The beginning.

 

A 2020 Covid-19 lockdown project.

 We decided to tackle a cargo Van conversion while stuck at home.  My estimate to complete the job and be ready to go camping is 6 to 8 weeks (42 to 56 days)

Day 0: Starting out July 2020 with our new Ford Transit van and Its puppy approved! 

Just a big empty cargo van.  It is a 350 Extended body with the high roof.  So basically, the biggest thing Ford makes.  It sports a V6 dual turbo EcoBost engine that develops 300 horsepower with a 10-speed transmission.  Thanks to some very fancy engineering it gets almost 20 miles per gallon.   

 

It looks like a pregnant mini-van

Day 2: Job one is insulation!  Thanks to the puppy for providing the insulation.  Actually we are using Rockwool from Lowes.  It is moisture proof, fire proof and sound proof making it a great choice for the conversion.

Mosquito netting cause the skeeters were eating us alive!  Progress impeding pest thwarted!

July 4^th celebrations include cutting floorboards.

Sun screen yet another required addition to reduce the heat generated by this massive solar collector called a wind screen.  Bonus benefit it give us a bit of privacy when necessary.

Floorboard test fit.  Guess this is like the subfloor in a house.  These boards will act as anchors for cabinets, flooring, and mounting equipment.  Installing half inch ply to save weight and it should be sufficient to support the build.

Test fitting becomes a way of life.  Everything is built to plan and then fitted, trimmed, and fitted again until it slips into place.  Luckily the subfloor past on the first fitting.

More to come!  

Flooring

 Back to work..

After the sub-floor was fitted we removed it and started working on insulating the floor.  It is like playing Jigsaw puzzle Insulating the floor ribs.  The floor has little ridges that I assume are there to stiffen the massive sheet of metal that makes up the floor.  We also Put down some hardwood to supports for the garage.  where cabinets and batteries will be secured.

After the ridge work was completed that gets covered with full sheets of foam board insulation.  Floor insulation prevents cold feet but also reduces road noise.  After the foam boards are fitted into place the next task to is seal the gap between the foam boards and the van walls with spray foam.

Sub-floor re-installed with the foam board insulation visible below.  Cans of spray foam waiting to create a big sticky mess.  Seriously, spray foam is extremely messy and it sticks to everything.  Floating floor board boxes are sitting ready to be cut to fit and installed.

Again with the mosquito netting to protect the workers from the onslaught of biting demons.  

We added a new drill press to the shop.  I always thought the "LASER" was a marketing gimmick but it is a game changer.  Making holes exactly where they are needed is quick and easy with the "LASER".

The batteries arrived!  That’s 270 Amp hours of boondocking badness! 

   We looked at several different options for battery power.  These batteries fit our requirements, are locally sourced, have Bluetooth monitoring, full BMS management and they are blue. Each battery is rated at 125 Amp-hours but the out of the box rating is really 135 Amp-Hours so that over the life time of the battery it stays over 125 Amp-Hours.  

   Have to give credit to Bill Plemmons RV World for helping us size and source the batteries and many other necessary electrical components.

    The electrical will be installed later under close supervision of my good friend and licensed electrician, Goob.  

Next post we tackle installing the Vent fan and air conditioning Unit..  

 

 

 

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.

  

Ceilings

 

Day 9: The ceiling work begins.  Ceiling supports are screwed in where possible and glued in elsewhere.  This glue is like welding wood to metal.  So you better be very happy the placement cause it ain’t letting go.  2 x 4 wedged against the floor hold a part in place until the glue setups a mere 24 hours later.

The glue looks like peanut butter, smells like toothpaste and feels like cheese wiz but its not. Trust me on this one.

This is a pretty accurate depiction of the actual shape of the van.  There is not a single straight line or right angle within a mile of this thing… luckily all of my shop tools only make straight lines and right angles.

Accurate drawings of the interior spaces requires calculus with vector analysis.  Overcoming this awkward environment I developed a build-in-place process.  Parts are built in the shop, brought in the van, test fitted and then additional parts are added following the same process.  Its slow, frustrating work but at least I get all my steps.

The thin cuts along the supports make the wood bend to the will of the van.  Funny I kept thinking It would straighten out eventually.  Spoiler alert, nope.  

Shiplap boards stained and ready to install!  Tongue and grove boards are usually installed such that the fasteners are hidden in the tongue to groove connection.  However, we know that access to wires and roof access points will be required later so we choose wood screws that kind of compliment the wood finish.

First shiplap board installed!  Since this thing is round across her beam and stem to stern, we felt it safer to start in the middle and work our way out.  Otherwise, we might end up with some weird angle at the opposite side.  Plus this one board was pretty much unobstructed which made it one of the easiest to install.  Might as well start of easy and work your way to difficult as you gain experience.  

Ceiling boards begin to progress across the beam.  The plan is to slide the Reflectix insulation, that bubble wrap/aluminum foil stuff,  on top of the shiplap boards to prevent the wool insulation from falling out between the cracks and then stuff Wool over top.  Nobody wants a shedding ceiling

Day 11: Cutting out holes for the LED lights.  We decided to reuse the lights that came with the van.  The van interior lights are little blocks that snap into recesses in the metal ceiling ribs.  Here we are cutting holes in the ceiling boards the same size as the original rib holes.  If all goes well they should fit like a glove.

