Thursday 6 October 2016

What didn’t work so well


There is surprisingly not too much to add here – and most of the things are based around a bit of functionality over-kill!

Mains in & battery charger
I wouldn’t bother in the future. The panel and split charge is more than enough.

Seat upholstery
This could just be done better, by not leaving enough space to add the fabric it made these super tight together. I may well redo the base of the chair at some point.

Sliding door cladding (top)
The top of the door is a little wide, I could have done with a bit less cladding-added depth here. But really its no big deal.

More space on electronics board
Because I had to change the smaller Charge Controller for a bigger one – it would have been useful to know this from the start.




Ventilation
This is not really a real problem, we had some SUPER hot days in Paris and the van was warm at night. Half cracking the doors gives good added ventilation but perhaps an added ceiling vent would have helped. Its not always ideal to have the doors slightly opened.

That said, these do not look stealthy and feel such bad quality for money. I did look at yacht port holes – but these are very expensive.

If I was to build again I would re-look in to it – but I am not sure I would change what I have done.

Extraction fan
It is a bit noisy – perhaps there is a better solution – without losing too much stealth element.



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5 comments:

  1. Hey, how is terrain capability and fuel consumption? All the wood must have made the van very heavy, what kind of inclines can it handle?

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  2. These are pretty hard questions to answer.. I guess if you look at what Ford claims for the Transit range it will be fairly accurate. The wood adds some weight but not nearly as much as the 1000kg weight the van is designed to move around day-to-day.

    Feul consumption went down from 32.5mpg empty to about 30mpg fully loaded - both with just normal driving. It is faster uphill than my old car.. and its pretty good on rough roads.

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    1. Thanks for the reply! Didnt you miss kitchen supplys like a fridge?

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    2. I always have the option of a fridge.. but actually so far it has been ok without. Just cheese can go off a bit fast - but that is not quite enough to justify a fridge for me!

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  3. Perhabs you can look into computer fans for ventilation, they are pretty quiet. Congrats to the amazing build.

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