The Van Plan DESK SPACE – Part 7 Setting up a Desk Area

Reading Time: 4mins 57sec

Now That we’ve got all the hard parts of the build done and out of the way, we can focus more on the part that I’ve been waiting for. The desk space in the van. This may not seem very exciting at first, but the exciting part comes when we start talking about what exactly I’ll be putting on this desk. This desk will be the home of my monster computer! 

 

Half of the reason I went through all of the weffort to get some such duty batteries and figure out ways to hook up the electricity so carefully in my van was for the very fact that I wanted to have a super computer in my van. Just because I intend on traveling on the road living the van life doesn’t mean that I want to give up my computer! And now with all the technology of today’s day and age, you don’t have to sacrifice something you love to love the lifestyle you love. 

 

This time, I’ll be talking about what kind of materials I’ll need to pull this off, including the amount of monitors I intend to get, the desk I want and with what features. I’ll also explain a bit about how I intend to keep everything on the desk from flying around the cabin if I hit the brakes just a little too hard on the road. I’ll also talk a little bit about what kind of extra little items I’ll be buying, since this is the part of the build that I’m most excited about I have a lot of cool ideas. 

 

Step #1: What I need 

What I need, of course, is a nice desk that I can put all of my computer monitors and desk accessories onto! I can’t very well just have them laying on the floor! For this, I’ll look into getting something like this that can easily have enough space for all my electronics! The desk will of course need to be nailed down. For that, I’ll get some more wood and metal brackets, but we’ll discuss more about those details a little later on. Right now, we also need to get a few more items. 

 

I’ll need to grab a few monitors for the computer. Ideally, I’d like to have at least 3 monitors on my computer. I’m a big gamer and want to have that battle station setup with me even on the go. For that, I can maybe have the monitors on the desk, but if they don’t fit I can always get a few wall mounts and have them minted to the wall. This would also be a good way to keep them in place so that they don’t fall over while in transit. Even if I decide that I’ll leave them on the desk, I may still get some wall mounts anyway just to make sure that they stay in place.

 

Of course, I’ll need to do the same thing with my actual desktop computer. I won’t be running off of a laptop unless I really need to. I allotted enough energy to be able to run my computer for a very long time even if I don’t recharge my batteries for a little while. With that being said, I’ll probably invest in a product like this for keeping my computer in place and safe. I may even look for some kind of hard case with some velcro inside to help keep the wires in place. The last thing I want is for a wire to get jammed between a fan blade and stop the airflow of my machine! 

 

The most important part of the whole thing will be making sure I have the wiring correct to have everything running smoothly and safely. The last thing I want to happen is to set everything up then to have a power surge and my motherboard gets completely fried! This is especially true if I’m on the road and can’t afford to spend the time returning home just to get everything fixed. I got to make sure it’s done right the first time! 

 

Step #2: How I will arrange everything 

We talked a little bit about it, but I want to explain a little bit more about how I intend to set up all these computer parts. I plan on having the monitors resting on the desk with the mounting brackets to the wall keeping them sturdy in place, or if it seems easier during installation to mount them to the desk, I will instead do that.

 

The three monitors will be arranged side by side horizontally to create the illusion of having one giant monitor. For those of you who may not be big into technology, this is done so that I can make use of the computer’s power and easily run several programs off of each screen simultaneously. 

 

The gaming chair I plan on getting is one that will mount to the floor and swivel slightly so that I may just turn it away from the desk to get up without needing to worry about tucking it in so it doesn’t fall over or roll around while driving.  The chair can really be as big as I want it to be, even resembling a throne if I so want it to. There is so much space available to me in the van because of everything I’ve sacrificed in terms of sleeping arrangement space and kitchen space just so I could have the ultimate computer setup. 

 

Step #3: Accessories and Alternatives 

My mouse will need to have a home too since I can’t just leave it to flop around on the desk when I’m driving! Most likely what I’ll do is invest in some more velcro and find a nice spot for it to sit comfortably when I’m driving. The same thing goes for the keyboard, though I may just keep it velcroed in place indefinitely since I don’t need the keyboard to move around at all. 

 

Something else I could’ve done but opted not to was to actually turn my driver’s chair into a swivel chair and place the desk behind it. That way, I could have saved even more space and made my chair a dual purpose chair! I say this now because, while I didn’t opt to go for this option, you may find this to be a cool idea to use in your own van! I instead wanted to give myself a dedicated gaming space, simplifying because I wanted to go all out with it and make it something really unique and over the top. 

 

Conclusion

That was the fun part of the build that I’ve been waiting for for some long. Now that I finally got around to planning it and putting it all together, this van is starting to really feel like a reality! It’s hard to explain, but it doesn’t actually feel real until you get to a point in the build that you are almost done with it. This point for me is getting to seriously plan out my computer build for the van! 

 

I’ll be sure to put this thing to use. The desk looks great and the chair and accessories complement the build of the van beautifully. This is truly becoming a tech van, but this one will be the tech van to end all tech vans! I’m hoping to get this thing outfitted with a lot of cool gaming features and items too. 

 

Next week we have to go over a very important subject, storage. In van life, storage is one of the hardest tasks to tackle and can actually be the breaking point for some people about to hit the road. Sometimes, you just don’t have enough space to pack away all the things that you want or even NEED to take with you! I’m going to be talking about some of the ways that I was able to face this problem head-on and figure out my way of giving my van plenty of storage room while at the same time not taking away too much from the vans walking space. 

JUSTVANLIFE