COMFORT Amenities: Ford Transit Connect Camper Van Conversion
CAMPER VAN FOR SALE
〰️
CAMPER VAN FOR SALE 〰️
We’re sharing the third installment of our Ford Transit Connect camper van conversion and this post is all about COMFORT.
If you missed them, you can backtrack a bit and check out our previous posts on the van’s Electrical setup and the Storage components of the conversion.
But, now that we have all the fundamentals covered, we’re sharing the amenities that make the van a pleasure to use.
✅ If you’re short on time, you can jump to the materials and products we used to complete Dolly’s conversion, check out the full list here.
MATTRESS
On the inside of the van, the most obvious form of comfort is the mattress. For the van conversion mattress, we had a few factors that we had to consider before buying.
Mainly, the mattress needed to be long enough for John (who is 6’ tall) to stretch out completely. With that, we decided on a queen sized mattress but would need to cut the width to custom fit in the wood, bed platform.
Another necessary factor: the mattress needed to be thin enough to fold. If you remember back to our Storage post, the bed platform (and mattress) is only fully extended in “sleep” mode.
In “driving” mode, the mattress is stowed via a hinged section of the bed platform and folding over a portion of the mattress.
We decided on a 6 inch, queen sized Zinus gel-infused, green tea memory foam mattress. A great feature of the Zinus mattress is that it comes in a variety of depths, but in our opinion, any mattress that you are going to sleep on for multiple nights should be at least 6 inches.
With the bed platform as our reference, we measured and cut approx 12 inches of the foam mattress completely off the edge.
For the hinged section, we simply scored the mattress (not cutting all the way through) so the mattress itself would hinge as well.
VENTILATION FAN
Another big expense was a ventilation fan, but after sleeping in the van for just one night, we realized how valuable this purchase was to a comfortable night sleep.
We decided on the Maxxair Ventilation Fan. John cut a hole in the van’s ceiling and mounted it on the roof. This particular vent has a manual vent opening, several fan speeds, thermostat and came in a “smoke” color which looked ascetically better with our grey conversion color scheme.
Even on the coldest night of our inaugural trip, when temperatures dipped to below 40 degrees, our body heat filled the van after a few hours of sleep and the fan kept the air circulating. The van never got stuffy as some campers may have experienced in a tent.
AWNING
On the exterior of the camper van conversion, we decided to install a retractable awning which can be used for sun and rain shade. We did a bit of research and quickly discovered that awnings are very expensive. There are tons of options: mechanically retractable, manually retractable, awnings with sides, awnings with mosquito netting, etc.
We decided a manually retractable awning would be a good investment, and even though costly at $300, still more within our budget. We installed the Rhino Rack Sun Seeker which rolls up into an exterior, nylon zippered case, and provides about 38 square feet of coverage. Just enough for two camp chairs and a small table.
EXTRAS
We also keep a few extra comfort items stored in the roof rack such as our favorite Kijaro folding chairs and a Coleman collapsible side table. Even though most camp grounds have a picnic table and benches, its great to have the option
