Awesome video Zach. Thank you for taking the time to make it! Totally love this for reference. Don’t forget about the “Valuable” storage space under the bed. When you move the bed, lift up the driver side bed panel and there is a really small cubbie (the other side of the bed lock) to store valuables. I use it to store my purse and wallet there if I’m out on a hike. :).
This is so helpful! I just bought a used Cascade Camper from Voyageurs Campervans in Minneapolis, MN.. We've taken two trip w/ a weeklong adventure planned for March 22. I've been wanting more detail about the power system and how to properly open and close the van... thanks for putting this together!
Zach - appreciate your new instructional video. Didn’t know we can turn our Dometic CF-25 refrigerator 180 degrees inside the rear Cascade cabinet to cook outdoors. Bravo 👏
I have to be honest, after watching this video I learned that the faucet swivels up and down and to the side. For almost two years I thought it only went up and down. Also, I did not know about the little compartment behind the drivers seat. Wow! Thanks for educating me!
That was great Zach - I had forgotten so many things - thank goodness Lisa aka Rickshaw did a similar tour with me on my first outing - Just watched this as I am going to change the water and wanted some reminders regarding power. Cascade Campers is the best and everyone who sees mine is amazed!!
Such a helpful video! I own your 93’rd van buildout! I knew most of this after having it for a year and a half, but I did learn a few tips too! Thanks!
Thanks for making this, and thanks for pointing out the cup holder in the driver rear door. I never would have found that. I have been living in my Cascade Camper full time since August and love everything about it.
Great video, thx. Would it be a more versatile fan configuration to have the exhaust positioned over the cooking area, and the other fan over the far rear corner of the bed, motor wiring flipped so that it can pull air in. That way you could more immediately get cooking vapors out, as well as create a powered cross breeze for sleeping.
Hello Catmandeux, these are good thoughts and there are a couple of reasons why we didn't go that route. The style fan we use can't be used to pull air in even if the motor is reversed. It is a squirrel cage type fan versus a propeller type fan that is capable of being reversed. We use the squirrel cage type fan due to its small size an ability to be installed on a flat part of the roof where the bigger fans would install over raised ridges making it much harder to seal well. The reason why we put both fans in the one corner is to free up space on the roof for the solar panel and to create a breeze in the van. What you can do is crack a window on the cooler side of the van in the summer and the air flows from that opened window through the van to exhaust fans. The reason why we do 2 fans isn't because of the need to move that much air as one on full blast is plenty of airflow for a van this size. It is instead to be able to run both of them on low so you have a lots of air flow with minimal noise.
@@cascadecampers Thanks for explaining that, it makes sense. My question is how tall is the van with the fans? I would have to park in a garage because of an HOA.
Great video. How high off the floor is the sofabed? Just wondering at 6ft tall if there would be enough head room under the 51 inch ceiling while sitting up.
I love my Cascade Camper van! But I hate the door locks. If you travel with a dog, you will understand immediately. With my dog in the passenger seat, I closed the driver’s door to walk around to the other side. Before I was able to open another door, my dog had stepped on the door lock, locking her - and my keys - in and me out. Fortunately, it was a warm day so the window was partially open. A friend retrieved a back scratcher and used the curved hand to pull up the door lock lever. Lesson learned!
Thank you for pointing out the door lock issue. Thank goodness my JRT likes riding in the back with the couch in bed position. I run her leash through a D-ring and double it back to her harness. Flaw with my plan, I’m so short that she got wedged between the driver’s seat and the bed. 😬😬😬 I’ll be stuffing a blanket in that hole in the future. #275 Allen the Alien 👽
looking to be a future " cascader " I would like to know if the upgrades were to be done/sent before hand; if they could be but in on the first build instead of upgrading later. I'm not going for the stealth camper look but love the functionality of the inside and that it could be done in about a day.
My first time changing the water tank, my lights and facuet wouldnt turn back on. Fridge and vent are on Red, kitchen, reading, and sink power are off. I flipped the house battery breaker, but it didnt turn back on. What may be the issue here? Thanks!
