Our Story

Welcome to Downeast Custom Vans.

Our builder is Doug, a process and mechanical engineer by trade and Karen is our designer with a creative eye for the use of small spaces. We are adventure seekers, with a long partnership of creating and traveling. After exploring both sides of the US by van, we were hooked and dived into building our first van, Althea. Having spent 30 years building everything from custom furniture to state-of-the-art craft breweries, it was a thrill to take on the challenges of building a custom design from a stock van. Looking to focus that passion on helping others, we made the jump to open up our own shop and share our skills with the Vanlife community. We bring the knowledge and experience gained from our travels and road testing trials to your build.

We live in the small coastal town of Portsmouth NH, about 1 hour North of Boston. It’s a town with a rich and vibrant craftsman’s community and we are proud to be a part of that creative spirit here in New England.

We look forward to building your dream.