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Old 10-14-2018, 01:47 AM   #1
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Question How is this design? / Espar? Mule bags? Cruise 130?

Hi all

QUESTIONS

one) Is anyone using the Adventure Wagon MULE Overhead Storage Locker bags for pantry stuff?
(see below for details)

two) What do folks think of the design (see below)

three) Any alternatives to the Espar (gasoline) for hot water for the shower?

four) Anyone have a ISOTHERM Cruise 130? How is it?

DETAILS:

After considering at a full interior build (too expensive)….. and also a ‘basecamp’ build… I think we have settled on something sort of half way in-between.

Below is the what we would like to do.

I’d welcome any thoughts as to what I may be missing / any oversights.

The build will likely be either Sportsmobile Fresno… or American Van Works Stanton CA.

THE THINGS WE ARE 100% SET ON:

22’ high roof 3.5 EcoBoost Transit gasoline. (ordered to our exact specifications)

Dynamat or RoadKill for sound dampening. (SMB recommends either one)

‘extreme weather insulation’ (for both heat and cold) (what SMB calls it)

single Captains chair behind the driver for our daughter. Ideally with swivel, if that is possible (tbd)

Dual slider doors. (if we can do that, with the bathroom where it is in attached image - ?)

No black tank. (Port a Potty instead)

Espar gasoline for hot air.

VERY LIKELY:

Solar panel(s) on the roof, controller

Aux. Battery Kit w/ Std Deep cycle 105 amp hr group 31 or 27 battery

Shore power

Built in surge protector

Inverter - 2000 or 2,800 watts.

Awning over passenger slider.

bathroom (shower) 24” x 36” or 24” x 33” (SMW recommends either)
bifold door on shower - due to clearance issue.
Maxx fan in bathroom.

Espar gasoline for hot water [showers only] (unless there is a better option?)

Grey tank.

No blank tank. (Port a Potty instead)

MOAB Elevator Bed for Transit - big brown rectangle in attached image.
This would give us flexibility if we wanted to haul stuff.

https://adventurewagon.com/collectio...ed-for-transit


Our daughter would sleep on the floor, partially or wholly under the MOAB bed, on a mattress on the floor.

windows in the sliders, and an opening window in the shower stall, but no *big* windows rear of that.
small awning windows, up high, on either side.

ISOTHERM Cruise 130 Elegance (or similar) Refrigerator on passenger side.

For storage - MULE Overhead Storage Lockers ($400 each, flexible)
mounted to L Track. More flexible and much cheaper than cabinets.

https://adventurewagon.com/collectio...ker-light-grey

POSSIBLY:

Pedestal with sink + single burner propane burner, 2 gallon fresh jug below, 2 gallon grey below, manual hand pump for water, connection for disposable small propane talk below. Self contained.
In “Cabinet E” or “Galley” in the attached image.

Safari Straps to contain anything in the garage, below the MOAB bed.

Thanks for any and all thoughts

John
Attached Thumbnails
Oct 14  2018 my rough plan.jpg  

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Old 10-14-2018, 08:55 AM   #2
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P.s I am not sure if the brown rectangle is the correct size for the MOAB bed.

Might be a little bit long. Front to back.
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Old 10-14-2018, 02:13 PM   #3
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At minimum, pre-wire for solar. Having at least 210 ah worth of battery (or more) would be something to consider. At least you might want to make sure you can expand the system if you need more battery reserves.



Why such a large inverter? What are you planning to power with it? That might dictate the size of the battery bank. I'd also suggest at least a Blue Sea battery separator and consider a battery monitor.



If you don't plan to have a pressurized water system, do you have an idea on using a typical shower head? If you plan on Propane is there a reason you don't want a propane water heater? My shower is a outdoor pop up shelter and I have a pressurized hand held shower wand that plugs into the side of my van. Obviously something I can't use in a campground but I didn't have the room for a large enough gray water tank to hold the spent shower water and a limited sized fresh water tank makes for short showers...all things to consider. Some folks use portable propane water heaters but they do take up space. I've also seen a few build using electric water heaters like the ecotemp. My Espar water heater is used much more to warm up my engine during cold weather and to help with freezing water lines. If I didn't require that, I'd probably would have just gone with a flat plate heat exchanger and use the vans engine for hot water. It would require a circulating pump, & a pressurized fresh water system/tank, but it would be a fairly small and cheap setup to install. I have this option on my Ford and if the engine is hot from a drive, I don't even need to run the engine. Depending how cold it is outside, I usually get at least 15 minutes worth of hot water w/o the need to start the Espar. The down side to this system is the flat plate freezing.


There are several threads on water heaters that are interesting.


Google water heaters sportsmobile forum and read some of the posts. Several good ideas.
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Old 10-15-2018, 01:24 AM   #4
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Heya - yes very likely would do solar.

I would have a bunch of big electronics gear, for work, that I would need to use. I will do the math to figure out how much battery capacity i would need....

and
the only propane we would have would be a $4 disposable small canister, for a 1 burner stove, built into the sink pedistal. No global propane installed.



Quote:
Originally Posted by daveb View Post
At minimum, pre-wire for solar. Having at least 210 ah worth of battery (or more) would be something to consider. At least you might want to make sure you can expand the system if you need more battery reserves.



Why such a large inverter? What are you planning to power with it? That might dictate the size of the battery bank. I'd also suggest at least a Blue Sea battery separator and consider a battery monitor.



