The Bohemivan ('98 Roadtrek, lifted Chevy 3500 2WD)

[Weldtec Designs]

It's looking great Matt, Glad we could help with this build and thanks for your patience while doing so. A long time in the works but now the fun can begin?
Whats the next trip planned?

 

[Mat Mobile]

It's looking great Matt, Glad we could help with this build and thanks for your patience while doing so. A long time in the works but now the fun can begin?
Whats the next trip planned?

Wait Jeremy! Let me finish this trip first!

But yes... the fun begins! And I’m really happy with your kit. It still needs minor adjustments in alignment and going from 4.11 to 4.56 (or something like that) but sometimes you don’t figure out these things until you’ve driven the van for 3 weeks.

One thing is for sure, I get lots of compliments from random people on the road.

P.S. Next trip should be on another continent. We’re going to start gathering information and making plans in October/November.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Billy_Bottle_Caps]

Great build thanks for posting.

 

[Photomike]

Any updates recently?

 

[Mat Mobile]

Any updates recently?

Not really. The van was in storage for winter and I just got it back last Monday. I got the full measurements so I'm starting to work on getting shipping quotes. FYI:

• Height 9' (without Roadshower)
• Width : 88" (7'4")
• Length : 269" (22'5")

Just before I put it in storage, the garage that did the installation did a "bolt check". Everything was fine but I had them try the van on the highway as I still feel it's a little squirrelly changing lanes. They said they are willing to work on the alignement if I provide them with the proper specs... Sorry guys, you lost my vote and, to be quite honest, discouraged me for a little while. It was almost a good thing it went to storage so I could get my mind on other things for the winter.

But, in a couple of days I will be bringing it to a new garage with experienced mechanics to figure out if something can be improved. It's not completely awful but I'm sure we could do better.

This summer is a whole bunch of little upgrades (shower head, hooks, painting the interior "hipster #vanlife white" instead of oak, block out curtains, etc.)

In October/November we're shipping the van to France. I already sold our daily driver car... And I got my Kitesurfing kit...

 

[Mat Mobile]

Countdown to start: Approximately 2 months! ?

Just a quick update. The van is almost done. Just finishing up with little details (that take lots of time) which I will post soon.

I posted question thread here about the logisitics of international travel: The_Bohemivan across Europe - Technical question thread

I will be contacting the shipping company in about 2 weeks!

And here's a nice sunset picture from a little trip locally:

 

[Mat Mobile]

Countdown to start: Approximately 7 weeks! ?

If you're interested in a bunch of little improvements, you can check out this: Instagram post.

I don't think a full post is necessary on hooks, carpets, cutting boards and other minor improvements for this hardcore group, but let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Mat Mobile]

Travel day 16 : Saint-Jean-d'Angély

I'm going to create a thread documenting our travels but will use this thread for any change/maintenance we make to the van.

I've had only one issue up till now. I lost the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe (9212). I happened to be close to a Mercedes/Unimog dealer capable of handling the weight of my van. I ordered the part from Rockauto on Monday and they will be installing it on Saturday.

No big deal but we can't really travel with such a loud vehicle. It's just plain obnoxious... if it wasn't already obnoxious enough!

 

[Mat Mobile]

Travel day ?: Well folks, Gandalf made it all the way to Turkey. During a freakin' pandemic!

 

[Mat Mobile]

It's kind of embarassing to pick up this thread so late...

But Gandalf is for sale: For sale thread

It's an amazing van! ?

 

[Mat Mobile]

It's kind of embarassing to pick up this thread so late...

But Gandalf is for sale: For sale thread

It's an amazing van! ?

Well... We're keeping Gandalf... At least for the next trip.

 

[Mat Mobile]

Sorry for the drama in the past two posts. To be honest, that has been our dilemma for the past year or so. Keep the van or get a new vehicle more adapted to our actual travel habits. I don't know how many times we went back and forth with these two options.

But with the price of new campers (we had our eyes on a Bigfoot for 90K$ CAD + COE truck + platform ++) and how well our van performed during our 2 year trip, we decided to do some upgrades on our current van and keep it for our next adventure. We might complete that project in the long term but for now, Gandalf is staying with us. 🧙‍♂️

Speaking of adventure, the next one is should be of a duration of about 12 months. It will start with our first Expo Overland (East) then Baja California for next winter and finally Alaska in summer 2024. After that I'm expecting surgery (Pacemaker because of congenital anomaly) so we're not going to start our Pan-Am trip yet.

