Category: Shop Talk

Shop Talk: Coach Craft with Pleasure-Way
There might be no better slogan for outdoorsy typesthan Saskatchewan’s provincial motto: “Land of living skies.” It’s on T-shirts, it’s on license plates and it’s tied to a place that seems to sprout just as many homegrown businesses as it does bushels of wheat. One of those businesses is Pleasure-Way Industries, a Saskatoon-based producer of premium Class B motorhomes.
Now led by CEO Dean Rumpel, whose kids also work within the business, the company was founded by his father, Merv, who still comes in a few times a week at the age of 92, mostly to drink coffee and talk business. The way Dean tells it, the company’s origin story began with one of Merv’s simple business decisions in 1986.
Photo Credit: Amber Bracken
“During that time, he was selling trailers and other RVs,” Dean Rumpel recounts. “Another manufacturer came by trying to establish a dealership to sell a product. And my dad thought, ‘This was a good idea; sure, I’ll sign up.’ But they couldn’t supply for six months. So at that point, my dad thought, ‘Well, hey, I could probably build a van in six months.’”
Turns out, he could. In 1986, Merv built 10 Class B motorhomes. And close to 40 years—and more than 20,000 units later—Pleasure-Way has grown from an original team of 10 to one that now stands around 170.
The years have seen product and manufacturing changes, shifts in consumer dynamics and a growing dealer network that stretches across the U.S. and Canada. Still, when Dean Rumpel reflects, he feels that commitment to people and quality is the factor that has kept Pleasure-Way independent and thriving.
Photo Credit: Amber Bracken
Q: What makes your product distinctive?
A: We are one of the oldest producers of camper vans, also known as Class B motorhomes, in North America. When you’re working in such a small space, there’s limited opportunity for new designs. But we have always transitioned, over the years, from different chassis to offering different floor plans. And our biggest thing that we are known for is the quality of what we build. We will build a unit from start to finish, and instead of it going down an assembly line, it’s run in what we call a stall. So, one person will build all the cabinetry in that unit. And then, instead of it running down a line and people jumping in and doing separate things, everybody comes to the van.
Q: Can you talk about how customer sensibilities have changed over the years and how the company has adapted to the market?
A: One of the biggest changes in probably the last seven, eight years has been the introduction of lithium-based house batteries. When they first came out, some manufacturers were offering them as very expensive options, which they were. We were the first manufacturer to make lithium batteries standard, and that has evolved into more complex, sophisticated systems that are still user friendly. We are also one of the first manufacturers to adopt and make standard multiplex wiring, so that it eliminates all the types of switches and controls and puts them on two panels. So from two panels, you can control all your lights, your air conditioning, hot water, furnace, thermostats. Everything is done.
Photo Credit: Amber Bracken
Q: Being based in Saskatchewan, what advantage and or disadvantage do you feel that gives you in the market?
A: We have an advantage because there is no other RV manufacturing competition here. So, we tend to have staff who stay a little bit longer, for sure. The disadvantage is a lot of the components and everything we buy, we have to truck in from Elkhart, Indiana—where much of the RV industry is based—so that’s an added expense.
Q: Every unit is trailered to the customer. Is that a unique selling point?
A: When you purchase it, you’re breaking the motor in, you’re breaking the coach in yourself. It’s not being driven across the country and dropped off. That’s the real basis of it, and it’s just easier for us to ship a couple, two or three, units on a flat deck truck and aim them in a direction and drop them off and have that customer be the first person to drive the coach.
Photo Credit: Amber Bracken
Q: As one of the older companies in the space, how do you think about legacy building as a company and as a family?
A: I hope it continues, for sure. The RV industry was originally built on family RV dealerships and family manufacturing. There’s been a lot of consolidation over the years. There’s only a handful of us left. So, I hope to continue, this goes on into the next generation. I think we have a solid reputation and a niche in the market for what we do, and I think we can hold our own with the big, big players.
