Building Dundee 2.0

After being on the road for 5 months I had a few modifications to make to Dundee. The modifications were to lower the bed by 6 inches to make it easier to get into and out of bed. Also, the cabinets that ran the length of the van needed to be changed from 10 x 10 to be 12 x 12. The change to the cabinets also yielded a closet, that was in the original design but scrapped, to hang my coats, pants and even a shirt or two. I also made a change of the place to dine from the back by the bed to the front to have a direct look out of the door. Lastly, I wanted more counter space with the sink side allowing the dishes to dry without being on my table top. The only things that stayed the same was the sink (a new floor under the cabinet), bed, heater and electric locations. Electric did get a reroute of wires from he fuse box to “clean up” the wires and all of the electric was lowered by 6 inches to accommodate the new bed height. I may have added a light or two in certain areas but that was minor changes. The electrical system stayed the same for the most part but I did do some cleanup on the wiring by the batteries/fuse box.

Demolition of Dundee 1.0 was easier than I had anticipated only taking 1 day to take everything down. During demolition, I was able to secure the walls and ceiling a bit better to make me happier. I tried to salvage as much of Dundee 1.0 as I could putting screws, lights, and switches into plastic bags to keep them together making their reuse easier, or so I thought (more on this later.)

When I did Dundee 1.0 I had everything layout out on graph paper (that is the old guy version of CAD) allowing me to build with a template. Well 2.0 did not have the “blueprint” on paper but was more of what I wanted in my mind that day and what I thought of during the night after working. The approach I would not recommend as it did create some waste of time and having to redo work. The planning and drawing out what you want is an important step that should not be skipped and is noted for Dundee 3.0. (I am going on another trip of 5 months so I am sure modifications are in order next year.)

Bags and boy did I have bags of screws, “L” brackets, lights, switches, and all kinds of other items that I had taken out of Dundee. Glad that I had a dozen or so bags to put this stuff in while doing the demolition. One thing that I observed when Dundee 2.0 was build is that I had a bunch of screws left over and most of the “L” brackets were not used in the rebuild. I did a much better job in countersink of the screws. After time you may get better at doing things, if you try to improve. The plethora of bags allowed me to keep things tidy but it was hard find in all the bags. Eventually, I segregated everything and put it all with like items allowing me to find stuff easier.

Heater – I did not change the location or anything related to the Webasto heater in the van. Main reason was the initial installation required holes in the floor and once you have a hole you should leave whatever you put in that hole alone.

Refrigerator – Isotherm refrigerator was not changed out but just the location of the unit was moved. The unit was moved closer to the bed. It is currently between the heater and the seating area. Note: The freezer door broke during the first 5 months of using the fridge. There is a little male end that allows the door to flip up and if there is any frost in the freezer it can impact this little male end and it can break. Good news was Isotherm sent me a new freezer door at no charge due to the warranty they provide but I will have to keep an eye out on this for the future.

Closet – One of the biggest items that I wanted to put in the version 1.0 but did not was a closet for hangin items. Items can be coats, sweaters, pants or … Not putting a closet in was something that I was kicking my self for as when you go out in the rain and want to hang you coat up it has to go on the back of a seat, not good. In the closet may not be the best place either but I can at least hang it up. Additionally, access to the items in the closet will be much easier from now on. The width of the closet is only 15 inches but it has enough for some coats, pants and sweatshirts. I did place a light in the closet allow me to see inside it a bit easier. It maybe overkill but why not put it in if you have the supplies? On the main living side of the closet it has the inverter remote control, a dual USB outlet and the battery monitor and these can be seen easily. The thermostat, a 110 outlet and a dual USB outlet are on the bed side of the closet.

Cabinets – If you have lived in a van for any period of time you know that storage is at a premium! In version 1.0, the cabinets were 10 x 10 and now I have 12 x 12 cabinets. The little space means a ton of more storage, 20% and it also allowed me to make some adjustments to some lighting. One change to lighting was the cabinet over the cooking and seating area now has 4 lights in lieu of 4 with the switch still on the same side of the cabinet, near the drivers compartment. The other change in lighting was in 1.0 there was a need for a night light as the van is dark when the lights are out and getting into bed in the dark was hard. I put a switch and light under the cabinet on the passenger side but with the new cabinet, I just moved the switch for the back of the van’s lights. The switch was in the cabinet but in the back by the doors and it was not very functional. Now you can reach it when standing in front of the closet, much better placement saving me a switch and light.