can be added. We offer an additional insulation package as seen on our options page. There are cavities along the roof that can be filled with wool or Thinsulate as well as the slider and rear doors. Reflectix could be cut out and placed in the windows as well. There are over 375 of these conversions out there happily traveling and only a few folks have needed extra insulation. Most of you don’t need it.
What about the oil consumption recall?
We see the recall as a good thing. We have a pretty good finger on the pulse of RAM Promaster City reliability and issues with over 375 folks in the Cascade Camper family. Prior to the recall we had 2 customers who had high oil consumption. Obviously not great but pretty rare with only 1 in 100 vans and the downside is having to add some oil between oil changes. With the recall and why we see the recall as a good thing is if you do end up with the 1 in 100 van with an oil consumption issue Chrysler/RAM will replace your engine at no cost to you.
Can I come by your shop and check a conversion out in person?
We don’t always have a van here for you to check out. Hit us up if you are going to be in the area and we can let you know if we will have one here for you to see.
Is financing available?
We don’t currently having in-house financing available for your van conversion. We are able to accept credit card payment for your conversions and that can be a good option if you have a credit card with a good interest rate. We do charge a 3% to use a credit card as that is what the bank charges us.
I live a long way from your shop in Grass Valley, ca:
Sure, it would be nice if we were right down the road from you but in most cases we are not. We have customers all over the country and have worked out solutions to help out folks who are far away. Outside of extreme cases we do ask our customers to come to our location to pick up their complete Cascade Camper. This way we get to meet you face to face and give you a tour of your new van. It is also a great excuse for a road trip adventure home. There are some options for getting your van to us.
Buy a van in your hometown and drive it out to us either with a blow up mattress in the back or stopping at motels along the way. Our builds are done in one day so you don't have to wait long. This is what most of our customers do.
Buy a van from a dealer near our location. We have a couple of dealers we have had good experiences with who will deliver vans to us for customers. Contact us and we can direct you to these dealers. This is the next most popular option.
Buy a van in your hometown and ship it us. We strongly discourage this unless you get a really great deal locally. We have to charge a $200 PITA fee to accept delivery as working with the freight companies is painful. Freight must be pre-paid as we are not setup to pay delivery drivers.
If you buy from a local dealer or get your van shipped you can fly into the Sacramento airport and get a ride from the Nevada County Airporter. The cost is usually around $80.
Are you near Washington DC? We work with Vander Outdoor as the East Coast location where you can pick up your completed Cascade Camper. The way this works is we still build your van here in our Nevada City, CA location and ship it out to Vander where you can pick it up from. Justin knows these vans very well and will give you the full Cascade Camper tour showing you how everything works. You can reach out directly to them if you are interested in this option. We usually charge $2500 for this but since we are shipping the van out of state you don’t have to pay CA sales tax so your out of pocket for a van picked up at Vander is closer to $1300. This is around what you would spend on a flight and food and gas to drive your own van back across the country. Cost of transport has proven to be somewhat volatile due to weather and many other factors. This is why we say “usually” $2500.
How many cascade campers have you built?
As of December 2022 there are 379 Cascade Campers out there adventuring.
What about that flip up table I see in some videos?
We will install a fold up laptop table if you want one but we don’t like to. The reason we don’t like the laptop table is that it is a bit clunky and takes up an inch of width of the bed when the table is folded down. Overall it just doesn’t meet Zach’s design quality standards. We have been working on a new table design but haven’t yet come up with anything that works better in the space yet. If you really want a fold up table for working on a laptop or whatever else we will install it for you for an extra $200.
Why is it so expensive?
We strive to make our campervans as financially-accessible as possible without cutting into quality. Our camper kits are designed specifically for the 2015+ RAM Promaster City and built to last as long as the van’s on the road, if not longer. With this in mind, we use all stainless steel fasteners, highest quality pre-finished Birch plywood, and so on. If you take care of a Cascade Camper it will take care of you and yours for generations of road trips to come. Can you build something yourself for less? Absolutely! Building your own campervan can be a super rewarding experience. We like building campervans so much that we do it for a living :-)
How is it so cheap?
The Cascade Camper is affordable because that was the goal from day one. But don’t let that fool you into thinking we cut corners. It took a lot of trial and error to come up with a conversion that offers maximum value for minimum scratch. The Cascade Camper team personally tested every component of the kit out on the road. What didn’t work was scrapped and replaced with something that did. We also build all our campervan kits in-house. We quite literally do everything ourselves. Low overhead = high value.
Why no seat belts in the back?
There are no seat belts in the back and we can not add them as it isn’t possible to make them crash safe without adding thousands to the cost of the campervan. The couch in the back is only to be used when parked. Think of your camper like a two-seat sports car with mutant powers!
Where is the pop-top?
Everyone wants a pop-top, and that’s understandable. There’s something romantic about a pop-top camper. We don't currently offer pop-tops as they go against two of our design philosophies. One: Pop-tops are obvious about their camping intentions. Cascade Campers are built for stealth, enabling owners to camp in places not necessarily designated for camping. Two: Pop-tops are expensive, this goes against our goal to keep costs as low as possible so more people can afford our campers. We’ve been camping in classic German campervans both with and without pop-tops for nearly 25 years, and while the pop-top can be handy, we rarely utilize them. It’s nice to stand up in the van, but the couch in our vans is very comfortable, and you’re able to do pretty much everything you need seated. Yeah, putting on pants in the morning is a bit awkward, but you’ll manage. Want a small pop-top campervan? Check out our friends at Peace Vans.
Can I store bikes inside the campervan?
