ViaVacavi adventure vehicle build log

[ZoNiE]

I Like the map. We had a factory one in our 1976 Six Pac Camper.

 

[ZoNiE]

I've gotta say, that's gonna be a real nice van inside and out.

 

[Mobilesport]

I also appreciate you taking the time to do this.  I am not trying to give you a bad time I am trying to understand.  so you are at 300 bucks you need to add all your wiring,  circuit protection,  Anderson power poles,  etc.  to get a true cost.  so good luck with your project and again I think it's cool that you are giving us all this info,  keep it up.  highdesertranger

You also have to factor in the time that it takes to get the true costs., 

Love the brown bag cabinets .

 

[ViaVacavi]

I started a new thread for the fridge conversion discussion so that it would be consolidated in one place.  The thread is here: DIY: How to make your own 12 volt fridge

 

[Matlock]

Most interesting thread.
Your cabinet`s are an inspiration worth giving a try.
The 120v refer with inverter makes sense all around especially with a delay start and disconnect to eliminate paracisdic draw.
I have been looking at options for refrigeration so to date I can offer no data but I am about to try your 120v option w/solar.

 

[ViaVacavi]

Most interesting thread.
Your cabinet`s are an inspiration worth giving a try.
The 120v refer with inverter makes sense all around especially with a delay start and disconnect to eliminate paracisdic draw.
I have been looking at options for refrigeration so to date I can offer no data but I am about to try your 120v option w/sol

Thanks
I'll be doing a post soon that compares a few different light-weigh building techniques I've experimented with, and after building these cabinets I came up with one that is better in every way (it's lighter, stronger, easier to do, cheaper, you name it!)
The fridge conversion is happening tomorrow, so I'll soon have real world numbers very soon.  Every indication so far is very encouraging and I'm excited to see how it performs in the real world

 

[ViaVacavi]

Cabinet Customization

We did many tests with different stains and finishes before covering and staining the cabinets
[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201835390362648_zpsi2ofldku.jpeg[/img]

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201835432603704_zpsygnctbze.jpeg[/img]

We thought that with we could do something fun and neat with some of the extra stain, so we decided to make some stencils to apply some darker stain to the cabinets.  The idea is to make some stencils with different travel-related pictures, quotes, etc and stencil some dark stain right over the lighter stain that is already on the cabinets.  As luck would have it, we got a new guy at work the other day and it came up that he owns his own vinyl signage business.  After a quick discussion of which file formats he needs to make a stencil, I fired up InkScape (vector drawing program) and made a simple but neat nautical compass. We figured the butt end of one of the side cabinets would be a neat place to put it.
[img=640x626]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201680974421455_zpssbxm6n7h.jpeg[/img]



I emailed the file to my new coworker, and tonight when we got to work he already had it ready

[img=640x1094]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201684735915490_zpsatnfncft.jpeg[/img]

I'm working midnights right now, but when I get back in the morning I might go ahead, apply the stencil and give it a go!  I'll post back with the results

 

[ViaVacavi]

It's been a tough last week so I'll be spending the next few hours getting things caught up on here.   We really got a lot done!

 

[ViaVacavi]

---

Stencil Failure Overcame


The original idea with the stencil, was to have a pice of vinyl cut as a negative, and use that as a stencil to put a daker stain over the lighter stain that was already on the upper cabinets.
[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160616_105613_zpshpsheumw.jpg[/img]

Unfortunately after aplying the stain, it bled terribly under the stencil and looked absolutely horrible (sorry, forgot to get a picture).  Lucily we removed the stencil right away after applying the stain so it didn't have time to soak in yet.  We were able to wipe it of nearly completely, so no real harm done.

I texted my co-worker with hte vinyl cutting busniess and later that day had a new one in hand, this time meant to be applied as a decal instead of used as a stencil.  The idea this time was just to apply the decal, then polyurethan over top of it to seal it in.

