Windows

I roughly marked out the area for the bunk/bedroom windows with masking tape. The Inner Space team measured this more precisely before they started drilling.

I was thinking about getting awning style bunk windows on the side of my bed, because I liked the idea of being able to open them in the rain. But, they were out of stock for months and were holding up my build. I also read some complaints from people who said that the awnings tended to get loose and jiggle when they drive - definitely don't want that...

...As an alternate to the awning style bunk windows, Wyatt at Inner Space encouraged me to consider the similar half-slider bunk windows. The main difference is that you can't keep them open in the rain.

I ended up going with the half-sliders (one is shown here in this picture, as well as the kitchen window) and I'm pretty happy with them. Sometimes I slide them open at night and turn on the MaxxAir fan (discussed in the HVAC section) to get a nice breeze going.

Here's the passenger side, same bunk window alongside the bed. The only drawback to the bunk windows is that the bug screen interferes a bit visually with the view of the outdoors. But I guess if the alternative is having a bunch of bugs inside, I am okay with it.

I put a large fixed window on the slider door as a safety concern. Sometimes if you are making a left turn at an odd angle, you need to be able to see out. But I'm glad it's there because it also adds some nice scenery to my desk area.

Now that the windows were in, I had the fun task of trying to figure out how to cut the window frames. This was pretty early in the build, I had no clue what I was doing, and I found it pretty difficult. Plus, I was cutting everything with a circular saw, which is not at all ideal for these thin cuts. I have a miter saw now which would have saved me a ton of time.

I didn't have these woodworking corner clamps then, either, which would have made it easier. But I learned by trial and error.

The van wall is at an angle, it's not straight, so it was tough to align the window frames in exactly the right spot. Plus, the edges of the windows are curved, but I decided to keep the frame corners square just for the sake of simplicity.

Next I had to cut an opening in the wall panel that was exactly the same size and location as the frame. First I drilled a pilot hole using a spade drill bit or a hole saw large enough to insert my jig saw blade. Using the jig saw I made a hole large enough for my arm. I then held the wall panel in place along the wall and stuck my arm in the hole to trace the inside of the window frame in pencil. It took a few tries to get it perfect.

I repeated this whole process for each of the three windows - the kitchen crank-out and the bed bunks. It was pretty time-consuming, as you can imagine.

You can see in this photo where the bottom of the wood got wet when a pipe burst in my basement. That was fun.

Since it was going to be painted anyway, I decided it would be okay.

Here's the frame for the kitchen window. I had to tweak this one a little bit because the right side of the frame was conflicting with the awning crank-out handle. I added a shorter piece of wood and it fits perfectly now.

After the frames were finished, I took them all out and painted them black before finally installing them. That had to be finished before the Paneling could go in.

Here's a look at the kitchen window after I installed and painted the window frames and the wall panels. You can see that it's open/cranked out here, even in the rain. I really like this awning feature. When the MaxxAir fan is running it creates a nice cool breeze throughout the van, and you can leave it open during a light rain and not get any water inside.

The edges of the window frames still looked rough, so I experimented with some different types of moulding from Lowes. I ended up using this wall panel moulding and painted it black. (In retrospect I think the white version like this would have been a crisper look.) Since the wood is so thin I was having trouble attaching it with screws without splitting the wood. My handman Jeff got them on there securely using the Titebond and Loctite.