4WD from Pleasureway

[lmittell]

Sounds good. I have no info other than what's at the link.

https://pleasureway.com/recon4x4-adventure-van/

[GeorgeRa]

I joined the Sprinter forum in 2012 which helped me a lot in designing and building my conversion. A lot of conversion details shared by DIY members have migrated to this van. I would say that this van looks a lot like a DIY van, for a higher price.

It looks like Thinsulate and cassette toilets are gaining ground and both are often use by DIY community. Today 57.3% of DIY Sprinter forum folks use Thinsulate, would be interesting to see Thinsulate use by commercial outfits. I had to buy a 90‘ roll from a marine store back in 2013 for my van, today it is a different story. https://sprinter-source.com/forums/i...3#post-1006186

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I joined the Sprinter forum in 2012 which helped me a lot in designing and building my conversion. A lot of conversion details shared by DIY members have migrated to this van. I would say that this van looks a lot like a DIY van, for a higher price.

It looks like Thinsulate and cassette toilets are gaining ground and both are often use by DIY community. Today 57.3% of DIY Sprinter forum folks use Thinsulate, would be interesting to see Thinsulate use by commercial outfits. I had to buy a 90‘ roll from a marine store back in 2013 for my van, today it is a different story. https://sprinter-source.com/forums/i...3#post-1006186

Advanced RV now uses Thinsulate.

[jrobe]

Pleasureway makes very nice RV's but I can't figure out why they would build a Sprinter van and not add a simple second alternator for battery charging (brochure doesn't mention this) and a diesel heater that would run much much longer than that small propane tank. If one is assuming some of the disadvantages of diesel, you might as well take advantage of the the really nice benefits. Pleasureway always seems a few years behind.

[Rocinante]

It looks promising, for the right customers. True to it's name, it feels like an "adventure van," not a van one could easily live in full time.

Every Class B is a collection of trade-offs, and this one's no different. I'm not personally a fan of a combination storage closet / bathroom / shower, but at least it has a private bath that might actually be useful as long as one can manage to store their stuff in the garage instead of in the wet bath. Anyway, it's worth watching to see how people react to it and how they wind up using it. At the very least, it should give the WBGO Revel a real run for the money.

[gregmchugh]

Looks like a similar rig might be coming from Tiffin.

https://tiffincahaba.com/

The success of the Revel has spawned a set of competitors. The short 4x4 Sprinter is the only factory 4x4 van that makes sense for a mild off road van so not surprising that it is being used by Pleasureway and Tiffin.

Interesting grey water system on the Recon. Two Scepter military 5 gallon water containers that you put outside to catch the grey water so no actual grey tank it seems. I actually carry two of these but use them to add 10 gallons of extra cassette capacity when I need it. They have a wide mouth opening so the cassette spout fits into the container to transfer the contents.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by jrobe

Pleasureway makes very nice RV's but I can't figure out why they would build a Sprinter van and not add a simple second alternator for battery charging (brochure doesn't mention this) and a diesel heater that would run much much longer than that small propane tank. If one is assuming some of the disadvantages of diesel, you might as well take advantage of the the really nice benefits. Pleasureway always seems a few years behind.

Both Truma heaters, Aqua Go instant hybrid water heater and Truma Vario Heat furnace are well engineered appliances, it is quite possible they drove their propane decision.

I have Espar Airtroncs D2 for heating and like it a lot, very quiet, efficient. For water heating I use a combination of Espar Hydronic D5 with Isotemp marine water heater and like it a lot for water heating, but based on this experience I wouldn’t use hydronic heating for van heating. Doing conversion again I would seriously consider propane.
The van had 400W on the roof, their choice.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

Looks like a similar rig might be coming from Tiffin.

https://tiffincahaba.com/

The success of the Revel has spawned a set of competitors. The short 4x4 Sprinter is the only factory 4x4 van that makes sense for a mild off road van so not surprising that it is being used by Pleasureway and Tiffin.

