Cummins Canoe (A Stepvan Story)

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Things are really piling up. Lets get rid of it by installing it into the van!


We opted to start the interior by insulating the floor, at least a little bit.


We plan on doing more insulating on the floor, but this will be a good thermal break for anything immediately mounted to the floor.


And the worst part, getting the rock wool installed. This stuff isn't as bad as fiberglass insulation, but it does get dusty. Need to go slow and gentle as to not stir up fibers in the air.


Actually ran out of rock wool. Almost made it though. Just this one small wall space. So we decided to just fill it with some styrofoam. No scrap goes to waste!


Oofta! Lots of work, but we're all ready for interior wood!

 

[Bikersmurf]

Things are really piling up. Lets get rid of it by installing it into the van!

View attachment 626556
We opted to start the interior by insulating the floor, at least a little bit.

View attachment 626557
We plan on doing more insulating on the floor, but this will be a good thermal break for anything immediately mounted to the floor.

View attachment 626558
And the worst part, getting the rock wool installed. This stuff isn't as bad as fiberglass insulation, but it does get dusty. Need to go slow and gentle as to not stir up fibers in the air.

View attachment 626559
Actually ran out of rock wool. Almost made it though. Just this one small wall space. So we decided to just fill it with some styrofoam. No scrap goes to waste!
View attachment 626560
Oofta! Lots of work, but we're all ready for interior wood!

I’ll take Roxul / Rock Wool insulation over glass any day of the week. For now I’m leaving my glass insulation alone... way too much work to do anything else with it.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

The rock wool wasn't as itchy as fiberglass. I still have fiberglass in the old ceiling I left. I wouldn't do anything with new fiberglass in a build though.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Oh boy, very busy! So busy, we needed all hands on deck!


So the girls did all the super easy math stuff. Gee, they're great! ?‍?


Women are very good at multitasking. They worked well as a team too. Very efficient.


But there is no "i" in team, so "I" am going to stand over here! Well, that was their logic while they coerced the men to come in and do the real hard work! This the first time I've ever measured zero times and cut once.


At some point, everyone had to help! Except for me, I mean someone had to take photos. This looked like too much work anyway. Don't worry, I bribed everyone with pizza and beer. These sheets were a pain to carry and hold in place!


All the math the girls did really payed off! Everything fit the first time and no need to recut anything!


Most of the wood is in. On way home from work I picked up these bad boys out of the trash. It's old above ground pool aluminum decking! We're thinking we can incorporate them into the cabinets somehow. Suggestions?

 

[Buddha.]

That decking looks super strong, you could make some kind of folding bed/bunks/counter platform(s).
Maybe even a ramp/deck for the back.

 

[screwball48]

That decking looks super strong, you could make some kind of folding bed/bunks/counter platform(s).
Maybe even a ramp/deck for the back.

Bed/bunk idea with a recirculating hot water system. Think radiant style flooring. Small tubes of circulating hot water warms the aluminum under your bedding.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

They are quite light and strong. The long 12' ones, I bet I can support them up on ends and jump on the middle and it would be fine. We do plan on putting in hydronic heating, so maybe heated bunks, hmmm...

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Found some more goodies out of the garbage!


This is old 1960's cedar panelling.


We wanted something for the ceiling that was thin, lightweight, and cheap. And this fits the bill for sure!


In preparation for the ceiling, we took down some of the ceiling insulation and made grooves for the recessed light wiring on the inside of the foam boards.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Finishing up some odds and ends on the walls and getting the ceiling up!


Got this sticky back Frost King insulation from the store.


We'll use that to cover all the exposed aluminum to reduce condensation buildup on the cold metal. Made it long enough to overlap onto the 0.25" XPS foam we put up to fill in the last gap in the rear walls on top of the 1.5" of foam underneath.


Ready for walls and ceiling.


Had just enough of the one color of panelling to get the ceiling done. Doesn't look too bad for being free. Can't wait to get the lights working so we don't need to work inside with flashlights anymore!

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Oh boy, it's starting to look like something on the inside!


But it's kinda dark in here...


Ah! That's much better!


Fixing odds and ends. Some spots the edges of the plywood didn't sit perfect.


But nothing a flush trim bit on a router can't fix!


Tacked up the inside corners of the ceiling with a brad nailer.


And once all that stuff was done, we polyurethane everything!

 

[chris the ogre]

you guys work quick! Looks like a sauna in there

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Amazing what you can get done when there is a pandemic and you no longer have hobbies or a social life. And sauna? Hmmm, maybe we should put that hot tub back in the rig...

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Polyurethane is all dry, time to start framing and fitting components.


Cleaned up some of these sections of old pool decking. Many years of chlorine all up on the aluminum created a mess. Nothing a wire wheel couldn't fix. Do this outside with good ventilation so people don't think you have the corona.


Laying out some stuff, seeing where it all fits. We didn't want to randomly put screws through the floor in a whole bunch of spots. So, we took a 16' 2"x4" that we found in the garbage, ripping it down to 1"x1.5" and bolted that to the floor in about 6 spots with 3/8" aluminum bolts. the bolts are countersunk into the wood so the bolt heads are flush with the top of the wood. The idea is to mount everything to either the walls or this strip of wood that is at about the edge of all the future cabinets. We're going for real simple aisle design. To frame any interior walls, we're going lightweight with 2'x2" wood.


I have a feeling this router table is going to be everything in this build.


So the water heater we have has mounting brackets of the sides. To get the water heater all the way against the wall, we made this groove under the bottom plate of the framed wall to hold down the one side of the water heater. The other side, which we have access to, we'll just bolt down to the floor with another aluminum bolt.


Started to get real fancy with the router table. Making vertical supports for the countertop.


And finished the wall and got the pool decking up. This will be our upper cabinets. the aluminum is very light and strong. You can hang and do pull-ups underneath and it doesn't flex. This will save lots of weight instead of building upper cabinets with all wood construction.


Found some foam in a dumpster. We pulled that out and cleaned it. Maybe it will come in handy?


And to treat ourselves for all that hard work, we got to watch a movie using the projector. Who would have thought the side of the van could be such a great movie screen!

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

Lots of motivation to get things out of the garage, like that stupid big fridge.


It's big indeed. But it fits in the spot we framed out for the fridge.


It will probably sit something like this.


Got tired of the pocket door flying open while driving. So we got a really strong rubber covered magnet and rigged this up to keep the door closed.


We took the wall plywood down in the cab and stuck a magnet inside the wall to keep the door open.


Also attached this brush door sweep to help seal the door.


Wired in some 12v switches.


Got 120v and 12v outlets in too.


Even have an outlet in the cab now. Never had a vehicle with an outlet next to the drivers seat, hoping this will be useful.

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

People have been complaining that there are only 2 seats in the rig. Everyone wants to go for rides. I guess we need to build more seats...


Can't stop making cool stuff with other cool stuff!


Some lightweight seat framing. We'll skin the frame with some 1/2" birch plywood later on.


Oh that feels so nice and warm inside...


Something like this should work. Picked up some simple seatbelts and bolted them to the floor. They're not much, but they at least give the passenger a chance. A small dinette table thing in between the seats and storage for underneath.


These lightweight aluminum shelves are so strong! We need to incorporate them on the drivers side. But the fridge is in the middle of the wall. Hmmm...


I guess we'll have to cut a section in half.


Just need to weld new ends on the cut sides.


And just like that, we have two smaller sections.


And now to enjoy the fruits of our labor. So glad we made that bulkhead wall out of 2x4's. Very sturdy for side loaded forces like this.