Blue View - Upfitting Blue
/If there’s anything positive about the pandemic, it’s that there is a lot of time available for projects. My big project during the stay-at-home period was a continuation of our upfit of our Ford Transit van, Blue, to a camper. I still have a lot to do, but he’s starting to look somewhat finished. Here’s a short summary...
Composting toilet
The composting toilet has been installed for quite awhile now, but the venting needed some work. For it to work properly, it has to be vented to the outside, preferably through the roof. The vent and fan were installed, but the vent hose was exposed and the fan was mounted in a location that was hard to access. I relocated the fan to a better location and enclosed the vent hose.
Drawer cabinet
The biggest addition to the living space was a drawer cabinet. We added six drawers for clothes, shoes and miscellaneous stuff, plus one for trash and one for our coffee maker. All are on soft closing drawer slides and have magnetically activated latches. The latches are pretty cool... they’re operated by holding a magnet close to the drawer. When we’re parked somewhere for awhile, the latches can be disabled.
Flooring
We added flooring to replace the industrial aluminum diamond plate flooring that was our previous flooring. It’s much better looking and a lot more pleasant on bare feet.
Our new pull oUt table
Table
We added a pull out table that we can use for meals and/or computers on rainy days or cold evenings when we can’t be outside.
Wine cellar
The area behind the toe kick made a perfect place for a wine cellar. We bought plastic wine holders that can be clipped together as needed, which were screwed to the floor. Then I added sections of plywood, shaped to fit the bottle necks, to keep the bottles from sliding around. Each bottle is fitted with its own sock to protect it and keep it from rattling. We can store 18 bottles and can access them by pulling any of the lower drawers out and reaching behind it.
Floor vent
I built a small enclosure with air filter to cover the floor vent.
Floor vent
The floor vent enclosure
Lots of hooks and clamps
Hooks
We added lots of hooks and clamps to hang hats, coats, and our trekking poles.
Garage
The space accessible from the tailgate under the bed was totally redone. Previously, it was just an open area that we filled with storage bins, and was quite an inefficient use of the space. The new version starts with a 48” wide, slide out ‘tray’. This tray holds four large bins... one for food, one for our kitchen stuff like pots, pans, plates, utensils, bowls, etc., one for firewood, and the fourth for tools, extension cords, shovel and other miscellaneous stuff. The center of the tray stores our bikes. We have to remove and stow the bikes’ front tires and seats, and lower the handlebars, a process I’m getting more efficient at. I had ordered heavy duty drawer slides for the tray to make it easy to pull out. These slides were rated for 500 pounds and had locking mechanisms that would lock the tray in place. They were promised for early June, then delayed a week, then another. They finally arrived on the afternoon of the day before our departure. I would have worked into the night installing them, but they were the wrong ones... the wrong size and without the locking mechanisms. They got sent back and, for this trip anyway, I’ll be pulling the tray out without the benefit of drawer slides.
We also have storage cubbies alongside and above the tray. The cubbies alongside the tray are great for long skinny things like camp chairs, folding tables, backpacks and our screen tent. In the cubbies above the tray, we store all kinds of miscellaneous stuff like cleaning supplies, paper towels, and hiking gear. So far, we’ve found a place to store everything we need and still have unused space... although l’m sure that’s a temporary thing.
What’s left?
Other than those pesky drawer slides for the tray, most of what’s left is trim and finish work. I need to add trim around the flooring, finish the toe kick, and enclose the wiring harness above the slider door. Some of the paint needs touching up as well.
Final thoughts
I have a couple of final thoughts. First, if you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you might remember the original plan for the upfit of Blue, which bears very little resemblance to how he looks now. After working hard on the original plan, we did only the basics and then went on some long camping trips. As we used Blue, we found that what I thought we wanted and needed was considerably different from what we actually did want and need. The takeaway is that it’s probably a very good idea to do an upfit incrementally, starting with the basics and adding to it after getting a little experience with it.
Finally, a few kudos for my brother Paul. He’s a much better carpenter than I’ll ever be, and without his help, the project wouldn’t have turned out nearly so well, nor would it be anywhere near as far along as it is. Thanks Paul!
Paul lending his time and expertise
See you next week... stay well