dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Oh man...the recruiter told me it would be pie! I knew I shouldn't have listened to him!
24" bubble top for daily driver?
- Thread starter chasespeed
- Start date
Oh man...the recruiter told me it would be pie! I knew I shouldn't have listened to him!
RocKrawler
Supporting Sponsor
RocKrawler
Supporting Sponsor
I'm glad someone caught that, and yes, I can hardly wait for it myself!
RocKrawler
Supporting Sponsor
seems oddly thick...
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Aye. I never really studied it until now...
I removed the trim piece from the 14" roof vent and poked a light in there. It's got what looks like 1x1 wood stringers, fiberglass insulation between the stringers and a thick layer of fiberglass inside and out.
I can see a couple of front to rear stringers, can't see if there are any cross ribs and didn't have any long stiff wire handy to poke around with.
The sides are about an inch thick and then it gets thinner about 2" up from the mounting flange. Looks like an inner and outer shell which are glued together in a 2" band around the base with the mounting flange sandwiched in between.
If I roll this thing and end up topside down in the river maybe I can just poke a paddle out the window and...nevermind.
I also discovered wiring that runs up from the fridge cabinet and is capped off and tucked back into the top behind the vent trim. I'm guessing it originally had a vent/fan (not a light, there is a light a foot away) and at some point it got replaced with just a vent. Good news as I was thinking of replacing the vent with a vent/fan and now don't have to fish in the wire.
grahamfitter
Expedition Leader
Hi Chase,
Its not a direct comparison but we had a Y2K 2WD regular body E350 11 passenger van with the big gas V8 and 4.11 rear end and a big roof rack on the top. On a run we'd get 13 MPG. Around town around 11.
Debbie used it as a daily driver and found it was practical in town even for parallel parking. The sliding side door definitely made things easier for her and our kids (and their friends and their friends...) but the channel at the bottom needed regular cleaning to keep it smooth and quiet. Other than that, you'll love it.
Vans are the way to go. You should go for it. I'm jealous.
The small print: Much as we both liked the van, we sold it in 2004 when gas prices climbed to a heady $1.69 a gallon and using such a thirsty vehicle as a runabout was getting painful.