cascadecampers Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 (edited) Hello folks, Just joined the forum today. I started a business about a month ago building and renting TC campervans in the Seattle area. As a long time VW campervan enthusiast I have been looking for a modern vehicle that could be used to fill that void and settled on the TC. At the moment I am only doing full conversions where I take your TC and make it into a well equipped campervan for $6K and plan to offer kits at a lower price point in the next 6 months depending on interest. cascadecampers.com --zach Edited July 17, 2017 by cascadecampers fixing link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loafer Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 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. cascadecampers and Tiller 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cascadecampers Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 I hadn't actually considered weight so glad you called that out. The camper kit is made up of mostly 3/4" plywood and some 1/2" pre-finished maple plywood with the only heavy items being the water tank and house battery. I can't imagine the entire kit adds more than ~300lbs but I will plan to weigh one soon and compare to factory weight to have a more exact figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loafer Posted July 18, 2017 Share Posted July 18, 2017 (edited) 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. Edited July 18, 2017 by Loafer spelling error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User1 Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 Nice looking conversion here. I saw on your site that the mattress is 42" x 72". That's almost long enough for me! It's about 3" short. On your pic above, where are the front seats positioned? Is there room by moving those seats up and building up an area, or having the mattress a little longer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hein Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 Hello Zach, Thank you for joining and sharing your builds and business. We want to reach out to you and other Transit connect enthusiasts about using our products and supplies for your up-fittng projects. We are athorized by 3M to supply Thinsulate Acoustic/Thermal insulation to the van industry. We currently also make roof vent adapters for the earlier Transit model. We have scanned the roof of the current model but need some help deciding the best locations for the vent. Please let us know if you have any preference for that so we can get adapters going. I wanted to send an email but did not see that on your site. We are in Hood River, OR so not far from you. All The best, Hein DIYvan.com 54l 49O 5O98 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cascadecampers Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 The bed length is one the challenges of the 2010-2013 TC. To keep the bed simple for renters I kept it short enough to not interfere with the front seats and taller folks can have their feet hang off the end. I have considered a few different options to lengthen the bed once parked and the front seats are slid forward but haven't built out any yet. Hein, I will reach out to you. Your products look like they will work well for some of my campervan projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loafer Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 On 7/22/2017 at 6:57 PM, User1 said: Nice looking conversion here. I saw on your site that the mattress is 42" x 72". That's almost long enough for me! It's about 3" short. On your pic above, where are the front seats positioned? Is there room by moving those seats up and building up an area, or having the mattress a little longer? 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vonn Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Nice! What type of cooler ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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