[Mark Bird]

My design plan for countertops was 1/2" Corian. I had a difficult time sourcing scraps/pull-offs where I could get one pattern in enough square footage for my layout at a good price. I also struggled with the method to affix Corian atop the 80/20 frames without wanting to add yet another layer of 1/2" birch for rigidity & screw purchase.

So I gave up on Corian and went with painted & polyed birch.

We wanted some mostly grayish color to tie in the floor color and Ford interior. I tried some wood stains but found the colors a bit limiting or too brown (and I didn't want to play around with color match stain since it's a bit more expensive than paint). I ultimately went the color-matched paint (to a Corian sample) route.

Wifey said No

Wife approved

I cut birch with a 1/2" overhang for my 3+1 countertop pieces: 1) galley 2) island 3) fold-up "lid" over shoilet area to provide extra countertop space when desired and 4) a small sliver of countertop to finish the rear side of the shoilet for uniformity in appearance. I started with 1/2" thick birch but that was a fail, as it didn't support enough screw purchase, particularly for the undermount sink. I redid everything with 3/4" birch for the countertops, and that approach worked out fine.

Each countertop piece was sanded and painted three times, then sanded and polyed three times. Then I flipped each piece over and did it again.

Countertops were screwed and glued to the cabinet frames in an overabundance of caution. The galley & island countertops used 80/20 L brackets and 3/4" self-tapping wood screws. The shoilet countertop used piano hinge.

The end result is that I saved some weight and gave up on a little bit of aesthetics. The countertops aren't perfect, being more susceptible to dings than a solid surface. But the countertops don't look ugly after a year's use (or mid-build abuse as a workspace).

 

[Mark Bird]

Wrapping up the island thread, here are a few more pics as the island was built out.

Heater outlet with ducting over the passenger wheel well. I bought a heater duct 90 degree fitting to finish out the routing.

The undermount sink was siliconed and screwed in, then I built some 80/20 reinforcement underneath the sink in an overabundance of caution. Also I ended up putting studs in the countertops that were through-bolted into the 80/20.

The sink turned out just fine, as did the plumbing into the sink drain.

Drawers were built out of 1/4" birch (bottoms), 1/2" birch and epoxy. I used these drawer slides.

Mostly finished later in the build

 

[OldChubbyKnuckle]

Your tale of retrieving lost bolts is the entire raison d'etre for my user name!

Can't tell you how many times I'm way into a project and suddenly hear the clinking of the bolt/nut/washer that just made a jail break run from your fingers. You freeze and try to figure out the sound direction and possible location. Heart sinks knowing the project just became 2x or 3x longer in duration needlessly (maybe more).

These things have at least been a counter-weapon against my flailing fingers. Reasonably cheap, flexible, throw them anywhere (especially on top of the engine if working anywhere in there). All hardware and loose tools lay in the tray by new rule. Can't forget things in the engine bay or other places. And far less likely for a 'roll away' event.

They've also come in super handy for 'book marking' a project when you hit a road block and you just need to set aside the hardware and tools for a few days until some part arrives to finish the job. Then take the tray back and finish it off.

Awesome for working on the roof. Can't scratch the paint or lose something 'overboard' and then hunt in the grass for 20 minutes hoping you guessed which way it bounced off the concrete.

Ended up buying 2 sets even.

Amazon.com: Horusdy 3PC Large Non-Slip Flexible Tool Tray | Tool Organizer Holder | Tool Storage Gift for Men : Home & Kitchen

Amazon.com: Horusdy 3PC Large Non-Slip Flexible Tool Tray | Tool Organizer Holder | Tool Storage Gift for Men : Home & Kitchen

www.amazon.com

 

[Mark Bird]

Your tale of retrieving lost bolts is the entire raison d'etre for my user name!

Ended up buying 2 sets even.

