WalkaboutTed
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2016
- Messages
- 910
- Reaction score
- 3
We've finished our build except for the last touches (among other things, wire management still needs to be done, which you can see). A couple members here have asked me to post fotos of the interior. Since the NV has a shorter cabin length than most full sized vans, we needed to get imaginative to fit what we needed. I've included photos below to match the description.
Bed: we put it high enough to put under it, the fridge, toilet and a ton of storage. On the both sides of the bed, over the wheel wells, we put shelves, essentially making the full sized bed into a queen. But on each side, we boxe in about 3 cu feet under the shelves and put hinges on those shelves, making that space accessible.
Above the bed are IKEA metal cabinets (with L brackets glued inside to keep them intact) bolted on the wall. Due to the curved roof, there is a fair about of flat space above the cabinets. We plan on putting long, hinged pieces of wood to hold things in place while driving..
Under the bed, we made the batteries and electric accessible. The battery boxes are currently bolted to the floor, but will be enclosed before we're done. The toilet is to be slid out as needed.
Fridge: insulated on top, sides and back with polyiso. The floor under the fridge is about 2.5" with the polyiso, plywood and the rest of the flooring. We didn't want to do more with the front, so we have a child's sleeping bag laying over it. It's amazing how much cold would be leaking out, given that the door front is cold to the touch when we flip up the bag to put things in the fridge.
Galley: this was our problem area. Because we are not willing to compromise on the bed size, we had to get imaginative. We plan on cooking in the 16" x 18" x 10" deep sink, so we needed to keep drapes and bedding from falling close to the one burner stove while in use. So we put 12" dividers ( like a library carrel) with left over butcher block countertop. Because there's also going to be heat there, we wanted to dissipate. Hubby glued about 1000 pennies to the insides of the dividers.
Okay, so we had a huge sink but no counter space.. We did three things:
1) We have a roll up dish rack for drying dishes and temporarily holding things.
2) then we made a small fold down counter on the front of the sink, again with leftover butcher block counter top.
3) since we still had almost no counter, we put a permanent folding shelf above the back of the sink. We can lock it in the upright position to hold items while in motion, or fold it down while meal prepping when parked. Once again, we were concerned with heat dissipation from the stove in the sink, so we put 18 gauge copper plate glued on the bottom of the the horizontal shelf and fold-down part of the shelf. So now the counter space, though not large, is adequate for us.
Not visible in the fotos is a 24" TV over the driver seat. It too is mounted on leftover butcher block countertop, which is bolted to the ceiling. It is secured with a bungie while driving to protect it.
Many of these space utilizing ideas are from living on boats, using every cubic inch. I spent many hours cogitating on the logistics. I also have shelves and spice rack and other space ideas not yet fully developed yet.
I hope this has given one or two of you some helpful ideas.
Ted
Bed: we put it high enough to put under it, the fridge, toilet and a ton of storage. On the both sides of the bed, over the wheel wells, we put shelves, essentially making the full sized bed into a queen. But on each side, we boxe in about 3 cu feet under the shelves and put hinges on those shelves, making that space accessible.
Above the bed are IKEA metal cabinets (with L brackets glued inside to keep them intact) bolted on the wall. Due to the curved roof, there is a fair about of flat space above the cabinets. We plan on putting long, hinged pieces of wood to hold things in place while driving..
Under the bed, we made the batteries and electric accessible. The battery boxes are currently bolted to the floor, but will be enclosed before we're done. The toilet is to be slid out as needed.
Fridge: insulated on top, sides and back with polyiso. The floor under the fridge is about 2.5" with the polyiso, plywood and the rest of the flooring. We didn't want to do more with the front, so we have a child's sleeping bag laying over it. It's amazing how much cold would be leaking out, given that the door front is cold to the touch when we flip up the bag to put things in the fridge.
Galley: this was our problem area. Because we are not willing to compromise on the bed size, we had to get imaginative. We plan on cooking in the 16" x 18" x 10" deep sink, so we needed to keep drapes and bedding from falling close to the one burner stove while in use. So we put 12" dividers ( like a library carrel) with left over butcher block countertop. Because there's also going to be heat there, we wanted to dissipate. Hubby glued about 1000 pennies to the insides of the dividers.
Okay, so we had a huge sink but no counter space.. We did three things:
1) We have a roll up dish rack for drying dishes and temporarily holding things.
2) then we made a small fold down counter on the front of the sink, again with leftover butcher block counter top.
3) since we still had almost no counter, we put a permanent folding shelf above the back of the sink. We can lock it in the upright position to hold items while in motion, or fold it down while meal prepping when parked. Once again, we were concerned with heat dissipation from the stove in the sink, so we put 18 gauge copper plate glued on the bottom of the the horizontal shelf and fold-down part of the shelf. So now the counter space, though not large, is adequate for us.
Not visible in the fotos is a 24" TV over the driver seat. It too is mounted on leftover butcher block countertop, which is bolted to the ceiling. It is secured with a bungie while driving to protect it.
Many of these space utilizing ideas are from living on boats, using every cubic inch. I spent many hours cogitating on the logistics. I also have shelves and spice rack and other space ideas not yet fully developed yet.
I hope this has given one or two of you some helpful ideas.
Ted
