If you're carefully tracking our progress, you might be expecting a post this week that starts "We did it! Our van is finished and perfect and we're on the road!" I'm sorry to disappoint, but our goal date of April 15th is not going to happen.
There isn't a sole roadblock (did you catch that van lingo?) that is holding us up other than the overarching fact that building out a van is hard and time consuming. Shipping delays are also playing into it, as well as the fact that neither of us had any professional experience nor practical skills going into this. Right now, the recurring frustration is that it's impossible to find the square headed bolts needed to mount our solar panels. As an alternative, Cameron ordered round bolts (which were already a bit of a specialty item) and then experimented with ways to trim them. We're now on tool purchase #2 and bolt reorder #3, which you can imagine, is hampering our progress.
Our 80/20 (aluminum bars) orders are also slowing us down. If we knew exactly how everything was going to be structured from the beginning, we could have ordered everything at once and not had to wait the 2-6 weeks for each round of shipments. Alas, we were not that prepared (please refer to where I commented on our lack of experience and skills). But there are benefits to that – after we finish one area it gives us the opportunity to test out the space and make changes to the upcoming plans. Apparently, we've decided to make enough changes that Cameron felt justified in buying a fancy expensive miter saw to cut through some already-purchased aluminum. That said, we are currently waiting on an 80/20 order to construct the frame of our upper cabinets and bedside storage wall.
Speaking of bedside, am I very pleased with my above-bed storage innovation. Despite having watched dozens of van buildout videos, we've never seen anyone use flexible shelving in a substantial way. To avoid hitting our heads on a corner of wood or metal, we built hanging pocket-like shelves from gray and blue tweed. By adding a sheet of semi-flexible plastic we were able to add enough rigidity to avoid weight-related warping, and with three large Velcro'ed flaps we have pretty good access to the shelf's contents. The space holds 72x12 inches of clothing, which is definitely enough for Cameron's wardrobe. I expect to have equal (or maybe slightly more space) on the other side in the to-be-constructed storage wall. Luckily, since that is solid construction it will hopefully be a little quicker to put together, since cutting and sewing was a 8+ hour project.
We've used additional gray tweed to upholster some of the bedside surfaces. Not only does it create a cozier ambiance, it also saves some painting time. Painting a single panel is typically a two-day project, and given the space we have to work with, we can't do more than a few panels at a time. Each painted piece of wood needs to be sanded, then primed, then sanded again, then primed again, then sanded a third time, then painted with the chosen color, and then potentially sanded and colored once more. It's maddening! Upholstery cuts out any of the steps post-primer, but we won't be able to use that method van-wide since we'll want smooth waterproof surfaces in the kitchen and in the shower-designated space.
Since my last update, we have some other fun additions: we now have a working air conditioner, the solar panels that are up (currently three out of a final four) are pulling in lots of charge, and we have a USB-charged van vacuum. Our ceiling is finished and Cameron has installed half of the bedside lighting and charging ports. We've decided to test out a non-permeant single-burner cooktop rather than a permanent multi-burner stove to maximize counter space and outdoor cooking possibilities. There's still a lot to do (cabinets, walls, table, desk, shower, bench seat...) but we think leaving by April 30th seems feasible. That said, please forgive me if we miss that deadline, too.
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| Hauling solar panels to the roof for installation. |
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| Mid-process of installing the air-conditioning. |
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| Upholstery is easy when you can just glue the fabric down. |
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| Cameron testing what it will be like sleeping under the fabric cabinet. |
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| The finished product is two-toned; the blue pieces are Velcro'ed flats that flip down. You can also see the same gray tweed is used on the wall below and the top of the back doors. Cameron's bedight light is also installed in the back corner. |
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| The uncut kitchen cabinet structure. |
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| Cameron has also started to experiment with covering the metal surfaces surrounding the main sliding door. |