Shop: Pleasure-Way Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Founded: 1986 Specialty: Class B RVs
Photo Credit: Pleasure-Way
Pick Your Chassis
Pleasure-Way offers 10 models across three different chassis: the Mercedes Sprinter, the Ford Transit, and the Ram ProMaster. The Plateau XLTS, built atop the Sprinter, offers a roomy interior with a full-size shower, 500 watts of solar power and a flexible living space for $237,672.
The Process
The construction of a Pleasure-Way Class B is a 13-step process that begins with welding and metal fabrication, literally forming the structure of the walls, floors, and ceiling. From there, technicians move onto painting, fiberglass, electrical, and more.
Border Crossings
Prospective buyers should note that due to policies in Canada and the United States, you must purchase a new Pleasure-Way from a dealer in the country where you intend to register it. While there are plenty of dealers in both countries, cross-border sales are typically prohibited.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-10-15
Shop Talk: Wayfarer Vans Show Us the Simpler Way
Ian Horgan’s journey in the camper van world started with a soggy adventure in Durango, Colorado. In 2014, he and his then-girlfriend, now wife, rode out a thunderstorm in a leaky tent. Soaked and miserable, they were determined to find a better way. From that germ of an idea, Wayfarer Vans was formed.
At the time, Horgan says, there were really only a few reputable van builders out there, and while they made great rigs, they tended to carry weighty price tags. So, Horgan decided to build his own on the relatively small Ram Promaster City platform. He figured if he wanted a simple, quality camper van, other folks probably did, too. And so began his mission to palletize camper vans.
The first Wayfarer Vans builds were kits designed for self installation, flatpacked and shipped directly to customers. The outfit has since evolved into a full, end-to-end builder and now offers four van-dependent builds that they install at their Colorado Springs facility. Those builds start at $22,000, and installation takes just a couple days. While they’re pumping out more vans than ever, they still try to abide by Horgan’s original philosophy of creating simple, high-quality, modular builds for an affordable price. We caught up with him to hear more.
Photo Credit: Jimena Peck
Q: What makes Wayfarer Vans different from all the other van builders out there?
Horgan: I tend to say that we put the “camp” back in camper vans. We’re not going to build you a special espresso drawer. You’re going to use an Aeropress or something already in your camping closet.
Q: How do you balance simplicity and affordability with quality?
Horgan: That’s an interesting tightrope to walk and it’s a lot of fun. It’s really just our manufacturing process. You can see a lot of builders doing it now where they offer these preset designs, but I think Wayfarer Vans was the leading edge of that. I say we make “mass customization.” I don’t think it’s groundbreaking stuff in terms of manufacturing in general, but it was for the camper van world. A custom builder on average might take about 300 man-hours to do a van, whereas we’ve cut it down to about 26 or 28 hours. We don’t have options for the countertops or the wood species or the flooring or whatever. But we do have options for accessories. And when we design a new accessory, we make sure it can go into every one of our vans.
Q: You refer to yourselves and customers as “Wayfarians.” Why such an emphasis on community?
Horgan: From the beginning, I recognized a lot of camper van builders are so focused on what they were doing. I want to celebrate the people who are buying this. The people who go out and do the things that they want to do. If you just buy a van and then you don’t know what to do with it afterwards and it just sits in the driveway, what good is it to you? We created the Wayfarer Vans app, and the premise was to give a platform to the community so that they can share their favorite campsites with other Wayfarians. The key to the app is it’s still a closed community—you get a code for it once you buy a van, and then you have access. So, if somebody is new to camping and they don’t know where to go, they have a pocket full of 900 of some of the coolest camping spots in the country.
Photo Credit: Jimena Peck
Q: What’s your philosophy on offering amenities while keeping things simple?
Horgan: Over time, we’ve added more amenities, but every time we do that we put a magnifying glass up against it and ask ourselves: Does this carry our brand forward? We don’t want to add more complexity just because people want it. Take the heater. We looked at all the options and asked: How can we do this in the Wayfarer way? All I want to do is just push a button and have the thing work. I think a lot of RV builders and manufacturers try to make things more like a house, but you can’t. It’s a dynamic, moving thing that’s going to be bouncing down the road.
Q: What’s your favorite design feature?
