Glazing Ahead

A major update this week as we had the windows and bed fitted.  Thanks to T4 Transformations in Wakefield who fitted four side and a tailgate window all in a limo tint, they are fixed windows except the one behind the driver's seat which slides open.







Also thanks to JDS Metaltech in Sheffield who fitted one of their Rock and Roll style beds.  Their space saving design means that when the bed is in an upright sofa configuration, it sits further back than most units providing more living space in the van.  In fact you are sat virtually up against the back door.







We had a mains hookup inlet fitted too, visible on the offside behind the rear wheel.   In black so as to be a bit less conspicuous.  I thought that while T4 were having fun cutting holes in our van they might as well install one of these to save me the hassle.  I will have to wire it up to the consumer unit at some stage, at the moment it simply runs a length of three core cable inside the van.






We bought a combined hob, grill and sink unit from EBay which should arrive this week.  We have more or less finalised our water supply arrangements which will be a cheap submersible pump inside a portable 25 litre water container, all housed in the rear cupboards and accessed from the tailgate.  I did consider a fixed tank or even an under chassis unit but freezing and contamination are a concern.  The advantage of a portable container is that you don't have to drive the van to the water supply in order to fill it up!

I have been reading up about fridges, as we need to have a fridge or at least know the dimensions of a likely modelbefore building our wall units.  The common three way (12v/240v/gas) caravan fridges require vent and flue holes cutting in the side of the van if they are to be used on gas, I'm not enthusiastic about having more holes cut in the van and even less keen on the safety implications of having gas appliances running all day.  The Calor bottle supplying our double hob and grill will be switched off at the valve when not in use, and will have a drop-out hole in the floor in case of leaks.  Ultimately I want to buy one of the new compressor fridges which run from the leisure battery and are extremely efficient consuming around 1 Ah, however they are ridiculously expensive at over £400 new, I wouldn't pay that much for a domestic fridge never mind one for a camper van!  So for the moment we will probably build the units to fit either a Waeco CR50 or a Vitrifrigo fridge to be bought at a future date, and until then use our cheapo Asda portable unit and do without when not on electric hookup.

Insulation is finished and carpet lining well under way.  Mains and lighting cable routing is done.  Note the jazzy deck chair fabric on our sliding door!

We should hopefully have another update next week with some progress constructing the furniture.

Vanfest

Thanks to some last minute negotiations on Jude's part we managed to get some tickets to Vanfest last weekend, this was our first weekend "camping" in the van.  The living accommodation was a bit sparse to say the least, comprising a mattress in the back and a small camping stove but we had a good time at Vanfest and I'm sure that our facilities will be much better on our next weekend away.

Anyway we picked up some bargains including a roll end of Lino, 4 slightly bent pieces of Silent Gliss curtain rail and an aluminium folding table for the awning - the awning that we don't have yet, just one of many things still on the shopping list.  Oh, and we bought a bandana for Harvey which says "Air cooled dog" and very cool he looks too!

 

Most useful though was having the opportunity to view the professional conversions, getting a close look at how they are constructed and we came away with plenty of ideas and lots of pictures of the insides of cupboards!

On Monday we will be taking the van to T4 Transformations in Wakefield to have five windows fitted, then on to JDS Metaltech in Sheffield who will be fitting the Rock and Roll bed.  I am not brave enough to cut holes in the van myself so it makes sense to have the windows professionally fitted, and the bed comes with free fitting anyway!  We are really looking forward to seeing the van take shape, in particular once the bed is fixed in place we will know exactly what space we have to work with.

In preparation for all this work, this week we have been preparing the van, in particular making sure the floor is solid and level before the bed goes down.

The insides of the body panels got a treatment of Waxoyl with underseal applied to the upper and more accessible areas.  Then a layer of loft insulation was added, this is made from recycled plastic bottles.  And to complete the sandwich a layer of airtec foil insulation on top.  The roof panels have also now had a second layer of airtec.

 

The driver's side rear panel has not been insulated yet as this is where the mains inlet will be so there is some wiring to be installed there yet.  I have also made a start on routing mains and 12v cables including a 10mm cable from the starter battery through the bulkhead and to where the relay and leisure battery will be.

The Lino was a bargain at Vanfest, a 3m x 2m piece reduced from £45 to £20 on the Sunday when everyone was packing up.  I am impressed with the quality, it is really heavy duty stuff but very tough to cut as a result.

Finally a rear view mirror from a Passat and an interior light unit from a Golf, £6 and £10 from the local scrappy.

Starting on the Insulation

Remaining pieces of bulkhead frame removed at the weekend, these had to be drilled out and the bottom piece cut out with an angle grinder.  Jude doesn't trust me with dangerous tools because I'm such a clumsy oaf, but we counted the fingers out and we counted them all back in again and I'm happy to confirm that all digits are accounted for.


















Our eBay purchases have started to arrive daily now, from seat fabric to fuse box and a 140 amp split charge relay.  We also bought some funky multi coloured LED strip lights from B&Q, marked as "low voltage" and as expected they run on 12 volts without the mains transformer.






Tonight we made a start on the insulation.  The plan is to insulate and carpet line at least the passenger side rear quarter before the bed goes down, as fitting insulation and lining with the bed in place would be awkward.













One layer of Airtec foil lined bubble wrap insulation stuff on the floor and we then screwed the floor ply back down.  A section along the driver's side wall will have to be removed at some point to drill holes in the floor for waste water, 10mm feed from starter battery to leisure battery, and the gas drop-out.





Flashing tape to deaden vibrations followed by the first layer of Airtec on the ceiling, the plan is to add another layer and then construct a lightweight foamex board headliner.

Now the Hard Work Begins

We drove over to Stockport today to pick the van up and brought it back to Sheffield over the Woodhead Pass.  I was pleasantly surprised at how responsive it is, hit 80 at one stretch on the M1 without even realising it.  Anyway we got home without a hitch, even managing to find the fuel filler and remember that it uses diesel not unleaded!

Our drive is quite narrow, but I managed to reverse it down towards the garage without ripping the wing mirrors off.  Job done.  The twin passenger seats may have to be removed for easy access between cab and rear.  I have read that 2001-2006 Mini Cooper seats are almost a perfect fit on the VW seat frame.

The first job was to remove the factory fitted bulkhead, that was easy enough but the mounting frame is welded to the floor and bolted to the sides of the cab near to the seat belt mounts.  We will take the angle grinder to these tomorrow.  Note the ingenious use of sponges to prevent the tailgate hitting the garage door frame!









Jude has been researching cabinet construction and seat materials, apparently we are to have a Suffolk beach hut theme which should be unique and look great.  We had toyed with the idea of doing an "Ikea Conversion" but more or less shelved that one now in favour of building a wooden framework which will allow a more flexible design.


Harvey helping
















Bulkhead and all ply lining removed, and floor cleaned up nicely.  That's all for today.