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Old 12-04-2018, 08:53 AM   #261
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Well well well, round 3 for interior is under way. Had t oget the new walls up before our Thanksgiving trip out to the Mojave Preserve. I will say, it looks much, much better.

Walls are just fabric covered 1/8" sheets screwed into 3 horizontal furring strips that were screwed in using self tapping screws.



Still need to build up the side cabinets using the pile of 80/20 i have to cover this mess.



Campsites in the Mojave





Aiken mine



Happy camper







The Espar heater continues its reign as most valuable purchase!

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Old 12-04-2018, 10:22 AM   #262
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The Espar heater continues its reign as most valuable purchase!
Oh heck yeah! Totally agree.
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Old 12-04-2018, 04:29 PM   #263
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The Espar heater continues its reign as most valuable purchase!
X3!
Mine is currently set at 74deg.
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Old 12-04-2018, 04:56 PM   #264
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Yeah, we had to turn it down on the last trip to 68 as my wife was worried the baby was too warm.

I will probably rout a port up to the penthouse once I see what my cabinets look like as it definitely is much warmer down below the bed.
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Old 02-11-2019, 08:54 AM   #265
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After flip flopping on selling the van, we are back at it for making improvements.

One of my main problems with our current downstairs sleeping arrangement was the manual fold down bench seat. It wasn't terribly hard to fold down, but the wife couldn't do it. I had started to look into powering it with actuators.

Also, we have been considering a fixed top. Conveniantly a van popped up in a local junkyard that was your classic late 90's converted "luxury" van. We went up and my wife loved the idea of a fixed top, even tho this one wasn't high enough, it got the point across.

Luckily, there was also a powered bench seat. SO my brother and i went back up there yesterday to strip it of some parts.





Also picked some lights



I had not measured the seat before bringing it home, as i was determined to make it work regardless.

Short story short, it was a bolt on replacement. Van was a 99 and my seat was purchased in 2016(?) and they were made for each other.









Still need to extend the third section to accept my pad. Or remove it and have that section separate. Have not decided yet. But am very pleased with the score!
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Old 02-11-2019, 09:57 AM   #266
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Thats awesome!
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Old 02-11-2019, 12:57 PM   #267
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Garage
Basking in your good fortune from a distance - nothing ever works that easily! Also good news for anyone else that may be interested in making that upgrade.
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Old 02-11-2019, 01:37 PM   #268
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Yeah, not supposed to be that easy. Was expecting to have to dust off the welder.

Either shop4seats made this conversion seat way back when, or some other company makes all the frames. They were basically identical. And very similar to the one my brother pulled out of a 1992(?) van.

The electric option from shop4seats was something around $800. So getting it for $80 is a total win.
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Old 08-31-2020, 02:21 PM   #269
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How did you determine where to make the rear cut? Is there a distance it should be from the third brake light?
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Old 09-02-2020, 07:48 AM   #270
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Got the canvas up a couple days ago and could not be more pleased with how it turned out. I suppose I did it somewhat backwards and placed the butyl/gasket/butyl combo down on the van and then secured the canvas to that. The risk was not getting the size right, but it seemed rather intuitive where to put it, so I went for it.

Started by cutting the smb headboard into a ring. This let me ensure the right size, use materials I already had on hand and give me the leeway to insulate and install a proper headliner at a later date.



Then I screwed it into the fiberglass top



First later of butyl on the van



Filling in the "ribs"



Gasket next. As you can see, the butyl is wider than the gasket. I had 2.5" butyl, 2" would be better, but the next size is 1.5". Boywonder and i both agree that if we were to do it again, we would use 1.5".



THe next part was hard, so no pics. Basically cut scrap wood and screw down through the canvas with self tapping screws to complete the seal. i went back and re did some of the corners once I saw it from the outside. My tip for this is to not worry about wood in the corners. Attack it with a large washer setup (similar to those from the top) which lets you get right up against the gasket. This is where my reverse order probably makes it harder.

Also, had some black bungee on hand, so i swapped that in for the white. Really happy with the look of the black canvas/top with the rest of the van.

Thanks for all the detail in your thread! Regarding new upper canvas wood strips, is there a technique for getting them screw back up? I just dropped my canvas to have a couple rips repaired and plan to do the same. Is it easier to do with the top upside down on the ground maybe?
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