Hiding The Battery

I wanted my leisure battery hid away under the drivers seat. The problem was that it didn’t quite fit.

I decided to raise the seat, the passenger seat has a swivel on it so it was already higher that the drivers seat. Raising it would also make them the same height again.

I had some heavy duty channel which I cut to length and drilled to match the existing fixing holes.

I bolted it to the existing fixings.

I also mounted an isolating switch on the side of the seat base.

I’ve left the final connections until I’m ready to liven it up. I also got the cable routed from the engine battery to the leisure battery and the charging relay fitted in the engine bay.

Pop Top Roof

Had the Pop Top Roof fitted a couple of weeks ago by a company in Sheffield called Vamoose.

I had it sprayed the same colour as the van as I’m not too keen on the plain white ones that you see driving around.

I’ve also got the basic frame for the cabinets fitted and the bed in place.

Biscuits And Glue

Started the day mucking out the garage.

Then onto the bit I’d been looking forward to.  Building the cabinets.

I’ve not used any screws or nails.  Just biscuits and glue.  Nice and easy to use and makes strong joints.

First the plan.  I’m not a real draftsman by the way.

The chosen tool of the day

The progress made today……

And So It Continues.

Had a good weekend working on the van.

Saturday:  Got the last of the wiring installed and then fitted the lined ply sheets to the walls.

Then made a start on the floor.

Sunday:  Spent all day getting the Nora floor tiles laid.  Next job will be giving them a coat of wax then bolting the Rock & Roll bed down.

And a gratuitous arty farty shot

Split Charge Wiring Diagram

I’ve spent a while deciding on how I want the electrical install to work in the van.  I’ll plan the layout of the lights, sockets and pump later.

This is the preliminary plan.  The intelligent split charge relay will be mounted next to the starter battery in the engine compartment.  The leisure battery will fit under the drivers seat.  The 12v fuse panel, 240v MCB/RCD board, 12v/240v lighting transformer and spot light relay will be mounted in the rear cupboard by the back door.

It will enable me to have the following:

• The leisure battery will charge while the engines running
• The intelligent split charge relay will disconnect the starter battery from the leisure battery when the engines not running, this will stop it being flattened when parked up and using the lights, 12v outlets and water pump in the van
• The biggest load on the leisure battery will be the 12v spotlights so I’ve added a relay and a 24v/240v transformer that will power them when connected to camp site 240v supplies

Additions at a later date:

• I have a 600w 240v inverter that I’d like to add so I can charge/run my laptop.
• I’d like to add a 240v battery charger to charge the leisure battery when connected to camp site 240v supplies
• I have an amplifier and pair of large Alpine speakers which I’d like to power off the leisure battery

 

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Change Of Plan.

I was going to carpet all of the back of the van, covering up all the the blue. Tried a test piece and it was a nightmare to do and would have looked like a bodge.

So spent the weekend covering all the ply panels with carpet. The remaining blue paintwork around the windows and doors is going to be rubbed down and sprayed silk black.

Far easier and will look a lot better than the effect my crap carpeting skills would have produced.

So next job, rubbing down and painting, then rubber floor tiles, then re-fit the carpet covered ply panels.

Fitting “Fasp” Seat Swivel

Fitted a swivel for the front seat today. Easy ten minute job, and the thing does what it’s supposed to do, it swivels the seat to face backwards.

To fit it, the seat was removed from the base by undoing the four Allen bolts that hold the seat rails to the base.

The swivel plate then bolts to the base using the four countersunk bolts supplied with the seat, leave them all loose until you’ve got them started into the threaded holes in the base. Then tighten them up.

The orange handle on the swivel needs to be facing the handbrake, pointing upwards.

Then drop the seat onto the swivel plate and use the Allen bolts you removed previously and four 13mm nuts to bolt the rails to the swivel, again fit loosely until all are located.

When fitted the seat can be swiveled 180 degrees to face into the back of the van.

I like it when things do what they’re supposed to do without any fecking about.

Leisure batteries?

Who’d have thought it would be so hard to choose a leisure battery?

After a lot of trawling around I’ve gone for an Elecsol 110-12V 110Ah Carbon Fibre Deep Cycle Battery. It gets endorsements from The Caravan Club, Auto Trail mobile homes and Caravan Life.

Three reasons copied from their website why I chose this one:

More Power – Less Weight.
These batteries offer higher power and performance through the use of unique patented carbon
Fibre technology. Independent tests prove they give 20% more power output for no increase in the overall weight of the battery

5 Year Guarantee.
A full 5 year guarantee is offered world-wide for all our products for Deep Cycling Application and Engine Start.

3 x the Cycling Life.
The carbon fibre technology employed in the whole battery range significantly increases the cycling performance and life of the battery when compared to equivalent semi traction batteries. These batteries will complete over 1000 deep discharge cycles -3 times as many cycles as the nearest equivalent.

Cooker and Sink Acquired

Found a cooker and sink combination that will fit in the narrow worktop and has two separate glass lids. It’s a Smev MO922L.

It came with all the pipe and conections required, even the gas bottle regulator. Bought from here for £290.

Floor Panel And A 1st Attempt At Carpeting

On Sunday I had a go at re-covering the side panels. The old grey carpet was a pain to get off but the new carpet went on easily.

The Kingspan insulation got fitted and gaps filled with expanding foam. Then we ripped the old floor out.

Under the floor the van fllor was in good shape but full of sand and sawdust which Liz dealt with.

I used the old fllor as a template and cut new floor sheetas out of exterior ply. The old floor sheets were put back in and then the old carpet then the new sheets placed on top and screwed down. The idea of sandwiching the carpet was to give some extra insulation.

The new floor in……