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jimmydean

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,408
13,531
Portland, OR
Montana rider said:
newatlas.com

Volkswagen Multivan PHEV camper van shatters the California RV mold

The Volkswagen California camper van family is growing yet again. VW is previewing its first plug-in hybrid camper van, a pop-top California based on the already-versatile T7 Multivan. Not only does the Multivan concept camper promise 31 miles (50 km) of all-electric driving for cleaner,…
newatlas.com newatlas.com

Hybrid does seem like the way to go with a camper van and limited range:

Not only does the Multivan concept camper promise 31 miles (50 km) of all-electric driving for cleaner, emission-less campground and city navigation.
Click to expand...
As much as I love the idea, I don't see it unless you do the Tesla semi or something. My truck has a theoretical range of 650 miles. Not that I would want to drive it that far, but I could.
 
jimmydean

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,408
13,531
Portland, OR
When I went to take the new (wrong) steering box out, I saw the problem. The u joint slid past the splines and I was steering by the stop bolt and the shaft flat spot. Wow, that was sketchy, but I only went around the block twice, so that's good. Got the new new (correct) box and new shaft installed. Just had to borrow a pitman arm puller from O'Reilly's.

I still gotta do the water pump and tensioner, but I also have Monday off, so it will happen this weekend.
 
jimmydean

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,408
13,531
Portland, OR
So after I get the water heater all buttoned up, I went to mount the controller. I was going to use sticky tape, but the back isn't flat. So I take the back off, screw it into the wall, but the front back on, no power. WTF? Pull it back apart and problem found.

PXL_20230826_183156670~2.jpg


Soldering iron and a little more solder and its all good now.

PXL_20230828_221142748~2.jpg
 
Toshi

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,518
7,851
there have to be other differences to support that huge price jump between the trims. PV panels aren't that expensive...
 
Toshi

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,518
7,851
Westy said:
Obviously. Because they price those things based on how much it costs to make and not how much they can sucker people to pay for it.
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even with that in mind this is positively egregious. although now that I look at these battery sizes, maybe not? somehow I think their site has a conversion error. that's a shit ton of kWh.

ah, looking at the product page for the top trim it says 72 kWh. that's much more sane. but still stupidly priced.

www.livingvehicle.com

Living Vehicle HD24: Luxury Solar Electric Travel Trailer

The new 2024 HD24 Living Vehicle is the most powerful solar electric travel trailer on earth.
www.livingvehicle.com www.livingvehicle.com

$300k @ 600W PV, 2 kW inverter, 4,800 Wh of lithium <-- listed on the front page linked as 4,800 kWh, which makes 0 sense.
$360k @ 1.2 kW PV, 6 kW inverter, 21,600 Wh of lithium
$460k @ 2.4 kW PV, 12 kW inverter, 43,200 Wh of lithium
$600k @ 3.4 kW PV, 18 kW inverter, 72,000 Wh of lithium
 
jimmydean

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,408
13,531
Portland, OR
6thElement said:
Several nights in our tent on this trip has me wishing we had the van we desire.
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Our first trip in Frita we woke to rain hitting the roof and the wife said "I'm so happy to not be in a tent right now". That was the same trip she asked "so when can you put in the shitter?" :rofl:
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
16,098
13,348
jimmydean said:
Our first trip in Frita we woke to rain hitting the roof and the wife said "I'm so happy to not be in a tent right now". That was the same trip she asked "so when can you put in the shitter?" :rofl:
Click to expand...
This was just condensation from the humidity, despite sleeping with the rain fly doors open on both sides.

Still a wet tent to deal with though.
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
16,098
13,348
Jozz said:
Have you noticed a big drop in the used market?
Lots of bro van are marked down by a significant amount around here.
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I'm always watching apart from while we've been on the road for this past couple of weeks. But we need a N/S bed and a majority are E/W.
 
OGRipper

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,659
1,130
NORCAL is the hizzle
What are the dimensions of that Murphy bed, all in? I'd be surprised if it would fit in a Sprinter or Transit in an E/W orientation, at least not without some pretty substantial side bulging, minimal insulation, etc.

