Evolution of my Eurovan Weekender

[bigfoot_ev]

I thought it might be useful for others to see how my camping needs in a weekender have been met over the years. This is a collection of photos that span many many years. The van is a 2003 that I have owned since 2005. It's a short wheelbase EV so space is kind of tight and therefore requires compromises. At least over the full Westfalia/Winnebago conversions. I started out in my van life with a Vanagon Westfalia. We loved that van and might still have it today if it didn't get totaled while parked in front of my house (another story). So, when looking for a replacement we decided to give the EV a try and since we had a small kid the weekender seemed like a good middle choice having some camping ability but also regular family duties and, of course, the heat and A/C. We quickly missed the full camping functionality of the westy, so I started trying to make camping work better in the weekender.

First idea was to build a camp box. Loosely based on the scouting idea of a kitchen box. I built custom floor mounts that allowed the box to be easily removed when we got to the campsite. I removed the seat behind the drivers seat and used those mount points for my custom floor mount. The door to the box is on lift out hinges. This becomes the stand alone table. The top lifted up and out and became a work surface to the right while exposing the camp stove. The lower shelf just got stowed inside the box.

It worked OK, but was a bit cumbersome to get in and out. Especially when fully loaded with whatever I could cram into it. In general, I liked the idea so I evolved it into another version using some extruded aluminum that goes by the name 8020. This time I mounted it behind the passenger seat for easier access both when bolted in place and for removal at the campsite. I put wheels on it to help with rolling around while loaded. I also added water with a foot pump that fed a faucet over a wash basin. Simple but did the job...mostly. The flip out table could be extended while the box is bolted in. It had thumb screws I could loosen and lower the table to a proper height when accessing from outside the slider. The space inside box was mostly taken up by a huge square cooler, those kind with roller bag type of handle and wheels.

By this time, we were ready for more extensive camping. So, we invested in a tear drop (TD) camper. This was a game changer for us and completely changed how we used the van. The tear drop was our kitchen and bed. The van served as our dining and living space, which is especially nice during wind and rain. We also invested in a compressor cooler, which we would store behind the drivers seat, again making use of the mount points from removing the rear facing seat.

More changes needed. The rear space under the bed was always a pain to access and I wanted to move the cooler to the rear. So, I made a pull out platform and built some boxes to fit and maximize space. This setup removed the lower bed but since we had the tear drop that didn't matter.

The platform did exactly what I designed it to do. Problem was I designed it poorly. When fully loaded with the boxes and cooler there is a lot of weight on that platform. That's OK since I had 400 lb slides. The issue was when I parked on an incline. Then I'm either pulling 400 lbs up or pushing 400 lbs up, either way not fun. So I made drawers out of the boxes and put only the cooler on slides. This has worked pretty well and we've been very satisfied for a number of years.

Until we started doing more cold weather camping. So, I picked up one of those inexpensive all-in-one Chinese diesel heaters. The thought was to move it between the TD and the van. It worked so well, I just had to mount one of these heaters in the van. There are some great write ups in this forum on how others have incorporated a heater into their weekenders. While I was thinking about how I wanted to mount the heater one thing led to another. The next thing I know I'm tearing the whole van apart and adding some sound deadening and more insulation.

We decided it would be nice to use the van by itself during short 1 or 2 night stays. This way we have more options when it comes to camping by either bringing the TD or using just the van. So, when thinking about the design I wanted to make this fit our needs, completely custom to how we use the van. Since this is a SWB van I felt it necessary to use the front seats as part of the living space. We needed to have the ability to make coffee in the morning from inside the van. There is a sink and on board water. We have a single burner butane stove for van camping. I didn't want a built in stove because we never liked cooking inside (and by cooking I mean something like frying bacon) boiling water is fine. Sleeping will be strictly in the upper bunk. However, I think I could come up with a bed platform down below if needed. The van still needs to work for TD camping as well, meaning dining/living space. So here's the layout I decided to use. Not typical with all the furniture down the driver side but storage on both sides. The heater is mounted right near the slider inside the wood cabinet. Water storage is on the driver side under the sink.

