A Labor of Love

Longest drum roll ever........................and we're off! Finally hitting the road and seeing where it spits us out. It feels like ages since we jammed our NY life into a tiny storage unit in Hackensack, bid farewell to Vern and June (our beloved goldfish...thanks Bill and Starr for fish-sitting!), and moved back to Massachusetts. It's been almost six weeks...a long six weeks in which much has happened. Spring arrived. I turned a year older. We sold a van. We bought a van. And we converted our van into the best little home imaginable!

For those unfamiliar with our story, Marco and I have quit our jobs in NYC to embark on an eagerly-anticipated (and very thoroughly-saved-for) road trip across the country. We both agree that we have each outgrown our lives in NYC and, accordingly, we made a mutual decision to take the next step in life--explore this great country of ours, climb in every place imaginable, and, ultimately, find a cozy little spot to settle down and begin a new chapter of life. We're not sure where the road will take us and we can't begin to imagine what it has in store for us, but, that's exactly why we're taking this trip. We are both independently seeking personal growth, inspiration, life-lessons, and whatever it is the next undetermined amount of months has to teach us. And now, back to the start of our story!

We initially aimed to be on the road in early April, but we had some van issues. Long story short, we decided to upgrade our darling little sea-foam green Dodge Ram that many of you knew and loved for a more serious road-trippin' van. You know, a real van that wouldn't rust out a half mile into our trip (aka, a couple mechanics refused to do work on our Dodge Ram because it was so rusty, so we bit the bullet and upgraded to a legit 2008 Chevy Express van...a REAL van!).  

After many long hours with many questionable car dealers, we ended up with a pretty fantastic van that we are very excited about. And because it was a stripped down cargo van when we bought it, we got to convert the van and build the interior from scratch--a huge plus that we would have missed out on if we kept Ol' Rusty Bones Ram. And, fortunately, my dad is pretty (ridiculously) handy when it comes to construction...he built the second floor of my childhood home! And since he is retired, he had plenty of time on his hands to help us out. Marco and I really owe a lot to my parents--without my dad, our van would likely consist of a couple thermarests laying on a cold, ribbed, metal van floor next to a messy pile of climbing gear, and without my mom, we would not have had an endless supply of delicious meals and treats to keep us fueled to work on the van! So, with the help of both my parents, we were able to create our new home! A true labor of love that we have affectionately named LiL Bean! 

And now...the gritty details of the creation of Bean. The following may be overkill, but during our construction process we relied heavily on helpful tips/pictures from other van conversion websites/blogs, so I am providing as much detail as possible with the hope that it will help someone else who is looking to convert a van.  (Other awesome conversion sites at http://www.cheaprvliving.com/ and http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=563313).

It appears that in her former life, Bean was the work van for a person that installed sprinkler systems. In the world of sprinkler vans, I think it's safe to say she was dressed to the nines--fully equipped with Adrian Steel shelves, drawers, a partition, and a killer double-grip lock ladder rack with a 10' conduit carrier (all of which are for sale...we're looking to sell everything cheap!). Whoever equipped the van with all of that gear definitely knew what they were doing. Our first step was to strip her down and it took the better part of two days to empty her out, cut a few stripped bolts, and remove the roof rack. 

This is what Bean looked like when we got her:

We ripped up the black mat that covered the floor so we could insulate. Then we used a lot of Simple Green and some rags to give her a good scrub down. The Simple Green worked really well to get all the oily residue out. It worked so well, I'm thinking of using it on Marco before bed every night! : ) There were roughly 20 holes in the floor of the van because the previous owner bolted all of the shelves/drawers straight through the floor. We used a GE Silicone sealant to caulk the holes.  It seems to have done the trick.

Next, we filled in most of the ribs on the floor with insulation strips and used 1/2 inch ply strips in the three largest ribs to provide a foundation to drill the floor into. The insulation was adhered to the floor and wheel wells with Loctite High Performance Spray Adhesive--highly recommended! As for the ply strips, we initially tried to secure them to the floor with a wood-to-metal adhesive caulk. It worked great for certain sections, but there were parts of the ply strips that wouldn't sit flush against the van floor (no matter how many bricks and cinder blocks we put on top). So we decided to drill the ply strips straight into the van floor...we caulked the screws on the bottom to avoid any water coming back into the van. We covered the sub-floor with another layer of insulation and topped it off with 1/2 inch sanded ply. 

Then we moved onto the walls. We used the Loctite Adhesive to put up R13 insulation on the walls. We covered the R13 with a layer of bubble wrap insulation (probably overkill, but my dad had lots of extra insulation so we put it to use). As a base for our wall boards, we put up horizontal strips of 3/4 inch ply, which we drilled right into the struts of the van. We used wide strips of ply, so that we'd have a sufficient base to drill the wall boards into and to brace furniture to. Next, we put up the wall panels.

After we completed the wall boards, we sent Bean to an RV dealer to install two roof vents (which were a must, since there's no source of ventilation/air flow in the back of the van where we'll be sleeping). A couple of websites provide decent instructions on how to cut the roof and install roof vents yourself, but we thought it was better left to the professionals. All of the auto body shops we went to refused to touch the roof of the van--they insisted any cutting in the roof of the van would result in leaks. Fortunately we found an RV dealer who specialized in modifying the bodies of RVs and they installed the roof vents for us (AirStream of New England on 138 in Stoughton...right past Town Spa, yum! They were great!). We ordered the vents online ourselves (non-powered 14' square fan-tastic roof vents), to avoid the mark-up that the dealer would have had to charge us. Hopefully nothing leaks during our first rain storm!

After Bean was outfitted with her snazzy vents, we moved onto furniture.  

For the bed, we made a sliding slat bed that could serve as a couch during the day and slide out to a bed at night. To form the stationary part of the bed, we used 2x4s to make three box frames to serve as the base of the bed, and some 1x2x8s to form the stationary slats that sit on two 2x4s on top of the box frames. The sliding part of the bed consists of two 2x4s to form the base for the sliding slats to sit on and the base is supported by three legs. We lined the 2x4s with hardboard so that everything would slide a bit easier. As for a mattress, we really lucked out. We went to Ikea with the plan of buying a full size foam mattress that we could cut down the middle to form two individual mattress. But, after looking at all the expensive new foam mattresses, we went to the As Is section and found an old foam futon mattress in a pretty amazing cover that fit almost perfectly into our bed frame. All we had to do was cut the foam down a bit. And my mom was kind enough to custom tailor the mattress cover that came with it so it fits like a glove!

We made two shelving units--one behind the driver seat and one on the passenger wall. We put a small, cheap three drawer cabinet from Ikea along the passenger wall as well, and made a drop leaf table, which is attached to the Ikea cabinet, to use on the days when it's raining and we want to cook in the van. As seen below, to complete the floor, we used adhesive floor panels to piece together a floating floor. They were super easy to put down and look great. We tacked the floor down with a couple wood screws in the front and back.

Finally, we put a console in between the seats of the van to get some additional storage space. 

And here's the van, all packed up! 

Stay tuned for updates regarding our route and stops along the way! Much love to our family and friends! We miss you all! And, most importantly, thanks again to my amazing parents for all of their help and support in making our adventure happen! My dad really put a lot of time and effort into getting this van done...and getting it done the right way! As well as Marco, who was there learning from and helping my dad every step of the way. And my mom definitely gave the van a woman's touch and made it a real home away from home! Thank you, thank you, thank you! And now we're off!