New camper conversion in Tucson!

[DesertTed]

3) Hub caulked with bathroom caulk, 352 (less than 1 sq inch each) small tiles from a previous home improvement project on to the walls and ceiling. I've read that Reflectix is useless unless you have an air gap between it and the surface that you're trying to insulate. With the tiles, we've tried to have a little air gap inside. The operative word is "trying". I don't know if the small air gap will help at all, but at least, after having attached the Reflectix with HVAC tape (from Home Depot receipt: DBOARD TAPE 2.5" X 60YD 324A UL181A-P DUCTBOARD TAPE $16.58), we have created somewhat of a vapor barrier after sealing the Reflectix thoroughly with the tape.

 

4) Choosing insulation for the walls and ceiling took a while. Neither one of us like fiberglass, so that was off the table. Denim insulation is aesthetically appealing except for the issue of moisture absorbsion (sp?)from ambient air. Since we live in the desert and we plan to camp primarily in the West, we're not going to worry too much about that. If the denim becomes moist, we'll soon be back in dry air. So, we decided to use the denim R-19 insulation, only on the walls. We were able to use the full thickness of 5 1/2 inches in the wheel well area. The nice thing about the denim is that it can be torn by hand, without gloves, to whatever size you want. We used about 18 cubic feet, about two bags. There were several areas where the denim didn't work, so we used, in those places, either 1 or 1 1/2 inch sheet insulation. Lots of nooks and crannies to fill with both types of insulation, especially when you are obsessive-compulsive. After that,we closed up the lower wall areas with the panels that were originally attached.

 

5) with the potential moisture issue, we decided not to use the denim on the ceiling. Also, no denim on the doors in case it rains and we don't close them in time. We used the R-5 one inch Pink Panther sheet insulation. Also on the doors, where we can. All was taped in with the HVAC tape. In the door cavities, we put in as much sheet insulation as we could, over the Reflectix already there.

 

I know my recitation may be pedantic, but there might be some inquiring minds that want to know the tedious details.

Edited September 6, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

One more thing. We thought the vehicle was quiet after the Noico installation. Now, even though we've only partially finished the insulation, the van is incredibly quiet! Except for a clinking in the right rear door. I haven't investigated it enough to see if I can remedy the problem.

[DesertTed]

6) We're putting in floor vents for when the vehicle is parked. They're not likely to provide adequate ventilation by themselves, but coupled with the front window deflectors and the Fantastic Vent fan, it should help substantially. We haven't decided on windows on the back doors for now. Also, a nice thing about the floor vents is that they will provide some passive ventilation when coupled with the roof vent and front windows cracked. Nothing is enough when it's 115F outside, though.

 

Despite my warning that the large hole saw was not gonna work because of the amount of torque, Hub tried with that for about 5 minutes until his Harbour Freight hammer drill started smoking. Don't listen to your wife. He ended up drilling 26 holes (with a conventional bit) and using a hacksaw. It's not the most beautiful hole, but it'll get prettier as Hub just made it this morning. It took about two hours and the next one will be faster. We're putting the vents behind the wheel wells. There are two screens, a metal varmint one on bottom and then a removable aluminum one, so we can clean it. I hadn't thought of that need without a suggestion from a fellow poster. On the very top, we have a six inch deck plate sealing the vent thoroughly when the engine is running.

Edited September 7, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

Kitchen sink!

Just got the 21" base cabinet from Lowe's ($167)today and had to pop the sink in to see how it would fit, I couldn't wait! The basin is 16.5"x18.5" and 10" deep (16 gauge steel). From Amazon, with the grill, $140.

 

Oh, I also or in the wrong cost for the Noico above, not $67, but $64.

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

I'm sure you all missed me, I'm back from Maine, visiting family. We'll be taking Blanca (we name all our vehicles) there next autumn to see the fall colors. Living in Southern Arizona, I forget the lushness of the foliage in places that get more than 13 inches of rain a year.

 

So the conversion goes on. I don't have all of the minute details of how things were done exactly, as I'm not gonna wake up Hub. If anyone has questions, please ask.

