LOOKING BACK AT 6 MONTHS OF CONVERSION EFFORT
… seeing this with hindsight reminded us the last half year just flew by.
It’s crazy seeing Isabelle standing in this empty cargo van for the first time, we were so excited. But we had no idea all the work that was ahead of us…
That. First. Start.
DO WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO CONVERT A VAN?
This is the test right here. We just brought home a new shiny van and the first thing we do is cut a big hole through the roof! There is no turning back now… First mod completed!
PASSENGER SWIVEL SEAT
Space is a very precious & rare thing in a van. A swivel seat is a great way to optimize space!
FLOOR
We insulated the floor with 1.5″ thick foam board to keep our feet warm. Even if most of the floor is hidden by furniture, we completely finished it to prevent against water (and beer) infiltration in case of a spill.
GASOLINE AIR HEATER
We wanted a four seasons capable van. The Webasto gasoline air heater is one of the key element to that. It is fed from the van fuel tank, so there is no need to monitor our combustible level.
INSULATION
We insulated the van with 3M Thinsulate. It is a high-quality hydrophobic material that has thermal and noise insulation properties.
BED & BIKE STORAGE
The slide-out bike rack is located under the bed; the raised-bed create a room that we called the “garage”…
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
We play it cool, showing off on Instagram and all. But no power = no smartphone = the end of #vanlife as we know it.
EZ-COOL
Thinsulate (black thing in the picture) was installed over the van panels, but some sheet metal is still exposed. Every sheet metal still exposed was hidden under a layer of EZ-Cool (the bright shiny thing in the picture) to break the thermal bridge.
BEDROOM & OVERHEAD STORAGE
Organisation is the key to sanity in small space. Our bed storage was designed with that in mind!
We also built a kitchen overhead storage. The doors are gas spring actuated and it makes a spaceship sound as it opens.
PRESSURIZED WATER SYSTEM
We installed a 25 gallons fresh water tank, pump, accumulator and Dometic folding sink. The black box (lower-right) is a portable propane hot shower (Mr Heater BOSS).
We Quebecers are known to hang out in our kitchen a lot. We MUST have an emulation of a real kitchen. Just smaller, but functional with the Dometic folding sink, the Atwood propane range and the Novakool sealed-compressor 12V fridge.
THIS WAS A LOT OF WORK SO FAR, BUT IT’S FAR FROM FINISHED. NEVERMIND, IT’S TIME FOR A WELL DESERVED BREAK.
AS SEEN ON THE INTERWEBS…
imgur
These pictures were posted on Imgur and they were featured on the “Most Viral” page. They reached over 450 000 views in 24 hours!