The Camper, Trailer or Adventure Vehicle Thread

Since I'm on here
Here is my baby a fully camperized westy style pop top ford e250van . I've be been busy customizing , including custom storage bumper a lift with new suspension all sorts of led lighting etc

Nice Mr. GT….what kind of lift are you going with? 2wd…4wd?

Way smarter than an actual westphailia how old ?

Traverse? My parents started with a 67 Westy (in 67), then an 81 Dodge Ram that had the Westies equipment transferred over, then a GM with a custom bed my dad built. Now they have a Traverse, pretty much the same as GTDad.

Its a great van. I hope it doesnt rust out of my inheritance.

I cant believe how much better the new BFG all terrains ride.
Great tire.

Traverse? My parents started with a 67 Westy (in 67), then an 81 Dodge Ram that had the Westies equipment transferred over, then a GM with a custom bed my dad built. Now they have a Traverse, pretty much the same as GTDad.

Its a great van. I hope it doesnt rust out of my inheritance.

Yup its a traverse:))

Way smarter than an actual westphailia how old É

its a 2002

Nice Mr. GT….what kind of lift are you going with? 2wd…4wd?

I had it lifted and leveled, The front needed got 2.25 inches and the rear 3.5 which gave it an unloaded 15.5 clearance at the rear and 14.5 at the front. When it's got bikes my family and gear it sits near perfect.
After I had added 150 lbs AGm batteries, north shore rack and roof racks etc etc It needed help.. But I can dry camp with my 12v fridge on 4 days before I need a re charge now. Plus I have decent clearance for dirt roads, forest service sites etc.
Also had larger tires put on , nokian Rotiva AT 's which all weather rated (snow) tires which added 1 inch of lift over my old tire..

I cant believe how much better the new BFG all terrains ride.
Great tire.

Did they get rid of that hokey tread pattern? I see they upped the sidewall tread.

I went from ATs to Nitto Terra Grapplers. Probably will stay with TGs. Noticed Nitto has the Exo Grappler which is 3-peak mountain snowflake rated now too.

Your X looks sick with the new rubber!

I dunno, they didnt reinvent the wheel, but they sure fling rocks though.
there's a lot more siping and I feel like the rubber they used is a way more better kind of rubber.
Thanks man im pretty pumped on it again, engines mint and shes got all the balls in the boost.

Thats more or less what im going with but a little more rustic since this van will eventually be used for work.

So what kinda fridge do you have in there? Whats your battery setup?

Thats more or less what im going with but a little more rustic since this van will eventually be used for work.

So what kinda fridge do you have in there? Whats your battery setup?

its 12/120v 2.7 cubic foot norcold fridge. A good option is the chest style fridges by ARB or Engel they and norcold use a very efficient design of compressor.
My vent has vented compartment that fits 2 27 series batteries. It is more efficient and safer to change to 6V in series so I went with Haze battery brand 6Vx 27 series. This gives me 210 amo hours of reserve and they are maintenance free AGM so they do not offgas . Agm batteries are much safer and also can be discharged deeper and also change faster.
Since you are starting from scratch A single 4D (210 amp hour)size battery or even an 8D (230 amp hour )battery with a muliti stage charger is a good setup. The mutli stage give a deeper safer charge than cheap CT one.
This is the setup I use It lets me charge fast run off shore power or a generator nicely and power everything I need .
The charge wizard add is only 30$ for a fours stage ch profile.
http://www.progressivedyn.com/charge_wizard.html
https://www.progressivedyn.com/prod_details/rv_conv/rv_converter_pd9130_2.html

whoa 210 ah is a whole other power ballgame. Thats gotta be several hundred $ for an AGM battery that big. Prolly more than I wanna invest.

Prepare to be underwhelmed here but I'm lookin at this with a mere 33 AH reserve. That should cover my estimated 10-12 AH daily requirement and a 6/4/2 smart charger should be able to top it back up in a few hours. I'm gonna get a small chest fridge and make a liuttle hyper-insulated box for it. Some guys claim to cut power consumption by 90% with 4-6 inches of insulation around the sides and bottom. One guy with a non-powered cooler said a block of ice lasts 2 weeks like that. Sounds adequate for keeping beer and meat semi-cold.

While I was looking at that (actually I bought all this stuff cuz its on sale and returnable) I also grabbed a 75w solar panel that was 50% off. Not sure if I'll keep it. 4.3 amp claim - I expect maybe 2. But still, if I have a day without shore power, 2 amps x 4 afternoon hours kinda tops it up.

Anyway, any tips on that stuff? It's way more budget than your pro setup but I'm still having fun nerding out on amps. You should see the ghetto plumbing plan.