Ignore Dates on Posts

As we are no longer owners of this van, we felt that we needed to rearrange the posts to list the first post FIRST and then follow along with the progress of the conversion for easier reading by you, the visiting readers.  In order to change the order of the posts, we needed to change the dates of the posts.  The majority of the work on this van was done in 2010 and 2011.  Please do not pay attention to the dates of each post.  T

Our Ford Van Conversion ...

WHY WE'RE DOING THIS ... After returning from a 10-day road trip to Northern California, we realized how much money we spent on hotels driving our Dodge Caravan instead of spending our nights in campgrounds or an RV park.  So we returned with a credit card bill to pay off and started our search on the internet for a Class-B motorhome.  We soon discovered that relatively new models were too expensive, ranging from $40,000 to $80,000 depending on the model you bought.  There are cheaper alternatives, but those are older and require more attention.  We had formerly owned a Class-C motorhome which gave us between 8 and 10 mpg when we traveled.  This time we wanted a vehicle that gave us better mileage, was maneuverable in traffic, and we could comfortably use it for camping.  Not finding a reasonably-price vehicle that had what we wanted, we decided to buy a cargo van and customize it to what we wanted.  That lead to our purchase of a 2007 Ford E350 Extended Cargo Van, with a 5.4 liter engine. 

We purchased it for just under $10,000.  We started searching on the internet to see what others had done with their van conversions, but we found very limited information on actual conversions to campers.  Rather, we saw finished conversion projects, but no detailed account of what was done during the conversion.  In the months to come, we'll be showing you step by step the process of our conversion.  We'll post lots of photos and as much detail as we can.  We hope you enjoy reading about our project!

The New Floor Goes Down

The first order of business was to create a new floor in the van.  Our van came with a black cargo van mat with thin insulation on the bottom of it.  

Once that was removed we discovered there were several holes in the floor from a rack the previous owner had installed.  There are probably a half a dozen ways to patch these holes but Jerry elected to put a dab of adhesive caulk over the holes and then cover them with a small patch of fiberglass cloth.  

Also, several of the bolts that hold the body to the frame were rusted, not badly, but enough that we didn't want to leave them that way.  We coated them with Ospho, which is a liquid rust remover, paint preparation chemical.  After a few minutes they were wiped with a wet rag and the bolts showed no sign of rust.  Then both the patched holes and the bolts were coated with black liquid bed liner material that is designed to line the bed of your truck.  (Any other areas of rust were treated with Ospho and painted with the black bed liner material.)  Next, Jerry laid firring strips approximately 14 inches apart on the ridges of the van floor using galvanized screws to hold the 1x2 primed white spruce.  Hint:  get yourself a padded knee pad because the knees really get a work out on the hard van floor. 

Jerry had observed other people putting home insulation on the floor and then covering it with plywood.  He didn't believe that this was a good solution as the fiberglass has a tendency to collect moisture up against the bare metal and provides very little insulation and sound deadening.  Instead of using home insulation, we bought foil-backed 1/2" insulation from  the auto parts store (at a cost of $43 a roll, we needed 2 rolls, so it was a little pricey, but effective) and layed that down between the firring.  Next, we bought rubber horse stall flooring.  It's extremely heavy, probably 80 lbs per sheet.  (These were bought at a farm store at a price of $43 each; two were needed for the project.)  They were cut  into strips with a box cutter to fit between the firring on top of the insulation.  The insulation is perhaps a 1/4" thick and the stall material is 1/2" thick which came up to the top of the firring strips.  

Next, we layed down tongue and groove 3/4" plywood and screwed it to the firring strips.  

The small board you see was used to line up the center of the firring strips we screwed into. 

The first piece of plywood was placed in between the wheel wells and it only extended back 8 feet.  The back of the van was filled in with a trimmed sheet of tongue and groove, but it was placed crosswise to provide the rest of the flooring.  (The price of plywood was $25/piece; we used 2 for the flooring.) 

There is insulation material between the walls and the frame, but we added more by adding spray foam insulation (low expansion) to take away the chatter of panels hitting metal. 