I'm with the other guys and need N/S orientation. We lucked into finding our Sprinter used with a N/S bed several years ago. It really does take up a lot of space though, particularly in our 144WB version. Also, because the bed is high enough to put bikes underneath, it's not super useful for additional seating. Being able to easily raise and lower the bed would be great for when there are no bikes inside and we want more hangout space. There are electric bed risers that seem pretty rad but they're not cheap, and the hardware and rigging take a fair amount of precious space as compared to something fixed. That leads to something like this, which is pretty cool: https://adventurewagon.com/products/moab-elevator-bed

The telescoping panels account for the fact that due to curvature of the walls, the width of the bed frame needs to increase or decrease as you move the bed up and down. Less convenient than an electric system but also takes up less space, and could be a good solution for some.

There's always a compromise with this stuff.
 
Jozz

Jozz

Joe Dalton
Apr 18, 2002
5,900
7,453
SADL
OGRipper said:
What are the dimensions of that Murphy bed, all in? I'd be surprised if it would fit in a Sprinter or Transit in an E/W orientation, at least not without some pretty substantial side bulging, minimal insulation, etc.

I'm with the other guys and need N/S orientation. We lucked into finding our Sprinter used with a N/S bed several years ago. It really does take up a lot of space though, particularly in our 144WB version. Also, because the bed is high enough to put bikes underneath, it's not super useful for additional seating. Being able to easily raise and lower the bed would be great for when there are no bikes inside and we want more hangout space. There are electric bed risers that seem pretty rad but they're not cheap, and the hardware and rigging take a fair amount of precious space as compared to something fixed. That leads to something like this, which is pretty cool: https://adventurewagon.com/products/moab-elevator-bed

The telescoping panels account for the fact that due to curvature of the walls, the width of the bed frame needs to increase or decrease as you move the bed up and down. Less convenient than an electric system but also takes up less space, and could be a good solution for some.

There's always a compromise with this stuff.
Click to expand...
Makes a good case for the 170.
I hesitated a lot before settling with the 170. But in the end there is no regrets.
 
6thElement

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
16,098
13,348
If I didn't care about the extra cost of diesel, complications of the emissions stuff and the reported issues of finding competent service centers when required, I'd have a Sprinter 170 at the top of the list.

Definitely want N/S so I can hang my feet off the end. Plus not needing to climb over my wife in the night if I need to old man pee. Those were big negatives against the truck camper we sold.
 
Jozz

Jozz

Joe Dalton
Apr 18, 2002
5,900
7,453
SADL
6thElement said:
If I didn't care about the extra cost of diesel, complications of the emissions stuff and the reported issues of finding competent service centers when required, I'd have a Sprinter 170 at the top of the list.

Definitely want N/S so I can hang my feet off the end. Plus not needing to climb over my wife in the night if I need to old man pee. Those were big negatives against the truck camper we sold.
Click to expand...
You have one of the best Sprinter tech living in Golden.
 
jimmydean

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
41,408
13,531
Portland, OR
6thElement said:
If I didn't care about the extra cost of diesel, complications of the emissions stuff and the reported issues of finding competent service centers when required, I'd have a Sprinter 170 at the top of the list.

Definitely want N/S so I can hang my feet off the end. Plus not needing to climb over my wife in the night if I need to old man pee. Those were big negatives against the truck camper we sold.
Click to expand...
When I first started looking at trucks it quickly became obvious that diesel was the way to go. I doubt Sprinters are as bad as step vans, but a gas step van gets about 8mpg on a good day. My 4bt is stupid simple and gets 16mpg.
 
Atomic Dog

Atomic Dog

doesn't have a custom title yet.
Oct 22, 2002
1,229
1,369
In the basement at Weekly World News
6thElement said:
If I didn't care about the extra cost of diesel, complications of the emissions stuff and the reported issues of finding competent service centers when required, I'd have a Sprinter 170 at the top of the list.

Definitely want N/S so I can hang my feet off the end. Plus not needing to climb over my wife in the night if I need to old man pee. Those were big negatives against the truck camper we sold.
Click to expand...
We originally built a platform to fit a queen mattress in our econoline. It was great, but definitely didn't leave any extra space in the van. Now with the pop-top we've got plenty of room downstairs and the bed up top is almost queen-size in width and is a bit longer than a standard mattress. Plus, as you said, there is the benefit of being able to hang my feet off the end.
 
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