Advancing Alvar

[Davydd]

Gerry,

I haven't gotten into the details yet but Advanced RV monitors temperature and voltage of every single cell individually with their battery management system. Even though lithium ion batteries can be discharged they say safely to 95% ARV brakes it at 80%. I suspect they do the same at full charge as well. Well, I hope they do. Actually they have to because I asked that question when I realized a full day of normal driving would overcharge if it didn't.

[Davydd]

I am giving serious thought to kicking it up to 800 amp hours for batteries. There is still time to do so. Why? Well, the best answer is, I can. Or, just the thought of leaving something on the table has been bugging me despite all the analysis.

[markopolo]

You're in unknown territory so to speak. Basically, we're going to learn from you on this. My guess is that you'll start out with batteries at or near 100% at your first destination then less for day two and three etc. Your batteries will work well at 50% or 70% etc. and that makes them so different from lead acid batteries. You don't need to get the batteries back to 100% daily which would be considered good practice with lead acid batteries.

[Davydd]

I would like to think one of the first things we will do is go to Quartzite and park for a week in BLM land to see how long we can last and how the B would perform. But I doubt I could sit still that long. I know my wife couldn't.

I know of one 800 ah battery Advanced RV that will roll out the door before ours in December with Advanced RV's new lithium ion battery strategy. There might be others. There are 24 Advanced RVs on order right now according to one customer who was at the factory last week. Interestingly, the customers are coming from all over the country.

[Boxster1971]

One thought - with the larger 800 AH battery you would dip into reserve less often and thus the batteries will stay at top performance longer.


- - Mike
2013 Airstream Interstate from 2012 Sprinter 3500 tall & long

[obgraham]

Davydd: I'm sure as an architect you will go for the maximum available!

Years back I had an architect custom design a house for us. He often said clients were in the "whynot" mode. As in "Why Not get the best you can as you likely won't do it again". That plan darn near bankrupted me, but it's hard to resist.

If I was doing a custom build, I'd get the best of what the builder had to offer!

Graham

[Tenbike2]

Davydd you added the desk behind the drivers seat. Did you add any task lighting for the desk? This may not be the correct venue but have you felt comfortable with the amount of ground clearance on the class B conversions? The 4 wheel drive versions have several more inches of clearance. I don't know if this is something that should be taken into account when buying a van. Jim

[Davydd]

tenbike2,

ARV hasn't finalized my front desk design yet. In fact we discussed it just yesterday. Mike's "Imagine" ARV has his built and is a bit different than mine. I hadn't thought about task lighting as my intent is to use it with the laptop computer. ARV is usually inventive and generous with the LED lighting strips.

There is plenty of clearance under a Sprinter. The lowest point on my Great West Van was the Onan generator at about 9 inches. The exhaust pipe for the generator came out the bottom, made a sharp 90 degree turn and passed out under the fiberglass skirt at 7.5 inch clearance. That's not off-road clearance but as good or better than most autos. The fiberglass skirting looks low by proportion but really isn't. As I remember the skirting on my GWVan measured about 9 - 11 inches clear of the ground. The 4x4 raises the Sprinter 3.1 inch in the back and 4 inches in the front. I heard it would not carry as much load but then again I have not seen a spec sheet on it yet.

If you want 4x4 ARV put in for 20 of them. I don't know if any of the other converters have made any plans for the 4x4. With our Bs we tend to stick to improved roads. About the only place I might lament not having 4x4 especially now that I will have better boondocking capability would be the opportunity to drive out on a packed sand beach. I've been reluctant to do so with our past Sprinters. Then again there are not that many opportunities to do so, though I know of a few places on the Texas Gulf Coast where it would be nice.

[Davydd]

It's official. I'm kicking the lithium ion battery package up to Advanced RV's maximum of 800 ah. Two to three hours on the road would recharge those batteries. That's well within normal practices. As I mentioned before, in theory we could probably survive well with half as much amp hours. With the added amp hours I suspect we could now prepare a full Thanksgiving dinner in our B, not that we plan to.

I spent another day of back and forth phone calls, trading photos, making CAD drawings, etc. to continue to iron out cabinetry details. It's a go in the cabinet shop and the cabinetry should be finished next week so the B can be sent back to the factory. Mike's Imagine will go out the door a couple of weeks ahead of ours and there is another one heading out in a couple of weeks going to a Texas couple. We have all been exchanging experiences on the Facebook group, "B"ing in an Advanced RV. It's a public group anyone can read or join. Everyone has different and unique ideas. Everyone has a widely different finish look. It gets to the point you say to yourself, "Oh darn, why didn't I think of that."

[obgraham]

"Whynot"!

Great idea. You're only going to build this once. Hopefully.

[pattonsr]

Davydd,

Advanced RV has a new twin bed sheet video. The twin beds were foam and were covered in ultra leather (guess). There is a seam down the middle which mades the bed look more like a sofa. I am not sure the seam would be comfortable to sleep on.

What will Alvar have for twin beds?

[Davydd]

I'm not sure why there is a seam down the middle of those beds. If you look at the introduction of the video you will see a stack of square mattresses that seem to act as a side table between the two beds and I am guessing are filler mattresses to make a full king bed if they so chose. Every bed is different it seems in the Advanced RVs. Probably the most consistent bed has been the trip-fold electric sofa. BTW, there is more discussion on this bed in that Facebook group I mentioned. I was thinking to ask about these things but haven't yet. So, I am only speculating.