There’s definitely room inside for a bicycle, but one bike takes up essentially all of the open space in the camper, rendering it useless until you pull the bike out. At that point, you’ll have to find a secure place to stash your bike while camping. This is no fun. Hitch-mounted bike racks work great on these vans, and roof-mounted bike racks are also an option.
Air-conditioning while camping?
There’s no feasible way to install A/C into our campers due to the very high power requirements of even the smallest A/C units. If you need to cool down the van you can always run the engine and use the vehicle’s A/C system. A few of our customers have opted for a Zero Breeze rechargeable AC unit with good experience.
Heat while camping?
Heat is a complex topic for any small campervan, here are some options:
Electric heat (not great) - Heating air with electricity uses a huge amount of power and would run the 75ah battery down quickly. The standard electric heaters you’re used to run around 1500 watts. We’ve had some luck with small 200-watt electric heaters that can be run for an hour or more, but heat output is almost negligible. An electric blanket is a great option for electrified warmth, they’re far more efficient than a small electric heater.
Propane heat - A lot of people consider using compact propane heaters. We don't recommend this as it requires leaving the windows open while the heater runs for safety reasons. Moreover, with the bed out there isn't much space to place one of these in without concern of heating things you don’t want heated. You’re better off just running the engine for a few minutes.
Diesel furnace - These can be a great option if you are going to do a lot of cold weather camping. The install process is pretty extensive. William Shaker has a good video about it on YouTube.
Our advice - We find that we want heat the most when we’re waking up in the morning. We often start the campervan’s engine in the morning and run the vehicle’s heat for a few minutes. RAM offers a remote start system for the ProMaster City that will make things extra cushy, just hit the button on the key fob button instead of crawling out of bed to turn the key. Another great option to add some warmth is a 12volt electric blanket.
How about a microwave?
Many of you have asked about the addition of a microwave to the kit. So far we haven't come up with any good options. A larger power inverter could be installed, but we haven't found a 110V microwave that’s small enough to work well. There used to be a 12 volt microwave that could have been a good option but they are no longer available.
Why no TV?
To us, camping is about unplugging. Do you really want another screen to stare at when you’re on vacation? For those of you that must have TV, the best option we’ve found is to use a larger tablet mounted on an arm above the fridge. You can download and store things on these tablets when you have wifi access, or you can stream or download to your heart’s content if you purchase a data plan on your tablet. Many tablets even accept external TV tuners for access to live TV.
Is the camper kit removable?
No. Even the best removable camper kit inherently sacrifices a modicum of space and functionality to removability. Our kit is designed specifically for the 2015+ RAM Promaster City and optimized to provide as much usable space as possible. As any Olympic curler will tell you, inches add up. If a removable camper interior is important to you consider looking at Wayfarevans or Caravan Outfitters.
What about a full-width bed?
We designed our campervans to excel at more than just providing a good night’s rest. We could’ve installed a full-width bed, but this would mean intense compromise to all other features. Our bed is 43" wide, and while that may seem small, we find it very comfortable for two adults. This width is the same as the foldout beds found in the classic German campervans that inspire us. If a full width bed is critical for you, consider looking at Wayfarevans or Caravan Outfitters.
How much storage space is there?
Cascade campers come with five storage bins under the bed and storage cubbies in the sink cabinet. We find this is an adequate amount of storage space for most adventures. The crates we use are 15.8L each, so you’re looking at about the space of an 80L backpack stored under the bed. It may not seem like a lot but you will be suprised how much stuff you can fit in all of the storage compartments. If you require more storage space, a rack or hitch mounted cargo box would work well.
What’s up with your Small roof vents?
A large roof-mounted vent easily gives a vehicle away as a camper. In keeping with our stealth ethos, we use two 6" round Ventline fans that provide more than enough air flow. They keep the van cool without screaming “look at me, I’m a camper!”. The fans are exhaust only so they pull the hot air that has risen to the top of the van out replacing it with air from a cracked window. We mount then next to each other as you get a better flow of air through the van this way. When its hot outside you open a window on the cooler side of the van.
Why are there decals on the side of the campervan if they’re designed for stealth?
We put a textless version of our logo on every conversion we do. We find having something on the side of the van actually increases stealth as it makes the camper look like a commercial van. It seems counter-intuitive but trust us on this. We are also happy to leave the decals off if you like.
Do you do any custom work?
Nope.
How Much weight does your conversion add to the van?
The kit adds about 450lbs with the water tank filled. Thanks to John in Florida for weighing his van before and after we built it out for him.
What about my CPAP machine?
Sleep apnea doesn’t go away on the road, unfortunately. A full-size, at-home CPAP machine is obviously not ideal in a Cascade Camper. Fortunately there are many travel-specific, 12-volt-powered CPAP machines on the market that are compact and won’t drain too much juice from the power inverter.
How do you handle graywater?
You can either have it go onto the ground under the rear bumper or in the 1 gallon grey water tank. Grey water tank is small as you want to empty it often as it gets stinky pretty quickly.
Can I get a Swivel for the passenger seat?
Simple answer is no. Long answer is a swivel is a lot more complex in a PMC than other bigger vans as the front floor is nearly a foot lower than the cargo area. Because of this simply swiveling the seat doesn’t do it and instead you have to raise the seat up as well as having it swivel. This isn’t ideal as now you don’t have much headroom once swiveled. There is a company in Germany that does make a swivel but it hasn’t been DOT approved for use in the US and to our knowledge there is no one importing them for that reason. We recently saw a great video of a simple solution to the swivel seat in a small van. Check it out here.
What happened to your Seattle shop?
We gave it a solid try but the cost of doing business in Seattle was just too high for our low margin business. We would have had to drastically increase the cost of our conversions and that goes against everything we are about.