I got started on this path last spring while researching overlanding vehicles on the Expedition Portal forum. I stumbled across Tom's "Astrolander" van, and a light-bulb went on. I considered other options, like a crew-cab truck with a Flip-Pac shell, or slide-in camper, but I kept coming back to how much I liked Vans. I grew up camping in a '67 VW Westy, sometimes with half a dozen kids sleeping in, on, and around it, so I knew that a camper van would be a good fit for my growing family. I really liked the idea of a sportsmobile, but that was cost prohibitive, and Tom has proved that the Astro/Safari platform can do things larger vans sometimes can't, and can do it more affordably.
Here's a recap to get this thread up to date:
My plan was to pretty much copy Tom as much as possible. Mostly because our tastes overlapped, but also because I was a little afraid of breaking too much trail. I wanted to do what had been proven to work. The fact that I ended up with the same year and color van as Tom is just coincidence, although does come off as a little bit creepy "Single White Male"... ;)
We welcomed our baby girl last June, which kept us pretty busy for a while, but by September I was ready to start taking action. After an exhaustive search, including monitoring Craigslist feeds from five states, I picked up my 2003 AWD Astro from a used lot in Tucson, AZ and drove her home.
We quickly figured out why all of our other baby-having friends have got minivans, its amazing how much stuff baby's need, and hauling it got 1000% easier when the Astro arrived.
The budget for the project is tight, so I continue to monitor craigslist and other spots for good deals. Among them was this sofa bed from a Dodge conversion van.
I've been waiting to mount it until I had all the other details sorted out.
Due to the tight budget, I've also been exploring alternatives to the GTRV pop top. I have a friend in the composites fabrication business, and we started talking about a DIY Pop-Top kit. Something we could mould up in two parts and make for an easy conversion process. We did a few renders:
and even pulled the headliner in my van to take some measurements:
and start making templates:
This idea had a lot of labor involved with it, and ultimately being a father to a newborn meant I didn't have time to invest in something like this. As a shortcut, I stumbled across the idea of using a Maggiolina hard-shell roof tent, as was done for this Volvo C303:
I even went so far as to purchase an appropriately sized Maggiolina Airland:
However then the ultimate budget solution landed in my lap. I found a well-used, high-miles GTRV conversion, selling for super-cheap money:
And this is just about where we stand now. Getting the donor home was an adventure of itself, which is for another post.
More to come!
