Ford transit 2014 L2H2 350T RWD
My own version of a camper, for the third time.
Last updated
My own version of a camper, for the third time.
Last updated
As we previously looked for the specific model of van, we found the one that suits us and our trip, at the best price and payment method, and we have it in our hands, it is now where we get to work.
The first thing we do is look for all kinds of information about the dimensions of the truck inside and out, where there are holes, where you can find everything that has already been done by someone else, where it can facilitate us and save a lot of time.
The model that I am personally going to share is a 2014 .
The link before shows the dimensions of the van in each model, so I will know in advance what I am talking about, and although we must go in person with a meter in hand to write everything, we must know the technical and specific number of each space. It will help us to put together organised plans without the need to go back.
In February 2020 when I buy the van, the virus reaches the world, and in March they lock us up in our homes. I couldn't get any things to buy and I dedicated myself to designing, but many designs couldn't be if I didn't have the specific parts.
I got several second-hand furniture, kitchen, bed, wooden structures to cut. And while I was getting this done, I was in charge of working on the exterior of the truck. And buying some things online, new or second-hand, I was completing the entire exterior of Dora.
I built the 1st version of Dora The RV as I could and with what I had until in June I went to live inside, and in December I emptied it entirely and modified it from scratch inside to start the version 1.2.
On the roof of the van we have a:
With the help of a friend we put this Roof Rack, I have to tell you that it was not easy, but we were lucky that being aluminum was very light. Anyway, it is easily installed in the holes that already come from the factory on the ceiling of the truck. They are already covered, and with a screwdriver, you can lift that plastic cover they have.
On Facebook Marketplace, I found a person who was selling PVC tubes already prepared for water. Having an outlet/inlet of water and at the top of the other side an air outlet/inlet.
Installing the LED bar was too easy. Just hanging it to the first aluminium bar of the roofrack, and passing the wires through the same hole I did with the solar panels.
I had connected it to the 12v battery of the van, why? Because if I had connected it to any of the switch panels of the house, I had to turn them on or off from the back. And while you are driving is not so easy. So I connected it under my seat, leaving the bottom next to the door, and easy to use it while you drive.
I bought this from an official reseller of Thule, and I have to tell you, this was not easy. It's heavy as f... and one friend was helping me to do it. I had to prepare 3 special pieces from a blacksmith, so these pieces can fit in the holes of the roof rack.
There is a full section of solar panels below where I show how I installed them.
I found this fan on facebook marketplace for something like 40 euros, yes I love second hand stuff if they work well.
We also put insolation on the roof, micro fibreglass covered by 3mm coupled wood.
And this is the result during the winter before starting the v1.2.
Let's start working.
The van came with three front seats, very comfortable when traveling two, even three. But if this is a house and the front part is my living room, it is a bit difficult for me to go from the living room to the dining room or kitchen or back as you want to call it.
Having a wall generates a great division for me between what the car itself is, with the cabin divided in front, and the house behind.
So I found a seat that was for sale second-hand from another Ford transit and I took the two out of it as a passenger and put only one on it. Generating an internal corridor to be able to go from front to back or vice versa.
Very happy. Very comfortable. Now I have a coupé of almost 6 meters.
I bought on internet two lock for seat belts, one for the seat and the other for the dog.
After the cold snap and snow, ufff how difficult it was to work outside on the street. And inside the van, I don't even tell you. During the winter in Bruxelles I was working with friends under the bridge if it was raining (that was most of the time), or inside some parks.
So get down to business with, INSULATION. Covered floor, happy heart.
Once the insulated floor was finished, we began to climb.
The walls were already insulated but a change in the design of some internal drawers made me have to remove everything. On the roof, everything remains the same as the first version.
These woods that exceed just the height of the wheel cover internally are to create a false floor.
You can see before closing the walls that there are connection tubes for the electrical system that is going to be connected after.
As I mentioned earlier, I am creating a 30cm high false floor.
Below is the electrical system with the two batteries tucked onto the wheel axle. Let's say one on each side so the weight is balanced.
