Kottonwood
Adventurer
Hey y'all.
I am glad to be back here on the forum. I sold my last expedition rig after some worldly travels and spent some time working, making home, and building family and community. Anyways, after falling in love with a lovely lady I am excited that I am about to have my first child! I feel the best place to raise a kid is on the road and there's no better way to travel than with a family. So, with that I started thinking about building another expedition vehicle. I am kind of a craigslist addict and I ended up picking this thing up a while back. It is a 1986 g30 (almost the same year as me!)
.
So..... I ended up getting it for 3500 bucks... his definition of mechanically great shape is well different from anyone else's.... it leaks from everywhere, alternator is shot.. batteries dead, tires are 15 years old at least, who knows what else... but otherwise its a runner and that's great. It will need a lot of work before we drive it from the top of the world to the bottom though.
So when I first got it back I figured I would do the interior build out first and focus on the mechanicals later. A lot of the reason for that is budget, I don't have a ton of money to toss at it right now so I figured I would just make it livable. I decided I wanna keep it more or less original on the outside... I like the idea of a cheap stealth looking van vs something that just screams EXPENSIVE CAMPER VAN. Another key part is being able to travel with at least 3-5 people and a couple dogs comfortably. Most of the interior I did with leftover stuff I had from other vehicles (trucks), so that is why it may not look like a traditional van build out. We also decided to forego an interior kitchen and bathroom in order to have more passenger/ sleeping space. So everything up to now was whipped together in a about a week when I am waiting for permits to get approved on a barn I am building....
So, the last guy had already built some decent interior walls and insulated them will 1.5 inches of foam... He also had put plywood on the floor with 1/2 inch foam underneath... if it ain't broke, don't fix it! He didn't do ceiling though... so I insulated it and threw up some cedar, along with some interior lighting.
So now we are insulated!!! So, also in the above pics you'll see the cargo slide in the rear. This will eventually end up serving as a slide out kitchen of sorts with a lot of our camping and kitchen gear stored on it. The space to the right is conveniently sized to fit a fridge/ freezer. The bedframe above is where the lady and I will sleep... most of that all was stolen out of various variations of my previous f150.
Here is a shot of the bed drawer/drawer frame from the front, cant have to much storage!
Right in front of that will go a fold down "duchess" van bed seat for the kiddos/passengers to sit and sleep. it is on order. You can also see the beginnings of my water system there... a 4 gallon water heater and a 42 gallon storage tank.
I had to cut a window in for the passengers of course.... I'll finish trimming that later...
Continuing with my water system I put a full filtration system (very handy south of the border!) and a thermostatic mixing valve, also you can see here my switch panel for much of the accessory electronics
Next I already knew I wanted this to be all electric, NO PROPANE.... I learned when traveling through many countries that it is just a pain to keep multiple types of fuel... this thing is diesel and that is the only gas stops I wanna make. So I started with a 400 watt solar system, I am going to add 3 more panels to give it 700 watts... not bad for a van!. As you can see I am really a function over form kinda guy..... get 'er done
And of course I need 400ah of batteries to go with it
...and a 5000 watt inverter... cooking on electric takes power!
And.... how would it be complete without a 12v powerd air conditioner/heat pump... that's right folks... SOLAR POWERED AC!!!!
So... That is basically where it stands right now.... future goals to follow
I am glad to be back here on the forum. I sold my last expedition rig after some worldly travels and spent some time working, making home, and building family and community. Anyways, after falling in love with a lovely lady I am excited that I am about to have my first child! I feel the best place to raise a kid is on the road and there's no better way to travel than with a family. So, with that I started thinking about building another expedition vehicle. I am kind of a craigslist addict and I ended up picking this thing up a while back. It is a 1986 g30 (almost the same year as me!)
.
So..... I ended up getting it for 3500 bucks... his definition of mechanically great shape is well different from anyone else's.... it leaks from everywhere, alternator is shot.. batteries dead, tires are 15 years old at least, who knows what else... but otherwise its a runner and that's great. It will need a lot of work before we drive it from the top of the world to the bottom though.
So when I first got it back I figured I would do the interior build out first and focus on the mechanicals later. A lot of the reason for that is budget, I don't have a ton of money to toss at it right now so I figured I would just make it livable. I decided I wanna keep it more or less original on the outside... I like the idea of a cheap stealth looking van vs something that just screams EXPENSIVE CAMPER VAN. Another key part is being able to travel with at least 3-5 people and a couple dogs comfortably. Most of the interior I did with leftover stuff I had from other vehicles (trucks), so that is why it may not look like a traditional van build out. We also decided to forego an interior kitchen and bathroom in order to have more passenger/ sleeping space. So everything up to now was whipped together in a about a week when I am waiting for permits to get approved on a barn I am building....
So, the last guy had already built some decent interior walls and insulated them will 1.5 inches of foam... He also had put plywood on the floor with 1/2 inch foam underneath... if it ain't broke, don't fix it! He didn't do ceiling though... so I insulated it and threw up some cedar, along with some interior lighting.
So now we are insulated!!! So, also in the above pics you'll see the cargo slide in the rear. This will eventually end up serving as a slide out kitchen of sorts with a lot of our camping and kitchen gear stored on it. The space to the right is conveniently sized to fit a fridge/ freezer. The bedframe above is where the lady and I will sleep... most of that all was stolen out of various variations of my previous f150.
Here is a shot of the bed drawer/drawer frame from the front, cant have to much storage!
Right in front of that will go a fold down "duchess" van bed seat for the kiddos/passengers to sit and sleep. it is on order. You can also see the beginnings of my water system there... a 4 gallon water heater and a 42 gallon storage tank.
I had to cut a window in for the passengers of course.... I'll finish trimming that later...
Continuing with my water system I put a full filtration system (very handy south of the border!) and a thermostatic mixing valve, also you can see here my switch panel for much of the accessory electronics
Next I already knew I wanted this to be all electric, NO PROPANE.... I learned when traveling through many countries that it is just a pain to keep multiple types of fuel... this thing is diesel and that is the only gas stops I wanna make. So I started with a 400 watt solar system, I am going to add 3 more panels to give it 700 watts... not bad for a van!. As you can see I am really a function over form kinda guy..... get 'er done
And of course I need 400ah of batteries to go with it
...and a 5000 watt inverter... cooking on electric takes power!
And.... how would it be complete without a 12v powerd air conditioner/heat pump... that's right folks... SOLAR POWERED AC!!!!
So... That is basically where it stands right now.... future goals to follow
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