Cargo Van Conversion

Just in time for the holidays my odometer stopped working. Quick research pointed in the direction of the speed sensor and the van’s maintenance codes confirmed that. A visit to the auto shop resulted in a new replacement part. 5 Minutes under the van at the transmission completed the job. I have to remind myself…

The bed is showing it’s final form. The 3″ overhang extends it’s sleeping surface, while minimizing it’s footprint.     The extension tray (above the toilet, but still under the bed) is planned to be used as a dinner or night tray.     The sliders are 16″ – 100 lbs, full extension, with an…

The area under the bed is divided in compartments, from front to back: batteries, toilet, inverter & solar controller and bed linens with some extra space available on top of the wheel casing. The battery compartment allows a maximum of 4 batteries with a vent hole to the outside. I put the toilet next to…

I am in a bit of a hurry, because I wanted to test the bed out on a trip to South Florida during the holidays. There is a lot of work, but fortunately much of the bed frame was pre-assembled of the last few weeks in my workshop. First I set up a few parts…

Crucial in this conversion, I think, is having access to some woodworking equipment. A few years ago, I got into woodworking with a basic setup that included a jointer and planer. You need these to size the wood to the correct size. The main component of the bed is a 1¼”x1¼” wood frame. As a…

The rear ladder is more decoration than useful attribute, but over the years screws have gone missing and rust has appeared. As it is a small job, I could do it when I had an hour to spare. First removed the ladder by removing the old screws. The rust cleaned up quite nicely and in…

  As a base for the interior, I decided to put in a ½” thick piece of plywood on top of ½” rigid insulation board. I started to fill in lengthwise indentations of the metal floor with strips of a thin insulation material, to maximize the R-value.   Subsequently the insulation boards were applied. This…

Now it is time to do some restoration work to the floor.  A few areas had a some surface rust. A little sanding and some fresh paint took care of that. Now I had to fill the dozen or so holes in the floor, that were left after the removal of the bench, chairs and…

The rear passenger side wall panel and the narrow panel that covered the brake lights, were easily removed. They were mostly friction fit with a few additional (hidden) plastic plugs. It revealed a substantial amount of regular home insulation material, except for the narrow panel.