my van build thread dodge 3500 extended length van

[Ezrider92356]

first post is going to be showing where i am at currently i the build and then i will come back and add some more pictures and descriptions later of how i got to the point im at now and what i did to get there. after i get you guys caught up ill add to my build thread as i get things done. iv been kind of putting off starting this thread because iv gotten a lot done on my project and have a lot of pictures to go threw to catch it up to date. 

so the van is a 2000 dodge ram 3500 extended length passenger van



kitchen area

all the wood has been sanded and sealed with polyurathane
cabnet doors are oak plywood. 


the face trim was notched and cut out to have a over hanging lip on the top



sink is powered by a 15 gallon battery powered atv weed sprayer




then on the other side is more of a dresser area with some drawers and additional cabinet space also a dorm style fridge




and added a manual fantastic fan. roof vent


i made a install video on this and my brother (mr_elijah_gardner) posted it in the heating/cooling section and i also added a picture walk threw and description to the post. 

and that is where we are at now, i will add more to this thread as i get a chance to do so.

 

[highdesertranger]

question, is that tank, hoses and pump rated for potable water? the reason I ask is mine aren't. highdesertranger

 

[Ezrider92356]

I would say it's not as it's not sold for it's intended use to be potable water however the tank is made of polycarbonate witch should be fine for potable water. Water for drinking use doesn't come from the sink but carry a few gallon bottles of drinking water. I wouldn't personally consume water from any rv holding tank regardless of being rated for potable water or not

 

[Ezrider92356]

ok back to the begging. i had been looking for a van or around a year. had really been hoping to hold out for a good buy on a high top van. well i had a certain trip in mind i was wanting to take. there was a decent buy on my 1 ton extended length van. so i said screw it and got it. 

now the trip that i had in mind was coming up very quickly from the time i bought the van only had about 3 days i could work on it before the trip so after fixing the ac and a mechanical check over got to work building the van. 

first after muddling around a while trying to get a plan together finally decided on a rear bed and passenger side kitchen. 

biult a bed platform


and started building the kitchen cabinet.


finished out the kitchen cabinet installed a sink that was powered by a 2 gallon pump up weed sprayer the plywood cabnet doors and side of the cabinet was covered in a wood grain contact paper. 

 

[Ezrider92356]

i found a couple more pictures from the orrigional kitchen biuld was going to edit them into my last post but cant seem to find the edit button...lol 

 

[Ezrider92356]

the first trip in the van

made it home the morning we were supposed to leave did a quick oil change and grease on the van wired in a house battery and inverter (no pictures was in a rush.) not very neatly installed anyway and still needs to be tidyed up. 

set off on our trip in the afternoon. drove about 100 miles and then stopped for some dinner. 

then continued on. ran straight into a severe thunderstorm right around sunset. wind blowing straight sideways enough to push the van sideways on the road a couple times. and only about 15 feet of visibility. keeped moving at a very slow pacing hoping to come out the other end. after what seemed like for ever we finally came out the other end of the storm and was smooth sailing after that. stopped at a little hole in the wall truck stop for the night around midnight. back corner of the lot parked beside a dropped semi trailer nosed in facing a open feild. and settled in for the night. 

this was done because being a truck driver i know truck stop can be noisy places and generally try to park as far away from the commings and goings and idling trucks ect for as quiet night sleep as possible. this was a little hole in the wall place in the middle of no where.

slept good till around 5 am when two pickups pulling horse trailers pulled in right beside unloaded and re loaded there horses making all kinds of noise. im sure they probably didn't realize there was anyone in the van and figured they would try to be further away from the sleeping truck drivers. but all that noise woke us up. then about the time they left a big rv pulled in with what seemed like screaming kids running all over the place and dogs barking ect. anyway midnight till about 5 am was all the sleep we got. 

we both were a bit sore. the mattress that seemed ok laying on it for no more than a couple mins prior to leaving on the trip was a little hard on the bones on a full night. we continued on. there was a Walmart on our way to our primary destination and figured we would get some kind of foam pad to put over the mattress unfortunately when we got to our destination Walmart was wiped out on all such things. being a big camping holiday weekend we probably were not the only ones that found ourselves in that situation....lol. we did find a "extra thick" mattress topper witch was basically a fitted sheet with a tiny bit of padding. 

we made it to our primary destination without any further issues. 

enjoyed the day went for a long hike/walk and we all cooled off with some towels soaked in ice chest water when we got back to the van. laid back and watched a movie on the laptop.



2 people 1 dog and very little storage space, esp considering most of the under sink area was taken up by the pump  up sprayer and gray water tank. things became cluttered rather quickly

 

[Ezrider92356]

the wood grain contact paper started to shrink and wrinkle almost right away (well first time the van was left parked outside in the sun and the heat with no one in it and the windows all rolled up.) so that was going to have to go away. i also realized there was no need to have the kitchen cabinet to be 24 inches deep. so i cut it down to 18 inches. knowing i was going to biuld more cabnets on the opposite side i thought 18" deep rather than 24 would be much better for floor space. then made some new doors out of oak plywood and re covered the side in some fabric glued on with spray adhesive.