Mini-Split = Major Step Up: XRV Lance Update 4 May, 2025
It has been one of the busiest months yet for both Christine and me as we put our noses to our respective grindstones and pedal to the metal for making maximum progress on our projects. Driving this in part is our decision to turn our attending our niece Julia’s wedding on June 21st in Portland Maine, into Lance’s maiden voyage. Just a quick test run so we will leave Road Runner Ranch here in Searchlight Nevada in the first week of June and drive over to Portland Main, perhaps along Route 66 to start and then after the wedding head up the East Coast and travel back across Canada to our serene getaway “Northern Home Base” aka “Ravens Ridge” on Saturna Island in BC for the remainder of the summer. Oh, and did I mention that never content with small goals, to spice it up a wee bit Christine also has a deadline to submit her newest book’s manuscript by the 5th of June. So wish us both luck !!
I left off the last update Down to Sleep; Up to Eat Lance XRV Update 30 March 2025 with the completion of pretty much all of the XAL or eXtruded Aluminium interior framing so I’ll pick up from there.
WAYNE WARNING: Given that it’s been more than a month since the last update and the amount of work on so many different aspects of XRV (eXtreme RV) Lance’s interior and systems, this is going to be a longer post so you’d be wise to get a comfy seat and a large portion of your favorite beverage before continuing. Don’t say you weren’t warned!
To help make this a bit more digestible and let you skip parts you may not be interested in, I’ll break this up into sections with a sub-title header for each of the projects I’ve tackled this past month within the larger project of transforming Lance from his roots as a 2017 Kenworth T270 Medium Duty Horton ambulance into an XRV.
I’ll wait till you get comfy and fill up your mug/glass ………………………………………………
Finishing XAL Cabinetry Framing:
I have now pretty much finished all the framing using eXtruded Aluminium T-slot extrusions, often referred to as “80/20”, by framing the upper cabinets above both Galley countertops, Passenger PS and Driver Side.
This is the one above the Passenger Side PS Galley countertop. 
and this is the overhead cabinet above the DS Galley countertop.
with the ever present Fusion 360 3D model on my laptop. 
You can see a bit of the detail of the way I am connecting all the various lengths of XAL which are all 1 inch square with either 2, 3 or 4 T slots. 
You can also see some additional XAL framing above the Entry Door into Lance’s “Happy tat” which I’ll explain a bit more in a few minutes. 
Peering into the Fusion 360 3D model of the Happytat might help to give you some perspective of the overall layout. L-shaped Settee in the Rear (far left) with the Queen Bed (not shown) raised up into the ceiling and the two Galley countertops on the PS and DS in the middle and then the Fridge/Freezer PS front with the shower in between that and the Head/Bathroom on the DS front (upper Right here)
The last bit of XAL framing when pretty quick and easy to put the last piece of the L-shaped Settee into place for the seat that goes across the back in front of the two rear doors of the Happytat “box”. 
Not to get too far ahead of ourselves but thankfully my Beautiful Bride has been taking some time away from her writing to create these drawings for the Settee cushions with the help from some AI of course to create these sketches a bit faster. She is now working with a local upholstery guy up in Vegas as we simply don’t have the time to sew these ourselves. 
This is a sample swatch of the upholstery fabric that Christine has found and we both really love.
For those curious, this is “Outdura Raindrop Lapis” which is eXtremely tough, easy to clean, long wearing fabric. 
….. and this is the beautiful (we think) glass and stone tile that she found and should be here in a few days.
More updates in the next installment once these start to go into Lance so do stay tuned for that.
GALLEY COUNTERTOPS:
With the Galley XAL framing all in place it was time to switch gears and get on with installing the countertops themselves.
After several months of research, phone calls and Emails to find full uncut lengths of the countertop material and colour we wanted and which we could get delivered to us, this bundle of joy finally arrived at the FedEx Freight Terminal in S. Las Vegas. 
We found this Blue Lagoon pure acrylic at Solid Surface.com (where else?!?) and got a great price at $639 for this 1/2 inch thick 144 inch x 30 inch slab. They did a great job of packaging it all up and it arrived in perfect condition. 
Would have been a bit of a challenge to bring this 12 foot slab the 75 miles back to RoadRunner Ranch but I needed two pieces that were just under 6ft each so I brought my handy cordless circular saw with me and cut it in half and loaded it into Totu our 2006 Toyota Tundra, and we were off. 
Well, I did make a quick stop while I was up in Henderson (south part of Vegas) at our favorite Home Depot to pick up four sheets of 1/4” and 1/2 thick Baltic Birch plywood and these two other boxes which you’ll just have to wait for a bit to discover what’s inside them. 
