Welcome to My Build Process
Here are detailed sections on the individual projects that make up the van build, these are slowly being added, and I plan to have some two dozen of these:Energy System
An RV's Energy System includes all of the components, wiring, and even fossil fuel plumbing, that make it possible to have the RV feel like a home, for effortless cooking, lighting, climate control, etc. Here I detail my concept for an ultra-compact electrical system...
AC on Solar
It IS possible to run AC on solar/batts, but the best way to approach it, as with most things, is to reduce the power it requires, by increasing efficiency, and then that will of course reduce the number of solar panels and batteries needed, and extend your usable...
Electric bike racks for electric bikes
The bike racks that you can buy, that mount on your receiver hitch, not only stick out too far, but are a pain to swivel to gain access to the back doors. And we have a ton of items we need to get from our 'garage' thru the back doors fairly often. So this was what...
Windows / Fans / Insulation / Walls / Flooring
The way to make an RV comfortable is to insulate it. As hard as you may try to seek out good weather, you're still gonna end up with times and places and weather conditions that will put a damper on your adventure. If you insulate the best you can, it can make the...
Powered-tilt Solar Panels / Wifi Repeater Antenna
The new technology of higher performance solar panels, charge controllers, and lithium batteries, make it very possible to build an affordable, self-sustained off-grid electrical system. And unavoidably attractive to do so. - And so we did: The idea is to fit...
Cabinets
The cabinets will be one of the last things to be built, after all of the infrastructure projects are completed. Although here are the two exceptions, the two wall cabinets which needed to be built early for use on short trips before the van is complete, and also to...
Wiring. Lots of wiring.
Some people build an RV a little bit at a time, adding components as they discover a need for them. This requires wiring to be run on the walls' surface, and makes for a cobbled together look. If you can, plan. Everything. Wiring must be ALL pre-planned, and ALL...
Magic Table / Bed
Our little Sprinter van camper has a larger dinette table (8.3sq ft!) than our huge bus coach had, seats up to NINE, and it converts to a comfy bed in just 30 seconds (including bedding)! So this is the genesis of our table/bed idea: We wanted a large table with...
Seat Subs / Dash Stereo
This is a section on making the dash stereo sound terrific instead of terrible as it sounds with the factory in-dash head unit. Although the stock stereo looks terrific, it sounds terrible, mostly because of two things: High distortion from the low-power radio, and no...