flying kurbmaster
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You need some windows in that cave.
Cummins Canoe (A Stepvan Story)
- Thread starter PlethoraOfGuns
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PlethoraOfGuns
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Oh nice, someone recognizes the awesome SVEA! I've been through many backpacking stove systems over the years, and the SVEA is hands down the best one out there. Thing is a tank and has been around long before me and will be around long after me. The inside of the rear barn doors is whiteboard as well as the sliding door between the living space and the cab. Was originally designed to write thoughts and lists down because I have terrible memory, but recently people have been abusing the whiteboard with images of the phallic variety. Good thing we keep an eraser nearby!highdesertranger said:
Thanks, follow along and yell at us when we do something wrong!Van Man Dave said:
Haha, just beware, the ride quality isn't for everyone!slow2day said:
Can never have enough counter space! Hmmm, but maybe we need more?Cammalu said:
We have a 42 gallon tank under the kitchen counter. That's used for the sink and shower. We plan on filling that with non-potable water all the time. Maybe a few drops of bleach every once and awhile. Haven't decided what to do for drinking water. Wanted some sort of filtration system, but was worried about filters freezing. Maybe UV since we have lots of electricity available? Might just keep a 5 gallon jerry can just for drinking water. Not sure, open to suggestions.Zmann said:
Windows would be nice, but that is just more work, more things to leak, definitely lose all our stealth, ruin our exterior projector screen, and won't be good insulation wise. Trust me, I really wanted a window over the sink, but we just couldn't justify it.flying kurbmaster said:
Windows are highly over rated. I used a large door security peephole. It is around 1 1/2" in diameter lets in a lot of light and allows me to see everything on that side without anyone being able to see inside. It really helped my wife's attitude getting some natural light into the trailer.
flying kurbmaster
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Windows would be nice, but that is just more work, more things to leak, definitely lose all our stealth, ruin our exterior projector screen, and won't be good insulation wise. Trust me, I really wanted a window over the sink, but we just couldn't justify it.
You’re not afraid of work, it has been done many times without leaks, I built sandwich insulated panels with 4 mm ply and foam board that pop on or hinge down on the interior of the windows, I got news for you,I hope you are sitting down, someone has to tell you, you are not stealth, in a 30 x 12 foot box, even if you painted it with invisible paint unless you constantly park next to a building of the same colour. It will only diminish the size of your projector screen if you put them on both sides or a very large one in the middle. Windows are not overrated, they let the world in they let your world out, a 1 1/2 inch peep hole is not a window and that guys wife is not happy with that poor excuse for a window, a window lets air in and out, it ventilates, moves farts, and creates cross breezes, it creates views, it helps you see your neighbours, you can watch the stars the sunsets, the snow and the rain falling, you can see lightning, daylight and even darkness, windows rock.
You’re not afraid of work, it has been done many times without leaks, I built sandwich insulated panels with 4 mm ply and foam board that pop on or hinge down on the interior of the windows, I got news for you,I hope you are sitting down, someone has to tell you, you are not stealth, in a 30 x 12 foot box, even if you painted it with invisible paint unless you constantly park next to a building of the same colour. It will only diminish the size of your projector screen if you put them on both sides or a very large one in the middle. Windows are not overrated, they let the world in they let your world out, a 1 1/2 inch peep hole is not a window and that guys wife is not happy with that poor excuse for a window, a window lets air in and out, it ventilates, moves farts, and creates cross breezes, it creates views, it helps you see your neighbours, you can watch the stars the sunsets, the snow and the rain falling, you can see lightning, daylight and even darkness, windows rock.
PlethoraOfGuns
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Haha, you caught me, I like work! But seriously, I'm good. If we need a window, we can just open up the sliding door and have all the cab windows. Lightning would be nice to watch. We do have some empty wall space in case we do want to add a window, but I doubt it. We're really only in the van to eat and sleep. If it's nice outside, well we'll be outside! This past weekend it was nice and we slept on the roof! It's well insulated, we should be able to keep the heat/cold out?
And I'm well aware about the whole stealth thing. There are different levels of stealth. My current/last rig I've been living in is a military truck. It sticks out like a sore thumb when I'm parked in some suburban neighborhood. But sometimes it can be stealthy. In the summer of 2019 I snuck the truck onto a military base for 2 weeks while living in it. It fit in so well no MP's came knocking! Still surprised I pulled that off.
The step van will also stand out in a suburban neighborhood, but by not having anything mounted to the exterior like shower boxes, or propane hookups, or them windows, I can more easily pull off parking in some industrial area, or in a city, and definetely in Home Depot parking lots! If we're out in the wilderness who cares about stealth. And it's not cops or people looking for autographs we're worried about. It's those people with sticky fingers that see all the RV stuff and figure there might be good stuff in there. I know locks only stop honest people, so I'm left with making things look less appealing to thieves. We'll see if this strategy pulls off. Maybe we should put a commercial company name on the side, like "Gary's Baby Diaper Disposal" or something.
