Good morning! We didn’t sleep the best last night. Tossed and turned a bit over our crinkle on the other side of the van. We were a bit hesitant to go outside just in case any other warping happened but thankfully nothing else happened while we slept. Dan even thought it might have looked a little better today. We started off day 6 of our build by ordering some windows for the van. We decided to forgo the more used CR Lawrence windows for the Artic Tern ones from Tern Overland.
We decided to order two 300 mm x 700 mm windows for the last third of the van. We like the European style of these windows. They are double-paned acrylic and have a built in black out shade and bug screen. Because it opens with hinges, it will allow us to open them in the rain. We were on the fence about installing windows but due the fact that there are 5 people and a cat that will be full time living in here, the more circulation the better. Plus it gives our cat Yoda a screened window to look outside of while sitting on our beds. They should be here in the next day or two.
Ok, time to get back to work inside the van. Check out someone’s new boat shoes from Costco. Haha. For those who started following our travels from the start know that getting an Airstream was a comprise to living on a boat. Sorry Dan. Still not on a boat. Maybe after the van?
Part of us wanted to scrap this whole foam thing and splurge for the fancy Thinsulate but we are so deep in this that there was no turning back. Spraying the last few areas of foam this morning so so carefully it’s ridiculous.
We needed to feel so sense of completion for this long insulation process so we popped the back door upper panels back on.
Sigh. MUCH BETTER! lol.
Ooooooh. Look what we have here. Hello, FedEx!!!!
Today’s pile of goodies: A Fan-Tastic 3350 Vent that was gifted to us by Dometic, two EuroCamper swivel mounts for our chairs and WeatherTech side window deflectors.
First on the list was to figure out the placement of the fans. We currently have one Fan-tastic vent, model 3350 and are waiting on the second one. Once again, we opted for two fans instead of one because of the amount of people in the van. In the Four Wheel Camper, we only opted for one fan (and one vent) and were cursing ourselves while in the heat of mainland Mexico.
The back fan will go over the kids bed.
And the front one will go over the kids bench seat. We chose those two areas mainly because it was the widest area between the ceiling ribs and would not have to cut a rib to install.
Next up were the WeatherTech side window deflectors. These were not on our radar until after we met Marc, our new Sprinter friend. He invited us over to his house last week and gave us a lowdown on what is what. Hearing him talk about cracking windows in the rain sold us immediately. Once again, lots of people equals lots of condensation so having various ways to circulate air in different circumstances the better.
They were pretty easy to install. Shove them into place. Roll the windows up and down five times and give them a little time to mold into place.
And for our last project today, installing the swivels for the two front seats. We opted for the EuroCamper swivel mounts because of the positive reviews online regarding not being too big of a hassle to install.
Dan detached the seat from the original mount, gently laid it on its back with the seat belt still attached to pillar B. Then he unplugged the wiring from the base, placed the swivel on at a 45 degree angle, rerouted the wiring and bolted the whole thing back together.
I’m sure the instructions would have been really helpful… if I read German. Luckily the internet exists for times like these.
While I was cleaning up our Four Wheel Camper for the new owners outside, Dan screamed at me to come into the van. I was expecting another disaster like yesterday but nope. He installed the driver’s seat swivel with no modifications needed. Sweet. Wake up, Dan! You can sleep when this van is done.
Our idea of having a dining table between all of our seats is not going to work as well as we hoped. The factory spacing is a bit close and the swivel seats are a lot higher than the bench but we will make it work. The table will be made to the kids’ height and Dan and I will eat on our laps. It’s more important to us that the kids have a table to play and do school on than for us to eat comfortably.
Today felt A LOT better than the previous couple days. I got to actaully cross items off of our list. Yes!
Here is the video Dan created for day 6. Enjoy!
As always, thanks for following along,
Marlene
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