My new E-350 Extended van

[Ballenxj]

Well, your plugging away is soon to pay off. Hopefully in the way of a cool sanctuary from the summer heat coming. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/eek.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> <br>Sorry about the delayed answer, I haven't been hanging out here as much as I used to. <br>-Bruce

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

You are so pro at this stuff, amazing! <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">&nbsp;&nbsp;

 

[coultergeist]

I'm trying Bruce.&nbsp; The fun part will be the big vent fan.&nbsp; That will be a few weeks from now though.&nbsp; <br><br>Thanks for the kudos DazarGaidin.&nbsp; I don't think I'd go so far as to say pro, but I am persistent.&nbsp; <img class="emoticon bbc_img" src="/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif"><br><br><br>Patrick

 

[coultergeist]

I worked on the ducting again today.&nbsp; I pretty much finished it up.&nbsp; <br><br>The first picture shows the air conditioner hose routed through the cabinet and attached to the vent.&nbsp; The other end is clamped onto the air conditioner outlet on the rear a/c unit.&nbsp; <br><br>The second picture shows the vent panel in place with the shelf cover in place.&nbsp; I still have a little insulating to do and then it will be done completely.

 

[coultergeist]

After I finished up the ducting, I worked on the rest of the cabinet.<br><br>I got the remaining cabinet doors installed.&nbsp; After that I drilled and installed all of the remaining thumb latches.&nbsp; With the exception of a little bit of cabinet lighting, the cabinets on the driver's side are basically done.<br><br>I still have to install the door that conceals the electrical panel and inverter.&nbsp; I'm waiting on that until the last of the electrical work gets done.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

What do you use to make your wood look so good?&nbsp; I'm a noob to this kind of stuff.&nbsp; My van looks clean where its all paneled but the woodwork in the back looks tacked on.&nbsp; I figured a wood stain...but there was a dazzling variety at lowes.

 

[coultergeist]

Hi DazarGaidin,<br><br>The best way to finish wood is in a two step process.&nbsp; The first thing you want to do is stain it to the color that you want.&nbsp; The color I use is Golden Oak.&nbsp; I like lighter colored finishes.&nbsp; Bear in mind that different woods will finish differently with the same stain.&nbsp; Pine will typically stain darker than birch.&nbsp; It is a good idea to sand the wood before you stain it.&nbsp; This will help the stain to soak in faster and dry better.&nbsp; <br><br>If the first coat of stain doesn't get it as dark as you'd like, you can put on additional coats.&nbsp; Just check the label to see how long to wait between coats.&nbsp; If you use a good stain, you will probably need only one coat.&nbsp; I prefer Rustoleum Ultimate Wood Stain.<br><br>The stain will tell you how long to wait before you can apply a finishing coat.&nbsp; A good stain will let you put on a finishing coat in an hour.&nbsp; Not so good ones may make you wait four to 24 hours.&nbsp; The good stain usually only costs a dollar or two more.&nbsp; It's worth it to save the time.&nbsp; Stain goes a long way.<br><br>The finishing coat is what will really make it look good.&nbsp; There are a number of different choices.&nbsp; Polyurethane is probably the most popular.&nbsp; A good gloss, fast drying polyurethane will make any stain look great.&nbsp; Done properly it will hold up a long time, but keep in mind that polyurethane is pretty susceptible to fading from the sun and isn't really meant for outdoor use.&nbsp; It will work in a van pretty well.&nbsp; If you use it, I recommend at least two coats to make it last a long time.<br><br>The finishing coat that I use is clear gloss spar urethane.&nbsp; It is a true outdoor finish.&nbsp; It is designed mainly with marine use in mind.&nbsp; It will stand up to just about anything and last a very long time.&nbsp; It is really durable.&nbsp; It costs about a third more than polyurethane, but it is worth it in my opinion.&nbsp; <br><br>Whatever finish you use, you should let it dry for about 24 hours before you try to install it or do anything with it.&nbsp; If it feels tacky at all to the touch, then it's not dry yet.&nbsp; Spar Urethane will generally dry much faster than polyurethane will.&nbsp; <br><br>I hope that helps.&nbsp; If you have any other questions just let me know.<br><br>Patrick<br><br>

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Thanks for the info, very useful.