First upgrade is seats! The current seats are the typical mushy RV/Sofa style. They're comfy in the short term but when you spend a LOT of time in them it gets uncomfortable. When I say a lot of time, I mean a LOT. It's my seat at the table so I can end up spending 3 meals a day and most evenings in that seat in addition to driving. One side was sagging so I felt crooked the whole time.

I have to say that the Scheel-Mann customer service was excellent! I checked a lot of dimensions with them because I'm not sure how much of the seat old seat is stock or aftermarket (Roadtrek). Plus, for us, being able to fully swivel the seat for day time use is essential. Once all checked out I ordered them at a depot across the border and made a day trip to pick them up.

Here's what to expect when you receive the package:


Installation was fairly easy but make sure to read everything before! I didn't notice that the seat belt adaptor has to go between the seat and the sliding rails so I had to re-do the first step. That's my bad. Here's a good comparison of both seats:


And the final result:


The last thing to do is the belt buckle. I'll post some details once completed next weekend. 👨‍🔧

Other projects coming up: new bad platform, auxiliary fans, surf board rack, etc.

 

[Mat Mobile]

While I wait for parts for the bed platform and surf board rack, I decided to give the wheel wells a bit of attention. I had noticed a bit of the fiberglass threads starting to peak out. It wasn't too bad considering the van is 25 years old but I figure that it might be good to lock them back in resin and give it a coat of Rocker Guard to protect it. I also took the opportunity to paint the exposed frame rails which will allow me to do a quick clean up when going through customs that are tough on dirt contamination.

So nothing fancy but it might give some ideas to the fiberglass body crowd. The passenger side was used as an example. Enjoy! 😎

This week I did both rear fender wells. Here's what I started with:


I cleaned up the fiberglass part with Castrol Super Clean, a Scotch Brite pad, a wire brush and a garden hose. I also scraped all the crud accumulation from the anti-rust treatments.


I used the Castrol Super Clean, Scotch Brite pad, wire brush and hose once again on the frame rails. To be honest, I was quite impressed by how rust free this frame is. It looked nasty, but that's simply because of the accumulation of dust in the anti-rust material.


I then sanded the fiberglass and slapped on a coat of resin just to lock all the little strands that were close to the surface.


Finally, I covered the van with cut open garbage bag (the paint doesn't bleed through plastic) and spread a coat of Rocker Guard on the fiberglass.


And the last step was applying POR-15 per the instructions:


Next week I'll be doing the front fenders and frame rails.

 

[Mat Mobile]

As promised, the front fender wells and frame rails:

Before:


Cleaned up:


After:


Next week is going to be more interesting. I promise!

 

[Mat Mobile]

This week was not super productive as I'm waiting on my parts but I did get some progress done.

First off, I tried to install LED taillights. The current ones are 25 years old, have cracks and the silicone around it looks awful and possibly leaks. The reverse light is on the passenger has a bad contact and it's difficult to repair. Plus I'm always worried that I'll be rearended because the current incandescent lights aren't very bright. Unfortunately, the way they are installed by simply being "glued" into a big wad of silicone. So when I cut all the old silicone out and fitted the new lights they popped back out when I tried to put the inside cover back in. I'm sure other Roadtrek owners who tried to fix anything with these taillights ran into a similar issue. I can fix this by building a proper wooden box and resin coat it to the body but that will have to be done from another location with more woodworking tools so for now the taillight project is on hold. 😕

I decided to work on installing electric fans in front of the radiator. I'm doing this to help cool the engine down when going up steep hills. This had been an issue for us in Morocco, Albania, Greece and even France. These very steep and narrow European mountain roads with lots of switchbacks don't let the vehicle take any speed. And with the hot outdoor temperatures in summer, the radiator wasn't getting enough fresh air. So I'm going to try adding electric fans and see what happens.

I'm well aware that they may block airflow and cause more problems but I think with a thermostat to switch them on and off they should be able to do their job and increase airflow. In any case, if it becomes an issue, it's a very easy job to remove the grill, cut-off the "tie-wraps" and return to stock.

Grill removed:


The Flex-A-Lite 10-inch S-Blade Reversible Electric Fans are installed using "nylon bolts" passing through the radiator with a "push nut" holding it from the back (see instructions). When I initially tried to do this, the "bolts" wouldn't reach the back. After inspecting, I figured out that the AC condensor hides the whole radiator and gives the impression that it is the radiator. (I know this might be obvious to some people but I never put much thought in this system since I purchased it.) So I had to do a little more dis-assembly to be able to put the "push nuts" in between the A/C condensor and the radiator.

Fans installed:


Side view:


No cutting of the grill was necessary. Here's what it looks like with the grill in place:


Let me know if you need more detailed shots or have any questions.

Next week is going to be spent on electrical connections. 🔌