The Belafonte - aka "Poor man's EarthRoamer" Ambulance Build

[CLynn85]

What is the height inside? Can you stand up? Sorry if you said it in the thread I went trough pretty quick.

Thanks

66", wife and I are both 70" so we stand a little bent over. If we remove the hand hold bar down the middle there'd be a spot where we could stand up, and there's also quite a bit of height that could be gained by re-doing the entire ceiling/lighting/headliner, which will more than likely happen at some point in the future.

 

[CLynn85]

Not a whole lot to report. Feel like I do way more work than anything on here can reflect. Been doing a lot of little things to get it ready to pass inspection since it's been off the road for a year or two. I hate when people let vehicles sit, worst thing you can do.

Anyway, got around to relocating the wiring harness for the rear control panel. Area it was in is being freed up for the fridge, so we decided to move it up to one of the smaller cabinets that didn't have a nice door on it and didn't have a pre-determined use for yet. I find out a lot about the way this thing's wired everytime I do something, which has been an adventure in itself. I did manage to figure out why the rear hvac controls weren't working, that was a nice simple fix.

Here's the old panel temporarily hung in the new location until I get a new panel fab'd up. New panel will probably include a 12V socket and a battery meter.



With that out of the way I went to attacking the counter/cabinet setup again. When I began I chose 1/2" hardwood ply, kind of wishing I'd gone 3/4, have to do a lot to make this as sturdy as I'd like but oh well, was channeling my inner Colin Chapman I guess. I cut the slot for the drawer and prepped the area for the drawer slides. It's not ideal but pretty convenient just to do base-mounted slides. I know they're not designed for full load capacity mounted this way but the drawer is just going to be for utensils and such so I'm not too worried.



Cut a sheet to fill some gaps and lay a fresh base for the area where the fridge is going. It'll mostly get covered up, but I feel better about it being all nice and sealed up once the trim is on doing it this way, just a cleaner look I suppose.





That's it for now, hopefully can make some pretty good strides this weekend with the counter and drawer. Still waiting on the sink/range to come in so I'll probably start working on the couch/bed side next.

Oh and it's nice having a camper that provides its own worklights

 

[jim65wagon]

You realize, Carl, that the interior on this is the size of my first apartment in college?

 

[SLO_F-250]

Carl,
Great work man! Looks like such a FUN project! The work lights are key! Mods mid-trip not a problem anymore! :wings:

Here is some motivation for ya!

Belefonte in 2 years! You can do it! :drool:

 

[CLynn85]

James - I know it is quite large, but the thing about this thing is that it messes with your sense of scale. The interior looks quite larger than it actually is and the exterior looks much smaller, it's quite weird really.

Paul - Thanks, like I need any more inspiration The ujor kit will be coming at some point, priority is getting it mildly camperized to start though.

 

[CLynn85]

Not a whole lot to report on Fri/Sat progress, but I did get a little bit done. Yesterday was party night, so no forward progress there. Today we had a yard sale in the AM that killed most of the day but raised about $150 for the camper fund

I set out tonight to work on the cabinetry to get ready for the counter top fitting. Got the drawer cut out and mounted, and got the face reinforced and the countertop reinforcements installed. The sink came in today as well so we were able to set it in roughly where it's going for a mockup. Once I'm done cutting/fitting it will all get disassembled, screws countersunk, joints glued, sanded, and painted/stained.

Shot from side door.



Approx sink location.



Drawer (minus face, will get a facade to match the existing cabinets).



Drawer open with base mounted slides. A little rubbing to be resolved but seems to work well so far. Like I said earlier, it's just going to be for utensils and such so mounting the slides horizontally should be ok.



Guess that's it for tonight. Plan for tomorrow is to hit up the junkyard for a new hood and then cut some more plywood to cover the hacked up panels where all the holes are now in final prep for the countertop fitting. Think we've decided to go with an edge-glued panel and stain it, rather than go the full granite or laminate counter.

It's getting there. Really frustrating not having access to the tools I really need. A skill saw with a makeshift fence just doesn't replace having a nice table saw . I got spoiled having a wood shop at my disposal for projects like this a long time ago. It's just frustrating knowing you're capable of better given the right tools, but oh well, it gives me a bit more of a challenge. Also, all the lumber so far aside from the one hardwood ply panel has been salvage from previous projects and such, so it hasn't been too hard on the wallet....yet.

 

[jim65wagon]

Bring the Bel, and the lumber over to the house and you can borrow our table saw, and any other shop tools you might need. (drill press, routers, miter saw) we've got pretty much anything you could need. You could probably even talk us into loading up the truck and bringing it all over to help.....

 

[tcdent]

Hate to be that guy, but you should really reconsider the wasted space around that drawer. You've got plenty of room to work with now, but that's all going to disappear quick.

Also keep in mind that as you're bouncing around anything in that drawer can jump out into the surrounding space. If you build the drawer to take advantage of the full height up to the counter you'll create a "lid" to prevent that.

 

[Funrover]

I love these ambulance builds!

 

[CLynn85]

Hate to be that guy, but you should really reconsider the wasted space around that drawer. You've got plenty of room to work with now, but that's all going to disappear quick.

Also keep in mind that as you're bouncing around anything in that drawer can jump out into the surrounding space. If you build the drawer to take advantage of the full height up to the counter you'll create a "lid" to prevent that.