Horgan: I really kind of nerd out on the friction hinges because I just think that they’re so simple and effective. It’s not a gas strut and you’re not having to make weird design changes to the cabinetry. It’s so analog. If I could point to one thing that exemplifies how we’re different, it’s those–and they’re not cheap. We’re an affordable conversion, but we don’t use cheap material.
Q: What’s next for Wayfarer?
Horgan: I just got back from a week-long trip in Lone Pine, California, that we called a Wayfarer Weekend. We booked 10 sites at a campground at the base of Mount Whitney and celebrated our community and what it is to own a van. We’re going to do another one in Michigan and a third in Stanley, Idaho, this year. I’m hoping that this just builds momentum. I’d like to have six to ten events a year to get people out there together, hanging out, making those connections and, you know, traveling in a van.
Shop: Wayfarer Vans Location: Colorado Springs, CO Founded: 2015 Specialty: Modular Van Builds
Photo Credit: Jimena Peck
Pick Your Van
Customers can choose between four builds—the Walter, Walt, Wilma and Wilford—each of which is tied to a specific model of Ram ProMaster or Ford Transit.
No Frills
The Walter, built atop a ProMaster with a 136-inch wheelbase, includes cargo tracks, a bedframe with a five-inch memory foam mattress, a galley kitchen with a fold-out leaf, as well as LED lighting, magnetic window shades and wool-insulate walls.
Look Inside
Wayfarer offers van tours at their shop in Colorado Springs, but they also work with a network of “Vanbassadors” who will meet up with prospective buyers and show them how these vans actually function.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-09-10
Shop Talk: See the (Sky)Light in a Vistabule Teardrop
In September 2011, Bert Taylor decided he wanted a new challenge. In the past, he’d started a company that made furniture assembled with wine corks. He’d been a woodworker who designed Red Wing Shoes stores. And just when he was getting the entrepreneurial itch again, someone told him about “teardrop” trailers from the 1930s.
As Taylor fell in love with the vintage, streamlined aesthetic, he knew designing one would be his next enterprise. When he told his wife he was going to start a new company, she said that was fine—so long as it was up and running by December 31.
She didn’t specify a year.
Bert Taylor in his domain (Photo Credit: Liam James Doyle)
Taylor ordered build plans online, but wasn’t impressed. “I got about three quarters of the way through,” he says, “and I realized this is not how you should build a trailer.” So he scrapped that project and started on his own designs. By June 2012, he had a working model and took it on the road. Next, he launched a website. Keeping his promise (sort of ), he put the trailer on Craigslist on New Year’s Eve of 2012. It was priced at $9,900. It sold within three hours.
Since then, Vistabule, the company Taylor launched, has moved out of his Minneapolis garage, into an 18,000-square-foot production facility in St. Paul, where it will soon build their one thousandth Vistabule. We spoke to him about canned ham trailers, the importance of light and of the allure of heading out for the horizon.
Q: Where did the inspiration for the Vistabule come from?
A: I had a friend who turned me on to vintage trailers from the 1950s and ’60s, like the Airstreams, the Shastas and Scotties. All these “canned ham” trailers. Then one day, he said: “Do an image search for teardrop trailers.” In the 1930s, people would make these little trailers in their garages. At the time, there was this aerodynamic push for airplanes, locomotives and automobiles to be long and sleek, and the teardrop trailer was from that era. I was just blown away. I thought: “Boy, at some point I’d like to do that.”
Q: But your shape is a little different from the classic teardrop. Why?
A: So much of it is form following function. When I decided I didn’t want to put my feet under the headboard, and I didn’t want to look at the back wall, I realized that if I turned the bed around 180 degrees, that meant the front of the trailer could come down quickly. And through the windshield, you could see not only the horizon, but also the sky. So it became more of a droplet.
It’s always sunny in St. Paul (Photo Credit: Liam James Doyle)
Q: Windows are a big feature in Vistabule trailers. Where did that come from?
A: Rather than a bed in a drawer, I wanted it to be more of an observatory. Typically a teardrop is very claustrophobic. It’s really just meant to be a place to sleep, and I didn’t want that. I needed a visually permeable space. If I’m in there, I want to feel connected to the outdoors. I want to be able to gaze out at things. Those were my parameters in the design process. And it turns out people really like that.