Left to do is to fill in the sections where the plywood did not reach out to the sides. 

Jerry has driven the van since the new flooring was put down and it is rock solid and very quiet.  It will get even quieter once the ceiling, walls, and wheel wells are insulated and carpet is installed.  

NEXT UP:  The bed!!

Making of the Bed

On we go to the bed.  The Ford E350 van is 6' wide inside.  We decided to put our bed sideways to give us more "living" space in the central area of the van.  The bed will be as wide as a queen, but 6" shorter.  As neither of us are over 5'10", this option worked well for us.  We wanted storage reachable from the back of the van, but also drawer space under the bed reachable from the inside.  The solution?  Build a framework of support under the bed. 

What you see in the below photo is the back storage which is approximately half the width of the bed deep.  The framework was built using 3/4" plywood, doubled for support.  The top of the bed is again, 3/4" plywood.  We wanted the height of this space to clear the wheel wells, but not so high that we bumped our heads when we sat on the edge of the bed.  We also wanted to make sure this space could accommodate our folding chairs, along with our b-b-q, and other equipment.  The picture shows an old rug laid down to keep the noise down.

The below photo shows how the wheel wells were enclosed and filled with canned low expansion foam.  There are probably other choices available, and if we find this choice doesn't work well, we can replace it with another option, but for us, this was our simplest solution.  The board to the left of the wheel well is the start of the support for the drawers that we'll install on this half of the bed.  These drawers will be used for our clothing so that we don't use living space to store suitcases.  Like the back half, there will be two 3/4" plywood boards in the center for support and another 3/4" plywood sheet on top to finish the other half of the bed.

Here are the completed drawers installed with temporary blocks to hold them shut.  We installed drawer slides on the frame.  The drawer fronts have not been faced in the below photo (as of yet).

Below shows one of the drawers open.  Plenty of space to hold clothes.  The space at the top of the wheel well and below the bed will eventually contain a small drawer over each wheel well.

Some may be concerned about the use of 3/4" plywood and all of the weight associated with the use of all of this wood.  However, this is a one-ton van and we didn't believe the addition of several hundred pounds was going to make a difference, plus we wanted something sturdy for the bed, its frame, and the storage underneath.

Adding Electricity & Finding a Pot of Gold

Sorry for the delay since the last post.  Demands at work have kept me from updating this blog.  Jerry has been busy working on the van and we have a lot to catch up on and we'll try to get you caught up as quickly as possible.

One of the "musts" of the van was to have electricity for indoor lights and the coffee pot.  We wanted to be able to drive into an RV Park and plug in for a night and so we needed a plug on the outside of the van for plugging in at a park.  So many of the RVs have a long cord that you pull out and then you have to stuff the cord back in when leaving.  We thought an easier way would be to just have a short plug on the side and use an extension cord to reach the electricity at the park.

We cut a small hole in the side of the van and ran a 12-gauge extension cord along the inside wall over to an electrical box that will hold a switch for lights and a receptacle for the coffee pot.   The cord was cut and wired into the box and the plug side of the extension cord dangles outside the van and is easily stuffed back in.  We put the outside plug near the back driver's side as most RV parks have you back into slots and the electrical plugs are on the driver's side. 

All marine stores carry electrical connectors that you can set up to run from your boat to the shore that are 30 amps.  Marinco brand connectors is one brand to consider.  http://www.seattlemarine.net/products/marinco.html  These connectors  could be used in place of the extension cord we used.  We may switch over to that set-up in the future, but our present set-up was done so that we could go out camping with friends.  The present set-up will be changed when we need more electricity, but for right now, a light for nighttime use and electricity for morning coffee is all our needs are for electricity right now.


Now we come to Finding the Pot of Gold.  Jerry visited a local RV Consignment Lot and found the repairman who turned out to hold a plethora of information on converting a van and was very interested in what we were doing.  Jerry, being rather sociable, made fast friends with Harry and it didn't take long before Harry had Jerry in the back room rummaging through all the used parts that were taking up space.  A little while later, Jerry emerged with an awning and a roof vent all for a fraction of what they originally cost.

