Wow, thank you for stopping by and all the kind words it really means a lot to us! And thanks for appreciating the little details too.

Thank you so much for stopping by and the kind comment! Glad you appreciate those extra details as well. We put a lot of thought and time into each project. There’s a lot of cross over in the marine and van world for sure so not surprised about the similar system in the boat!

Wow, I'm really honored to hear you say that. Thanks for taking the time to comment and let me know. The amount of work into the build and let alone filming it slows things down a ton so it really helps when I hear it helps or is interesting for people like yourself. Even just a couple people finding value in the content makes it worth it! Also, I can relate to your dad, it's definitely nice to have an extra set of helping hands or even someone to bounce ideas off of. I'm sure he appreciates it. I've been fortunate to have my wife and some other friends helping me here. It's definitely a big undertaking converting a van, especially if like us you can only work on it a few weekends per month.

Wow, thank you that means a lot to us. We spend a lot of time making sure things are put together thoughtfully and that most details are considered. If you are local to the Bay Area here we can definitely talk about it! I’ve been thinking about piecing together my own kit akin to Rixens or VLT.

Thanks much Tim and glad you are enjoying the content!

Hey Narayan! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving this comment. I appreciate the kind works and yes I tend to obsess over the little things sometimes! I feel that's part of th efun thought. Congrats on starting your journey, and yes would love to connect we van folks. Do you live in the bay area?

Thanks Charles! Means a lot to hear you say that!

Thanks a bunch we really appreciate you taking the time to comment 🙏🏻

Thank you friend. It’s much appreciated 🙏🏻

Hey Alex thanks a bunch, the production effort on these videos is def a lot of work but glad to hear you are enjoying them still 🙂! Happy New Year to you and your family as well!

Happy New Year Victor, hope you had a good end to 2023. Thank you for the generous remarks here, we will try to keep them coming!

@@moonrakerdesign I know these videos are not easy to produce. Doing a phenomenal job of explaining things as you go and capturing them with different camera angles doesn’t make them any easier. This is why I appreciate them even more. I’m sure there are many more of us that appreciate the time and dedication you spend into sharing and expressing your passion. Much appreciated 🫡

@@victorestevez7809 thanks again for that continued encouragement and the recognition of the effort. It really does help to know people are finding value and use from the content!

Hahah thank you, we go a bit off the rails sometimes 😅

Hey @jamestreanor182 safety and style 😜 I had another take of that dialog without all the gear on but I definitely lacked the luster. Anyways thank you for stopping by and the kind words, it really does mean a lot to us.

Wow thank you so much I really appreciate it. I don’t know if that’s completely true but we are trying our best to do some new stuff and build out the van how we’d expect it to be made by a professional! Anyways, thank you again and wish I had more time to get more content together! I’m gonna go pretty light on the videos on the back half here to speed up.

Thanks for the taking the time to comment. We really appreciate the support and glad our content is helpful! Yeah we understand there are definitely different budgets and goals for a camper van build, do you think it would be interesting to review some less expensive alternatives to some of these more complex projects?

There is some much stuff on KZfaq already, and the good thing is that you guys doing things in a different way which is new to me and I absolutely enjoy it! This is your Van and you want it to be done in your way:) Premium:) Very clear you have some good skills and knowledge... CNC etc. I am sure this van will be one and only! ( Sorry for my English - not my native language) ;) All the best!

@@user-ub6dd8hl8y thanks for all the feedback, your English is great and I appreciate you taking time to comment in another language, I know how difficult that can be! I'm glad you are enjoying it, and thanks again for the support! I've been very fortunate to have some great mentors and people teach me the things I know throughout my life. I hope I can do the same and pass some of these learnings on to others!

Thank you appreciate the kind words! The solution works really well and unlike paint you don’t scratch it off as you insert the Rivnut. Good find on the LB 8023, that seems like an overall better option for this kind of thing and I’ll recommend that for people just starting out from here on out! Although I’m going on about 1.5 years on my oldest outdoor Rivnut and the LB 8036 anti-seize hasn’t washed off and is still looking good!

Hahaha, thanks Richmond. Just trying to make you proud!!

