My lifestyle, travel and motorcycling blog, focused on places to go and rides to try, with Michigan as a starting point.
It is fairly well known that I like stickers (see my GS). For my RAM Promaster, which I have named the SilverGoat, I needed a logo. And today it arrived. One for the van journal, one for the rear window. No plans for more exterior stickers on the van. May there will be a surface area inside that leads itself to stickers, like a cooler or fridge door. We’ll see.
As I started assembling the materials for installing a roof fan, I began to realize that this was not a trivial installation. Quite a few special tools and materials are needed to do this correctly. Most of the tools I already had, but the sealants needed are unique to RVs or vans. Gooey butyl tape and lap sealant are all about making sure the fan is leak proof. The MaxxAir fan I chose is pretty fancy - it has a motorized top, 10 speeds, bidirectional, and a remote control.
The other non-trivial part is cutting a hole in a vehicle. I’ve never needed to do that before. A little nerve-wracking, for sure. Once I drilled a center pilot hole for the 14” square, I figured there was no turning back. I used a template on the roof to get the corner points, then drilled four more pilot holes. Then enlarged them to 9mm, which is just right for a jig saw blade. With a new Bosch blade, the jigsaw actually just fairly easily, although it did make quite a noise. I stayed mostly on course. That is the worst part of the install.
I taped a garbage bag where the hole will be to catch all of the metal shavings that the drilling and cutting create.
Almost as soon as I got on the roof, I heard thunder in the distance. Which soon became thunder and rain. I quickly removed all of my gear and headed inside to figure out how long the rain was supposed to last. (2 hours)
No chickening out now.
I watched a few install videos, and every person quickly puts the fan base into the freshly cut hole to make sure it fits nicely.
Drilling complete and cutting completed, including the 16 holes to attach the fan base.
The wood frame I built adds support for the attaching screws. Eventually this frame will be hidden by a finishing frame that came with the fan.
I feel like I made several dozen trips up & down today. I actually set my smaller Little Giant ladder against the van. A bit easier to climb on the roof that way.
Done for today. Tomorrow the lap sealant will be cured enough that I can peel the tape off.
This project took a good portion of the day. I started at about 9:00am, but with the thunderstorm delay, it was about 5:30pm before I had everything cleaned up and put away. There are a couple priming and painting steps that needed drying time plus the wood frame adhesive needed some time as well. Tomorrow my plan is to connect the wires to the 12V auxillary plug that is next to the rear doors and see if the fan operates properly. I had already bench tested the fan, so I know it works. I even took it apart and applied silicone conformal coating to the motherboard, to protect against moisture.
What’s next? Maybe flooring, maybe electrical? Or both?
I am almost to the build step of my van where I’ll need to run electrical wiring. Typically, the electrical systems for van conversion can be the most expensive and possibly complicated parts of the build. My approach to solving this system is two-fold: 1 - Keep it simple, and 2 - Make it modular.
To solve for simplicity, I am focusing on using pretty basic 12V endpoints. Endpoints are lights, dimmer switches, fans, USB plugs, a cooler, and a water pump. All of this can be powered by a relatively modest battery system that can last for several days.
To make it modular, all I need to do is plan in advance for a few connected systems, which can be added later. For now, I am ruling out adding solar panels to the roof. If I lived in the Western US, I’d have a different opinion. In Michigan, with our league leading system of shade production, solar panels make less sense. Plus, the roof racks for large vans are spendy and lower gas mileage. I will add an alternator charger, so the van can charge the battery while I drive. And I have a shore power connector for use at campgrounds. Two ways to charge the battery feels like enough to start with.
As I add new items, my plan is to test everything at my indoor test stand. With the use of Wago Lever-Nuts for the connections, it is quick and simple to try out the circuits and make sure everything works. Then the move from test stand to van is just a matter of replacing the short connections with longer runs of wire.
I’m using my old Goal Zero battery bank as the power source. Not only is this too small for the van, it is also old enough that the lead battery is almost done. But it works well for 12V testing. I have a 12 circuit fuse panel which all of the endpoints will connect to. I’ll need to map all of the devices to locations in the van and then build a power center box of some sort. I know I will locate it on the driver’s side near the rear wheel-well, but I need to work out the details.