Amazon.com: Horusdy 3PC Large Non-Slip Flexible Tool Tray | Tool Organizer Holder | Tool Storage Gift for Men : Home & Kitchen

Amazon.com: Horusdy 3PC Large Non-Slip Flexible Tool Tray | Tool Organizer Holder | Tool Storage Gift for Men : Home & Kitchen

www.amazon.com

That's fancy. I just threw towels everywhere as I worked, especially if there were seams/cavities to swallow parts. I seemed to be particularly good at losing grip of the allen wrench and getting some pretty good distance on the result. I tried to keep the build with zero lost fasteners, but that was probably unrealistic. I have one washer under the Espar somewhere, maybe I'll find that one during maintenance. I think there's another two washers or nuts in the seams along the interior van body, and those will never be seen again.

 

[Mark Bird]

Talking about tools, I'm sure there's an appropriate tool out there to hold a washer and nut in place while reaching a difficult to meet bolt. I certainly do not have that tool. This below eventually works, but it usually leads to the screwdriver-and-magnet fetch a few times first.

 

[Mark Bird]

Here's another PSA, do not get lazy and use your aluminum chop saw blade for 'just one cut' of angle iron. That leads to the joy of purchasing another aluminum blade. You should have no trouble picking out which blade is abused vs new.

 

[Mark Bird]

One more PSA, then maybe I'll return to focus on the build thread: if you're going to cut angle iron, perhaps consider removing the wood dust from the catch bag before sending flaming metal shards everywhere.

 

[Mark Bird]

The build thread for the garage starts to get a bit confusing, because the fresh water system, batteries & electronics, dog bed, (human) bed lift, and cabinetry are all interrelated. I'll try and focus on the things that are traditionally associated with the term garage first, which are the framing & cabinets physically located under the bed in the down position. In the Bird Box, the garage extends from the forward edge of the rear wheel wells to the rear cargo doors. I designed the garage to have a finished height of 28", or in other words the bottom of the bed frame starts at 28 1/4" off the floor.

On the driver's side (from forward to aft), I have the following components integrated into the cabinets:

• NW Conversions 30 gallon over-wheel fresh water tank (the old one, now improved as a 33 gallon newer one)
• Fresh water system, pretty standard and not dissimilar from the Far Out Ride water system. This also includes my rear fill area, outdoor shower, and a dump valve
• AC source area, including EMS and AC toggle source

On the passenger side (from forward to aft), I have the following components integrated into the cabinets:

• Two LiTime 24 V 200 Ah LiFePO4 batteries
• Victron Multiplus 24/3000/70
• Majority of the electronics center, which I'll touch on in a later thread: 24/12 DC-DC converter, power distribution, MPPT charge controller
• AC load distribution
• DC fuse block and readily accessible switches
• "Dinette" seat

On both sides, vertical space above the fresh water tank and electronics area was reserved for ~6" deep storage cabinets. These cabinets have vertical opening doors and are accessed with the bed lifted up. Around this time, I determined that I was going to implement a track actuator bed lift system (versus columns, chain, pulley, etc.). My garage cabinet framing accommodated the eventual locations of the track actuator mounts, leaving a few inches of wiggle room in both horizontal directions for final assembly.

From a east-to-west perspective, my garage has an asymmetric center aisle. In between the wheel wells, a key requirement was to accommodate a 36" x 24" dog crate pan. With some cogitation, I was able to get the 36" dimension in the E-W direction. At the critical E-W point, (from driver to passenger), I had to fit the fresh water tank, 10 series aluminum, 1/4" cabinet face, the dog pan, 1/4" cabinet face, 10 series aluminum, and the width of a battery. I was this close. I had previously wrapped the wheel wells in some leftover minicell and TAI, and by removing that superfluous layer I had just enough room to move forward with my layout.

 

[Mark Bird]

On the driver's side of the garage, I framed the fresh water tank such that X-Y-Z directions where supported by 80/20 or the van wall. Aft of the tank, I mounted my plumbing system on a piece of birch. Aft of the plumbing system, I made room to mount the EMS and toggle switch. Far aft contains the plumbing fill & drain as well as an outdoor shower. I created a nook between the driver's garage cabinets and rear cargo door to hold a Yeti Tundra 65. The cooler serves as fridge/freezer overflow plus provides a cushioned seat for our dinette area.