I used 8020 for the structure and bolted it to the body using rivnuts. None of the wood is structural and a lot of it is 1/4 ply, just to fill in the spaces and create storage areas. Even the wood box at the slider is there only to hide the heater and hold the electronic displays. The cooler can now be mounted either inside or on the rear slider. Inside is when we are van camping and I need to get to the food from inside without opening the rear hatch. In the rear drawer view the yellow boxes slide both to the inside and the outside. Again, so that we have access from inside without opening the rear hatch.

Well I hope this gives others some ideas. The evolution is by no means complete. It's just that enough has happened over the years that I wanted to compile it here in one spot. Sorry, I suck at build threads so this is not one of those. However, I'm happy to provide any information that I can to help others.

[t4onthefloor]

Great work! I agree that the factory rear under parcel shelf access is awkward. Those recaros though, drool!

[shirk]

Great work and thanks for sharing.

Where did you mount the tank for your in van diesel heater?

We're at the camp box and cooler stage still, just staring our 3rd season in our 2003 MV with two kids. I replaced the seat behind the passenger with a dog house for the cooler then our kitchen box straps down on top of it. Space behind the cooler for food. Thinking seriously about doing a built in compressor fridge. Looking at drawer style fridge and still have out cook box on top as we also don't cook inside.

What materials did you use for insulation?

[bigfoot_ev]

[bigfoot_ev]

[shirk]

Our current setup has a slide out for the cooler.

The top load fridge would be more efficient than a drawer style, but not sure it would make much a difference for our use.

When all four of us need to sit inside I move the cook box off onto the floor and it makes a fourth seat with the table up.

The little 2.5g keg currently servers as our water tank, I pressurize it with a hand bike pump. Been thinking of trying to figure out a soft bladder type tank I could fit in under the passenger seat. Other option is mounted to the underside of the rear seat on the passenger side. We haul four mountain bikes around on the rack and I'd like to keep all other weight centralized.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your build, it's spurred me into thinking more about out own upgrades.

[IdeaNerd]

@bigfoot_ev Great post and thread! Thanks for sharing your van's evolution — super interesting to see.

Your path sounds similar to ours in terms of iterations, though you went much further than I have so far on the "camper conveniences' front (sink, etc.). Like you, we decided to sleep up top in order to free up options below (it's worked out well), and I also ended up using extrusions. They are so useful and flexible for building structures!

I'm curious about your water setup for the sink. How many gallons? All inside the cabinet?

Also, the green rear seat pads. Stock "replacement cushions" for outdoor furniture (that's the route I took), or something custom / DIY?

Any lessons learned or special recommendations re: the rivnuts?

Thanks again for sharing! Really great post.

[bigfoot_ev]

@shirk your setup looks great! I see now why you are thinking about a drawer cooler. That space behind the drivers seat just calls out for a better use than a rear facing chair.

When I swapped my cooler to the rear hatch slide out I added this. At first it was a separation toilet with all the necessary stuff. But, we changed to a collapsible toilet for space reasons and used the box for storage. You can see the legs for the toilet peaking out between the drivers seat and the box.

Your keg idea is cool. But, I have to admit I would be tempted to fill it up with homebrew.

Keep us posted on your mods!

[bigfoot_ev]

I don't know about others but when I first started down this path I had as an overarching goal to be able to return the van to original. That meant whatever modification I made I could remove it and when it came time to sell the van it would look original.

In hindsight, that was stupid.

For instance, I've always hated the flip up table in the weekender, but I couldn't make changes to it because then it wouldn't be original. Instead I just lived with it. Or the rear seat, while it's great as a full width bed, it's uncomfortable as hell to sleep on.

Anyways, after looking at all the cool things people in Europe do with their T4's I decided forget what it looks like when I go to sell the van. Instead, make it into something I enjoy now! So, I encourage others to go for it, rip out what you don't like and make it suit your needs.

[Zeitgeist 13]

[bigfoot_ev]

[bigfoot_ev]

Well owning these vans is not always fun and camping. I just dug into the front fenders with a huge amount of worry. Not because of the work involved but because of the potential rust I might find. I even bought some POR-15 in preparation.