Once the first article was approved, we moved into full production mode.  Thanks to the X-Carve CNC router we were able to accurately cut out all 6 holes in no time.

Test fitting proves the lights are working as planned.  Ceiling boards progress around the vent fan.

Center section is complete with all lights installed.  To break the maniacal logic hold the van wields over the lights I disconnected the lights from the van’s wiring and routed them to my controller.  The Ford Transit forum is loaded with heart breaking stories of interior lights with a mind of their own.  No one seems to be able to predict when the turn on or off.  

Good view of the 2x4 braces that hold parts until place until the glue sets.  Once we finished gluing the 2x4 got converted into structures in the build.  At only $3 each it is always handy to have a few extra hanging around.

Ceiling is complete for the most part.  Trim around the edges will have to wait until the rest of the build catches up with it.

More to come!

 

I'm being Framed!

 

Day 14: With the ceiling done the framing begins!  The van has these huge window cavities for the passenger version of the van.  If we can build a box to insert into that recess, then a slightly altered queen size bed will fit snugly across her beam.  That is why we are boxing the frame around the window recesses.

Day 15: Electrical installation.  That drawing does not seem scary in the least.  But Just to be safe I reached out to my good friend and licensed electrician Goober.  Not that I am afraid to handle it myself.  I just don't want the wife to not worry.

Our installation will be simpler than most.  We don't plan to install solar panels.  Our travel plans are to spend nights in a camp ground with shore power, A.K.A the electrical grid, which will charge the batteries in no time.  Plus shore power means we can run our big honking air conditioner.  

We will boondock, camp in the wild off grid spaces, on occasion but most of the time we will be in the safe confines of a camp soaking up electrical amps and confident in the bathhouse as a backup toilette and hot showers. 

Fuse panel wiring seems pretty simple.  That who’s-it connects to that what-zit over that what-ya-ma-call-it.  Yes, this will be easier than I thought.  Looking forward to getting electrical going cause it showed up in the middle of framing.  Electrical will get installed later after the framing is complete.

Both windows framed and ready for insulation.  We can get started building the bed frame soon.  Which is a major prerequisite before any camping activity can ensue.  If you can't sleep in the stupid thing then it ain't much of a camper.

Day 16:  Build the window boxes.  These boxes will fill in the window recess to provide support for trim, wall boards and it will hold back the insulation.

It is basically just a frame with a thin door skin plyboard back.  There is no extra support for the back of the panel since it will be pressed to against the foam board insulation.  This was a lot more work than it looks.

Box #1 installed.  Behind that wall board is a piece of 1 inch thick foam board on top of 2 layers of the Reflectix insulation on top of the exterior wall.  The Reflectix is rated higher when applied over an air gap.  The windows have little additional recesses which provide the required air gaps.  

Both boxes are completely installed! Thanks to the additional 3 inches per side added by our boxes the mattress should fit like a glove.  A very tight glove in fact.

We will not frame the front of the van until later.  At this point we are preparing to take the van on its first long trip.  The highest priority is to get the bed frame and the electrical installed.  Everything else can wait.

That's all the framing for now.

Electrifying Installation

 

Day 21: External power adapter installed.  This adaptor adds 30 amps of current from shore power!  Shore power will be our major source of battery re-charge and the only time we can actually run the AC unit.  More importantly it means we can finally get the electrics installed.

Batteries installed and connected.  Yeah I know this looks weird but I clean it up later.  The inch thick cable was a mistake and a pain to work with

Here is a better view of the battery box.  The 2000 Watt inverter is mounted to the back wall with its vent fans stuck out the back.  This arrangement gives it ample space to dissipate heat as there is close to a foot, 30.48 cm for those of you not subject to the idiotic imperial system, between the vent fans and the back doors.  

Clear view of the Orange shore power wires protruding into the distribution panel.  The combo 30 Amp/20 Amp breaker is installed and about to be clamped tight to the shore power wires.  The panel layout is AC power to the left and DC power to the right.

This is the diagram of the panel from its manual.  Seeing the wires go in place makes the diagram much more readable.  Well that and having an expert explain the works in tiny words that I could understand or at least google.

This is a much later view after many more circuits have been installed.  The last AC circuit installed required shifting all circuits one breaker spot to the right.  Well it was not absolutely necessary, the right shift gave cleaner looking results and much easier to trace where a wire is coming from and where it is going.  The last circuit is for the induction stove which requires a 20 amp breaker and luckily I just happen to have one from the original install.

Labeling is extremely important and since my hand writing is next level encryption.  Pulled out the label machine and started cranking them out.  Ran out of label stock before I could finish.  Oddly enough I can not order just one cassette of labels.  The minimum is 3.  The last cassette lasted almost 10 years!  This delivery should out live our grand children.

Electricals installed and wires pulled and labeled for each appliance or other purpose.  Before cabinets can be built and installed the wires are just wrapped and strapped to the walls awaiting the build to catch  up with them.

 

This is a view of the electrical cabinet from the back door.  The inverter's vent fans are visible to the left.  The sleek outer cover of the electrical distribution panel is the black box near the top of the wall.  This wall was originally a stand-alone structure but eventually it became integrated into the garage cabinet support structures.

With our trip planned departure date looming in the near future the build turns to turning the van into a sleeper.