Haha, thank you! When I first pitched the idea for this intro to Colleen she said "we are definitely going to lose followers on this one..." I'm gonna have to show her this comment 🤣

Hey @MrSeaCheese, appreciate your comment here and congrats on your new ride! Hot water temperature will get up to 160-190ºF. I think the Espar will try to hold at 175ºF if I remember right. In my system the water is actually heated by the exchanger in the IsoTemp tank, not the flat plate heat exchanger. Mine only serves to pull heat off the engine coolant loop while driving. Your system will be a little bit different and you need to make sure your heat exchanger can raise the temperature at the flow rate of your fixtures (faucets and shower heads). FWIW Rixen's uses the same flat plate heat exchanger I have here for on demand hot water. Make sure you add a mixing value so the output temperature isn't scorching though.

Hey there, since the average temperature of the Sprinter Coolant will be 190ºF-230ºF and there will be some heat loss from the exchanger to the water tank I don't think we will have an issue. I did add a temperature probe to this loop though kzfaq.infoCixUVKZOb4A. If it is a problem I can cut pump flow with a relay from the Cerbo GX. On the Espar side when that's running that controls the coolant temp 167ºF - 176ºF.

Lol. I let her know you said so, and thank you for the kind words on the build. Yeah I'm still figuring out my whole freeze prevention strategy and where I need to monitor temps, but did you see this Short I put together? kzfaq.infoCixUVKZOb4A I added this inline to the Hydronic portion right by the water tank at least for now and thinking about doing something similar for the water lines. Since this is my first van and first experience with Van Camping in general I think I'll have a lot to learn and figure out as things materialize. Especially with all my tanks outside the van. I know I'm definitely going to run out Cerbo Relays, so I was looking at this community.victronenergy.com/questions/245584/remotegpio-ex-venus-rgpio-now-available-with-setup.html. I'll probably go a little overboard with tank pads, heat tapes and maybe even some additional hydronic lines wrapped around some stuff to really figure out what works best. Definitely open to hearing yours and others thoughts here though since I don't have much experience. Anyways, thanks again for stopping by!

Ok. So I did like your temp probe solution -actually saw a friend of mine do something similar with his home brew kit. Anyhow, I appreciate that insight! In addition, I also went ahead and ordered the relay expansion module and associated connector from Ali express. I’ll let you know when I program and share my experience! Oh and did you happen to know what the part number is for that wire connector to the Bosch pump?

@@zenandtheartoflife sorry for the late reply here, just now seeing this comment. That would be awesome if you can share you experience with that expansion module! For the connector on the Bosch pump, I ordered this one - amzn.to/3PhR0Ww

Initial testing shows water is up to temp in about 30min - 1 hour depending on the start conditions. The tank keeps the water warm for over 10 hours.

Hey Megan, thanks for the kind words. To remove the Gates Power Grip Clamps you have to cut them and replace them, that is the only downside, but yes you can remove them no problem. You can either do this with a special tool from them - www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/powergrip/gates-powergrip-heavy-duty-sb-clamp-removal-tool/gatu/91215 Or you can actually use a soldering iron (I bought an extra tip for mine just for this purpose) - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gat5ZJqa39DQn2g.htmlsi=30lOTxdRdQCjDNv2&t=426 Both methods prevent damage to the actual hoses, you'd just have to buy a new clamp. If you are thinking there are areas where you need to service or want to leave open for change a spring clamp or worm gear clamp might be better for you there.

Hey @JasonConroy, thank you very much! For Rixen's vs Aquahot there are definitely pros and cons to each. From my personal standpoint and opinion if you have the dedicated space where you can tuck the Aquahot box in your build it's a pretty elegant solution which takes out even more of the work required to put one of these systems together. The form factor of their air handlers makes more sense to me too in a van where space is pretty limited you save about 100in^3 for each one. The fact that it can support up to 16,000ft out of the box is awesome too if you plan on doing high elevation camping. Anyways @humbleroad put together a good overview of the internals of the Aquahot recently you should check out if you haven't already. With Rixen's new MCS7 controller it's a much more compelling solution for me and I'm really glad they upgraded things. The MCS6 controller felt like it was from the 80's and there's no way I'd put that one in a van I own in 2024. However, you will still need to piece the parts together from the kit and really figure out how to mount and run the components. That being said from what I know about Jim over there is he will personally guide most people through this process and the amount of support and guidance you get from Rixen's will be above and beyond Aquahot. I'm assuming at a big company like Airxcel to get support you'll have to go through a support ticketing system, where as with Rixen's you can call Jim directly. That kind of small business family support has its own weight in gold for DIY'ers in my opinion. I hope this helps, unfortunately I'm an outsider looking in since I haven't used any of these systems directly in my own build, but people say positive things about both. Ultimately, the best choice for you will depend on your specific needs and priorities. Consider the size of your van/RV (will you benefit from multi-zone), your budget, your heating and hot water requirements, and your preferences for installation and maintenance. Last point here from me, I'd still probably consider a hot water tank for my needs with either system if I went the OTS route. I have two dogs and we go to the beach a lot and being able to load up on hot water on the drive there and hose them off with warm water (they are babies about cold showers) without having to turn on the burner is critical.

