Hole Punch

 

Day 7: Air Conditioning Unit install day.  Not the unit we wanted but in this Pandemic year it was the last one available in our region!  Turns out to be a great little unit.  Plus, it matches our van so what could be better.  The AC unit is a Coleman Mark3, 13500 BTU.  It is a basic unit with no thermostat or other frills but it works extremely well. 

A slight miss-understanding about nature of the air condition unit's purpose led our consultant to believe that we planned to run it off the battery bank.  This little miss understanding resulted in a wiring conundrum.  Luckily, we worked that out but are left with some very hefty cabling.

Finding the center of a round top van with curved walls is a lot harder than I expected.  But after patient multiple measurements, calculations and a brief review of orbital mechanics he found it.

Luckily, we have a Pro in the family! Otherwise, cutting a huge hole in a brand-new van would be way too Intimidating.  Poking holes with the help of a plastic cola bottle keeping metal shavings out of the cargo area.

The drilled holes help locate the outline of the big hole.  The AC unit is supposed to be mounted more centrally.  So yes, we have central air.

A trash bag tapped to the ceiling helps contain flying metal shards.  Metal shards are bad news.  And they go everywhere.

Jig sawing sheet metal over a large metal cavity resonates an eerie melody akin to running fingernails over a chalkboard.  But, it does make short work of the job at hand.

Boom!  A big gaping hole appears in an otherwise perfectly normal van.  Now the weather is trying to rain and it was totally uncalled for.  The rush to install the unit is on and we are only 4 hours into the day.

Right in the middle of the metal fabrication job the cook top arrives.  Performing a Van conversion in the middle of a pandemic is like: work all day until all your energy is drained and then go online and shop for parts and pieces you need to install next.  Packages arrive at random and usually never when needed.  Which is why the cook top arrived right in the middle of the air conditioning unit install

The huge honking AC unit on top is held in place by bolting it to this metal plate inside the van.  There has to be an offset from the exterior metal to allow the interior AC panel to mate with the finished ceiling.  The ceiling should be about 3 inches below the exterior metal top.  The 3 inch offset is incorporated into the wood frame hastily fabricated to exacting specifications.  Which means I had to modify it twice to get the right fit.

There all done, the AC unit and vent fan installed.  So now it looks like a pregnant van with a huge wart on its back.  Electrical connections will not be installed for a while yet.  Testing the unit will have to wait.

That's enough poking holes for one day.  Estimated time 2 to 3 hours.  Actual time almost 8 hours.