The awning was contained in a canvas bag and a metal gimp rail needed to be attached to the van and that was done on the gutter railing on the van with stainless steel screws.  The awning then slides into this gimp rail and is then firmly attached to the side of the van just above the sliding door.  The other side of the awning slides into an aluminum bar with extendable legs and side rails that push against the side of the van to hold it all firmly in place.  The first picture shows the aluminum gimp rail that was attached to the gutter of the van. 

 This picture shows the awning after it's been slid into place using the gimp rail.

 In this picture you can see the side arm that attaches to the side of the van with a twist-lock maneuver.

Here's the awning fully extended.  Unless rain was coming in sideways, this provides a dry, shady area just off the sliding door.  We plan on picking up some tent stakes to hold down the support legs in case of high winds.

The best part of this whole set up is that when done and packing up to move on, all you do is fold down the leg supports, slide the aluminum bar out of the one side, slide the awning out of the gimp rail, fold the awning back into its canvas bag and store it back in the van.  A simple 5-minute set up and 5-minute take down.

With electricity in place and an awning to use, we added a memory foam mattress to the plywood base of the bed.  We picked up a 4" mattress and because the bed is sideways in the van, we needed to cut off the bottom few inches to get the mattress to fit.  We ventured out for the weekend to meet friends, using the "camping" portion of our van for the first time.  With nothing more than a bed and electricity, we were just a level above "tent" camping, but it was still an enjoyable weekend camping with friends.

Keeping Warm!

Living in the Pacific Northwest, our days and nights can be rather cool (even in summer), so it is imperative to make sure the van gets well insulated from floor to ceiling.  The walls of the van posed a problem for insulating due to this van not having ribs like the old-style vans do.   Without ribs, it's difficult to "fir" out the walls to have space for insulation and to attach the paneling.  We also didn't want to cut down the interior width because our bed is laid sideways across the back.  To solve this problem we used 1/2" Styrofoam insulation purchased at Home Depot.  It was cut to shape and then glued to the wall using 3M Spray Adhesive. 

Once one pattern was made, another piece was glued to the top of it.  (Above picture shows to layers of the Styrofoam insulation.)  Spray foam was used to fill any gaps where the Styrofoam insulation could not be glued. 

To finish out the walls and ceiling we chose Luan paneling, 1/4" thick. You might choose to cover the wall with rugs, but we wanted a wood look to our walls and ceiling.  The paneling was stained and varnished before attaching to the van walls.  There are double walls in certain areas of the framework of the van and this is where we attached the paneling using decorative self-tapping screws.

The ceiling was done the same way with the screws going into the support rails across the top of the van.  For right now we're not trimming out the open area between the ceiling panels and the wall panels.

We visited our local floor covering retailers looking for a remnant large enough for the floor of the van and sturdy enough to last us awhile.  What we found was a Berber rug of fairly good quality, beige in color, with specks of color throughout.  We felt Berber would withstand use and the color would hide the dirt better. We escaped for just under $100 for the rug and the pad was given to us free.  The rug was cut to fit the floor and sloped off the side toward the side step of the van. The step off the door slide had a plastic decorative panel which was removed and after the rug and padding were put down, the panel was replaced and screwed into the floor of the van with large washers and screws which held the rug into place.

You can see in above photo that we have installed a base in the floor to hold  a post to hold a table top. The base was installed by measuring the size of the hole that needed to be drilled into the base of the flooring (through the rug, the plywood floor, and rubber mat).  A hole saw was used to cut through the plywood and rubber mat.  The base was then inserted into the hole and screwed through the rug down into the floor boards.

The table top was made by cutting our desired size out of 3/4" plywood, which was then edged with oak.  Staining and varnishing followed.  The other end of the pole base was installed on the bottom of the table top. Here is finished table in place.

A wonderful benefit of the rug and pad is how quiet the van now is when driving down the road.  We've sprayed sound proofing under the hood of the van and will eventually spray this also in the front wheel wells.  With the wheel wells under the bed filled with spray foam, the rug and padding down on the floor of the van, and sound proofing sprayed under the hood of the van, the amount of road noise has been greatly diminished and we now drive in quiet comfort.