Closer to finishing than starting. I repurposed Ford LEDs in the garage. I kept the Ford wiring and added an ON-OFF-ON switch such that I can use the LEDs in Ford-controlled mode, off, or on from house power. All the cavities eventually received cabinet doors. I added a patio door latch to secure the cooler from moving during travel, and that worked out well.

 

[Mark Bird]

The garage passenger side started with building the crap out of a battery box. I mounted the Multiplus in a vertical orientation just aft of the batteries. Above the wheel well and Espar ducting, I mounted power distribution and a Victron 24/12 DC-DC converter. I managed to leave one more cabinet space empty aft of the Multiplus. Far aft is a shorter-height cabinet that contains the DC fuse block & switches, AC load distribution, and actuator controller module, plus the far aft cabinet serves as a seating area for the dinette. I also snuck my MPPT solar charge controller & related circuitry along the van wall in the seat back vicinity of the dinette.

Because of my design choices to fit the dog pan E-W, I had to stack the two batteries vertically. For ease of wiring, I staggered the batteries fore-aft by a few inches. My design reaction to safely holding two 80 lb batteries in that orientation was to frame the batteries in X-Y-Z. I did that mostly with 80/20, but I added a 1/2" birch lower plate for the upper battery and used some angle iron to keep the batteries from sliding E-W. Maybe it's overbuilt. Maybe it's safely built. Dunno.

In the pic above, you can see that somewhere along the line I decided to cut the dinette cabinet at an angle to allow easier entry from the rear with the driver's side door closed.

Getting there. I wired the the bed lift actuators so that they were accessible from the rear cargo door (and an upper cabinet interior). The DC fuse block and AC load distribution are out of the way but accessible via an interior or rear cabinet door.

A little while later but showing the finished product. I added some fan exhaust plates to one cabinet door to adhere to the Multiplus venting requirements. The entire electronics area also has an active fan to vent warmed air forward (not shown).

 

[dhagberg]

Talking about tools, I'm sure there's an appropriate tool out there to hold a washer and nut in place while reaching a difficult to meet bolt. I certainly do not have that tool. This below eventually works, but it usually leads to the screwdriver-and-magnet fetch a few times first.
View attachment 217901

I end up using a little bit of Windo-Weld putty to stick nut/washer/wrench together for hard to reach areas. Had purchased a spool to help wrap/plug the body trim bits and it’s been a surprisingly helpful material to have around.

 

[Mark Bird]

The dog bed turned out well but took a bunch of iterations to get right. The dog bed design wants to keep the dog fully contained during driving, however we wanted the dog area to not impede access to the garage/dinette while parked. I ended up designing folding & gliding gates out of 80/20 stuff. The gates use 1"x2" 'fence' to allow plenty of airflow for doggy.

The dog bed area is defined by the 36" x 24" pan. The pan is offset but the aisleway through the garage tracks the 24" spacing between the driver's side galley and passenger side island.

I designed the rear gate to swing forward. In the rear position, the gate is the aft wall for the dog. In the forward position, the gate is out of the way to allow access from the cabin to the garage/dinette. The gate was built out of 10 series 80/20, and the pivot was achieved using sliding door guide. I affixed a small aluminum piece adjacent to the door glide to keep the glide from sliding...it only provides ~90 degree rotation when captured.

The forward gates are sliding, and the gates fully recess into cavities when not in use. The cavities are 10 series (1") wide and surrounded by 1/4" birch on each side. In order to have some clearance & allow tolerance/slop, I ended up implementing the sliding gates within the cavities with 20 mm aluminum extrusions. You can just fit 10 series double-keyed bearing profile into 20 mm extrusions. By using more 10 series for the top and bottom of the cavities, the gates slide freely. Full stop and full open control is easy enough with some additional protruding fasteners along the sliding direction.

