Ta Da!!! - Look what we made!

Ok. Ok. Ok. I'm sorry!

Our Van before construction begun

 I know you've all been dying to see the masterpiece we've been slaving away on for the past month or so. That's right! It's really only been about a month since we started working on our precious van. 

Remember? This is what she looked like after we got her. We cleaned her out, ripped out the floor and took out the bench seat that was bolted to the floor.

Even though she's on the fritz right now (see the previous blog post) we still love our girl and are really proud with the work we did and how it all turned out. 

Very few of you had the chance to see the van during the process and even fewer of you actually got to see the final product! 

In the coming days and weeks I'll post more detail on how we accomplished things and why we did what we did and where we found the inspiration.

So without further delay; here is what she looks like now!!

Bed and living area of our Van. Complete construction done by Marsha and Geoff Dickgieser - 2016

 So this is the interior just behind the driver and passenger seat up front. I'm sitting on the console between the seats facing aft while taking this picture. 

That, ladies and gentlemen, is an 8 inch Queen size mattress with a memory foam mattress topper with room to spare! The headboard area separates the sleeping quarters and the galley (kitchen). We'll track our progress on that map on the headboard. And OMG that bed is unbelievably comfy.

Mounted to the ceiling are two strips of LED lights that can be dimmed for more ambiance. hee hee. Under the bed are two massive drawers. One for each of us for our clothes and such. There are also 3 large compartments for housing tools, camping gear and extra stuff we probably didn't need to bring with us.

Our aft Galley in our home construction van - all constructed by Geoff and Marsha - 2016

 Here we're looking at the galley, or kitchen, area. The two doors on the back of the van swing all the way open allowing us a lot of room. Yes that IS a fridge and freezer! What is that red contraption to the right you ask? An ice maker of course!! How else are you supposed to make frozen margaritas after hiking in the desert? Along the bottom we have storage that fits specific items on purpose. The furthest to the right houses our pop-up canopy with mosquito netting. The middle area houses a fold out table (with 3 different height settings), our two folding chairs, a portable sink for washing up, and 2 rubbermaid containers for storage. The third compartment, furthest to the left, holds two 5 gallon water jugs and 5 rubbermaid containers with storage. All the Rubbermaid containers we're using are 3 gallon size (with the exception of 3 smaller Sterilite brand totes). Just above that is a drawer within a drawer. This slides out to reveal a countertop and then slides out again to house our camp stove. Just above that are shelving units for storage and above that (where you see one of the water storage containers) now sits a bread maker and a BBQ.

Storage and electrical systems in the van - all constructed by Geoff and Marsha - 2016

This view is from the side door. To the left is the bed where the Queen size mattress sits and to the left is the drivers seat. There is a shelving unit for more storage on the left with a lockbox bolted to the van on the very bottom. Each shelf holds a 3 gallon Rubbermaid container.

On the right here is Geoff's masterpiece! The very bottom holds 4 golf cart batteries as our battery bank for the solar power. Just above that is the inverter and above that is the control panel. The two white knobs control the lighting (LED strips on the inside and in the galley area). The two displays give us info on how much solar we're getting to the batteries and how much energy we're using from the batteries. the rest are USB plugs, 12v and 110v. I've added another picture below so we can see a bit more detail.

Detail on the control panel for the solar energy for the Van - Constructed by Geoff and Marsha - 2016

Check out the detail on that door knob! hee hee. 

What you don't see is an inch and a half of insulation behind the walls, ceilings and floor. Wires run and plugs installed. Over 300 screws, 6 different colors of paint and one color of danish oil. Holes drilled and cut in the roof, solar panels installed, roof vent installed and a backup camera installed. Many man hours and many swear words. Dozens of bruises, scrapes, cuts and splinters. A ton of frustrating moments combined with celebrating small victories and far too many high fives. 

All snuggled in before starting off on our adventure! 

We're pretty packed in here with - probably - far too much stuff. We pack as if we're going to sea again. Provisioning like we're about to embark on a trans-Atlantic voyage. Far away, beyond the reaches of society. We could probably sustain ourselves for a month or more with the amount we've brought with us. We've learned to use every available inch of space while working and living on ships. We appreciate being able to bring everything we - might - need. It's handy and so are we. 

So there you have it. That's how we decided to use around 309 ft³. Now if we could just get the van running well we'd be back on our way!


If you have questions about something specific or if there's a part of the van you'd like to know more about let me know and I'll do my best to answer you or write a whole blog post about it!


Till next time - Fair winds my friends!


Marsha (and Geoff too)