One of the most challenging aspects of installing a ceiling into a high roof Transit van is the slope of the interior roof line just behind the seating area. One option is to purchase a pre-molded trim piece from Ford, but the result makes the space look a little sterile. We chose to embrace the slope and incorporate it into our design.
Solar panels are one way we recharge our batteries. We installed them before the interior ceiling to rough-in the wires and ensure the mounting points were water tight. This was a straight forward process, thanks to the pre-tapped mounting holes on the Ford Transit.
Our goal for the floor was to create a solid, insulated, foundation to provide reinforcement and anchor points for our bulkhead, kitchen cabinets, seating area, shower pan, and garage storage cabinets. The living area flooring material needed to be easy to clean, waterproof, and durable.
Ventilation brings in fresh air and helps remove odors, hot air, and moisture. It’s important to remove moisture to prevent any mold and mildew problems. One cost effective way to achieve this is through the installation of a ventilation fan. To create some cross ventilation, you’ll need to draw the air in from another source, such as, a second fan or a window.
There are several reasons to sound dampen your van, but the main reason is to reduce the amount of internal and external noise you hear while driving. The sound dampening material we used is made of a butyl rubber material which lowers the frequency of vibrations, thus reducing the noise. We actually didn’t realize how much noise we heard until after we added sound deadening material.
Building a van requires a lot of thought, and a lot of planning. As you go through the process of compiling your ultimate “van build” to-do list, a pattern will begin to emerge. It soon becomes clear that some of the items on the list are dependencies for every other item on the list. So for us, the next step was to start building a solid foundation.
The van we purchased was in excellent shape with low miles, but since it began its life as an Enterprise Rental van, it needed a little TLC before we could get started on the actual build. There wasn’t much to do, but we got started right away.
In May of 2021, we set out to buy our van. We did quite a bit of research up front and had a pretty good idea of what we were looking for, so we scoured the Internet to see what we could find. To our surprise, there wasn’t much out there. Locating a van became our first adventure.
Welcome to our van build series. In this series, we share our van build story; from our purchase in Salt Lake City, UT to where we are today. Our goal is to inspire you through our experience, and if we can, provide some helpful information to you along the way.