All gates midway to help visualize the solution

Rattling was one problem found late in the design, and in particular the fence inside the gate frames rattled against the 10 series. I cut the fence sorta-carefully to leave it slightly compressed during final assembly, but it's tough to be precise with bolt cutters! I tried gasketing, but filling the 10 series channels with silicone proved to be the best approach.

 

[Mark Bird]

A few miscellaneous notes:

I spent a fair amount of time understanding Our Karavan's approach to cabinet building. I chose to go another route, but it was quite helpful to think through several approaches before settling on one.

As previously mentioned, I chose to face the cabinets with 1/4" birch and flanged button head cap screws painted to match. I know this look isn't for everyone. I felt it was the best/easiest method for my skill set, and Wifey approved the look. Since I used 1/4-20 fasteners, I drilled 5/16" holes for the FBHCS hardware; that gave me enough slop to affix the panels. Mating to horizontal 80/20 was easy, particularly if I remembered to put economy T-nuts in all the right places. Mating to vertical 80/20 typically necessitated drop-in T-nuts to allow the hardware to be properly aligned via some iterative dance of adjustment, getting the t-nut in just the right place with an allen wrench through the birch hole, and throwing salt over my shoulder for good luck. If I was really smart in certain places, I left open channels where I could preassemble the screws and T-nuts into the birch, then I could simply slide the panel on. After doing a few panels, it wasn't terribly difficult. The cost of fasteners does add up, but I think that's the cost of doing business with aluminum extrusions.

Anywhere internal to my cabinetry that isn't visible externally, I used 1/4-turn drop in studs. These are highly recommended. The stud length is perfect for 1/4" wood, and you can make it work with 1/2" if you're okay with a little compression. These studs make panel assembly and disassembly really fast & simple with a socket adapter and cordless drill.

Neither of these attachment methods are prone to squeaking or rattling unless the length of 80/20 piece and the distance between fasteners is fairly long, say more than 24". In one or two locations I either added another fastener or shoved some Low-E to address a rattle, but the entire van isn't a rattle-trap with this approach.

This is my least favorite part of the van build. Walking into the workshop and seeing piles of wood to be drilled, puttied, sanded, painted...oh well, it had to be done.

 

[Mark Bird]

I don't feel that this thread merits a super-detailed electrical rundown. My electrical approach is fairly well represented by @gregoryx build thread, and of course Far Out Ride provides lots of great information too.

My system is based on 24 VDC batteries. The primary driver for 24 VDC was the desire for a fairly robust rooftop air conditioner to keep doggy comfortable when necessary. I felt that the high current requirements of the A/C, thus beefy cables that had to get routed around my full glass cargo space, would have been excessive in a 12 V implementation. At decision time for selecting batteries, there were a few decent ~10 kWh options with good energy density in the 24 VDC space. I would have no problem considering 48 VDC systems at this point given the amount of innovation & product offerings being released recently. Because I opted for 24 VDC, I run my solar charge controller, refrigerator, 5G/WiFi router, and Victron control center on 24 VDC. While I have a battery switch, the 24 VDC stuff is treated as "always on" (well, the refrigerator has it's own off switch) so that I can access the system remotely at any time. Most other electronics run at 12 VDC from a Victron Orion DC-DC converter. I wired an on/off switch for the DC-DC converter so that I can drop some house loads when the van isn't in use. I did end up dropping in a few point-of-load DC/USB converters late in the build, e.g. for our rechargeable portable vacuum.

I think you must be fastidious to get through the wiring phase of the build. The permutations of lug hole sizes & wire gauges is ridiculous. I went through a crapton of Ancor heat shrink disconnects and butt splices. For the larger diameter cables & lugs, I bought from Windy Nation.

