Sponsor My Van

Finally the van is at the shop as I speak (write?) getting its transformation. I brought it in last Friday before a weekend trip that was originally planned for the mountains but ended up in the desert. That’s a long story for another day. The van should be done by Friday of next week at the latest and I can’t wait to pick it up and see how it looks. I have been thinking about what to do for the electronics I wanted to have in the vehicle. GPS, music player, DVD player and anything else I might add in the future. With a bluetooth stereo I recently installed 2 weeks ago, it would be nice for it to interface with it all. What I decided is to install a laptop stand so I can use a standard computer for it all.

Ram Mount is the company that makes various mounting platforms for all kinds of electronics. I ordered the kit that is designed for the GMC Savana van with 2 articulating joints and adjustable height. It seems very sturdy and well made and installs directly to the base of the front seat with no drilling. I will install it myself next weekend when I get the van back and report to you how the process went and hopefully have photos for it.

Last weekend I picked up the T@B trailer from Phoenix with a friend of mine . We made the trip there and back to Phoenix from Ventura in 36 hours. That’s about a 1,000-mile trip and it was much easier than I thought. The very next day the family and I took it out for a quick overnight camping trip at El Capitan State Beach just north of Santa Barbara.

Since the van wasn’t ready yet we had to take out the other family car. It did okay towing the trailer but it definitely consumed a significant amount of gas at speeds higher than 60 mph. It almost seemed like I could see the gauge dip as I drove along the freeway.

We hadn’t figured out how everything works yet and the campsite did not have any hook ups. We slept without any heating and it got pretty cold at night. Overall, it was pretty good and the campsite was practically empty because it is the weekend after Thanksgiving.

The next step now is to get everything tuned and to figure out what we will need for future trips. I brought the van into the conversion shop last weekend and it will be done the Friday before Christmas. Can’t wait. I will be posting some more photos of our complete setup once it is ready.

Next Saturday I will be bringing the van into El Kapitan Conversion Vans in Westminster, CA for the interior conversion. I will be getting what they call the Sport Low Top conversion which will give me windows all around as mocked up in the previous post as well as full seating for 7, fold out bed and rear air conditioning unit. They were great by letting me squeeze in before the end of the year so it should be done before Christmas. I am taking the pre-converted van out to Sun City, AZ this Thursday and Friday with my friend Jeremy who will be the copilot for the trip. He has a couple of buddies there that will let us crash for the night. Friday morning we are picking up the T@B Trailer from an older couple in the area to tow it home to Ventura, CA.

The T@B Trailer we are picking up this Friday in Sun City, AZ (Near Phoenix)

Meanwhile I have some ideas about how to sell sponsorships for the vehicles. Some features will be added to this site to facilitate that so stay tuned. We will also be putting out a couple of episodes of the audio and video podcast for the trip.

I bought the van that’s going o be the chassis for the conversion this week. It’s a GMC Savana 2500 Extended Wheelbase van with the Duramax 6600 diesel engine. It is one of only two 2007 model year left in southern California that has the diesel engine. I got a great deal on it since its going to be 2008 in just a few more weeks. The plan now is to get the van to the conversion shop in Westminster in Orange county for the conversion. Here is a little animation of the exterior transformation the van will undergo initially. This is just a little mockup. The final windows will probably look a bit different.

This past weekend we went to checkout El Kapitan Van conversions in Westminster, CA and a T@B trailer dealership in Fontana, CA. We are a couple of steps closer to hitting the road. We decided one the floor plan and color we want for the T@B but unfortunately they had just sold one that fit exactly what we were looking for just two days before. They are going to do some looking around to find us another one and hopefully we will be able to go by again the weekend after thanksgiving to pick it up.

The van conversion shop also gave us some quotes on what the costs will be and I think I will be buying the van chassis this week if all goes well. One of the main things I want to make sure is the safety of passengers in after market installed seats. There seems to be some controversy about the compromise conversion vans have made for the sake of comfort to forgo safety. I think the safest way to go is to install factory seats and belts.

We are slowly making our way to the first road trip we have tentatively planned for January 2008. We are planning on traveling through northern Arizona to see Flagstaff, Sedona and Grand Canyon. It will probably be snowing so we hope the trailer furnace will work well enough to keep us cozy.