Building my Adventure Van (2011 NCV3)

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
Looking good! What are you doing to keep the panels from rattling? Did you cut the wood so it is a tight fit? They do make a rubber gasket to press in between the panel and the 80/20 if you were using a 1/4" panel. Good idea offseting the rear vertical to give a place for the hinge channel to retract into.
 

Geek

New member
Dave: I'm using a router and recessing a 1/4" groove around the outside of the panels that makes it a precision fit. They press in the slots and stay put; no slot gasket necessary. :cheers:
 

Geek

New member
Pithycat: we are sound damping the entire van's shell (we pulled the dashboard and did from the firewall all the way back; the photos are earlier in this thread) with a layer of damplifier and then a layer of luxury liner pro (which is a bonded mass loaded vinyl and closed cell foam) to be followed with some reflectex insulation.

I'm also doing the back of each cabinet panel with the LLP. I think that with items like snow shoes, flyrods, helmets & such in the cabinets it'll help reduce squeaks &such from the contents.

re: how the wood is mounted - see my reply to Dave above... it's all precision fit without hardware. The floor is the same. It lays in place with fit; no hardware necessary.
 

Geek

New member
When we got back from snowboarding I was happy to find some of my connectors had arrived... specifically my end connectors.

When making a 3 way corner junction... you need a bit of a trick to be able to do inset panels like I'm doing in that any connector hardware you use is going to block up one of the tracks.

These guys to the rescue :thumbup:



It is a way for you to connect an intersection without an external bracket.

First you tap the end of the piece you are going to bolt into:


80/20 is super easy to tap thanks to the design of the holes.. the cut material just falls through while you cut.. no need for "back and forth". :thumbup:



Next.. I take the jig I bought:


and mount it flush with the end and then run the drill press all the way through


This gives me a hole that is in perfect alignment with the threaded hole in the end stock.


Why do I need this hole? For allen wrench access to tighten the two pieces together






You tighten it down and you have a firm end connection :thumbup:


with only a minor slot intrusion



When doing a piece that slides into another, you can "preload" the extrusion


slide it in.. then snug it down on both ends.
 

Geek

New member
Doing things "right" takes time.

When I did the first panel a few weeks ago... it was "close". I was just "throwing it together" but it came out so nice I thought I could live with it. It turns out my opening was just slightly bigger than the exact width of 6 of my boards :censored: I put it together with spacers and gaped it even on both ends: nobody would ever notice.

But it was bugging me.

So I took it all apart and did it again... right.

With the new end connectors I had to notch the wood to go around them. No big deal... 30 seconds with the dremel

..and voila


Insetting both ends and I had a great fit:


However, after insetting the proper 4/10ths, the gap was significant on the other end.

8/10ths of an inch significant.

So I fired up the table saw and went after making just the right size 8/10ths by 21.1" piece with 4/10ths routing on 3 sides... and then notching it so that it'd fit around the end connector as well. Ended up being quite a complicated little strip.

...but the effort was worth it :thumbup:






The results: One "perfect" panel. (or perfect enough for me :bounce: )





...now only 2450852408x10e23 to go. :wtf:
 

Frosty_1

Member
Geek,

Progress on your van looks great! A few questions for ya:

Are those maple boards pre-finished? Where did you find them?

What kind of router bit are you using? And a router table? I have limited router experience and have never used a table. Any chance you have a photo showing what the routered end of the board looks like?

Also, love that jig for drilling. I don't have a drill press, but am thinking about picking up a cheapy to re-do my wheel well boxes. I don't like the connectors I used and think I should re-do them similar to yours.

It's been so cold and RAINY here I haven't got much done on my van. Your photos and write-up are great though!

:cheers:

f.
 
Looks like one of the products from http://www.lumberliquidators.com/home.jsp?Wt.ps_id=PS_google_1013&gclid=CLKY7b7v16wCFckZQgod5AeOrA

I do residential remodelling and this prefinished hardwood is being used more and more often. Easy to install, and no dust or fumes in the house vs. an onsite sand and finish.

In a light "economical" RV, not sure if I would want the weight in hardwood to carry around.

Great job on the build and the documentation, definetly following along. I think we have similar taste in purpose for the van. :)
 

Geek

New member
Frosty:

Here's the material we're using: http://millsteadwoodfloors.com/products.php

It is the "vintage maple natural". :thumbup:




The router bit is just a standard square cut bit... the wood is 10mm thick and I need it about 8 mm thick and 4mm wide inset so I plane the edge of any wood that's going into a slot with it.



..and this is the groove it cuts:




Hope this helps :cheers:

I picked up the combo router/table at home depot really cheap.. I think in combo it was $99. It works well enough for what I'm doing :thumbup:

 

Geek

New member
Today was a bit of a frustrating day.

I finished the luxury liner pro on the left side front face I redid


..and mounted it in the van :thumbup:




then I finished the right side panel and mounted it in the van




...as I start to back build the box, the frustration kicks in.

