Forum Discussion
falconbrother
Jun 30, 2015Explorer II
What engine is in the van, 5.3? It's good to know it's a good tow vehicle. We have a 2000 Dodge 3500 high-top van that I converted to a grooming van sitting in the driveway. It has the 360, V8 and though it is high mileage it really runs great and drives very nice. My wife has quit grooming due to some health issues. I talked about tearing out everything and taking it back to a big, empty space, scrubbing it down and building a camper. She loved the idea and wants me to build it so that she can take it to dog shows over long weekends. I put a duotherm 13.500 on the roof and I have hot and cold running water, etc.. So, I have a good start. I would throw out the RV tub I installed and just add a single sink with a fold down top so it could be used to wash a small dog and groom them at the show (Although all of that always happens before she leaves but, that's what she asked for). The rest of the van would be living space. It's tall enough to walk around in upright. The 19 feet would allow for a queen size bed, toilet, microwave, TV, etc.. In the old 1977 Van I had a 12 volt system that ran off of a battery and I had shore power and 110 volt circuits. It was low tech. The batteries only charged off of the alternator and I had a manual switch. The 110 circuit had fuses rather than circuit breakers (I went cheap). I never had to replace a fuse. I had a small wet bar that came in the old B200 that had an ice box, small round sink, a closet and cabinets. I re-covered the floor, walls and ceiling with new carpet and threw out the shag.. I found a wrecked Class B at a junk yard and took the roof AC and windows out of it and installed them in the B200. Anyway, in the fall and spring we would get off of work, jump in the van and go camping every weekend in the mountains. We would stop at the grocery store on the way out of town. That old van really provided us with a lot of freedom to just head out in any direction. Heck, if we couldn't find a camp site we would stealth camp anywhere there was a parking lot full of cars. We did that a number of times.
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