I’m learning that converting a cargo van into a camper van is a reasonable microcosm of life. This is at least true for someone like me possessing few of the skills in advance needed for successful completion of the project. In this van project, as in life, constant learning, striving, occasional failure, and trying again is the only path forward.
In recent years, with the assistance of a skilled local therapist who my family has come to refer to only half-jokingly as Saint Nancy, my self-awareness has slowly increased. I’ve come to realize that at various critical junctions in my life, I’ve made rash, often damaging decisions in an attempt to avoid failure and flee situations that subconsciously I felt I couldn’t successfully face. I’m gaining a better understanding of why I’ve behaved in this manner, and I think I’m getting better at recognizing when this impulse is driving my thinking, changing my thinking, and avoiding regrettable actions. I haven’t always been successful, unfortunately. To protect the innocent, I will say no more about regrettable actions in larger life, but will say a bit about the van project in this vein.
Those who know me will not be surprised that Neil Young’s music is well-represented on the sound track that plays in my mind. One of the songs that has played loudly and frequently recently is “Fuckin’ Up,” first recorded in 1990 on the album Ragged Glory. It played on repeat and loud after a couple of recent major steps in the van build process: insulating with two-part foam and wiring the van’s electrical system.
The two-part foam insulation process was familiar to me, as I had contractors use this insulation method innumerable times in weatherization projects over the past 11 years. However, the number of times I’ve actually done it myself: zero. After watching several YouTube videos and reading about several vanlifers’ experiences insulating their vans, I felt ready to take on the task. I purchased about $700 worth of two-part foam and the specialty spray gun required to mix the two parts, suited up in a Tyvek suit, nitrile gloves, and full respirator and launched into the messy process. An hour or two later, I felt pretty good about it on completion…until I tried to open the side cargo and rear doors and found to my horror that I had somehow gummed up the door latching mechanisms and was unable to open either door.
After several days of mentally beating myself up (“Why do I keep fuckin’ up?” playing on repeat), and deciding I didn’t want to risk further damage, I swallowed my pride, scheduled an appointment at Valley Autohaus, and asked them to make the doors work again, please. Several days and $490 later, the doors worked better than they had before. Onward.
The next major step, wiring the van, was a complete plunge into the unknown. Although my father is an electrical engineer and a do-it-yourselfer in all things, including things electrical, I had successfully navigated the first 62 years of my life without learning much of anything at all about wiring and electrical theory. After a lot of online research and another batch of YouTube videos, I was ready (I thought) to install the following 12-volt components:
· Eight ceiling LED puck-style lights (two circuits on dimmer switches)
· Two bed-side LED gooseneck reading lamps
· The ceiling Maxxair exhaust fan
· The tiny Dometic refrigerator
· The Nature’s Head composting toilet make-it-not-stink fan
· The plumbing system pressurization pump
All of this was powered, of course, by the van’s two 100-watt solar panels and a 170-amp-hour lithium storage battery. In addition, 110-volt power will be provided via a 2000-watt inverter for a tiny seven-gallon electric water heater, the countertop induction two-burner stove, coffeemaker, and anything else we want to plug in (laptop, phone chargers, etc.).
I toiled mightily for several days cutting wire to length and crimping on male and female connectors to various bits of 18- and 14-gauge wire, taking great pains to keep my positives and negatives straight. I set up my 12-circuit DC blade fuse box, labeled carefully. Kept my positives and negatives straight, double- and triple-checking to ensure that I kept them straight. To install the eight ceiling LED lights and exhaust, I had to cut carefully-positioned holes in the plywood ceiling panels. Finally, I enlisted son Jakob’s assistance in hoisting the ceiling plywood panels into place, cutting them carefully to fit into the front and back curvy bits of the van’s ceiling, wedging them into place, and screwing them home with the eight LED lights and Maxxair
exhaust fan in place and their wires tucked between the plywood and foam insulation above.
The moment of truth arrived when I hooked up the load positive and negative wires to the solar system’s controller, installed fuses in the blade fuse box for each circuit…and nothing happened. Nothing turned on. Well dang.
Unfortunately, this final step was occurring on the morning that Anne and I planned to leave to take the van on its first short trip (a three-night affair on Lake Superior’s North Shore, camping at Temperance River State Park). We loaded up the slightly less than half-finished van and headed out with no power. The composting toilet came with us for night-time pee use, but without the no-stink fan, we elected not to use it for its composting function. The plumbing system is sitting in our basement, yet to be installed, so there was no need for the plumbing pressurization pump to be installed anyway. We brought our headlamps for bed-time reading, a cooler for our cold food, and had a wonderful three nights and four days, in spite of having no lighting, no refrigeration, and no ceiling exhaust fan.
Upon our return, a bit of research on the controller function led me to the realization that I had to change a setting to send power to load. I changed the setting, and…lights in the back half of the van! Refrigerator purred into action! Unfortunately, the fuse for the front half of the van lighting instantly blew, as did the fuse for the ceiling fan.
Needless to say, this was a disappointment. I tried upping the size of the fuses for the two failed circuits, but they instantly blew again, and the dimmer switch for the four front LED lights instantly went up in smoke as well. Houston, we have a problem. (Cue “Fuckin’ Up” in repeat mode in the internal play list.)
As I said, my understanding of electrical theory and general wiring practice was nonexistent at the beginning of this process. By this time, it was marginally better, but still shaky at best. I decided I needed to call in The Old Pro, and phoned my 88-year-old dad to come and try to help me troubleshoot the system. He arrived with his multimeter shortly later, and we began checking the faulty circuits. We probed, we checked, we determined that we had open circuits and no shorts. Long story short, The Old Pro recommended that I purchase four new LED puck ceiling lights and dimmer switch for the front of the van and start all over again with that circuit. He was as mystified as I was by the ceiling fan, and I decided to call the manufacturer to see if they had any insight into where I had gone wrong with that.
While waiting for the LED lights and dimmer to arrive and spending a fruitless 40 minutes on the phone being assured that I would be served by the next available Maxxair representative, I did a bit more research on problems with the Maxxair fan installation. The only thing I could find was a poor fool who had inadvertently reversed the polarity on the fan (black does not connect to black on 12-volt systems – black is positive for reasons unclear to me in the 12-volt world). He switched the wires and the fan worked fine. Could I have inadvertently done the same? Impossible. I had double- and triple-checked the polarity of all my connections. Unfortunately, I couldn’t check the wiring without dropping the ceiling panel (which would be a major hassle entailing disconnecting the four working LEDs installed in the back half of the van as well).
Anne and I decided to do one more short trip with the van before her teaching year began. We decided to bring sweet Ruby, our 12-year-old cairn terrier with us to see what she thought of van life. We loaded up the van again, this time with the rear LED lights and refrigerator working, and headed to Wild River State Park on the St. Croix River for a quick one-night trip. We (including Ruby) had a wonderful time, with the van a tiny bit closer to its finished state (though still far, far from finished).
Whew. I feel better about things now, and perhaps capable of finishing this dang project. I have resolved to work harder on my inner sound track. I realize that I am taking on a significant challenge in this van project, that mistakes will inevitably be made, but that I will learn and recover from them and move on. Henceforth “Fuckin’ Up” will be rejected firmly whenever it begins to howl in my head. Sorry, Neil.
Onward to the plumbing system.