This 1/2” solid acrylic material was very nice to work with using my regular carbide tipped saw blades and router bits and after some careful “measure twice, cut once” checks between the model and the actual interior I quick had the larger DS Galley countertop cut out. 
With the cutouts to go around the intersecting XAL parts and the bed lift linear actuators on the far Left here, it was a nice close fit.
You’ll note that I now also have the combo mesh/blackout screens for the MasterCraft double pane glass windows now installed and secured to the walls. 
Repeating the same process and the PS Galley countertop went into place.
We like the look of thicker exposed edges around all the countertops so my next step was to cut 1” and 2” strips of the acrylic sheet and glue them along all the edges and overtop of where the countertop attaches to all of the XAL framing underneath. Pretty simple process using a purpose made epoxy glue and matching gun you can see in the middle Right and then clamping the two mating surfaces together. 
Now for the FUN part! Cleaning up all the now 1” thick edges where the two pieces had been glued together. The clamp on strait edge was a bit help to quickly have a straight guiding surface for me to hold the base of the router to and shave off the edges.
Just like on our boats we don’t want any sharp corners to bump into so I quickly put together this little jig using some scraps of XAL to guide the router around the corners. 
A short length of the 1” radius external corner XAL was the Goldilocks size for nice safe corners so this worked out great to guide my smaller cordless 1/4” router.
and you can see how the glue joint pretty much disappears when these edges are routed nice and flush. Final polishing of all the countertop surfaces will make this pretty much vanish and I’m very happy with these early results.
Using a 3/8” radius carbide round over router bit I put a nice smooth radius on the top edges……. 
…….. and then switched to a 1/4” radius bit for the bottom edge as we thought this combination looked and felt the best.
What do you think? 
T’was a wee bit messy I suppose but otherwise worked out very well and …….. 
…… provided Christine with some chuckles and entertainment courtesy of her very own Frosty the Snowman. 
Now on to the details starting with the cutout for the nice big and deep SS sink. 
Once I had the large opening cut out with the circular saw I cleaned up the inside edges same as I did with the outer edges using the router and a 1/2” radius round over bit to provide what we thought was the best look and feel for the undermount sink. 
Gee, actually starting to see a Galley in here! 
With the sink test fitted and approved, next detail was to use this flush bottom router bit to cut a shallow recess in the XAL where the edges of the SS sink would sit down flush with the rest of the XAL surfaces. 
This was necessary so that the countertop would sit perfectly flush on top of all the XAL and sink edges. 
The final result was well worth the eXtra effort to get this clean fit between the undermount sink and the countertop material. 
One more job checked off the list! 
Moving over to the PS Galley, next job was to fit this lovely 2 burner induction cooktop into the countertop using the same process as the sink…… 
………. layout the opening with masking tape and pen, cut out the opening with the circular saw and Japanese flush cut hand saw……. 
….. a little bit of filing to put in some small grooves for the screws in the side edges of the cooktop and it slid into place just right.
I will install an 120V outlet underneath to plug this into and won’t fasten this down permanently so it can be easily lifted out and put atop our outside table when we want to cook out there. 
If you peer through the mess you just might be able to see quite a large and lovely two sided Galley?! 
Final bit of kit to finish off the Galley for now was to install this marvelous dual kitchen faucet that we can’t wait to try out. 
Quick and simple install, just drill the 1 1/4” hole in the countertop, assemble the braided SS Hot & Cold hoses into the base of the faucet and insert through the hole. A brass nut then slides up from below and threads onto the base of the faucet with washers sealing both sides and it is ready to be connected to the hot and cold PEX hoses when they go in on the upcoming plumbing phase of Lance’s transformation. 
All the potable water we put into the two 170L/45 USG water tanks will go through a set of three filters but to clean it up to the next level I installed this Acuva UV water filter with its own faucet.
I can taste that fresh clean water already!
Water Fill Up @ RoadRunner Ranch!
Speaking of tasty fresh water, for those of you wondering, here is how we provide plenty of fresh water for our current totally Off Grid home here on RoadRunner Ranch.
First I load this empty 1270L/335 USG IBC Tote (International Bulk Container) into the back of Totu. 
Then make the 2 mile drive into the booming metropolis of Searchlight (pop 245) to this “secret” water tap carefully tucked away on this abandoned lot courtesy of one of our neighbors “Amber”. This is fresh out of the ground from the large wellhead that provides all the “city water” to the homes of residents of Searchlight and has incredible pressure and volume so only takes me less than 20 minutes to completely fill the IBC Tote. 
Then drive back home to RoadRunner Ranch, connect the hose to the large valve on the bottom of the IBC Tote which leads into ……. 
…… here and use an electric pump to transfer the water into our four IBC Totes stacked up inside the end of one of our two 40ft shipping containers.
