We do most of our posting on Facebook now. Please see our Facebook NV page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nissan-NV-Camper-Van/203674276362671
Copyright (C) 2011-12 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
Travels in the Southwest and beyond with descriptions and images of places, people, products and more. Our mobile Earth-ship, a Nissan NV 2500 High Top Van, transports us on many of our adventures. For the cost of about $31,000 this rig features a new 2500 level equipped V8 Truck/High Top Van and camper that is fun to drive and very comfortable. Hard to beat that! For more info check out the Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nissan-NV-Camper-Van/203674276362671
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Outfitting the Nissan NV - A rack for kitchen items
Next we needed a cabinet, dresser or rack to fit between the cots and the drivers seat. It would hold our pots, pans and other kitchen stuff. On top it would hold a microwave. We do a lot of heating of stuff like rice in a microwave.
We had a tough time finding the right piece of furniture for this job. We ordered a wicker dresser that ended up being too weak and not very well made.
We live in a town that has a national laboratory nearby. There's a big old warehouse called the "Black Hole" that carries tons of old junk that the lab has sold off as scrap. I figured we were bound to find something among all the racks of electronics and test equipment stored there. It's a massive place and we searched every aisle for something that would work. We finally found our rack way in the back in the very last area we had to check. What we discovered was some kind of old storage rack made of heavy duty plastic that had shallow drawers that slide out. It could even be a dissection rack from biological testing, at least that was my guess.
It looked perfect and its measurements were just right. We purchased it for $25 and carried it out to the the van where it fit like a glove in the spot we planned for it.
The blue strap holds the rack and contents in place while the vehicle is moving. The Nissan NV comes with a set of nine or so floor connectors that you can tie things to. I used strong strap to connect the cots and the rack to the floor. I also used some air conditioner type metal straps to connect the rack to the side of the van. I've been over some incredibly ruff dirt roads and the setup has been holding together just fine. The microwave is also connected to the van with metal straps, so it won't go anywhere.
There is a bucket down at the bottom of the rack that servers as the toilet, when needed.
The van will put out 400 watts using a built in inverter that was intended for workmen power tools. There are two normal wall outlet 120volt AC plugs (one in the front and one in the back), in addition to two cigarette lighter 12volt DC plugs in the front.. We tried to find a microwave that was 400 watts but they all seem to require more juice. We ended up getting a small sized 700 watter from Lowe's that fits perfectly in the lab rack.
To power the microwave and to recharge our assorted electronics, we purchased a portable gas powered generator. I did a lot of research before buying the generator. It was a toss up between Honda and Yamaha. I finally settled on a "Yamaha EF2000iS 2,000 Watt 79cc OHV 4-Stroke Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator (CARB Compliant)." It cost just under a thousand bucks new on amazon.com. The Yamaha has a nice "eco" feature that lowers the noise and gas consumption of the generator when it detects that less power is being used. It's amazingly quiet, not like a lot of the big noisy generators that you normally hear in campgrounds. I chose Yamaha because I read somewhere that the time between major engine maintenance was longer, but realistically Honda and Yamaha generators are both highly thought of.
I wear a CPAP machine to open up my nasal passages while sleeping. For a long time I haven't camped much because I had nowhere to plug my CPAP machine. Recently, we discovered a portable battery that was made for my CPAP. (You can see it on the step in the above photo.) It's made by Respironics. When fully charged I can sleep with my CPAP turned on all night for about three, maybe four nights. Some people lug a huge marine battery around for their CPAP but I couldn't see doing that. This battery is in a soft case and has straps to easily carry it with. It's a fifth the size and weight of a marine battery. I can charge it from a normal wall type outlet or a cigarette lighter outlet. It's takes about three hours of wall charging for one night's use. I completely charge it before a trip and then charge it as I drive if I'm out longer than three days. I plug it into the generator if I am not driving soon enough.
http://www.thecpappeople.com/Products/Respironics-Universal-Battery-Pack__1028869.aspx
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
We had a tough time finding the right piece of furniture for this job. We ordered a wicker dresser that ended up being too weak and not very well made.
We live in a town that has a national laboratory nearby. There's a big old warehouse called the "Black Hole" that carries tons of old junk that the lab has sold off as scrap. I figured we were bound to find something among all the racks of electronics and test equipment stored there. It's a massive place and we searched every aisle for something that would work. We finally found our rack way in the back in the very last area we had to check. What we discovered was some kind of old storage rack made of heavy duty plastic that had shallow drawers that slide out. It could even be a dissection rack from biological testing, at least that was my guess.
It looked perfect and its measurements were just right. We purchased it for $25 and carried it out to the the van where it fit like a glove in the spot we planned for it.
 |
| Greg next to the new "kitchen" rack with microwave. |
 |
| Another view of the rack with one drawer out part way. |
There is a bucket down at the bottom of the rack that servers as the toilet, when needed.
The van will put out 400 watts using a built in inverter that was intended for workmen power tools. There are two normal wall outlet 120volt AC plugs (one in the front and one in the back), in addition to two cigarette lighter 12volt DC plugs in the front.. We tried to find a microwave that was 400 watts but they all seem to require more juice. We ended up getting a small sized 700 watter from Lowe's that fits perfectly in the lab rack.