Black = Red
Notice the puck light wiring oddity? Overall, the DC electric is red is positive, black is neutral. Then you arrive at a puck light, where black is positive, white is neutral. I may need to get one of those little label printers. Or just pay attention to what I’m doing.
While constructing new things for the van (walls, ceiling, bed, wiring), I had just covered the metal floor with heavy painter’s paper to keep the metal floor was getting scratched up. The longer term plan is to insulate and add a durable surface for the walkable area in the front and likely a rubberized heavy duty material for under the bed, which will function as the trunk/garage.
I the meantime, I decided today (impulse decision) to add a layer of all-weather carpet. It literally jumped into my cart at Costco! A 6 x 9 footer roll, for $16.99. The entire van floor is 72” x 10 feet, so I only needed to trim a little bit around the wheel wells. I then cut little holes for the 6 factory tie-down locations, added a bit of Velcro, and now have a better surface. I still have quite a few steps to go before adding the final floor.
The actual reason for the Costco visit, explained at this link.
At some point everyone who modifies a van will have the day where they cut a hole in the metal skin of the van for a window or a vent. Today is not that day.
But, that day is coming. For me, it will be a 14” square hole in the roof for a fan. Some of the longer wheelbase vans get two vans, one fore and one aft. I will be adding just one, in the back above the bed.
Today’s task was to prepare a wooden support frame that will be inside the van on the perimeter of the fan. Screws will be driven into this frame from the outside of the van through pilot holes in the sheet metal. This provides for a sturdier attachment than just the metal alone. Later in the build this wooden frame will be covered/hidden by a plastic trim piece, and the ceiling. As you can see, the Kreg pocket hole jig made my square look completely professional.
Once I prime and paint this, I’ll be all set to cut into the van. As the second big thunderstorm of the day passes through, the fan install will happen only when a sunny morning and a day off from work happen at the same time. Hopefully soon.
Like many other van conversion folks, I am at the stage of building/planning where materials are bolted on, measured, then removed. So it goes with my bed platform.
Today I test fitted the rails, beams and bed supports together for the first time. The bed supports are for a full mattress, but my next step is to trim it down from 54 inches to 48 inches. The mattress side nearest the rear doors will actually have a couple angles at the back corners so the edge will be close enough to the door that no pillows or humans will drop to the floor. I have a 4th cross rail of 8020 aluminum that extends the 7-1/2 inches to fill and support that area.
Everything fit well, so I removed the strapping on the bed support and chopped all the boards down to 48-1/4 inches.
The mattress support is now the proper dimensions - 72” x 48”. This will allow for a decently sized mattress and also maximize for the forward area space for seating, cooking, hanging out, etc.
Since I have only had my van a little over a month, progress on converting it from an empty cargo van to a recreational + functional van comes in fits & starts. While it is tempting to just start doing stuff, it is obvious that taking a moment to plan, research and test skills will lead to a better finished product.
Along those lines, I have been considering how to cover some of the lower wall panels. My van included black panel covers for all the lower and mid-height spaces. They are made of plastics. I could replace them with wood (using the plastics as templates) or I could try covering them with fabric. Some folks even use a fabric plus padding material.
Since I had already tested an upholstery + wood panel on empty upper panels, I have decided to cover the existing panels with fabric as well.
Color Scheme
I am using a gray tweed poly material for the upper (eye level) panels and a burgundy marine fabric called AquaTop Air for the lower panels.
My next step is to test adhesion on some scraps. I want to make sure the glue doesn’t push through the fabric and also test a couple different glue products. I have used 3M 90 and 3M 77 sprays, both of which work well. Depending on the substrate, you can spray both the panel and fabric, or just one or the other. The fabric is very smooth, so I’ll also need to make sure I can apply the material to the larger panels without any wrinkles. I would imagine some frustrations might emerge - and possibly new swear words could be created if this goes wrong.
The first area to be done is the back doors. Not much else to do back here except add shades for sleeping. The burgundy fabric was easy to work with and adhered really well with 3M 77 spray adhesive.