HumboldtSeaBilly
New member
Whats up everyone? Love the forum, took lots of good ideas in my recent build and implemented them. Van is a 2001 7.3 E350, 133k on odo. Got it for a song, was a former beer delivery truck!
I named her the Albatross for a few reasons, they live largely on the water (I am an avid spearfishingman, boater, surfer, anything water), they only come ashore to mate :ylsmoke: , and largely live on seafood and garbage.
She came as a semi-insulated cargo van with all interior plastics and one layer of reflectix type material behind. I stripped it down and glued in 3 additional layers of reflectix behind all panels along with sound deadening around the front floorboards.
After insulation I build a murphy bed which fits a twin XL size mattress. I have a 5/8" foam pad on the wood and 4" temperpedic mattress that fits nicely and is very comfy. There is "hidden" storage along the fenderwall behind the bed which is nice to store spearguns, fins, etc.
I bought some of the warm strip lighting from amazon and rigged it up to a dimmer. I have 5ft of LED's on each side of the van running longitudinally each on seperate circuits. The dimmable is nice for reading books and setting the mood :bigok: If you need lots of light, fire up both sides and it is very bright! The package advertised 3000k color temperature which I would say is accurate, although the CRI of these lights is quite low, but what can you expect for 20 bucks on amazon?
I also build a galley on the barn door. It houses plates, a small stove, kettle, paper towels, utensils, and a built in cutting board. I added a notched piece of aluminum on the side of the door that attaches under the rear fender well to hold the door open as Ive seen in sportsmobiles.
The backdoor features my hot water shower. It is a on-demand propane water heater fed by a 12v 35psi 1.1gpm marine on-demand pump. So far I just stick the hose into a 5 gallon water jug and that is enough to wash dishes, take a shower after surfing/spearing, and wash hands etc. It is luxurious having hot water!~
I drilled some aluminum channel and fit it near the roofline inside the van so I can carry surfboards against the ceiling. Always nice to have your stuff inside rather than out when out and about with activities. I would like to eventually get a raised roof to store more crap up there!
I also wired a 800W inverter, which is small, but is what I had on hand. Mostly I charge while driving, including laptop, gopro batteries, and other misc, seems to work well so far. I added a fused panel that fulls straight from the battery lead so I have excellent power supply that is properly rated for its intended use.
I built a steel "lock box" that I can padlock all my valuables in while out and about. Also added hasps to the inside barn doors and rear door so I can padlock it from the inside. I figure if they can steal **** out the front doors good luck. Also built a brake pedal lock so It cant be shifted when locked up. Not sure what you all do for security, I think the next step is to install a kill switch. If they steal the whole van, dang, that would be a bummer, lot of good **** inside I would hate to lose! Just have to do the best you can to deter I guess.
I cut some reflectix to fit the rear windows and sprayed them matte black. Also added a curtain up front for when you want to black out and sleep in. Works good so far. I think it would be nicer to have the material fit to the inside windshield as the curtain makes it a bit closed in feeling. Also some type of shade that lets some light in would be nice for the times you don't want it totally blacked out inside. It does help with the "incognito" mode though.
I would like to fab up some swivel seat brackets to be able to chill inside when its rainy.
I also use a small mr. heater to take the chill off the van on cold nights. Don't think I would leave it on all night, but it is nice to fall asleep to a warm van!
And with that, on to some pictures.
I named her the Albatross for a few reasons, they live largely on the water (I am an avid spearfishingman, boater, surfer, anything water), they only come ashore to mate :ylsmoke: , and largely live on seafood and garbage.
She came as a semi-insulated cargo van with all interior plastics and one layer of reflectix type material behind. I stripped it down and glued in 3 additional layers of reflectix behind all panels along with sound deadening around the front floorboards.
After insulation I build a murphy bed which fits a twin XL size mattress. I have a 5/8" foam pad on the wood and 4" temperpedic mattress that fits nicely and is very comfy. There is "hidden" storage along the fenderwall behind the bed which is nice to store spearguns, fins, etc.
I bought some of the warm strip lighting from amazon and rigged it up to a dimmer. I have 5ft of LED's on each side of the van running longitudinally each on seperate circuits. The dimmable is nice for reading books and setting the mood :bigok: If you need lots of light, fire up both sides and it is very bright! The package advertised 3000k color temperature which I would say is accurate, although the CRI of these lights is quite low, but what can you expect for 20 bucks on amazon?
I also build a galley on the barn door. It houses plates, a small stove, kettle, paper towels, utensils, and a built in cutting board. I added a notched piece of aluminum on the side of the door that attaches under the rear fender well to hold the door open as Ive seen in sportsmobiles.
The backdoor features my hot water shower. It is a on-demand propane water heater fed by a 12v 35psi 1.1gpm marine on-demand pump. So far I just stick the hose into a 5 gallon water jug and that is enough to wash dishes, take a shower after surfing/spearing, and wash hands etc. It is luxurious having hot water!~
I drilled some aluminum channel and fit it near the roofline inside the van so I can carry surfboards against the ceiling. Always nice to have your stuff inside rather than out when out and about with activities. I would like to eventually get a raised roof to store more crap up there!
I also wired a 800W inverter, which is small, but is what I had on hand. Mostly I charge while driving, including laptop, gopro batteries, and other misc, seems to work well so far. I added a fused panel that fulls straight from the battery lead so I have excellent power supply that is properly rated for its intended use.
I built a steel "lock box" that I can padlock all my valuables in while out and about. Also added hasps to the inside barn doors and rear door so I can padlock it from the inside. I figure if they can steal **** out the front doors good luck. Also built a brake pedal lock so It cant be shifted when locked up. Not sure what you all do for security, I think the next step is to install a kill switch. If they steal the whole van, dang, that would be a bummer, lot of good **** inside I would hate to lose! Just have to do the best you can to deter I guess.
I cut some reflectix to fit the rear windows and sprayed them matte black. Also added a curtain up front for when you want to black out and sleep in. Works good so far. I think it would be nicer to have the material fit to the inside windshield as the curtain makes it a bit closed in feeling. Also some type of shade that lets some light in would be nice for the times you don't want it totally blacked out inside. It does help with the "incognito" mode though.
I would like to fab up some swivel seat brackets to be able to chill inside when its rainy.
I also use a small mr. heater to take the chill off the van on cold nights. Don't think I would leave it on all night, but it is nice to fall asleep to a warm van!
And with that, on to some pictures.
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