Post 13: May and June, 2020 - Gas, water, and a bed.
Now that the electrical was well on its way, it was time to turn attention to the "bedroom" and "kitchen" requirements. Propane for a stove, water for the sink, and a place to sleep.
A plan to visit my good friend, Mary Severson, in Montana, sped up the timeline and urgency.
Jim and I found a way to work safely together and we made much better progress working together.
A word about propane. Propane safety is something that I have seen missed in many van builds, especially DIYers. It is important to have an LP gas tank sealed and vented through the floor (liquid propane is heavier than air so settles to the floor). Jim had built me a gas tank locker. I drilled through the floor once again and placed a vent tube.
I was always cognizant of balancing the weight distribution from side to side and front to back. My Ford Transit is a rear-wheel drive, so having weight over the back passenger side wheel is a good thing. Batteries and inverter on the driver's side, propane and water on the passenger side. I had originally. wanted the "kitchen" on the driver's side but quickly realized that I wanted my water containers available from the slider. More on this in a bit.
Next we tackled the bed frame build. I had already installed these reading lights and the wall paneling.
People looked in and thought they were....showerheads???
I had planned to have a pull-out tray underneath the bed in what is commonly called "the garage", so the bed had to be at a height to accommodate bikes, but also at a height that I could get into it from the inside. Careful measurements and build rendered the bedroom!
The impending trip to Montana was bearing down. Luckily I had ordered my sink/stove combo in January - because it actually came on a slow boat from China. I decided to buy a bathroom vanity and a small stand with drawers to allow us to get most of what I needed for my trip installed. The vanity came with no top or back, so Jim cut the counter out of nice plywood and I cut the hole for the sink and installed it all.
You can see the chest of drawers off to the right of the sink cabinet. We raised it up as high as possible so that long things like my outdoor rug could slide underneath it in the garage. I hooked up the gas line but still had no running water. No time to install the water pump and figure out the fresh and gray water tanks before the trip.
The last big project was the passenger-side window. Jim and I both dreaded it, but we bit the bullet and went for it. Our experience from the previous go helped. The measurement was SO precise that it took a lot of sweat to fit the window in. I had to come in with a metal grinder and enlarge some areas. It was quite a fireworks display! Ultimately we prevailed and were SO RELIEVED to have this done.
The precise hole for the passenger window. We quickly realized that it would have been much smarter to install the window BEFORE the sink cabinet. Oh well.....
YAY!!! It's finally in! Cross-ventilation is mine!!!!
Now off to Montana.....
Comments
Post a Comment