Mwilliamshs
Explorer
JUST A LONG, RAMBLING POST ABOUT FLOORPLANS
Still working on a floor plan and trying to be mindful of weight distribution. On the driver's side, just behind the driver's seat I plan to have ~150 lbs of batteries, 53 lbs of fridge, 25 lbs of furnace, and about 55 lbs of propane tank (Manchester 6814 or 6815). 6814 = low fittings, under van rocker panel, 6815 = high fittings, through van wall. Variable weights in this locale will be the food in the fridge and propane in the tank, full loads of each would be about 35 lbs of propane and just a wild guess on food but 50 lbs? 4.2 cu. ft of fridge can hold quite a bit of food.
Also gotta add cabling, breaker, solar controller, battery monitor, etc etc since it'll all be in this cabinet.
So that's about 375 lbs plus a plywood cabinet, all centered about 14" behind the driver's butt. My idea is to offset that weight on the other side of the van, as evenly as possible. There's no easy way to put a water tank directly in front of the side doors and I do want the tank inside the van rather than under it, so I need to either slide the water tank forward or rearward from that position. I'd like to move as much weight toward the front as I can to reserve rear GAWR for cargo and whatnot, and I'd rather find an out-of-the-way place for the water tank. Vanagons have batteries stored under the front seats and I've considered that but access is kinda limited there and it'd require longer cable runs.
I'm liking this water tank right now. It seems a good balance of capacity and compactness. So my idea is to build a frame that fits the tank and sit the passenger seat swivel on that. Right now it's the old style pedestal swivel but I think I can substitute the height of the water tank for the height of the pedestal and get really close to original height for the seat. Now 26 gallons of water is about 220 lbs plus the tank, some fittings, pump, etc so not quite as heavy as the driver's side but also a little further forward so that probably balances itself out. Also, there's always a driver and not always a passenger so that's something to consider in the 100+ lb difference.
This is all academic at this point since I haven't corner weighted the van but realistically, it drives fine now, so as long as I balance what I add to it, it should be fine.
Realizing I can theoretically have all the fridge, furnace, electrical stuff more than 8' from the rear door and possibly the water tank further forward than that, has me thinking I might be able to keep an aisle down the middle wide enough to be useful for lots of other uses than just camping. Thinking if I pull the rear seat I might have an aisle 48" wide and 8' long...which means hauling sheet goods home from the lumber yard, antiques, etc etc. I can have a camper and a keep my stupidly practical van! Maybe.
I think if I build the driver's side as described above and move the bed/couch all the way to that side and build all the storage on the passenger side, and the kitchen on the passenger side, the side-to--side balance will be fine. Front-to-rear will probably work out too, but I do think I'll get axle weights since that's easy (truck stop) and corner weights if I find one of my old racecar buddies who still has scales. Our nearest track closed several years ago so lots of guys have move onto other interests and sold off old hobbies for new.
Incidentally, the van's only fuel tank is 22 gallons and is the rear tank, middle of the frame, behind the axle. If I had dual tanks I'd be taking the side (front) tank into account as well.
Still working on a floor plan and trying to be mindful of weight distribution. On the driver's side, just behind the driver's seat I plan to have ~150 lbs of batteries, 53 lbs of fridge, 25 lbs of furnace, and about 55 lbs of propane tank (Manchester 6814 or 6815). 6814 = low fittings, under van rocker panel, 6815 = high fittings, through van wall. Variable weights in this locale will be the food in the fridge and propane in the tank, full loads of each would be about 35 lbs of propane and just a wild guess on food but 50 lbs? 4.2 cu. ft of fridge can hold quite a bit of food.
So that's about 375 lbs plus a plywood cabinet, all centered about 14" behind the driver's butt. My idea is to offset that weight on the other side of the van, as evenly as possible. There's no easy way to put a water tank directly in front of the side doors and I do want the tank inside the van rather than under it, so I need to either slide the water tank forward or rearward from that position. I'd like to move as much weight toward the front as I can to reserve rear GAWR for cargo and whatnot, and I'd rather find an out-of-the-way place for the water tank. Vanagons have batteries stored under the front seats and I've considered that but access is kinda limited there and it'd require longer cable runs.
I'm liking this water tank right now. It seems a good balance of capacity and compactness. So my idea is to build a frame that fits the tank and sit the passenger seat swivel on that. Right now it's the old style pedestal swivel but I think I can substitute the height of the water tank for the height of the pedestal and get really close to original height for the seat. Now 26 gallons of water is about 220 lbs plus the tank, some fittings, pump, etc so not quite as heavy as the driver's side but also a little further forward so that probably balances itself out. Also, there's always a driver and not always a passenger so that's something to consider in the 100+ lb difference.
This is all academic at this point since I haven't corner weighted the van but realistically, it drives fine now, so as long as I balance what I add to it, it should be fine.
Realizing I can theoretically have all the fridge, furnace, electrical stuff more than 8' from the rear door and possibly the water tank further forward than that, has me thinking I might be able to keep an aisle down the middle wide enough to be useful for lots of other uses than just camping. Thinking if I pull the rear seat I might have an aisle 48" wide and 8' long...which means hauling sheet goods home from the lumber yard, antiques, etc etc. I can have a camper and a keep my stupidly practical van! Maybe.
I think if I build the driver's side as described above and move the bed/couch all the way to that side and build all the storage on the passenger side, and the kitchen on the passenger side, the side-to--side balance will be fine. Front-to-rear will probably work out too, but I do think I'll get axle weights since that's easy (truck stop) and corner weights if I find one of my old racecar buddies who still has scales. Our nearest track closed several years ago so lots of guys have move onto other interests and sold off old hobbies for new.
Incidentally, the van's only fuel tank is 22 gallons and is the rear tank, middle of the frame, behind the axle. If I had dual tanks I'd be taking the side (front) tank into account as well.
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