Q: There are a lot of teardrop companies out there. What makes Vistabule different?
A: We’re an aesthetically oriented trailer company. We don’t want to be generic. For the people who buy them, it’s really important how they look going down the road and how they feel in their mind’s eye. The Vistabule aesthetic is to have a Willys Jeep and be pulling this thing over the horizon. You don’t know where you’re going. You’ve got a cool vintage car and a cool vintage trailer. You’re having an adventure.
Q: What’s your hope for the company?
A: It kind of harks back to Wally Byam, who was the inventor of the Airstream trailer. He wore a beret, and he would take people all over the world on these caravans. There are all these iconic images of dozens of Airstreams in all of these exotic places, like the pyramids or remote regions in Africa. I always think of that when I think of my business. I’d like it to have that kind of following. It wasn’t just about the trailer itself, it was about the community it creates, the camaraderie that comes when you travel together.
Lead assembly technician Alex Monroe at work (Photo Credit: Liam James Doyle)
Q: Has that happened?
A: There is a community of Vistabule teardrops aficionados and owners who are always talking to each other online. We have rallies where we come together and have a lot of fun. People really love to share their knowledge about how they’ve customized their Vistabules. In the last few years I’ve seen this community grow. It’s become something bigger than the sum of its parts. And that’s something that I didn’t expect when I started this business. It’s been amazing to experience the joy people have for their trailers and their co-Vistabulers
Shop: Vistabule Location: St. Paul, Minnesota Founded: 2012 Specialty: Teardrop Trailers
Photo Credit: Vistabule
Take Your Pick
Vistabule sells two models of trailers today. The flagship Vistabule (starting at $23,995) is based on Taylor’s original design, while the more utilitarian Daytripper ($14,995) measures just 12 feet and weighs 1,000 pounds, making it an easy tow with nearly any vehicle.
Photo Credit: Vistabule
Deep Roots
In 2015, the family-owned business moved into an old factory in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood—one of the first businesses to occupy the space and begin the neighborhood’s revitalization. Today, prospective customers can visit the shop and work one-on-one with Vistabule’s team to design their trailer.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-07-28
Shop Talk: Gateway Bronco Restores the Luster
Seth Burgett’s infatuation with cars started long before he could drive. He remembers first being fascinated by vehicle mechanics as a kid, sitting on an engine piston in his neighbor’s woodshed in central Illinois. By the age of 10, he was installing trailer brakes on a pickup truck.
“It was wired in me from the very beginning,” he says. No surprise, then, he studied engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology, with stints at Stanford and MIT and business school at Washington University in St. Louis. He worked for aerospace icon McDonnell Douglas, and later in the medical robotics field, inventing a system for performing heart surgery with a joystick. All the while, cars remained on his mind.
One of Gateway Bronco’s latest rides gets ready to roll home. (Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
That passion finally became a career after a 5,000-mile road trip across the country in an old Ford Bronco with his then-17-year-old daughter. Burgett launched Gateway Bronco, which transforms vintage Broncos into custom vehicles with an emphasis on modern performance. As CEO and president, Burgett now leads a team of 40 employees who have restored around 200 vehicles over the past nine years.
Using the original frame of a Ford Bronco, Gateway essentially brings the vehicle down to its foundation and rebuilds everything, customizing for collectors and aficionados around the world. We visited with Burgett in the Gateway factory in Hamel, Illinois, a hamlet 32 miles northeast of St. Louis.
Waiting Broncos (Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
Shop: Gateway Bronco Location: Hamel, Illinois Founded: 2016 Specialty: Custom restored vintage Ford Broncos
Q: When did you first realize that restoring Broncos could be a business?
A; I took a year sabbatical after selling my last company. I started collecting 1967 Shelbys and Broncos. The Bronco’s popularity was growing, and I had some data showing that it was going to become something collectible—a hot market. I had the means and was able to buy 15 original-paint vehicles. In 2016, our oldest daughter wanted to do a road trip from our home in Illinois to Walden Pond in one of my old Broncos with a camper trailer. She said, “Maybe when we get there, we can just turn around and go to California.” It was life-changing. Along that journey, I put up a Facebook page about the trip and 33,000 people started following us. We knew there was something there. I got back from the trip and rented this building with first right of refusal to buy it, and sold my first truck in January 2017.
