user 37446
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2017
- Messages
- 1,242
- Reaction score
- 93
Hi all,
For those of you contemplating converting a mid-top (t.v. top) conversion van, especially one with a handicap lift installed, I ran across this couple's blog while I was researching how to take out a wheelchair lift:
[font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]Gutting Our Conversion Van and Removing the Wheelchair Lift [/font]
The actual link is here: http://gnomadhome.com and was published/posted October 31 2016, so it's pretty recent. They describe (in multiple different posts) why they wanted to live in a van, how to start the conversion and how they did theirs, complete with a lot of pictures.
Everything was self-done labor wise, for solar they did purchase a 400 watt Renogy kit and they also have materials links (I don't know how good they are still) to nearly everything that they used.
When you look at their pictures you may say to yourself "I wouldn't do that" but to each their own. An example was what they did with the tear out of the wiring in the conversion, by not marking the wires that were removed they had to spend hours afterwards figuring out what the wiring was from or for.
Another issue, not so much reported here but in several other people's conversions of wheelchair lift vans, was that there are safety systems in place that prevent the van from being put into gear if the lift is outside the van body or not locked down and these safeties are hard to locate and disable... I never thought of that issue! :idea:
As I am still debating if and what kind of van to purchase/convert, it was quite helpful to me to see what they did, how long it took and what difficulties they had along the way. I admit to being rather concerned over all the mess and effort expended in order to insulate and re-panel, as I don't really think that you gain very much in insulating value and they had a really nice basic platform already done. However that's all part of the process isn't it? Lazy people like me who are intimidated by a complete tear-out probably should avoid one!
While I am not a lot farther along deciding which way to go on the type of van to use (so much depends on what is available and at what price you can afford) this blog did give me one of the best "armchair quarterback" experiences to use.
Hopefully their information/build out will help you even more than it has helped me. I think they did a great job describing and documenting their journey.
For those of you contemplating converting a mid-top (t.v. top) conversion van, especially one with a handicap lift installed, I ran across this couple's blog while I was researching how to take out a wheelchair lift:
[font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]Gutting Our Conversion Van and Removing the Wheelchair Lift [/font]
The actual link is here: http://gnomadhome.com and was published/posted October 31 2016, so it's pretty recent. They describe (in multiple different posts) why they wanted to live in a van, how to start the conversion and how they did theirs, complete with a lot of pictures.
Everything was self-done labor wise, for solar they did purchase a 400 watt Renogy kit and they also have materials links (I don't know how good they are still) to nearly everything that they used.
When you look at their pictures you may say to yourself "I wouldn't do that" but to each their own. An example was what they did with the tear out of the wiring in the conversion, by not marking the wires that were removed they had to spend hours afterwards figuring out what the wiring was from or for.
Another issue, not so much reported here but in several other people's conversions of wheelchair lift vans, was that there are safety systems in place that prevent the van from being put into gear if the lift is outside the van body or not locked down and these safeties are hard to locate and disable... I never thought of that issue! :idea:
As I am still debating if and what kind of van to purchase/convert, it was quite helpful to me to see what they did, how long it took and what difficulties they had along the way. I admit to being rather concerned over all the mess and effort expended in order to insulate and re-panel, as I don't really think that you gain very much in insulating value and they had a really nice basic platform already done. However that's all part of the process isn't it? Lazy people like me who are intimidated by a complete tear-out probably should avoid one!
While I am not a lot farther along deciding which way to go on the type of van to use (so much depends on what is available and at what price you can afford) this blog did give me one of the best "armchair quarterback" experiences to use.
Hopefully their information/build out will help you even more than it has helped me. I think they did a great job describing and documenting their journey.
