Blue View – Update on Blanche’s Upfit

We’re making progress… the new footboard

We’ve been quite busy working on Blanche’s upfit this past week. It’s been an all hands project… my brother Paul has been helping with the carpentry, I’ve been mixing it up between carpentry and electrical projects, and Marcie, along with her usual supervisory duties has been busy painting, and finding and ordering parts. The goal is to get her done enough for our first road trip on March 10. Here’s what we’ve managed to get done:

The old bed wasn’t long enough

Bed.

The bed it came with was a 10”-12” thick, full-size mattress that was squashed in sideways, i.e. with the head on the passenger side and the foot on the driver’s side. This worked well for the previous owner who was about 5’8”, but it was too short for me and even Marcie felt a bit confined. We gave the mattress away and rotated the bed 90 degrees so that the head is at the back of the van and the foot is forward. This necessitated extending the bed platform and building a new headboard and footboard. The footboard is done and the headboard is almost complete. We still have sideboards and shelves above the bed to get done this week.

No armrest on Marcie’s seat

The new armrest and box in process

Armrest.

The passenger seat does not have an armrest, which is uncomfortable on a long drive. This was true of our transit as well, so we built a storage box with an armrest on top. It worked great – we used the box for storing maps, atlases, gazetteers, and a host of other stuff, and the armrest served its purpose well. We’re in the process of doing the same on Blanche.

Our new fridge and toilet

Fridge.

We bought a 12v/110v chest-style refrigerator. On Blue, we had a dual compartment unit, and either compartment could be used as either a fridge or a freezer. We never used either compartment as a freezer, so this time we saved some money and bought a single compartment unit.

Toilet.

Last time around, we installed a composting toilet. It was expensive and required venting and an electrical fan connection. This time, we bought a small, relatively inexpensive, portable canister type toilet. Supposedly, it is odor-free and easy to empty, and the one we chose had good reviews. We’ll do our own review after our road trip.

House Batteries.

As mentioned before, the house batteries were dead when we bought the van. We replaced them with two 110ah lead-acid sealed batteries.

Renogy solar controller and DC-DC converter

Charging the Batteries.

The house batteries have to be recharged, of course, and this happens to be a subject I know a little about (see an article on the subject here). The existing solar array is a total of 200 watts, which is pretty marginal if you plan to run a fridge, lights, make occasional use of the inverter and keep all your computers, laptops, and phones charged. Coupled with this, the previous owner installed a very inexpensive PWM solar controller, which is quite inefficient, then put the solar panels in series, further limiting the available charge current. It’s no wonder that the batteries lasted less than a year – they were probably over-discharged on a regular basis.

I replaced the solar controller with a state-of-the-art, MPPT solar controller. This controller, made by Renogy, also has an input that can be connected to the vehicle’s alternator. When we’re camped somewhere, the solar panels will do their part to keep the batteries charged, and when we’re driving, the alternator will also replenish the batteries.

I can’t resist an aside here – please feel free to skip to the next paragraph if you’re already nerded out. Efficiently recharging the house batteries from the alternator has long been difficult. When we were on our sailboat, Nine of Cups, there were lots of alternatives, but none were ideal. Some involved installing a large diode that allowed the charge current to flow only in one direction, but the house batteries would never be fully charged. A second approach was to use a relay, but there were several shortcomings here as well - the house batteries must be the same chemistry, at the same temperature, and located in close proximity to the starter batteries to ensure they would be properly charged. Another alternative was to install a second alternator on the engine – expensive and often messy. The new controller from Renogy is, in my mind, the ideal solution. It connects to the vehicle’s starter battery, and when it senses that there is a charge current, it uses the alternator output as an input to a smart DC-DC converter, which when combined with the solar panel current, properly recharges the house batteries.

We added a 110v outlet and a bunch of USB jacks

Electrical Outlets.

While the van came with a nice Renogy inverter, there were no electrical outlets wired in. I added a duplex outlet at the foot of the bed.

USB Jacks.

It’s amazing how many things are now rechargeable via a USB jack. We have reading lights, personal fans, bike stuff (headlights, tailights, odometers), outdoor lanterns, along with the usual tablets and phones. I installed six jacks – two over each side of the bed and two more at the foot of the bed.

LED switch and dimmer

Light Controller.

The overhead LED lighting has a nice on/off switch and dimmer, but it was poorly located. I relocated it near the door at the foot of the bed.

The header needs some cosmetic work but won’t fall down anytime soon

General Reinforcement.

The paneling on the sides is only ¼” plywood and was attached somewhat sloppily. If we were starting from scratch, I would have used 3/8” or ½” plywood, but we aren’t, so the next best thing was to reinforce the existing paneling. I added ½” panels behind it in strategic places to reinforce the areas that we might be attaching things, like shelves or cabinets. The ceiling header also needed some work - some cosmetic and some for general reinforcement. I did the latter to make it more secure and reduce rattles, but the cosmetic work will have to wait until the next round of upfitting.

It was a hectic, but satisfying week, and we got quite a lot accomplished. Now we’re down to five days before our planned departure, and I’m sure it will be just as hectic. Next week, I’ll show you the completion of Phase I...

A note from Marcie… Yes, it was hectic, BUT my negotiated day off was never in jeopardy. Report to follow.