CCV astro van!!

[Herbie]

Check out Herbies build thread, it is awesome, but last time I checked the project was still ongoing as it is a good amount of work, and life gets in the way. But it will give you an idea of what is needed, and he did a great job documenting what has been done so far.

Thanks for the kind words. You're right on all counts. Lots of time invested, project still on-going, and life happens. But I had the rig "mostly" done for OvEx '11 and we recently had our first "family" outing with the child too. Things went pretty well, and 95% of the systems I had designed fit/worked exactly as I expected them to, mostly due to hours of careful measuring and planning. My wife who is NOT a camper (and keeping her comfy has been the driving factor for the whole build) had only one complaint: We need a screen room off of the awning because we got invaded by Yellow Jackets when I started grilling sausage for breakfast.

The major negative of doing it yourself, aside from the time/money sink, is that all you see are the flaws. All the time.

Examples: My first draft of the lower bunk/bed system works "ok", but I'm already planning the second draft to fix the issues and the idea of tearing into it and starting over is daunting. Similarly, I have a couple of small problems with the pop-top - one of the hinges transplanted from the donor van was bent just enough that it binds a little, and the GTRV design needs a bit more foot room. Both would require new hinges to "fix" and I'm constantly putting off reinstalling the headliners rather than have to pull them again if/when I get around to fixing this. Sometimes I do daydream about just taking it to Derek or someone else and having them "finish" the project for me just so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

I have always wondered, if the elctric lift fails, is there any way to manually lift/lower it, or are you stuck (hopefully down not up) until it gets fixed?

I was worried about this too when I did the first draft of my electric lift. I handled it by making the attachment points for the lift actuators to the pop-top such that they could be unbolted from outside the top. Thus, if the top got stuck in the "down" position, you could disconnect the lifts and manually lift the top up from inside the van. Mostly I was worried about a motor seizing or shorting and not being able to service it.

 

[RocKrawler]

Those of you thinking DIY, remember shipping is a killer!!! I thought about it, and figured it would cost me MORE to DIY, and that was assuming I didn't screw something up...

This was considered, but also consider the time and expense to drive all the way to Colorado, hotel, food and rental car during the install and then the drive back. Not to mention the lost pay from time off work if you are commissioned sales as I am. Lots to consider when you rather pay a bit more for the done job, but the extra grand plus for the trip adds a lot.

Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt.

 

[dsw4x4]

I forgot to say something about if the lift fails. On my tops (all of them) you can simply pull the pin on one end of the failed actuator and raise and lower the top with the good actuator, or if both fail you can pull the pin on both actuators and lower the top. and yes you can pull the pin on at least one end of the actuator while the top is down and still be able to get it open so that you can replace the actuator. This is all kept in mind during the design process.
Derek

 

[T.Low]

That Astro is the Phashizzle!

There is yet another van thread on ADVrider (probably 4 going simultan.., simontaneu..,at the same time) so i'll put a link to this thread. I put a link on ASV, too.

Nice work, Derek.

Herbie, the screen room has been on my list from the git go but we really haven't hung out at camp too much so we haven't botherred yet. Now that we are with kiddo, I can see it becoming a priority again.