Noobie in the house

[ryleecat]

Hey y'all! I just bought a '94 Ford Econoline and am taking it from San Diego to Fairbanks, AK. Just want to say hello and that I am SO happy to find this site. This van life learning curve just became a little less intimidating.
Looking to upgrade a few things before I head out- Fridge, solar power and shower. All suggestions are much appreciated.
Cheers to future adventures!
Rylee Ann

[Stillvanin]

Congrats on your van purchase! 'Round here we gotta see pics though!!!

[Kat R]

Good morning,
My name is Kat. My husband Glen and I are looking forward to our first summer with the new SMB. We are East Coasters, but can't make this meet, notice is too short. We are interested in future meets and would love more info on SMBing on the East Coast (or anywhere).

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by Kat R

Good morning,

My name is Kat. My husband Glen and I are looking forward to our first summer with the new SMB. We are East Coasters, but can't make this meet, notice is too short. We are interested in future meets and would love more info on SMBing on the East Coast (or anywhere).

Nice rig! Where are you on the East Coast? There are a few of us here :-)

[Kat R]

We are in South Carolina.

[86Scotty]

Welcome ladies.

[DCHitt]

Originally Posted by Kat R

Good morning,
My name is Kat. My husband Glen and I are looking forward to our first summer with the new SMB. We are East Coasters, but can't make this meet, notice is too short. We are interested in future meets and would love more info on SMBing on the East Coast (or anywhere).

Don't know where "this meet" is that is too short a notice but we would like to meet you at the Class-B rally.

http://www.b-rally.org/

[86Scotty]

Originally Posted by DCHitt

Don't know where "this meet" is that is too short a notice but we would like to meet you at the Class-B rally.

http://www.b-rally.org/

This one:

http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...lly-18671.html

[daveb]

Originally Posted by ryleecat

Hey y'all! I just bought a '94 Ford Econoline and am taking it from San Diego to Fairbanks, AK. Just want to say hello and that I am SO happy to find this site. This van life learning curve just became a little less intimidating.
Looking to upgrade a few things before I head out- Fridge, solar power and shower. All suggestions are much appreciated.
Cheers to future adventures!
Rylee Ann

Welcome to the site. Epic first run

Looking to upgrade a few things before I head out- Fridge, solar power and shower. All suggestions are much appreciated.

Tons of info on the site. On the fridge you'll need to figure what style and size. Several posts about upright vs chest style are floating around. I'd like my 4cf Norcold to be better insulated and a small fan to help push out heat would be nice.
For solar usually most setups run from 130-280 watt panels. Solar is nice but takes up space, can be heavy in the case of lifting a manual pop top, and doesn't do much in heavy cloud cover. You can build a system that can be up-sized at a later date if you spec it right. Also the house battery size should be sized to the solar in some respects. I'm running 270 watts out of two panels feeding two 210amp hour batteries and I like that combo but many are happy with a 120w panel and around 200amp hours worth of battery.
Having an upgraded alternator is a good recommendation including a small generator if you plan to be away from shore power much during poor weather. They're finally coming out with high amp alternators that can smart charge the battery system.
I do have a shower at the rear doors but hated using it if there were a lot of bugs in the air, so I had a shower port installed on the side of the van. Got me one of those pop up privi tents and shower in one of those. Obviously you can go in several directions from a cheap portable up to an expensive built in system. A flat plate heat exchanger is a reasonably cheap solution for hot water as compared to something like an Espar product. I don't use the shower that often so 18 gallons of water does well for me. Short bursts of water go a long way and using waterless shampoo like "No Rinse" helps conserve water.
Feel free to ask questions if you are having a hard time finding info. Try Google for searching the site. I find it better than the sites own search tool.

Have a good time on your outing.