@@moonrakerdesignThank you for the detailed reply. I haven't seen Humbleroad's video yet but will soon. It's a big expense so want to make the right decision for me as I plan to start living in my 170 AWD Sprinter full time beginning April 2025.

@@JasonConroy Yeah definitely and congrats on the move to commit to your sprinter full time!! That's awesome and can't wait to see what you put together. One other option I forgot to mention in my video was what @floriskyland2568 commented below and another option I was looking at was the Webasto DualTop. I know another option to add to your list and also equally if not more expensive. But I think it would be good to look at all options objectively before making you decision! Note with that one you can't run heated floors, but not sure if you have that planned anyways.

@@moonrakerdesign Thanks for the additional information and tips. After watching Mathers on the Map's second build videos and knowing my wife gets cold easily, heated floors are definitely on the schedule. Leaning hard toward Rixan right now based on everything I've seen and your help.

Hey Flori, good to hear from you and hope you had a great New Year! Glad you enjoyed the video and hopefully we can make our way up to MT in this conversion later this year! The Dual Top is a great unit and definitely something we considered! The things that kept us from it was primarily the cost, our camping climate, our use case of weekly beach trips with the dogs and having hot water in the tank while we drive out there and I would be lying if I didn’t say the idea of building out the Hydronic system myself seemed like fun 😅. The van has definitely become my outlet as I’ve gotten further and further from hands on engineering and projects in my day career. If I were to build another without the need for a challenge the Dual Top would be right up there as a top choice! Thanks again!

Thank you@@moonrakerdesign . Your "hydronic" song will definitely make it into the charts. Love it. :)

@@floriskyland2568 I hope so, then maybe I can retire and just build vans and random fabrication projects all the time 🤣 That would be the dream!

@PTG847 of course!! Thanks for the comment and we are glad you are looking forward to seeing that. It will be a little bit though. These projects as well as making the videos is a lot of work in addition to a demanding full time job and all the other stuff we have going on in our life. Right now we are working on putting in the van flooring since we need to drill holes through to under the van for some of the L-track bits. This has to happen before the tanks go under the van since some of the holes sit above them.

LOL! In my defense they are the in-croc-nitos without the holes and Croc charms 😅! Thanks for stopping by and for the comment!

Really only planning out if I wanted additional loops. I'm going to put an air handler in the back of the van for more heat and would have been nice to run those hoses with this original install. Like you I'll have valves that shut that loop of in the summer time. The other things is I'm finding out now I need to drill the the floor for my l-track so I need to take the hot water heater back out to get these brackets install. So really just about planning all the cascading and colliding projects. It's pretty tough if you've never been through it before.

@@moonrakerdesign I spent the winter (waiting for my vanagon to sell) planning out the water and electrical, hopefully I won't have to redo too many things. I settled on one large coolant loop with 'bypass' valves to isolate the different systems when not needed or for maintenance. I settled on Engine - Diesel coolant Heater - Water heater - Aux heater core - return.

@@kbeefy Sounds like a great plan!! After this install, I think it would be really fun to go back and try to make a central Aquahot type box to control everything. I hate how almost everything in the van RV space is run on proprietary controllers. If I have time in the future would love to go back and centralize it one day on a more open source platform.

@@moonrakerdesign Thats well beyond my skillset, I'm going to try to make it just a bit more automated than frankenstien switches and manual ball valves. It won't be as elegant, but I think a few thermal switches, a few electrical actuated valves, and alot of wire and it will work good enough. Have you bought an air handler yet? I see some cheap ones available that are 10-15k btu, but I think I'd rather go with something in the 30-45k btu range.

@@kbeefy Sometimes simpler is the best solution! I haven't bought my Air Handler just yet. But I'm size limited so I'll likely end up with something in the 8-15K range. I've been looking at AMC, Rixens and the Aquahot handlers.

Lol. Thank you, well hopefully you are coming here for the complete package :) I'm using the HX1410DW:F12 B3-14DW 10 Plate Stainless Steel Heat Exchanger - amzn.to/3W4Y1wx It's a proven SKU in campervans used both by Rixen's and Aquahot in their systems.

