Blue View - Upfitting Blanche

Blanche’s carpentry wasn’t stellar

The redo is underway

After we bought Blanche, our 2015 Ram Promaster 1500 van, and drove her home to Las Vegas from Denver, we were having second thoughts. The previous owner did a reasonable job on the insulation and mounting of the solar panels and roof fan. On the other hand, the wiring he installed was laughable, the house batteries and fridge were dead, and his carpentry skills were less than stellar. It almost seemed like two different people had worked on the upfit… or maybe by the time the initial work was done, the owner had lost his enthusiasm and got sloppy in an effort to just get it done enough to sell. We were aware of some of the problems, like the carpentry, but the rest wasn’t discovered until we had done the deal and got her home.

We weren’t too worried, however. We paid less than the KBB price for an empty van, which in this market is a very good deal, and we knew we could recoup our investment if we wanted to sell her. We re-did the wiring, replaced the batteries, removed the fridge, and cleaned her up. Then we had to decide what to do… keep her or sell her? We were seemingly okay either way, so we decided to put her on the market for a week or ten days. If we broke even or even made a few bucks, we’d move on and start looking again. If not, we’d be just as happy to redo the upfit and make her the way we wanted.

We used to employ a coin toss as an aid in decision-making. As an example, we’d flip the coin and if it came up heads, we’d sell Blanche, while tails meant we’d keep her. Then we’d let the coin make the decision and see how we felt about it. If it came up heads and we felt disappointed… or relieved, we’d know how our gut really felt about the matter. Perhaps we should have used a coin toss in making this decision.

Once we took a host of pictures, put together a nice blurb about her qualities, and put Blanche on the market, my emotions were mixed. On the one hand, I was like a proud papa, putting his baby on display and expecting lots of interest. On the other hand, whenever someone contacted us with questions or wanted to see her, I felt a little dread that someone might actually buy her. Marcie said she would have been okay either way – but deep down, I think she was hoping for a quick sale.

In the end, we had lots of calls, a few visits, and no acceptable offers, and when our deadline of ten days elapsed, we took her off the market. I’m feeling relieved that we still have her and excited about the upfit. Marcie tells me she is quite good with the decision as well, primarily because we are that much closer to another road trip.

One of the things I did wrong with the upfit on our previous van, Blue, was that I provided for any possible future upgrade. The electrical panel is an example – the breaker and control panel looked like it belonged on a starship, but if we ever decided to add a microwave, air conditioning, or hot water heater (which we never really considered), the wiring was all run, the breakers were in place and the outlets were mounted. The end result was that the upfit took half again as long as it might have and the cost was significantly higher.

This time around, hopefully, we know a lot more about what worked and what didn’t; what was necessary, and what was superfluous. We set a spending budget and our goal is to invest no more than a month making the minimal modifications necessary, then we’ll go on a six or eight-week road trip. When we return home, we’ll spend a month making the next round of upgrades, then head out for the summer.

She’ll look a lot better in a couple of weeks

We have a long list of the changes we’d like to make, all prioritized by importance, ranging from critical ‘A’ list items, to important, but not critical ‘B’ list tasks, to “it would be nice to have” ‘C’ list things. Stick around and follow our progress...