Black Betty E350 Beast Van!

[ndubes]

Originally Posted by eddyturn

For the ski area parking. You will either have to check their Web sites or just call them and ask about it. Last time I did Aspen, they let you park at Highland but that was a long time ago. Over close to us, Wolf Creek and Purgatory both allow it. That was back some time ago and a van without a furnace but a really warn sleeping bag. Camped out at Steamboat then Aspen and had to go inside in the morning just to warm up. I would get out of the bag to start the engine and get the van heater going then jump back in the bag. Looking forward to doing some of that in the next week or two up at Wolf Creek since the Espar is working stellar now. We'll just leave the top down cuz it's hard to heat with the SMB penthouse up.

I'm going to have to do some calling, couldn't find any info about that on the websites but I imagine its something they don't like to advertise. The hope is Aspen or Snowmass one day, then Telluride, maybe hit up your neck of the woods in Durango (love that town!), then Flagstaff and home. Going to play it by ear based on how much I think I can "get away with" before my wife is angry at me for having too much fun without her.

[ndubes]

One other thing I forgot to add is that we had a door galley made for the side cargo doors, kinda in the CCV style. Member @GNTY works for Wilderness Van and helped me build it to our specifications. Have to say they did an awesome job, so much better than I could have done myself. Shipped all the way from AB! These guys were great to work with, I wish they were local to me but for anybody up in AB definitely look them up.

Because of the Sienna seats right inside the door we couldn't just go buy the CCV box because we needed a narrower version that basically is just the depth of that little step inside the door.

The front door is pretty simple just has a little fold down table/door with a cubby there. Might be a changing table for the next year or so

The back door is a swiss army knife style, table in the front, and two fold out tables on the side plus a paper towel "dispenser" on the bottom. It's surprising how much space there still is inside even though we had to make it a little narrower, that dead space inside the door is nice to be able to reclaim.

We really haven't had a chance to use this yet since I installed it just before I took it in for all the stuff Action Van did, but I imagine this is going to be one of the more heavily used items in the van - hoping we can do a lot of our cooking or meal prep there. We're trying to downsize our cook kitchen, I recently bought the JetBoil Genesis dual burner system that folds up really nice and small along with a good size pot and pan, but haven't had a chance to really use it in the wild yet.

[ndubes]

I posted this elsewhere but one of the things that I’ve still struggled with is what to do about water since we don’t want to have a kitchen inside. We cook exclusively outside even in the winter, and a wash basin and 5 gal jug has been enough for us typically. However with the two little ones, bathing is one thing I needed a solution for. @1der mentioned the WaterPort product that Costco sells and it sounded like the perfect solution for our needs.

https://www.costco.com/WaterPORT-Day...100418050.html

Will either mount to our rock sliders (which i forgot to mention too - had them fab’d locally by Hunter Off Road and welded to our frame) or to the front aluminess hitch. Rear hitch is for bikes. Seems like the ideal solution for us to give the kids a quick “military shower” as well as washing dishes. Just not sure about whether or not we will see any significant solar heating from it. We use a Jetboil to heat water so maybe i can add some boiling water to the tank when they need a bath.

Obviously this isn’t going to be usable in the winter (who takes baths in the winter??), but otherwise seems like it will suit our needs pretty well. Will let you all know how I like it once we have had a chance to use it.

[Twoxentrix]

I like that WaterPORT-DAY, mounting options & that is conveniently portable

Many options out there for water/showers:
https://www.rei.com/blog/camp/diy-ca...ar-camp-shower

https://roadshower.com/woo/product/r...19775390625000

[ndubes]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

I like that WaterPORT-DAY, mounting options & that is conveniently portable

Many options out there for water/showers:
https://www.rei.com/blog/camp/diy-ca...ar-camp-shower

https://roadshower.com/woo/product/r...19775390625000

I was about to purchase the roadshower when i talked to @1der, he said I should be concerned about the sloshing inside / non-static load and the stress on the van’s gutters. That’s when he mentioned the WaterPort and I thought - perfect, mount it to a hitch! I do wish it was a little bigger but hopefully it works for us.

I wonder if there are better ways to mount the roadshower though, seems like a nice product. I couldn’t put it on my roof rack since that’s going to be about 10ft off the ground with the CCV top.

[REF]

Originally Posted by ndubes

I wonder if there are better ways to mount the roadshower though, seems like a nice product. I couldn’t put it on my roof rack since that’s going to be about 10ft off the ground with the CCV top.

I have one mounted up on my rack on top of the CCV pop top. I’ve used it a good number of times, you just have to remember to hop up there to pressurize it before popping the top up. I attach a long coil hose off the spigot with a garden spray nozzle. I’ll try to get a pic, but we just got a cold spell and dumped on.
This.....
HoseCoil 3/8 inch Self Coiling Garden, RV, Outdoor Water Hose (25 feet) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DCON9..._4JqxCbX02KA8E

[shadetreevanman]

Great van ndubes, glad to put a van with a username. Good looking family.

I wish I had room for those Sienna seats in my van.

Thanks for sharing.

[ndubes]

Originally Posted by shadetreevanman

Great van ndubes, glad to put a van with a username. Good looking family.

I wish I had room for those Sienna seats in my van.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks! Hope those rear shades/trim work out well for you.

Originally Posted by REF

I have one mounted up on my rack on top of the CCV pop top. I’ve used it a good number of times, you just have to remember to hop up there to pressurize it before popping the top up. I attach a long coil hose off the spigot with a garden spray nozzle. I’ll try to get a pic, but we just got a cold spell and dumped on.
This.....
HoseCoil 3/8 inch Self Coiling Garden, RV, Outdoor Water Hose (25 feet) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000DCON9..._4JqxCbX02KA8E

Have any trouble filling it with it way up there? If the WaterPort capacity proves to be too small, I was thinking maybe I could mount the road shower on the rear of my roof rack to reduce all the sloshing, but filling it still seems like a bit of a pain if it's way up there. I guess you just have to get a really long hose. Did you find that it does heat up reasonably well?

[Botchan]

Did you end up putting the Sienna seats up front (driver/passenger) too: If so, do you have a swivel for the passenger seat?

[ndubes]

Originally Posted by Botchan

Did you end up putting the Sienna seats up front (driver/passenger) too: If so, do you have a swivel for the passenger seat?

No siennas up front. Figured that was more trouble than it was worth.