I have been camping in my 1990 Chevrolet Silverado Blazer 2-door for the last 20 years. When I removed the back seat there was just enough room for a 3/4 sized (Hollywood, as some people called them) mattress to fit between the wheel wells and from the back of the console to the tailgate.
After all those years with my wife and I getting older, she decided we needed a little more room so she found me a 2001 Chevrolet Express van with low mileage on the internet. After checking it out and taking it for a test drive we bought it on the spot. It was a nice passenger conversion LT model with all the bells and whistles available in 2001. I will chronicle the changes I made to transform it into my Class B- motorhome in the next few postings. I call it my Class B- (B minus) motorhome because it is just a regular van without the raised roof.
Camping at Custer State Park, SD in February, 2015.
Camping and visiting Scott's Bluff National Monument, NE in October, 2014.
After all those years with my wife and I getting older, she decided we needed a little more room so she found me a 2001 Chevrolet Express van with low mileage on the internet. After checking it out and taking it for a test drive we bought it on the spot. It was a nice passenger conversion LT model with all the bells and whistles available in 2001. I will chronicle the changes I made to transform it into my Class B- motorhome in the next few postings. I call it my Class B- (B minus) motorhome because it is just a regular van without the raised roof.
Camping at Custer State Park, SD in February, 2015.
Camping and visiting Scott's Bluff National Monument, NE in October, 2014.
My latest addition to my camper van conversion is a dash camera. I wanted something that would record everything while driving for accident recording and image capture while vacationing, like buffalo on the road in Custer State Park! I like this one because it can save files in 1,2,3,4,5 or 10 minute intervals and you can protect them from being overwritten when the memory card gets full. It also activates every time I turn on the ignition. It uses micro SD type cards up to 128 gb and plugs into my computer for file transfer just like a flashdrive. I mounted it on a bag mount so I could easily access it and transfer it from one vehicle to another.
Having some free time on my hands because I am retired, I dug these old solar chargers out of the debris of my garage. I have not used them for many years. I had three of them, so I made a board I could mount the three of them on. I wired up a set of connectors to connect them all in parallel mode and added a cigarette lighter connector so I could plug it in. During daylight hours them will help charge my isolated camper battery when boon docking in national forest campgrounds.
To save some room when packing in my van, I put one solar charger on a hinge and added some legs so it sits at an angle in the sun.
To save some room when packing in my van, I put one solar charger on a hinge and added some legs so it sits at an angle in the sun.
This is not a modification to my camper van, but it is one that helps save room when packing. I found a link on a website that showed me how to make some clamps for my picnic table cloth. They are made by cutting 1 inch rings from a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe. Then I cut the ring open, sanded the sharp edges, and covered the ends with some sticky-back white felt. I got this idea from an idea submitted to Trailer Life magazine's column called 10-Minute Tech by Robert White from Franklin, Kentucky.
The beauty of the clamps is that they fit perfectly around the propane tanks I carry for my campstove, taking up almost no extra room when I pack.
The beauty of the clamps is that they fit perfectly around the propane tanks I carry for my campstove, taking up almost no extra room when I pack.
The latest update to my camper van was the addition of a roof rack. I needed one that did not stick up too high so I could get the van in the garage without removing the roof rack. I opted for the VanTech model.
I cut the cross bars shorter so I could mount the bars below the brackets. Before mounting it, I repainted it to match the color of the van. Now I have room to carry our camper recliner chairs or bring back any thing really large we may pick up on our trips.
I cut the cross bars shorter so I could mount the bars below the brackets. Before mounting it, I repainted it to match the color of the van. Now I have room to carry our camper recliner chairs or bring back any thing really large we may pick up on our trips.
To make sure my box and tray are visible to all drivers all the time, I added some of those strip light LED's that you usually see below the tailgate of pickup trucks. The nice thing about the installation was that it came with a 4-wire trailer adapter that plugged right into my van. The lights work with my turn signals, brake lights and tail lights. The width was a perfect fit for my tray.
The latest addition to my camper van is nothing very spectacular, but it sure comes in handy! It has a small Velcro patch glued on the back so it is always handy by the door.
My latest addition to my Express conversion camper van is a water container to carry extra water when we are boondocking. I like the way it collapses down to less than 4" but expands to carry 5 gallons.