Some parts & tools that I used many, many times:

• An ungodly amount of zip ties and push-in cable ties supplemented with the occasional metal zip tie. Around the 80/20 I used the ties with 1/4-turn drop ins and mounting hardware
• Rolls and rolls of Tesa tape
• Hundreds of feet of split loom
• Several flavors of diagonal cutters
• Some decent wire strippers
• Some tolerably okay crimpers
• A hydraulic crimper
• A tolerable but not awesome ferrule kit
• A Fluke multimeter

Lots of days looked like this

I ended up placing my Cerbo GX within a cabinet in my island. This location is just forward of my electronics center, and it provided a good cabling compromise for the VE.bus cabling to the various Victron components spread around my layout. A GX Touch 70 was mounted at eye level above the island, and I did end up purchasing extension cables for HDMI & USB to reach that location. I've found the Cerbo GX peripherals to be a little glitchy, so I'm glad that the Cerbo GX is in an accessible location for quick cable un/plugging. [The Blink Sync module occasionally goes haywire. The GX Touch 70 occasionally decides to go dark. Both are resolved with a "have you rebooted recently?" IT approach.]

I think the Venus OS 3.50 update has a much nicer look now, but that's not pertinent I suppose.

 

[Mark Bird]

I did not go crazy with automation in my build.

I did take advantage of the Ford C33-E Vehicle Interface Connector Engine Run signal. I label that signal as RUNNING throughout my build after interfacing it with a relay for inverting the polarity & increasing the current capability. I ended up using opto-isolators near the load points too. I use RUNNING in a bunch of places:

• Allow the water heater pump switch to be powered
• Allow the seat heaters to be powered
• Signal an alarm circuit for shore power
• As an input into the Multiplus for current limit control
• As an input into the Cerbo GX for display & future use
• Engage the two-way drawer solenoid lock

In an overabundance of caution, I created a circuit to signal a piezo alarm when the van is running and the system detects shore power (i.e. there's a cable attached to the van). I used this relay. It's LOUD and annoying and does exactly what it's supposed to do.

The Multiplus digital input is used to control the current limit. I give up on a little efficiency and don't bother to dial in the current limit dynamically. I just use two levels of current limit: one for running on shore power, which is inevitably through some 5-15 connection to a household circuit; and one for running on alternator-based inverter power, where I set the limit to a comfortable non-blazing-fan operating point for the Samlex PST-2000-12.

The Cerbo GX is configured with several temperature-control relay rules. I have three RuuviTags in the Bird Box: one outside under the slider step, one inside near doggy, and one near the enclosed electronics system. Silicone holders work just fine, but the external sensor was wrapped in zip ties too for a belt-and-suspenders approach. I use one relay to automate the undermount tank & plumbing heat lines based on external temperature; this circuit also runs through a manual switch so that I can disable the automation when the van is winterized. I use a second relay to control the electronics center fan such that air is forced out if the electronics compartment is modestly warm.

 

[Mark Bird]

I knew that I wanted upper cabinets above my galley (driver's side) and island (passenger side), but I put little brainpower into the upper cabinets or ceiling for quite some time. Ultimately I decided to frame the upper cabinets and lock in their dimensions, and then I proceeded with ceiling design. The upper cabinets mirror the N-S length of the lower cabinets. I recessed the upper cabinets by 7" as compared to the lower cabinets. After some lessons learned, I took some additional height out of the corner of the island cabinet overhanging the slider entrance.

The ceiling install was relatively straightforward. First I put in a layer of Low-E using 3M 90. I added furring strips cut from 1/2" birch affixed to the van ribs with rivnuts. For the curve of the van roof, I went with a little extra birch left as one solid piece to provide attachment points for the ceiling. At this point I also decided where I would add puck LEDs for some ceiling lighting.

To finish the ceiling I went with faux shiplap panel. I picked the van centerline for a seam, and I cut the panels to leave the joining seam in the shiplap gap for a uniform appearance. I ended up with four pieces total, so there is a E-W seam at the aft side of the upper island cabinet. Numerous test-fit iterations were required. The ceiling was affixed with a crapton of 5/8" self-tapping wood screws, painted white to match of course. It really helps to pre-drill the MDF for screwing too, as otherwise the material catches around the hole and will cause the screw head to not finish flush with the panel.

After the upper cabinets were finished, and after the walls were finished, I cleaned up the ceiling with some 1/2" quarter round and some flair items as trim. The wall panels are abutted to the ceiling, which helps remedy the outer ceiling sag shown above.