From the middle towards the seating area, there is everything electric on the left side, with the battery controller, the mppt to control the solar charge, circuit breakers, 24-220v inverter, offshore converter to connect to 220v and charge the 24v batteries, 24v to 12v converter, and a 12v fuse box.
From the middle to the right goes a 23-40lt water tank for daily use (125lt on the roof), the gas carafe, and a water heater.
There is a little space left but it will be a free zone for only the technical things of the truck.
Behind the batteries there are 160x80x30cm of free space up to the back doors. Enough to put tools and a few bags.
I had tried some fine wood edges, but they get dirty very quickly and if water falls outside, everything breaks. These bars are simple to cut diagonally and fit perfectly!
As a thermal insulator, I am using glass wool, protected with polystyrene and metallic paper.
Glass wool, compared to other insulators, is lighter and has very low thermal conductivity. This makes it more efficient because by maintaining the same thickness, a greater and more efficient thermal resistance is achieved.
Bear in mind that if you choose an aluminized plate, the part of the aluminum must go to the side of the heat source, that is, against the plate. I also added it on the other side to block it.
On top of this, there are 3mm wooden blocks that follow the wooden structure I created.
Foam plates are a good alternative to insulate the sheet. Maybe not the easiest to mold to pieces of a curved truck, but insulating the floor might be a good idea.
The foam is also good and super easy to mold, but you have to think that once the spray foam gets in, it doesn't come out anymore. So if you use the foam, be careful, it is forever.
Attention, you also have to calculate that this foam swells over time, and if you pull a lot inside the columns, it will grow until it deforms the sheet of the van and they look like pressure bubbles inside.
With little experience in carpentry, I designed furniture that fits inside the structure, so when everything is closed, it is two smooth and straight walls. When opening a door/window there is room inside to put some things of daily use.
They are small, between 14-17cm deep, to put bottles, computers, or things for hygiene.
Under the sofa that I am planning to make there will be more space for clothes.
We continue wallpapering, after furniture, now we go with the coverage of the structures.
It is not as easy as it seems, the tips, edges, and angles that one must cut to make them tight, in addition to putting enough glue and passing something very smooth on top so that no bubbles are formed.
What to say about the paper ... the beauty is that there are millions of styles, colors, and textures. They can be found in many places, and very easily. But perhaps, also knowing how to glue it, and seeing the final detail, it could also have been done with a very fine car fabric.
Also, with a friend who works in logistics, he gave me thousands of sound insulation panels that came in boxes that they bring him from a pharmacy. I used them to fill the entire box that is on the roof, so nothing gets hit, as well as boxes inside the truck, and the end edges of all the internal windows.
The black hooks you see under the drawers are the original hooks that came with the truck at ground level. They are used to tie everything that is inside and give it firmness. And in fact, I used them again, putting them on both sides of the structure, to tie whatever I need, be it bicycles that are inside, or whatever I want without movement.
I love how the result is turning out. Although it will take a little time to finish it, this version of DORA 1.2 is already taking color again.
On the two seats in front, there is a space to make some small cabinets.
Take as a reference the old piece of metal that was the shield that divided the front from the rear utility part.
I measured it and made it in wood, thus obtaining the entire wooden frame. And then cut it to make a door for it.
Inside cut 3 triangles to the shape of the ceiling so that it can hold two 3mm multiplex boards that hold the insulation.
I used the factory holes inside the van chasis.
Rather a sofa bed (and it's from IKEA). Because it is a two-meter by 80cm sofa and when 3 wooden parts are removed, which supports the body with the sidebar, it becomes a beautiful 200x160cm bed. Very comfortable!
What I like the most about this is that the sofa is always comfortable, having a fixed bed is great if you have a lot of space. But here there is little space. Nor did I want to make a bed in U or L, because the change of blankets or covers made me tired of thinking about it.
In this way with two individual mattresses, I make a sofa when they are together or a bed when they are separated. Each one his sheets, and a blanket.
In the beginning my idea was that half of the bed slides all unified, to make support when the bed is made. But I changed and cut it into three parts as you see in the last photos.
