'06 E350 passenger conversion -- just getting started!

GreyDawg · 09-15-2009, 01:20 PM

Hi all:

I'm starting to work on my home-brew conversion, and I know I'm going to need lots of advice. (I have three questions to start with -- 12V, roofs, and floor materials -- but I will split those into separate threads so it is easier to follow the discussion).

Background: I had a PH E350 RB-50 for three years, and greatly enjoyed it. Work relocation to the urban east made me decide to sell it. I've been thinking about floorplans ever since: I know what worked for me and what didn't in an RB-50, and I miss my van.

I'm still about three years away from having another SMB built, so in the meantime, now that I've relocated back west for work, I'm going to make a simple home-brew van so that I can escape on the weekends, and I can experiment with floor plans and tweak to my hearts content.

Three weeks ago I purchased a 2006, 12 passenger E350 (silver). So far, all I have done is remove the van seats and brackets, unbolted the seat belts and rolled them up (not removed them from inside the wall trim) and cleaned, and cleaned. Oh, and took the van on a 3,000mile test run to NM last week --so good to be in a (stripped) van camping again!

Ideas for a simple van for one person:

I don't need a grey water system. With my RB-50 I found that I did everything outside, and just used jugs of water and a wash basin.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
I don't need a propane system. With my RB-50, I rarely cooked inside anyway -- I like to do as much as possible outdoors. Now, I admit, the furnace was nice, but I can finesse that.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
I do want a fantastic fan of some sort -- ideally a roof vent/fan, but if not that, then a way to install (and power) the Endless Breeze portable fan for maximum air flow through the van.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
I do a lot of photography and thus computer work. My RB-50 had no good "work area" so this van needs a desk, or a good work surface.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
I can't justify putting a PH top on a 4 year old van with 40K miles and that I think I'll only use for three years (til I get a proper SMB again). If, on the other hand, I could put a low profile roof on for reasonable cost (I'm 5'7", so don't need a high profile!), that would be nice.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]

My basic floor plan will have

a 30'-36" wide bunk across the back, like LeadDoggy's transformer bunk (nice to be short!). There will be storage underneath (clothing accessible from inside, kitchen and camp gear from the rear doors). This will be secured to the floor using the bolt holes that once held the seat brackets.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
An 18"-20" wide desk will run along the driver's side wall (about 4' long), with drawers/cabinets for computers, office stuff, etc. I'll just use a standard lightweight office chair on casters, and bungee it in place when I move. The desk will be secured using the bolt holes from the seat brackets. This layout will give me the RB-50's nice open space in front of the side doors, which I greatly enjoyed.[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
Inside the barn doors, to the left in front of the wheel-well, I can put a battery box (we'll discuss that on a different thread), or a cabinet/bookcase. I don't like floorplans that block the left hand side door.... but LenS's camp kitchen there looks pretty slick...[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]
passenger seat on a swivel[/*:m:3b6oc4pl]

I'm sketching ideas on the floor plans from SMB website, and measuring and placing blue painter's tape in the van as I think.

That's it for now. I've gotten a lot of great ideas from this forum already. Comments/suggestions about my ideas/floor plan would be most welcome as I am very much at the planning stage.

I'll post separately about my 12V, roof and floor questions.

Thanks!

GreyDawg in Austin

jage · 09-15-2009, 04:08 PM

I have to admit, the idea of an office chair on casters really made me cringe. I find the passenger seat swivelled to be a great place to be when alone or with my wife.

I wonder if you couldn't make a double counter/desk top on your row of cabinets, then put a large spinner on the front inside corner, maybe some way to brace it across the van or removable legs for support, so that you can swing it out through the van space and bring it across the passenger seat. You'd get to work from the passenger seat... you would lose the office chair and gain all the open space under the desk for storage. With lightweight flatpanels you could even get away with a good sized monitor without adding too much weight.

Plus the feng shui is better...

GreyDawg · 09-15-2009, 05:02 PM

Jage --

I figure that with an office chair with castors, I'm a step ahead of the "mobile artist" on the SMB website who is using a folding chair at her desk!

Your idea of swinging around to the passenger seat is interesting, but I have no idea how I'd engineer that. It would require one heck of a pivot point, right?

And I've just been out at the van, sipping a glass of red wine and thinking...I really like the side door camp kitchen of LenS, so if I got past my aversion to blocking half the side door, I could put a camp kitchen box there. I'm not sure how comfortable the swiveled passenger seat would be with the camp kitchen in side door. I've studied the pictures in LenS's gallery -- I'll have to look again.

Thanks for the suggestion -- definitely fueling the creative juices (along with the red wine).

GregDawg

LenS · 09-15-2009, 07:22 PM

A bottle of wine is good.

Two bottles are better.

A third bottle and and I forge twhatt i is goiing to saaaaaaaaaaaaaa

jage · 09-16-2009, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreyDawg

It would require one heck of a pivot point, right?

Well yes, if the piviot was the only thing supporting it. I suppose the low-tech version is a folding table. If you replace the driver's side legs with the pivot and sandwiched the tabletop between the cabinets, as long as you didn't go out past 90° (or accounted for greater angle in the tabletop shape) you could have a very weak pivot (broom handle?) as it would only keep the tabletop in place, the sandwiching in the cabinets would provide the support.

If you're really interested I can sketch something up, but I don't want to spend the time unless you're serious (and capable) about building something.

GreyDawg · 09-16-2009, 03:18 PM

Thanks, Jage, but it sounds like it would be beyond my fair-to-middling carpentry skills and tool set. The concept does sound intriguing, though!

GreyDawg

dave_in_delaware · 09-28-2009, 11:55 AM

I have also been thinking about a desk area (w/ computer chair) for my homebuild.

When you guys started talking about a pivoting table, I immediately thought of the EarthRoamer setup. This table swivels on an arm and is supported by a small wheel, and stores out-of-the-way, towards either seat, in the middle, or tucked away in the cab area. All based on a radius. It might take some serious thought as to how you might apply this idea to your SMB to be both a desk top and a table for the passenger seat, but who knows?

Images "borrowed" from EarthRoamer's website.

Images posted for inspiration!