Dismantling the front was amazingly easy! I think I got to this point in about 15 min and I have never gone this far before. Youtube is your friend.

As expected there was a lot of junk in there. Old leaves, dirt, hornet's nest...the usual. I was very happy to find no rust. Not on the fender area nor on the front wings. There's a very small amount on the bumper which I think I'll go ahead and treat since I have everything to take care of it now. Glad to have this done.

[bigfoot_ev]

I thought I would give some details on how my electrical system as evolved over this time.

The very first thing I did was purchase a solid state battery isolator to replace the relay that sits under the drivers seat. The 3 main advantages, for me, were 1) battery isolation which occurs at voltage less than 13.2V, 2) no voltage drop across the relay, and 3) able to combine house and start battery if needed when start battery is too weak. The particular model I got was made by Hellroaring but there are other options as you will see.

I just mounted the isolator to a piece of scrap wood which was then screwed to the inside of the seat base. It was right beside where the charging wire from the alternator comes into the interior.

The next upgrade was to install a bigger battery. I found out that I could fit a group 27 100Ah AGM under the drivers seat if I placed it on its side. The battery base sat against some filler wood mounted to the seat base inside on the left. The terminals were then to the inside of the seat base. It was a tight fit but it worked. Unfortunately, I didn't do a good job maintaining the battery when not in use and it killed my first battery. So, I figured I needed a solar panel and charge controller to keep things in good shape. I purchased a 30W solar panel and a PWM charge controller. The charge controller was mounted to the base of the B pillar right beside the drivers seat. You can see it poking out here. You can also see the bolts holding the filler wood for the AGM battery on the seat base.

This set up worked pretty well and it was even enough to power my upgraded compressor cooler. After a few years and another worn out battery I thought it was time to upgrade the charging system. If I were starting from scratch today this is what I would recommend if you have more than basic electrical needs. I installed a DC-DC/solar charger from Ctek. This replaced my battery isolator and PWM solar charge controller with an internal isolator and MPT solar charge controller. It also has a smart charge profile for lead acid batteries. I also upgraded the wire from the alternator and added a circuit breaker under the hood. I am really happy with this charger and it has worked great. Unfortunately for me I purchased this before they had a Li ion charge profile which is now common. Believe it or not this all fit under the drivers seat.

While doing all this work I went ahead and added a cheap 600W inverter. To be honest I didn't really need an inverter it just seemed like a good addition. I have tried really hard to power everything directly from DC. I did use the inverter 2 times. The first time it worked fine, the second time it died. So, no more inverter for me.

[bigfoot_ev]

One of the best and simplest upgrades that can and should be done on a weekender is a front seat swivel. It adds so much to the living space inside. I went the route that most people do and installed a swivel plate on top of the passenger seat base. It raises the seat about 1 1/2".

The change in seat height doesn't seem like much but over the years it really started to bug me. And the latching handle would rattle. So, I changed to a new swivel seat base from CMC.

This was absolutely worth it and I wish I had done this from the beginning. In fact I loved it so much I installed one for the drivers side.

Which required a whole new configuration for my electrical needs...

[bigfoot_ev]

Adding the driver side swivel meant I couldn't fit my 100 Ah AGM under the seat anymore. I ended up making a simple battery platform and screwed it directly into the floor under the rear seat. This placed the battery directly behind the rear seat latch. You can see where it used to be located in this pic along with the battery cables I ran forward to under the drivers seat.

I built a simple box for under the seat to mount all the various electrical components. This included:
1. CTek DC-DC/Solar charger
2. Blue Sea DC distribution panel
3. Positive bus bar
4. Negative bus bar
5. Battery cut off switch
6. Battery monitor shunt

This set up worked pretty well and really opens up options for sizing the house battery. But as I mentioned, a 100 Ah AGM can still fit under the factory seat base when laid on its side.

When the remodel of the interior happened I decided to move the battery to far rear passenger corner. It just so happens that there is a chassis ground at the rear passenger tail light so that is where the battery is now grounded. I decided to add a rear DC distribution panel as well and moved the battery monitor shunt to the rear.

