Loafer

My son is in Portland Oregon for an all week eclipse festival. He's sleeping in his TC and loving it. I heard on the news that the forest fire smoke may block viewing of the eclipse. Here in the St. Louis area we are in a moderate drought. The rains keep going north and south of us. With all the hype about the eclipse, it will probably rain that day. You know how it goes. We are in an area where we will, if visible, have a full eclipse. I don't get too excited about it. Now if the Sun came out at midnight, then I might be more interested.

A dork def: someone or something that is stupid, slow witted, awkward, peculiar, unfashionable, inept and a penis. Do you think this reflects on the driver too Hmmmmmmm.....Nah!

Mrtn, tanks for the pics This is clear evidence that public tastes are changing. We will likely see an explosion of these vehicles on the roads. My son gets lots of complements as he travels from place to place. His is a 2012 SWB missing one wheel cover It's a camper in a can

User1, we have a one foot slide out extension on the front of the elevated bed, and yes when adjusting the seats there is room for it. We place pillows on the extension for either head or feet. Since our mattress is close to six inches thick, we could not extend the mattress full length because it would interfere with the seats when normalized for driving. This mattress has memory foam on one side and regular firm foam on the other. One just need turn it over to suit their sleeping habits. Additionally we have a 1/2 inch thick grooved piece of molded plastic separating the mattress from the wood bed decking to allow for airflow to avoid mold. In addition we have a custom mattress cover the protects the mattress from tiny critters. Remember though, the bed is elevated leaving more room to extend the wood decking. If the decking were lower it would shorten the room to expand. The bed sits on four 2X3 birch posts that fit tightly but are not attached to the bulkhead to prevent warping the bulkhead. The movement is very limited so it's not an issue. The edges of the birch plywood are strengthened with 2X3 birch horizontal strengthening supports with one cross member. The bed is very strong.

Ah, acoustic panels, good idea. My son keeps his stereo up so there is no road noise...LOL. He is on the road in his 2012 TC from LA to Oregon for two festivals, the last one being an Eclipse festival. He loves his TC He couldn't be happier in it. His elevated bed is working out great for him. He sleeps in it regularly and enjoys his travels. I hope you do as well

Good job and good luck

There appear to be blinds covering the side/rear window. Where did you find those?

Cool color actually!

Clever build

Aha, I see the cock-up fairy has visited us again.

It sounds like your screen will do the job. My son handles road noise with a quality stereo. He too loves driving his SWB. He is 6'5" tall and finds the seats acceptably comfortable on long trips. In addition he has an elevated bed and finds a way to sleep comfortably in it. He has a fan-tastic portable fan that plugs into any available dc outlet that he likes a lot. He leaves the fan on all night without draining his battery although he does have a second battery for his stereo. He carries a full load of cargo 1200 to 1600 lbs and gets 20mpg on the highway at 70 mph. He also has a heavy duty roof rack and a roof basket in which he carries cargo, along with a rear hitch basket. Even with a full load he gets a comfortable ride. He loves his 2012 TC, although he has not encountered alfalfa filled grasshopers. We have purchased but not yet installed a cabin air filter. There are video's regarding installation on you tube. We did have to limit the size of the hitch cargo basket to four feet to avoid blocking the tail lights. He has driven about eight thousand miles so far this summer without incident. People really seem to like his TC because of it's unusual lines and utility. He is living in Laguna Beach now but will be heading to Oregon soon for an eclipse festival. He really likes the west coast and may end up staying there. We have relatives who live in Studio City as well who are in the technical aspects of the movie business. One relative liked his Gen 1 TC for the cargo space and is now looking for one to carry his equipment. Finally remember that a closed mouth gathers no grasshoppers

Great story telling through photography Colby You have very good writing skills as well. It's a good read Nice job, thanks

For the TC I would do sealant. For a high quality paint job I would use wax. Sealant protects better and longer and would likely help with paint chipping more than wax. Besides, if you use a deep wax you'll be saying hello to your little friend.

Hey Jim, welcome aboard There are a lot of fine folks here willing to help and share. Stop in regularly and enjoy the company

Looks like a wonderful trip, thanks for the pics, I enjoyed them. All the work you put into the TC was well worth it. Hope you have many more!

