Quote:
Originally Posted by frontwo42
Thanks for the responses. I would guess winter insulation adds a bit as well?
We were looking at a very similar floor plan to TomH's, but were look to fit a inside shower in the 144.
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It can be done. If you shorten that lower bed on the driver's side a hair, you can turn the toilet compartment sideways and make it a wet bath (see my illustrations at the beginning of my build thread). You might even be able to turn my latest configuration into a wet bath. You could leave that bed as is, remove our big refrigerator, turn the wet bath inline with the van, and put a small fridge under the kitchen counter on the other side. You could also put a wider bed in the Flarespace section, eliminate the lower bed, keep the big fridge, and rotate the wet bath.
The thing about an inside shower in a 144" is how much clean water and grey water you want to put on the rig. If you want a sponge bath, you're fine. If you want a long shower, you need a D5 heater tapped from the diesel (very expensive-though I'm getting one) and either a large fresh water tank or connection to water in a campground) as well as a large grey tank. I want to have a large lithium battery bank to run AC a lot and need an auxiliary fuel tank to run the 2nd alternator. I also want enough fresh water for extended remote boondocking. This will take up a lot of my underfloor space. I don't need a shower every day, but when I do shower, I want a long hot one. This means daily sponge wipe downs at the sink and occasional showers at a campground shower or motel room fit the bill for us. We also will put the external shower at the rear door so we can shower there when in the backcountry. I have seen people open the rear doors, put a stabilizing rod between the open doors, drape a homemade curtain/tent over the top and down the rear (at end of doors) to have a roomy outside, mostly private, shower, but this is for remote camping.
There are also other alternatives. One person has a shower pan in a large bottom drawer. You pull it out and stick an adapter in the floor and the ceiling has velcro points for a curtain that turns the center of the van floorspace into a temporary shower. Other people have a portable pan they lay down and do the same with the velcro curtain. There are pics in the archives of some people's photo galleries. I have some screen captures if you don't find those.
The SMB site has an online DIY design center where you can play around with designing your own floorpan. You can save as many plans as you want to after creating them. It doesn't tell you in the instructions, but if you hold shift with one hand and click the cursor on the corner of a bed, cabinet, etc. you can drag and resize the item to suit your preference.
I recommend that you start a build thread and that we copy this into it. (Or maybe the moderators could alter the title of this thread to
144" Sprinter Build with Flarespace Pods for you and it becomes your build thread.) Then you can ask questions and get feedback from lots of smart people. This site has been an unbelievable resource for me. I've been getting and refining ideas here for years. You will find that people really enjoy helping each other figure out how to do what they want to accomplish. I hope you will go ahead and start that build thread and GOOD LUCK!!
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