[atoine]

So back in 2015 we decided to build a van, sell our house, quit our job, and hit the road full time. We spent over 4 years riding our mountain bikes and chasing the snow in the US, Canada and Mexico. Best time of our lives!

The van is still doing great we had no mechanical issues, except normal maintenance routine which is expected and the guibo recall was a bit annoying (but it's fixed permanently now!). And the conversion worked perfectly for our needs (link to build thread here). 100% happy with that!

But we're up for new challenges, so we decided to take a pause from Vanlife and start a new build. We were VERY lucky to find a van back in November 2021, when it was mission impossible at the time... We were going across Canada, and we called EVERY dealers on our way. Someone had cancelled his order in Calgary, so we headed there and took the opportunity

The van was already built, but was spec'd almost the same as we would have order it:

• 2021 Transit.
• AWD.
• 3.5 Ecoboost.
• High-Roof, Extended-Length.
• Metallic blue (if we could we'd have choose a lighter color, but that's good enough!)
• Dual AGM batteries with CCP2.
• Electric e-brake (nice!).

We drove back from Calgary to BC with two vans, found a place to stay, and then it was time to build. HERE WE GO!

 

[atoine]

SWIVEL SEATS

It’s been over 4 years since we finished our previous build, so we started with something easy to slowly get back into it.

We tested quite a few swivels in the past (Scopema, Swisstech, Amazing Auto, SwivelsRus, DiscountVanTruck), and Scopema is the one we love the most by far. It has the less added height of the bunch (7/8”), and it’s super smooth to operate.

Buying one was mission impossible “back in the days” (ugh), but looks like it’s a thing of the past because as I’m writing these lines, TheSwivelShop.com is advertising them as “always in stock or your swivel is FREE”…(?!).

The install went quite smoothly, it's much easier the second time hehe. The electric e-brake is definitely a huge improvement, no need to re-route it, that's a big deal! 😀

• Time: About 2-3 hours for both passenger & driver seats.
• Cost: 2 x $399
• Added Weight: 2 x 30 lbs
• Material: Scopema Swivels
• Resources: Swivel Seat Installation in a Ford Transit | Swivels Review and Comparison

 

[atoine]

ROOF RACK

We didn't install a roof rack on our previous van and it worked quite well, but there are a few drawbacks of not having a roof rack:

• We had to carry a portable ladder for when we needed to access the roof (clean the solar panels from dust or snow). It takes some real estates in the garage, it's easy to damage the van when climbing, and the process is more annoying.
• Harder to attach equipment to the roof (solar panels, LED lights, Maxtrax, etc.).

Also, roof rack options were MUCH MORE LIMITED back in 2016-2017... Fast forward today and there are DOZENS of option on the market . We've been watching over the years and we really like what Flatline Van Co came up with, so we decided to give it a try:

It ships in multiple boxes, so it's quite easy to handle (it's not a single piece). It bolts to the threaded holes on the roof:

The install process is honestly quite simple!

• Time: About 4-6 hours.
• Cost: $1,995 (rack) + $695 (ladder)
• Added Weight: 95 lbs (extended-length model).
• Material: FVC Low Pro Roof Rack
• Resources: Roof Rack Installation Ford Transit

 

[Janus9]

2021 Transit.

• 
  
• 3.7 Ecoboost.

Ecoboost is 3.5

 

[JackHubbs]

Sounds like you're off to a great start. We have the 10-way power seats so for our swivel we went with the Amazing Auto swivel that was made to work with the electric motor assembly underneath. Yes, added height, but so far my wife likes the extra boost. Best of luck on the new build. Nice looking van.

 

[atoine]

WHEELS AND TIRES

We've been running the KO2s (LT255/70R16) since day 1 back in 2016 and they never let us down, so obviously the new van is getting the same treatment . We had the stock wheels on our previous van, but this time we decided to splurge on the Method MR703 wheels (16x6.5, 6x180 bolt pattern, 90 offset). VERY happy about how this combo looks 🤤 No trimming or lift required.

The same bolts can be re-used:

But I went ahead and 3D printed some lug not covers 😁:

That's it for now!

 

[atoine]

Ecoboost is 3.5

Indeed, thanks for the heads up! Fixed!

Sounds like you're off to a great start. We have the 10-way power seats so for our swivel we went with the Amazing Auto swivel that was made to work with the electric motor assembly underneath. Yes, added height, but so far my wife likes the extra boost. Best of luck on the new build. Nice looking van.

We tried the Amazing Auto. We found them too hard to rotate, and didn't quite like the fact that they lock at 180° and 135° degree. But apparently they get smoother with time and they definitely feel sturdy. And they're "plug-and-play" with the 10-way power seat, which is nice.

Cheers!

 

[Ranger Robin]

We tried the Amazing Auto. We found them too hard to rotate, and didn't quite like the fact that they lock at 180° and 135° degree. But apparently they get smoother with time and they definitely feel sturdy. And they're "plug-and-play" with the 10-way power seat, which is nice.

