Roof Rack

After the seat swivels, the next task is adding the roof rack. Seems odd so early in the build out, but the earliest items are anything that needs to penetrate the exterior of the van. The roof vent, air conditioner, and all the solar and other misc wiring need that. But the roof metal is so thin that you can't stand or kneel on the roof while trying to install the AC - you'll end up with big dimple dents everywhere.

So install a roof rack which mounts to the 5 reinforced 'rack tower' positions on each side of the van. Then you can throw a piece of scrap plywood over the rack and crawl up on top of that. The rack distributes your load to the tower positions and no dents.

We chose the Unaka Gear Company HSLD (high speed, low drag) rack (now renamed the Premium rack) and couldn't be more pleased. It's been solid and visually appealing. It works really well with solar panels to keep them low profile, but with still enough airflow underneath them.

With a single 8' ladder it took forever to assemble and mount the rack however. You're constantly moving the ladder, tweaking a position or bolt, then moving to the opposite side, rinse repeat 50 times as you're trying to mount it perfectly aligned to the roof, square, and properly torqued.

Bonus challenge is the Ford manufacturing tolerances for the holes to get to the 5 reinforced mount points is pretty bad. These are covered with a rubber plug you pull out. If you're lucky, the hole in the outer metal skin aligns with the structural steel threaded hole. But typically about half don't. And then you need to cut or grind away portions of the roof metal to gain that alignment. I scored 60% lucky and ended up having to grind away on 4 holes quite a bit. Then prime and paint and let that dry overnight before continuing. The RotoZip tool was perfect for widening the holes in a controlled manner!

There are 'extra bonus' rubber plugs that you don't end up using on the roof and it is wise to coat them with Dicor lap sealant while messing around up there. Sob stories of people having spent a year building a van out only to find a water leak on rubber plug that "looks fine," but still leaks a little causing tons of collateral damage.