Bought a van. Give me some suggestions

[NW Dive Dawg]

Salt protection would be a primary goal for me.. Metal surfaces can be coated / sealed with spray on truck bed liner. I would also have a minimum 20 gallon fresh water rinse system utilizing a 12v bilge pump so that you basically have a fresh water gear rinsing and outdoor shower option...

 

[NothingClever]

@NothingClever,

Interesting. Have you seen this done? I'm trying to imagine how this would work. You park your van at a campsite, and then ... what? You let down the passenger window enough to put in place a panel that has the exhaust vent from the room/portable A/C unit plumbed/ducted through? Presumably the A/C unit is set up, maybe strapped down, somewhere behind the passenger seat?

Can you secure the van given that the passenger window is rolled down partially and this panel is in place? (You'd want the van secured while you're on your dive, correct?)

Whenever you need to move the van (e.g., to go get gas fills), do you need to "disassemble" things?

I've been reading about Mercedes Sprinter Van builds. People are recommending choose a (aftermarket) rooftop A/C unit that will function both underway and on shore power (120v). They are saying that the Sprinter's normal (front) A/C can't keep the interior of the van cool enough while underway.

TIA,
rx7diver

You’ve captured everything well.

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[NothingClever]

@rx7diver - I use a similar style vent in both windows of my cargo van at motorsports tracks. No issue with security or driving short, slow distances to get ice, etc. I think I could drive with the room A/C exhaust hoses rigged as long as I can see the passenger side mirror for lane changes. I wouldn’t drive a long ways with it that way.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Bubble window and mural of Conan the Barbarian on the side. Carpet interior and bumper sticker that says, "if its a-rockin, don't come a-knockin".

 

[macado]

I kept my van pretty primitive compared to most RV buildouts that I've seen. If I had to do it again I'd probably add larger battery system with shore power so I could run a dehumidifier inside at night. My ghetto solution was just to run an extension cord out to the van every night to run electronics.

Sadly I traded my van in for a small pickup truck. The Promaster started to need a bunch of work when it hit 150k miles and it was not exactly the best "daily" driver for the city. If I had more driveway space at my house I would have kept it but unfortunately I don't really have room for 3 vehicles.

I had no problem sleeping in the van with a sleeping bag and foam camping pad by myself but it was not really feasible when my wife joined on dive trips. I think if I did another van build I would make a collapsible sleeping platform further forward behind the 2 front seats.

I originally had a steel divider separating the cargo area from front seats but I removed it since I wanted to be able to get to the cargo easy more easily.

I put kilmat sound deadening material on the walls and floors. It helped tremendously with the sound / road noise.

I put up cedar paneling on the walls. It smells nice and gets rid of some of the "funk" of diving.

I added 2 benches on each side for gearing up. I made them more narrow than I would have liked but the trade off was I had a lot more room in the middle. If I did it again I would make one wide bench and one just narrow enough to hold doubles.

I installed e-track rails for securing cylinders to the walls

Drysuit hangers on the back doors.

The PVC trim board around the e-track kept the tanks from grinding on the metal of the e-track. I did this because it was scratching tanks and digging into the galvanized coating on some of my doubles.

I used cheap magnetic overhead lighting for under cabinets but eventually switched these to run off 12v lighting

Stage bottles could easily be ratchet strapped to sides of the benches.

Drysuit hangers on the backdoors

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

My parents swear by their Honda Element. Anyone on here have one and use if for diving?

 

[PEDiver]

@macado What you did is very close to what I am envisioning for my build. I'm going more for efficient storage and gearing up vs. a van that I can sleep in (not out of the question, but not the main driver for what I want). The wood paneling on the walls is exactly what I am going to do, in some form or fashion, since it makes it easy to mount whatever I want. Going to put down waterproof mats on the floors and build out a movable bench for gearing up. I also love the drysuit hangers on the doors and that's very close to what I had in mind as well.

I'm going to have to get a little creative since my van is a passenger van vs. a cargo van like most of the builds I've seen.

 

[Tracy]

I went a different route. I have a second row bench with a fixed wall behind it. Gives me a place to sleep when needed and the cabin heat/AC keeps up with the front half. Also allows me to carry a few passengers if needed. The back has a full length slide out that holds a compressor, generator, and electric booster. The walls are strut. The trimix stick is built into the corner and the intake plumbs through the divider wall and intakes from the side doors. There is a 1000 pound crane mounted in the back corner for loading and unloading the compressor/swapping an outboard.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

I went a different route. I have a second row bench with a fixed wall behind it. Gives me a place to sleep when needed and the cabin heat/AC keeps up with the front half. Also allows me to carry a few passengers if needed. The back has a full length slide out that holds a compressor, generator, and electric booster. The walls are strut. The trimix stick is built into the corner and the intake plumbs through the divider wall and intakes from the side doors. There is a 1000 pound crane mounted in the back corner for loading and unloading the compressor/swapping an outboard.
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its beautiful but where's the barbecue?

 

[PEDiver]

I went a different route. I have a second row bench with a fixed wall behind it. Gives me a place to sleep when needed and the cabin heat/AC keeps up with the front half. Also allows me to carry a few passengers if needed. The back has a full length slide out that holds a compressor, generator, and electric booster. The walls are strut. The trimix stick is built into the corner and the intake plumbs through the divider wall and intakes from the side doors. There is a 1000 pound crane mounted in the back corner for loading and unloading the compressor/swapping an outboard.

That is a very sweet setup. I might be a little ways off from incorporating a compressor into by build though I'm still debating if I want to get a proper bench seat for the second row to transport more people or just use that room for a drysuit bench and storage. Maybe both we will see. All of this is great for inspiration...my wish list is getting long.