FarOutVan: 148" HR EL campervan conversion for mountain-biking and backcountry skiing
IT’S OURS.
Today, we finally took possession of the van.
LET’S GET THIS DONE!
We took advantage of the 2016 rainy winter to plan everything well in advance. We documented our “long term” conversion planning here. That’s our first steps into the camper-van conversion world: components selection, decisions justification, reading notes and so on.
To help us with the van layout, we produced a 3D CAD model that can be visualized and manipulated here.
According to our Cost and Labor analysis, we need 325 man-hours to get done with the conversion. That’s probably optimistic, so let’s say 400 man-hours (still optimistic but what the heck) over 6 months (before winter) that gives us 67 hours per month. With work and mountain biking, it’s unlikely that we can spend that much time on the van… so the project might extend up to early 2017.
There is a logical sequence for the conversion: for example the awning must be installed before the insulation (for access); electrical wires after the insulation; and so on. We set up our Work and Material planning page to ensure we do everything in the right order and also to make sure we have all the products in hand when it’s time to do a specific task.
WE HAVE A PLAN, WE HAVE A VAN: IT’S TIME TO BUILD!
The build will be documented in our Build Journal.
This is our first conversion and we are not very skilled with tools;
however we're motivated and enthusiastic to learn!! Let's see how it goes...
CHEERS!
And thanks to all on this forum; hopefully we can give back to other members as well
Also - if you care about weight distribution left-to-right, you can pull onto the scales and get weighed for both front and both rear wheels; and then for a dollar or so more, back up, and then drive a set of left or right wheels OFF the scale for a second weigh (so you're only weighing the left or right side) and then do the math. We did that for our Class C fully loaded - it was always a nice RV to drive and I think part of that was because it was nicely balanced.
I didn't know that about left - right weights. I'm not sure if it's going to be important enough in my case for me to care? Do people commonly do this? Is it important enough?
Don't think so. Unless you go nuts it's hard to gross out our vans. Now, a 28,000# diesel pusher with a 2200# CCC loaded for a month's worth of traveling, including fuel(s) and water can get heavy on one of the corners. Since those tires are at or near their limit it matters.
I'd like to think that most Transit converters are wise enough to balance their build from side-to-side, but it CAN be a problem in an RV if all the tanks are stacked on one side, for example? Many RVs are at their max GVW when packed for a trip; so completely filling the freshwater tank might exceed the load ratings for a rear tire
the other place that can weigh your van (and in my case, it was free) is a place that sells sand/gravel/stone. they're in the habit of weighing trucks (pickups or larger) on the way in, and out, and are pretty accurate because they're after the difference, not the approximate weight of the truck. i just told them i wasn't buying anything, but just needed to know what my van weighed, and they were happy to do it.
loaded for a camping trip, with a mostly full tank and no occupants, ours was 6160lbs. so 6500 is the number i carry in my head.
The Nature’s Head composting toilet really made living full time in the van much, much more enjoyable. We’ve been using it full time since September 2017, so it’s time to have a discussion about this relieving device!
The Nature’s Head composting toilet really made living full time in the van much, much more enjoyable. We’ve been using it full time since September 2017, so it’s time to have a discussion about this relieving device!
I can vouch for choosing composting toilets in a van conversion!
We picked the Airhead brand for Annie, because it has a few size advantages for our build. We have a closed in bathless bathroom. The Airhead can be mounted closer to the rear wall, and is generally a bit smaller.
It has been completely trouble-free, odorless, and not any problem to dump.
Thanks for taking the time to review. We use a Laveo dry flush. Am happy with it, but the cartridgesecond are rather ecpensive. Am considering a composting toilet in the future. Thanks again.
This month we party on the Strip in Las Vegas (not), we watch the Geminid meteor shower from the Grand Canyon, we ride steep lines in Flagstaff, we slowly enjoy Sedona and we get the van ready for chasing the snow!
After 84 consecutive days of sun (that's right!), it was time to make a U-turn, drive north and chase the snow!
