AWD Chevy 1500 Adventure Van

rockbender

Adventurer
Looks great! I dig the convertibility of it all. Where did you source your backup camera system? Is it still working well? How is the mirror image when the screen is not powered? Even if I switch to a different head unit, this looks like it might be a better backup camera solution.
 

SBaircraft

Observer
I don't remember where I ordered the camera, but here's a link to the mirror monitor.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J863EI2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The mirror quality is pretty good but it doesn't have a night mode, so you might have problems with glare. That's not a problem for me because I covered my rear windows. Also, the image is sometimes over-exposed at night. I'm not sure whether the camera or the mirror is responsible for that.

Overall, it's been great to have a backup camera.
 

SBaircraft

Observer
I don't know how I ever survived without the CNC router. My buddy used it to make some beautiful bathroom cabinets. It's kind of a shame that I didn't make a nice interior, but simple works better for my needs.

I'm thinking about hot-wire cutting a foam tray for the propane canisters. That should prevent them from chattering.
 

SBaircraft

Observer
The stock bed is 78-5/8" and my bed is exactly 10" shorter. When I'm alone, I can sleep at a diagonal. When I'm with my girlfriend, my feet sometimes overhang the bed by an inch or two, but it doesn't bother me one bit.
 

SBaircraft

Observer
I bit the bullet and ordered a Webasto heater. Has anyone put an aux fuel tap on a Chevy van? For gasoline heaters (diesel is another story), Webasto sells a T-fitting and recommends tapping into the fuel return line. However, I'm not so sure that my fuel return line runs down to the bottom of my tank. Does anyone have any experience with this?

By the way, the ST model is currently sold and supported in the US. I ordered the newer STC model from Europe because it has a few small improvements, including a quieter fuel pump. The factory plans to introduce the STC model to the US in May and assured me that I would have good support down the road.

I live near the mountains and I was a little worried about high-altitude. Webasto makes a special version of this heater for RV use. It has a different ECU an optional external "high altitude" switch. This would make it super easy to switch between high and low altitude modes. However, I didn't want to spend the extra money. Using a CO2 analyzer, I plan to calibrate my heater for ~10,000ft and I'll just let it run lean when I'm at lower altitudes. When I'm down low, the ambient temperature is usually warmer so I won't need as much heat output anyways.
 

Jo_Duval

Observer
I bit the bullet and ordered a Webasto heater. Has anyone put an aux fuel tap on a Chevy van? For gasoline heaters (diesel is another story), Webasto sells a T-fitting and recommends tapping into the fuel return line. However, I'm not so sure that my fuel return line runs down to the bottom of my tank. Does anyone have any experience with this?

By the way, the ST model is currently sold and supported in the US. I ordered the newer STC model from Europe because it has a few small improvements, including a quieter fuel pump. The factory plans to introduce the STC model to the US in May and assured me that I would have good support down the road.

I live near the mountains and I was a little worried about high-altitude. Webasto makes a special version of this heater for RV use. It has a different ECU an optional external "high altitude" switch. This would make it super easy to switch between high and low altitude modes. However, I didn't want to spend the extra money. Using a CO2 analyzer, I plan to calibrate my heater for ~10,000ft and I'll just let it run lean when I'm at lower altitudes. When I'm down low, the ambient temperature is usually warmer so I won't need as much heat output anyways.

you should get in touch with FarOutRide. They have a webasto STC and had multiple issues with it. They write about it on their blog. It seems like the thing to do would be to set the high elevation to run it leaner and never run it for short periods of time.
 

SBaircraft

Observer
you should get in touch with FarOutRide. They have a webasto STC and had multiple issues with it. They write about it on their blog. It seems like the thing to do would be to set the high elevation to run it leaner and never run it for short periods of time.
I did read their page before ordering the heater. Really helpful! Although they had a lot of problems with it at first, they eventually figured it out. Hopefully their lessons will save me some big hassles! In addition to calibrating it for high altitude and never running it for short periods of time, I'm also planning to run it hard once a month and I plan to clean it out annually.
 

SBaircraft

Observer
I pulled out my camping interior and insulated the van last weekend. My camping interior is modular and came out with a total of 16 bolts.

I used 1" pink foam on the roof. This foam was really easy to work with because it flexed enough to follow the curves. I needed 1.5" foam for the sides and I could only find polyiso in this thickness. Polyiso has a slightly higher R-value but it doesn't bend! I had to slit and break the foam in many places to follow the van curves. I attached the foam pieces with 3M 74. This is formulated specifically for foam and works much better than 3M 77. You can order it online but I'm not sure if you will find it locally. I was fortunate to have a 20 pound tank of the stuff at work, along with a proper spray gun for it!

I filled a number of smaller gaps with expanding foam and trimmed it flush with a razor saw. I also used about 10ft of Thermalite, primarily in the hollow doors. As others have suggested, I was able to easily pull strips of Thermlite into the van ribs, using string.

I skipped Reflectix. It's great at reflecting radiant heat when there's a substantial air gap, but it has little value in conductive applications. I also skipped the vapor barrier. It would have been useful over batting-type insulation, or if there was air behind my foam panels. However, after gluing closed-cell foam directly against the van walls, I don't expect to have moist air back there.

I ordered front window covers from HeatShield. They fit perfectly and they're really heavy duty. Normally, the reflective side faces outward to reflect radiant heat from the sun. I'm going to flip them around backwards during the winter.

Tonight, I'll get started on paneling. I picked up a few sheets of Bubble-X plastic. It's more durable than Coroplast and instead of flutes, it has more of a honeycomb design. It's supposedly available in a variety of colors but my local supplier only had white, which is fine with me. I do plan to decorate my walls with some fun decals.

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