Our mattress (and front cab seats) will be real leather, not Ultra Leather which I think is probably the best imitation leather I have seen in RVs. Our bed will be entirely different than anything anyone has ever seen in a Class B. You'll have to stay tuned for it. Since I haven't seen it yet, I'll hold off comment. It is under construction right now and I was assured is the same as I designed it. I hope I know what I am doing. There was one design item I didn't get because the product is not sold in America. There were improvements I hadn't anticipated found by Advanced RV.

This is that fitted sheet video. Basically it is a service Advanced RV can provide in making fitted sheets for any size bed. My wife has been researching and wants to make her own. Me? I've been fine with a sleeping bag all these years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7_OY8IJ6jU

[Davydd]

I mentioned I spent a day going back and forth with Advanced RV with drawings, photos, etc. This is a mockup of a computer desk I am having built in that will flip down with a turned around driver's seat. ARV mocked up the wardrobe cabinet wall (not built yet) that we spent some time figuring out the dimensions for and then this is a mockup of a flip down desk after we finalized the Wardrobe cabinet. I doctored and sent the photo back with my annotations for rounded corners. This is still not the final design. We made another refinement over the phone this morning. That is kind of the way it goes. It is fun and at the same time a little frustrating in not being able to be right there with hands on and tape measure in hand. We were able to do a little bit of that last September at ARV with a bed mockup.

[markopolo]

Originally Posted by Davydd

................. Our bed will be entirely different than anything anyone has ever seen in a Class B. You'll have to stay tuned for it. Since I haven't seen it yet, I'll hold off comment. It is under construction right now and I was assured is the same as I designed it. I hope I know what I am doing................

I can't wait to see that. I might have to read through your posts for clues.

[mikes47]

David, what is the purpose of the cut-out in the lower right hand corner? Does it fold up/down and need to clear an adjoining cabinet?

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by mikes47

David, what is the purpose of the cut-out in the lower right hand corner? Does it fold up/down and need to clear an adjoining cabinet?

That is the pillar where the seat belt is. They will put a cleat on that pillar to rest the desk on for additional support. The desk will be a drop down attached to the wardrobe cabinet wall. I elected not to have it built in flush like you have since my wardrobe wall will be a straight up wall. If it were built in it would interfere with clothes hanging space of which will only be about 8" as it is for a couple of coats.

[Davydd]

Busy week this week. There were a couple of RVs (Myst and Imagine) in line ahead of Alvar at Advanced RV's cabinet shop but they have been moved out and this week they are installing our cabinets. After CAD drawings, sketches, mockups, templates and phone calls we have things squared away. It's called design on the fly and a never ending process it seems. I'll run you through it. This is more on just that computer desk I mentioned.

First, I sent this CAD drawing explaining how I want to cut back their standard wardrobe cabinet width from 27" to 18" so I could have a flip down computer desk installed. The real objective was to be able to slip into the turned around drivers seat when the storable table is in place. In our former Great West Van I had to slide across from the passenger seat to get in the driver seat. To me that was confining, and annoyance and inelegant. So, I sent this drawing overlaying their plan that I got off their web site to explain my desires. That curved directional arrow was the key and you can see the original wardrobe on a fixed desk would interfere with slip through.



I also redesigned the interior of the wardrobe closet in a later drawing and made some other changes. I won't get into that right now. They did a mockup of the edge of the wardrobe where the wall will be and sent me a photo of a mocked up plywood template computer desk and how it would relate to the wall and where I will sit. I took their photo and annotated it like this to soften the corners with radii.



Afterwards, I made my own template with yellow trace paper based on the dimensions they gave me and started playing around how a laptop computer would sit on it. We had already agreed to increase the depth of the desk 2" more along with the radius corners but I also felt it should be a tad wider. So, I sent them this.



And this is an example of how a laptop computer will sit on it. We are going with that widest outline now, BTW. There were a lot more photos and drawings than this but this is a sample of how it went.



Of course, we had back and forth emails plus direct phone calls with the cabinet shop. I didn't think to ask if they were on iPhones and could do video FaceTime. That might have helped. This was actually one of the simpler collaborations. The big one, the bed, has been a longer ongoing process with drawing after drawing, research, and a mockup made that had us visiting the factory last September. It will all soon be a reality. If necessary I would have flown out to Cleveland to get right in with my always with me tape measure. In fact I wished I had just for the rush as I like hands on. We managed well without doing so. Advanced RV knows their stuff. So I am excited.

[gerrym51]

Davydd-you are going to have the best.

[Davydd]

I just signed off on this as the final computer desk mockup. It measures 22" across and 16" deep with the main part 17" wide which is ample in holding my 14" wide by 10" MacBook Pro laptop computer with those softening rounded corners. For reference, one of those standard TV trays they sell at Target are 19" x 15".



BTW, all the cabinetry corners throughout the RV have radius edged corners as you can see in the wardrobe unit wall. Advanced RV vacuum forms 3/4" plywood this way in their cabinetry shop and then laminates a finish. They had in the past done solid wood with real wood finish but it is difficult to get a uniform finish for the cabinetry with real wood finish.

[mlts22]

I was told that real wood is nice... but laminates/plywood (assuming it is properly bonded) tend to be more durable and lighter. Same reason why Corian tends to be more useful than genuine marble for countertops.

I love going through this thread. I don't state this often, but ARV (and Davydd) really know their stuff.

For example, the above MacBook Pro desk should be standard in every Sprinter-based "B", because it doesn't take away that much space, but turns what normally is a useless seat when parked into a perfectly functional mini-office. The only thing I've seen even close to this was present in an Airstream Grand Tour... and it almost costs as much as Alvar without any of the customization.