New Ride - Ram Promaster

Nice van [member=40924]BMAC[/member] and I have one. A high top mid wheelbase(L2H2) Citreon Relay. If your searching for fit out info on the www it's known in Europe as a Fiat Ducato, Citreon Relay and Peugeot Boxer. Same van different badge. We buy ply lining kits for our vans around £150 for laser cut ply panels. Can hardly buy the ply here for that. 6mm on panels, 9mm on the floor. Mine is the 4005 which has the heavy duty axle/ suspension package It came with factory alarm which includes a tracker
 
wow, [member=24463]jools[/member] that is a great price.

Here in Canada we'd be importing the panels from the States and the Penda liners and they're  $642 USD which would be $889.00 CAN at today's exchange rate.

Then I'd have to add shipping and a product like this if made in the US wouldn't be subject to duty, but I'd have to pay the Canadian 5% GST and larger purchases like this would likely come through a customs broker who'd add their broker fees to handle the importation, so likely the landed cost here would be about $1,000 or so.... [scared]  [eek] [crying]

It's just ridiculous sometimes buying anything from the states with all of this in mind.
 
I had one of these until it got smashed up due to stupid driving on the part of 2 other cars...

One thing is make sure you have a spare key as they are a nightmare to get into if you have a bulkhead and get locked out. They are actually extremely secure when the deadbolt is activated! Don't ask how I know :(.

I found the ride great but hated the seating position which was why I didn't get another when I had to change. This might be different in the ram or the new model that's been out a couple months here.
 
[member=17934]jimbouk[/member] agreed I'm not going to give up my only spare key even for a remote start! Besides being told that the fobs come from Europe at a high cost, they also told me it can take several months to receive one!

The factory partition does suck as its right up against the back of the seat and you cannot slide the seat all the way back to the full travel position. Also, the partition won't allow any decent recline. I'm 6 foot tall and my knees almost hit the dash and my right knee is about 1 inch from touching the ignition key! I'm happy with the van but make sure that if you consider this van that you get an aftermarket partition instead as some models are inset another 6 or so inches rearward into the cargo space giving you and passengers more cab room.
 
FYI Rubber horse stall liners make awesome van floor liners and are available at most ag supply stores.
 
Back to your heated box.  We used 2" foam in a plywood box with a good old 75watt light bulb as the heat source.  It kept our well pump from freezing over winter at the cabin my parents had when I was a kid.  It was north central Minnesota so below 0 Fahrenheit was not unusual.  Literally pocket change for a heat source on AC power.
 
[member=53578]travisj[/member]

Thanks for the suggestion, if properly insulated I could see that it wouldn't take much of a heat source to keep the box warm.

This morning I've just started measuring the van walls in order to cut ply panels to sheath the walls. It's -15C here this morning so I'm bundled up trying to take accurate measurements so I can cut the panels in the shop. It's going slow though as I need to go inside and warm up every so often....brrrr...

I'll post pictures once I gain some traction on this project!
 
When I was painting for a living, I used an old freigerator for storing paint over winter. Like Tavis I kept a light bulb inside and never had freezing problems.
 
Braved the frigid weather here today and got one wall of the Promaster sheathed. It was -16C or -26C with the windchill here where I live so it was a bit of a slow go!

For the wall panels, I used exterior grade 1/2" plywood fastening them to the interior body ribs using self drilling tek screws which seemed to work well allowing me to bend the ply to conform to the curvature of the van sides.

Next up will be more measurements and the start of constructing the shelving system to hold my Festool systainers, DC and other tools and equipment.

For the shelving I picked up 3/4" Russian Baltic Birch that is 13 plies and laminated together with exterior grade adhesive, as there will be extreme temperature ranges (-40C to +30C), as well as differing moisture conditions and I want these shelves to last. They better, as my cost was about $80 per sheet!

Here's some pics. More to come as I brave the weather.
 

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Why not insulate behind the ply? Might help a bit with the temprature and be better for your tools :)
 
I agree with you that it would be ideal to insulate behind the ply but with the solid partition hardly any heat from the front cab area even makes it way into the cargo area.

I've placed a remote sending thermometer in the cargo area with the receiver temperature unit in the cab so I can monitor the max/min temperatures experienced. Unfortunately, as a for instance if the outside temps are -15C and I am driving with the heat on full blast, after 40 minutes of driving the cargo area would only "warm" up to maybe -10C.

Yes, with insulation added it would probably warm up in the back a little bit more, but with very few to no venting spaces in the factory partition not much warm air would make it into the back area anyways.

Here in the Prairies, when it is winter time the air is so dry and rusting of tools and such is really a non issue. It's so dry that your hands and lips crack and you get nose bleeds.

Attached to the forced air furnace in our home is an inline humidifier so that at least the home humidity is at a normal level. I've seen homes that have a malfunctioning humidifier have huge gapping between hardwood flooring planks due to shrinkage from low humidity. Plus, without humidification whenever you touch a light switch or any metal surface you get a huge static electricity zap constantly!

Even if insulated, with the cargo area being so large it would cost a small fortune to heat that space with an electrical heater so that's why I'll limit the heating to the hot box chamber mentioned earlier in the thread for my paint and caulk consumables.
 
Hi BMAC you could go with a heating mat under your floor in the van interior.Electrical code says you should have a block heater outlet for overnight parking at your place.So you could just plug it in when you park .
 
Some progress on the upfit of the PM.

It's warmed up a bit near freezing so with a small space heater in the cargo area I spent some time yesterday measuring for my shelving system. Because my driveway is sloped and I wanted to ensure that the front faces of the shelving was vertical in relation to the van verticals. This is important as the van walls are curved, so each of the shelf gables need to be scribed to fit to the van wall ply AND the front gable edges must all be vertical and in the same plane.

Might seem to be overkill to some, but I specialize in cabinetry and millwork restoration and a properly constructed van storage system will speak volumes to my clients when they see the the van interior.

To accomplish determining the shelving positions, I located the stamped steel vertical ribs/profiles at the front and rear of the cargo area and set into position 2 vertical oriented zip poles. Then I ran a series of string lines between the zip poles so I would have a centreline reference or datum points to measure against.

I first built a template using regular 1/2" ply so I didn't waste expensive 12 ply 3/4" Baltic birch ply (exterior grade glue) and then this gets transferred to the good ply.

Anyways, here's the pics. I'm heading back out to the van and my shop for the day and I'll post again once I've made more progress.
 

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Progress!

First section of racking installed!

Gables scribed to the curved walls so most shelving and mid supports also had to be modified to fit tight to the ply back wall. I'm pretty pleased about the fit and finish so far.

Next up will be two more full height shelves for my taller systainers and then the "hot box" to keep caulk and paint from freezing. Last will be storage for my CT36AC and my Nobex hand mitre saw and misc. I will probably just ply the walls on the opposite side of the van and do more racking maybe in the spring when the weather is better and I will have a better idea on what will work best for my workflow on that side.

 

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Added another section of shelving today. Need to still add 2 more mid-shelves to the latest section, ran outta time.

One of the photos attached shows my plywood template sitting roughly in position where I'll probably fasten it for good and the space to the left is where I'll build my "hot" box when I have some more time. Might be a bit until I can do more as in booked solid on projects for the next 2 weeks and I'm busy next weekend. Sucks, because I'm getting pumped knowing that the build is coming together finally! :)

 

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