 

We finished the floor completely (finally!), except for the vinyl flooring and trim. That'll be done after the Fantastic Vent fan and the windows in the back doors are installed-we don't want metal splinters on our nice new floor. Here's how we did it:

 

Hub took 1"x2"s for the joists to put over the two layers of foam that we put in as described in a previous post. He attached the joists through the two layers with 151 Tek metal screws (yes, he did tell me the exact number). He also used longer self tapping metal screws in the d-rings. He then put one more layer of the foam in between the joists. We're putting in plenty of insulation as we camp in temperature extremes (last winter I was in my sleeping bag looking on the ice on the tent wall, wondering why we were camping in 19F).

 

Hub put on plastic sheeting as a vapor barrier. Then he cut the plywood to fit the floor. The plastic on the sliding door step had already been cut off and bringing that part level to the rest of the floor was a bit of a pain with different thicknesses of wood to make it flush. The plywood was attached to the joists with many screws. Every screw on both layers is countersunk. There have been no issues with attaching all this hardware into the metal floor of the van. He then caulked the screw heads and the nooks and crannies. Yeah! I've posted photos of all except the top layer. That'll be posted after it's cleaned up-after the fan and window installation. We don't want metal splinters on the new vinyl.

 

We overkilled (not a word, but it works) attaching the floor to the vehicle floor,but in case of a rollover accident, God forbid, I hope that anything attached to the van frame starts intact and in place.

 

Sorry the one photo is upside-down. I'm not quite sure how that happened!

Edited October 9, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

Installing the Fantastic Vent fan in the roof:

 

First of all, Hub approached cutting a 14"x14" hole in the metal roof with great trepidation. He's never used an angle grinder and the last time he cut any metal was in high school (he went to Aviation High in NY). So he went to a junk yard, bought a car hood for $10 and practiced on that. The results weren't too pretty, but they were adequate.

 

With his now great experience, Hub was ready to slice and dice that roof! Since he wasn't confident in his ability to cut more than straight lines with the angle grinder, he drilled 1/8" pilot holes in the corners and then drilled bigger and bigger, using drill bits to about 1/2" in diameter. He then used the angle grinder. That and a file. We used the space between the second and third ribs from the back. This way we didn't have to mess with the frame. Hub did have to cut the edges of the ladder ribs flush back to those ribs. It's easier to explain it with the attached photos.

 

Hole cut, whew! We then needed to protect the bare metal now exposed. Hub was on top of the roof with his tools and didn't want to drive to the hardware store in Blanca, as she is our only transportation. Enter red nail polish, supplied by yours truly. Whether that is enough to protect the metal is questionable, but we'll use our standard line for possible potential corrosion: we live in a desert. It shouldn't be wet long enough to make a difference, especially since the roof is exposed to the hot sun.

 

Now was the actual installation of the fan. We had the fan installation kit from Amazon which has butyl tape. I had read that butyl wasn't meant for metal, but for other materials like fiberglass. With that in mind, Hub squirted a couple of beads of Dicor roof sealant where the fan is attached to the roof. He then attached the butyl tape to the bottom of the fan housing and scientifically "squished" the fan onto the Dicor stuff.

 

The rest of installation went smoothly as Hub actually read the instructions. Prior to starting the project, I connected the fan to a 12volt deep cycle battery to make sure we weren't putting in a defective unit. IMPORTANT:THE BLACK WIRE IS POSITIVE! Of course, I read that somewhere, I would never make such a mistake.

 

After caulking the fan, Hub then easily put on the Fantastic Vent cowling. Easy peasy, it screws directly into the pre-drilled fan holes which screw into the roof. Voilà! A thorough soaking with a hose finishes the job. The only thing left to do is the inside trim, which we'll put on after we install the ceiling.

Edited October 9, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

I forgot to mention that we decided to remove the middle ceiling light. We replaced the bulbs with LEDs and two of them are plenty bright. The lights are connected to the electrical system with a telephone-like connector and easily unplug when you take the fixture off.

[DesertTed]

Okay, major dorkiness alert:

 

Some of you know that we wanted windows up high in the back as our bed will be about a yard above the floor. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything that would fit my parameters. Being a life-long boat person, I did end up using opening boat ports. Function won over form. Hopefully we won't take too much of a hit in value when we sell Blanca because the non-standard windows. But at least we are ready for 30 foot seas!