In the last one, you can see how two people can also sit in front and even make a U on a table on the wall. Sitting people on the sofa and on the limbs when the timbers are pulled out.
Inside the bed, there is a place to store things and behind where there is a space there is a PVC tube with more liters of water to reserve.
ENERGY HOUSING
2x 135Ah 12v deep cycle batteries connected in SERIES.
ENERGY INCOME
1x 195w solar panel + 1x 130w solar panel = 325w incoming power at best.
1x 220v to 24v converter to connect Offshore.
Positive battery cable, passes over switch and then a fuse, and reaches a battery protector with battery input and output channels. We always want to charge the battery, therefore it is connected as a source of energy input.
Also as an input on this battery protector there are two more positive cables: one is a 220v to 24v converter to charge them when I have power in houses or campsites (offshore), and another is the MPPT for solar charging.
ENERGY OUTPUT
In egress a 24v-220v inverter is connected, plus the 24v we have directly from the MPPT to one switch panel for the fridge, and we also have a 24v-12v conversion for the switch panels on the walls.
All negatives always making contact at distant poles. Covering all cables properly and reviewing guides and manuals consecutively.
This part of the job requires a lot of attention and even supervision if you are not sure.
It is key to travel safe, do not let a slightest mistake ruin your trip, car, or life.
With the wires, the most important thing is to keep them organised, of course it's for you, for your best comfort at the time you need to fix or come back to it to change some stuff. Keep it tide and clean as a mental map recognition.
Not many can indulge in doing things while reading the information on how to do it. And more when we talk about cables, where they go and how, and even more when we talk about electricity, it generates fear just thinking about it.
FIRST THING, up to 40-50v the human body can receive electricity without having any kind of electric shock. It means that the 12v system that I am going to explain here can never discharge you such energy that it electrocutes you.
This panel comes already with all cables connected in series. That is, all the positives of each switch together, and all the negatives in the same way.
The end of this connection gives us a positive and a negative that if we connect them to the battery it will give us:
light on all buttons
power in the usb
power in cigarette lighter socket
information on how much voltage we are receiving
But for each of the switches, we are going to connect our loads.
All the buttons, behind, have 3 outputs, 2 positive and one negative. Of which only one positive would be left free (as I said before, they are all connected in series, it implies a positive and a negative).
The positive that remains free is in the centre, and that is where you are going to connect the positive cable (with a fuse or to a fuse box) of any of your 12v loads (fan, Led, water pump, etc).
IMPORTANT DO NOT FORGET. Measure well the size of the fuse and the cables of each load. They are generally similar, but each system will depend on how much energy you are going to use. Each appliance consumes different amounts of energy. It is a part where we must be cautious.
And the negative of the charge? In the photos you can see a metal bar with blue wires. It is a discharge bar where we are going to put all the negative cables of each of the loads.
BUT ⚠️
If this bar is not connected to the negative of the battery, none of our loads will work. You can see the black wire on the bar, that goes directly to the negative of the battery generating a circuit.
To complete the circuit, there must be a flow of energy from positive to negative. (DO NOT MISINTERPRET - never mix positive and negative together). 👁
With 125lt of water on the roof, and this new installation of a 14cm diameter tube by one and a half meters, we have approximately a 50-60lt tank.
All finishes must be well glued with special PVC plastic glue (it is a blue liquid).
From one outlet, it is only a load of water, the cap is uncovered and it is loaded.
From the other outlet, there is a hose fixed to the cap, connected to the 12v water pump, which will send directly to a 10lt heater.
I placed it behind the drawers under the bed because it was free space that I planned to use to store things but later I realized that a good tube could go as in the ceiling and leave the protected system in there.
While I found the right bike rack for a door, I was looking for something that has a ladder as well so I can go upstairs to clean the panels and find things from the box.
I liked a side ladder because you can also hook up surfboards and other things. But the insecurity of many cities made me think about making an internal ladder or buying a folding one. I made it...