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...IMG_20160616_142046_hdr_zpsnpzjc6so.jpg[/img]
Here is the decal fresh off the cutter

[img=640x640]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201855314620742_zpstbhufufn.jpeg[/img]
It aplied very easily and sealed in nice.  It adds a lot to an otherwise boring dead-end of the upper cabinet.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201856992102678_zpstnzqpagk.jpeg[/img]

We are ver hapy with how things campe out. We are going to do something similar to the other side cabinet, we're leaning towards a quote but we're in no hurry at this point.  Loking back, I'm kind of glad that the first atempt to do this in a darker stain failed.  We really like the bold look of the black decal and think this is an easy, inexpensive thing we can do in other aeras of the build.

 

[ViaVacavi]

Minor Rearrangements

Now that we have al of this storage space, Julie put her organization skills to work.  Neither of us like clutter, and we weren't very happy about using the plastic "chest of drawers" taking up flor space.  We bought 8 totes, each roughly the size of a shoe box.  They easily fit in the rear storage cabinet alone, only taking up about half of the space.  Much of the upper cabinets along the sides weren't fully being used, and we still had thsoe 4 53-quart totes under the bed - not to mention plenty of storage over the cab.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4777-B5B6-9B6AB1A5EE70_zpsocide08o.jpg[/img]
Not having that chest there realy expands the views and makes the space feel more open

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4EB6-91DF-A7163FBC4699_zpspwzuskxa.jpg[/img]
One of our favorite things about our build is how open it feels.  We put  alot of efort into ensuring that our windows remained as open as possible, and having that chest out of the way expands the space that's hard to show with just a picture.  With the shades pulled up, it just doesn't feel like being confined in a smal space at al.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201858296415285_zpsjs9dj8ao.jpeg[/img]
Aside from the ugly viwe of th eback of the fridge (which we will adress in the future), you can see just how much room there is in the floor plan.  There is a good two feet of space betwen the foot of the bed and the fridge.  With the kitchen  moving outside with the door (as in this picture), the  feeling of openness is really amplified

 

[highdesertranger]

that compass came out awesome. highdesertranger

 

[ViaVacavi]

Ceiling Work!

With all of the time and effort that went into making out uper cabinets not only light, but interestign and visually appealing - it's been very hard to look up at that bare and ugly ceiling.  I started resawing old (150+ year old!) hardwood to put on the ceiling.  Now seemed like the time to put an end to having to look at our beautiful cabinets next to an unfinished ceiling.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4B13-AAA0-7D94823DDFA1_zpsdci80gqh.jpg[/img]
The celing was insulated with 2" Polyiso board, glued in place with GreatStuff expanding foam (which is an excelent adhesive for this purpose by the way).
We personally would have been happy with just 1" of insulation, but the support bars actually were just over 2" in depth so we decided to just fill the cavity.

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160617_151208_zpsb9kdz3jn.jpg[/img]
The individually re-sawn planks were just under 1/4" thick, and the thickness varied with each plank due to my imperfect resawing equipment/technique.
We decided to go with this raw and imperfect look - choosing not to even fill in any holes or gaps.  The planks were glued to a sheet of 1/8" plywood so that I could lay them out, stain and polyurethane everything then put the entire ceiling in as one piece whe finished.  Above you can see the ceiling wood already glued down and staine with just "Natural" stain.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160617_154636_zpsvyxnjttx.jpg[/img]
Of course, doing the ceiling meant adding lights at the same time.  The original lights were saved from the tear-out, and we replaced all of the bulbs with energy eficient LED replacemetns.

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4B6E-A6FE-8A8BF04D732B_zps5xy7mhqg.jpg[/img]

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4727-B97D-510D27406AE2_zpsumlqu3rn.jpg[/img]
Cutouts were added in the foam and wiring run to the light locations.  If you notice, there are 3 wires.  These lights have a unique feature where they can be switched on and of locally as well as remotely - so each light got a positive, a negative, and a switched positive wire.

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-40BB-B22F-5DBBE6B33147_zpsezk82ab5.jpg[/img]
Cutouts for the lights were also added to the ceiling.  We've used the "measure twice, cut once" train of thought through the entire build so far without a single issue.  Lets hope that continues!