NOTHING in this van is linear or parallel. Yes, I already knew this but didn't realize just how much this would come into play until I start to have to make certain surfaces parallel.

My long floor rails must be parallel for the flooring and my upper rails must be parallel for the flip up bed modules. Everything has to key off of these measurements and although something might be square and perfect.. it is not square and perfect to the van's surfaces.. so every part needs to be custom tended to... measurements become somewhat irrelevant other than in the distances you need to be equal.



The boxes are square are square and parallel (ignore the lens distortion) but each added piece shows another curve of the van needing attention.

It all stems from the fact that my "main rails" that are mounted on the van's sides are significantly further apart at the front than they are at the back due to the "boat shape" of the van. If I was super OCD I'd spend time mitering slightly every piece that bolts to them :bounce:
 
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daxxten

New member
Thanks Geek
Looks great!
How did your soundproofing work out?
I just picked up a 2012 crew 170 & am starting to take apart the headliner & wall panels to see how much CLD to get. Lots of rumble coming from the window panel sheet metal with every bump.
 

Geek

New member
I received some corner plates and living hinges in the mail today




...when shopping for the hinges I was looking for the strongest I could find - these are the main bed "flip up flip down" hinges so they have to be able to support a few hundred pounds.

They are massive! I think they are up to the task :smilewink:


:thumbup:
 

Geek

New member
This is not "work outside on the van weather" :rant:

The forecast high today and tomorrow is 23 degrees (-6).



damn mag chloride



I'm in warming up at the moment.. but the goal is to get the bed done today.

Working on the "living hinge" assembly







up


down - 1/2 gap :thumbup:


now I'm going to head to home depot and see if I can convince the guy with the panel saw to cut me a 66" piece of plywood that is 17.5" at one end but 17.25" at the other end :huh I'm sure if I try and do it with my table saw I'll wreck three pieces before I get it right.

:popcorn:


p.s. For all the complaining I've done about my stereo... I'm really digging the bluetooth connection. I can leave my iphone in my pocket and stop/change/start tunes any time I want without having to go into the van :thumbup:

 

NBB

Well-known member
For working in the winter, I backed my van up to the garage (single opening) and used a large piece of plastic to create a seal between the two. I then added a cheap propane 14kbtu propane heater and ran that mostly in the van, occasionally in the shop. A 15 lb cylinder might last the whole wknd.
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
70 degrees here. Sorry could not resist. When I am hooked up to 120 volt power, I have used a small 1500 watt ceramic heater that has two heat settings and a thermostat. It was $20.00. Just reread this. A Ca. native should not be suggesting a little heater to fight that kind of cold. Just a lack of experience I guess.
 
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230321a

Member
I received some corner plates and living hinges in the mail today

...when shopping for the hinges I was looking for the strongest I could find - these are the main bed "flip up flip down" hinges so they have to be able to support a few hundred pounds.
:thumbup:
:bow:Thanks for the great visual. Because of your work, I have an 8020 catalog on its way. Will I find the Living hinges, "flip up flip down" in the catalog?
 

Geek

New member
:bow:Thanks for the great visual. Because of your work, I have an 8020 catalog on its way. Will I find the Living hinges, "flip up flip down" in the catalog?
There are TONS of hinge options (including all the pieces you need to build your own).. the catalog takes a bit to get a grip on.. but it is definitely thorough (1300+ pages?)

These living hinges are actually:
a dual generic pivot nub (pivot nub without the t-slot hole on bottom)
2-90 degree brackets
brass bushings and delron spacers
6 - t-slot fasteners.
 

Geek

New member
We'll see how this turns out... not sure yet.

The idea with the bed frame is that it has three positions.

We use a queen size air mattress, duvet, pillows, etc (just as comfy as home :evil) when we are on the road. The platform will be down with the bed on top.

If on the road we want to "store the bed and bedding" the idea is that you pull the plug on the air mattress (it is one of those "electric pump built in" defaltes/inflates in a minute) and then push the bedding, mattress and everything to the passenger side of the vehicle, flip up the platform and clip it to the bottom of the overhead cabinets.

When night time comes and you wanna sleep, you flip it down, hit the button on the air mattress and 60 seconds later you have a queen sized bed again.

I'll fill the bottom of the platform with some of the matching hardwood so when flipped up it matches the rest of the cabinets.



When not using the bed (for work, etc), the platform can swing down and out of the way.




Or... with 4 bolts, the platform can easily be removed from the van completely in literally 30 seconds.

The top of all the platform is going to be carpet (we picked out a nice looking steel-blue carpet today.. I bought 96 feet of it so we should have plenty :smirk: ). I'm also going to carpet the sidewalls for the 5000+ mile trip we're going to take later this month (although the side-wall carpet will probably be replaced down the road...)

 
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