Monday 26 September 2011

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.

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