The fans are next to each other due to limited space on the roof and not wanting to have them over the couch where you could hit your head. Both fans are exhaust only (out) so they are pulling the hot air near the roof out. Airflow is going to happen between the fans what whatever windows you have open so no problem having them next to each other. The point of 2 fans isn't for 2x airflow and instead is to be able to run them both on low for minimal noise while still having plenty of airflow.
If you watch Smart Van’s 3 year review of his Cascade Van, you can see that he has grey fabric insulations all over his van. What happened to those magnetic insulation? Is that extra?
Hello Elle, What Smart Van did was to add the magnetic insulation from wayfarervans.com/. We have had a few customers who do a lot of cold weather camping do this. We find that most people don't need that much insulation and why we don't include something like that in our standard build in an effort to keep the price as financially accessible as possible.
Not sure it is lack of features was the problem. It sounded a lot more like it was due to his business and not enjoying vanlife. An important thing to call out is these vans were not designed to live in full time like William Shaker was doing. Sure we have a couple of dozen customers who do live in them full time but for the bulk of the 370 Cascade Campers on the road are used for travel and commuting only.
Hi. Please advise what the dimension is from the couch/bed to the ceiling? I’m just under 6’ tall, and I’m curious to know if I can sit comfortably, straight up. Thanks.
We have many customers who are over 6ft who are very comfortable both in the seating and sleeping positions. The distance between the couch and the ceiling is 35 inches.
Unfortunately we don't. The reason is the bed is fully integrated into the complete campervan. It uses the cabinet to keep the slides from going to far in one direction and the body of the van in the other direction. There are also legs that are attached to the cabinet to help support it when in bed mode. Because of this it ends up being far to complex to create and support selling plans.
Hello Lorraine, We don't make any modifications from our standard electrical system. This is necessary so that we can support the huge quantity of Campervans we send out in the world. That said we are in the process of designing and testing out a updated standard electrical system that we will be rolling out in the next couple of months.
@@zachyeager7320 please share when you do and would it be possible for us who already have a van to get it installed if we liked it better? Thanks Zach for keeping the innovation going!
@@tawneblackful2320 I am working on a lithium battery upgrade for existing Cascade Campers owners that should be available in the next couple of months. I will post it to the owners forum once it is ready.
We aim for keeping things as simple as possible. You can check the water level by opening the lid and looking or by unclipping it and lifting it to see how heavy it is. The conversion doesn't have a grey water tank. The water from the sink drains to the ground. Same as you would do if you were tent camping except you have fine control with the faucet so you have a lot less water going on the ground. Always use bio-degradable soap and don't put anything down the drain that wouldn't be ok to go on the ground. We do provide a collapsible bucket to go under the drain for those times when you are camped in a place where having the water go on the ground isn't the thing to do. There is a ton more information about our van conversions on our website at www.cascadecampers.com
The Ventline fans on full speed are a little loud. This is why we install 2 of them and install speed controllers on them to allow you to run them on low speed. We install Max Air fans but 2 of the 5 we installed failed and one leaked. The issue is the Promaster City doesn't have a good place to install a full 14" fan like the Max Air. A 14" fan also screams "I'm sleeping in my van" where the small Ventline fans that we use look more like some kind of antenna. We have built nearly 400 Cascade Campers for folks and the noise level of the fans isn't something I ever hear about from all of those happy campers out there. Not saying that Max Air fans are bad but they just haven't worked out well in our use case. Happy Camping!
Great overview… this is a valuable resource as we oftentimes forget some of the details you told us when we picked up our vans!
Awesome video Zach. Thank you for taking the time to make it! Totally love this for reference.
Don’t forget about the “Valuable” storage space under the bed. When you move the bed, lift up the driver side bed panel and there is a really small cubbie (the other side of the bed lock) to store valuables. I use it to store my purse and wallet there if I’m out on a hike. :).
This is so helpful! I just bought a used Cascade Camper from Voyageurs Campervans in Minneapolis, MN.. We've taken two trip w/ a weeklong adventure planned for March 22. I've been wanting more detail about the power system and how to properly open and close the van... thanks for putting this together!
