E350 camping setup

[Trashman]

Picked up a 2012 E350 for a camping setup today. It will eventually get a full build out, but for now I have to keep one row of seats for the kiddos. The other two will be tossed...likely tomorrow morning.

Seems these are a little bit less abundant than before with the Ford Transits and such now.

Looking to do a basic bed, stove, sink setup. Maybe add a Joolca water heater shower somehow.

I have liked this platform for a van for a while. We owned a extended wheelbase V10 model prior, I believe it was a 97? Either way this should work out well.

I have a coworker that is big into the van life.....life? Anyway he is a huge wealth of knowledge as this is a new subject area for myself.

I debated windows vs free candy vs extended ect and felt this would work out ok. I want the front rear windows, for sure...still debating the rear side windows. Likely they may be covered

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

Nice, should be a fun project. Expedition portal has a lot of “long term travel builds”, overland bound is more “diy weekend warriors.”

The “van life” thing seems to be about 10% younger photographers who want/need to travel a ton, and 90% people who are too broke to afford rent.

What‘s your criteria for this thing? How many people need to sleep inside it? How long do you want to go without connecting to power/water? Do you need to be able to all cook and eat a meal inside it in crappy weather?

If it’s general weekend camping trips plus some longer road trips with hotels mixed in, I’d be tempted to build a large removable “box” in the back that houses everything. Pull out kitchen drawer and gear storage drawer beneath a sleeping platform, a water tank, fridge, and 12v battery bank. This way you can remove it semi easily to use the van for other purposes, or if the thing gets totaled/engine blows you can buy another and not have to rebuild.

Ironman 4x4 has decent prices on water tanks, awnings, etc that are the same stuff as everyone else sells. A pair of 6v AGM golf cart batteries is a decent way to go for power if you don’t want to spring for lithium. Exped’s Megamat 10 is every bit as comfortable as a real mattress (and lightweight) if you’d like to be able to use the bed in a tent/hotel/friend’s place, or just be able to store it out of the way sometimes. Don’t think I’d plan to pack it up every day though.

 

[Trashman]

Nice, should be a fun project. Expedition portal has a lot of “long term travel builds”, overland bound is more “diy weekend warriors.”

The “van life” thing seems to be about 10% younger photographers who want/need to travel a ton, and 90% people who are too broke to afford rent.

What‘s your criteria for this thing? How many people need to sleep inside it? How long do you want to go without connecting to power/water? Do you need to be able to all cook and eat a meal inside it in crappy weather?

If it’s general weekend camping trips plus some longer road trips with hotels mixed in, I’d be tempted to build a large removable “box” in the back that houses everything. Pull out kitchen drawer and gear storage drawer beneath a sleeping platform, a water tank, fridge, and 12v battery bank. This way you can remove it semi easily to use the van for other purposes, or if the thing gets totaled/engine blows you can buy another and not have to rebuild.

Ironman 4x4 has decent prices on water tanks, awnings, etc that are the same stuff as everyone else sells. A pair of 6v AGM golf cart batteries is a decent way to go for power if you don’t want to spring for lithium. Exped’s Megamat 10 is every bit as comfortable as a real mattress (and lightweight) if you’d like to be able to use the bed in a tent/hotel/friend’s place, or just be able to store it out of the way sometimes. Don’t think I’d plan to pack it up every day though.

Plan is two people for weekend trips basically.

I slept out of my JKUR at KOH last year for example.

 

[FrankenToy]

All i know of van life is that when it's finished you can park it at a mountain bike trailhead for an hour ride, with the other 200 van life people.

We have a Class C RV based on an E350 chassis with a [accent=Russian] mighty V10 Ford [/accent]. For comfort, I would start the build there...

 

[pdangerp]

All i know of van life is that when it's finished you can park it at a mountain bike trailhead for an hour ride, with the other 200 van life people.

We have a Class C RV based on an E350 chassis with a [accent=Russian] mighty V10 Ford [/accent]. For comfort, I would start the build there...

Or you can kill your girlfriend and drive home like nothing happened.

 

[Trashman]

Nice, should be a fun project. Expedition portal has a lot of “long term travel builds”, overland bound is more “diy weekend warriors.”

The “van life” thing seems to be about 10% younger photographers who want/need to travel a ton, and 90% people who are too broke to afford rent.

What‘s your criteria for this thing? How many people need to sleep inside it? How long do you want to go without connecting to power/water? Do you need to be able to all cook and eat a meal inside it in crappy weather?

If it’s general weekend camping trips plus some longer road trips with hotels mixed in, I’d be tempted to build a large removable “box” in the back that houses everything. Pull out kitchen drawer and gear storage drawer beneath a sleeping platform, a water tank, fridge, and 12v battery bank. This way you can remove it semi easily to use the van for other purposes, or if the thing gets totaled/engine blows you can buy another and not have to rebuild.

Ironman 4x4 has decent prices on water tanks, awnings, etc that are the same stuff as everyone else sells. A pair of 6v AGM golf cart batteries is a decent way to go for power if you don’t want to spring for lithium. Exped’s Megamat 10 is every bit as comfortable as a real mattress (and lightweight) if you’d like to be able to use the bed in a tent/hotel/friend’s place, or just be able to store it out of the way sometimes. Don’t think I’d plan to pack it up every day though.

The Expedition Portal guys are in my town.

Neat little shop with unique vehicles

 

[FrankenToy]

Or you can kill your girlfriend and drive home like nothing happened.

Checkmate...