 

[coultergeist]

<p>You're welcome Kino.<br><br>Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.&nbsp; <br><br>By the way, I like what you've done with your van so far.&nbsp; I will be putting a similar exhaust fan in my van before too much longer.&nbsp; I might need to ask you a few things.&nbsp; <br><br>Patrick</p>

 

[coultergeist]

Funds are kind of short right now and many of the things that I need are fairly pricey, so it's going kind of slow at the moment.&nbsp; <br><br>I've been working on the black out curtains for the front windows.&nbsp; I should finish that this week completely.&nbsp; Regular curtains are in the works too.<br><br>I did buy my ladder racks yesterday from a very nice gentleman from Florida.&nbsp; They will be used to mount the solar panels.&nbsp; They are for a standard size van, so they're going to need a little bit of modification.<br><br>I'm going to use plate steel bars to extend the sides higher and reattach the cross bars to them.&nbsp; It will be a little pricey, but far less expensive than buying them the correct height already.&nbsp; I will post more pictures as I work on that.<br><br>The picture below shows what the racks look like.&nbsp; Mine are exactly the same type.&nbsp; Notice the way it attaches around the gutter and can be adjusted up or down a little bit.&nbsp; This is an important feature as I only have full factory gutters on the driver's side.&nbsp; The gutters were removed on the passenger side for the higher door tops.&nbsp; I should be able to use these though with the gutters that were added for the higher doors.<br><br>

 

[coultergeist]

I got a few small things done yesterday.&nbsp; I have pretty much all the connections made for the power distribution panel now.&nbsp;&nbsp;I was finally able to put the front cover on.&nbsp; The picture shows it open.&nbsp; It closes to cover all the breakers and fuses.

 

[Ballenxj]

You're making good progress. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> And I can relate to the short on funds thing. <img src="/images/boards/smilies/frown.gif" class="emoticon bbc_img"> <br>-Bruce

 

[coultergeist]

Thanks Bruce.&nbsp; It's coming along.&nbsp; <br><br>I've worked on small stuff over the last few weeks while waiting for the funds for bigger stuff.<br><br>After putting the electrical panel cover on I was able to finally put on the door that hides the electrical compartment.&nbsp; The first picture shows it close up and the second picture shows the whole cabinet area from a distance.

 

[coultergeist]

I also worked on getting the cabinet lighting finished up.<br><br>The first picture shows the strip where all the cabinet lights attach to on the driver's side. <br><br>The second picture shows one of the light strips.&nbsp; They are not as bright as the picture would have you believe.&nbsp; They do a very good job of illuminating the cabinets.&nbsp; There is one light strip for each individual cabinet area.

 

[coultergeist]

I checked out my ladder rack brackets to make sure they will work with the bigger gutters around the higher doors on the passenger side.&nbsp; <br><br>The picture shows that they will attach properly to the larger gutters.&nbsp; I was very fortunate to find this kind of ladder rack.&nbsp; <br><br>I've researched and figured out how I plan to extend their height so they will fit over the top of the roof.&nbsp; I should be able to pick up all they pieces I need this weekend.&nbsp; I'm hoping to have them on sometime next week.&nbsp;

 

[Ballenxj]

Is that the pinch mount for the gutter in your photo? I assume once installed, the ladder bolts to it? <br>-Bruce

 

[coultergeist]

Hi Bruce,<br><br>Yes, that's the mount that attaches to the gutter.&nbsp; The cross bar would normally bolt directly to it.&nbsp; This mount has two different height positions for the cross bar.&nbsp; I am going to use plate steel bars to extend the height of the clamps so that the cross bars will clear the roof.&nbsp; <br><br>My plan is to&nbsp;mount three twelve foot 2 x 4's directly to the ladder rack cross bars.&nbsp; I will then attach sheets of 1/2 inch thick plywood to the 2 x 4s.&nbsp; The wood will be painted white.&nbsp; The solar panels will then mount to the plywood and 2 x 4s.&nbsp; Should be really secure and serve as shade for the roof top.<br><br>That's the plan anyway.<br><br>Patrick

 

[Ballenxj]

Sounds like a workable plan.&nbsp; <br>-Bruce

 

[coultergeist]

Thanks Bruce.

Hopefully we're right. I ordered the charge controller and solar cabling yesterday. I started on the rack modifications today. I got all the brackets and bars cut today. I will try to get them painted tomorrow. I will post pictures as soon as I can.

Patrick

 

[coultergeist]

I'm finally where I can add some pictures.&nbsp; The major thing I've been working on is trying to do the ladder rack modification so I can install my solar panels.&nbsp; <br><br>My ladder racks were made for a standard height van, which is definitely not what I have.&nbsp; I decided to extend the racks myself to the height that they needed to be.&nbsp; <br><br>I used these galvanized steel pieces from Home Depot to do the extension.&nbsp; I was worried that they wouldn't be strong enough but the bend gives them quite a bit of extra strength.&nbsp; <br><br>The first step was to cut them to length.&nbsp; Most need to be almost three feet long.&nbsp; Two of them are two feet long.<br><br>The next step was to cut and bend the ends so that they could attach well to the gutter mount.&nbsp; Luckily, all the holes actually matched up and I didn't have to redrill any of them.