Rhino-Rack makes a heavy duty rack, rated at 220 lbs., for the Gen 1 TC's. https://www.etrailer.com/multi-product.aspx?pc1=RLZ01-DC&pc2=&vehicleid=2012988275&hhmake=Ford&hhmodel=Transit Connect&hunter=roof&roofkit=BK_2,SKI_1,C_24,AWN_2,BAG_1,BSK_2&manuf=RHINO If you plan to add a basket on top of those, it will require longer bolts or u-bolts than comes with the basket. Longer stainless steel bolts or u-bolts can be found at Fastenal. https://www.fastenal.com/

That's good news. Knowing the weight capacity and keeping tabs on it for add on's etc., gives everyone a sense of proportion regarding safety. Way good that your checking the weight. Plus, if it's that light, 300 lbs., it's a sales point for added mileage. At a 1600 lb., load, driving at 70 on the highway, we still got 20 mpg. At 300 lbs you would do way better. At a little over two bucks a gallon for gas your timing couldn't be much better.

Hello Mr. Stay Puff, welcome aboard. It looks like you've been thinking about your to do list. Your list is a good start! These TC's get in your blood pretty quick. Then there will be list 2 and list 3 etc. There are a lot of bikers here so your in good company. It sounds like your planning a very functional van for work and play. Keep us posted regarding your progress.

Hello Zach, welcome to the forum. I like what you have done with the TC, good job. The price value proposition seems to be appealing. You have done a lot with the van, and rather than pick it apart I would rather applaud you. Realizing that there are many people who do not have the skill, time, or desire to convert a van themselves, yours seems to be a thoughtful and reasonable alternative. Anything else needed could be easily carried on a roof rack or a hitch basket for very little added money. We have a 2012 Transit Connect that I seldom get to drive because my Son is touring the country with it and paying his way as he goes. Ours was a raw build with a premium stereo system with speaker boxes in the rear, an elevated bed, and storage underneath the bed. As we built the van we calculated each item's weight cumulatively, including cargo and personal body weight being careful not to exceed 1600 pounds total. We succeeded in doing that and the van functions well accordingly. My son loves it. I do have one question, what is the total weight of the build? I only ask that because I'm sure some people will want to add a roof rack and or hitch. Knowing how much more weight could be carried before reaching 1600 pounds capacity would be helpful. Also, for safety, being sure that the tires associated with the build and extras are adequate to handle the load. Many of the tires available for the TC have a 1200 or 1400 pound rating. The Michelin XL has a 1700 pound rating, which is what we needed. These kinds of disclosures and tire info would be helpful to your buyer and provide added trust to your online presentation, which by the way is very good. Thanks for the presentation and good luck.

Birch is a strong and light wood. Our build was a raw build, built for function. He carries cargo below a raised bed. The bed sits on four posts. There are no cabinets in ours. Yours sounds like a more complete build. Good luck with it all.

The foam may have some good uses Bart, especially if light weight is important to you. The concept has apparently been used in van builds, so it has a track record. It might be interesting to investigate it a bit further to learn how the cabinets hold up over time. One thought I would have is foam toxicity. If foam is made non-toxic today then it would be worth pursuing. No doubt it would lend itself to very creative builds. When built it would probably be wise to spray it with a flame retardant as well. I had not imagined this idea before so it would be interesting to follow along.

Interesting report Alvin. Thanks.

http://insights.globalspec.com/article/5640/watch-ex-nasa-engineer-creates-a-friendly-car-horn-electricity-from-urine-can-now-be-used-to-kill-salmonella-and-e-coli-solar-paints-can-create-fuel-from-sun-and-vapor?id=-1601935601&uh=4211ed&email=onefire%40charter.net&md=170705&mh=55b56b&Vol=Vol17Issue27&Pub=1&LinkId=1872180&keyword=link_1872180&et_rid=420273036&et_mid=83498067&frmtrk=newsletter&cid=nl

http://insights.globalspec.com/article/5579/michelin-unveils-new-airless-tire-design-inspired-by-coral?id=-1601935601&uh=4211ed&email=onefire%40charter.net&md=170705&mh=55b56b&Vol=Vol17Issue27&Pub=1&LinkId=1872163&keyword=link_1872163&et_rid=420273036&et_mid=83498067&frmtrk=newsletter&cid=nl

Yikes, did somebody suggest square wheels? I musta' missed that. I'll have to go back and read again... Yup, round wheels do work better. Now, I don't want to get ego involved in this but round wheels are better than square wheels, by god, and I'm sticken' to it. Now, I'm not sayin' that square wheels look bad on all vans, just look at Dodge! They look great on Dodge vans! But over here at Ford they have a different design concept, round is the bomb. They make big rounds, lil' rounds, thick rounds, thin rounds cause that's how they roll Now when a Dodge hits a pot hole, dey' gets stuck! But when Ford hits a pot hole dey' keep on rollin' one way or nudder' Uphill or downhill makes no diff...dey keeps on rollin on roads, drives, or lawns, whatever So don't be square, eat some bbq and shoot the works!