Atlas is a 2002 Ford e350 Super Duty with a good ol’ 7.3 Turbo Diesel that I just recently bought. Chandler, why did you buy a van? What could you possibly need a van for? Van Life! I have always loved to travel and has always called to me. Until recently it was never in the cards for me but now that I have gained some newfound freedom, I am taking my chance to pursue one of my dreams. Purchasing Atlas was the first and probably one of the biggest steps I am going to take on my Journey but I am so excited for what comes next.

The plan is to use Atlas to travel to as many National Parks or other cool sites across the U.S. Most likely until my funds run out or I visit all the parks on my list. Before that I got quite a bit of work to put into Atlas before he is travel-ready. Thankfully the conversion on him is mostly where I want it. He doesn’t have anything fancy but I really don’t need much on the road if I’m honest other than a place to sleep. That being said there are some small things I want to do before taking him out and about.

Power

The first thing on the list was to figure out the power situation. Everything was wired really well and I found out my 2 Solar batteries have 155 amp hours each totally in 310 amp hours which is not too bad. I still need to figure out what the wattage on my solar panels is as well as if my alternator is hooked up to my batteries. We will be adding a portable generator as a backup in addition to those 2 power options which should cover all my bases. I will mostly need power for my fridge, Starlink, and to charge my devices so we should be good to go with my current setup but will have to do some testing.

Cosmetics

If this is going to my new home on wheels I want it to feel that way. So I am going to be painting the interior I even pulled off everything last weekend if you want to check out the little video I made. I have some other video editing projects eating up my time so feel free to skip around, it’s unedited raw footage of me working on the van. The next step will be to sand everything and paint, luckily I have all that paint from my recent furniture projects I can use. I also removed the table from the back and probably will not be remounting it for my setup.

The video was Raw and kind of large to upload to WordPress, feel free to check it out here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/B9hs1JXpU57dgcE57

Project List

I wanted to share my to do list for Atlas because I will most likely be making updates here on my blog as we get closer and closer to my departure.

• Make a metal storage basket that mounts to the hitch on the back of the van which will also hold my generator
• Buy a generator and Mount it securely and with some sort of security feature.
• Check if the batteries are connected to the Alternator if not get that all hooked up.
• Calculate my estimated daily power draw, may need more batteries or better panels depending on how that shakes out.
• Water, I am most likely going to get a small tank and hand pump so this should be easy and straight forward
• Solar shower and a mount so I can hang it from my back doors
• Might attach a ladder to the exterior for easier roof access
• Might add storage to the top to allow me to keep more stuff. Need to look around and see what my options are, there is not a ton of space up there with my solar panels
• Interior handles to hold on to so I can reach on the roof a little easier
• Swap out the broken Awning to the new one I got
• Considering a bike mount on the front of the van if possible
• Swap the Fridge for a more power-friendly cooler
• Sand and Paint Cabinets
• Fix cabinets and drawers and install locks on them.
• Bunch of little things like carbon monoxide alarms and buying new bed sheets and stuff like that. Small things to buy here and there.

Thanks for letting me show off my van I am so excited for the next chapter of my life and I am excited to see all the progress and hard work come together into the coolest fucking van I could imagine. Thank you Jill DarlingDay for selling me this amazing van and helping me take the first step on my journey! Also thanks for all the help from my family they have already helped me so much and I am sure they are going to be helping me a ton more as I get things all dialed in. If you have any questions I would love to answer them, Atlas is my new pride an joy and I love to talk about him all day long!