BTW; All of this equipment and the containers came with the property!
With all four IBC Totes filled up, this provides us with over 5,000L / 1340 USG of sparkling fresh potable water which is more than a year’s worth for us.
Each tote takes me about 3 hours round trip so not bad for free fresh water!
OK, now back to Lance …….
Mini Split is Major!
Remember those two boxes you saw when I picked up the plywood and the solid surface countertop material in Henderson/Vegas?
Well, here’s what those were. 
Yup! This awemazing 9000 BTU Pioneer mini split ductless inverter heat pump.
While our primary source of heat in colder weather will be our heated floor which is provided by the Oasis diesel boiler heating up the Glycol flowing through the PEX lines embedded in the floor and through the two “cozy” heat exchangers for hot air, this mini split air conditioner uses a heat pump which we can run in “reverse” to rapidly heat up the Happytat in situations when we have left Lance sitting for several hours or days in extreme cold such as the Norther Territories of Canada, Alaska and the Arctic which we are already eXcited about eXploring in Lance.
Of course the primary purpose and use for this Mini-Split will be at the opposite end of the temperature spectrum when we are in hot humid conditions on our upcoming travels throughout North and Central America. 
I’ve been quite blown away by how much these units have increased their efficiency in cooling/heating/dehumidifying and even more so with their power efficiency.
At full crank this unit will only use about 700 Watts so we will be able pretty much use this as much as we want when fully off grid and unplugged powering it from our 15.36kWh lithium house battery bank. (much more on that in the next update posts)
Do you recall me pointing out the additional XAL framing I installed above the Entry Door into Lance’s Happytat? Well here is what that was for. I put in two vertical XAL supports in the framing above the door and so all I needed to do was bolt in the mounting plate that Pioneer includes with all their Mini-Splits and then you simply lower the unit onto this plate and click it in place! 
One of the benefits of doing a custom build is that you get to make everything a Goldilocks (just right) fit and this is a good example.
Next steps for this installation will be to remove this once I have it property fitted and connect the control and 240AC power cords and the two copper lines for the refrigerant. 
Looks may be a bit deceiving here in terms of the headroom when going up/down the entry way stairs but we had calculated this all out and even our taller friends well over 6ft won’t have to duck or have any limitations getting in or out.
I waited till I had this inside unit of the Mini-Split installed to finalize the height of the fridge/freezer and I’ve now lowered it about 50mm/2inches so that there is a bit of clearance between the Fridge door when it is opened and the rotating louver on the bottom of the Mini-Split when it is in operation. 
Well that was pretty quick and easy but not so fast Wayne!!
Just where and how are you going to mount THIS piece of the puzzle; the exterior half of the Mini-Split??!!
Don’t want to put it on the aft bumper as it looks atrocious and you give up using one of the two rear doors and also blocks tail/brake lights.
Room underneath is very limited for such a large item that measures LxWxH at 73cm x 56cm x 30cm / 29” x 22”x 12”
Hmmmmmm, what to do, what to do ??????????
I spent a LOT of time under Lance measuring every bit of available space, trying out every orientation I could come up with and for awhile I thought the best solution was going to be to dismantle the unit cut out the compressor and all the copper refrigerant lines and compressor so that I could mount the fan and conder unit horizontally. The compressor MUST remain in the “normal” upright/vertical orientation or else it won’t work but the condenser/fan unit works fine at any angle. So for a good while that was my plan; cut the compressor/condenser unit in the photo above into two separate pieces, mount the compressor unit in its required vertical position in a space underneath and then mount the condenser/fan unit sideways or horizonal underneath. It was still going to be a close fit to clear everything and not reduce ground clearance but I was pretty confident it would work and found one person on YouTube who had done something similar and it had been working well for him for several years already.
However, in one of those “Wait, what if …….???” moments in the middle of the night, I wondered if I just might be able to leave this condenser/compressor unit as is and mount the whole thing vertically underneath?? I did a LOT more measuring back and forth between the space under and behind the stairs into Lance and the Pioneer unit itself and convinced myself that while it would be a VERY close and tight fit, it WOULD/COULD work. The original Horton ambulance box had its own AirCon unit and its condenser/compressor was mounted under the steps but it was a special short and long unit made for this purpose and my Pioneer Mini-Split was MUCH larger.
I disconnected, unbolted and removed that original Horton unit which I needed to do in any case, and did more measuring and plotting with lots of consultations with my partner in life, and here’s what we came up with …….. 
I made a this plywood mock up that might give you a clue as to the plan?
Yup, turns out that with literally 1mm / .03inch clearance I could just squeeze this into the space between the first step and the rear wheel well.
I laid out the lines, measured a few more times, got out my trusty mini circular saw, took a deep breath and started to cut out part of the aluminium diamond plate on the rear of the steps. 
