...continued from "Going Boondocking" in the intro section

[gizmotron]

Got the LED lights wired and installed in the pine ceiling. Got the front and back hole drilled to fit the galvanized steel vent pipe above the water tank and behind the shower area. This should be sort of interesting if it works.

There is two fans pushing air out of the living area each with an independent on/off switches. One is up high near the back wall of the living room / bedroom area. The other is in the shower / toilette  up high and away from the spray area. These push the warm unwanted air out to the mechanical room in back that has two exhaust fans of it's own also on independent on/off switches and are the same size pushing the unwanted air outdoors. One fan pushes the air down thru the floor where there is an access hole next to it to run shower water out to a seven gallon tank, on the ground, or to hook up shore power to a 25ft, 30 amp RV baloney cord. This way there are no external plugs on the side of the van.

The other fan pushing air out from the mechanical room where the batteries and propane bottle are located sends the unwanted air out past the side of the shower on the passenger side to the space between the the RV door and the Van's cargo doors where the door on the van has a tilt out opening. This way I can turn one fan on at a time to control just how much air is circulated. I can keep the van cool while locking it up and shopping. I have four independent 4" computer fans that all run on 12 volt DC and only draw 5 watts each. They all have brushless motors. This will allow for getting rid of condensation in cold weather also. I can just put the down fan on in the mechanical room and it will pull in from the two fans in the living space that are turned off.  This will also work for the swamp cooler that fits in front of the screen door on the RV type door.

 

[gizmotron]

Got the bed pedestal and storage compartment done. It has a hinged lid set back 9 itches to the hinges so that there is room to raise the 9 inch thick mattress without compressing it. Lots of storage underneath.

 

[gizmotron]

Got the first piece of FRP up in the shower. I also drilled the holes and installed the two gaskets for the black water tank. Once the next piece of FRP goes in around the drilled holes I can install the toilette and the vent pipe all the way back to the mechanical room. It's on to all the rough wiring behind the shower wall after that.

 

[gizmotron]

I had some pine left over from the ceiling inside, and with a short blast of warm weather decided to install it over the false wall with the RV door in it. So I cut the hole for one of the air ducts and will install pine over that today.

 

[gizmotron]

Almost have the exterior of the inner wall with the door in it done. I ran out of finish washers.

 

[gizmotron]

It looks like all the pictures on my build are gone, maybe not for good. I will wait. I'm going to learn again how to make a slideshow video of it all. It's a different design concept. I just want to be able to send people to it instead of explaining it individually to anyone that might ask.

 

[GntlStone]

It looks like all the pictures on my build are gone, maybe not for good. I will wait. I'm going to learn again how to make a slideshow video of it all. It's a different design concept. I just want to be able to send people to it instead of explaining it individually to anyone that might ask.

Do you have a Google account?

If so, set up a shared/shareable album in Photos and link to it here. Photos will also give you a place to uplad and link from, rather than using the forum for image storage.

 

[gizmotron]

OK, it looks like most of the pictures made it here. I'll try to fill in the rest:

 

[gizmotron]

Here is the pine ceiling and LED lights:

 

[gizmotron]

Had some pine leftover so I did the outside of the inner wall at the cargo opening.

 

[gizmotron]

Getting ready to start the electric. I have almost all the FRP installed. Waiting on more FRP adhesive coming next week. Here is most of the electric going into the mechanical room with the plumbing. It's on a sheet of plywood so that I can just drop it in almost all wired up.

 

[gizmotron]

New idea. I was working on the idea for a workbench for working with vinyl coated polyester fabric as a gluing workbench. I have a strong keyboard stand. It adjusts in height and is very strong and stable. I just ordered another one at around $41 dollars. Typically these sell for $70 to $120. I looked around and found this one, just like the one I already have, and it's great. I need a 48 to 60 inch long adjustable height table for the inside and outside of my van. Well two of these stands with a double thick 15" wide and 60" long 3/4" plywood would replace a bunch of stuff I was going to bring in my van. I wanted somehow to bring saw horses so that I could do carpentry. I wanted a tall table for standup cooking out back. I wanted a short table to cook and eat off of inside while sitting on the couch/bed. I wanted a table top for my music setup. And I wanted a workbench for Teepee assembly. I have a 2ft by 4ft plastic foldup table that is really well built. But for inside it was too wide. This one can be 15" to 18" and it will work best for all of these things. I just have to get a few measurements. So now I will have a really strong table, the best size for all, and I won't need to bring two tables anymore. It takes care of needing saw horses also. All this because of Bob Well's video about a Teepee.

