Turning our MV into a full camper

[Needlenoddlenoo]

I know I'm not the first to do this but I thought it would be fun to share , and if it looks like shit at the end y'all will know not to copy! so we have a 99 MV (The Tortuga) and we wanted a fridge so after lots of thought I installed a house battery ,bought a gowesty solar panel and an Engel fridge. I thought that would be it ,(how wrong could I be!), my wife has now decided she wants bamboo flooring and cabinets ( I'm a carpenter who just so happens to work in a cabinet shop), as our rig is not a daily driver it is easy for me to park it in the garage for a few weeks whilst I rip out the interior, I'm doing away with the metal frame and stock pad behind the seat and raising the platform up to the height of the seat when it is flat with draws underneath ,we lay a 3" memory foam pad down when we sleep so no need for the pad , then I'm planning on cabinets on both sides sitting on the platform going up to the ceiling, much like a westy but on both sides and connected at the top by a shelf / catch all. Anyway as I said I thought it would be fun to share and I'll post picks as I go

I started tearing up the carpet befor I removed the seats just to see how easy it would be , it wasn't! I'm gong to replace the ply that's under the carpet .
_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Needlenoddlenoo]

So after pulling out the seats and ripping out the old carpet I got on with the install of the new floor, after scribing in the first row it went very quick. Still not sure if I'm going to use the original step or trick out a bamboo one ?

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Itsamoto]

Very cool project -- and a good idea.

Navigating around what do with the flooring by the sliding door step is something we don't see a lot of. I'm interested to see what you come up with (perhaps a custom milled solution?).

I can think of a post on the T4UK forum whereby the owner described increasing the height of entire rear floor to bring it level with the front cab. I presume this was likely a commercial van conversion (and had no side panels in the back to have work around). I think he framed the floor with sleepers, allowing him to run a wire way and lay down a lot of insulation board as well. That part all looked fine and dandy, but there were no details on the sliding door step.

Either way -- cool project. If things turn out the way you want - and you to flip/sell that rear bed support and cushion please let me know.

[visibleink]

Hey saw this one for sale:

https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/5524446971.html

Check it out for some inspiration![/img]
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Been on the samba so long I remember petting that dog to see VWs, WYHI, and green bug girl.

<-- Helga, she slammed her dub in '53 and adjusted valves with her teeth

[Needlenoddlenoo]

Yeehaa, the floor is in and I got somewhat creative with the step, I had to raise the seat rails up 3/4 inch but that's ok . I used plybo for a stair nose and did away with the light on the step until I run some LEDs . Im going to put weather strip at the bottom of the step so I can still access the hardware for the sliding door. Now on to the next phase - interior cabs and platform ( I have lots of parts available if anyone is interested pm me) or watch the classified

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[djkeev]

I Was wondering at first..... but that entry step ended up looking really nice!

Keep posting!

Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[Needlenoddlenoo]

Started the back end today , built a new platform , my wife wants drawers in there before we build on top of it to see how much space we really need. So until the drawers go in I think I'm done for a while ( I'll build drawers at work this week)

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Needlenoddlenoo]

Forgot to mention the table, I pulled the original and will make a custom wood with a chess board inlaid , a few years ago I made a bamboo and redwood chess board that needs a new home ,so going into a table would be a good place . I'm surprised at how smooth and quick the floor went in ,the step took some thinking about but it turns out all I needed was a base, a sub step as it were, that made things so much easier . Still a lot to do , but for now the Tortuga is back on the road a everyone is happy with a new interior. I'll post more once I get back to it.
_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[jjvincent]

Nice work.

[Needlenoddlenoo]

I finally got the step complete and built draws for the back, we gained so much room getting that stock platform out!, I have a table in the works which I should be able to finish up tomorrow and faces for the draws and the cubby door next to the draws , thats for our stove, I also built a cabinet for the interior that sits next to the fridge which I've yet to install as for other cabinets we are going to see what storage is needed.

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Needlenoddlenoo]

This is the table I made to go in the van, the chess board I made a few years back , I inliad it into a piece of bamboo ply, known as plyboo ! , the chess board was half inch thick and the plyboo is 3/4 thick, I still have to mount the hardware which I should get to this weekend.

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Needlenoddlenoo]

It's amazing what I can get done when my kids are asleep on a Saturday !! I had to mess with the support a bit but then it went in without any fuss. So stoked.

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Itsamoto]

Love that chess board idea. Beautiful work.

[Needlenoddlenoo]

And the final touch, for now,draw fronts and pulls , I used some push catches so the draws would not open whilst driving . So for now I think I'm done ,we want to camp a few times to see if we need more storage but I'm thinking we don't , the draws I made are huge, all of our cooking stuff fits in one and the other holds clothes for the five of us ( admittedly our 3 boys live in the same clothes for a week!! ) so anyway I had fun doing this and sharing it I hope y'all had fun watching

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[IdeaNerd]

Very nice work! Thanks for sharing.

[Needlenoddlenoo]

And a nice little upgrade that only took 10 min was adding the front passenger side cubbie, thanks to itsamoto for a great trade . It will add some much needed storage to the front of the Tortuga. Once again thank you itsamoto. Next time you are passing be sure to stop in . Also there's a vanapalooza in June here in Bellingham

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Itsamoto]

[wildenbeast]

I can see glimpses of the console in some of the photos, but it would be nice to see a better photo if you don't mind posting one.

[Needlenoddlenoo]

So the console was kinda a fluke, I made the one I gave to itsamoto first and it was to tall so I got mad with myself and made it again this time with less care and attention , but it came out just dandy! What the pics don't show is the false bottom only accessible from inside (kinda secret compartment type thing!) anyways it works for us and has cup holders because the stock holders are too small for our water bottles/ coffee cups!

Simple construction glued and screwed with a couple of dividers inside

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I

[Needlenoddlenoo]

So here's another fun project that my wife and I just finished, a rear hammock for our 3 year old son , much like the font hammock made for the vanagon. I made a frame out of 1 1/2" pvc pipe and my wife made a duck cloth canopy. It allows more sleeping space in the van , my wife and I put our feet under the hommock when we sleep, or all 3 boys lay in the van to watch a movie when the weather Is crap out, next is a cot for the front much like the vanagon one but for a EV

_________________
Not all who wander are lost

The Tortuga (99 Eurovan)
Elsie (87 vanagon ) sold
Luna -RIP.
Sunny the boxer
Leland,Sawyer,,Gallagher
Wife and I