radin2son

Assuming the van came to you with the cross bars installed, I can understand you not wanting to put additional holes in the roof. Does the awning need that width or do the cross bars just look right the way you have it? Your best bet may be to add a light weight platform to the existing cross bars to mount the box. A quick search came up with LockNLoad System. Pricey at $850 but looks versatile. Looks like they are made for pickup over cab use. Impressive weight capacity.

Can you post a photo? I know nothing about NV 200’s roof mount system. Since you use/live in it more than most, it may be worth your while to drill more holes. A third cross bar may let you add other options as well. 75-100 lbs seems about right for most racks.

Why does this project have to be diy? Take your NV to the nearest auto parts store and buy what fits and is recommended. They may even install it for you.

There are other build posts here, Mahu being one. Lot of variety in water and plumbing solutions when you are ready. We had a choice of SMB shipping our van to us, flying to pick it up or drive with our 2 dogs to Fresno. It took a week to make the van changes, so we drove to the coast to hang out. This was the only time we towed a vehicle, or towed anything for that matter. The possibility is there...

Our van was straight out of the Sportsmobile box. Everything ready to drive away, except no complimentary gas. Never before had a fill click off at $100... Took a shake down trip, then towed our car home. Gray water tank may be 2+ gallons. Never measured it. Easier to put a dish pan under the van and drain water directly into pan. We had SMB remove the 10 gallon water tank, replace it with a 20 gallon tank and add a hot water system. It uses engine heat to warm/heat/scald dirty bodies with the outdoor shower. Cold only water for dish washing. Engine heat dissipates quickly so engine needs to idle to be effective for 2 people. Showering takes a lot of water, so we use it sparingly. We carry an additional 10+ gallons of bottled water for drinking/cooking. Youtube has a 2012 new NV owner’s video that may be helpful. There is a link here somewhere... You may find this helpful. Same for Magic video on Vimeo. When we bought our van in 2012, we had a choice of a NV V8 or V6, Econoline or Sprinter hightop. All had floor plans similar to our ‘83 Westy (One engine blown, master cylinder gave up and accelerator cable broke). Our NV has been so dependable!

That’s backed up by ASD Dad. Check out his review posts under Engines (older V8).

Nearest the tire is the city water intake. The other is for 30 amp shore power. Below both is the drain for gray water from the sink. Almost comically too small gray water tank. We found that out on day 2 of ownership. We picked up our van in Fresno and camped in the parking lot (campgrounds closed) at Lassen National Park. Noticed water flowing on the pavement after doing dishes. Agree about the glass. CR Lawrence awning windows on door and driver side. Rear quarter window is fixed. House batteries are outside in a tray bolted to the frame under the sliding door. (SMB did/does this for all van conversions.) When batteries had to be replaced in 10/2018, they were too heavy and awkward to do myself. Local camper repair service did this along with converting all interior lights to LED. At that time, advised not to go with lithium.

Like your project, particularly the rear quarter panel windows. Our van has a full window, form not function, on the passenger side and no window on the driver side to accommodate floor to ceiling cabinets.

The stock alternator in our 2012 SMB camper van charges the 2 house batteries to 85%+ capacity while driving or idling. (Shore power is needed to get to 100%.) This still is the case, at least for SMB builds.

Only 2 reasons to pursue this: No good alternative van or other vehicle available even if you get a decent trade in. You have cash. Check the Titan forum to see if they have a list of shops that do rebuilds or install “factory” rebuilt or crate engines. Nissan specific repair shops may not want to take this on, but check them as well.

Vanlifers has an article on the best roof fans and a guide to installing a fan. N6AVD If you don’t go with a roof rack, Yakima has a hitch mounted dual level rack. The bottom will hold a box and the upper has a variety of mount options. Expensive but can be removed when not needed. Requires a 2” hitch receiver. Swings away to right side to get access to rear doors. One complaint has been the door or hatch not clearing the bottom part of the hitch. We had a hitch mounted bike rack that swung down. Always in the way, down or up. Made a great towel rack when using the outdoor shower. Gave the rack away; the previous owner gave it to us.

N6ADV One issue would be weight. There should be info on this that came with the van. Our pop top, different style and manual, supposedly has a 100 pound limit. That added weight would make it more difficult to push up manually. Issues with roof racks include getting to whatever is up there, less mpg and how strong is the latch system to hold the roof in place. (Sportsmobile had to beef up the latches after an accident.) You may not need a fan if the ventilation is adequate. Our van has 5 windows, Colorado Camper has 6. Enjoy your NV.

Online check, not eBay, for “Nissan NV key fobs and key replacement” shows a different key/fob for 2021 than other years. Non-dealer fob price was around $50. May just be the wrong illustration. Non-dealer key replacement is about 1/3 what the dealer will charge you. The dealer owes you a key...

chphilo posted this 3 years ago. New NVP and diy camper van owners since then... Click on the link in the first post if interested.

Welcome. Share your diy build. We may learn...

At Woods Lake campground near Telluride, CO, the van battery died. Able to jump start it using the house batteries and drive 10 miles down the mountain road and 30+ miles to Montrose to get a new battery. Although all Sportsmobiles have this start/jump feature, some on the SMB forum say the system is barely functional, if not damaging. Worked fine for us, twice. Decided to buy the GoalZero Venture Jump and Nomad 10 solar panel for emergency use. Need 6 hours full sun to charge via solar or 3 hours to charge via wall out let. Jump works with up to 6.0L engines. Added benefit is that Venture batteries can store power to charge phones etc later in the day. Will this work? Mostly sunny today in AZ so at least I can see if the solar panel can charge my phone. Took an hour and 1/2 to go from 54% to 100%. Much faster than expected. Time enough to take a nap and claim I’m working.

Here I am once again talking to myself... New article on 10 best camper van conversion companies. Most on this site don’t go with this option, but... Colorado Camper van offers a diy pop top conversion kit for $9270. Opens up the market for standard top cargon NVs or NVPs. The latter probably better suited for a roof top tent. Freedom Vango, Jacksonville, FL offers help with diy projects. Blue Ridge Adventure Vehicles, Asheville, NC also offers diy help. Ram ProMaster, however, seems to be their vehicle of choice. Same go Vango?

Post some photos of your build as it develops.

No idea how this van was used or if it has been sold. Photos of it sitting under snow in Mammoth, CA.

4 year old original post. May be helpful for the 2 diy projects in progress or planned.

That could be a tough search depending on price and tolerance for high mileage. Good luck.

Knowing how you plan to use your NV and where you can helps with the build.

There is no wrong way to do this. At worst, you may wonder “What was I thinking?” Campendium is another site. We use them to supplement FSA and BLM info. Saves time at the end of a day of driving, exploring, particularly with reservations being the norm. KOA is another good resource if everything else is full. You can pretty much expect to get a “no hookup” site for the night. Keeps you away from the motor coaches. Plus, you can take a shower and do laundry depending on the duration of your trip.

2012/16 V8 or 2017+ will serve you well. Never noticed the rear sagging.

Sportsmobile has all sorts of permutations about heating and cooling on their sale/options site. If interested, they break it all down. The simplest was start the engine for heat on very cold mornings. Fine unless there is no idling permitted.