I guess that's my cue....
Nate approached me in January of this year and the conversation sounded something like this, "I'm going to start a camper van rental company out of San Francisco and I want you to "upfit" the vans for me.....I have 5 vans on the way....I know you can do this!"....and why not take the opportunity?
Nate started by sending me lots of information regarding the competition, what is out there in the rental van market, and even a spread sheet outlining some wants and needs.
When we finally met in a van, Nate had a pretty good idea of what he wanted. It was up to me to make it all work.
After this meeting Nate sent me a rough Solidworks model which acted as review of what we had discussed in person.
It consists on a "full XL" bed which is 52"x84", the bed turns into a dinette with the benches having lift up lids for storage, and a small kitchen box, 3 boxes, easy!
Then as products started coming in, and so did the cardboard mockups and template making.
One of the initial challenges was what to do with the floor. The transit has a "floating floor" that is around 1 1/4" thick. It uses Styrofoam for thickness. This allows the floor to be flat with the seat tracks below the level of the floor. This is what is left of the final floor.
It was our opinion that anything built on top would require something more substantial than Styrofoam. Besides we would still have to deal with the seat track holes. Since the fit out transversely crosses the van it allows us to split the floor without obvious implications. The second row seat was staying so its tracks needed to be covered, and there were no other edges of the OEM floor showing.
The other challenge was fitting the fridge between the OEM 2nd row seat and the kitchen box. The fridge is a simple drawer style, 12v, it was chosen for its compactness and low amp draw.
Over the course of a couple weeks, I measured, erased, recut cardboard, and Nate and I both mulled over the compromises as we fine tuned the layout.
We had lengthy discussion and debate about the cabinets material and final finish. I knew Nate didn't want stained wood, it just doesn't fit the demographic and look he is going for which has been said to have a more "executive" feel than the competition, efficient, practical, and durable.
I felt Nate was siding on laminate/melamine, I couldn't get behind it. All of the local laminated sheet goods have particle board cores, if you want a Baltic birch or any type of plywood substrate we would have to laminate them ourselves. Because of the nature of the box construction some panels would have to be laminated before hand and others afterwards, a bunch of edge banding, etc.
Besides, rounded corners and laminate don't mix so you have a lot of sharp edges and corners everywhere. Additionally I just don't think laminate has any long term durability.
So I somewhat jokingly suggest Monstraliner. Its a very durable 2 part epoxy with a slight texture, and comes in many amusingly named colors. Nate had mentioned that he wanted something that can be scrubbed if some nastiness spills and dries in one of the storage boxes. The product completely seals the inside of the boxes, this would be one of laminates demises, spill something in the box it gets in the cracks, expands the wood, laminate buckles, etc., you could make a bathtub out of the Monstralinered boxes.
Although the cost of Monstraliner is high, the prep time is minimal, very little sanding, hole filling, and no priming or multi stage finishes.
So with that and the dimensions dialed in I bought enough 18mm and 12mm Baltic birch plywood to build two sets of boxes.
Things like the countertop being cut into the window recess in the door, or the table top offsetting onto the interior panel are all things that are very difficult to "model" in the virtual world, these details can really only be found by spending lots of time in the van. The table offset adds a lot of stability and also gained us much needed space between the kitchen box and the table end which wasn't there on the CAD model.
For the table pedestal I made a simple adapter plate that allows the attachment of the pedestal base to some of the OEM seat track mounting holes. For the first two vans I made them out of 1/4" aluminum plate. For subsequent vans Nate had them made in the SF area out of 3/8" steel.
With fitment fine tuned I could take the boxes in the shop, replicate them into another set, and fine tune some of the details like fridge venting, found some cool vents that go in a 4" hole saw hole, holes for wiring, build the drawer, etc.
Clearances are tight.
We debated flip up, pullout, flip down and every other type of added counter space out there. The design of the box finally dictated the pullout drawer/extended countertop scenario.
I think we both would have like to see more storage in the kitchen box but we are asking a lot of it as is. The desire to have the fresh/grey water in that location has a lot to do with it. Fact is they are so easy to replace, clean, fill right there for renters, and employees of the company alike.
For the first two sets I hand brushed/rolled the Monstraliner. Its messy, time consuming, I'm not a huge fan of painting. The boxes get two full coats. Special attention has to be paid to the end grain of the wood. The grain will telegraph through the paint if you don't dab it with a wet brush/roller. The colors are Medium Quartz Grey and Tarheel, Nate has chosen MQG for all vans from here on out. It is a good match for the OEM Ford interior and looks like it belongs. I cant get the old Agent Orange song out of my mind, ....."everything turns (medium quartz) grey!...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flr6ebGNBpY
Each set of boxes uses 2 gallons of Mliner
The drivers side of the front box has a space and hold down for a second battery. The battery is connected in parallel with the under driver seat mounted OEM battery. In some of the earlier pics, there is a panel that spans both boxes. It is a pressure fit, and covers the battery box.
There was much debate over solar, there is very low current draw, and they aren't expected to be sitting long, and when in the shop they will be on trickle chargers. Solar could be added very easily in the future. You can also see the inside of the front storage bin, the boxes are held down by OEM fasteners in some locations, all locations are pre/existing floor inserts.
Also in this pic, the 105 degree lid holder soft closers, so nobody gets their fingers smashed. The lids all have nearly full width piano hinges.
The rear storage box. I relocated the OEM jack here, it was mounted on the right rear side wall in the way of the "hallway", also in this pic, you can see the webbing and grommets that hold the modified 4" Lucid mattress. I have had a local seamstress separate the sections of the foldable mattress and re sew the seams. Also I cut the foam in an area on one of the panels to conform to the van interior at the left rear.
We are using laminate for the counter/table top, and pullout shelf. Currently I have been buying "bargain bin" sheets at $1ish a sq. ft.
Nate wasn't picky on color/style so it was easy. In these pics its a grey micro dot, upcoming vans are a simulated dark wood.
More later...