Thanks, you bring up some good points. I'll keep those in mind as we go. For now there's a few reasons for it being the size that it is. The cooktop will be to the right of that drawer so what looks like extra space will actually be occupied. Also, I built it to be more like a household cabinet where the 4 walls support the countertop, so I had to leave that much "meat" on the top and side of the cabinet facade to stiffen it up and support the counter. Hmmm, some good things to think about.

In hindsight I could have structured the cabinetry more like the slide out storage drawers for SUVs and they would've been stronger and addressed all your concerns.

We'll see how it does, I'm sure this won't be the final configuration for anything inside this truck.

 

[CLynn85]

I love these ambulance builds!

I know! I can't understand why there aren't more people doing this to be honest, maybe they know something I don't...

In hindsight, sticking with my "buy the best you can afford" and "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten" mantra's probably would've gotten me a significantly newer base vehicle, as I'm finding all sorts of little things to put on my to-do list as a result of buying an older unit, but part of this is an exercise to build an earth-roamer like vehicle on a budget, so I'll just deal with them as they come along. I'm shooting for under $15k for the entire build (at least the first go-round).

 

[4lowdean]

I know! I can't understand why there aren't more people doing this to be honest, maybe they know something I don't...

In hindsight, sticking with my "buy the best you can afford" and "quality is remembered long after price is forgotten" mantra's probably would've gotten me a significantly newer base vehicle, as I'm finding all sorts of little things to put on my to-do list as a result of buying an older unit, but part of this is an exercise to build an earth-roamer like vehicle on a budget, so I'll just deal with them as they come along. I'm shooting for under $15k for the entire build (at least the first go-round).

I am looking at doing one myself. I check a few places online that deal in used ambulances and have seen a few on F-series chassis in the $10-$20k range. I plan on doing an Ambo conversion myself and am hoping to start with an early 00s F350 with the 7.3L diesel. The hard part for me right now is finding the right combination of options. I can find ones that are already 4wd but usually don't have the body type I like. When i find the body I like it's hard to find one that is 4wd. I haven't yet gone to a broker and said "this is what I want - find it" so maybe if I am patient and willing he could find me what I am looking for. I just have this pesky thing called a doctorate I need to finish up first... then I can worry about building an Ambo conversion.

Till then I need to live vicariously through you and a few of the other Ambo builds currently in progress... and take lots of notes.

 

[CLynn85]

I am looking at doing one myself. I check a few places online that deal in used ambulances and have seen a few on F-series chassis in the $10-$20k range. I plan on doing an Ambo conversion myself and am hoping to start with an early 00s F350 with the 7.3L diesel. The hard part for me right now is finding the right combination of options. I can find ones that are already 4wd but usually don't have the body type I like. When i find the body I like it's hard to find one that is 4wd. I haven't yet gone to a broker and said "this is what I want - find it" so maybe if I am patient and willing he could find me what I am looking for. I just have this pesky thing called a doctorate I need to finish up first... then I can worry about building an Ambo conversion.

Till then I need to live vicariously through you and a few of the other Ambo builds currently in progress... and take lots of notes.

I know what you mean. We looked at SEVERAL different bodies before settling on the Wheeled Coach. I actually like the older style body we have over the newer ones due to the exterior compartment layout.

The main reasons we went with the e-series chassis were the length and the pass-through. All the F series conversions we saw were Type I's with no pass through other than a boot through the window. In hindsight I could have probably remedied this with a sawzall and some rubber, but I just dig the E-series style.

This was actually a master's degree present for my wife and I since we both officially completed ours in the Spring. I was originally slated to receive a bonus for mine which would have been a great jumpstart but they canned the program about 7 weeks before I graduated....

 

[4lowdean]

I know what you mean. We looked at SEVERAL different bodies before settling on the Wheeled Coach. I actually like the older style body we have over the newer ones due to the exterior compartment layout.

I really like the Road Recuse boxes because back in the early 00s they had a horizontal "tray" that slid out just over the rear passenger wheel. Would make for a great "shelf" and/or a place to mount a two-burner camp stove.

The main reasons we went with the e-series chassis were the length and the pass-through. All the F series conversions we saw were Type I's with no pass through other than a boot through the window. In hindsight I could have probably remedied this with a sawzall and some rubber, but I just dig the E-series style.

There are more than a few F-seriese chassis with pass-thrus. 50/50 almost. But like you say, nothing a sawzall couldn't fix if push came to shove.

This was actually a master's degree present for my wife and I since we both officially completed ours in the Spring. I was originally slated to receive a bonus for mine which would have been a great jumpstart but they canned the program about 7 weeks before I graduated....

That sucks about the bonus. I know how that goes, job market here in PA sucks so I am fighting on two fronts. Need to bang out this Ed.D. and try and find a big-boy-job.

 

[CLynn85]

Not a whole lot of discernible progress this week, but things are moving along. I finally got a VA state inspection done on the ambo and it passed! Woohoo! Also gave it its first real bath since coming to us and since removing all the decals and such, and what a difference that made!

Today we were invited to Crowswing Ltd's Skunkwerks lab to do some interior work. We relocated the "kitchen" outlet to a more favorable spot and cut the countertop. I laid out the locations for the Sink/Stove while James made quick work of some miter cuts for the backsplash, and by the end of the evening (after a break for Domino's and 'Office Space') we have something that's starting to look like our envisioned kitchenette! Thanks again Beth and Jim for pitching in, can't wait to do another camper work day.

Anyway, enough chat, here are a few quick pics.

Jim hard at work:


Belafonte chilling at Crowswing HQ:


Countertop coming together:


Temporarily set in place: