Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a great week! We are in the middle of the holidays as I am writing this blog so lots of activities and holiday stuff is going on.  I  have been working on the van and the Roof work and for now is almost complete. (Solar Panel may be going up later) This part of the build is the scariest for me . The build is going to be done in stages. Stage one Electrical, Stage two bed frame, Stage 3 Roof work, Stage 4 floor, Stage 5 Cabinets , Stage 6 Galley and the last and final stage will be the most fun taking it out and testing. Modifications will go on for ever as I find new products or gadgets that will make things easier. Right now I'm in Stage 3. Roof work. 

Roof Work entails installing Exhaust Fan and installing Air Conditioning for the back half of the van. When I say back half I mean where the bed, galley and the living area. (camper part) Most everything in the camper part of the van will be 12 volt and run off of battery power separate from the van's main battery for the engine. The scary part about installing the exhaust fan and AC is that I have to cut a hole in the top of my new van. Yikes!!! And I have to get up on top of the van to do it. I needed some help for this portion of the install so my son was my helper. Step one was the Exhaust Fan install. I started with the easiest first. Now I have studied and watched many YouTube videos on how to install the fan so I was pretty confident on the "how to" part of it now was just the "doing" part left. I have been waiting for good weather. Well I must say that the install of the fan went without a hitch and turned out pretty well. After you poke a hole in the roof there is no going back. LOL We were finished in a few hours and the next day I finished all of the insulation reinstall on the inside of the van around the fan and run the power wires to the fuse panel it turned out great. Next was the AC unit. It is much heaver than the exhaust fan and help was definitely needed in getting this unit on the roof. But as before being well prepared and having everything ready was the key. I had to do some prep work on the AC before it went in . It comes with a external electrical cord that I would have to put another hole in the van which I didn't want to do so I rerouted the power through the return duct in the same hole as the AC unit and it worked out great. Then the big question will it fit under my carport! The total hight of the Van empty is 9 foot 2 inches to the top of the AC unit. The clearance of my carport is 9 foot and 3ish inches. It just made the clearance. But this is the tallest the van will be with gear and all loaded down the van will squat a little giving me even more clearance. But it's close when empty. LOL The next day I did all of the inside work. Routing and securing the power cord , Re-insulating the roof around the AC. Then there was re installing the ceiling . To do this I had to cut holes that match where the holes were for the new AC and exhaust fan. To do this I made a cardboard template with the hole in it and transferred that to the ceiling. The ceiling is about 3/8 inch corrugated plastic which is very tough and heavy and awkward to handle. So I made a couple of braces to hold it up as I secured it to the roof of the van. After some struggling I got the ceiling in place and secured it. Then there was just the trim pieces on the AC and the Exhaust Fan to go back in. 

It actually turned out better than I thought and I am very pleased and glad that I am through with this phase of the build which I consider the most difficult and scary. If everything goes as well as this part did I should have no problems meeting my Spring deadline of having this van complete and ready for adventure. The next phase will be the floor installation. Until then wish me luck! And 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