Here they come. A 50mm x 50mm piece of wood is cut into several pieces to fit into just the right space between what supports the bed and the door.
I covered the side with a 3mm thin wood and black wallpaper. So the wires of the panel will not come out.
Later I had some metals leftover from when I had made the edge to the parquet of the back door and the side door.
Voilà, c’est ça. This is the ladder that has not yet been installed (I still need to place some pieces of wood where the led goes inside to be able to hold it and leave it fixed) allows me to climb, tie things to the hook or hang even garbage bags.
Very practical.
While I'm building the kitchen, summer days turn into winter in Brussels and we can't go out to work because it rains every day.
But there are thousands of jobs, so little by little I am doing things that can be done at home.
The upper wood that works as a kitchen counter, had a circular cut to fit the sink.
That very piece of wood that I cut, I was polishing and cutting diagonally on the edges until it fits over the sink. Thus creating a cover, one can use even more space and have a straight and solid base in case it is necessary.
This kitchen is 100x95x40cm.
A year ago I bought a 130w Vechtech panel with a maximum load of 18.5v and 7.03Amp.
Having a 24v direct current system, I could not get power to my batteries because 18.5v is not enough for the minimum energy required.
Now that I buy another solar panel, 195w-7.03Amp, and of the same brand and model, I am going to connect them together to be able to obtain the 325w of probable power (because if there is no sun there are no watts).
If I connect in series, it means that I connect the positive of one with the negative of the other, leaving me free of the negative of the first and the positive of the second. Connecting in series what it does is add the voltage, therefore I will get 18.5v from my small panel, plus 27.75v from my second panel. Giving a result of 46.25v.
Connecting in series, the volts are added but it takes the lowest amp from the panels. The amps of the two panels are the same (see 2nd and 3rd photo). Therefore I will always lower 7.03amp on this connection. If either of the two panels was smaller in amp, the system would have taken the value of the smaller one.
In this case it is 46.25v x 7.03amp = 325.13w
This system is perfectly taking the Watts of the panels at 100% efficiency.
What would have happened if I connected them in parallel?
If I had connected the black wire to the black, and the red to the red, and from there direct to the MPPT solar charge controller, the amps from these panels would add up.
Thus receiving 14.06amp but the system would take the lower volt value of the two panels. And since the lowest is 18.5v, my 24v batteries wouldn't even recognize it because it doesn't reach the 24v minimum. But if my system were 12v, it would work perfectly. ATTENTION.
Only, the efficiency of this system, also calculated with the law of watts, is not the most efficient.
18.5v x 14.06amps = 260.11w
Having 325w of panels, connected in parallel, I could only use 260w, it is 80% efficient.
Then after this connection, the red and black wire goes directly to the MPPT charge controller.
I bought a 6 meter led strip and cut it in half, to stick it on two 3 meter pieces of wood that cover the upper sides of the truck.
When you cut a led strip there are special connectors. It is more than clear that we must cut the strip only where it is marked, and that is where the electrical contact is.
What this adapter does is pressure on the tape contacts from side to side. Only this adapter was 5 centimetres, and each of my wooden bars has a distance of 1.6 meters, so I had to cut the cables off the adapter and extend it with the same cables.
This is how it was left on the ceiling, a led strip that does not point directly at anyone, and that gives a dim light at all times.
The LEDs on the entrance foot are 5 bars of 10cm each, glued under the parquet, also giving a dim and indirect light.
Both connected to the marine panel with switches that I will explain their connection later but that you can understand perfectly with the video published a few days ago!
I had wanted for a long time to put a front rack to protect the bumps and I found this one in facebook marketplace at a good price.
I had remember when in Australia many cars and vans had this front rack because of the Kangaroos and wallabies, they were all over the land and when the evening arrived, without good lights and in a decent speed, you were risking of kicking some animals.
It can happen, any where, at any time. I am not covering too much with this, but it's something that for the price I have got it, I took it.
When I had prepared the floor, two or three clean parquet tables and some wooden scraps had been left over. Today I began to cover the sides of the false floor, creating my 220V panel and the offshore energy entry.
