Van Build Support Group

Listen, we know what we are doing is a little crazy.  What sane person quits their jobs, sells all their belongings, and moves into a van for the foreseeable future with the sole intent to travel? When we first started talking about this trip over two years ago, we're certain that our families were like, "sure... sounds great... we'll believe it when we see it." When we actually purchased the van, began making plans for the build,  planned our move from San Francisco to AL, and quit our jobs, they were all in.  Because that is who they are.  The most loving, supportive families in the world & we know we are a little biased, but that is the truth.

We know we've mentioned Jay and Papa Clay before. Jay (Zach's dad) who helped us tremendously with getting the van prepped for the build to begin, securing the most amazing garage for us to work on the van in, and helping us where he can throughout the process (literally sealing our butcher block countertop as this is being typed). And Clay (Zach's grandfather) who is making our beautiful cabinets for us. But this past week or so has been so heart warming as we received support from so many other friends and family members.

Vicki (Zach's mom), has been our host while we've been in AL tackling this build. She has been so good to us while we've been here and having her lovely home to come back to after long days isn't something we take for granted either!  Being the generous host that she is, she extended an invite to Jordyn's family to come through and check out the progress on the build, offer some help on the van,  and spend some time with us before we set off on our travels. So, over the weekend, Jordyn's parents (Carla & Kevin) & sister (Allyson) took Vicki up on her offer and flew into Southern Alabama from Phoenix, AZ! 

Kevin, Zach, Vicki, Carla, Jordyn & Allyson
Gulf Shores, AL, USA

Allyson checking out her living quarters while she visits us on the road!

Carla, Zach, Allyson & Jordyn, Vicki, KevinVicki's happy place, Florabama!

It meant so much to have them make the trip and take part in what we are doing, as crazy as it is! Kevin was a huge help in putting up our ceiling, wiring outlets, and connecting our B2B charger.  Carla tackled all of the sewing projects and we managed to get curtains, a mosquito net, and insulated window covers completed! Allyson floated around helping where she could, passing out/eating snacks, and even put up a few cedar ceiling planks with a pin gun.

Allyson eating more Cheez-Its than she was passing out.

Additionally, we brought the van over to Papa Clay & Gammy's place (Zach's grandparents) one day last week and it's amazing at how many people flocked over to see our new home.  Each of the neighbors amazed at the progress and overall adventure we are about to set out on. Their amazement turned into involvement and Papa Clay now has a cabinetry assistant, his neighbor Frank. Frank's wife Barbara also offered her sewing expertise and between her, Gammy, and Carla we had our own little sewing factory going on one day, it was truly amazing to see how quickly we could progress with everyone's help!

Relaxing at Gammy & Papa Clay's after a long day of work.

We are estimating we have about 7-10 days left to go on our build, but are going to take a quick break to fly back to San Francisco to watch two of our best friends get married! See you soon Catthew <3

Check out the progress made below with the best Van Build Support Group there ever was.

Ceiling

The ceiling was one of our favorite parts! The ceiling and the floor are now our two "finished" pieces that will give our new home its overall look.  The electrical and plumbing and structure are all super important but they aren't pretty like a cedar ceiling is!

Testing our stain.

Stained cedar planks.

Allyson & Kevin putting up the ceiling!

Ceiling is up! Just needs a few touch ups.

That's better! Thanks, Kev!

Countertop

The countertop was somewhat of a nightmare.  Get butcher block, they said. It'll be pretty, they said. But no one said how hard it would be to cut a sink hole! Our countertop is split in two. We have a 45" long cabinet on the driver side of the van and a 22" long cabinet on the passenger side of the van.  The 22" cabinet is where our sink and faucet will go.  We had all the measurements and drew where the cuts needed to be, but what we didn't have experience in is cutting a 1.75" thick piece of wood. Let's just say it was a good thing we had an extra 26" piece of butcher block, because we needed it.  The first one took a few attempts and was left with crooked cuts all over the place. Finally we just gave up and paid someone who knew what we were doing because this one we couldn't manage to learn by "research". It's currently getting 4 layers of tung oil, courtesy of Jay while we are out of town.

Shout out to Thomas for cutting this hole for us!

Freshly stained countertops.

So pretty, right?!

Insulated Window Covers

Insulation is extremely important for us. During our trip, we plan to chase the seasons and be in warmer weather most of the time.  Because we chose not to have an air conditioner, we knew we needed to keep cool in other ways.  Some ways we are accomplishing this is with the fan and vented windows. But another really easy way to help is to insulate our windows.  Insulation was something we didn't skimp on in any other aspect of our van.  The walls, ceiling, floor, and doors are all insulated, and if we didn't do anything to our windows, we'd lose all of the benefit and greatly reduce our R-Value. 

We got the idea to create our own insulated window covers from other van lifers and decided to follow suit. We used a material called Reflectix that you can purchase at any home improvement store and covered one side of it in fabric.  This way, the shiny reflective side can face outward and to its job by reflecting the heat and sunlight away from the van.  The inside is covered in fabric so we don't have to stare at shiny material all the time. Additionally, we sewed magnets on the perimeter of the Reflectix side of the window cover so it could magnetically attach itself to our window frames to make putting them up and taking them down extremely simple.

In the short time we've been using them while having the van outside to work, they've been doing a great job keeping the van cool!

Fabric shopping at the most overwhelming fabric shop that ever existed.

Carla working on window insulation.

Gammy & Barbara tackling the largest window cover for the front windshield.

Passenger door: Reflectix facing outside the van to reflect heat and sunlight away from the inside.

Inside you see fabric.

Jordyn holding the product completed by Barbara, Carla, and Gammy - not her :)

Mosquito Net

We knew we would likely cook inside the van with the door open most of the time and wanted to be able to enjoy that without the risk of a ton of bugs getting inside. Enter a super cheap "screen" door we purchased off Amazon that Carla graciously modified to fit our sliding door! It is magnetic in the center so it will easily close after walking through. Problem solved!

Screen door to keep out the bugs!

Electrical Update

Last week we gave the run down on how complicated the electrical system was. And with all the activity this week, we are still working to get it done. BUT, we do have some of the components set up and working! The Battery 2 Battery charger, fan, and extra DC outlet area all installed and working! We just have a few more things to finalize: lights, inverter, and solar- stay tuned!

Zach's reaction to our first electrical test: B2B charger is up and running!

Cabinet Update

We received the hardware needed to finish up the most complicated set of cabinets and they are done! Clay has done such a great job on these and we are so happy with how they turned out. Next up are the simpler cabinets with no drawers and we will be tackling those next week!

Papa Clay hard at work.

All done! Ready for a countertop, coat of white paint, and some knobs/pulls.