Day #53 Van Build – 8/6/25

It was another cool rainy day, like yesterday. But, I didn’t have much work to do in the garage, so I spent most of the morning going in and out of the van. When I was in the van, I closed the door behind me so the rain wouldn’t get in. Since it was darker in the van, I wore my camping headlight so I could see what I was working on.

My project today was to complete the electrical wiring on the driver’s side of the van and put up three of the wall panels. I started with the lower wall panel behind the heater. The wires from the heater for the power and the heater control come out of the unit, but I didn’t want to set the bed on top of these wires, and I also didn’t want the wires to keep me from removing the bed if I needed to. So, I cut both of these wires and put a splice in them. This way I can disconnect them if necessary.

With the wires spliced, and the other end of the wires routed through the van walls, I was able to secure the wall panel behind the heater.

Next was the top wall panel in the middle of the driver’s side of the van. Here, I needed to connect a reading lamp and then cut out some of the wall panel to expose the cubby that I had made a few weeks ago. I was in and out of the van quite a bit to make sure the cuts and holes were in the right place. Once the board was ready to go up on the wall, I had Artie help me. It was a two person job. I held the board up while Artie made the two wire connections for the reading lamp. Here are some pictures of the process with the final one being the intalled wall panel.

I had Artie help me to remove the lower bunk from the van. The lower cushion is supposed to slide out from the base, but it was getting caught. I’m pretty sure it was pinching. So, I moved it back into the garage and spent some time fixing it. It works good now.

Then we worked on the big middle panel. On this panel we wired in the switches for the overhead LED lights (one switch for the front eight lights, and a second switch for the back four lights). We wired in a reading light for the lower bunk in this panel. Finally, we wired in the heater controls. The switches for the LED that I had purchased required a 3/4″ hole, but I didn’t have a 3/4″ hole saw. So, I was off to Ace Hardware to purchase one. When this van project is over with, the people at Ace are really going to miss me!

After splicing wires to make all the connections, we were able to put up the wall panel. We were fortunate that we were able to make all but four of the wire connections with the board resting on the ground. With that board up, we put the lower bunk in place and here is a picture of the driver’s side of the van now.

I didn’t secure the heater or the lower bunk to the van, yet. The lower bunk still needs some adjustments, and I may need to remove it again. But, I wanted to put everything in place, because my plan is to put a small safe under the lower bunk and in front of the heater. Putting everything in place allowed me to measure how much space I have for a safe, which I’ll purchase tonight.

By now, it was a little after 2:00. So, I began to shift gears to my next big task, which is to put in the electrical cabinet. I called the lumber yard about the availability of Baltic Birch plywood, but they are still out and have been for weeks. So, instead of using one big sheet of plywood, I’m going to use two pieces of plywood that I had left over from the subfloor. I don’t want to continue to wait for lumber, and I’m sure using two pieces will work fine. I laid these two sheets on the workbench and drew the lines for where I wanted to cut them. But, before I cut them, I pulled out the electronic equipment and laid them out on the boards to make sure my plan actually worked.

Wiring up the electrical cabinet is going to be a very challenging task for me. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. But, I’m going to take it one step at a time. I’m going to spend some time reviewing manuals and YouTube videos tonight, and then do some more layout work tomorrow. I’ll also spend some time tomorrow thinking about the steps I’ll take to complete this task….

One thing that I know for sure is that Elizabeth will be very happy to have those boxes out of the dining room!!