This month we discuss about winter: 4x4 (or the lack of), keeping the van warm, drying our ski gear, Ford's Tire Pressure Monitoring System, and of course our adventures
Hey FarOutRide team, some questions about how you feel about your electrical/solar system now that you've been in the van awhile, in various conditions with your 320W solar and your 210Ah AGM battery:
1) Was your power consumption assessment of 55Ah for summer and winter accurate (as documented here)?
2) Are you happy with this size and performance of your solar panel, and your battery? Have they been up to the task?
I'll be using my van in a similar fashion, and am trying to size out my electrical components, so I appreciate your feedback.
We haven't measured exactly our consumption, but we feel like it was accurate as it's performing as planned.
For summer it's more than enough, for winter (PNW, Canada, etc) we must drive every other day or so because it's cloudy and snowy most of the time. Larger solar array wouldn't solve the issue; it shows the importance of being able to charge from alternator if you plan on using the van to chase the snow...
We would probably go with the same system (or very similar) if we had to start over!
Since we introduced the spare wheel into tire rotation, we've been dealing with the "Tire Pressure Sensor Fault" message and that's very irritating...
We did some research to better understand how the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) works and how to fix it once for all. We also found how to monitor the pressure in real-time via a smartphone and we feel better about the TPMS now
I did the same and now monitor mine real time all the time with a spare phone I keep on the dash for a hotspot.
Nothing better in a big van than knowing your tire pressure and temp at a glance. *Forescan app will show you temp too after you figure out how to set it up.
I added a sensor to the spare tire because I do a 5 tire rotation.
The tire shop could not program the new sensor so took it to Ford dealer to activate.
Maybe the reason the tire shop could not activate it is because I have disconnected the horn. Horn disconnected because I had two episodes of the vehicle having a fit when I opened it. Can not deal with horn blowing and lights flashing. Asked Ford to deactivate the alarm but they could not so I disconnected the horn.
I added a sensor to the spare tire because I do a 5 tire rotation.
The tire shop could not program the new sensor so took it to Ford dealer to activate.
Maybe the reason the tire shop could not activate it is because I have disconnected the horn. Horn disconnected because I had two episodes of the vehicle having a fit when I opened it. Can not deal with horn blowing and lights flashing. Asked Ford to deactivate the alarm but they could not so I disconnected the horn.
I do need a horn when driving. Warning other drivers of potential danger is too useful a tool. That said, it really annoys me when the thing barks when I use the remote start. So I think a guarded switch will be in order.
Horn over-use is an interesting discussion. I don't know if I've ever heard one used to actually prevent an emergency, but I'm sure that's possible. Mostly I hear them used for indignant rage and retaliation at others for daring to make a mistake, to annoyingly let someone else know their ride is waiting, to wave hello to a buddy, to reassure drivers they did in fact lock their vehicle three times, to sound a panic-alarm in a parking lot from a pocket press, or perhaps because a rumbling Harley went by.
On the other hand, I was glad to have my horn in the wee hours of an overnight Boondock in a parking lot in Nelson, BC 15 years ago. Two or three drunk teenagers were being pushed toward my new red F150 and camper in a shopping cart! I reached my keys, always hanging where I sleep, and hit the panic button. It was reassuring to see what panic looked like as they scattered in all directions. ?
For all their faults, I still wouldn't be without one.
The horn comes in handy to wake up the person busy texting after the light turns green, or warning some pedestrian, far from a crosswalk, yakking on that phone, mindlessly entering the road in front of you.
As they apocryphally say in Japan "When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor."
My other hobby ride is a diesel pusher motorhome, and yes I am not moving at the speed of rush hour. It's an air suspension and doesn't have the skid pad of a Vette. It's also "only" 340 horses and it weighs 30,000 pounds. Lastly it WILL stop in a hurry if it has to, but I don't need people and stuff flying all over the place. So I drive it more like the Queen Mary than the General Lee. (If you're old enough you get that reference.) And I mostly stay in the right lane with the trucks, moving at their speed.
