[El Guapo]

After reading about camper vans, collectiong ideas and pictures, and debating on doing it for over a year it's time to start my build. I'm wishing I had started it earlier because I'd already be enjoying it by now.

Starting the floor. 3/4" plywood bolted down over Polyiso sheet. The front living area will get something on top of this. The rear cargo area will get Herculiner.

 

[El Guapo]

Polyiso on the walls and ceiling (1' to 2.5") with batting stuffed in the nooks and crannies. Then install riv-nuts to mount ceilings and wall panels.

 

[PopeAng]

...cut
Starting the floor. 3/4" plywood bolted down over Polyiso sheet. The front living area will get something on top of this. The rear cargo area will get Herculiner.

Are you going to spread/paint the Herculiner on top of the plywood? Any priming? I've never worked with the stuff, but it seams like a good idea to protect the cargo area.

PS. For some reason I can't see pictures from certain file sharing sites. Just in case the answer to my question is easily seen in the picture.

 

[El Guapo]

Are you going to spread/paint the Hurculiner on top of the plywood? I've never worked with the stuff, but it seams like a good idea to protect the cargo area. PS. For some reason I can't see pictures from certain file sharing sites. Just in case the answer to my question is easily seen in the picture.

These pics are from TinyPics.com. I was going to have bed liner sprayed in until I found out how expensive it was. So I searched around looking for a DIY coating and it looked like Herculiner had the best reviews so I bought some of it. I usually don't expect stuff like this to perform as advertised but I can say that I am very impressed with the pieces I've coated so far. And yes I applied directly to plywood, two coats. I did a few scrap pieces to test the durability of when it's fully cured ( a few days) but so far it looks like it's going to work great.

 

[PopeAng]

These pics are from TinyPics.com. I was going to have bed liner sprayed in until I found out how expensive it was. So I searched around looking for a DIY coating and it looked like Herculiner had the best reviews so I bought some of it. I usually don't expect stuff like this to perform as advertised but I can say that I am very impressed with the pieces I've coated so far. And yes I applied directly to plywood, two coats. I did a few scrap pieces to test the durability of when it's fully cured ( a few days) but so far it looks like it's going to work great.

Awesome. Thanks! I'll add this to my "to do list" once my storage, and electrical is all sorted out and boxed in.

 

[nebulight]

Good luck with the build. Keep up up to date!

 

[SteveSS]

After reading about camper vans, collectiong ideas and pictures, and debating on doing it for over a year it's time to start my build. I'm wishing I had started it earlier because I'd already be enjoying it by now.

Looking good! You are way ahead of me! I am enjoying the research though.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I started with 1/2” ply over 1/2” Polyiso. Barefoot on the cold mornings it was too cold and we had painted the plywood. We also found tiny stones brought in hurt our heel if we stepped on them. At this time we have cheap carpet from H-D on the ply stapled just enough to keep it in place. Its a better surface as the floor does not conduct away heat from our feet nearly as fast. It’s been in 1 1/2 years and still looks ok. It was about $9 so when it doesn’t we will use it for a pattern. Herculiner may be better than paint in this regard.

 

[El Guapo]

Those are good points RD. I used 3/4" ply over 1/2" polyiso. I had originally planned to cover the plywood with a nicer wood floor or rubber gym type flooring. I might experiment initially and see how it goes because we are planning on using it as a ski van in the winter.

 

[El Guapo]

Building three frames for mounting ceiling fans and A/C. Glued in place with Sikaflex 252. On the outside used two of the plastic adapters I bought on EBay from Hein. About to glue them into place using 3M Window Weld. Would one of these also work for the (future) A/C or is the version for an A/C different?

 

[El Guapo]

Ceiling is done except for an access panel at the back to allow access to the ext lights. I riv-nutted 1/2" pieces of plywood to the ceiling ribs and then nailed/glued the cedar planks to the plywood. The polyiso roof insulation (1" and 1/2" combined) completely filled the space between the roof and the wood planks. Two ceiling fans and a pre-cut and pre-wired spot for an A/C if needed.

 

[mco65]

nice ceiling..

 

[dmsdms2000]

Was wondering what type and size of bolts are you using to secure the plywood to the floor, have been looking for something like that with the fairly large head diameter?

 

[proeddie]

EG,

Wow, ceiling came out great! I'm just meditating on the vent fan holes and spacers now... as soon as we get a cooler day (93 yesterday in CT... what happened to Spring?)

You're gonna be one cool dude!

 

[nebulight]

Ceiling is done except for an access panel at the back to allow access to the ext lights. I riv-nutted 1/2" pieces of plywood to the ceiling ribs and then nailed/glued the cedar planks to the plywood. The polyiso roof insulation (1" and 1/2" combined) completely filled the space between the roof and the wood planks. Two ceiling fans and a pre-cut and pre-wired spot for an A/C if needed.

If you are going to prewire for AC, isn't there also a control cable for the AC needed?

 

[El Guapo]

Was wondering what type and size of bolts are you using to secure the plywood to the floor, have been looking for something like that with the fairly large head diameter?

I think I used an M8 bolt. To the best of my memory that was the size of the bolt to go into the threaded tie-down points. On the others I located a good spot to drill underneath, drilled a starter hole up from the bottom, drilled a chamfer from the top, then finished with a hole to fit an M8 diameter bolt. I used stainless hardware from Ace. If you look at the early pics you'll see that I used a tapered type bolt that would leave the floor flush so that I can lay a finished floor over the plywood sub-floor.

 

[El Guapo]

EG,

Wow, ceiling came out great! I'm just meditating on the vent fan holes and spacers now... as soon as we get a cooler day (93 yesterday in CT... what happened to Spring?)

You're gonna be one cool dude!

For the outside spacers I used Hein's plastic ones since they're going to be in the elements. They fit perfectly. He makes an inside spacer also but I just made the inside ones out of wood since I'm pretty handy with the wood working. I glued it into place and then screwed into it from above through the plastic spacer. Lowe's have strips of wood in 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" and I think 5/8" thiknesses. These, along with standard 3/4" wood, allowed me to get the spacers the perfect thickness to fit the ribs in the roof.

I also glued/nailed a spacer to the bottom side of the inside spacer to make it on the same plane as the bottom of what the wood ceiling planks nailed onto so I could secure it around the edges of the vents, which gave me something more substantial for the vent trim to screw into.

 

[El Guapo]

If you are going to prewire for AC, isn't there also a control cable for the AC needed?

Do you mean for a thermostat? I watched a few install videos for the Coleman Mach 8 and read the manual and it appears that only one power wire is needed to wire the A/C, then a pre-wired connector on the A/C plugs into the inside control unit.

 

[El Guapo]

Finally getting all of my 12v wiring done and tested. Still need to do the AC side. Starting on the interior trim work.

 

[El Guapo]

The gear storage area done. This should hold everything. I'm thinking about adding slide out trays for mounting bikes and to make it easier to get to things in the back.