My Chevrolet Express van Class B- camper

[Black95]

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.

[garmp]

That's pretty much how we did ours, and for the same reason, although our "honey bucket" is of the older style.

[Black95]

Based on information I found on postings by other camper van conversions, I modified my center console box for my Porta-Potti. I cut the top off and added a hinge so that it can lift up. This way I do not have to slide the Porta-Potti out at night when we use it. It also gives me more floor space at night.

[Black95]

falconbrother wrote:
Here's the van I'm starting with:..........

Looking good! When you start modifying it and converting it into a camper, start a new thread and keep us informed of what you are doing to it.
:C

[falconbrother]

Here's the van I'm starting with:

[Black95]

falconbrother wrote:
Man, stories I got..

I was working around the van when the van started shaking like there was a fight in there, the door flew open and this flaming object came flying out. DW had washed some panties in the sink and decided to dry them in the microwave. They caught fire.. I laughed and she said if I ever told anyone she would kill me..

Great story. I can't top that one!

[drsolo]

I have flexi leashes hooked to the side door handle so my little dogs harnesses get hooked up before I open the door. I have trained them that open door DOES NOT mean they can leap until they are hooked up and I give them the out command. I can also unhook the flexis and move them to zip tie loops on the outside as well, or, for taking them for walks. A washing systems is often needed for show dogs because the first thing many of them do when traveling is get the runs and dirty their culottes.

[falconbrother]

Man, stories I got..

Every year for several years running we would go to Willis Virginia to Daddy Rabbit's campground on the weekend of October 31st, which was their last open weekend of the year. We always had the run of the place. We never made reservations, we just grabbed two pugs, jumped in the van, hit the grocery store and on to the mountains. We never arrived while the sun was up.

One year we got up there late and it was pitch dark. I opened the side door of the van and the little black pug jumped out and started running laps around the van with me in pursuit. It was wonder that I didn't kill myself chasing that dog. All I could see was a black smudge. These days I wouldn't have seen that much. I finally got her back into the van. Once she figured out how cold it was out there she wasn't in such a hurry to go back out there.

It was our tradition to cook Hobo Dinners over the fire when we camped there so, I got a fire going and we cooked up those dinners. Once they were done we sat at the picnick table to eat by the fire and the hamburger grease was congealing before we could get a good start on eating it. Cold hamburger grease ain't good. Of course we had shore power and a little heater so we stayed warm in the van.

The next morning the sun came up and it was a beautiful, cool day. I was working around the van when the van started shaking like there was a fight in there, the door flew open and this flaming object came flying out. DW had washed some panties in the sink and decided to dry them in the microwave. They caught fire.. I laughed and she said if I ever told anyone she would kill me..

[Black95]

falconbrother wrote:
What engine is in the van, 5.3? It's good to know it's a good tow vehicle.......

It has the 5.7 Liter V8. Not so great for gas mileage but plenty of power to pull my trailer. The van ride is smoother and handles like the trailer is not even back there with its long wheelbase and short length from rear axle to hitch. The old Blazer ride was rough and, with the short wheelbase, very jerky. I did add a tranmission temperature gauge and extra transmission cooler for that extra measure of safety. And the van does get better gas mileage than the old Blazer with the same sized engine.

I enjoyed hearing the stories of your old van. Thanks and keep telling us more.

[falconbrother]

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.

[Black95]

falconbrother wrote:
Great thread. I built a camper out of a 1977 Dodge B200 Tradesman van back in 1988. That was a very fun project that worked out fantastically. We camped a lot in that old van. Then we got the big head and kept moving up to bigger campers and eventually to the motorhome. My heart is still in van camping though.

I tried to have the best of both worlds. We have a 23 foot Tahoe GlideLite trailer camper that we use for local trips when we want to do "luxury" camping. For long trips to places like the Grand Canyon, the east coast, or west coast we take the van camper much like we did with the old 1990 Blazer that I converted. Picture of it on my first post! Another big improvement was that the van makes a much better tow vehicle than the old Blazer did.

[falconbrother]

Great thread. I built a camper out of a 1977 Dodge B200 Tradesman van back in 1988. That was a very fun project that worked out fantastically. We camped a lot in that old van. Then we got the big head and kept moving up to bigger campers and eventually to the motorhome. My heart is still in van camping though.

[stan909]

Small victories add up. Good for you.

[Black95]

Took my van to the local Chevrolet dealer to fix the inoperative right switch on the power driver's seat of my van. They installed a wire clip and charged me no labor as if it were fixed. It wasn't, so today I removed the seat so I could get at the mechanism of the electric seat. Took the mechanical connector apart from the screw device that moved the seat and discovered that it was just stuck in the up-position, almost like it was double-nutted. I worked it loose and applied a little WD-40 and some lube-grease and now the seat adjuster works perfectly. Don't know what caused it to get stuck, but now the problem is solved and my electric seat works in all modes again.

[Black95]

They are made by L & M Metal Products. I don't remember where I purchased them as it was too long ago, but I think it was a hardware store like Ace.

http://landmmetal.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=featured&Itemid=435#

[ledcomp]

Black'95 wrote:



Can you tell me where I can get these quick disconnect brackets and/or the manufacturer, model number? I can see some writing on them in the picture but i can not read it.

Thanks
Dave