Thank you for the video. I went right out and drained the faucet hose since the forecast was below freezing! #260
Great build
Zach - appreciate your new instructional video. Didn’t know we can turn our Dometic CF-25 refrigerator 180 degrees inside the rear Cascade cabinet to cook outdoors. Bravo 👏
I have to be honest, after watching this video I learned that the faucet swivels up and down and to the side. For almost two years I thought it only went up and down. Also, I did not know about the little compartment behind the drivers seat. Wow! Thanks for educating me!
I totally saw one of your conversions "in the wild" parked in Campbell CA the other night while walking by recognizing the decal. It was awesome!
That was great Zach - I had forgotten so many things - thank goodness Lisa aka Rickshaw did a similar tour with me on my first outing - Just watched this as I am going to change the water and wanted some reminders regarding power. Cascade Campers is the best and everyone who sees mine is amazed!!
Can’t wait to get one. I’ll see you guys next year!
Such a helpful video! I own your 93’rd van buildout! I knew most of this after having it for a year and a half, but I did learn a few tips too! Thanks!
I've been waiting for this video. Thank you! Yes, if you could produce one on changing the batteries, house and engine, would be much appreciated.
Thanks for making this, and thanks for pointing out the cup holder in the driver rear door. I never would have found that. I have been living in my Cascade Camper full time since August and love everything about it.
Came here from William Shaker.
It's good to see your product and how it's used real-time.
Great summary. Answered many questions.
Great basic conversion!
Great video, thx. Would it be a more versatile fan configuration to have the exhaust positioned over the cooking area, and the other fan over the far rear corner of the bed, motor wiring flipped so that it can pull air in. That way you could more immediately get cooking vapors out, as well as create a powered cross breeze for sleeping.
Hello Catmandeux, these are good thoughts and there are a couple of reasons why we didn't go that route. The style fan we use can't be used to pull air in even if the motor is reversed. It is a squirrel cage type fan versus a propeller type fan that is capable of being reversed. We use the squirrel cage type fan due to its small size an ability to be installed on a flat part of the roof where the bigger fans would install over raised ridges making it much harder to seal well. The reason why we put both fans in the one corner is to free up space on the roof for the solar panel and to create a breeze in the van. What you can do is crack a window on the cooler side of the van in the summer and the air flows from that opened window through the van to exhaust fans. The reason why we do 2 fans isn't because of the need to move that much air as one on full blast is plenty of airflow for a van this size. It is instead to be able to run both of them on low so you have a lots of air flow with minimal noise.
@@cascadecampers Thanks for explaining that, it makes sense. My question is how tall is the van with the fans? I would have to park in a garage because of an HOA.
@@roseboudreaux4645 With the fans it is a little over 75" tall. It will fit in all but the very smallest garages.
Thanks Zack, this is very informative it should answer many questions. Great job my Friend. #253 theJaspervan
Thank you Zach! That was helpful. I learned things I did not know. Rhodie #124.
We hope to have one built this apring
It’s a nice little camper!
Great video. How high off the floor is the sofabed? Just wondering at 6ft tall if there would be enough head room under the 51 inch ceiling while sitting up.
I love my Cascade Camper van! But I hate the door locks. If you travel with a dog, you will understand immediately. With my dog in the passenger seat, I closed the driver’s door to walk around to the other side. Before I was able to open another door, my dog had stepped on the door lock, locking her - and my keys - in and me out. Fortunately, it was a warm day so the window was partially open. A friend retrieved a back scratcher and used the curved hand to pull up the door lock lever. Lesson learned!
Thank you for pointing out the door lock issue.
Thank goodness my JRT likes riding in the back with the couch in bed position. I run her leash through a D-ring and double it back to her harness. Flaw with my plan, I’m so short that she got wedged between the driver’s seat and the bed. 😬😬😬 I’ll be stuffing a blanket in that hole in the future.
#275 Allen the Alien 👽
looking to be a future " cascader " I would like to know if the upgrades were to be done/sent before hand; if they could be but in on the first build instead of upgrading later. I'm not going for the stealth camper look but love the functionality of the inside and that it could be done in about a day.
My first time changing the water tank, my lights and facuet wouldnt turn back on.
Fridge and vent are on
Red, kitchen, reading, and sink power are off.
I flipped the house battery breaker, but it didnt turn back on.
What may be the issue here?
Thanks!
