Thinking about Cargo Van.. Q's

[tknight]

Hoping u use the bucket for support of wood!

 

[Murraycroexp]

No bucket required, here. If I have more than one skid and can't get my bunk down I then have plenty of room to recline my seat all the way back. Or I could take my air mattress out of my bunk and just lay it out on the floor in front of the skid(s) on furniture pads. Even sideways. I've got a full 12' and I'm only 6' tall. So I generally have PLENTY of sleep room when needed. And absolute worst case I'll get a room if I have available and NEED 6+ hours or more of high quality sleep. I find sometimes 1 hour in a motel bed equates to about 1.5 hours in the bunk. Unless conditions are absolutely perfect for sleep. Make sense?

 

[Maverick]

I just measured in 105 inches (of the 160 cargo area depth) and ran a split bed that folds up from the middle, to each side of the van. Heavy two pallet loads require the "fold out" of bed in order to balance the load, but the foam bedding can then be placed between the front seats and through the bulkhead door. 3 pallet preparation is mere seconds.

Good advice on the going with an owner van for a few months IMHO. There's good owners out there who will somewhat take care of the driver, but owning your own means; you'll not have to worry about explaining to anyone why you turned a load down. You see....it's because that load will not make ME, any money. When you drive for someone else, it's to make them and the company money, and there's instances whereby, you'll lose big time as a driver.

In short? You may tire quickly of sitting for a week because you had to take an ill advised load....thus burning up your money from the last one, while sitting. Your own vehicle places that responsibility right onto you, and most can eventually learn to live with they're own decisions.

 

[mjmsprt40]

I have a standard Chevy CV. It's rare to get so much freight that you can't use the reclining seats, so most times when I have freight I use the reclining seat and a neck pillow. That neck pillow is a definite must, it saves no end of problems from having your head roll in an unfortunate location and waking up with a stiff neck as a result. It's also rare to have a situation where you're going to be sitting for long with freight onboard anyway-- usually you're dealing with ASAP deliveries or if you do have a bit of time it's usually not all that much.

For those times when I don't have freight-- I'm still pretty Spartan in comparison to many guys out here. I use a camp-cot with a twin-size air mattress on top of that, and that fills the bill. Though, now that I've seen what Murray has in his van I'm thinking that camp-cot has seen its day. Not bad--- easy to build, folds out of the way at once, strong enough for the job-- not bad at all.

 

[xiggi]

My days of sleeping in a seat are long past. If the bed is up and nit room on the floor I'll be in a motel. Of course I can deal with an hour or two but that's it.

Sent from my Fisher Price ABC-123.

 

[Murraycroexp]

Ya, my bunk was trial and error. The 2x6 supports are screwed directly to the wall supports. 4 regular door hinges shimmed since they will support my 247# butt. MDF for the bunk thingy. An old piece of plywood on 3 lighter door hinges swing it down perpendicular for base support. It stays up with two bungee hooks sticking thru holes I drilled into the bunk. They swing over and hook in two of the wall supports.

 

[Opel2010]

More miserable, for me at least, would be to be so hot, you can't sleep. Once the sun comes up and starts beating down on the van, it becomes an oven. 80 outside becomes 140 inside quicker than you imagine, and it doesn't cool down for quite some time after the sun goes down.

I guess you're talking about Laredo...

Sent from my SGH-T999 using EO Forums mobile app

 

[21cExp]

Ya, I was in Cleveland TN Tuesday night and woke to a near-dripping ceiling. It was WAY humid!!!

Properly sealing up, insulating, and ventilating your van will pretty much eliminate the condensation problem. Reflectix, sealed around the edges with Reflectix tape when put up, does a pretty good job at creating a vapor barrier. Only time I ever have a condensation problem is when I used a Mr Buddy heater, and then it was primarily on the windows. I don't use it anymore.

Letting condensation occur over and over will end up causing greater problems.

I like your bed support idea, and suggested something similar over the weekend for another expediter.

 

[cheri1122]

Intransit: both buying your own van & driving someone else's have pros & cons, but having done both myself, I'd say buying your own is the better choice. Even if you find expediting [or living in a 'tuna can', as some call it] isn't going to work out for you, a cargo van isn't too hard to sell. If you decide to sell - many people find them pretty useful as personal vehicles, too.
Talk to drivers who are parked at truckstops, most are pretty friendly and will even show you how they setup their van for sleeping and climate control. Fill out the app on EO's home page that goes to multiple carriers, and see how it goes. You may love it [as I do, though I didn't love it in a cargo van], or hate it, but you will learn, and that's never a waste of time, IMO.
O - and if you go ahead, please post on how it's going, ok? Lots of us really enjoy those updates.

 

[Murraycroexp]

Properly sealing up, insulating, and ventilating your van will pretty much eliminate the condensation problem. Reflectix, sealed around the edges with Reflectix tape when put up, does a pretty good job at creating a vapor barrier. Only time I ever have a condensation problem is when I used a Mr Buddy heater, and then it was primarily on the windows. I don't use it anymore.

Letting condensation occur over and over will end up causing greater problems.

I like your bed support idea, and suggested something similar over the weekend for another expediter.

I wasn't clear bi was running my fantastic-fan only. Windows down about 4" each. It was just crazy humid.