Sink and Storage

In order to have any functionality in this camper van of ours, we need storage and a sink. We love having "everything in its place" and so needed to create cubbies for everything we'll haul when on a trip.  Also important was a place for brushing our teeth and access to fresh water.  

While we have drawers under the bed for our t-shirts and jeans, socks and underclothes, we needed to install a closet to hang up our coats and long-sleeved shirts.  The closet was built from 3/4" plywood, stained and varnished, and cut out to be roughly the same shape as the wall.  A clothes rod was put in at the top and a shelf installed half-way down for storage underneath.  The width of the closet was chosen based on the length of our cooler, which would be stored below the shelf in the closet.  The table top was designed to be stored on the shelf in the closet, along with the table pole.  Functionality is important here so using the space we have efficiently is our main objective.  While we may eventually buy an ice box (or build our own), right now we're using our Coleman cooler for food storage.

Lighting inside the van was also a necessity and we installed a light on the outside wall of the closet, so it faced the bed.  While this was a great idea in theory, we need to re-examine our "great ideas" because when the light is on at night you feel as though you are being interrogated by the mafia.  Also, the only area illuminated is from the back wall of the closet backward and nothing forward of that area sees much light. We will need to revamp the "lighting" situation down the road.  We do have light inside the van, which was the goal, but it certainly deserves to be reworked for better comfort for all involved.  

A small shelf was installed on this same outside wall of the closet to hold decks of cards, hair brushes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, salt and pepper or anything else you want within easy reach.  (Salt and pepper within easy reach????  It depends on who's the one outside cooking.)  

Next came the counter space which again was made of 3/4" plywood, attaching to the frame of the bed and closet.  Thin sheets of oak trim were glued to the outside edge of the plywood to have a finished look and create the edge as it curved around the sink.  Our local RV consignment shop guy, Harry, came through again for us with a used sink which we sunk into the counter top, attached a plastic standard drain at the bottom of the sink and the outlet drained into a 1 gallon plastic container which we empty daily.  In order to get water, a 5-gallon container was placed under the counter and a hand pump was mounted on top of the counter behind the sink.  A simple pumping action fills the faucet and once you lock the pump in place, the faucet stays primed for the next use.  Yes, we're limited to cold water, but the joy of brushing your teeth before bed and first thing in the morning is the reward we receive for at least having the basics of a sink and cold water.  We'll eventually put a skirt of fabric under the sink to hide all the containers.  It's open for the pictures.

A 7" high piece of plywood was put in across along the floor to keep the jugs of water in place while the vehicle is moving.  A drawer was built and cubbies built to store shoes and other items.  Also, this is where we have the electrical box for plugging in our heater or coffee pot and where the switch to turn on our inside spotlight resides. As you can see from picture, we still need to finish out with stain and varnish.

Here's the view of all of our work from the back bed...

  
and from the open sliding door, showing the table in place, too...

We use our outside camp chairs as seats for our morning coffee and in the evening when we play cards.  When we don't need to use the table, the chairs are outside, the table top and pole are in the closet and we have all the open space we need.

We added a handle on the inside of the van's door to help us get in and out of the van ...  and built a step out of wood to ease the "in and out" process.  We'll eventually have a step or rail installed permanently under the sliding door, but this step works well for us in the meantime. 

In the above picture you can see the area between the handle and the bed where we need to build some more cabinets and storage area for food and finish off the paneling.  We hope to install windows in the sliding door to add more light and in foul weather, when we're forced to stay inside playing cards or reading, the addition of these windows will bring the outdoors inside, even if just a little.  


So now you're up to date with where we are with our project as it currently sits.  Nancy is finishing up one of her busiest months at work and will go into "reduced-hours" mode in November and December.  Both she and Jerry will continue to work on the van during the winter.  Nancy is sewing denim window coverings for privacy at night and Jerry will continue his building of storage spaces, finishing the paneling of the ceiling and walls, and plans to install a fan in the ceiling.  We'll continue to post updates as work continues on our project.  Thanks for looking!!