Bought a van, nothing works, so have a blank slate to work with. Advice needed! vandwellers

I’m a newbie starting out on my first major project and am looking to get some second opinions from you seasoned pros. Once the van is ready, I’m hoping to do long weekend/minor vacations for the next year or so, then spend 6 months as a full-timer next year.

I bought a 1996 Coachmen Van Camper, based on a Ford E-250 Econoline chassis, pics. Mechanically the ‘van’ is in pretty good shape, however a lot of the ‘camper’ systems are either broken or on their last legs. Including, but not limited to:

• Propane tank is rusty, and may be leaking
• 3-way refrigerator is dead
• Propane powered water heater is dead
• Coach battery needs replacing
• Some water leaks from the high-top windows

So far I have replaced the window seals and resealed around the frames, and it appears things are now watertight. I need to replace some paneling where the wood has rotted, but I’m not too worried about this as it gives me an excuse to attack the terrible decor.

On the propane issue, I’m hoping someone will have some advice on how to check if your tank is too rusty. I’ve heard some operators won’t fill rusty tanks, does anyone have experience with this? If the tank needs replacing I plan to do this with an exchangeable propane bottle to be mounted inside the vehicle, to be connected to the burner and stove only. I don’t plan to replace the water heater, and will just live without hot water.

On the electrical side, I plan to replace the 3-way refrigerator with a 12V version. I’m considering removing the hood-mounted coach battery and replacing with 2 golf-cart batteries in the generator spot (above the back wheel), mounting 2x100W solar panels on the roof and replacing the current split charger with a CTEK D250S to manage the alternator and solar charging. Only issue with this is that I lose the ability to charge from shore power – I don’t plan to spend much time at paid campsites, but it would be good to have the option, plus I need to sell the van when I’m done and don’t want to ruin the resale value. Does anyone know of an easy way to manage the alternator, solar and shore power all charging the battery bank? Alternative plan is to have 2 separate circuits, maintain the current alternator/shore power charger for one and just have the solar-linked circuit for the fridge and charging laptops etc. Thoughts?

To be honest I was hoping not to have to do this much modification to the van, but I didn’t do a great job of checking everything was working before buying. So life seems to have given me some lemons, and I’ve decided to make some badass lemonade.

Appreciate any thoughts you may have on all the above, thanks.

Submitted July 25, 2017 at 07:04AM by Danny_fuzzle http://ift.tt/2v1QrZf vandwellers