Thursday, February 25, 2010

Van Update...

First mounting hole drilled... a little nervewracking

Outside view of the mount

All finished! This is just a spare carrier flipped upside down

Dual spares! Yeaaa!

Ladder relocated to the side where it will be more useful

Last weekend I was able to get some work done on the van. I had been dreaming about this epic expedition style dual tire mount on the back that I had seen on a youtube video somewhere. The video had some VW Syncros (4x4 VW vans) somewhere in the desert in Africa and they were carrying dual spares and I really liked the look.
I took a look at the current spare carrier on there now and realized all I had to do was get another and flip it upside down and it would be the exact same thing. I priced them online and I found some for about $75 new. I decided to be resourceful and check out the local junkyard and there I was able to score the mount AND a rim for $35 total! Yeeaaa!!!!!!!
The mounting was pretty straight forward but after drilling the holes I realized they came a little close to the inside of the door and the bolts would likely have a problem. Nothing a little hammering couldnt fix. I used the back mounting bracket to act like a flat punch and with the help of a rubber mallet I knocked the inside of the door in just enough to give the bolts room. This is a super easy mod and took me maybe all of 1.5 hours with some serious jacking around.
As I was sitting on my porch and pondering what to do with my ladder I removed from the back door, it hit me that I could hang it off the rain gutter on the van. I mentioned this to my friend Rami and he said why not mount it on the side door, even better! So thats where she will be mounted this weekend. It ends up getting me near the roof in a much better place when it comes to strapping surfboards down.
Last night I started the process of removing the TV and tearing out of the interior of the van. This proved to be a little harder than I thought. Im not exactly "tearing" it out... just removing pieces and remodeling them for my purpose without damaging them, therefore removal is difficult. I was able to find a ton of extra space being wasted in the forward part of the van so thats good news. Tonight I will try and take some pictures of the work.
I am still going back and forth with the interior design. For the most part, I could stack and bungee some large plastic bins for my stuff and just leave it at that but what is the fun in that? My boredom and desire for a project is taking over and Im doing more work than is probably necessary.... is that insanity? Im also laying out some groundwork ideas for an awning system on the side... that should be fun. I dont feel like buying one for $300! Yikes!

No comments: