Heating, Air Conditioning and Insulation in Our Van

For summer we added a CountryMod 48V 10,000 BTU rooftop air conditioner. It is "very, very slim" (about 7 inches tall) and runs straight off our 48V batteries: about 300 to 400 watts on low, and around 800 watts when it is working hard on an 89°F day.

For winter we have a Webasto Evo 40 diesel air heater, "one of the more powerful heaters on the market," with two floor registers, front and back, and it works at high altitude too. Two Nomadic Arc roof fans pull air through the van to "create that wind tunnel effect."

The walls are insulated with 3M Thinsulate, glued up with 3M Hi-Strength 90 spray adhesive, over a layer of sound deadening mat.

What we learned

• Check the cutout size in the fan manual before you cut. Michael got our first fan hole wrong ("I mistaken where the hole was going to be"); the second fan went in much more smoothly.
• Seal roof fans with butyl tape and self-leveling lap sealant.