EuroTec's Camper van Hackmeister

[EuroTec]

Hello happy campers.

The weather has warmed so I'm back to work on the interior of "Evelyn" my 2003 EuroVan MV.

I've already done a lot to it the van like a manual swap, Saab leather seats, dual DIN radio, dash speaker upgrade, water tank cabinet with a flip up propane hob, GloShift gauges, rock-n-roll fold out bed, sink & , rear roll out storage under bed and other details. (whew!)

BUT, back to the interior. Today I installed the headliner and side panels. I used 1/4" utility plywood from Lowe's. They are attached with #8 self drilling filister head screws.

LOTS of measuring twice and still had a minor error on the table leg opening. I managed to correct it in place.
It turned out nice. Now I have something to build out from.

Next on the list is a passenger side closet from the C pillar back.


Here's my day in pictures:

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[EuroTec]

Here's some pics of the sink/hob cabinet. Water is in a 15 gallon tank I found on Ebay. Water pump from Amazon, hardware and hose from the local hardware store. Switch near faucet turns pump on.

The stove is a simple operation. Just connect the hose to the propane bottle, light with the supplied igniter and you're cookin!

The water tank fills from inside which is an easy solution and, secure. 1.5" pool hose serves as a drain out the bottom.

The faucet is a hose quick release so I can also use a separate hose out the window as a quick shower.

This version is a prototype. It needs a good weekend test campout!

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[VanGeek]

That's a clever and space-efficient sink and stove setup you've designed. The ply cutouts looked very challenging but the final fit is very good -- Nice work!

[IdeaNerd]

Neat to see this, @EuroTec. Thanks for posting. I like that ceiling!

[soissisc]

Very nice!
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Mark

68 Westy
92 Jetta (oh it is retired)
99 Eurovan
05 NBC
06 Audi A3
72 Westy (I am going to fix it up)

[bigfoot_ev]

Great job fitting in a functional camping setup. Good use of the space.

I love seeing how folks have changed the original setup to meet their needs.

[EuroTec]

I decided that the little kitchen cabinet was too small. I wanted something that I could store canned and dry goods in as well as kitchen utensils/supplies, cleaning supplies etc.

So, I picked up a Westy sink/stove setup from work and rebuilt the cabinet that supports it. I lowered it 2.5" from the stock setup. I used 3/4" oak plywood that I salvaged, as in FREE!

The water tank is relocated under the rear seat along with the water pump which is mounted to the plywood cover that attaches to the bed frame.

Propane is supplied by a small bottle inside the cabinet.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[bcolins]

I like your original sink/stove brainchild,....however, the Westfalia set up does look a little more at home and more functional.

I am curious where you work that you happened to have a Westfalia kitchen just hangin around.

Brian in Austin

[EuroTec]

[EuroTec]

I finished up the doors for the closet this weekend.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[bcolins]

Very Nice work!

[EuroTec]

[mikemtnbike]

That looks amazing Eurotec, as Wes might have told you, I live about 2 miles from the shop, might swing by to take a look to consider some re-model ideals on my Winnebago.
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1991 Vanagon GL 2.1 AT Westfauxlia. "Frankie" Totaled https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=764510&highlight=carnage
1995 Eurovan Camper "Marzivan"
2020 GTI SE manual

[EuroTec]

[EuroTec]

More progress with Evelyn today.

I finished wiring up the aux. battery. After some poking and prodding I managed to run a #6 wire back to the battery from the isolation solenoid in the engine bay.

The small black box on the left is a fuse box. It has six slots for fuses two of which are for the rear lighting circuit and the power outlets circuit.

Planning on adding a 100 amp circuit breaker to the positive feed on the inverter. Right now it's direct.

I routed the output through a 100 amp resettable circuit breaker. It's there to cut the connection in the event of a dead short in the positive cable.

I used the wiper circuit to supply accessory power to the isolation solenoid. I inserted a fuse tap adapter in the place of the fuse. This gave me a slot for the wiper fuse, and a slot for another accessory.

The reason I chose the wiper circuit is because it gets power cut during cranking. That way, if I have a situation where my aux. battery is really low, it's not loading up my main battery on startup.

I made a nice little door for the inverter. I turned the mini wood knob on my metal lathe. Cutest wood knob of the year award?

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[EuroTec]

... and today's work...

More power Scotty.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[EuroTec]

On a recent four day camping trip I kept notes on how the layout was or was not working, I came home and started brainstorming on more floor space when the bed was deployed. When the bed was out there was only about 8" inches of space between it and the sink. Barely enough room to put your feet when getting out of bed.

The same camper I got the stove/sink from had a rock & roll bed that was in working condition. I decided to give it a go so today I pulled out everything I had built on ver. 3 and mocked up the Westfalia bed. I really like it. The closet will now be on the driver's side and it has room to be 7" deeper. That's a lot of gained storage. The stove/sink being on the same side opens up the floor space and allows pass thru to the front.

I'm going to rebuild the base of the bed. It will be about 3.5" wider. The seat back and bottom will also gain 2.5" each. This will work out to a bed that is 47" W x 72" L. I may now have room for a 20 gallon tank under the seat.

I can reuse a lot of the plywood I pulled out. This is pretty typical of how I put projects like this together. It takes s few versions and getting to use them to find out what works best.

This is pretty much emulating a Vanagon Westy camper setup.

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If it ain't broke, don't fix it!