Interesting grey water system on the Recon. Two Scepter military 5 gallon water containers that you put outside to catch the grey water so no actual grey tank it seems. I actually carry two of these but use them to add 10 gallons of extra cassette capacity when I need it. They have a wide mouth opening so the cassette spout fits into the container to transfer the contents.

I am not sure I would eliminate grey water tank, if they didn’t want to have anything under the van, they could pump gray water to one of these containers.

Regarding maximum road clearance, their running bars must be lower than the factory road clearance, one almost touched the road as they drove from a ditch onto the road see at 0:31.

I think this van has no shore power unlet, so engine alternator and 400W of solar are the only recharging sources, no AC and standalone inverter (no charger), interesting.

[gregmchugh]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I am not sure I would eliminate grey water tank, if they didn’t want to have anything under the van, they could pump gray water to one of these containers.

Regarding maximum road clearance, their running bars must be lower than the factory road clearance, one almost touched the road as they drove from a ditch onto the road see at 0:31.

I think this van has no shore power unlet, so engine alternator and 400W of solar are the only recharging sources, no AC and standalone inverter (no charger), interesting.

It has a 30 amp power cord shown in the brochure so the Xantrex is probably an inverter charger. Has a Mastervolt DC to DC battery charger to handle alternator charging.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by gregmchugh

It has a 30 amp power cord shown in the brochure so the Xantrex is probably an inverter charger. Has a Mastervolt DC to DC battery charger to handle alternator charging.

Yes, they use Xantrex Freedom XC 2000 Inverter/Charger.

I also noticed that more folks are using the single finger operation latches from Southco (or similar) on drawers and cabinet doors in lieu of more stylish push to latch latches.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Advanced RV now uses Thinsulate.

I think ARV is using a new material from an engineering outfit (I think they are primarily in wholesale business) in Ohio, I guess ARV must have reasons to pass on 3M Thinsulate. They CNC material to kits for different van lengths.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I guess ARV must have reasons to pass on 3M Thinsulate.

Well, they do very good work, and I have learned a lot from their techniques. But insulation has historically not been their forte. They once were proponents of denim, until its susceptibility to moisture absorption became evident. For a long time, they routinely installed interior vapor barriers in their vans(!). Only recently have they admitted that this may not be such a great idea, and then only grudgingly. On this particular topic, they seem to be oddly oblivious to well-understood industry practice.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by avanti

Well, they do very good work, and I have learned a lot from their techniques. But insulation has historically not been their forte. They once were proponents of denim, until its susceptibility to moisture absorption became evident. For a long time, they routinely installed interior vapor barriers in their vans(!). Only recently have they admitted that this may not be such a great idea, and then only grudgingly. On this particular topic, they seem to be oddly oblivious to well-understood industry practice.

I think the company providing this new insulation is less than 50 miles away from ARV, could be a good reason. Soon or a later we will see an engineering evaluation by 3M with some numbers.

https://www.designengineering.com/30...y-linear-foot/

It could be a good competitor to 3M, hopefully we will know who actually makes it.

See at 13:18 on this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwhIRugx5NY

[avanti]

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I think the company providing this new insulation is less than 50 miles away from ARV, could be a good reason. Soon or a later we will see an engineering evaluation by 3M with some numbers.

https://www.designengineering.com/30...y-linear-foot/

It could be a good competitor to 3M, hopefully we will know who actually makes it.

Certainly, having a chassis-specific "kit" of pre-cut pieces would be awesome. CNC most definitely IS ARV's forte.

[Rocinante]

All I can say is that if I had the money to burn, I'd be in an ARV instead of a gently-used Airstream Interstate.

[ks@yvr]

Pleasure Way Recon - interesting but I think they missed the mark but I did see a couple of interesting design ideas that I might incorporate in my custom build. Kitchen is basically unusable when in bed mode . If I read it right it looks like you need to deploy gray tank you “just hook these tanks up on the outside” ; not a good option in my opinion, I don’t want to hook up a gray tank to use the sink on the run. Squeeze a small gray tank of 5-10 gallons between the frame rails or inside vehicle like Westfalia does.

