Building Bumble

Right now, this van feels pretty huge.  And then we start thinking about that space being living space for 2 adults and 2 dogs...a bedroom...kitchen...bathroom...office...dining room...living space... How many square feet again?  But we think we've figure out the layout that will work for us.  The image below is done in Sketch Up, which is a somewhat annoying but fairly powerful (for a free software) 3D CAD software that is available for anyone to use (web version).  Another really good option, and more powerful software, is Fusion360, which I believe also has a free version.  We had used Sketch Up when we designed our master bath and found it really helpful in getting a feel for the space and how things would fit/feel in that space and we thought it was perfect to start working through our van design.  I believe there are one or two (paid) software options made just for van design, but the comments I've read regarding those weren't horribly favorable....

  Goal :   Add swivels to the powered driver and passenger seats.  This will make these seats usable while camped/stopped, adding to our living space.  A table/counter/desk top will be within comfortable reach of both seats. We used  Amazing Auto swivels  for powered driver and passenger seats. Reasons for choosing these over factory or Scopema swivels - Offset swivel means not opening the door when swiveling Only swivel that is designed to be compatible with powered seats. Half the cost of Scopema Factory swivels not available with powered seats Tools Needed : Jigsaw (cutting seat plastic)   Medium metal jigsaw blade (for cutting seat plastic) Pliers (to bend anchor?) Heat gun (others have reported using heat to help bend anchor) Shop Vac Straight Edge/Board Socket Set (7mm, 10mm, 13mm) Consumable Materials Needed : Painter's Tape Rustoleum (if cutting off tether anchor) Plastic (protect electronics when trimming seat plastic) Hardware : Driver a...

We've gotten a little hung up on our build with some health set backs.  Hopefully we'll be back on track soon, but until then I'll try to catch up on what progress we have made and a few more foundation details.  I'll also be posting our Sketch Up diagrams of our van layout sometime in the next week.   When researching different aspects of this van and the build out, we found it almost as helpful understanding why people DIDN'T do some things.  This is also for when I look back later and wonder why the hell we did/didn't get X when we purchased the van.   Things we didn't opt for when ordering our van - Dual alternators - while it would be nice to have even MORE power off the engine that we could use for charging our "house" batteries (these are the ones that will power all our "living" requirements vs the "starter" batteries that handle the van itself), there are a lot of questions on how well you can utilize this extra power g...