Lemon Jelly, that does sound like a unique set of circumstances. Give us a call at shop and we are happy to help you figure it out.
Interested to know if these are potentially modular or if you take requests for changes
Why are the fans side by side like that? Don't you need some separation to actually create airflow inside the van?
The fans are next to each other due to limited space on the roof and not wanting to have them over the couch where you could hit your head. Both fans are exhaust only (out) so they are pulling the hot air near the roof out. Airflow is going to happen between the fans what whatever windows you have open so no problem having them next to each other. The point of 2 fans isn't for 2x airflow and instead is to be able to run them both on low for minimal noise while still having plenty of airflow.
If you watch Smart Van’s 3 year review of his Cascade Van, you can see that he has grey fabric insulations all over his van. What happened to those magnetic insulation? Is that extra?
Hello Elle, What Smart Van did was to add the magnetic insulation from wayfarervans.com/. We have had a few customers who do a lot of cold weather camping do this. We find that most people don't need that much insulation and why we don't include something like that in our standard build in an effort to keep the price as financially accessible as possible.
Havelock wool is a great option. I've yet to order it but its on my list.
Too bad @WilliamShaker on RUclips is quitting your van for lack of features 😭
Not sure it is lack of features was the problem. It sounded a lot more like it was due to his business and not enjoying vanlife. An important thing to call out is these vans were not designed to live in full time like William Shaker was doing. Sure we have a couple of dozen customers who do live in them full time but for the bulk of the 370 Cascade Campers on the road are used for travel and commuting only.
Is this the only vehicle a person can use for this set up?
Hi. Please advise what the dimension is from the couch/bed to the ceiling? I’m just under 6’ tall, and I’m curious to know if I can sit comfortably, straight up. Thanks.
We have many customers who are over 6ft who are very comfortable both in the seating and sleeping positions. The distance between the couch and the ceiling is 35 inches.
Do you sell build plans for this bed?
Unfortunately we don't. The reason is the bed is fully integrated into the complete campervan. It uses the cabinet to keep the slides from going to far in one direction and the body of the van in the other direction. There are also legs that are attached to the cabinet to help support it when in bed mode. Because of this it ends up being far to complex to create and support selling plans.
Can i have upgraded electric system and 300 w solar with you build?
Hello Lorraine, We don't make any modifications from our standard electrical system. This is necessary so that we can support the huge quantity of Campervans we send out in the world. That said we are in the process of designing and testing out a updated standard electrical system that we will be rolling out in the next couple of months.
@@zachyeager7320 please share when you do and would it be possible for us who already have a van to get it installed if we liked it better? Thanks Zach for keeping the innovation going!
@@tawneblackful2320 I am working on a lithium battery upgrade for existing Cascade Campers owners that should be available in the next couple of months. I will post it to the owners forum once it is ready.
How do you check the water level? Where is a gray water tank?
We aim for keeping things as simple as possible. You can check the water level by opening the lid and looking or by unclipping it and lifting it to see how heavy it is. The conversion doesn't have a grey water tank. The water from the sink drains to the ground. Same as you would do if you were tent camping except you have fine control with the faucet so you have a lot less water going on the ground. Always use bio-degradable soap and don't put anything down the drain that wouldn't be ok to go on the ground. We do provide a collapsible bucket to go under the drain for those times when you are camped in a place where having the water go on the ground isn't the thing to do. There is a ton more information about our van conversions on our website at www.cascadecampers.com
@@cascadecampers I have tried many "simple" set-ups, clear water tank (food grade) is the best.
Your fans are way too loud noisy. You need to go with some Max Air fans
The Ventline fans on full speed are a little loud. This is why we install 2 of them and install speed controllers on them to allow you to run them on low speed. We install Max Air fans but 2 of the 5 we installed failed and one leaked. The issue is the Promaster City doesn't have a good place to install a full 14" fan like the Max Air. A 14" fan also screams "I'm sleeping in my van" where the small Ventline fans that we use look more like some kind of antenna. We have built nearly 400 Cascade Campers for folks and the noise level of the fans isn't something I ever hear about from all of those happy campers out there. Not saying that Max Air fans are bad but they just haven't worked out well in our use case. Happy Camping!
your power setup is very inadequate.