Chef Dennis's New CargoMax

OntarioVanMan · Apr 24, 2011

chefdennis said:
You can see the insulation I haveon the one wall in post above...foil, foam board...thats only on one wall right now and the roof has nothing.. The 10,000 btu unit will cool this down rel good, and even cycles out from time to time down here in laredo from 5 pm (after the sun starts to go down) out...from noon till sun down, its workin its tail off to just be comfortable,
and that is coolng the whole van...now once the rest ofthe van is insulated and the ceiling is in and the "curtain" between "my space" and the cargo area is up, then the 10,000 btu should do a really good job no matter where...but as with all of them, no matter what size...the hotter they get from the sun beating on them., the harder they have to work to cool...

Try the foil shade on the outside of the windshield yet?

chefdennis · Apr 24, 2011

Thanks Guido!! I'll check into that for sure...No Kenny I haven't but i will because i alread have one!! But go back and read what I added to that above post....

OntarioVanMan · Apr 24, 2011

chefdennis said:
Thanks Guido!! I'll check into that for sure...No Kenny I haven't but i will because i alread have one!! But go back and read what I added to that above post....

10/4 Dennis...

ChrisGa23 · Apr 24, 2011

anyone try the portable a/c ?

chefdennis- That unit you have will work great if you had some molded plastic around the window unit that wouldnt allow hot air in with the window down. Could also use it during winter ( if the unit has air and heat ) But other than that its a pretty good idea.

Portable Air Conditioner Units Portable Air Conditioners by Soleus and NewAir

Steady Eddie · Apr 25, 2011

ChrisGa23 said:
anyone try the portable a/c ?

chefdennis- That unit you have will work great if you had some molded plastic around the window unit that wouldnt allow hot air in with the window down. Could also use it during winter ( if the unit has air and heat ) But other than that its a pretty good idea.

Portable Air Conditioner Units Portable Air Conditioners by Soleus and NewAir

Yep, I have one that is 12,000 btu's with heater. Mine is made by Edge Star.

chefdennis · Apr 25, 2011

Yea I also have one of those 12,000 btu roll around units...it is sitting at home in the shed, where i put it when i emptied out the old van ....

I forgot it when I loaded up the new van...along with the extended range gas tank for the generator...they say the mind is the 1st thing to go...

Wolfeman68 · Apr 25, 2011

chefdennis said:
I know RLent has that low profile 12 volt powered AC unit on the roof of his Sprinter and he still does get good gas mileage, so yea i am sure the loss is with the bigger units...

I have often wondered how Steve's sprinters do with the big AC unit and those big Generator "wedges" up on the roof....

Chef, in answer to your question, not as much as I expected. Averaged out at about 1 to 1 1/2 mpg. It seems that the slant of the sprinter nose and windshield carries the air over the a/c unit and hits the generator case at about the center. The nose of the case is slanted as well and actually creates a bit of downforce.

Scott doesn't want the generator unit, so I'm going to remove it and reconfigure it on one of the straights.

chefdennis · Jul 31, 2011

Ok i have done a bit more work to the interior, so i figured I'd post the pictures for those that weren't at the Expo and didn't see the van.

1 thing i had to do was insulate the roof and cover that translucent panel in my bunk/personal space because in the high heat areas we frequent, this thing gets like a greenhouse to say the least..

So I used the reflexic bubble foil, foam board and luann plywood and then covered that and the sidewalls with indoor outdoor carpeting...I also insstalled the TV/dvd combo and move the 2 LED lights around so that they lit up the bunk area, and I also installed a switch so they can be turned on up ft instead of just at the read cargo door..oh and i also tore out the cargo floor and installed a new one with a 3rd row of e-track down the middle

So here are the new pictures:

chefdennis · Aug 30, 2011

Here is a link to the design, contruction and installation of the body, Thanks OSUMike!

CargoMAX 600 - YouTube

jelliott · Aug 30, 2011

You should have made on of your conversion of it!

chefdennis · Aug 30, 2011

You are probably right!! But to be honest, other then my cell phone, I don't even own a video recorder...

LOL, our family and friends never had to worry about goin over and gettin tuck watchin "movies" of the kids as the kids grew up...

ohiomike08 · Sep 8, 2011

chefdennis, why did you add the third piece of E-Track in the center of the floor?

chefdennis · Sep 9, 2011

Just personal preference Mike...my other CV is sit up the same way....But this van also has 2 rows of the "L" track on the walls also....

d_b1486 · Sep 9, 2011

Same here, I have one in the middle as well, If I have one or two pallets I just use one strap instead of two, it's just faster. Unless it's really heavy then I strap with two

Posted with my iPhone EO Forum App

The Enemy · Sep 9, 2011

ohiomike08 said:
chefdennis, why did you add the third piece of E-Track in the center of the floor?

Cause he saw it in my Sprinter and wanted to copy me. In all honesty, the middle row of Etrack provides more anchor points. It also comes in handy when securing 55 gal drums.

chefdennis · Sep 10, 2011

Enemy wrote:

Cause he saw it in my Sprinter and wanted to copy me. In all honesty, the middle row of Etrack provides more anchor points. It also comes in handy when securing 55 gal drums.

LOL, when i out the 1st floor in the new van, I didn't have order enough e-track to do the center row, so i changed it later...and yes it is alot easier to secure 55 gallon drums.....

chefdennis · Oct 25, 2011

A few updates have been made to the Cargo Max...The "curtain" of removeable wall/seperator that i was waiting to have made is up. I talked about that early on, just took a long time to have made for reasons beyond my control. Originally it was going to be made of 2 pieces of sailbout "sail" material with "reflextic" foil/bubble insulation sewn between them. Well when the lady finally got around to making it, she felt that that material (dycron, i think) was to stiff and she came up with the idea of using a rubberized material that they use to make "Cold water rubber boats/rafts", for you bout people, think "Metzeler" rubber boats, it is the same material they use to make them in germany). That wall is now up and attached to the van so that it can be put up and taken down when i need to. It is mounted usind 2 inch wide HD Velcro and canvas snaps.

I also finally got the nerve to cut the hole in the roof of the van...and installed the Maxx Air roof vent / fan.

So here are some added pictures to show those changes in this "ongoing project"...

Rocketman · Oct 25, 2011

No pics?

Did you measure the thickness of the fiberglass in the roof? I'm pretty reluctant to cut a hole up there myself, but the dealer where I got mine told me they have even been mounting reefer units up there. I would still like to have a rooftop a/c.

chefdennis · Oct 25, 2011

The internet connection here in Franklin Ky at the "J" is terrible..the pictures are up now.

The roof is 5/16 thick and strong enough to hold a roof topAC unit if you wanted to with a few braces, but the Max Air vent / fan was no issue at all..i was sitting up there and there was no issue at all.

Rocketman · Oct 25, 2011

Looks good. I may end up using a portable a/c too. If so I like the idea of having it set up like your planning to have yours. With a second fan installed behind your curtain, above the cargo area, you could run the a/c exhaust up to the vent and exhaust it there.

The Maxx is startin to look pretty nice inside!