The van build project continues. Progress is slow at times, but it's starting to look more like a camper van from the inside, not just the outside.
I installed the solar panels a couple of weeks ago. These are flexible panels rated at 100 watts each, glued with polyurethane to the roof of the van. They've been busy keeping the house batteries charged ever since. I'm also running a 12 volt fridge and some lights as well as charging the van's battery. Today, in the sunlight, I was getting around 11 amps of charging current.
All the windows are in, as of a few weeks ago. The last one to be installed was the large window in the sliding door which happened a few weeks ago on one of the unusual nice days we got this winter. The others went in last fall before winter arrived.
I still have one more hole to cut and that will be where the water heater goes. That's for later on. We can heat water on the stove until then.
The inside is shaping up gradually. This shows the fridge, part of the counter and the solar charge controller. And, of course, odd bits of construction detritus scattered here and there.
At the back end of the van is the bunk's location along with the table. We use a stove/oven combination. Many of the van conversion projects I've seen get along with just a stove top or some other kind of minimalist cook stove. We have an oven in our old, soon-to-be-retired van and we have loved having it over the years. For one thing, there is far, far more you can do in the food department with an oven, and on long trips, that's important to us.
The sink, which is not quite visible, is a full-size, standard, single basin stainless steel sink. We've never liked the mini sinks so common in RVs, so we put in a regular-sized kitchen sink. Counter tops are close to normal kitchen height which should make them much easier to work at. And there are drawers and small cupboards as well as storage under the seats.
Lots more to do, but we're almost at the stage where we could take it out for a test run and an overnight. The project continues.
Isolation Manor, Out
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