My cheap and easy conversion ideas. Plausible?

[cinemaphonic]

I just picked up a beautiful 96' Dodge Ram 2500 conversion with a hightop. The back seats fold back electronically to make a bed. There are no middle seats.

My mind has been buzzing with ideas to make this as simple and cost/time effective as possible. This is kind of long, and I apologize for that. If any one sees any major flaws or has suggestions I'm all ears. Thank you in advance.

These are my ideas so far:

2 fantastic fans with vents ceiling mounted (I'll have a dog with me and want to make sure he's safe)

2 48"X24" foldout adjustable height plastic utility tables. 1 table will double as a work area during the day, at night I will adjust it so that I can put a mattress topper over it and my back seat bed (6' long, I'm 5'10"). This way I can stretch all the way out at night, and have room for my gf when she joins me. The topper I'm looking at is memory foam and also doubles as a couch (it folds into multiple sections and can be configured in a bunch of ways). Pretty good reviews. I could theoretically use one of the tables to make a second raised couch with.

The second table I will make cut outs in for a sink and a propane camp stove, and excess room will be additional work area. Since the tables won't be fixed to the van I can rearrange them as needed, and easily take my "kitchen" outside for outdoor cooking. Back bed when folded up will also be my work chair. The two tables will be folded down for travel, and when folded up can be configured around the space in a few different ways for sleeping, working and cooking.

The van came fiberglass insulated so I don't need to worry much about that. But there are a lot of windows, so I'm going to make some removable insulation for the windows. Either yoga mats with reflectix on either side that can be rolled up and stored, or foam insulation panels with reflectix which can be taken off and stored beside or under seats. Either option will be secured with velcro.

Storage will be in the form of interlocking modular milk crates with plastic drawers. Probably 8-10. During travel they will be secured to the back seat and rear area with bungee cord or netting. When I'm parked and working they'll be stacked under the fold out tables.
Additional storage: under bed plastic low-profile under bed storage bins that will reach from the front of my rear seat to the back of the van and can be accessed from the front or rear.
The van is a high top conversion and has overhead wood storage bins. About 2" deep 4" wide, 6" tall. Lots of space for small stuff.

Electric: 2-3 deep cycle batteries charged by a 100W suitcase solar panel which can be set up outside when camped, and on the front passenger's seat, or dashboard when traveling (maybe upgrade to a top mounted unit later). Main electronic needs are my laptop and charging camera batteries. No fridge, ac, or micro.

Water: 2 5 gallon utility buckets, or those 5 gallon gatorade cylinder coolers with screw on top (can double as seats/tables). These will be secured to the van interior with crank straps. 1 bucket will store water, and the second will receive my grey water from cooking and cleaning. Sink will just be a metal bowl with a hole in the bottom and hose leading to grey water bucket. I found this pretty well reviewed battery powered rechargeable portable shower head. Basically you put the water pump in a bucket of water, and it pump out water to a shower head ($30). Can double as a shower and a sink head. Otherwise I was just going to make a simple foot pump sink. Also, various water filtration options (britta, uv, survival, etc.)

Bathroom: short bucket with liners. gatorade bottles for liquid.

Heat: Little buddy. maybe 2, but probably just 1.

bulk head: I wanted to construct a flexible bulkhead made out of 3 karate/gym foam mats, however I think it will just be easier to use insulated blackout curtains with reflectix or emergency blanket secured with industrial velcro. Actually a lot of my ideas center around velcro and bungee. I should just completely line the walls with velcro, ha.

Let me know what you guys think. It seems feasible to me. I have to start living in this thing in the next 3 months and I'm not too handy so I didn't want to spend a lot of time and money constructing fancy counters and cabinets. I do realize it's going to be a pain in the ass to set all this up and break it down, but I imagine that once I get into the swing of it it should only take 10-15min each way. Plus I like that everything can be rearranged and that almost nothing (except batteries) will be actually fixed to the van. The tables are adjustable to any height from 23"-36" and have a 360lb load capacity. This way my van can be used for almost anything inside. I even figure I can sleep up to 4 people in it- 2 on fold out bed, and 2 on floor when the tables are folded up and put away. Everything will be secured to the interior with bungee and netting. Maybe even a netting "hammock" at the front and rear.

SO F****** EXCITED!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If any one sees any major flaws or has suggestions I'm all ears. Thank you in advance.

. . . Electric: 2-3 deep cycle batteries charged by a 100W suitcase solar panel which can be set up outside when camped, and on the front passenger's seat, or dashboard when traveling (maybe upgrade to a top mounted unit later). Main electronic needs are my laptop and charging camera batteries. No fridge, ac, or micro.

