Chevy Astro and GMC Safari Forum banner

Camperized Astro/Safari - Share your pictures

228K views 348 replies 103 participants last post by  bithebay87 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello!

I am looking at Camperizing my Astro soon, and will certainly share pictures, but if you have done it already - post your pictures here so we can check out your great job.

This will also help other members like me to decide how should I approach it :)

Cheers!

:ty:
 
#178 ·
Gideon33w said:
Hotwire - Is that a Westfalia seat base or did you build it? I hope you're good on power as those thermoelectric coolers draw 40watts continuous. Very nice kitchen setup though, super clean.
Thanks, I have a Battery Doctor charging an Optima YellowTop. The cooler is my only large draw device. I plan to add solar next Summer. I built the swivel myself, you can check my Build Thread for details.
 

Attachments

#179 ·
I just read through your entire build thread, ha-ha. Very nice build quality through and through.

Convert your batteries amp hour rating to watt hours and then divide by the coolers power draw (approx 40watts continuous). That will tell you the maximum hours of operation. Obviously if you have the vehicle running and charging the battery that time won't count.

For sizing Camper solar the best bet is to find your average continuous power draw in watts and then use a panel rated for 4x that. Flat mounted panels only provide ~2/3rds rated output and only collect for an average of 8 hours per day (1/3rd of a day) so the 4x rule is helpful. That said, anything helps, ha-ha.

Let me know what you and the misses think of the bed width. We are having a debate on the matter as to what is the best compromise between comfort and space-savings.
 
#180 ·
Gideon33w said:
I just read through your entire build thread, ha-ha. Very nice build quality through and through.

Convert your batteries amp hour rating to watt hours and then divide by the coolers power draw (approx 40watts continuous). That will tell you the maximum hours of operation. Obviously if you have the vehicle running and charging the battery that time won't count.

For sizing Camper solar the best bet is to find your average continuous power draw in watts and then use a panel rated for 4x that. Flat mounted panels only provide ~2/3rds rated output and only collect for an average of 8 hours per day (1/3rd of a day) so the 4x rule is helpful. That said, anything helps, ha-ha.

Let me know what you and the misses think of the bed width. We are having a debate on the matter as to what is the best compromise between comfort and space-savings.
If this reply is to me, thanks!
My wife has said that anything over the 36" Twin mattress we shared on our wedding night is good enough :rofl:

Some good battery info here: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... docId=1019
 
#182 ·
HotWire said:
If this reply is to me, thanks!
My wife has said that anything over the 36" Twin mattress we shared on our wedding night is good enough :rofl:

Some good battery info here: http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/us ... docId=1019
Lol. We are both small people so I'm sure we can deal with a pretty narrow bed. I just have a lot of back pain from the Army and need room to adjust in the night as needed. I think that next time we are at the mall I will have us lay together on a twin and see what we think.

Nice fab work by the way. I wish I was still setup for welding. Of course, I might go crazy with building in that case, ha-ha.
 
#183 ·
Few update photos of Bessie the sometimes-camper van. My setup is focused on a quick conversion between passenger carry and sleeping modes -- ~5 minutes.

Last fall I built a wood table in the rear to replace a pop-up plastic one. While the plastic one sort of worked, I wanted to get the perfectly dialed in size so that I could put the rear seat up with the table still in the up position, and minimize gaps when the rear seat is laid flat. It took an afternoon of drinking beer and hammering a few nails. Total cost for "camper" mods is <$100 for wood + pop-up table + a few rubber backed carpet mats cut to size.



Last few weeks I've been testing it on winter-overnights near my home ski area of Loveland. The back table + folded rear seat + pop-up 4'x2' plastic table (with legs sawed off for height) provides my sleeping platform. Messy interior looks something like this.


Which before bed provides a nice table to put my feet up, drink tea and whiskey and read a book


Before bed and after I wake up I use a Little Buddy heater to stay warm (along with cracked windows for cross draft and a battery powered O2/CO2 sensor)


And as a breakfast table


With the bedding stowed away behind the back seat.


Rear doors provide a nice platform for throwing on skins, giving skis a quick once over, etc. Underneath the rear table provides lots of storage for wet gear, while bedding stays dry on top.
 
#184 ·
Took advantage of the January thaw to set up my EZY awning from the Bus Depot. It's 8' X 11' so it covers the whole side
of the van.
I need to tweak the suction cup roof mounts but it's all good.
I'll do a follow up with the suction cups.
001.jpg

002.jpg

003.jpg

004.jpg

005.jpg

006.jpg

The awning is meant to clamp onto the gutter rail on VW Bus. Since Astro's don't have gutters,
they sell a suction cup set-up that looks like this.
Suction Cups.jpg
 
#185 ·
I modified some Heavy Duty suction cups I had by adding a 5/16" X 1" carriage bolts. Then I got some tubing and cut two
pieces 5" long. Split those pieces in two and welded a connector nut to each. A lot of grinding & filing later I screwed the
"t"s to the cups and had a better version of the $54 store bought set up. Using the clamps from the Bus Depot this should
work great. I also have two extra that I set up with caribiner anchors to be used with bungees or parracord as needed.

001.jpg

002.jpg

003.jpg

004.jpg

005.jpg
 
#190 ·
jmeb said:
Few update photos of Bessie the sometimes-camper van. My setup is focused on a quick conversion between passenger carry and sleeping modes -- ~5 minutes.

