A Few Modifications

Just a few minor modifications

Added a 12V outlet in the kitchen, this will be handy for the crock pot, which usually sits in the sink when we use it. I took the microwave out, then there is easy access to wiring right behind it, plus with the MW out, it was easy to attach the 12V outlet right on top of the 120V outlet.

Added some clothes hooks and clothes line, the clothes line is temporary and usually not there:

The clothes line goes back and forth across the hallway

Added these coat hooks to the bathroom and pantry doors so we have a place to hang clothes while getting ready to go out

Three small cup hooks above the top storage for the clothes line. 

Fixed the broken knobs on the hot water heater bypass valves. The little tabs had broken off. The knobs are brass and easy to drill, so I drilled a hole and put a bolt through both of them.

The top one is easy to see, the bottom one is a pita to get to, and it's
just visible in this picture.

Kicked out the side panel

Sleeping sideways in a van doesn't provide for a lot of leg room. Over the 2+ years we've had our Roadtrek, I've manage to kick out the side panel. I was afraid I'd have to take it to an autobody shop to get fixed, but it turned out to be fairly easy. The hard part was taking out the RV bed, frame, and wall linings.

The side panel sticks out about an inch

I got it pushed back in, then with the help of a couple of clamps, was able to put in some sheet metal screws

Looks good!

More storage space

The Versatile has 4 seats, which we don't need. The first time we traveled, we took out the seat cushions of the passenger side rear seat and put a cooler in the seat frame. That wasn't a real efficient use of space, so I went ahead and removed the seat and seat belts altogether:

The top of the seat belt came out with a big wrench, but the bottom bolt defied my most strenuous efforts, so I just cut it off. The seat is never going back in anyway.

Having the table in the middle of the aisle is very constricting as far as movement within the van goes. There are only two of us, so we don't need table seating for 4, or even 3. I built a box to go in the place where the seat was, and modified the table top slightly to fit it:

This gets us more storage space, the table is permanently set up, always useful and out of the way of the aisle and we don't have to haul around the table support tube.

The box is about 2' tall, 2' long, and about 20" wide. It is fastened to the floor using the holes where the seat frame was attached and is also attached to the bathroom wall.

The table top originally had 4 of the fold-up extensions, but now there are only 2. The table top fits fairly tight against the door and the armrest on the door just slides right under the top. I also removed the extension on the side against the bathroom wall, but left the hinges so the top lifts up for access to a good sized storage space.

We have talked about putting some partitions inside the box or maybe a door on the aisle side, but really, it's quite useful as is. We put all that odd sized stuff in it that doesn't fit anywhere else.

Radio upgrade

Our Roadtrek came with the original radio, AM/FM/CD/Cassette. No way to plug in a phone or ipod, so an upgrade was in order. It turns out to be easy to change the radio, just pry off the plastic dash cover, undo 4 bolts, pull out the old radio, and insert the new one. I got all the parts on Amazon:

This one has AUX in, USB, bluetooth, CD, AM/FM, so a little more modern than the OEM radio. Amazon link.

Since it is smaller than the OEM radio, I needed a mounting kit and a wiring adapter:

Amazon link.

Amazon link.

First trip!

We bought our Roadtrek in August. We'd been looking for a while, they are hard to come by in our area. Finally, I put a "wanted" ad on Craigslist, and a guy emailed me the next day. He had a 1998 Versatile 190, 84K miles, stored in a garage. He wanted $16K for it, which is a great deal and it was in great shape. He could easily have asked for another 5 or 6 K.

Not having had an RV before, we took it on a short trip to McCall to see how everything worked. I think we tried out everything except the hot water heater.

Heading out on our first trip. Bikes are in the rack on the back, the same rack we use for the Volvo.

Camped at McCall, the Ponderosa State Park. Full hook up here, so we learned how to do all of that.

My favorite camping partner and fellow vagabond.

Paved with full hookups, does that really count as camping? The bike rack swings out of the way so access to the rear storage is easy. The table, both chairs and the grill all fit in the back storage.

We had a nice bike ride around the park, and a nice ride into town to meet some friends for coffee. Pretty good first trip.