Q: What attracted you to the Bronco, specifically, given all the other classic cars out there?
A: My parents were schoolteachers and didn’t have any money. They couldn’t afford a four-wheel-drive vehicle. We got a lot of snow back then. We would continually get stuck in these two-wheel drive cars, so I always wanted a four-wheel drive. My daughter wanted a vintage Bronco for her first car, but it’s not super-safe for a 17-year-old girl. It became a challenge to make it a safer vehicle that was easier to drive. It’s a unique vehicle that has a cult following, and our cross-country trip proved that.
Q: How does your build process work?
A: It’s like restoring a house. Instead of taking it down to the studs, we take it down to the foundation. We build everything brand new. If we start with the original chassis, we’ll take it down to the raw metal, we’ll powder-coat it, fix any of the problems on it and make it like new. Everything else on the vehicle is brand new. We’re specializing in creating fully custom vehicles, so customers can add things like jewel-laced fobs if they want. In one, we’re building a locker for a champagne bottle and glasses. Anything people want, we can do it.
Welder Johnny
Boneau, on break.(Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
Q: What are some of the most important details in your builds?
A: The most important details are the safety components and getting the best drive. Our mission is to create the best drive and the safest vintage Bronco in the world. We were the world’s first to have anti-lock brakes in a restored Bronco, the first to have rack-and-pinion electric steering and electronic stability controls. Making it drive the way people expect to drive a vehicle is our number one priority—always.
Q: If you could hunt down any vintage Bronco in particular, which would it be?
A; The one I’d be looking for is the 1971 Stroppe. The Stroppe Bronco is the Baja Bronco built by Bill Stroppe. He won the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000 off-road races with it, and then created a street version for the public. It’s orange and blue and white and just has such a cool look. Very few were made.
Archival photos capture the heritage. (Photo Credit: Bryan Birks)
Light It Up
For a cool $465,000, customers can get into a LUXE-GT EV, Gateway’s top-of-the-line offering, which pairs high-end interior features with
rugged suspension and a powerful electric motor. Ford Broncos historically didn’t go zero to 60 in under six seconds. They do now.
Building Your Own
Using a 3D configurator, Gateway customers can fully design their own Broncos online—allowing them to customize everything from the fender flares to the roll cage, wheels and dashboard. Build projects typically take about 18 months, though customers can expedite the process for a fee.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-06-04
Shop Talk: Benchmark Vehicles are Setting the Mark
The Central Eastside is Portland, Oregon’s burly quadrant, a century-plus-old industrial zone full of muscular brick warehouses, a working neighborhood to the core. Duck into one cavernous garage in particular and you’ll find outdoor rigs that match the mood. Imposing Mercedes Sprinter vans fill the space, their finishes matte and futuristic, their interiors on the way to becoming mobile modernist cabins. Benchmark Vehicles began applying a refined finish-carpentry aesthetic and serious gearhead smarts to travel vans in 2014, garnering a following for a style that mixes backwoods brawn with quiet luxury. The work has landed the company on the front page of The New York Times and in the garages of scores of avid outdoorsfolk.
Founder Leland Gilmore sees himself in Benchmark’s audience. Twenty years back, he relocated to Portland from the Bay Area largely for the cycling scene, and today he pilots his own rig up Mount Hood for adventure in all seasons. At a table he built himself, Gilmore shared the story behind these endeavors—and the vehicles his team designs and builds to get folks out there.
Shop: Benchmark Vehicles Location: Portland, Oregon Founded: 2014 Specialty: Sprinter Vans
Benchmark founder Leland Gilmore; steps in the process that take vans from blank walls to road readiness. (Photo Credit: Will Matsuda)
Q: Your background is in woodworking and cabinetry. Why vans?
A: I was doing furniture contracts for Nike and other clients around town. And, kind of on the side, always working on my old cars. I’ve been a car guy my whole life. In around 2014, I was looking to get into the van world, which was pretty unknown at the time. I felt there was a huge need for really beautiful interior design there—everything was sort of the same.
