Slide-out in a Van
- Thread starter 45Kevin
- Start date
derjack
Adventurer
This has surely nothing to do with the length of the vehicle but with the whole construction! A Van body is made of steel: strong (in terms of crash test and torsion) but with a minimum cost (for manufacturer) and weight.
RV´s have an custom made body for their specific use. If it includes a side-out it is planned before the construction is made. A steel Van body only works in the way they are build by the manufacturer! If you cut out e.g. the roof you will loose most of its strength. If you cut out a side rail from the inside (like for installing a window) you will loose strength also.
Both is done very often witch does not mean is is a good idea.
If anyone wants to do this it is surely possible but for how many compromises? It is better to start with something new instead. Thought the benefit of room will surely not be in good relation to the costs!
Don´t get me wrong: I like the idea but it is from a logical pov pretty bad.
Though a van body like a E350 is very aerodynamic. This means - sadly- that the sidewalls are much narrower at the top of the vehicle. My personally favorite way of internal allocation is much different than a typical US Van like a Sportsmobile: I like to NOT climb into the roof. I don´t like to fold a bed either. To get as much room inside as possible I want to have the bed at the rear but across the vehicle! I need roughly 6 foot witch I can get at the middle of the body height but not at the top!
Solution is this:
There are a few manufacturers in North America that make a Class B (van body) RV with a slide out center section. Examples:
Leisure Vans Free Spirit SS http://www.leisurevans.com/freespiritss/index.html
Winnebago Era 70C http://winnebagoind.com/products/class-b/2015/era/overview
While a slide adds interior room, the mechanism takes away from precious cargo capacity. Slides can allow dust and water into the interior. And slides can bind up if the vehicle is not parked on level ground.
Leisure Vans Free Spirit SS http://www.leisurevans.com/freespiritss/index.html
Winnebago Era 70C http://winnebagoind.com/products/class-b/2015/era/overview
While a slide adds interior room, the mechanism takes away from precious cargo capacity. Slides can allow dust and water into the interior. And slides can bind up if the vehicle is not parked on level ground.
Beautiful truck!
Replacing the rear window with a pop-out section is an inexpensive way to add interior space. In a Sprinter or similar van, the pop-out has to avoid the sliding side door, so it can't be too large.
Here's one USA provider (based in Oregon) of pop out sections for the Sprinter. Flarespace claims their product adds 10 inches to the width of the vehicle, making it possible for people under 6 ft 3 or 4 inches to sleep sideways http://www.flarespace.com
45Kevin
Adventurer
Thanks for the replies and links guys.
I'm just about to buy an Express passenger van with driver side passenger doors, so the engineered framing is already there. I was thinking I could weld the door together and mount them on a slide-out. I'd have to figure some kind of latch mechanism but that's a detail for later.
The opening is +-50". Wide enough for a bed? Definitely wide enough for a sofa or a kitchenette. It could be as deep as the width of the driver's seat.
The wheels are turning, but I need to have truck in my driveway before I actually decide on anything. We will decide on a floor plan when we get it. We'll start off with a temporary bed in the rear and see how that works out over the summer.
I'm just about to buy an Express passenger van with driver side passenger doors, so the engineered framing is already there. I was thinking I could weld the door together and mount them on a slide-out. I'd have to figure some kind of latch mechanism but that's a detail for later.
The opening is +-50". Wide enough for a bed? Definitely wide enough for a sofa or a kitchenette. It could be as deep as the width of the driver's seat.
The wheels are turning, but I need to have truck in my driveway before I actually decide on anything. We will decide on a floor plan when we get it. We'll start off with a temporary bed in the rear and see how that works out over the summer.
Stroverlander
Adventurer
Very, very nice!
derjack
Adventurer
This is what I see totally different: If the bed is NOT along side but across you gain halb a meter room, or 2 feet. Though across is only room for 6 feet. You can gain 10 inch by the way the sprinter did.
If you want, and erverybody does, room for gear, the room below the bed is unused. There is plenty of room, even for bikes, boxes etc. The cool thing is that you can made this storage dust secured to the interior, which makes this way different to classic doors like traditional vans.
I had both, meaning a bed with plenty of storage below, acessable from the back also bot with these stupid doors. I don't want these anymore on my E350 and will close them... later...
I've had similar thoughts with my van. The end result of my multiple instances of "consideration" is that the only structurally "reasonable" place to add one is similar to above concepts...out the back doors. In my case, this means the maximum width of the slider would be around 50", and the maximum height is around 48". Once you added all the structure, slide and lock mechanisms, etc you'd have far less than 50x48, and would have added a lot of weight and complexity. I think I've finally stopped considering this option for my own application. The VW thingy is pretty awesome...just not practical when you're bouncing down unimproved roads for hundreds of miles at a time. The other option I've considered is a "fold out" scenario where the roof and walls are made up of tent material. Again, complex but less weight and probably a simpler solution than a hardshell slide unit. In the end, I'll most likely "leave things be" and just appreciate that I still have 2x more space than every other rig I'm sharing the trail with 
SG
SG