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4FF3-B451-1DF256AFEF57_zpswptioelz.jpg[/img]

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160618_075001_zpsvbq6xklo.jpg[/img]

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4C03-AED1-D8B8781E9862_zpsofthhldw.jpg[/img]

Luckily everything fit just perfectly, and within a few hours we had our ceiling fastened in securely.  What a differnce it is to look up and see a (nearly) completed section of the van!

 

[ViaVacavi]

Trimming Out the Ceiling

We were quite hapy with the new ceiling, but everything was still a little unfinished.  The plan from the beginning was to use RGB LED light strips to trim the gaps in the ceiling, using nice aluminim corner diffuser bars.  This would not only serve as a great indirect lighting feature, but also trim out any gaps between the ceiling and side cabinets.


While I worked on cuting diffuser bars out and getting lighting set up, Julie was working on doors for the cabinets and other trim items.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4090-8E69-1517AA501F06_zpscvrqbtuy.jpg[/img]
We didn't like the bright screw hardware holding the ceiling up, and wanted black screws for the cabinet doors to -so she took some time to spray paint a bunch of screws so that we could replace the ones in the ceiling as well as have some black screws on hand for doing the doors.

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201874205653006_zpsdktqfrvi.jpeg[/img]

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201874205613005_zpsytah7bix.jpeg[/img]

[img=640x853]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...ived_10201872863979465_zps6iqxbcin.jpeg[/img]

We didn't want an all dark ceiling, so we decided to brighten things up with lighter doors.  We looked at various poster-sized maps on Amazon until we found one with a color pallet we liked.  When they came in, she wrapped the doors that I cut from 1/4" Luan in the maps, then painted the back sides white to hide the edges of the maps that were folded onto the back sde of the doors.


[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4301-8791-D7C602A443E4_zpss0jdqbic.jpg[/img]
Light strips were mounted..

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...-4DEF-BE06-54E76B9D183D_zpsjey457od.jpg[/img]


Doors were mounted...


[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160622_141028_zpscupcrk5i.jpg[/img]
And the end result is stunning!  The new black screws holding the ceiling look so much better.  The map doors not only brighten up the ceiling, but add some needed contrast up top.  The light difusers along the perimeter frame the ceiling nicely, cover any gaps and just tie everything together.  For the first time, we can lay in the bed, look up and see something actually finished!

[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160622_141110_zpslbau1pi7.jpg[/img]


[img=640x480]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/IMG_20160622_141044_zpsv4rjbach.jpg[/img]
And now, having both direct and indirect lighting is as functional as it is fun.

We still have odds and ends to finish.  We need a method to hold the upper doors open, as well as magnetic latches to kep them closed fully - but nothing major.
We would also like to add some direct lighting to the underside of the cabinets, but we wil get to this in good time.

 

[ViaVacavi]

that compass came out awesome.  highdesertranger

Thanks HDR.  We're kind of glad our first idea was a flop.  Lucky for us we didn't ruin anything in the process!

 

[ViaVacavi]

Updated Weight Report

We pulled a few tricks to keep our ceiling nice and light (12 lbs total!)
- We resawed the hardwood as thin as we could without having to worry about strength
- we glued the thin hardwood strips to the thinnest substrate we could find (1/8" plywood "hobby panel")
- We only finished the ceiling where absolutely necessary - where it's visible.

[img=534x640]http://i827.photobucket.com/albums/...avi/van weight 20160623_zps4byl0xrw.jpg[/img]

 

[VJG1977]

Where did you get the light diffusers?  Could you take some closeup photos of the lighting system and controllers?
A really great looking job.  Thanks for sharing.

 

[ccbreder]

Great job. Looking good. I sure don't have that patients.

 

[highdesertranger]

the maps on the cabinet doors are a great addition. highdesertranger

 

[masterplumber]

That is really looking sharp! I really like the compass also.

 

[Gary68]

what did you use for the natural stain?