Drawing from much inspiration here, I threw down on an ambulance with the dream of building the ultimate ski-mobile.
My plan is to do the interior and much of exterior conversion and then next summer bite into doing the 4x4 conversion. I figure this will give me a very accurate weight distribution per axel for spec'ing the new springs.
I live in a very snowy town. We actually have the claim to the snowiest winter in Canada at over 80 feet in a year. Most of the skiing I do is a combination of trucks, snowmobiles and human-powered. We typically drive to the end of the plowed logging road, sled up from there and walk up for what we ski down. I don't need really impressive off-roading ability, just a solid 4x4 system to make turning around with a trailer in tight spots feasible. A winch and a buddy is usually enough to unscrew what you've screwed up. There are a few things that are required when spending a few days at the dead end of a *very* snowy logging road or the parking lot of a far-away resort:
There's a great spot for skis that was formerly for spare spine boards and a stretcher.
The 7.3L will be more than enough to pull a sled trailer around once I fabricate a rear bumper with a receiver.
I might be distracted for a bit by trying to engineer a 4x4 system around coil springs since I believe it'll give a better ride, though I'm not sure at what cost of engineering. Chris from ujoint seems super straight-forward and seems to sell a great, well reviewed product for the conversion, so I'll likely end up there.
A series of fans to pull air out of the cabin, past clothes and skins to the outdoors I think will be key for drying out gear. I've built a few boot driers for the house and I think the same thing applies here. The main problem I foresee is filling the cabin with warm, dry air.
I'd love to get some feedback from people who have tried to heat something around this size in fairly cold temperatures (down to around -20*C/-4*F). I see three options:
The first is a ceramic catalyst heater. My worry is that the moisture generated by such a system would screw me on drying the rest of the van out. Other than that, the low power consumption and relative simplicity seem to make sense. The second option would be a forced air system from an RV, I've heard they're often loud and draw a decent amount of current. The downside to both of these systems is having to install an auxiliary fuel source. While having propane on board would be useful for cooking, it would be amazing to avoid the complication altogether and cope with cooking on a smaller stove.
This brought me to diesel parking heaters. There seem to be two types. Water-based and air based. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? It would be nice to be able to heat water through the rear heat exchanger to warm the rear compartment and run it through the engine's cooling system before start-up and head home. They do seem to be pretty pricey, but I'm thinking an afternoon rooting around a transport truck scrap yard might yield some booty. Any input on this would be super helpful.
Thanks, Simon.
My plan is to do the interior and much of exterior conversion and then next summer bite into doing the 4x4 conversion. I figure this will give me a very accurate weight distribution per axel for spec'ing the new springs.
I live in a very snowy town. We actually have the claim to the snowiest winter in Canada at over 80 feet in a year. Most of the skiing I do is a combination of trucks, snowmobiles and human-powered. We typically drive to the end of the plowed logging road, sled up from there and walk up for what we ski down. I don't need really impressive off-roading ability, just a solid 4x4 system to make turning around with a trailer in tight spots feasible. A winch and a buddy is usually enough to unscrew what you've screwed up. There are a few things that are required when spending a few days at the dead end of a *very* snowy logging road or the parking lot of a far-away resort:
- Ski storage
- Towing capacity for two sleds
- 4x4 with good, studded and siped winter-compound tires
- Gear storage with drying abilities for skins, ski boots and wet jackets
- Heat and moisture management
There's a great spot for skis that was formerly for spare spine boards and a stretcher.
The 7.3L will be more than enough to pull a sled trailer around once I fabricate a rear bumper with a receiver.
I might be distracted for a bit by trying to engineer a 4x4 system around coil springs since I believe it'll give a better ride, though I'm not sure at what cost of engineering. Chris from ujoint seems super straight-forward and seems to sell a great, well reviewed product for the conversion, so I'll likely end up there.
A series of fans to pull air out of the cabin, past clothes and skins to the outdoors I think will be key for drying out gear. I've built a few boot driers for the house and I think the same thing applies here. The main problem I foresee is filling the cabin with warm, dry air.
I'd love to get some feedback from people who have tried to heat something around this size in fairly cold temperatures (down to around -20*C/-4*F). I see three options:
The first is a ceramic catalyst heater. My worry is that the moisture generated by such a system would screw me on drying the rest of the van out. Other than that, the low power consumption and relative simplicity seem to make sense. The second option would be a forced air system from an RV, I've heard they're often loud and draw a decent amount of current. The downside to both of these systems is having to install an auxiliary fuel source. While having propane on board would be useful for cooking, it would be amazing to avoid the complication altogether and cope with cooking on a smaller stove.
This brought me to diesel parking heaters. There seem to be two types. Water-based and air based. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? It would be nice to be able to heat water through the rear heat exchanger to warm the rear compartment and run it through the engine's cooling system before start-up and head home. They do seem to be pretty pricey, but I'm thinking an afternoon rooting around a transport truck scrap yard might yield some booty. Any input on this would be super helpful.
Thanks, Simon.