With a Power Marantz 1060, 12 kilos on the floor, I left the room free above it so that air and heat when running is dispersed.
On the piece of wood that covers it, simply mark the size of the electric shoe and also the unique entry that is for when we connect to the energy from outside.
The new and definitive tires arrive ready to go outside.
They are the BFGoodrich All-Terrain T / A KO2 in the maximum size that the truck can have in the unmodified chassis. 255/70 / R16.
Unique style, beautiful ride, weight control, and excellent movement. Very happy.
A small detail but I love it.
All Sprinters, Traffic, Masters, Daily, in general, come with the center cover wheel like this from the photo.
Only that they are closely followed by chromed wheels and the center in black.
This time walking in the city I see for the first time a Ford Transit Connect, a little smaller than mine, with the center cover and with the wheels in black.
I went to the dealership to find out if the 5 bolts of the Connect were at the same distance as those of my truck. And yes, they were equal (5 x 160mm).
So I bought the wheel cover and I put it on to Dora.
With wooden scraps that were plentiful, and a space to cover even in the area of the lateral entrance, we create a mini drawer.
A box for the #portapotti
Simple, with lid and four wheels rotating 360 degrees and they have brakes. The inmate I did it a little bigger than the bathroom so could put some toilet paper and cleaning products.
The beautiful thing about this is that every time you get to a place you go down, you take it out of it. You use a chair or table, and you have all the space inside the van.
We continue with furniture. This is 85cm x 30cm with 25cm maximum high. The false floor is 30cm, but the thickness of the wood and the height of the wheels cause everything to be reduced.
This furniture goes next to the kitchen with specifically cooking things.
Made with 5 pieces of wood, a handle, and 4 wheels.
The two back wheels are fixed, the front turns 360 degrees, and has a brake.
Then on the furniture of the bed, a hook that does not move and remains fixed.
With two folding mechanical arms and a piece of wood, we have a table.
Super simple to install, only some screws on the base that is poured out, and then on the wooden wood.
The weight in the van is fundamental. And we are pretty heavy to add more wood and things that do not necessarily serve.
So I bought light wood, and cheap because I also know that it will not be my final model but as a first attempt, these are the frames of the window.
Supported on the door locking system, you can leave glasses or phones, attached to the door plate on the bottom and top.
In the inmate, there were empty gaps, and of course, it is filled with sound insulation. This is how it was well compact and pressed.
The cushion that was little for the window before now entered perfectly and I would even tell you that it is slightly big but under pressure does not enter a ray of light.
Test and error, measuring and calculating, but this is one of the final parts of the van came out.
Closing the rear and upper columns, checking out the doors close well and that everything is as clean as possible.
I feel like I learned a lot and that I have even much more to improve.
I am not a carpenter, no plumber, no electrician, nor mechanical. But you have to be everything and work for them.
I have been working with this curtain while we were already travelling, but I have to post it to show you the look of it, and the help I received from Christi.
This was the presentation of DORA! Without being finished because some friends went on vacation but there were only details left except the rear side and upper wood columns that I published two posts ago.
Then there are only aesthetic details that I have in mind but that are not essential for the time being.
We were at the Atomium of Brussels, a place where you work a lot while it was not raining, but we were down a bridge in the centre.
With a 12V system, 24V, 220V, we do everything that is necessary. Ceiling fan and refrigerator @Dometic, music power @Marantz_Europe for speakers #Bostonacustic Upload the vacuum cleaner @Dyson, and most of the electrical elements of @victron_energy.
The Gas in a bottle of #Primagaz with secure connections for the kitchen. The 35PSi water pump #Shurflo always has just pressure.
The 12V 135AH deep-up lead acid batteries (X2) are connected in series. Local company and produced in Germany.
The van is Ford but from German industry. Perelsteinnnnnn.
Thanks for supporting the project, this has just begun people!
With Marco, we opened a roof for the first time. Watching videos on and informing ourselves, we said that's it. And we went each other with the "tano". It is perfect. It's important to create a frame of wood to attach the fan after it.