 

[gizmotron]

OK, winter break is almost over. I'm proud to say that I have done nothing. I put the entire van build off my mind for several months. So I wanted to share why I went with the stock roof height. It's this guy from Canada that has an all electric kitchen and has a bed down the side behind the driver seat. He has a wood burning stove. It's so cool it's hot. I decided that a full bathroom was better than a very awesome wood burning stove. If I can figure out how to cram one in I will. I'd probably have to cram it up my a$$. He has a Ninja Foodi and an induction cooktop. He does it with less solar than I have. Beats the tar and feathers out of a microwave. I like the way that his life inside the van is always sitting down to do things. But it looks so comfortable. So this way of moving about and having everything right there is so perfect for what I want. I thought that you had to be able to stand up in order to have it the best. If I want that standing up I can go out back and do an outdoor cookout.

 

[abnorm]

This guy.........................Foresty Forest

 

[gizmotron]

Yep, he convinced me that full stand up height is not necessary for the bitchin life. So I designed the build to test out the height and do the bathroom pop-up only if it is needed. I know I can vent out his wood burning stove to the side near the top in my van somewhere. I just can't figure out where to put it. I can add 200 more watts of solar if I don't pop up the roof over the shower. If I have 200 more watts of solar and add 200ah of battery storage I would not need a wood burning stove. I don't need one now with my Martin Catalytic. This is so common with van designs. I can do several things and they each have merit. I'm leaning toward more solar and unlimited Ninja Foodi recipes. I just love that wood burning stove.

 

[bullfrog]

There are several ways to mount solar panels so that they slide or hinge off the roof when stationary. The chimney pipe is removed and a roof cap installed when traveling and the chimney pipe reinstalled when stationary after solar panels are deployed. You can have your cake and eat it too! Lol!!!

 

[gizmotron]

Hmm... That is a good idea. I already have tilting panels. But those new extra ones at the back are not done yet. I've seen slide out panels on a very cool van design before. All it would take is a very close to the roofline chimney attachment that goes under the new panels. I can't figure out how to have a wood burning stove in a bathroom though. I need a pellet stove of some kind. It needs to be so small. It needs to feed itself all night long. There is one place for this. Out back in the mechanical room. It could act as a smoker cooker too. I would just duct the heat into the van living space. I already have a 4 inch duct pipe in the right spot. This is a great idea for a new invention. I could smoke brisket all night while diverting heat to the living space or divert outside in summer. Now that's a brainstorm.

 

[gizmotron]

This idea is snowballing into a workable solution. I do my cooking on a portable table opposite the couch. On that same table system one of these could be located. There's already room for a chimney flew in the between wall space for table storage just beyond the near wall. It would allow one of these cookers to sit on the work table . It could also be ducted for outside combustion air to feed it too. It would exhaust out the back at the top corner. There's even an AC outlet plug right there. I could take it out back in summer when heat is not needed. All I would have to do is duct this for indoor cooking. It's perfect.

 

[gizmotron]

Oh man -- cave! This is cool. So I don't need to vent the unit at the lid surface of the unit. I just need to vent the cooking space like an exhaust fan over a stove. They make low smoke heating pellets for pellet type wood burning heaters. I know, because I had one for a while. But you could use flavored pellets for cooking if you want. I just need to pull the smoke out the back and up the top. That can be done with an exhaust fan over the barbecue. I already have a cerculation system for the air in the van. I just need to allow the smoke to get out. Here is a video of it in use with a battery system and the likely wattage used.

 

[gizmotron]

This is interesting. There is a fan inside the cooking unit. So all that needs to happen is to duct the lid of the cooker and seal it real good. So that vents out the smoke at the designed rate and leaves the heat around the outside of the smoker to heat the room. It's much simpler. There are vent holes in the lid at the back where this normally occurs. So that is the only fix. And the vent pipe will give off heat also. This might be real neat. Or it might not be at all and just a crackpot idea. It's also a way to torture the neighbors with smoked meat smells.