 

I purchased the ports from a marine supplier (if you want the name, ask, and I'll look it up) for about $200 each. Yeah, a lot of money, but as I had mentioned in another post, we're not going to stint on costs as we are going to be spending many nights in the van (in this political climate, maybe I should say, "inside Blanca"?) We want to make things the way we need them.

 

Upon making the cut-outs (once again, Hub is not handy enough to use the angle grinder in corners,so he used the drill and file), we found that the double wall in the doors was too great in thickness for the bottom of the port. (Also, after cutting the steel, we applied the red nail polish the the bare metal to protect it. No reason for the cut-outs for the ports not to match the cutout for the fan). Because of the thickness problem, Hub made plywood frames to go around the ports that go between the two layers of the steel in the doors. Funky, but it works. With that done, he was able to securely attach the ports through the doors. We are now ready for those high seas!

 

With caulking both inside and outside, the windows are done. The Lexan is about 10mm thick and tinted as you can see. They came with insect screens, but we haven't put them in yet. I'm attaching the photos below. If you have any questions, in the remote possibility that any of you might have the slightest inclination to install portholes,please ask.

Edited October 9, 2016 by DesertTed

[wollip]

I really like them.

The whole time I was thinking ROUND portholes.

[Daydreamin520]

Hello.  I am the other Tucson NV owner.  Would like to get a chance to meet in real life sometime soon, perhaps.  I would like you to check out the van group on Facebook, for ladies only (single or married, doesn't matter), that I am a member off.  If you can't see or work link here (I usually have problems... lol), then search "Gal Van Nation" over there, please.  We already have 3 other ladies with NV's... so would be great if you joined, too.  Love hearing about your build.  Take care, Marty

[DesertTed]

Will take the photos tomorrow. On reflection, I thought that the windows made Blanca look a little like an armored truck. But then Hub said it looked like a prison van...

 

If you look at the windows closely, you'll notice that they aren't perfectly level with each other. I'm just pleased that they are as level a they are, if you consider that this is the first time Hub has ever done anything like this. He was very happy to have gotten the metal-cutting jobs done. He will be drilling through for wires behind the fan cowling. We'll be putting in a Wi-Fi booster, a cell signal booster and a cb radio. Like I mentioned, we plan on spending some serious time boondocking and in remote areas, so communication aids might come in handy. Hub drew the line at a VHF radio,though-I was just yankin'his chain!

 

Daydreamin, I'm not on Facebook, but once I figure out how to, I'll private message you. I'd like to get a few more things finished before I show off. All progress will stop the entire month of November when Hub leaves the boys and me while he takes his vacation.

[DesertTed]

Okey dokey, I'll be making three short posts instead of one long post. Here is the back of the van including the windows. I noticed that the van appears not level. We just got a truckload of gravel and Hub says it's a little thicker on the left side. I'm not sure what is thicker. We do have two dogs.

 

A note on what I really like about the windows: the bottoms of the frames are 7 feet of the ground. Someone would have to be mighty tall or stand on the bumper to be able to look in. Between the lack of windows on the body and no lower windows on the back doors, our privacy is good. We'll have the wind deflectors on the front door windows. Unless you look very closely, it's difficult to see that the windows are open about an inch. If the windows are cracked, they will, in addition to the ports, floor vents and the ceiling fan provide lots of ventilation.

 

Also, the ports, besides being self-draining, will have little rain guards above them. I bought those at the same time. When those are installed, unless we have blowing sideways rain, we'll have little, if any water coming inside.

Edited October 10, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

#2 followup

 

These are pics of the sliding door step fix. Hub's laying the vinyl laminate down today and he said it will be prettier and more finished. In any case, we'll have a metal threshold on the edge as that entrance will be well used.

Edited October 10, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

Last photos of the Fantastic Vent installation. This morning, before Hub attached the vent cover, he ran the hose over just the vent itself for a full 30 minutes with no leaks.

 

I know that all of my posting about these details might seem too much, but I hope that it might be helpful for anyone else converting his/her cargo van. Or, if only to give them info on what they don't want to do.

Edited October 10, 2016 by DesertTed

[wollip]

Thanks for the photo - I still like them! Armored vehicle -

[wollip]

DesertTed -

Please share the details when you get around to installing the Wi-Fi booster and cell signal booster.