Thanks!

Hey Paul. The coolant reservoir is needed because the coolant will expand when heated. You can’t have a closed system without a place for that expansion to happen. Espar recommends around 6L of space in the manual if I remember correctly. You can buy these off the shelf. The extra heat exchanger allows me to take heat from the engine coolant loop while driving without being totally tapped into that engine coolant circuit itself. Meaning if anything fails on my added coolant loop the engine loop is unaffected and will perform as normal. This also allows me to use a different type of coolant in my water heater loop that is safer. If some how it contaminated the water through a heat exchanger failure in the water heater (highly unlikely) we wouldn’t be poisoned. Others have skipped this flat plate exchanger and just plumbed the whole thing into the same coolant loop as the engine but that means if you have a leak or failure so does the engine. Let me know if this makes sense or if you need anymore info.

@@moonrakerdesign awesome. Thanks for the reply

@@paulwade8103 No problem if you have any other questions you can hit me up at hello at farrframeworks dot com. Happy to provide any additional info. Happy Building!

@@moonrakerdesign I did find you on Insta and shot you a message on there before you sent this

Hey Glenn, I wouldn’t go less than 6mm threads for installing this type of thing. This is what Ad Wagon uses and I’m sure feather built does too. If I remember right the factory holes are around 8mm so you are going to need to drill them out a bit put some rust prevention in place (I like marine grade anti seize for rivnuts) and then set them. There’s a lot of debate on plus nut vs rivnut. I like rivnuts because they are lower profile and don’t take up as much space behind the wall. There are some places you need to set a nut that a plus nut wouldn’t fit so IMO why not use them for all. I’ve never had one spin on me, but like you said I used the pneumatic pull tool. I really think rivnuts work best with a pull setter. I don’t really like the ones that spin because you really need to make sure the rivnut mushrooms before any torque is applied to it. Just a lot less margin for error. Anyways if you want to talk more you can always email me at hello at farrframeworks dot com. Happy to give you my number there and we can chat on the phone too!

Appreciate the viewpoint, and yes I definitely get way to deep in the weeds with some of these projects when it's not required. My day job has become a lot of management and keynotes lately so I use this as my outlet 😅. For the battery charging setup. I'm going with dual alternator as the primarily powering source, I can only fit about 320W of solar on the roof. I have 640Ah of lithium going in.

Great detail! Excellent video!

@@kevinmctarsney36 thanks for the kind words, and the comment. We are glad you liked it and it's very much appreciated 🙂

Sorry about that Scott!! I (and my wife 😅) often wonder why I buy so many tools myself, but then it really does make the job so much more enjoyable! Thanks for the compliments and continued support. It really does mean a lot and keeps us motivated to keep making these. Even if people don’t follow what we do seeing it in this level of detail hopefully makes people think about things a bit differently. Out of curiosity what did you pick up this time??

@@moonrakerdesign Your approach absolutely makes (at least me) think about things differently especially around attention to detail for serviceability and longevity, it's great to see and follow where I can. I had already purchased the airsaw, the shrink wrap printer thingy, the 90 degree drill, positaps, DT connectors, wire sleeving, the porch lights, heat gun, etc, etc (basically everything from your essential tools video), but this time I replaced all of my rivnuts with those from Mcmaster as I hated the quality of the ones I got from Amazon (too slippery and soft). I am also likely to change my plans for hot water... I was on the fence for the hydronic route as it was a bit intimidating until your video popped up. Will use your affiliate links as I make that happen ;). Thank you again, my dude! Until the next video *fingers crossed*

@@sstiburon Wow! That's a lot of stuff thank you for the support on all of that, we don't get much from it but it really does help us with little things and helps us continue to make these videos! Yeah I tried the Amazon rivnuts too and luckily did them on a test piece my first one was a spinner and the second one collapsed lop sided so I threw them out and tried the ones from McMaster. So far I've been able to set all of them straight as an arrow with no spinners with the pneumatic and DIY solution we've been using they are way nicer IMO.

LOL! The airsaw slays! I use it so much on the van and pretty much any other sheet metal project I’m working on these days!!!

lol. What bracket you looking at?

Pretty much 😅. I actually live on the border of San Anselmo and Fairfax. Shoot me an email (website on our channel info) and we can talk about meeting up.

@@moonrakerdesign ty brother 🫡😎

I’ll let Colleen know we need to head in a new direction. Next up Free Bird cover!