The current set up now has a front distribution panel and a rear distribution panel with large battery cable connecting them. In the rear pic you can see the battery box just above the distribution panel.

This is what the wiring diagram looks like now.

[bigfoot_ev]

We finally made the leap and went camping without the trailer. It may sound weird to some of you to say that but we have been camping with our teardrop for many years and we had things pretty dialed in. Now we are able to camp with just the van so there are some adjustments needed.

It was a success! The wife approved and the dog approved.

I made coffee for the first time completely inside the van, even though the weather was beautiful outside. But that was one of my main criteria with the renovation for bad weather times. And sleeping up top was not bad. We added some blow up backpacking type pads on top of the standard Weekender mattress and I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable it was. We even have a toilet inside so no trips outside in the middle of the night.

Here was something I read about on the forum but never thought much about before. On the weekender VW intended us to push the front half of the upper bunk up and attach it to a strap bolted to the pop top roof. Heck, with the teardrop I left the entire thing in the garage so I didn't have to deal with it. But now since it's our only bed it is really much more convenient to lift it up a little and then just shove it back so we have storage access until bedtime. It worked really well.

Of course, the more you use the van the more projects come to mind.

[samba415]

Use experiments are golden. Please keep us in the loop. The value of this site, and thus this Eurovan community, is enriched because of it. It's important to crib ideas and get best uses and practices from folks. Yours are dynamite, at least for us.
_________________
Old stable: '63 Baja, '69 Square, '72 Bug, '65 & '67 Samba, '73 412 wagon & 2dr 4spd

Current: '04 Golf TDI, '03 Weekender

[bigfoot_ev]

It's time for some maintenance! Various fluids to be replaced.

Engine oil and filter. Perhaps controversial amongst folks but I added Seafoam and drove for 300 miles before changing the oil. There was a noticeable difference in the color of the oil in just that short drive time. So for me I like the idea of doing this.

Coolant, using Febi G13. I followed the directions from Abscate here: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635467&highlight=coolant+flush. Thanks for the write-up!

Power steering fluid, using Febi 06161. I went the easy route and did just a drain and fill, turn the wheel lock-to-lock, drain and fill. I saw some stuff so I guess a full flush is now on my project list.

Brake fluid, using Pentosin Super DOT 4. Mity vac doing its duty again.

Transmission fluid. Well I only have 10k on the most recent change so I get a pass this time.

While I was doing all this I decided to take a look at the exhaust jounce bumper not expecting to find much.

But crap! Now I have a much bigger project needing attention. I barely have 1/8" above the power steering lines. Fortunately, no signs of impact.

EDIT: Apologies for being cryptic and vague. That's not much help to anyone. In the pic below there should be a rubber bumper between the rod welded to the exhaust and the bolted on arm below it. It's completely missing. In addition, the 2 are too close together which implies that the engine/transmission mounts are sagging and could cause a more serious problem by rubbing on the power steering lines just out of view in the picture (toward the front, to the left in picture) and resulting in a leak. Which then leads to yet more work. Fortunately, I think I caught this in time. I was not expecting to find this situation since I have 2003 with 95k miles. Just goes to show you, if you own a Eurovan, no matter the year or the miles, you need to pay attention and look for things before they become bigger things.

I ordered the full engine/transmission mount kit plus a bumper from McMaster-Carr. There's always something...

[bigfoot_ev]

[Alan Brase]

This is a terrific thread. Just finishing engine rebuild on my 93 5-speed tin top. I drove the thing for a few hundred miles after I bought it, knowing it had engine problems, but I really liked the whole experience compared to the Vanagon. (which I also love, the, but the Eurovan is just more nimble) . So looking forward to doing some camping interior mods and make it a keeper.
_________________
Al Brase
Projects: 67 sunroof bug, 67 Porsche 912 Targa, 70 Westy
Dec 1955 Single Cab pickup WANT 15" BUS RIMS dated 8/55, thru 12/55
To New owners: 1969 doublecab, 1971 Dormobile
Vanagons:
80 P27 Westy JUL 1979, 3rd oldest known US
83 1.6TD Vanagon, 87 Wolfie Westy daily driver, swap meet home