Ford Transit 2016 DIY campervan conversion

[gklugie]

Nice job again! It is rather surprising how the weight load adds up. Wow. Also, another thing I just noticed. Class B vehicles are small. Every square foot is premium space. It appears you built a vehicle around 2 bicycles. They occupy a lot of space and force you to sleep very high in the van. Did you ever consider putting the bicycles outside the vehicle on bicycle racks?

[atoine]

Originally Posted by gklugie

Nice job again! It is rather surprising how the weight load adds up. Wow. Also, another thing I just noticed. Class B vehicles are small. Every square foot is premium space. It appears you built a vehicle around 2 bicycles. They occupy a lot of space and force you to sleep very high in the van. Did you ever consider putting the bicycles outside the vehicle on bicycle racks?

I would never leave my bike outside unattended for a split second! They're high-end bikes
1- It will get stolen, that's just a matter of time.
2- Rain (corrosion) will eat the metal out of them!

I used to have a hitch rack for shorter trips, but now since we're full-time in the van, it's really important for us that the bikes are stored inside the van.

It's true that they take a lot of storage space, but we're fine with this

[gklugie]

I don't know the value of bikes. .... at least your bikes. I have a pair of used ($50) bikes on a hitch rack with a chain lock for security. I just figured if they are designed to get driven through dirt, mud, and streams, that a little bit of rack-mounted wind and occasional rain wont hurt.

[atoine]

Originally Posted by gklugie

I don't know the value of bikes. .... at least your bikes. I have a pair of used ($50) bikes on a hitch rack with a chain lock for security. I just figured if they are designed to get driven through dirt, mud, and streams, that a little bit of rack-mounted wind and occasional rain wont hurt.

Bike similar to ours are worth over 6000-7000$ new... that's our main hobby; we live and breath mountain biking.

[atoine]

This, my dudes, is the very last entry of our Build Journal! Yay! Well not exactly, as there will be some add-ons and improvements along the road, but we'll take care of that later.

In this article we present you our final garage layout and how we achieved to fit SO MUCH stuff in it!

Garage | FarOutRide



Thanks for reading! See you on the road!

P.S. Join us on Facebook and Instagram to get updates about our trip!

[Phoebe3]

Thanks for sharing your build story with us! Happy trails!

[atoine]

Originally Posted by Phoebe3

Thanks for sharing your build story with us! Happy trails!

You bet, thanks!!

[atoine]

Hi!
We're still alive In fact, we couldn't be better! Our second month was exactly like I imagined our trip: lot's of mountain biking, epic landscapes, nice weather, slow pace and not too much driving.


Here is a write-up about our second month:

Second Month on the Road: Lessons Learned, Van Report and Tales from the Road. | FarOutRide



Cheers

[Phoebe3]

It's always fun to read about your adventures - thanks for sharing!

[atoine]

Nice, thanks!

[atoine]

This month we learned how to get stuck in sand (and how to get back on the road), we improved the design of our overhead cabinet and we tested for you the best-bench-with-a-view-ever.

New for this month: we're introducing our "Favorite Trails"!

Third Month on the Road: Lessons Learned, Van Report, Tales from the Road & Favorite Trails | FarOutRide



Cheers!

[atoine]

We finally made a list of "must-have gear" that we've been testing since we live full time in the van. Are we missing anything?

Campervan Must-Have Gear | FarOutRide



Happy Holidays!
Isabelle and Antoine

[atoine]

It's time. We've been chasing the SUN for the last few months, we're ready to chase the SNOW from now on! Let's drive north! But before we do, we have a few improvements to turn the van into the ultimate powderchasing machine! Let's get to work! This week, home is where the building supplies are...

[atoine]

Carrying snow chains is something we got really good at, but it would be wise to get better at putting them on! Indeed, it requires a little bit of practice and doing it under the Arizona winter is much more enjoyable than under the blizzard.

We consider snow chains a safety device rather than a gizmo, so we splurged on a set of high-quality Thule / Konig XG-12 PRO snow chains. With their patented system, they're simple to install and don't require to move the vehicle during installation, nice! Here is our "home-made" installation/removal guide along with our thoughts on them:

http://faroutride.com/thule-snow-chains-review/

[atoine]

Follow-up on the Webasto issues: it's still running fine, but it seems to take more pump clicks before firing up. Or maybe I'm just going crazy with this.

Anyway, here is the situation: we've been 3 months on the road chasing the sun and in exactly 2 weeks, we take a major 180 degrees turn and drive north to chase the snow. Who knows if these issues will come back or not? The call of snow is way, way too strong. We've been planning this trip for years... let's fix this:

http://faroutride.com/propex-install/




We now have a good heater backup plan, we couldn't be more excited to go snowboarding!!

[atoine]

The Nature’s Head composting toilet really made living full time in the van much, much more enjoyable. We’ve been using it full time since September 2017, so it’s time to have a discussion about this relieving device!

http://faroutride.com/natures-head-review/



Cheers!

[atoine]

This month we party on the Strip in Las Vegas (not), we watch the Geminid meteor shower from the Grand Canyon, we ride steep lines in Flagstaff, we slowly enjoy Sedona and we get the van ready for chasing the snow!

http://faroutride.com/fourth-month/




Thanks for reading

[Saldar]

Your fly-around videos are fantastic!

[MsNomer]

"Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the North Rim because there is a big gap in between"

DUH, that's what hiking boots are for. A truly memorable experience.

[atoine]

Originally Posted by Saldar

Your fly-around videos are fantastic!

Thanks! The Mavic Pro Drone makes it easy with the automatic pilot on...

Originally Posted by MsNomer

"Unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the North Rim because there is a big gap in between"

DUH, that's what hiking boots are for. A truly memorable experience.

Actually, the North Rim was closed for the season, but we did walk to the bottom of the Canyon. It's so huge, it's hard to really seize the scale of that thing !