And as a caver, I do like sleeping in tight, enclosed, dark places! The sleeping bunk in my military truck is only about 2' high, so it does feel like a coffin.
And I'm well aware about the whole stealth thing. There are different levels of stealth. My current/last rig I've been living in is a military truck. It sticks out like a sore thumb when I'm parked in some suburban neighborhood. But sometimes it can be stealthy. In the summer of 2019 I snuck the truck onto a military base for 2 weeks while living in it. It fit in so well no MP's came knocking! Still surprised I pulled that off.
The step van will also stand out in a suburban neighborhood, but by not having anything mounted to the exterior like shower boxes, or propane hookups, or them windows, I can more easily pull off parking in some industrial area, or in a city, and definetely in Home Depot parking lots! If we're out in the wilderness who cares about stealth. And it's not cops or people looking for autographs we're worried about. It's those people with sticky fingers that see all the RV stuff and figure there might be good stuff in there. I know locks only stop honest people, so I'm left with making things look less appealing to thieves. We'll see if this strategy pulls off. Maybe we should put a commercial company name on the side, like "Gary's Baby Diaper Disposal" or something.
And as a caver, I do like sleeping in tight, enclosed, dark places! The sleeping bunk in my military truck is only about 2' high, so it does feel like a coffin.
PlethoraOfGuns
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Yea, I guess you're right. Nobody wants my autograph now since ya'll know how I wash my dishes!
PlethoraOfGuns
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Time to work on the entertainment center.
[size=small]This area was too bland. Needed to be a more useful space...[/size]
[size=small]Like space for a projector screen! Great space to hide this roll up projector screen we found in the trash. Roll it up, close the cabinet door, and now we have a hidden flatscreen tv![/size]
[size=small]Found a place to mount the projector. Needed to get some power down to the area. So we drilled some holes and ran some wire to some outlets.[/size]
[size=small]Tidied up some other wires in that upper cabinet above the couch area too.[/size]
[size=small]Getting more good use out of the scrap aluminum we pulled out of the van when we initially cleaned it out. Mounted that plate up under and tapped some holes for some bent screws. The bent screws hold the big rubber bands that secure the projector. The rubber bands will make it easy to remove projector and bring outside so we can watch movies on the big screen, the side of the van.[/size]
[size=small]Whole setup works great! Comes out to about a 42" screen.[/size]
[size=small]This area was too bland. Needed to be a more useful space...[/size]
[size=small]Like space for a projector screen! Great space to hide this roll up projector screen we found in the trash. Roll it up, close the cabinet door, and now we have a hidden flatscreen tv![/size]
[size=small]Found a place to mount the projector. Needed to get some power down to the area. So we drilled some holes and ran some wire to some outlets.[/size]
[size=small]Tidied up some other wires in that upper cabinet above the couch area too.[/size]
[size=small]Getting more good use out of the scrap aluminum we pulled out of the van when we initially cleaned it out. Mounted that plate up under and tapped some holes for some bent screws. The bent screws hold the big rubber bands that secure the projector. The rubber bands will make it easy to remove projector and bring outside so we can watch movies on the big screen, the side of the van.[/size]
[size=small]Whole setup works great! Comes out to about a 42" screen.[/size]
highdesertranger
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#2, LOL. Highdesertranger
mudbunny
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Mars isn't on my list of go to places.
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JeanInaBox
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tradesman said:
I want the jump seat!
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PlethoraOfGuns
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No no, nobody wants a jump seat! They are terrible to sit in. I did give the old one away to someone who made use of it though.
PlethoraOfGuns
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This place looks too much like a construction site. Lets fix this floor up all proper like.
[size=small]While we wait for our last batch of polyurethane to dry, let's get this floor in! Ripped out our old temporary construction cardboard and did a super vacuum job on the interior.[/size]
[size=small]Brought out the little portable bandsaw. Worked great at cutting these foam tiles down to size. Cut like butter. Until someone broke the only blade we had for that size saw! And apparently bandsaws aren't popular. We went to several hardware stores and nobody had saw blades of any size. Sears would always have these things, but that institution is gone now and nobody carries the tools we need! What a bummer...[/size]
[size=small]So we had to run all the way into the shop to make all of our cuts for the rest of the day. This old machine is variable speed with a treadmill motor running it. A much nicer machine, but lots of walking back and forth for each cut![/size]
[size=small]But eventually we got it all cut and installed. Just need to figure out how to secure the edges by each door and we'll be good to go. This floor feels pretty good on your feet and will give us some insulation for the floor.[/size]
[size=small]Also tracked down all the key blanks for this vehicle and had a locksmith make copies. Now we have two full sets of keys! No more getting nervous about locking the only set of keys in the vehicle![/size]
[size=small]While we wait for our last batch of polyurethane to dry, let's get this floor in! Ripped out our old temporary construction cardboard and did a super vacuum job on the interior.[/size]
[size=small]Brought out the little portable bandsaw. Worked great at cutting these foam tiles down to size. Cut like butter. Until someone broke the only blade we had for that size saw! And apparently bandsaws aren't popular. We went to several hardware stores and nobody had saw blades of any size. Sears would always have these things, but that institution is gone now and nobody carries the tools we need! What a bummer...[/size]
[size=small]So we had to run all the way into the shop to make all of our cuts for the rest of the day. This old machine is variable speed with a treadmill motor running it. A much nicer machine, but lots of walking back and forth for each cut![/size]
[size=small]But eventually we got it all cut and installed. Just need to figure out how to secure the edges by each door and we'll be good to go. This floor feels pretty good on your feet and will give us some insulation for the floor.[/size]
[size=small]Also tracked down all the key blanks for this vehicle and had a locksmith make copies. Now we have two full sets of keys! No more getting nervous about locking the only set of keys in the vehicle![/size]
flying kurbmaster
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I struggled to find blanks for the rear door keys on my kurbmaster, it took several years of searching before I finally found a locksmith with the right ones.