Now, all that said, I avoid rush hour as it really isn't fun, but sometimes on a long trip you end up traversing metro areas with heavier traffic. Apparently there's a sign on the back of the thing (not visible to me) that says "Squeeze it by and cut me off!" Not very smart on their part.... my 15 tons versus their Civic.....hmmmmm.
So, as they squeeze it in inches from my front bumper they get a "toot" on my air horn. Lets just say I have to say "horn" before I hit it so my wife doesn't fly out of her seat. It is LOUD.
Nothing more I'd love than to disable this TPMS system.
Instead of mandating more infrastructure and consumersim, they could have mandated that drivers inspect their vehicle before they depart, and have enough driver training to detect a low tire just by feel.
But then again, teaching people to be independent badasses doesn't line coffers does it.
Instead of mandating more infrastructure and consumersim, they could have mandated that drivers inspect their vehicle before they depart, and have enough driver training to detect a low tire just by feel.
As they apocryphally say in Japan "When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor."
That is a fantastic translation. I need a melodious tootler horn. (That must be Google translate. Or an actual translator whose first language is not English. I have enough trouble with English when English is my first and only language).
Sorry for hijacking the tire pressure thread, but here is another post
We get a lot of questions about the "steering wheel" attached to our wall... It is, in fact, a fan mounted on a 3-axis gimbal, so the air flow can go in any direction. We like it a lot and we use it in summer (duh) and winter (when we use our oven to move the hot air all around the van; heat is more uniform that way).
On horns, travel outside the U.S. will teach you that the horn is simply a communication device, an attention getter, good or bad. I use mine for both and since I started driving commercially (about 25 year ago) I use mine often for both reasons. In a company truck you can't follow the "Horn broken, watch for finger" bumper sticker advice but you can state your opinion with your horn if you are wronged in traffic.
That said, it is my opinion that every family in America makes a game of seeing how quickly they can set their **** car horn alarm system off as soon as they set up camp in a campground. I NEVER lock my car at a campground unless I'm in it sleeping or walk away from it but there seems to be an epedimic of folks who can't figure out how to keep the things quiet in campgrounds.
This month we travel across Washington, Montana and we're back to the metric system in beautiful British Columbia. We hope you like cold and snow as much as we do
It's in the article above, but I guess it's worth mentioning that we had a small leak through the roof plug. Fortunately we found it immediately (well we think) and sealed it with Silicone II.
The paneling at the headliner is sandwiched between the van metal (covered with ez-cool) and a "L" shape wood thing that we fabricated. The "L" shape wood thing is attached with bolts (into plusnuts).
So we came up with a new Wiring Diagram. What’s wrong we the previous one? Nothing, it passed the test of time and it works exactly as it should! Then why change it? Here’s why:
We realized many people are just replicating it (which we think is great!), so we wanted to make it
1- easier to understand (see our new Interactive Diagram AND new tutorial “From Blank Page to Wiring Diagram in 15 Steps”)
2- easier to install (more intuitive design and less components to install)
3- easier to use (Plug-and-forget, monitoring via Android or iPhone)
4- easier to adapt to anyone’s need (many features can be deleted/modified for different needs/budget. See our suggestions.)
It’s the result of the ultimate question: “If you had to start over, what would you change?”. Answer: we deleted some features we never used in the real world (option to power the loads from the van's battery) and we updated some components (Victron in lieu of Bogart) because we like to stay up-to-date with the latest technology. Also we changed the inverter+charger setup for a Sterling B2B BB1260.
Nice!
We met with a few folks on the road that were struggling to understand our diagram, with reason! I think the new one make more sense. We will actually replace the bogart and use the Victron instead. I'm curious about the MPPT improvement (?) and the Bluetooth monitoring! Unfortunately we don't have room to fit the BB1260, but like we mentioned, our actual setup works just fine!
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