If you don't plan to have a pressurized water system, do you have an idea on using a typical shower head? If you plan on Propane is there a reason you don't want a propane water heater? My shower is a outdoor pop up shelter and I have a pressurized hand held shower wand that plugs into the side of my van. Obviously something I can't use in a campground but I didn't have the room for a large enough gray water tank to hold the spent shower water and a limited sized fresh water tank makes for short showers...all things to consider. Some folks use portable propane water heaters but they do take up space. I've also seen a few build using electric water heaters like the ecotemp. My Espar water heater is used much more to warm up my engine during cold weather and to help with freezing water lines. If I didn't require that, I'd probably would have just gone with a flat plate heat exchanger and use the vans engine for hot water. It would require a circulating pump, & a pressurized fresh water system/tank, but it would be a fairly small and cheap setup to install. I have this option on my Ford and if the engine is hot from a drive, I don't even need to run the engine. Depending how cold it is outside, I usually get at least 15 minutes worth of hot water w/o the need to start the Espar. The down side to this system is the flat plate freezing.


There are several threads on water heaters that are interesting.


Google water heaters sportsmobile forum and read some of the posts. Several good ideas.
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Old 10-19-2018, 12:51 PM   #5
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Spoke with the makers of MULE bags and they said in a High Roof Transit the Mule bags work just fine.
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Old 10-26-2018, 11:41 PM   #6
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Hi Daveb, and anyone else who wants to chime in.

so i finally got the time to do a spreadsheet of the electronics I'd sometimes need to have in the van, and running on 120v.

it is just below 2,100 watts.... (max) all on an inverter.... and that is not including the 12v lights, ceiling fan, etc in the van.

I really dont want to haul a generator

So... pardon the novice questions:

would a 2,800 watt inverter be enough?

and how much battery capacity would I want to be able to run this gear (just less than 2,100 watts) for, say, 1 hour? (3 hour?)

and...

how much solar would anyone suggest for the roof to be able to more or less recharge in about a day.... yes I know time of year / angle of sun all is a variable.

Thanks for any and all tips and thoughts.

John

Quote:
Originally Posted by daveb View Post
At minimum, pre-wire for solar. Having at least 210 ah worth of battery (or more) would be something to consider. At least you might want to make sure you can expand the system if you need more battery reserves.



Why such a large inverter? What are you planning to power with it? That might dictate the size of the battery bank. I'd also suggest at least a Blue Sea battery separator and consider a battery monitor.



If you don't plan to have a pressurized water system, do you have an idea on using a typical shower head? If you plan on Propane is there a reason you don't want a propane water heater? My shower is a outdoor pop up shelter and I have a pressurized hand held shower wand that plugs into the side of my van. Obviously something I can't use in a campground but I didn't have the room for a large enough gray water tank to hold the spent shower water and a limited sized fresh water tank makes for short showers...all things to consider. Some folks use portable propane water heaters but they do take up space. I've also seen a few build using electric water heaters like the ecotemp. My Espar water heater is used much more to warm up my engine during cold weather and to help with freezing water lines. If I didn't require that, I'd probably would have just gone with a flat plate heat exchanger and use the vans engine for hot water. It would require a circulating pump, & a pressurized fresh water system/tank, but it would be a fairly small and cheap setup to install. I have this option on my Ford and if the engine is hot from a drive, I don't even need to run the engine. Depending how cold it is outside, I usually get at least 15 minutes worth of hot water w/o the need to start the Espar. The down side to this system is the flat plate freezing.


There are several threads on water heaters that are interesting.


Google water heaters sportsmobile forum and read some of the posts. Several good ideas.
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Old 10-27-2018, 12:46 PM   #7
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Well an example would be running a microwave (a small 800watt AC model). At DC values that's about 66 amps vs just over 6 amps AC wise. I can run it for a few minutes on high (w/o the engine running) and still have enough power left to run small items that only pull a few amps such as the fridge, lights, a fan and maybe some media stuff. I've got two AGM 4D 210 AH batteries. Even in full sun my small 280 watt solar system barely gives me 12 amps of DC power to put back so it's there to help charge the batteries back up not there to supply power to things. Sorry but even though there are some good things to say about different type batteries such as lithium, I can't imagine having a mobile battery bank large enough to handle a continuous 2000 watt load for hours. You'll probably need shore power or a generator. [edit] You might want to research larger lithium power systems. At least those can be ran closer to 100% discharge. The problem is they are very expensive to install.
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Old 10-29-2018, 01:23 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by daveb View Post
Well an example would be running a microwave (a small 800watt AC model). At DC values that's about 66 amps vs just over 6 amps AC wise. I can run it for a few minutes on high (w/o the engine running) and still have enough power left to run small items that only pull a few amps such as the fridge, lights, a fan and maybe some media stuff. I've got two AGM 4D 210 AH batteries. Even in full sun my small 280 watt solar system barely gives me 12 amps of DC power to put back so it's there to help charge the batteries back up not there to supply power to things. Sorry but even though there are some good things to say about different type batteries such as lithium, I can't imagine having a mobile battery bank large enough to handle a continuous 2000 watt load for hours. You'll probably need shore power or a generator. [edit] You might want to research larger lithium power systems. At least those can be ran closer to 100% discharge. The problem is they are very expensive to install.
Thanks daveb for the thoughts.

I went back to my list of electronics I'd need for work... and cut it down to the very minumum... and at the very least I'd need 1200 watts continuous to run my electronics.

I do own a Honda 2000 that I modified to run off propane... works great, and zero smell of gas as it has never been run on gasoline.

The van won't have propane installed at all.... dont really fancy hauling around a big tank of propane...

so perhaps finding shore power would be good for work, if i need to work

or buying an expensive metal box to mount and then carry a generator, outside the van, would be an option. Not wild about that idea.

Hmmmmm.....

thanks anyone for any ideas

john
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