Whatta ya think?Is it going to fit? 
Well I did say this was going to be a shoe horn fit, and for a change this was NOT hyperbole as you can see! 
With a little help from my friends; Misters Crowbar, floor jack and ……….. 
……… tie down ratchet strap, guess what?
It fit!!!!!
For those concerned and in spite of appearances in these photos to the contrary, this was all done very “gently” and the unit does fit without bending or damaging anything. Part of the challenge with this solution was with the orientation of the unit because I could not block or impede the flow of air in/out of this unit and had to also have the location of where the copper refrigerant lines hooked up. Amazingly, it all worked out in the end. 
Once I knew for sure it would actually fit, however closely, my next challenge was how to hold this 24kg/52lb unit solidly in place?
My pack rat tendencies came to the rescue yet again and I was able to repurpose some of these rectangular extruded aluminium channels and bolt them into the AL frame of the Horton box in the just right locations for the compressor/condenser unit to fit snuggly into.
It was going to require that I install two of these AFTER Christine and I wrestled the unit into position on the ground underneath Lance, but it would work. 
Here is how it was looking underneath around this time. 
See that spot at the rear between the Pioneer unit and that black leaf spring holder on the frame of the Kenworth chassis?
There is 2mm of clearance there, BUT it clears and nothing rubs!! 
In the end, this actually had MORE ground clearance than the original Horton compressor/condenser unit but I wanted to improve on it a wee bit more so I fabricated this “skid plate” out of AL diamond plate that I had cut out of the Horton box when modifying it for the transformation. I bolted two horizontal lengths of that same rectangular AL channel I used for the vertical mounts and then threaded up through the bottom of the diamond plate into these to securely attach this all together.
Should be able to protect the unit from any rocks or debris that might fly up and hit it. 
OK, so it was now all mounted and bolted very solidly in place, now I needed to fabricate a new stair riser to replace what I’d cut out and cover this corner of the Mini-Split. I built a frame out of some of the 10 Series 1” XAL left over from the cabinetry framing and bolted that to the AL diamond plate of the steps to create a solid frame that could be stood on. 
Added 2” of PolyIso rigid foam insulation for acoustic and thermal isolation and then started to fabricate rectangles of AL diamond plate that slid just perfectly into the slots in the XAL framing. 
This simple little new step turned out to be quite the challenge of its own as I always consider future access for maintenance and repair into my designs and knew what I’d need to be able to access the forward side of the Pioneer unit for connecting the electrical cables and copper lines for this initial install and any future work that might be required. 
I used to love making little wooden puzzle boxes that had a specific pattern of sliding intricate pieces to open it up and this experience came in eXtremely handy here as this step box turned into an origami puzzle of its own. That side facing plate you see above slides down, then the top frame and its encapsulated plate slide out ……… 
…….. and now you can slide the front facing plate up and out…….. 
…. to reach the end goal of accessing the electrical panel. 
I fabricated this new cover plate and glued the wiring diagram from the original cover to the inside. 
Connected the 240VAC power in wires ….. 
….. and screwed the new cover plate in place. 
Lastly I reversed the puzzle box “secret” sequence est Voila! The new step was done and the new Pioneer Mini-Split
was fully mounted and ready for installing the copper line set and control wiring. 
When I am all done, I will be sliding lengths of this rubber channel into the exposed slots of the XAL for a nice finishing touch and a bit of aesthetics.
Oh, and just one more thing ……..
One of the more eXciting things to happen this past week was that my Captain Christine brought back these three boxes and 
these two boxes, back home from one of her most recent drives up to Henderson for her fitness workouts and shopping’ 
Holy 3Dimensions Batwoman, boys and girls,
Wayne finally has his own 3D printer!!!!
Not that I am going to have much time to unbox and start learning how to use this Bamboo P1S 3D printer with the “combo” option of the four spool AMS Automatic Material System on top, but BOY is this going to be fun, eXtremely eXciting AND very useful for printing up so many new tools, fixtures, containers and whatever else I can design and model in Fusion 360. Even Christine shares much of my eXcitment with things she has already got in mind for me to print. Stay tuned for much more once I get some time to start using this awemazing new bit of kit.
In closing (FINALLY WAYNE!!) I’d be remis if I didn’t include kudos to our intrepid helpers who are ALWAYS on the job and without whom none of this would be possible! 
A BIG congratulations if you’ve made it this far in this marathon monster mashup and please do be encouraged with any remaining strength and perseverance to put your comments and questions in the “join the Discussion“ box below. We are back at it in the morning and will do my best to get out another update before we start on our newest adventure heading to the East Coast and back.
Ciao for now,
Wayne
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