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This is the Adventuremobile, or Adi for short. She's a 2006 Dodge Sprinter.



Oh, yeah, and she's a project.

This is good, partly because I love a project and partly because my choices for both function and beauty are pretty idiosyncratic. I figure there's a year's worth of fun right there.

So, first question: Who in the Tampa area do you trust to install house batteries and a charging system?

Love it! A blank slate - just ready for you to make it your own!
It looks like it already has some basics - walls & floor. Is that a door to the driver's area? Looks like its in really nice shape.
I actually bought mine from the Tampa area - but from a dealer. I wasn't very impressed with them - but the van had been gone over, was clean & everything was in working order. Someone from that area will probably have better recommendations.

It'll be fun to watch as you design her.

Do you know where you want to have the battery (ies) put? That's going to be one of the important decisions ... then I suggest you look for independent shops and talk to a few and get estimates. You could easily purchase a battery at Auto Zone or several places - so check prices before you let someone overcharge you for that, too.

You are going to have so much fun making it entirely your own. I cannot wait to see pictures as you progress.

WOW! Now that's going to be a cool project! Looking forward to progress pictures. There's a knitted hat designer I love who just turned a double decker bus into a house for her husband and son. Non-mobile but still it was fun to see the transformation.

Have fun!
TeAntae

awesome, and if I was nearby......I'd bring my tools

Can't wait to see what you do with it!
Have fun!!
donna (aka grammynmaggie)

Oh, thanks for you enthusiasm, everybody! This is going to be so much fun!

You're right, Catherine; that's a door through the bulkhead. When I first looked at the van, there was a solid bulkhead, and I told the dealer it would have to come out, so The William could come and go as he pleased. The guy immediately got all panicky and read me a lecture about the safety issues with bulkheads, and offered to install one with a door. Fine by me! I think I must have reminded him of his old auntie or something; it was pretty amusing.

The floor is a very dense rubber material (former owner was a plumber). It will make a good underlayment for a nice wood floor eventually. The walls are the manufacturer's "arctic package" insulation. Arctic my foot; there's nothing at all on the ceiling. Still, it's a start. Insulation on the ceiling, followed by wood -- maybe bead-and-board or fluted planks; we'll see.

Ava, one of these days we'll be in the same place at the same time with our tools -- and who knows what we'll get up to! The world should tremble.

Beth, where do you suggest placing batteries? Most conversions I've seen tuck them behind the driver's seat, but it seems to me that position puts a lot of weight in one quadrant of the vehicle. There must be a better place.

I love your brother's idea of using an antique cabinet, Catherine! I'll probably build cabinets, but I've been thinking of salvaging antique cabinet doors to get the finish I want. My carpentry skills aren't good enough for fine woodworking. This first trip, I'm going to pack all my gear in plastic totes and bungee it in place, so I can try out different configurations for the cabinets I'll build later.

Whee!!

It will be fun watching your progress. Using the van for a few trips will probably help you decide where to put everything.

Love it. What a fun project. I'm planning on doing the same thing, probably within another year depending. My folks had two Chevy vans that had a dinette/bed unit in them. could take it out if we needed the van for hauling. But mom made curatins for it and dad had it wired for electric. They spent an entire month traveling out west and through the Canadian Rockies with just that dinette/bed, cooler, porta potti, colman stove and their personal belongins and had a blast. I've always wanted to recreate that although I have a few differnt ideas toying around in my head.

Keep us posted as youu progress along.

Very cool! We were considering doing the same thing, but since my DH wants to full-time, I decided a van would be too small for us and our Boston Terrier. If we were part-timing, it would be perfect. We're looking at 30' motorhomes now (online).

I can't wait to watch you build her out. What kind of interior do you have in mind?

Louise,

I put this info on another thread for you but several people in my area have used Lazydays in Tampa and are very happy with them. I have not used them myself. Good luck with your project. Like the others we want to see progress pics.