We'll I've had my 7.3 Cargo van for almost a year now. Bought with the intention of building a 4wd camper van, much inspiration coming from this forum. We had decided that we wanted to take our party of 3 and our pup on a spring break adventure from Houston, TX out to the Big Sur coast in California, so without having done any real serious modifications yet I threw together a pretty primitive configuration to get the job done.
I found a vinyl bench seat from a passenger van that came with the quick release brackets and mounted it directly behind the captains chairs up front for our daughter, and spent an afternoon building a pretty simple sleep deck at the back of the van. With no interior walls it perfectly fit a futon mattress(same dims as a full mattress). Used the floor area under the bed for storing a few totes, the wheel well area on the driver side to store tools and straps, and the wheel well area on the passenger side to house my temp house batt. set up which consisted of: 1 walmart marine deep cycle 12v batt and a prowatt 2000w inverter. The house batt. ran our roof vent fan, interior lighting, and a small tv/dvd player for the kiddo while we were on the road.
Also, mounted a 15 lb propane tank to the rear of the van and plumbed it inside to a Heater Buddy Portable heater to keep us warm on the cold nights, which worked awesome! With the heater on the lowest setting and the roof vent fan pulling air out we were all comfortable. I plan to use the propane to also run a small LP fridge as well.
I unloaded my extended trip backpacking gear into the van and we set off for 10 days on the road.
My gorgeous daughter...and a shot of the roof insulation
Faith and Lou dog kickin it in the bed, and my rear window covers I made out of my 4Runner's sun visor that I cant get my fiance to use and some adhesive velcro strips
Our first spot we landed near Cholame, ca. Private property we were invited to stay at from some friendly folks at the only restaurant in town.
The crew and view!
Red wood hidaway with a shot of the propane mount and roof vent..
Our first view of the ocean as we break out of the mountain pass we came in on...
Some samples of the coast line and wild life...
and I'm not quite sure why I found this one interesting...
All in all we had a great time. Clocked as high as 24.5 MPG at 60 mph and as little as 17.5 MPG at 70 mph. Ready to get a 4wd conversion and a large list of other modifications under way so that we can start making our way further off the beaten path. Hope you guys enjoyed the pics!
I found a vinyl bench seat from a passenger van that came with the quick release brackets and mounted it directly behind the captains chairs up front for our daughter, and spent an afternoon building a pretty simple sleep deck at the back of the van. With no interior walls it perfectly fit a futon mattress(same dims as a full mattress). Used the floor area under the bed for storing a few totes, the wheel well area on the driver side to store tools and straps, and the wheel well area on the passenger side to house my temp house batt. set up which consisted of: 1 walmart marine deep cycle 12v batt and a prowatt 2000w inverter. The house batt. ran our roof vent fan, interior lighting, and a small tv/dvd player for the kiddo while we were on the road.
Also, mounted a 15 lb propane tank to the rear of the van and plumbed it inside to a Heater Buddy Portable heater to keep us warm on the cold nights, which worked awesome! With the heater on the lowest setting and the roof vent fan pulling air out we were all comfortable. I plan to use the propane to also run a small LP fridge as well.
I unloaded my extended trip backpacking gear into the van and we set off for 10 days on the road.
My gorgeous daughter...and a shot of the roof insulation
Faith and Lou dog kickin it in the bed, and my rear window covers I made out of my 4Runner's sun visor that I cant get my fiance to use and some adhesive velcro strips
Our first spot we landed near Cholame, ca. Private property we were invited to stay at from some friendly folks at the only restaurant in town.
The crew and view!
Red wood hidaway with a shot of the propane mount and roof vent..
Our first view of the ocean as we break out of the mountain pass we came in on...
Some samples of the coast line and wild life...
and I'm not quite sure why I found this one interesting...
All in all we had a great time. Clocked as high as 24.5 MPG at 60 mph and as little as 17.5 MPG at 70 mph. Ready to get a 4wd conversion and a large list of other modifications under way so that we can start making our way further off the beaten path. Hope you guys enjoyed the pics!
