CASPER 07 e150 cargo to home FULL BUILD with Pics

[Boostking13]

Hello fellow dwellers. My girlfriend and I have had this idea for a few years now and finally we decided to pull the trigger and go for it. Sick of living a life where you break your back and work jobs you dont want just to afford rent in a place you dont want to be.

Anyway We will update and log everything we do along the way in this thread.


THE VAN we named CASPER

2007 e150 base cargo van 178k new tires, new suspension up front. Scored it for $1100!! Has a little rust and some dents on the side Ill fix the best i can.

Heres us the first night out. Threw a bedframe that I made a few years back in it and some rubbermaid storage containers.

next on the list is house battery, inverter and then floor and insulation.

 

[Boostking13]

heres the pics thank you for the help at the newcomers forum :thumbsup:

 

[Boostking13]

Got a 110 ah marine battery and a temp 140 inverter and temporarily installed it.



Also hooked up a solenoid, I've had laying around for a while. I'm not sure if it's the right kind. There are no numbers or anything on it. Could someone let me know if this is correct?





Also installed some led rope lights

 

[Boostking13]

Upgraded to a 170RC battery and a 500W inverter. Much happier with this setup.

 

[Boostking13]

Im thinking of doing the floors and walls this upcoming week.

Were going to be in more hot weather than cold, is it even worth putting insulasion in at this point? Would it keep it cooler? all were going to be running is a fan until we can afford ac, but that wont be for a while.

Also has anyone had luck with those little usb "ac" units at walmart you just add water to? they are about $40

 

[highdesertranger]

without air conditioning insulation does no good in the heat. the USB AC you describe is not an AC it's a swamp cooler. swamp coolers do not work in humid areas. I don't know what area you are in but if you are back east forget it. highdesertranger

 

[abnorm]

That inverter has as many bad reviews as good...……….

 

[Boostking13]

We're in Wisconsin so it does get humid sometimes.

Also that's all they had at Menards. I had $140 gift card, so I got the battery and that. I can always return it for lumber hah!

 

[Boostking13]

Well Hello All!

We have been working, saving and putting money into our van. this is where we are at so far..


 This past week I took it to work and welded up all the holes and cut out a couple chunks of rust and welded in fresh steel.




Then this weekend we went lumber shopping and got all of the flooring and lots of 2x4 and 2x3 and other pieces to start building the bed/couch/ under storage.

[font=Tahoma,Verdana,Arial,Sans-Serif]we cut out 3/8 slats to make the floor even, then put some heavy adhesive and used self tappers to secure it.[/font]



once that was done we made a cardboard template for the 1/2 sub floor, we got a super good deal on some damaged half inch mdf/ partical board. so we went with that. made a few cuts and boom the hard side was in.







we used silicone to make sure there were no gaps between the body and the subfloor, but ran out. 

Also picked out our flooring and threw it in to see what it would look like




So the plan tomorrow is get the flooring in and done.

next on the list is to make framing and also order a maxxair fan and put that baby in.

now that its summer and were just going to run a fan would it be best (for the walls and ceiling) just to attatch some relfectix to the inside of the walls (not the van walls but the wood) so we would have about an inch air gap. or would it be better to just use polyiso insulation. we may get a generator and a small a/c unit but that's all up in the air for now.

 

[tav-2020]

Thanks for the pics! Floor is looking great.

 

[Boostking13]

We got the bed/ couch/ storage mostly constructed this week.