The short answer
The two things that actually fail in camper vans are fasteners backing out from road vibration and water finding its way in at a cutout. Everything in how we build — milled joinery instead of screws into end grain, windows that follow factory stampings, non-porous surfaces around sinks, discrete replaceable components — comes from those two lessons.
Timber is run by Titan Vans, and Titan started the way most good things in this industry start: a School of Mines engineering grad named Matt North building vans for himself and his friends, having already lived in one for two and a half years. Before there was a shop, there was a guy figuring out why his own cabinet latch kept rattling loose at 65 mph.
That is the whole origin story, and it is why our kits look the way they do. Almost everyone here has lived in a van. Not visited one. Lived in one, through a winter.
Here is the accumulated list.
Fasteners back out. Design for it.
Road vibration is relentless. Any joint relying on a single screw into end grain will loosen eventually — not might, will. We use precision-milled joinery with mechanical engagement, so the wood does the work and the fastener just holds it together.
This is also why ply count matters. A substrate with many thin cross-grained plies gives a screw far more to bite into than one with a voided core.
Water always finds the cutout
Sink surrounds, window openings, floor penetrations. Every leak we have ever chased started at an edge someone thought was sealed.
It is why we care so much about windows following factory stampings, and why we do not use a porous countertop material around a sink.
Marine beats RV
This was Matt’s conviction from day one and it has held up. RV-market components are built to a price for occasional-use trailers. Marine components are built for constant vibration, salt, and moisture. Our fridge and freezer are marine grade for exactly this reason.
Sealed systems become orphaned systems
Everything we build assumes you will need to get inside it someday. Discrete, replaceable components. Standard form factors. Documented parts. The long version of this argument is in why we spec discrete components instead of an all-in-one.
Oil finishes do not survive real use
We tried them. Customers did not maintain them — not because they are lazy, but because they bought a van to go camping. We design for the owner who exists, not the one in the brochure.
Weight adds up faster than anyone expects
Water, batteries, gear, people. Every material choice has a payload consequence, which is a large part of why we land on Baltic birch. A panel choice that costs you forty pounds across a build is forty pounds of water you cannot carry.
And the biggest one
The vans that are still great in year eight are the ones designed to be opened, fixed, and modified.
Serviceability is not a feature. It is the whole game.
You can see all of it in person — the shop is at 1901 Central Avenue, Boulder, Colorado, weekdays 8–4 Mountain. Open a cabinet. Ask us anything.
Frequently asked questions
Who builds Timber conversions?
Timber is run by Titan Vans, an RVIA-certified builder in Boulder, Colorado. The two are sister brands sharing the same engineering team and facility at 1901 Central Avenue.
What is the most common camper van failure?
Fastener loosening from road vibration, and water intrusion at cutouts such as sink surrounds, window openings, and floor penetrations. Nearly every long-term problem we have chased traces back to one of those two.
Does Timber offer a warranty?
Yes, 12 months. In practice most failures surface within the first 30 days, which is when a build gets shaken down hardest.
Why does Timber use marine-grade components?
RV-market components are built to a price for trailers used a few weekends a year. Marine components are engineered for constant vibration and moisture, which is much closer to what a camper van actually experiences.