My philosophy was, people want to spend money on their toys. They want a vessel that gets them out into nature and a comfortable space that they can use as a base camp. And I combined my furniture and interior design skills with my automotive skills and decided, okay, I want to create a brand. And we did that basically first, before really having even a business plan.
One van turned into five, turned into 20, turned into … We’ve done more than 100.
Q: Obviously, plenty of folks love vans. Who are Benchmark’s people?
A: Our clients are into mountain biking and cycling in general, skiing, snowboarding, rock climbing, triathlons. And those are all things I’ve been passionate about my entire life, so it was easy for me to connect with a group of people with similar interests—maybe they’re just in a different income bracket.
Q: What do they say they want?
A: Some folks come to us with 15 pages of notes—all the things they’ve seen from a hundred different builders. We’ll go through every single one of those. I’ll learn a lot from that person—their wishes and wants. And I try to guide and coach them in the direction of what functionally makes sense, financially makes sense, what works aesthetically and what’s pleasing to be in. Others might just say, I really liked that one.
Photo Credit: Will Matsuda
Q: Likewise, a lot of companies build out road-trip vans these days. What sets yours apart?
A: We have a look, from the outside to the interior. It’s a pretty simple assembly of goods and parts. Our exteriors are all very consistent and have a similar vibe. We don’t stray from certain parts and pieces. We stick with our core components. Our vans—they’re aggressive on the outside. There’s a lot of lighting. We prefer certain colors. The way we put together the exterior finishes and colors are just as important as the interior, and that creates a look that makes people think, “I want to rock that ride.” For interiors, it’s the finishes, the fit, how it all goes together. Lighting is huge—correct placement, the correct color temperature, all the things that set a mood inside the van.
Q: You’ve created a team here. What skill sets are you drawing on?
A: My team’s kind of all over the map from their backgrounds—builders, car enthusiasts, aftermarket junkies who want to put on all the coolest components. And our age range is from 20 to late 40s. We all learn different aspects of what we do from each other. It’s a small crew. We’re all here in the same building every day. We have our team meetings and talk about what we want to see in the next van or what worked in the previous van.
Q: To take a step back from the specifics of your builds, what kind of emotional response are you hoping to foster?
A: When you get in a really beautiful sports car, the second you touch the steering wheel or put your hand on the seat, you can feel the difference. That feeling is sensory—it shifts the chemical balance in your brain, like, okay, I don’t know why I like this, but I really like it. And a lot of times it’s hard to put into words. You get that feeling from being in one of our vans.
Photo Credit: Will Matsuda
Rock and Roll
1. Benchmark recently released a series of roofracks designed for the new (and much-coveted) INEOS Grenadier. In Gilmore’s eyes, the UK-designed, overlanding-oriented SUV is tapping a cultural niche similar to the Sprinter’s adventure-seeking audience. Several of the designs feature integrated light bars.
2. The full description of a Benchmark build is a spec-lover’s dream, detailing the company’s exacting material choices from insulation wool (Havelock) to custom floor-mat sets (Chilewich). A recent project’s kitchen setup rolled out with Le Creuset and YETI gear. Full specs and extensive image galleries for many projects can be scanned at benchmarkvehicles.com.
Photo Credit: Will Matsuda
A Van, A Plan …
Benchmark doesn’t technically sell vans—clients purchase them and hand them over for build out. But the company provides dealer connections and advice.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-02-12
Shop Talk: Nomaicana Brings A Touch of Silver
Nate Kantor keeps his first Airstream parked outside the Nomadicana warehouse on the western outskirts of Salt Lake City. When days of installing air foam, polishing aluminum and carving cabinetry in the workshop grow long, Kantor sneaks off to this 1974-built beauty, which served as his full-time home when he was a photographer roaming the West. There, he finds inspiration.In particular, a seafoam green guest book, a keepsake from when he rented out his trailer at a different moment in life, reminds him that, even while his designs for one-of-a-kind travel trailers grow more varied and bold over time, his motivation for running his shop remains the same.
