Doug MacNair hasn’t always spent his days converting vans into homes for adventure-seekers. He worked over 35 years engineering and operating some of New England’s most beloved craft breweries, including the former Redhook Brewery, Smuttynose Brewery Co., and Harpoon Brewery, while crafting quality furniture and other wood creations on the side. Doug’s small but well-equipped shop, Downeast Custom Vans, marries his background in building functional systems and a life-long passion for woodworking, offering road trippers from the seacoast and beyond a way to hit the road in style.
While the business idea took shape well before opening in 2020, the timing couldn’t have been better. People were desperate to escape their homes and travel, but not in the traditional sense. They were opting to explore locally, get out into nature, or travel cross-country to find hidden gems they knew existed but had only dreamed of visiting.
“Many of our customers have retired, sold their homes, and live full-time in their vans,” says Doug. Others take their vans out throughout the year for vacations or bucket-list trips. Each van runs off batteries independent of the vehicle battery, so even if those run-down, drivers can still return to civilization.
In 2021, Mat Rice and Maryann (Mandy) King sought out MacNair to customize their 170-wheelbase Mercedes Benz Sprinter. As an executive in the aerospace industry, Mandy traveled worldwide for her work but felt she’d never fully experienced many of the destinations she visited in her corporate travels. Now enjoying their retirement, the Kings hop in their custom-outfitted van to visit their daughter in California each year, taking different routes to explore new areas, stopping at funky, off-the-beaten-track locations along the way.
Visiting a donkey rescue in Arizona wasn’t exactly on their bucket list, but they stumbled upon the idea while looking for a place to stop on the way to Kartchner Caverns State Park. Another route brought them to the public lands in California, just outside Joshua Tree National Park. “Life in a van means never knowing what experiences the day will bring,” says Mat. “We start with a destination in mind and figure out how to leapfrog to get there at the best time, often making decisions based on the weather.”
Downeast Custom Vans doesn’t only build vans for cross-country travelers. MacNair recently completed a mobile beauty salon complete with a shampooing station and has built mobile scientific laboratories to hold complex equipment for analysis and research. Next, the team is working on a mobile cat rescue van to house a couple that will use it to travel to the Southeast to pick up kittens and bring them back north to awaiting families. For this project, the team will outfit the van with crates, incubators, nursing stations, and refrigerators for meds and kitty formula.
Equipped with everything you need to live and work comfortably—but not with standard, cookie-cutter features—each van is wholly tailored for you—with a design and layout to match your preferences and lifestyle. The team can engineer electrical systems and solar arrays to support everything from low-power LED lighting systems to induction stoves, AC systems, propane or diesel heating, and even full bathrooms and showers. From custom countertops to counters and tables with unique wood inlay and subtle design features you won’t find in a pre-made van, their personalization and quality of craftsmanship is unmatched.
“You’re driving your hotel; you don’t have to make a reservation. If you see a road you want to follow, you can take a right and see where it leads,” says MacNair. “The journey is different for everyone, and that’s the charm of it.”
“The journey is different for everyone, and that’s the charm of it.”