Again today I was taking advantage of small time blocks between personal business to work on the van. In the late morning, I spent 1 1/2 hours working on the battery cables. First, I snaked the two battery cables through a loom to help protect them once they are installed. Then, I worked to route the cables from the van’s battery (which is under the driver’s seat) back to where the camper battery bank and electronics will be. This was made difficult due to the size of the wires (they are 2 guage). I decided to open up an existing hole in the van structure to route the cables through, so I used the jigsaw to open that hole near the floor. Then, I painted the exposed metal and after it dried, I installed some protective sleeves over the cut metal. I also installed some protective sleeves in other places along the route of these wires, and I may do some more. I’m worried about the vibrations of driving the van causing a rub that shorts a wire.
Here is what the cables looked like at the driver’s seat end. You can see that I was able to route these wires under the first aluminum joist. The hole that the cable goes into the van wall is the hole I had to open up a little. You can also see the red/black loom that holds these two wires together. Later in the day, I attached the wires to the van batteries under the driver’s seat.
Here is a picture from the back of the van where these wires will eventually be connected to the electrical system. For right now, they are coiled up in the wall and out of the way. The white wire is from the shore power outlet that I had installed previously.
Then it was off to perfom some more personal business and other errands. Mid-afternoon I was able to get back to the van build. Fortunately, while I was out the fabric to wrap the columns arrived. Perfect timing, because wrapping the front columns was the last item to complete before I could install the first piece of subfloor.
I had not wrapped columns with fabric before, but it is not too difficult. I first prepared the surface of the van by cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol. I also installed M6 bolts in the factory rivnuts so the spray adhesive wouldn’t muck up the threads. I used the installed bolts to cut around the fabric to allow access to these rivnuts. Then, I unclipped the plastic panels next to the column, so I could tuck the fabric behind it. I used painter’s tape to protect the plastic panels from the glue. Then, on the passenger side, I removed the weatherstripping around the sliding door so I could run the fabric under it.
The weatherstripping sounds easy, but Ford puts a sticky black sealant on the weatherstripping, and I fought to keep it off the fabric. Fortunately, the fabric that I choose was vinyl and easy to clean. If I had choose a cloth fabric, it would have been a disaster. I also had to clamp the weatherstripping to the van to keep it all from coming down to the ground.
I used 3M spray adhesive to spray the back of the vinyl fabric and the wall of the van. Then, after waiting for the adhesive to set, I worked from the floor of the van up to place the fabric where it was needed. Fortunately, the fabric had some stretch to it and was pretty easy to work with. Once the fabric with the adhesive touched the adhesive on the van, it wanted to stay there. But, it still let me peel it off to adjust it, if needed. I then smoothed out any wrinkles. I cut off most of the excess and then tucked the rest behind the plastic panels before re-attaching them.
I thought that it looked pretty good. Even though it was a little slow getting started. Sorry, I didn’t get any pictures. But, I still have to wrap the back panels and I’ll get some pictures of that.
Then I took a break to make dinner for the family. After dinner, Artie helped me to glue down the first piece of the subfloor. This was a little involved, because we had to measure and use the jigsaw to cut out a notch where the battery cables went into the wall. They were a little high and interfered with the subfloor. Once we had put that notch in the subfloor, we practiced setting the subfloor down on the glue without smearing it. Then we did it for real. I was happy with how well it went. We loaded some weights onto the plywood and will let it cure for about 24 hours. Here is what it looked like with the weights on it. You can also see some shims sticking up to ensure the panel stays in the correct spot.
I’m looking forward to getting the rest of the subfloor pieces glued down, as that will open up a whole bunch of work on the van. I’ve mostly been working by myself with a little help from Artie and Elizabeth when there was something big to lift. By Monday the subfloor should be completely installed and I can invite some more friends over to help with the next steps.
I’ve been keeping track of the hours worked on the van, and today put it over 100 hours of work time.