The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
A few of you have probably seen my old 2005 Sprinter. I was proud of the old girl, but it seemed I was spending more time fixing it than having fun with it. It was time to trade up a bit, so I started looking. I have to say, I was sold on the Sprinters. Great gas mileage and very flexible, but there were a few problems. First, Elena was not comfortable in it mostly because it's a harsh riding van. Second, it had a lot of insulation.... even too much insulation. 5 to 6 inches all around, making it hard to stand fully upright in the van. Also, it's horrible above 75. You really had to drive careful and I think there was a governor keeping her below 80. Lastly, the noise level was high. It was a diesel, after all. I remember @Doppler commenting on that very thing one day as I drove up to Dive Outpost.
I test drove a number of vehicles, but I was sold on the Ford Transit, XLT. I negotiated the price over emails where they have to give me a good bargain and was pretty happy with the deal. So, this thread is about the build out. It's a good 36" longer, 8" higher and 8" wider than the Sprinter. Even @LowVizWiz will be able to stand up in it. I'll be adding insulation, a tank rack, the tool boxes and charging station that I had in the old Sprinter. I will be locating the drains at the end of the tank rack, stopping water from going into the cargo area. I won't be putting in the hard barrier between the seats and the cargo area, just a curtain. I'll also be adding in a house battery and might put in a jump seat. This past week has been spent in planning and I've started to insulate/sheath the inside. Here's a few photos of my progress so far.
The 3/4" R5 Foam board is glued/taped to the flat metal.
Then R11 fiberglass batting is added on top of that.
Finally, 3/8" exterior glue finish plywood is put over the matrix.
Here is the foam already fitted into the ceiling.
I test drove a number of vehicles, but I was sold on the Ford Transit, XLT. I negotiated the price over emails where they have to give me a good bargain and was pretty happy with the deal. So, this thread is about the build out. It's a good 36" longer, 8" higher and 8" wider than the Sprinter. Even @LowVizWiz will be able to stand up in it. I'll be adding insulation, a tank rack, the tool boxes and charging station that I had in the old Sprinter. I will be locating the drains at the end of the tank rack, stopping water from going into the cargo area. I won't be putting in the hard barrier between the seats and the cargo area, just a curtain. I'll also be adding in a house battery and might put in a jump seat. This past week has been spent in planning and I've started to insulate/sheath the inside. Here's a few photos of my progress so far.
The 3/4" R5 Foam board is glued/taped to the flat metal.
Then R11 fiberglass batting is added on top of that.
Finally, 3/8" exterior glue finish plywood is put over the matrix.
Here is the foam already fitted into the ceiling.
Hopefully it will only be for a few minutes.
