"Vandit" A Build Thread

[Twoxentrix]

Very cool! BUT, unless it eluded me, the build is NOT complete until you have showcased the infamous bottle opener...its a "rite of passage" thing.

[BUFFALO]

You did a great job with this! It looks really nice!
Curious what you did for the sliding door tracks?

[aarcaris]

Originally Posted by Twoxentrix

Very cool! BUT, unless it eluded me, the build is NOT complete until you have showcased the infamous bottle opener...its a "rite of passage" thing.

Oh, it's for sure not complete yet!

[aarcaris]

Originally Posted by BUFFALO

You did a great job with this! It looks really nice!
Curious what you did for the sliding door tracks?

Thank You! The sliding door track is a super simple plastic track I picked up from Amazon. Here is the link.

It slid pretty well with the uncovered 1/4" baltic birch panels and like I mentioned I had to route the panels down to get them to fit once covered. I believe they make the track in different track widths so there might be one that would fit better without having to route the doors.

[GunniLuv]

Your entire project, design, material selection, figment, documentation, rational behind decisions, is so impressive. As Herb said, I’m also flat-out stealing some of your ideas.

One question; I saw a van posted on CL several weeks ago in which the owner had modularized the cabinetry, sink, fridge, etc. This allowed him to convert his van into haul mode in the event he needed it for such purpose. I asked him and he said it took 5-10 min to completely remove the cabinetry, sink, stovetop, and fridge. The bed took a bit longer, and all that was left inside was the bed rails. Did you consider building yours out this way? You thought of EVERYTHING else...

[aarcaris]

Originally Posted by GunniLuv

Your entire project, design, material selection, figment, documentation, rational behind decisions, is so impressive. As Herb said, I’m also flat-out stealing some of your ideas.

One question; I saw a van posted on CL several weeks ago in which the owner had modularized the cabinetry, sink, fridge, etc. This allowed him to convert his van into haul mode in the event he needed it for such purpose. I asked him and he said it took 5-10 min to completely remove the cabinetry, sink, stovetop, and fridge. The bed took a bit longer, and all that was left inside was the bed rails. Did you consider building yours out this way? You thought of EVERYTHING else...

Thank you for the compliments! I am happy that this build thread can help give a few people some ideas.

I did work through some early ideas to make it more modular but decided that wasn't best for us for a few reasons. The biggest reason was the lack of need for us and prior experiences. I knew from the start we wanted to have a pretty clean and high quality interior and when thinking about possible things we would want to haul around it became apparent quickly I wouldn't really want that stuff inside possibly damaging the floor or walls. Also, we had built out our Tacoma with a more modular design for some rear drawers and fridge, but after having it for 4 years we have never once removed the drawers. In addition to me to build modularly, you have to sacrifice something either in the design, functionality, or both. When I started laying things out the best way to build a modular system, in my opinion, is to have smaller cabinets that sit on either side of the van. This would mean no plumbing or electrical should really sit in the middle or run across the center. So after trying a few ideas I decided it would be better to just build it as a dedicated camper van rather than trying to split its purposes. This allowed me to utilize almost every square inch of the van for components or storage.

One other note on the modular design is I think they work much better in the larger vans like Sprinters, Transits, and ProMasters. Since you have a little more room to work with than the E-series vans you can sacrifice some of the layout for modularity and still maintain full systems. One company that I have seen that does this pretty well is Titan Vans out of Boulder CO.

[GunniLuv]

That makes a ton of sense. Thanks for the explanation.

The plumbing in the modular build was something I neglected to mention; the sink was self-contained, meaning a very small, foot-powered delivery system and even smaller gray water tank. That would’ve been a tough sell for both my wife and me.

I’ll say it again; spectacular build and build thread!

[aarcaris]

Originally Posted by GunniLuv

That makes a ton of sense. Thanks for the explanation.

The plumbing in the modular build was something I neglected to mention; the sink was self-contained, meaning a very small, foot-powered delivery system and even smaller gray water tank. That would’ve been a tough sell for both my wife and me.

I’ll say it again; spectacular build and build thread!

Ahh yeah, I have seen some of those systems before. It's a great idea, just not enough capacity for how I see us using the van.

Again thank you for the compliments!

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by GunniLuv

That makes a ton of sense. Thanks for the explanation.

The plumbing in the modular build was something I neglected to mention; the sink was self-contained, meaning a very small, foot-powered delivery system and even smaller gray water tank. That would’ve been a tough sell for both my wife and me.

I’ll say it again; spectacular build and build thread!

Once you get in to camper vans the modular ideas usually get nixed due to electrical and plumbing concerns, making the best and last 'accessory' for your camper van a utility trailer to pull behind it when you need to haul something.

[TritonTamer]

How many sheets of ply did you use for the floor?