Thought I’d share some of the small modifications I’ve made to my 2012 Roadtrek 190 Simplicity.  These aren’t product endorsements, advertisements, and I’m not promoting the products or vendors.  I did all of these myself, but got the ideas from seeing what others had done.  It’s in that spirit that I’m sharing the improvement ideas and things I’ve done.

This year, I added a stone / bug deflector to the front hood.  I found that the leading edge of my hood was consistently getting plastered with bugs and taking some chips from small stones.  I got the deflector from Weather Tech on the Internet.  It is a custom fit for the Chevy Express Van. Cost was $60 plus shipping and it attaches to the underside of the hood with two self taping machine screws and adhesive strips.  It took about 30 mins to put it on.  And it works.  No more bugs plastered to the hood.

Stone & Bug Deflector

I also added side window deflectors to the drive and passenger side windows.  These are also from Weather Tech and cost $60 plus shipping for the pair.  These are custom to the Chevy Express Van.  They fit snug into the window channel slot, no tools needed.  It took about 15 mins to put them in.  These cut down the wind flow into the van when you crack the window open. They also keep the rain out.

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Side Window Deflector

I have an armoire behind the drivers seat.  I added a gallery molding to the top of the armoire so I could use the top of the armoire to store soft items such as bread, cereal boxes, chips, tissues, etc.  I got the gallery molding from Home Depot.  Cost was $20.  I had to cut the molding and screwed it to the armoire top.  The molding is maple, but I stained it to match the cherry finish of the armoire.  It took about 30 mins to put it in, not including the finishing time (staining and polyurethane).

Armoire top with gallery molding

In the picture above, you’ll also see that I added a holder for a hand soap dispenser and / or hand sanitizer to the outside the cabinet above the sink.  I made it out of 1/2 scrap wood that I had in my wood shop.  I used 1/2 maple, which you can buy small pieces at Lowe’s or Home Depot, and stained it to match the cabinet.

I added another towel holder to the top of the bathroom door.  I used a 16 in stainless steel cabinet pull that I got from Lowe’s. Cost was about $39.  I needed to drill two holes in the top of the door to put screws thru to secure the pull to the door.  It took about 15 mins to put on and looks great.

Lastly, I needed a clock in the rear of the van to be able to see the time while in bed or while watching TV.  I made a small little shelf in my shop out of 1/2 scrap oak wood and got an inexpensive alarm clock from Walmart.  I put the shelf on the wall below the DVD player and just above the TV.  I used self adhesive Velcro strips on the shelf and the bottom of the clock to hold it in place.

Clock on small shelf

Total cost for all of these mods was just around $200.