Last fall I built a wood table in the rear to replace a pop-up plastic one. While the plastic one sort of worked, I wanted to get the perfectly dialed in size so that I could put the rear seat up with the table still in the up position, and minimize gaps when the rear seat is laid flat. It took an afternoon of drinking beer and hammering a few nails. Total cost for "camper" mods is <$100 for wood + pop-up table + a few rubber backed carpet mats cut to size.



Last few weeks I've been testing it on winter-overnights near my home ski area of Loveland. The back table + folded rear seat + pop-up 4'x2' plastic table (with legs sawed off for height) provides my sleeping platform. Messy interior looks something like this.
I'm thinking of going this rout. Where did you stow the table when you weren't using it?
The only other thing I'm worried about it losing all the storage space I have in the back. I currently have the front bench seat in and a bed platform built behind it to match the hight of the set when it's laying flat. In terms of usable space inside other than sleeping, this isn't the best design and so I'm looking for new ones. Ideally, I'd love to have a sofa bed in the back instead of the stock seat. Did you recently replace this van?
 
#191 ·
Astro Pop said:
I've just finished setting up my camping conversion. I have to thank the contributors from the forum to make it all work. I didn't go about rebuilding the wheel I just used the ideas from here. Specifically:

castlerox - His wonder table was the final piece for the bed. I also saved the pieces from the sawed off legs and put them into 1" PVC pipe. I can them reinstall them on the tabe to take it back up to normal height when not sleeping on it. Makes a table if there are not picnic tables available.
Hey, what table brand is that and what are its dimensions? Do you have an amazon or ebay link to the one you used? I've also seen some collapsible tables with adjustable legs like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Lifetime-4428-Adj ... ible+table

...but I'm not sure what dimensions I'm looking for exactly. Any help you have will be greatly appreciated!
 
#192 ·
tweederhill said:
I'm thinking of going this rout. Where did you stow the table when you weren't using it?
The only other thing I'm worried about it losing all the storage space I have in the back. I currently have the front bench seat in and a bed platform built behind it to match the hight of the set when it's laying flat. In terms of usable space inside other than sleeping, this isn't the best design and so I'm looking for new ones. Ideally, I'd love to have a sofa bed in the back instead of the stock seat. Did you recently replace this van?
Slow response but....

Rear table stays in 95% of the time. The folding table simply gets folded down and put on the ground when not in use. This is a minor bother but not huge. Typically when I'm camping it simply gets thrown outside as a table.

I've currently got the pictured one for sale, including the bed setup. I'm building a new rear platform around a similar sleep setup in the next few weeks. New design is simpler to construct, better storage space, and I expect studier. It'll use the same top (birch plywood), two supporting 1x4s width-wise underneath inset a few inches from the edge (may just wood glue together to keep top nice), threaded galvanized pipe and flanges to connect to the 1x4s for legs. Importantly instead of placing the legs as far out as possible, I'll be lining them up with the rear bench mounts to allow more through storage of longer things. I carry a lot of skis/poles.
 
#193 ·
20150611_123545.jpg

Over the last 50 years, I HAVE camperised several vans,
BUT ....
now that I am not as nimble and flexible as I once was,
and now that my definition of "travelling light" includes a 6" thick memory foam mattress
I need more space.

PLUS,
I got tired of working inside the rounded compound curve structures.

SO,
my solution is to simply hack off the back of an AWD Safari van, and build a simple rectangular box ... aka ... a CLASS C mini motorhome.

The old/discontinued factory built TIGER Astro/Safari motorhome conversions were my inspiration,
but I wanted some thing a bit lighter, simpler, and much sturdier for "OVERLANDING' ...
or at the least, for long trips down roads less travelled.

So here is my interpretation of an AWD "home for wayward boys".

"NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST"
 
#197 ·
I'm new to the site, but this is my 3rd Astro/Safari. I use them as delivery vehicles for my business, but also as stealth campers. I have been looking around the web trying to find a low profile bed frame in an Astro but couldnt find exactly what I was after.

I just picked up this 2003 passenger van last week and wanted to build a bed frame for camping that could be easily assembled/disassembled, as well as provide the maximum amount of unobstructed storage space below.

I ended up building the frame out of 3/4" structural metal pipe and fittings from Lowes, and using 2x8's cut to 78" for the platform. I cut the legs 18" so I could store roughneck totes and my cooler, while still being able to put my knees up when Im on the bed. The frame is 54" wide to fit firmly against the outside.

I just used it camping the last two nights with two of us sleeping and no flex on the frame. I think you could easily use 3/4" plywood and achieve the same results.

Frame was pretty spendy at around $200 and the 2x8s were another $40. But it's exactly what I wanted.
 

Attachments

#201 ·
Not yet. However I have been taking detailed pictures from the very start and will have a build thread in August. Right now I have a 2 week deadline for a trip. Everything is back out yesterday, furring strips in. Next ez cool floor insulation, sub floor trace to vinyl floor, punch holes for holes to t-nuts, subfloor in, bolts, lap sealant around edge, vinyl adhesion around perimeter, bolt down cabinetry and 80/20 battery box/bench, bed, water tank (20 gal), water to outside shower and inside sink, all wiring and fuse box, etc
 
Top