Wi-Fi is nonexistent for us inside the van when we are at campgrounds. Cell signal is not as much of an issue but could definitely be improved.

Btw, your detailed posts are most welcome. Keep them coming.

[DesertTed]

With my research, it appears that marine units (wi-fi signal boosters) are the way to go. Not only do they extend the range by miles (amazing claims),but they are also meant for harsh, including salty, conditions. They ain't cheap, but considering the cost of extra gas and the coffee shop coffees that we have to pay for wi-fi signals, I imagine that the antenna will pay for itself in short order. Besides, I'd rather be lying on my bed reading my email than sitting in an uncomfortable wood chair.

 

But, that being said, I'll be happy anytime to be sitting inside Blake's Lotabuger having my Hatch green chile cheeseburger while using their free Wi-Fi!

Edited October 14, 2016 by DesertTed

[wollip]

Many thanks! I'll be looking into those marine units.

[DesertTed]

Floor in. We used Home Depot generic vinyl planks, 100% waterproof. We used the prefinished outside corner moulding on the step and plain aluminum threshold in the back so we won't pull up the flooring if sliding things in. The floor is grey, though it looks otherwise in the photo. It matches the upholstery.

Edited October 16, 2016 by DesertTed

[Chris Dempsey]

Floor in. We used Home Depot generic vinyl planks, 100% waterproof. We used the prefinished outside corner moulding on the step and plain aluminum threshold in the back so we won't pull up the flooring if sliding things in. The floor is grey, though it looks otherwise in the photo. It matches the upholstery.

 

Looks great, I may use the same.

[DesertTed]

Freebie but for postage:

 

I bought these exterior marine window rain guards for the rear windows that you can see in an above post. But, not having thought it all the way through, I didn't notice that the rear doors were not flat. Given the fact that I had waited to long to return these, if someone wants them, just let me know. They'd work on the side of the NV. They're extremely tough and they could be glued and/or screwed.

Edited October 18, 2016 by DesertTed

[wollip]

Did you try gently persuading them with a heat gun? Not much to lose since you're willing to give them away.

[wollip]

BTW - like the flooring job.

[DesertTed]

Hey Wollip, thank you for the compliment. I had mentioned that to Hub and he wasn't interested-he's moved on to the walls and bed. So the rain guards are so available. Anyone, just PM me.

 

Walls:

This is an interesting approach and I'm not sure how it will work, but Hub didn't like the wood laminate flooring we had originally planned to put on the ceiling and he didn't like the idea of the plain painted walls planned too.

 

Wish us luck, as we're gonna try something that I haven't seen on any of the posts all over the web about conversion van walls. We're going to put vinyl flooring on the walls, using lighter grey toned flooring (photo of box posted below).

 

Hub's put up 2'x 4' wood paneling sections(about 1/4" thick) on the walls over the Reflectix and the denim insulation. Just for the heck of it, he went ahead and put a layer of Reflectix right under the wood as there was still exposed some bare metal, still on the frame. At least that won't be right next to the inner later of the van. The last layer of Reflectix may do nothing, but for about $60, we'll have another layer on the walls and ceiling. Can't hurt. Photo attached.

 

When that's all done, Hub's gonna use some adhesive (see photo below) and small screws countersunk into the vinyl. You all will be the first to know how it goes.

Edited October 19, 2016 by DesertTed

[DesertTed]

Don't know why there are redundant photos above of the adhesive, maybe we just want it to stick?

 

Anyway, we're also doing the bed at the same time. Hub wants to get out of the van for a bit. He's framing the bed very stoutly because he's gonna put 4'slides, $175 each, including shipping and handling (sounds like an infomercial) for three large drawers. Each set of slides weighs 28 pounds. They're rated to hold up to 500#. There nothing wrong with overbuilding, we want to be able to carry our fortune of gold with us. Photo below.

 

After the bed base is framed, we're putting an IKEA full-sized bed,Tarva on top. We're leaving on the headboard as I sleep with a wedge and without a headboard to keep it from sliding up the bed, I'm crawling up the bed multiple times nightly, messing up my sleep. Any of you who use a wedge for GERD knows how that goes!

 

The top of the bed will be 36" off the floor. That way we'll both will be able to sit straight up while giving us maximum storage area under the bed.

Edited October 19, 2016 by DesertTed