Sprinter Van: Windows and a Fan

Earlier this month, I went away for ten days. It was a fun trip, but I couldn't help thinking about what we needed to do on our van. I couldn't wait to get back and cut a bunch of holes in it. Our fan and windows arrived while I was gone, after all.

I've read blogs and talked to people who said cutting holes in their van was the most intimidating aspect of their build. For whatever reason, I thought it'd be fun (for the record: installing Sefton's seat was the most intimidating thing for ours). I went from this view:

To this one:

Time to break out our jigsaw.

I taped off the hole after measuring and remeasuring (and remeasuring) to keep the base of the saw from scratching the van's paint. 

I was on top of the van backed up to our garage. There was a tapping on our living room windows just above me. I turned around. It was my wife, who is infinitely smarter than I. She walked out to our backyard and reminded me that I should also tape the base of the jigsaw. Oh, right! After sticking on some duct tape and then drilling a hole I was ready to go.

As I cut each side, I added duct tape to hold the square I was cutting from vibrating and (duh) falling through the roof.

Boom. A 14" hole in the ceiling of our van. I filed down the metal edge before painting the raw metal with Rust-Oleum protective enamel. 

Phwew, the mounting bracket fit!

Next up: our bunk window. First, I had to cut out a metal bracket that was glued to the sheet metal panel. The window would span that bracket and it'd be in the way. Score one for our new grinder!

I had to be careful not to cut through the van's thin skin. Grinders work quickly, after all. Then it was time to cut our second hole.

Then the same routine: file, paint, and test fit the mounting bracket.

Success! Last but not least… Sefton's window.

Now that we had a bunch of holes, it was time to actually install stuff. The fan was quite simple. We had to order the required self-leveling sealant because we couldn't find it in town. We opted to save $65 and, rather than order a seemingly-expensive piece of plastic, just gummed up a bunch of butyl tape to span the center rib of the van's roof. Stuck the mounting bracket on that, drilled a bunch of holes, and covered them with sealant.

I'm currently studying up on 12-volt electrical theory and beginning to design our van's electrical system. We'll get to test the fan once we have some power distributed.

Installing the windows was a little more… finicky. The frame of Sefton's window was curved slightly to match the similarly-slight curvature of the van's side. The frame screwed in nicely from inside, snugging up the window tight to the van's exterior.

The bunk window was a different story. Though shorter in height, it didn't have any curvature at all to its frame. Consequently, opposite upper and lower corners didn't seat tightly despite torquing down on the screws with an impact driver.

The little bag of screws taped next to the window are hex screws I picked up. They can have more torque applied than the kind-of-crappy Philips head screws that came with the window. We'll also likely need to shim the two corners in order to tighten it up to the exterior. The stuff sticking out is of course more butyl tape, which we applied generously around the perimeter of each window.

All-in-all, cutting three holes and installing some nifty components went without any real issues other than having to finesse the bunk window. Sefton will have a window to look out, we'll have some light and a view from our bed, and ventilation for all seasons. Speaking of ventilation, we specifically ordered windows that opened because we wanted some additional options for venting and to help with airflow. For Sefton's in particular, we chose a window that could be opened while we drive (vs. an awning-style window that could not).

The only lesson I feel worth mentioning, besides remembering to put tape on the jigsaw's base, is to double-check the screws for the window to make sure they're correct. Frustrated at how difficult it was screwing in Sefton's window, K (again, more wise than I) asked if I had the right screws. Upon inspection and despite having labeled each bag clearly with a big ol' Sharpie, I had swapped bags and was using the bunk window's screws. Oops.

Next up: Installing Sefton's seat…