2WD, High Top Go-Anywhere Van Build

[nyyankees588]

Long time lurker, finally deciding to take the plunge and share my build and the ongoing work on it. GF and I purchased our 2003, Ford E250 handicap conversion van in Dec. 2018 in preparation for quitting our jobs in NYC and going on a 6 (turned in to 8) month road trip across the US. #SoMillennial.

We built it out in only 2 weeks due to time constraints - mega thanks to my dad and his shop.













The result was super rough, but as we would come to learn, super practical. Months of research and planning before-hand proved to work well (I have a spreadsheet of all of our build components if anybody is interested).





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[nyyankees588]

15k miles, 8 months and a lot of incredible experiences later...





















We managed to only pay for a campsite twice (I think) the entire time. Lot’s of dispersed camping on BLM and Forest Service land (thanks to the iOverlander app) until we got to the coast of california where we spent a lot more time stealth camping (not by choice).

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[nyyankees588]

We ended up settling down in Seattle, courtesy of a free place to stay while we got back on our feet (aka $$$) after 8 months on the road. I can’t recommend transitioning from sunny central/socal to rainy Seattle in november to anybody. The first few months were pretty miserable, but we made the best of it (this winter we plan to get ski gear to be able to escape in to the mountains more).









Sportsmobile Forum - nyyankees588's Album: Seattle - Picture



Throughout it all the van has performed admirably - we bought it for $3k, put $4k in to the build out and have since dumped another $4k in to it for mechanical work. While there are a lot nicer rigs out there, I’ve been amazed at how much we’ve done on a relatively shoestring budget.

I now work at a shop that builds high-end wooden travel trailers (kind of like a wooden airstream) - besides being a sweet gig, I learn new skills, have access to tools and material, all which I can apply to the van. After 8 months full-time in it, I have literally pages of typed notes of things to update/adjust. My goal is to share these here (I've got a couple already that I'll post this week) in the hopes that I can get some great insight from everybody, and possibly inspire a few projects for others (also if anybody is in the PNW area, I'm always down to meet up and talk van shit/help out with projects. I have access to A LOT of nice scrap wood from the shop I work at, so I can likely help you get some project material fo free.

[regis101]

Nice job. Keep it comin'

[Phish]

Where are you located locally

[bigriver]

Good stuff... glad you posted.

[nyyankees588]

Originally Posted by Phish

Where are you located locally

I'm in Green Lake, just north of seattle. Looks like you're out on the peninsula? I wish the traffic wasn't so god awful between seattle and Tacoma to get out to the peninsula on weekends. I'd love to explore out there more than I have.

[killacks]

I believe I saw a trailer like the one in the photo above a month or so back here in San Diego. It was beautiful, at least from what awe could see from the outside. It had WA plates, as well.

[nyyankees588]

Originally Posted by killacks

I believe I saw a trailer like the one in the photo above a month or so back here in San Diego. It was beautiful, at least from what awe could see from the outside. It had WA plates, as well.

Quite possible you did see one of them - the majority are still out on the west coast.

[86Scotty]

Great stuff @NYYankees. Thanks for sharing!