Goodness, it has been a minute! Apologies to everyone who has been curious about what happened since publishing our last, disheartening blog.
The answer to that question is "a lot." So put on your seatbelts and join us for the ride! The Parking Spot
The beginning of our problems was the parking violation. Our perfect set-up of parking at Christina's family's house was no longer an option. This is one of the challenges, to those out there reading who are interested in converting, of selecting a less "stealthy" vehicle.
The first step of our plan was getting it to Tanner's family's church, located 5 miles from the house. From reading the last blog, you know we ran into trouble with the van staying on long enough to even do that. But after trial and error, which we'll explain later in this post, we made it! This bought us the time needed to research and decide on an alternate spot. And so, we researched. All signs pointed to an RV storage location not far from our apartment. The cost would be $100 per month, which stung but at the same time would likely light a fire to get things done on the van. We went to check out the spot, feeling pretty prepared to sign the dotted line. Thank goodness we checked it out beforehand! It became clear that management would 1) not allow us to work on the van at the location and 2) not want us to move the van out of the spot frequently (which would be necessary for us to do work on it elsewhere). Back to the drawing board! On a complete whim, we took a look at a secluded parking lot at our apartment complex and found a few boats and trailers. Turns out, we can park our van AT our apartment complex (where we can work on it) for $35 a month. The dotted line was signed. ![]() The Engine
This is where things get more technical than I can understand (this is Christina writing, by the way). I'll do my best to communicate what I think happened:
First, Tanner and his dad replaced the fuel filter (shout out to Wayne for jumping in late at night to help us)! This technically would have done the trick, but we had cranked the engine so many times that the batteries were like "we done." Important to note that diesel engines - especially with a vehicle this size - take a lot of battery power to get started. Second, we replaced the now dead batteries. With the batteries replaced, we were able to make the 20 mile drive to our apartment. This should have also done the trick, so we were perplexed when we continued to run into the issue. ![]()
So, we found a workhorse certified shop to check it out. And guess what? They drove that sucker around 60 miles with no problem. They also left it on in the shop for four hours with no problem.
So.. but... what? We're pretty sure there was some residual bad fuel in the lines causing the engine to shut off. Considering it's been a few months, we're pretty confident the problem is solved. It's a bummer we had to pay a mechanic to tell us we fixed it ourselves, but at least we know a good place to take the van if we run into any further issues. The Conversion
The parking spot and the engine were both taken care of by mid-February. When did May get here?! We've been trucking along, making progress when we can.
Insulation is a step by step process, and we've started with the walls! Reflectix is up, and we're nearly finished installing the foam board insulation. That's been Christina's project while Tanner focuses on the windows. Speaking of which, the frames are built and cut thanks to our new jigsaw. We're ready to move forward with installing on the van wall, which we'll then use as the template for cutting a hole in the walls of our van! We're following a similar process to this video, if you're curious. It may not sound like a lot, but literally every step of the way involves 2,350,745 steps... we're making gains and we're proud of ourselves. ![]() That's all for this time!
Thanks for following along on this journey. Your excitement fuels our fire! With everything that happened in the new year, we were really unsure about a lot of things. The encouragement of family, friends, and this neat lil' community kept us going. In the end? We got an awesome parking spot where we live, at a price we can afford, that we never would have stumbled upon without going through those trials. It's funny how things work out sometimes :)
Till next time! The Phillips Pack
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