Where to start?

[Flux]

My kitchen is a dometic 12 volt cooler and two totes. One tote for food and the other for cooking gear. I have a single burner butane stove, a non stick pan, and a pot set. I keep it real simple. The 12volt cooler is the one that will get ya. $800-1000. But an ice chest works fine and is a lot cheaper. I bought fancy pants GSI cookware but heck, you can get decent nonstick stuff any place really.


I cook tons of bacon. And I buy those pancake mixes in the bottles. My kids actually love freeze dried dinners too. Boil water, stir, wait. I make a mean grilled cheese too.

[bfolens]

Thanks for your input. Yes, something the cheapest is the best. But My plan is to rent (via Oudersy) the van to finance it a bit. So, I would like to get a setup that offers all advantages.

[Grampswrx]

One thing to consider is the pop top. That will cost you at least $10k to add. I would consider a van with a bare interior and a pop top before I would consider a van with a great interior and no top. Unless you are ok with a roof top tent.

There are good vans out there with everything you need. My brother in law just bought one from MN with a pop top, 4 captains chairs and a dinette and rear kitchen. 115k miles. He paid $14.5k for it. I have one with the same floor plan that I rent out and I paid $12k for it but its got 220k miles on it.

Here is a link if you want to see the layout. Has a lot of seat belts. One of the captains chairs is removed for the pics.

https://www.outdoorsy.com/rv-rental/..._62917-listing

[bfolens]

Thanks for your input.

Generally, I am fine for a roof tent. But it is less easy and does not go in my garage. But a roof tent would cost me 3k around.

@Grampswrx. It is funny, I have saved your van in my list yesterday for the inspiration of the setup. I like it but it looks like yours is a 3 captains chairs. With my 2 little children, I need to get at least 4.

That being said, I feel that the one in Texas is overpriced.

Any site that you would recommend to find the gem?:-) or any company that offers conversion services for non handyman like me?

[Grampswrx]

There are 4 captains chairs, we just took one out for the photos. That floor plan is great for kids, I have 3 kids. They love it. The oldest, 7 years old, rides on the dinette.

Craigslist is where I have found all my vans. You just have to know what you are looking for and be ready to fly out and buy it when it appears.

[bfolens]

Craiglist is my friend since I came in the US:-).

How much did you pay for that particular one?

Thanks.

[shenrie]

a lot of different vans get posted in this thread.


https://www.expeditionportal.com/for...80916/page-288


if your seriously looking, check this one daily. you will see a lot of stuff from ambulances to uhauls and everything in between, but it will give you a good range of vehicles and pricing.

[Twoxentrix]

Originally Posted by Grampswrx

Don't let the desire to buy one get ahead of you. Take your time. I looked very seriously for 4 months before finding a really good one.
Good luck.

Think Grampswrx offers some real sound advice.

Now that you've decided on pursuing a van, your motivation & excitement may not be your ally.
I would certainly do some research using the "Search" function, just to get acquainted with other "builds" - there have been some real creative resolves that reveal the complexity (or simplicity) in adding some of the features you described in you initial post. You'll probably also discover "items" in these many builds that you may want to add as well, and even solutions that are low cost alternatives.
Point is, the education will give you perspective on the "Want-to-haves" and "got-to-haves".

[mikracer]

I think the one in TX with the 4 captains seats is pretty close in price. I personally think $23-$25k would be fair. The layouts with 4 captains are harder to find and people with small children need that layout. That van lacks a furnace though so keep that in mind.

As far as adding a kitchen setup in the back of that conversion van, I don't think it would work because of the way the rear bench folds down into a bed. It takes up too much space in the back so you wouldn't be able to have a fixture there if laying the bed down. If it was an extended body, it probably would have enough room.

[OlyEsteban]

I'm in the (slow) process of building out a kitchen in the back of an e350 RB. I'll try to post a couple pictures, but I have to get them onto my website to insert them into my post, so it will take a day... I have a full woodshop and have built out cabinets and drawers in the past. However, I am far from a competent woodworker...

If you are building it yourself (you'll need a buddy with a table saw, router and an extra pair of hands). I think the wood materials with drawer slides and assorted hardware would set you back in the ballpark $500. A quick build (think experienced buddy) is probably a long weekend of effort. A more intricate build would be a couple weekends with time in-between for gluing, sanding, finishing, etc. Add at least $50 in beer budget to thank your buddy for covering his shop in sawdust.

I won't get into costs on utensils, plates, etc. But the big items are a stove ($100) and fridge ($500 - $800+) and sink ($50 - $?,??? +). . The gotchas (time and money-wise) that aren't included are electric and plumbing. You can easily spend a Franklin and a weekend just wiring a 12v fridge. But, you probably need a house battery and maybe solar to really make it go. Hard plumbed propane is the same way. The sink can be a craigslist bar sink with hand pump connected to a couple jerry cans to a full tank and graywater setup.

If you want to buy more of a turnkey setup I think you'll spend a couple grand on the case and slides. You can probably bolt it in after work some evening and will probably spend 10x as long picking the right one and waiting for it to get delivered. I love Drifta's designs https://www.goose-gear.com/collections/campkitchen also seems to have some great stuff. I'm guessing a local van upfitter could probably hook you up without having to do any work.

I'm betting someone else here can recommend a shop in California that does that work or other manufacturers that have cool kitchens for Econolines.

FWIW: we still use a cooler, a jerry can, two dishtubs and a really well worn coleman stove and a folding table. The advantage is that we can cook out the back of the van or move camp away from the van depending on our needs. We often try to basecamp somewhere for 2 or 3 nights and then setup away from the van under a pop-up. We're into this setup about $500 so far. It took us two long trips (a couple weeks each) to dial it in, but we love it now! I can cook for 3 - 8. When traveling solo, I'm setup or packed down in 5 minutes in the back or side of the van depending on sun and wind.