To power the microwave and to recharge our assorted electronics, we purchased a portable gas powered generator. I did a lot of research before buying the generator. It was a toss up between Honda and Yamaha. I finally settled on a "Yamaha EF2000iS 2,000 Watt 79cc OHV 4-Stroke Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator (CARB Compliant)." It cost just under a thousand bucks new on amazon.com. The Yamaha has a nice "eco" feature that lowers the noise and gas consumption of the generator when it detects that less power is being used. It's amazingly quiet, not like a lot of the big noisy generators that you normally hear in campgrounds. I chose Yamaha because I read somewhere that the time between major engine maintenance was longer, but realistically Honda and Yamaha generators are both highly thought of.
 |
| Yamaha Generator charging cell phones, an ebook, mp3 player and cpap battery. |
http://www.thecpappeople.com/Products/Respironics-Universal-Battery-Pack__1028869.aspx
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
RV Battery system research
60 Watt bulb draws about .5 amps (per hour). amps = watts / volts.
60 watts = 120 volts * .5 amps
My small battery is rated at 14.4 Ah (Amps per hour). Therefor it can power a 60 watt bulb for 28 hours: 14.4 Ah / .5 amps = 28 h
How many amps does a 60 watt bulb draw?
Answer:
I = W/E. Divide watts by volts. Since household wiring is basically 110 volts.
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About 1/2 amp.
The simple way to do this is to divide the RATED wattage by the RATED voltage (120v in most cases). Then if your actual voltage is lower than 120v, your amps will be slightly below 1/2 amp. If your actual voltage is higher than 120v, your amps will be slightly higher than 1/2 amp. At 110v you get about .46 amps.
<><><>
About 1/2 amp.
The simple way to do this is to divide the RATED wattage by the RATED voltage (120v in most cases). Then if your actual voltage is lower than 120v, your amps will be slightly below 1/2 amp. If your actual voltage is higher than 120v, your amps will be slightly higher than 1/2 amp. At 110v you get about .46 amps.
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Hanging Homemade Bed for Nissan NV 2500 HD works!
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| Hanging bed at sleeping level. |
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| Hanging bed in up level. It leaves lots of space. |
I completed my NV2500 (Nissan NV 2500 high roof) hanging bed. It uses 340lb plastic coated wire that hangs the bed from the ceiling ribs. It's very comfortable and secure (so far). The length of the bed platform is 69.5 inches and the width is 60 inches. I'm 6 foot tall and I fit perfectly. We are using old camping cot pads for the bed. They are fine to sleep on. We plan to get an electric blanket for cold weather camping (with an electric hookup of course).
We use a kitchen type ladder to get up into the hanging bed.
I do want to look into switching to metal tubing as a replace for the wood beams for the bed as it will create more head space and might be lighter ... but now that I know the dimensions it should be easier to build a bed platform using metal tubing. Next, I am looking at building a long wall cabinet for storing all our stuff, especially the overly long items such as a large padio umbrella for sun shade that is fun to take along on longer camping trips.
You can click the each photo below to bring up a detailed view of the bed design, build and test.
We are selling the cots that we used originally until I built the hanging bed. We purchased the two connecting cots from Cabella's for $292. http://www.cabelas.com/cots-disc-o-bed-cam-o-cot-bunk-beds-1.shtml We will sell them for $140. You pay any shipping.[The Cots are sold.]
Copyright (C) 2011 Greg Kendall. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Hanging Bed Project
I'm working on a design for a "hanging" bed for the NV. More later.
Something like this:
I'm planning to use plastic coated cable to hang the bed. The idea is that it will be raise-able when not in use so that more space is available for living and storage underneath.
I plan to use rubber wrapped steel cable to suspend the bed from the roof and build a wood platform for the bed itself that attaches at the sides to four cables that come down. I want to be able to easily raise the bed up to the roof when it is not in use and when traveling so that we have a lot of room underneath during the day..
I plant to put up some photos as I get going on it. I've got a big website project that is tying me up right now but I should get some time in the next few weeks to get on this project. I want to be ready to go by April!
Something like this:
I plan to use rubber wrapped steel cable to suspend the bed from the roof and build a wood platform for the bed itself that attaches at the sides to four cables that come down. I want to be able to easily raise the bed up to the roof when it is not in use and when traveling so that we have a lot of room underneath during the day..
I plant to put up some photos as I get going on it. I've got a big website project that is tying me up right now but I should get some time in the next few weeks to get on this project. I want to be ready to go by April!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Roadtrek Motorhomes Inc. introduced the N6-Active
"The N6-Active is a game changer. An SUV with a refrigerator, sink, microwave and exterior shower. A minivan that can tow 9,000 lbs. An SUV that gets up to 18 MPG. A people hauler that you wouldn’t be embarrassed to drive. An RV you can drive everyday. It’s a great alternative to a large SUV, crossover or minivan for an active family."
"The N6 is built on the new Nissan NV 2500 series van. At 20' 1" long, it’s based on the same platform as Nissan’s Titan full-size pickup truck. With more legroom, elbow room and headroom than an SUV or minivan, it has more than enough space for 7 people including an easy to access 3rd row that is actually big enough for 2 adults or 3 children."
http://www.classbforum.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1981
http://www.roadtrek.com/n6_active.aspx
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