Search results

Today was an easy day. Didn’t get to work on the van until after lunch as I had to run some errands. Started with painting the equipment carrier. Two coats of primer then two coats of satin black. It looks pretty good. I’ll install it tomorrow. In between coats of paint I added some backing...

With the traction boards in place I started to look at how to mount up the Joolca propane system. I purchased a mounting plate and a cover so I was able to use the mounting plate to start looking at how I was going to attach. Because the cover has a zipper, I needed to make sure I had access...

Working on the traction board mounting frame today. Those little cutouts were tough to weld - partially because the tube burned through really easy. I had to go to the lowest setting on the welder. The welds look horrible, but I think they'll hold. The other side of the mounting frame...

With the roof resealed I’m able to move on to another project. Today I installed a ladder and an equipment carrier. Instead of the nuts and bolts suppled with the items, I installed rivnuts for all bolt locations. Makes it much easier to install or remove. Technically, this “equipment...

When I traveled Hwy 50 in June of ‘21 I stopped to take a photo at the Utah border where the sign said Loneliest highway. I think 50 cars drove by. I opted instead to get on the dirt roads and took over 2 weeks to cross the state. That said, I agree that Highway 50 is a beautiful drive and...

After over 2 days of scraping old sealant from and painting some areas of the high top to van body joint, I finally ran a bead of sealant. My back feels the pain of all of that scraping. You can also see in the above image one of the holes where the awning was bolted. I filled those holes...

how much does that deck system weigh? just curious. Since I started driving a campervan weight is something I'm always thinking about.

so I'm trying to find some info on awning repair as the 'better' awning I have available is torn. In my searches I came across an update from the same guy whose solar panel attachment method I borrowed. In his method, he used a carriage bolt, washer, lock washer and wingnut with loctite...

This would be a fun trip in my van. Rocky Mountain pinstriping is cool. I'll be in UP Michigan in mid June so probably not this year.

One of the items on my list is to reseal the high top. I had some pretty bad leaking during some rainstorms here in SC over the last couple months. I cleaned out the sealant in the driver side drip rail from the windshield and around the back to the rear passenger corner. The rear had some...

If I have nothing else in life, I can grow a beard! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Finished up the electrical today so I pulled it all apart.

Finished up the wiring in the van. One goal was to make removal and install of the electrical box and external Components easy. Therefore, powerpole connectors.

Big day today! I finished up mounting the second solar panel and the y-adapter to wire them in parallel showed up a day early. That allowed me to just keep working on the solar as I had all of the pieces. Just for fun - this is how I accessed the roof through the hatch. When I set the panel...

Solar panels are mounted and the wire is run. Still working on the connections to the solar charge controller.

Last few days I've been prepping to re-seal the high roof on my van. No photos of that. Since I had to paint some of the raingutter yesterday I decided to work on the solar panels today. I found a video on youtube that showed a way to mount these flexible solar panels that allowed for panel...

make sure you check your transfer case. i've heard of Wranglers that have been hit on the front end up with damaged t-case housings. Maybe it's not an issue with the Grand Cherokee but FYI.

I had to take a couple days to go retrieve my Transit from the mothership (Vandoit) as the work is done. So, I lost of couple of days working on the Bar-B van. She looks pretty good as a plain white van! She’s for sale so let me know if you’re interested. Once back to SC I got back to work...

Today I got to the point in the DC power circuits that all of the original functionality is restored (as in completely rewired). While doing that I also added functionality. The water pump is now on a three way switch so I can control it from the front of the electrical box or at the rear...

First thing I did this morning was to test the AC power system. Plugged into shore power after insuring all of the breakers were turned off. Tested voltage at every connection then turned on the breakers on sequence. I didn’t release any smoke so it all must have been good 🤣. Seriously though...