PlethoraOfGuns
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I wish there was a shop to repair the broken blade. But no, it's cheaper to throw it out and buy another one from China. Gosh I really hate the wasteful society we live in...bullfrog said:
Ah hah! Someone else who knows the struggle! I got a lot of the hard to find blanks from Millsupply. The main problem was finding someone to cut the keys. Apparently many places won't copy your keys if you provide the blank. So basically you have to buy their blanks and they cut them. But if they don't stock the blank you need, too bad, even if you provide the blank. Very annoying. I eventually found an old school locksmith who didn't care and got me taken care of.flying kurbmaster said:
PlethoraOfGuns
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Driving this rig around, we almost get in accidents on a daily basis. Crazy people out on the road, crossing 6 lanes of traffic in one shot, stealing our braking space, rear-ending us at yield signs, etc. Good witnesses are few and far between. Have a dash cam in my last rig, should really have it in this one. We wanted a system that records front and rear, and with a screen that could be used as a backup camera if using the bumper fails to be an option. Also wanted a way to view all the cameras from phone so we can use it as a little security system when we sleeping inside, especially since we don't have any windows. After many weeks of research, we found one that fits our need.
We set to the annoying task of running the wires that uh, we forgot to run before. Luckily, the wires are small and our construction techniques allowed us to complete this task with relative ease. Very glad to have this little blog to look back on and view photos from the construction process. We know where all the wires and things are so we felt good about not drilling into anything important!
Loosening up some panels and using a snake to get the wires across the ceiling.
The fan trims were a great access point! This camera kit came with a very small connector, the red piece towards the left end of wire. This allowed us to drill a small hole to bring the rear camera wire into the vehicle.
Couldn't mount the rear camera in the center due to those running lights. So hopefully my OCD won't cause my brain to explode. Another good reason for mounting it off center was the fact that the wire from rear camera to front camera had, at most, 6" of slack. This kits are made for cars, not giant vans like this. We had no wiggle room to go on detours around things like lights and vent fans. We really needed a straight shot across ceiling from camera to camera, so this worked out great.
Ran the wires on surface in cab with wire loom and tape. Not too bad. We'll see how it works out in real life conditions. Lots of settings to figure out and get the app thing to the phone setup.
We also got that stupid vent pipe for the fridge insulated. Didn't want condensation building up on that due to the temperature difference.
Finally figured out a spot to store all this yucky stuff, the essentials. Got it secured too so we drive with the doors open and not lose everything. Because you know, one of the benefits to a step van is driving without doors.
We set to the annoying task of running the wires that uh, we forgot to run before. Luckily, the wires are small and our construction techniques allowed us to complete this task with relative ease. Very glad to have this little blog to look back on and view photos from the construction process. We know where all the wires and things are so we felt good about not drilling into anything important!
Loosening up some panels and using a snake to get the wires across the ceiling.
The fan trims were a great access point! This camera kit came with a very small connector, the red piece towards the left end of wire. This allowed us to drill a small hole to bring the rear camera wire into the vehicle.
Couldn't mount the rear camera in the center due to those running lights. So hopefully my OCD won't cause my brain to explode. Another good reason for mounting it off center was the fact that the wire from rear camera to front camera had, at most, 6" of slack. This kits are made for cars, not giant vans like this. We had no wiggle room to go on detours around things like lights and vent fans. We really needed a straight shot across ceiling from camera to camera, so this worked out great.
Ran the wires on surface in cab with wire loom and tape. Not too bad. We'll see how it works out in real life conditions. Lots of settings to figure out and get the app thing to the phone setup.
We also got that stupid vent pipe for the fridge insulated. Didn't want condensation building up on that due to the temperature difference.
Finally figured out a spot to store all this yucky stuff, the essentials. Got it secured too so we drive with the doors open and not lose everything. Because you know, one of the benefits to a step van is driving without doors.
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