Location: Mill Valley, CA (near San Francisco)
SOLD
Meet Roofus, our adventure getaway vehicle. He's built like a VW Westfalia, but can cruise on the highway at 75 mph and has much more space. We use him to escape from the city, explore new mountain bike trails, and find campsites with nobody else around. When you get to your campsite, just pop up the top and you're done! Roofus is complete with a propane heater, sink, stove, and refrigerator that all work great.
With the top up, there's ~8ft of head room closest to the stove and sink where you need it most. There are also privacy curtains for all of the windows. The pop-top also means you get two sleeping berths - one in the top and one underneath, making it easy for a family of 4 to fit everyone inside.
Roofus is a 2WD van with a 2" lift and has an ARB air locking rear differential operated from a switch on the dashboard. This is a fine setup for getting off the grid most of the year, the lack of low range and full 4x4 may put you at risk in all but the most slippery of situations. The lift will get you over just about any dirt road that's not labeled 4x4 only.
Here are more detailed specs:
- 11 gallons water on-board.
- 6 gallon grey-water tank.
- 8 gallon propane tank. Running the heat all night in 20 degree weather will burn about a gallon per day.
- Sink and rear shower. No water heater.
- Trailer hitch with ~6500lb (braked) towing capacity
- Sterling 12.5 full float rear axle with disc brakes
- 2x100Ah house batteries that are recharged as you drive. The charge controller will also accept a solar panel, so if that's something you want to add, it will just be a matter of wiring it up. As-is, the battery will last about 36 hours and charges to full after ~2-3 hours of driving.
- Mini-fridge gets cold enough to keep frozen food frozen and perishables cold as long as your fridge at home
- Rear seat has three seat belts, one is a 3-point and the other two are lap belts
- Aluminess bumpers: I bought these used but never had a chance to properly wire up the lights. I also have a ladder and all the mounting hardware if you'd like it.
- Note we removed the microwave from the van as we were only using it for storage
We've owned the van for the last 2 years and in that time have invested over 10k into him (and have all the receipts to show for it). Improvements aside from those already mentioned include:
- New spark plugs and coils (175k)
- New Bilstein shocks (170k)
- New brake lines (150k)
- Differential rebuild & locking rear differential (150k)
- New front seats (165k)
- New power steering rack (140k)
- Oil changes every 3-4k miles
The van does have some minor issues including minor surface rust. The frame is still in really good shape though and the rust is just starting to appear on the lower skirts and within the wheel wells. See photos. I purchased the van about 2 years ago from another forum member on here. I'll try to find the old thread and post the link.
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