The rule of thumb is 100 watts of solar panel for each 100 amp hours of battery storage.

Two 6 volt golf cart batteries, wired in series to give you 12 volts, should be 220 amp hours or so.

12 volt deep cycle batteries are usually around 100 amp hours each, so three of them wired in parallel is about 300 amp hours.

Either way, you've got either not enough solar or too much battery.

Your batteries will be chronically undercharged, and fail early in the first case.

You spent way too much money and are hauling around way too much weight in the second case.

Regards
John

ps: if you add charging from your alternator, and drive every day or every other day, two 6 volt golf cart batteries might be ok.

pps: take a look at Bob's current blog entry about the truck his buddy has for sale. Check out the pictures of the way he has set up hinged, folding solar panels, and adpted ordinary extension cords to make his system work.

 

[cinemaphonic]

Two 6 volt golf cart batteries, wired in series to give you 12 volts, should be 220 amp hours or so.

12 volt deep cycle batteries are usually around 100 amp hours each, so three of them wired in parallel is about 300 amp hours.

thanks for the reply. What about Lithium batteries?

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

thanks for the reply. What about Lithium batteries?

I don't know much about Lithium. It appears to be bleeding edge stuff.

"Bleeding edge stuff" = expensive and not well understood.

The folks over at the Technomadia site converted their bus to lithium and blogged about it extensively if you're interested in reading about it.

Regards
John

 

[akrvbob]

Welcome cinemaphonic!!! We're really glad you are here and letting us share in the wonderful new life you have chosen for yourself. Only time will tell, but I can tell you that vandwelling is the very best thing that ever happened to me!!

I'm not a fan of the electric beds, they wast a lot of space underneath and they aren't very comfortable. Generally I recommend getting rid of them, but who knows, maybe it will work great for you!

I think have the table you are talking about from Walmart. I've been pleased with it but it isn't very strong. I think that's because of the adjustable height. But mine only has two pre-set heights so maybe we're thinking of different tables. All the folding tables I've seen have a cross bar that creates an upside down V underneath and they make them very poor for storage. I gotta be honest and tell you I think they would not work well in a van. But again, I could be wrong.

I also have a hard time imagining setting the suitcase solar on the front dash. I'm a big fan of them and they work great for a lot of people, but I don't see putting one on the dash or front seats as working. But the only way to be sure is to give it a try.

They do work great just sat outside but I would start by getting just one WalMart group 29 marine battery. They are fairly cheap, have a great warranty, and if you wreck it, you won't be out much money.

Forget Lithium! The learning curve on everything else you are doing is very steep but Lithium batteries are on a whole different level of ridiculously hard to learn. Plus they are very expensive so if you wreck them you will have lost a lot of money! Learn the basics first then add on extremely difficult things. Learn to crawl before you try to jump off the roof into the pool!

I recommend most people keep it very very simple at first and stick to the tried and true. I'm a big fan of used furniture and plastic drawers and totes for your first build. They are cheap, easy and if you don't like them you can change without any loss.

Bob

 

[cinemaphonic]

Bob and Optimistic:

Thank you so much for your help. As I said, I'm not very handy, so I'm probably going to have to hire someone to help me install my fantastic fans and my deep cycle array. Still have a lot to learn.

I know these tables aren't going to last long, and they're definitely a temporary solution. The reviews on the tables are pretty good though, and they aren't the type that make the "v" shape. They have two legs that are perpendicular when folded out. Also they are truly variable height. They telescope rather than click in to set heights. They claim 350lbs load, so hopefully they'll hold up for work purposes and stretching out my feet at night.

I thought about taking out the rear bed seat, but mine isn't too bad. Plus I plan on getting a mattress topper to help fill in the bumps. Also my rear seat is converted, so it really just as this little motor underneath the seat that controls it, otherwise it has normal storage space underneath. However, if it does turn out to be horrible I'll just rip the seats out and sleep on the floor with my mattress topper. Hopefully Little Buddy and my little dog will provide sufficient heat.


Bob--thanks for the welcome. I'm so excited. It's crazy how things work out. I made the decision to do this about 2 months ago after reading "Walden On Wheels." It's something I had been wanting to do for years, and after reading Ken's experience I knew I had to do it. I just turned 30 and I'm not getting younger. I'm a videographer by trade and I just got hired by a new video company who wants me on as their lead videographer. We're going to be traveling the country shooting documentaries and all sorts of awesome videos. I'll keep you guys updated!