AmbuLand Build Thread, ( 2001 E350 ambulance ) - Page 6

Abitibi · 03-04-2014, 12:11 AM

I was playing with my two kids this evening and kinda got distracted... Turns out Lego blocks worked pretty good at building a mockup for my AmbuLand interior layout! My boys loved that I was there with them, as for my wife she was rolling her eyes at me

It's not complete but this is basically how I've planned the interior. It's only the rear portion... In front of the dinette passenger's side is the fridge. Behind driver's seat is the electrical panel with drop down table to be used by my kids while sitting in the two small seats behind the front swivel driver/passenger seats. These are the seats in question:

Seems like I can only attach 3 pictures by post? Go figure, I'll post couple more further down the thread.

Even managed to put some of the overhead cabinets on the driver side wall. (They will be found on each walls)...

Not sure it all makes sense but feel free to comment on the layout.

Cheers
Mr. D

JWA · 03-04-2014, 03:37 AM

Might look into a better way to post photos here----too cumbersome with all this "tapatalk" stuff.

86Scotty · 03-04-2014, 05:44 AM

Yeah, your photos aren't showing up on the regular forum, it just shows the links but they aren't 'linkable'. I use Tapatalk a lot too and i haven't had this problem........yet.

I just got my fridge wired up this past weekend and love it too. Mine is virtually silent though, perhaps yours got bumped a little during shipping? I would secure that fan better and see if it shuts up. In fact, do a search for Larrie's thread on updating/adding a fan to the side. I plan to do this. You might be able to avoid cutting a hole if so. What you might think of doing is moving that fan to the side rather than the rear. I'm going to do that or add a side fan per Larrie's mod. I will have a small hole for the fan in the side of my cabinet at the back but it will be right behind the driver's seat in my build so it won't matter much.
I noticed a real good and real bad point about it too. The good is it cooled off within just a few minutes. I noticed because the compressor cut off after just a few minutes and I wondered why. I figured I had blown a fuse. I opened it up and put my hand on the freezer wall and it was frosty already and the light was still on. Sweet! Also, it uses hardly any power.

I have 2 auxiliary batteries and left mine at about 12.6 overnight. The next morning my battery bank still registered 12.5 volts. I'm sure this is only in winter but still pretty impressed!
Here's the bad. The shelves rattle!

I mean A LOT! I better keep mine full of beer too because with it empty the shelves rattle audibly when I'm driving. I'll have to throw a towel or two in there to muffle the rattle for the time being.

Abitibi · 03-04-2014, 12:44 PM

I wonder if mine is noisier than yours? It's in my house right now and if it's quiet (no kids)

then I can hear it running while standing 30' away. It's just the fan so probably normal? I like the idea of moving the fan on the side though!

For the pictures that's strange and annoying! I posted on Expo using the same format without any issues. All my previous pictures here were without issues as well so I suspect it's a bug between Tapatalk and this forum. I'll edit my post once back home tonight. Thanks for pointing it out as I didn't see the pictures were missing while using TapaChat...

Cheers
Mr. D

Sent from my iPorn using TapaChat HD

Abitibi · 03-04-2014, 10:47 PM

And the missing pictures… The cabinet directly to the left of the small front seat is where I have my 20 gallons water tank and all the related gears (pump, heat exchanger…) along with some storage.

There's chance the dinette will spend a lot of time as a semi-permanent bed but at least I'll have the option to set it up as needed, especially when weather is crappy. Having the small front drop down table from the electrical cabinet might do the trick for most of the time as all 4 front seats will be able to make use of it…

Cheers,
Mr. D

skyrat · 03-21-2014, 11:27 PM

In the post with the pics of the fold down seats I noticed a Westfalia cabinet. Where did you find that thing? Did you scavenge it from on of the VW Busses in the yard? Is that your galley cabinet?

Abitibi · 03-22-2014, 10:21 PM

I got a full Westfalia interior a while back and planned on using some of it but reconsidered and sold it for a bit of a profit. After giving it a good try I figured it'd be easier and better to just build my own...

It might work if you find a cheap set especially in a van with curved walls but might take you longer trying to make everything fit nicely than doing your own.

Good luck!
Mr. D

Abitibi · 03-22-2014, 11:08 PM

I'm gonna try something new. Since not everyone visit this sub-forum I think we miss on sharing some good information. So I'll break down some specific aspects of my build in hope to get more general inputs and ease of search.

This one will detail my Espar install and search of answers

viewtopic.php?f=40&t=13249

Cheers,
Mr. D

Abitibi · 04-07-2014, 10:58 PM

Espar in place, waiting for a full skid plate and plumbing. I'm also converting this van to run on veggie fuel (2 tanks system) so I got started with that project as well. I ended up deleting the stock fuel filter with its horrible location and replacing it with a remote (heated option) filter. I build a skid plate to protect it and mounted it along my veggie oil filter.

It's pretty straight forward, only difference is the diesel filter is now before the stock fuel pump instead of downstream. Looks a bit complicated on the pictures since there's double everything...

Abitibi · 04-07-2014, 11:02 PM

Before mounting the new fuel filters skid plate I cleaned and painted the frame section where it was gonna go... Por-15

Also cut an opening into my 20 gallons water tank, makes it really easy to clean now. Built a cabinet for it where most of the water related plumbing parts will go.

Cheers
Mr. D