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
“So many people were able to enjoy this space and have life-changing experiences,” he says, “because it’s a real person’s space, with character and stories behind it.”That marriage of modern mobile living and nostalgia led Kantor to open Nomadicana in 2023. He now salvages and retrofits Airstream trailers with a small team united by the conviction that these silver, spaceship-esque spaces are a traveler’s most sustainable shot at a secure home on wheels. They can withstand alpine conditions, desert heat and the test of time. Best of all, in Kantor’s view, they have stories pre-baked into their shells, with room for plenty more.Q: What inspired your first build?A: I got into all this in 2018 with my partner at the time. Work had us moving back and forth. I think I’ve always romanticized van life for the self-reliance aspect behind it—the idea of being able to park anywhere and get electricity from the sun. But I more or less fell in love with the process because of my Dad. He was always fixing stuff and making it better than it was before. Anytime he’d see a vacuum by a dumpster in our neighborhood, he’d take it. It’d usually be a simple fix, and then he’d give it to someone else. He’s definitely an inspiration. He helped with our first build. We just like to understand something in order to appreciate it. I often take something apart to see how it works. I don’t think he intended to pass that skill down or teach it, it just happened.
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
Q: Why salvage vintage Airstreams instead of working with newer trailers?A: They’re made to last—kind of a rare thing in a disposable world. You can find vintage campers of different types, but a lot of them are built with wood and materials that are more likely to have rotted out or deteriorated over time. Airstreams are essentially built like something that could take people across the sky. They’re one of the few structures that holds up over time. The name brand and nostalgic factor also make them desirable. I really like the vintage look. The way things used to be made, it has a different softness to it. I just love learning about materials, trying to improve something that’s already really good and solving any design problems.Q: What’s your build philosophy? A: There’s a common architectural saying that form follows function. I think form is a function. These Airstreams are utilitarian spaces. I think the goal is to be able to live comfortably in nature in spite of any external conditions. I call it designing with decay in mind. We try to avoid things that are glued on, like edge banding on cabinets, because it takes one road trip through Nevada in the summer to delaminate all that. Even the patina of the aluminum has its own beauty to it. It’s a sign of age, but it doesn’t look bad, whereas most materials that builders use now have a lot of plastics that tend to yellow—they don’t age gracefully. My goal is for our work to last another 50 years or longer, and hopefully be enjoyed by a lot of people and passed down. I don’t want it to be just another disposable item.
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
Q: What are some standout projects so far? A: It’s been really fun to teach other people how I approach things and get their feedback. In a lot of ways, I see this as a design collective where we get to build really cool stuff. Our first client build took like six months, because everything was so intricate and custom and specific—we really went all out. That’s what got me to realize we needed to figure out ways to do this a little faster, but without sacrificing quality. We were able to do the next one in less than half that time. Now, we’re actually doing a project for a hotel in Colorado where they want eight trailers. Those won’t necessarily be traveling on the road, but will still get a lot of foot traffic. I get excited about that—about creating inspiring spaces for a lot of people to stay in.Learn more about this vintage travel trailer renovation company at nomadicana.co
Photo Credit: Spenser Heaps
Nomadic Notions
1. For a project dubbed “Anza,” the Nomadicana team channeled a Cali desert vibe via white oak, unlacquered brass, Marmoleum flooring, terracotta tile and a light, airy color palette. The 26-foot trailer is also wired for solar, with an expandable 1200wh Battle Born LiFePO4 Deep Cycle battery.2. When Nate Kantor talks of Airstreams being built “like something that could take people across the sky,” he’s referring to the brand’s vaunted “semi-monocoque” construction style. Semi what now? “Monocoque” construction is used in airplane design: frame and body are one, with aluminum skin riveted directly to structural ribs. Airstream’s technique is called “semi-monocoque” because those ribs are fastened to the flat trailer frame, rather than the full-circle ribs of jet construction.
Metal Band
Nomadicana strikes up a communal vibe, offering to help would-be owners find the right rig if needed. Rebuild estimates range from $50,000 to $175,000.
This article originally appeared in Wildsam magazine. For more Wildsam content, sign up for our newsletter.
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2025-01-08