I’m sure it will sell but its not quite there imo and I’m a big Pleasure Way fan.

[GeorgeRa]

Originally Posted by ks@yvr

Pleasure Way Recon - interesting but I think they missed the mark but I did see a couple of interesting design ideas that I might incorporate in my custom build. Kitchen is basically unusable when in bed mode . If I read it right it looks like you need to deploy gray tank you “just hook these tanks up on the outside” ; not a good option in my opinion, I don’t want to hook up a gray tank to use the sink on the run. Squeeze a small gray tank of 5-10 gallons between the frame rails or inside vehicle like Westfalia does.

I’m sure it will sell but its not quite there imo and I’m a big Pleasure Way fan.

On my 144"WB I was able to place 14 gal. gray water tank and 4gal. Isotemp marine water heater on the driver side below the floor with no reduction of road clearance. Anything bigger would have to go below rocker panels reducing road clearance.

I don’t know if you are planning to do your own conversion, in case you going to take this route see this new built.

This is https://sprinter-source.com/forums/i...threads/83817/ a very interesting new DIY van being built with good thread on the Sprinter forum. It is the first one based entirely on 1" 80/20 profile, 1.5" is most common for good reasons but for weight savings 1” is unbeatable, 45% lighter than 1.5”. Similarly, to my van he is also using CNCed HDPE with different color scheme panels.

If you would do my conversion again, I would have to think hard to stay with 1.5” or venture to 1.5” + 1” or 1”. No doubts that 3D/2D design, factory machining and CNC would be the base.

[ks@yvr]

Thanks, I have used 1” 80/20 flat bar to mount traditional type cabinets to van skeleton. Very nice way to get high mounting points anywhere you need them. 2 - 80/20 rails on ceiling 9” out each side attached to and bridging van roof trusses for upper cabinets and tall fridge/microwave cabinet. Makes for very solid flexible mounting points and you don’t have to worry about existing van openings. Allows you to keep overhead cabinet construction light and strong with only sides, bottom and doors (top and back are 1/4” honeycomb plastic); the 80/20 is the top and back frame.

We have internal water tanks 32 gallon and 4 gallon Isotemp Slim water heater. We have 2 showers, one at the back doors and a inside shower tray in a drawer that slides out from under the front lounge/jump seat for an inside shower. Our toilet is a 5 gallon cassette that is also in a drawer that slides into the sliding door opening from under the sink (allows it to be deployed all night). We have Queen E/W bed on short 148” Ford Transit AWD. Only shortfall in our design would be we have no hanging closet. We have wide sliding tray under bed for 2 regular bikes without front wheels attached plus other storage. Centre isle can open and bed can easily be disassembled for those times you need a sheet of drywall or plywood or whatever. We are using a Ikea queen spring frame for bed platform on Ikea drop in bed rails (x3) also very light weight and comfortable. All cabinets are built from 1/2 melamine plywood veneered on outside with bamboo veneer keeping as light weight as possible while built strong. I am sure our final weight will be quite reasonable as it is still work in progress but we have been focusing on keeping the weight down right from the start. We have prewired for solar but I have decided initially to see how it goes without since our lithium batteries are charged quickly from alternator or the 3K inverter charger if on shore power. Might be worthwhile adding 200 watts of solar but here in the northwest we get a lot of rain only giving us limited charging. 100 watts on the PW was enough to keep battery topped off and ran the fridge so I kept my options by prewiring for it. We have a 4.6 cu ft Novakool fridge at 24” off floor allowing easy access and microwave on top with 2 BIG storage drawers under for pots/pans, plates and glasses.

A lot of thought went into the design efficiently and it may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it works for us giving us what we wanted front lounge in less than 20’ and AWD/4x4. We don’t plan to rock crawl but do want the ability to get in/out of good boondocking sites down forest service roads. Better clearance was key in a shorter wheelbase was a key consideration of our build along with weight savings. We insulated with 3M Thinsulate for 3.5 season use.

[rowiebowie]

Adventure vans are not for me, but I love all the new choices in class b's.