Cheers!

I have one old model Amazing Auto swivel and it has the lock points, but there was an issue with one of my swivels and they replaced it with their "new" version and that one doesnt have the locking stops midway through the swivel. Much improved as it was not really necessary.

Enjoyed & learned so much on your first build, website and plans. Looking forward to this next one!!!

 

[atoine]

I have one old model Amazing Auto swivel and it has the lock points, but there was an issue with one of my swivels and they replaced it with their "new" version and that one doesnt have the locking stops midway through the swivel. Much improved as it was not really necessary.

Enjoyed & learned so much on your first build, website and plans. Looking forward to this next one!!!

Good to know, I really didn't see the point of the lock. I've updated our review accordingly.

Thanks, I'll keep you updated

 

[gregoryx]

Welcome back and congrats on the new start! Maybe a new thread instead?

 

[njvagabond]

Welcome back and congrats on the new start! Maybe a new thread instead?

Titled farfarout. 700 years to orbit the sun. Now that's a road trip.

 

[ksvan]

I also scored my AWD 22 from someone who backed out of their sale! Sweet ride, excited to see what all you guys do! You guys have a great site, very helpful.

 

[atoine]

Welcome back and congrats on the new start! Maybe a new thread instead?

Thanks! We've got a similar van with similar interests, but this is actually a new thread (Van #2)

Titled farfarout. 700 years to orbit the sun. Now that's a road trip.

Oh wow a distant trans-Neptunian van, I'm in!

I also scored my AWD 22 from someone who backed out of their sale! Sweet ride, excited to see what all you guys do! You guys have a great site, very helpful.

Thanks. Yep, cancelled orders are the way to go these days! Gotta hit the perfect timing!

 

[cycle61]

Subscribed!

We have the FVCO roof rack on our '21 HR non-extended, and we feel it's a bit narrower than necessary and limits our selection of solar panels, but it appears they have redesigned their brackets (and maybe the entire rack) now.

 

[gregoryx]

Thanks! We've got a similar van with similar interests, but this is actually a new thread (Van #2)
...

Well... I am a darn idiot. Not sure how I confused the new thread with the old. Yes, it is! Bravo!

 

[carpen7]

You say the cost of the roof rack was (2) $399. when I go to the website you link to the cost is $1699. Did you get a special deal?

 

[Bryce.AW]

Glad to see another build from you Atione! Your page saved my butt a ton of times on my build. Thanks so much for putting it together, ours wouldn't have been nearly as good with out your clearly laid out guides on everything.

 

[atoine]

You say the cost of the roof rack was (2) $399. when I go to the website you link to the cost is $1699. Did you get a special deal?

Ugh that's a copy-paste from the swivels, my mistake sorry. I updated the cost above (1,995 for the rack + 695 for the ladder)!

Glad to see another build from you Atione! Your page saved my butt a ton of times on my build. Thanks so much for putting it together, ours wouldn't have been nearly as good with out your clearly laid out guides on everything.

Awesome, glad to hear Can't wait to update the site with new stuff!

 

[Rolf]

Thanks for all the great info and ideas from your site and forum,
what heater will you install in your new Van and are you doing a tutorial write up and
video on that maybe ?

 

[atoine]

Thanks for all the great info and ideas from your site and forum,
what heater will you install in your new Van and are you doing a tutorial write up and
video this maybe ?

We're waiting for the new Espar AS3 B2L, which is 2KW (same as the Webasto 2000STC we had in our previous van), but has several improvements:

• Automatic high altitude adjustment (no kit required) up to close to 10,000ft.
• Pre-wired.

I called Ray from EsparParts.com (Espar of Michigan), and he mentioned the North American version should be released somewhere in 2023. The AS3 B2L is already available on Heatso, but Heatso is not an approved North America distributor and are selling the European kit (or equivalent), and some people on this Forum are having issues with their kit (see this thread for example). So I'm definitely waiting for the North American release.

We'll update our Air Heater page for sure, a video, ugh... We wanted to try making videos for the upcoming build, but turns out it's a nightmare for us. It took us two day of shooting to make the swivel video, than we pulled the plug, throw it all in the garbage and just did a super-basic one:

I think it's fair to say video is not really our thing; we don't really like being in front of the camera to be honest. And it's a craft we don't master: getting the proper light & sound, talking (our first language is French), editing, etc., etc. We spent a few months travelling with Eric (BCpov) & Yuka, and the amount of work they put into creating their videos is insane; I don't think people realize all the work required to make a proper enjoyable video. And add to the fact that you need to constantly create content and have clickbait titles to get noticed by the algorithm... Not sure I want to get into that, knowing it'll take the fun out of the process. THAT BEING SAID, do people even read anymore? The traffic on our website definitely declined, so we're missing our for sure by not making videos... I'm open to suggestions/comments!