*Note the total honesty and transparency in this post's title, so as to avoid being accused of trying to lure you into reading my blog with a salacious headline like ..... "On The Brink!", or ..... "Almost DIED!" .... or "The Dog Threw Up!!!!!" ..... then doing the ol' bait-n-switch to the same-old-same-old that is our life lately.
Because the truth is .... we are best described as Boring-R-Us. No traveling. No grave illnesses .... (that we know of, knock on wood). No grand epiphanies. Besides getting progressively older and fatter, we just work on a van.
So ..... the update --
We have a floor!
Walls!
Some outlets!
Wiring!!!!! (This one gets special recognition because it has been the Mt. Everest of endless slogging along, holding up a LOT of the more interesting parts of this build. Who knew that this much wire would go into 84 square feet???
The tanks (all four of them) are permanently installed!
Husband made, out of fiberglass, a custom shower pan. It took the better part of a week to make, and turned out perfectly. I will explain why it sits in our hallway, later.
 |
| Going clockwise, starting at the left -- the kitchen galley with our fresh water tank at the base of it. (The last third of that cabinet will be our closet.) Then in the rear is the bed area. (That glow is our portable light) Then, coming around on the right next to the bed, is the fridge/microwave cabinet. Then the bathroom, with the shower pan in the hall. Further clockwise will be the sofa & table. The weird silver stuff on the walls/ceiling is insulation & vapor barrier. Upper cabinets yet to come. |
 |
| The guts, AKA the Mother Ship. This is in the back, under where the bed will go. Van people call it the garage. Lots of storage space in there for bikes, kayak, camp chairs, etc. |
I am sewing insulated window covers and five of the nine are looking like they won't need to be ripped apart and reworked for the umpteenth time. I, the experienced seamstress, went into this smugly, as I observed other DIY van window covers on YouTube. Pshaw, thought I. I will show them how it's done. But .... alas .... I have been thoroughly humbled and now, the price of the professionally sewn ones on Etsy (upwards to $1500 for a set) seems entirely reasonable.
Our fridge is no longer on back order and will soon be on its way!
Let's see .... what else ..... the water heater and pump are installed. I'm sure I'm forgetting some of it ...
Oh! Our flarespaces are painted! Explanation: If you ever notice a Sprinter van with odd bulges where the rear side widows would go, these are brilliant inventions that allow anyone over 5-1/2 ft tall to sleep sideways comfortably in a van. They essentially widen the van where the bed will go. (Otherwise the bed would have to be front to back, taking up too much valuable space.) Did that make sense? The flarespaces must be painted by the customer to match their particular van color. To save time, we paid a guy to paint ours and they look even better than the van's paint job. (He'd love to paint Husband's race car and wanted to "show what he could do".) Our's will have windows in them, which said windows are currently on back order, so they (the flarespaces) wait patiently on one of our guest beds.
When the windows finally arrive, two massive holes will be cut in the sides of our van to facilitate the installation. T'will be a terrifying/exciting day, to say the least. Here's a picture from online: (Note-- this picture only works in the web version, and probably not on your phone. If you're REALLY interested, you can go here.)
As usual, Husband is the Daily Super Hero. I come up with the wants and ideas, and he figures out how to make them. He works long into the night after I've gone to bed and then in the mornings, I go down to the shop to see what Santa made. Amazon has transformed many days into Christmas, as the boxes arrive en masse. A sink! Faucet! Multiple unrecognizable fittings and metal thingies. Then shower curtains! A rug! (That one was a little premature, but Amazon only had two of my color left.) More unrecognizable fittings and metal thingies. Then drawer pulls! A shower head! And then more Husband-ordered stuff .... and on it goes. Things pile up around the house as it all waits its turn to be installed.
So that's it. We love it. But we are self-admitted geeks. You may not be. I get that. Our friendship will not suffer if you don't share in our geekiness ..... maybe. No promises.
