Great tips, slamit. A few questions as I'm getting ready to pull the trigger and order an RUV kit:
I installed the AdWag RUV kit June 2018 after attending a Builder's Workshop in April 2018. I didn't see this thread earlier because I hit the road in June 2018 and didn't get back until August... I'll answer your questions where I think I can based on my experience.
Wiring/fuses/panel seems to be the area where I have the most questions/issues about the AW kit. For the initial rough build I want to do something to get up to speed and on the road quickly (basically just fan/power/heat/insulation/walls/bed), then re-tackle the problem in the fall after I've had a winter of skiing and a summer of mountain biking to more fully evaluate my needs (this is my first van). On the minus side I don't have an aux battery installed (yet), on the plus side one of my best friends is a professional electrician, so I have qualified help!
Questions for you:
1) Is there room for an Espar/Webasto heater under the passenger seat (I do have factory swivel but not power seats) if I relocate the AW fuse panel there? It seemed really hinky to me to have to remove my drivers seat if I blow a fuse or trip the breaker, which it appears is the case, yes?
One of the major benefits to the AdWag RUV kit is getting up to speed quickly with a reasonable base capability. If you are planning to use your van like the AdWag "Recreational Utility Vehicle" concept, changing the interior flexibly to serve multiple purposes, then I think it is a great way to go (and I put my money where my mouth is already). I've been using my van for everything from full-on cargo (no bench seats, loaded to the gills with furniture and other things), transporting a robotics team (8 passengers using two bench seats, plus 8 horizontal feet of cargo divided into an upper half for light pieces and a lower half for heavier pieces), to multi-day over the road family trips (seating for five, sleeping one kid under the rear MOAB and the other along the single bench seat), to 2-person camping (no bench seats installed, MOAB for sleeping and a Trail Kitchens Van TK galley module bolted up front).
In the NCV3, there is room under the passenger seat for a D2-sized diesel air heater with room to spare, and so the AdWag fuse panel could fit there (it is a small blade fuse block). However, the two AdWag wiring harnesses are sized to both terminate under the driver's seat. It would be fairly easy to terminate the passenger-side harness in the passenger seat base, because it passes through the passenger seat base. The driver-side harness ends in the driver seat base; each circuit would need to be extended to the passenger seat base.
I screwed my AdWag fuse block onto the plastic infrastructure in the driver seat base near the back on the right where it is somewhat accessible through the foam panel on the top of the seat base. I haven't tried accessing it that way to replace a fuse, but it *might* be possible. So far I haven't blown any fuses, so accessing it hasn't been a problem. I also installed the circuit breaker to the load distribution fuse panel under the driver seat base, and can confirm that the breaker can be reset by lifting up the foam panel and reaching into the base.
My "next phase" plan is to convert from the AdWag-supplied fuse block to a
Blue Sea Systems WeatherDeck Fuse Panel so that I can switch each circuit on/off independently, as well as make the fuses more accessible. I plan to install this fuse panel on the outside rear of the driver seat base. I like the capability to switch off circuits I don't want in use without killing off all circuits through the load master disconnect.
2) It really seems like the proper place for house batteries is in the garage, but of course the AW wiring kit terminates at the front of the van. Do you think their system will be easy to expand upon later (e.g., larger panel, house batteries, maybe solar, and rewiring from aux to house etc)? It does seem like a nice polished get-going-quick solution with appropriate amounts and locations for plugs (though no 110).
I think the AdWag kit is a good first phase, and can be expanded from without too much trouble. I added AdWag's aux battery kit after I had installed the original RUV kit, and found it easy to put in place. The ADWag aux battery kit puts the batteries under the hood in the factory aux battery location, however, not the rear of the van. If/when you put house batteries in the rear of the van, you would need to run a high-current circuit from the rear of the van to the AdWag load distribution point under the driver's seat base. Since whatever else you add on merely needs to connect to this load distribution point, all of the items you mention can easily be added on later. If you choose to center your future additions on the garage, then its just a pair of high-current cables up to the front (or just one cable if you use a frame ground/return) to carry the house battery current to the load distribution point.
In my case, I'm adding the additional items you mention around the driver seat base; solar panels down from the roof, and a shore power connection up through the cable passage under the driver's seat base, connecting to a multi-source charger (vehicle, solar, and shore) attached to the rear of the driver's seat base.
Once I have the multi-source charger in place, I'll also have two externally-accessible switches mounted on the driver's seat base; one to select the charging source (vehicle direct through a relay, or from all of the current sources through the multi-source charger, or cut off), the other to select how my loads are powered (from the house battery, from the vehicle battery, or cut off).
In the event that I find that I want to install more battery storage, I'll probably go LiFePo, and I'll have to decide whether to fit those near the driver seat base or in the back, since I won't want them out in the cold.
Hadn't really thought much about the headliner, is it just as easy to add/install later as it is when doing the initial buildout?
My opinion is that getting the van headliner/paneling all in place at one time was valuable to me. It holds the RUV kit insulation in place and finishes off the interior.
Can you elaborate on that a bit? I like the fact that it's pre-cut which seems like it will save a lot of time and hassle, but I did consider using the Noico instead as it seems to be the most non-toxic solution and gets high marks from people.
The sound-damping material (Hushmat) was not pre-cut in my kit. Noico is primarily sound-damping. The 3M Thinsulate thermal/acoustic insulation was not pre-cut in my kit either (April 2018), but I understand from the AdWag website that the Thinsulate thermal/acoustic insulation is pre-cut now. That will save you a couple of hours
This is the one area I'm uncomfortable with; the idea of cutting holes in my brand-new sprinter makes me queasy. My plan is to get the fan kit(s), carefully mark off the cut area, and use either a local auto glass place or a local upfitter to double-check the placement and install the fans for me. It seems like a worthwhile expense for something that would be *very* expensive if I screwed it up. My second-biggest worry here since I have to wait a while for the actual v2.0 ceiling panels to ship is that they'll show up and my fans won't line up exactly with the kit hole(s). That makes me nervous.
I personally would wait to cut/have cut the fan holes until I had the ceiling panels, and I had the instructions on how to line up the holes to be cut for the fans with the pre-cut holes in the ceiling panels. I used AdWag's pre-cut front panel for my front fan, and had no problem with the hole that I cut lining up with the pre-cut hole in the panel. The instructions were adequate, and there is some tolerance. An auto glass or up fitter vendor won't really be able to double-check placement without the panels; all they can do is follow the instructions from AdWag.
Depending on where you are located, there might be a reasonably close AdWag installer who would already be familiar with AdWag's solution who could put the fans in for you (at a price of course). I found the hardest part of the fan installation was not cutting the hole, but rather working with the sealing tape that AdWag supplies to make the external junction between the van and the fan ring weather-tight.