This weekend I stayed at home and took care of a few upgrades that I have been wanting to do for some time, specifically the bed in the rear of the van. Up until this weekend, it was a huge 5′ x 6′ bed (sleeps 2) that converted into two bench seats and a table (seating for 6!). This was a huge waste of space as I never had more than a single person (myself) sleeping back there and the bench seats were so uncomfortable that they too went un-used. So, my primary goal was to convert the bed into a single-person sleeping area while retaining some seating for passengers or lounging while parked.
I took the concept of the slide-out couch from the trailer and brought it into the van. Now, it is a couch large enough to seat three and just wide enough to ‘nap’ on. It has a slide-out that will nearly double the width of the bed-area giving enough room for two people to sleep, if ever needed. Underneath-left is my battery compartment in which I moved all the access and displays to face inwards (use to face out the rear doors). Underneath-right is where the porta-potty can slide in and out as needed. Underneath-center is general storage accessible from both the rear doors and from a removable panel. Curtains were also installed a few weekends ago to offer some privacy to person(s) sleeping in the rear of the van, or to use the porta-potty.
The end result is a reduction in seating area… (I never had more than 3 people in the van…) and sleeping area (I never slept more than 1 on rear bed) in exchange for less weight on rear tires and a more ‘live-able’ space at the rear of the van. The biggest set-back was a 50% loss of storage space (under bench seats), but once I tallied what items were going back in the van, I realized I was just carrying a lot of extra items with no purpose. Such as, why carry tents and other camping gear until I know I will be needing it? In the end, I found that 90% of all the items in the old storage spaces did not go back in the van, saving a huge amount of weight.
Finally, Sunday morning I was browsing Craig’s List and found a local selling a 10′ awning (my 8′ awning was sold with the trailer a few months back) which I quickly bought and installed on the van. After looking it up online, this awning was purchased new in 2005 for just under $800… I paid $100. Yea baby… score!
Next in line is a sink and water tanks or a full propane setup
UPDATE – Just after writing this, I purchased the 5# propane bottle and hose to complete my initial propane setup. Currently it fuels the Coleman stove, but I plan to run a second hose to the heater as well. The 5# bottle is very small but more than enough for my cooking and heating for a while. If I know I will be using more, I can always plug in the 1# bottles as reserve or I can pickup a 20# bottle for those ‘heavy days’. Keep in mind, the 1-week trip to Teton National Forest was all done on a single 1# bottle of propane. With the 5# bottle, I can easily go a month before needing fuel.
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