Hey Y'all! How's it going? Me? It's been a very busy couple of weeks. I've had my van a couple of weeks and I have been busy planning and buying stuff for the van. It's a lot to consider and with all the black Friday deals out there I'm trying to maximize savings on things I need to get for the van. Originally I was going to have someone else do all of the work for the van which would be great but it would be a minimum of 25,000 dollars and that didn't include things like electric, air conditioning , exhaust fan or fridge. So after adding all of the things together it would be almost 40 grand. So I figured I could do all of that myself. The hardest thing would be the walls and ceiling which were already provided in the van I bought. But it is quite a process figuring what to get and how to do different things . I'm estimating that I will spend about 8,000 dollars give or take to do my build that will make it much like the 40,000 that I was going to pay for. Of course there is no Labor charges and I'm feeling it a little bit in my old bones but if I take my time I will have a great van with all the things I need in it. I have experience in construction and Electrical and Mechanics so I'm pretty good at making things functional but am not very good in making things pretty.  So progress so far...

Purchasing items. I have been very busy buying things for the Van which means a lot of research before I pull the trigger. I will be purchasing things for the van and the only thing that I will be fabricating from scratch is the bed platform and a shelf above the bed. All of the cabinets and things I will purchase and install. I'm not much of a carpenter. LOL! So I have purchased the roof mounted (OutEquip) air conditioning unit that is a 12 volt DC unit. Lots of research there but I pulled the trigger. Also on the exhaust fan for the van which was an easy choice of a MaxAir Fan. These will be the scariest part of my build because I will have to cut holes in the roof of my new van to install. Ouch! Other things purchased is the electrical system for the living area of the van. Everything will be 12 volt from Fridge, AC, Exhaust Fan, Lights. They all will be run off of a Mobile Power station that will supply DC voltage( battery power) and AC voltage (like in your house). The Power Station will be recharged by the alternator (car while driving) and a Solar Panel mounted on the roof. I have purchased everything except the Solar panel . I am waiting for the things on the roof to be mounted (air conditioner and exhaust fan) before I order to make sure of measurements of the solar panel. I have also gotten my internet figured out while on the road while getting a Starlink satellite antenna that I can use while on the road to stay in touch with family and you folks. I'll probably do a separate blog on that item itself. I also purchased the things to build a bed frame that will hold a full size bed.

Building Progress. The bed frame has been built out of angle iron and uni-strut . Attached to the main supports of the van with bolts and Riv-nuts attached to the supports with a special tool. I also have the support for the shelf I will make using the same technique as the bed frame. I have also installed all of the electrical onto a 1/4 inch piece of Oak plywood to custom fit around the wheel well of the van. I've installed a Solar/Alternator charger which I have run the wire to the alternator to supply power while driving. That will hook up to the Bluetti AC200L that I am going to use as my power station to charge. I have also installed two buss bars one Negative and one Positive which will hook to a Fuse panel that I will hook the different Items Lights and things like exhaust fan and AC. I have a device that will hook to my Bluetti (Charging Station) and take a 48volt DC output to 12 volt output at 400wats and 30 amps which will hook to the buss bars to supply 12 volt power to the fuse panel. I have also got a larger lithium battery to extend my Charging station's capacity by a lot. I have also installed a shore power plug so I can plug the van into house 115 voltage and charge that way also. So when all done I'll be able to charge from 115 volt AC , the vans alternator and solar power. The weather here in NC has been unseasonably cold the last few weeks so that has hindered my progress a little but I still have lots of time to go. The spring time line is still a go! Whoop Whoop!

Other things like floor mats and little stuff like that I have been adding to the cabin of my van to make it more comfortable to drive. I still don't have 1000 miles on it yet still getting used to it. And of course getting permanent tags on it was a plus. I hate those temporary paper tags that they put on your vehicle. It just screams look at me I'm new. I once had my tires sliced on a new car with paper tags on at a Pizza Hut and I believe it was just because of the tags. So I'm making progress. Next step is the roof and installing the AC and exhaust fan. Wish me luck! Until Next week get out and Shoot!

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 posts there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link