Cargo Van Conversion

  With the new Ram ProMaster cargo van now for sale at your local car dealership and the new Ford Transit coming early 2014, it was time to compare the 5 most popular cargo vans. With the European styling of the current models, a substantial shift in their use as a RV conversion may occur….

THIS STRAIGHTFORWARD BRIDGE SERVES AS A FOCAL POINT IN THE LANDSCAPE. IT IS LOCATED AT THE FAR END OF THE GARDEN AND FUNCTIONS AS THE BEGINNING OF A DRY RIVER BED THAT CROSSES THE BACK YARD. The space underneath can be retrofitted later on, to accommodate a water source which can transform the dry bed…

Assembly and Finishing All the parts are now ready for assembly. Now that all the parts are ready, it’s time to glue and clamp everything together. After a couple of hours drying time, the rack gets a final sanding. A quarter is used to indicate the corners at the top of the two side panels. They…

Enhance the Tiger Maple Before continuing with the assembly, the three front pieces that are made out of Tiger Maple, need some ‘popping’, that is, enhancing the visibility of the curl in the wood.

Utilizing every available space is a priority; the area to the right of the rear side window is large enough to accommodate a magazine rack and is conveniently close to the bed. This will allow for some late night reading. Back to the workshop for some woodworking! The main wood choice is again Cherry in…

Between the window and the side doors is a narrow strip of wall available to house a small console. It is the future location of the battery monitor and a reading light.

Before continuing with the other side of the van interior, it’s time to put the wall and window above the bed, back together again. Two issues remain: the battery cables and the solar controller cable need to be installed. The other is the decision I have to make, whether to go ahead with batting as…

In the past 3-4 weeks, I have completely redesigned the Amazon Store at cargovanconversion.com. New layout, added features, more product reviews and newly included items. All products pertain specifically to this Cargo Van Conversion and are/can be used during the construction and installation phases of this project. New materials, appliances and tools will be added…

Recently a fan was installed to cool the solar components, like controller, battery charger, etc. As it is not necessary to run the fan continuously, a switch can regulate its use. Radio Shack sells this 12V switch with a ground (+), a power (-) and a accessory spade. Right now there is a wire running…

The last time I worked on the bed, the pull-out, sliding shelf was installed. Now I’ll continue with a door for the toilet compartment. In deliberating the hinge options, I came across a simple wooden hinge design, that looked appropriate for this application. Under the built-in, slide-out shelf is just enough space to house the portable…