2009 Ford E250 RB High Top Build

[dhally]

Originally Posted by jage

Looks great- are you sharing the 411 on your "personal fabricator" or keeping him all to yourself?

Sean works for Van Specialties. They assign one person to do the job. They are located in Tualatin, near Portland, OR. http://www.vanspecialties.com

[dhally]

We picked up SilVan last weekend and took it for a test camp just south of Portland. Van Specialties did a great job on the van. We are especially pleased with how the exterior looks - not too much like a whale. The joinery is very accurate - they use a CNC cutter - and the finishes are high quality. Good quality components throughout.

The sound deadening is working very well after the interier is installed. This van is noticably quieter than our old camper van.

There is a Camping World just south of Portland, and we started our van spending immediately for rugs, levelling blocks, cords, hoses, and etc.

Next job is to install the Propex heater. The State of Oregon won't approve the heater since it isn't UL listed, so Van Specialties did only the cabinet, plumbing, and wiring. I also need to re-mount the jack and install a couple more small cabinets in nooks and crannies.

[Silver350]

Hey thats really nice. Congratulations!
Youll probably get a ton of questions so I might as well jump in:
How tall is it on the inside?
What did they use for a floor covering?
What are those two tracks on the floor?
Is that the gray water tank on the ground in the picture?

[dhally]

Hey silver350, I was Sure you would like it!

I can sorta stand up inside and I'm 6'1"+ (1860mm). The ceiling is insulated and panelled which takes some space. The floor is a very heavy vinyl with a pebble grain non-skid. I think it might be a marine floor covering. The tracks are airline track (L-track?). We plan to use it to lash down deck cargo, like our 54 quart cooler or anything else.

It doesn't have any "plumbing" except a drain from the sink to the bottom of the van, so we got a collapsible jug for civilized camp spots. We also found a fitting that will allow us to run a garden hose into a waste hookup if necessary.

[frostyone]

dhally,

Thanks for the photos, the van looks really nice!

f.

[UJOINT]

I like. Looks great!

[Ultrasport12]

It looks really nice....

I saw it while it was being worked on when I visited Van Specialties and it came out even better that I thought it would....

Congrats and Happy Camping

[maxacceleration]

Nice Mr Hally!
Sean kicks butt, don't he?
Like the Strom... I'll have my new ish bike at Hells Canyon too

Cheers

[dhally]

I spent some time in the garage this Fall installing a Propex heater in SilVan. I used the smaller size, HS2000, so it would fit behind the passenger rear wheel well. This is the only spot where it would be out of the way of other storage, and have room under the van for the inlet and exhaust tubing.

The HS2000 is rated 6500 BTU/hr output, 60 CFM air flow, and 1.4 amp draw.

Van Specialties had installed a bare cabinet for the heater. The cabinet also holds up one side of the rear bed extension.



First item was to relocate the wiring location - a small error in communication with Van Specialties



I added a shelf for the heater, a cut-out to access the inlet and exhuast tubing, and a jack compartment. I varnished the interior and used left over CLD and MLV for soundproofing.



Ready to go back in the van



Almost done with the easy part



Routing the propane piping and inlet/exhaust tubing was the most difficult part of the job.



Here's all the plumbing under the van. I also added a mud flap to try to keep stuff off the plumbing.



The inlet tube is routed over the spare tire to keep it away from the vehicle exhaust and the heater exhaust.



All buttoned up and ready for the heat duct.



The ducting provided is pretty flimsy. I debated trying to protect it, but couldn't come up with a simple lightweight way to do it. The sofa bed is removable and I didn't want to build something in too much.



And finally, I found a spot for the lug wrench.




And the finishing touch - the supply vent. It can be swivelled to direct the air flow.



Overall we are pleased with the Propex HS2000. We have camped 3 nights with it, down to about 32 degrees. It is MUCH quieter than the direct-discharge Suburban we had in the past. It uses fuel at a very low rate. However, it remains to be seen how warm we'll be for really cold snow camping. It seemed to run a lot even at 32 degrees, and it didn't seem to heat up the air in the van as quickly as the old Suburban did. The Suburban was rated at 9000 BTH/hr output.

[JWA]

Very, very nice converstion----congrats on the finished version! Two questions though.......

Where did you get that cargo netting shown in the last photo, fire extinguisher and vent visible.

If not already asked and not too inappropriate what was the final cost of this?

Still very impressive and no doubt highly useful too!


Thanks