 

[njvagabond]

Mating to vertical 80/20

There are roll in nuts with little leaf springs or ball springs that hold them in place or even ones with set screws. Might be worthwhile if you find there is a panel that will you end up wanting more easily removable (well actually replaceable).

BTW - really enjoying "binge watching" your build thread.

 

[Mark Bird]

Designing the upper cabinets was non-trivial. The curve of the van wall and the curve of the ceiling was a challenge, plus the pre-drilled locations I chose to place rivnuts were not always in the most convenient spot. It took a lot of test-fitting and iteration to end up with upper cabinets that squared well with the lower cabinets. Maybe I'm not thrilled with the process, but I think the end result is sturdy.

For the upper island cabinet, I ended up using 1020 to the van wall to get an extra inch of drop for my desired cabinet height. I also ended up using a piece of angle iron for the ceiling bolts to get the finished depth where I wanted it and to accommodate for the roof slope. The mounting locations gave me a starting point, then I just iterated and built out the frame from there.

Hit your head on the corner of the upper island cabinet a few times, then decide that a modification is prudent.

Finish the upper island cabinet with facing, add the control center, put some struts in, and add a vegetable tray too.

I didn't use any of their hardware, but props to Our Karavan for providing solid cabinet-making ideas. I used these cabinet hinges throughout the build. The hinges and struts were screwed to the 1/2" birch cabinet doors with #6 wood screws. I drilled extra mounting holes in the hinges and used M5 T-nuts & hardware to attach the hinges to 80/20.

The control center is the GX Touch 70, the Espar Easy Start Pro controller, and yet another switch to control the bed lift actuators. In the panel behind the control center is a Peplink MAX BR1 Pro 5G router with one internal WiFi antenna and the remaining connections to the Mobility 42G roof-mounted antenna.

 

[Mark Bird]

There are roll in nuts with little leaf springs or ball springs that hold them in place or even ones with set screws. Might be worthwhile if you find there is a panel that will you end up wanting more easily removable (well actually replaceable).

BTW - really enjoying "binge watching" your build thread.

Thank you!

I've used the spring ball and the rubber handle drop-in aka roll-in T-nuts. Maybe my technique sucks, but the spring ball ones tend to not stay where I want them without a few iterations. The rubber handle flavor stays better and adjusts easily, but I feel like the handle is in the way for a blind mate of the fastener too often. I made it work, and perhaps I like to complain.

 

[Mark Bird]

The upper galley cabinet just aft of the driver's seat was designed in a similar iterative fashion to the upper island cabinet. I placed rivnuts where feasible in the wall and ceiling ribs, then I designed the mounting and frame approach thereafter.

The upper galley cabinet would provide yet more storage, and I had always presumed that I would connect the upper and lower galley cabinets with a column aligned with the refrigerator for a microwave.

Throughout the ceiling & upper cabinet design, I had been grappling with an approach to mount a TV. I started with the assumption that a flip-down TV would be fine, yet I also wanted a 90 degree pivot such that the TV could be visible when sitting outside on the "patio" through the slider opening or from the rear bed/dinette area. After searching for mounts, I eventually decided that a flip-down design would require too much headroom or require too much of the island cabinet to be scaled back.

I eventually settled with a 24" TV mounted in the highest bin of the upper galley cabinets, and I used a lockable wall-mount TV holder mounted with more 80/20. The TV faces the "patio" and rotates 90 degrees for visibility from the bed.

I right-sized the 80/20 design to securely hold the microwave in place. I placed the microwave on the countertop, then I compressed foam strips along contours of the microwave top using 80/20. I also added a fan grate on the side panel to allow hot exhaust venting from the microwave. In the vertical space remaining...more cabinet space!

I finished out the design by providing a small access hole for the TV mount lock. Cabinet faces, doors, struts, hinges and latches were done as previously described.

The forward face of the galley got a double J hook for hoodies & jackets. I had previously cut down the aft side of the foam blobs, and the space between the overhead shelf and galley will eventually get finished with upholstery.