Finally Finished

After a year of trying to find a way of getting the doors I wanted on the cheap I decided to bite the bullet. I measured them up and ordered them from a custom kitchen company in Leeds.

They’re fitted now and finish off the van with the look I was after.

A mate with an upholstery business made me the foam pads for the bed/seat. Had six weeks of sleeping on them so far and not had an uncomfatable night yet.

We’ve been very pleased with the van so far and theres only a few small adjustments need to make it our ideal holiday transport.

Summer In Europe Trip 2010

Daily trip reports now posted. Click on links at top of this page.

Getting There

Another two days on the van, lots of work with not much to show for it.

I remade three of the doors that I’d cut the wrong size the first time. All hung now.

Did a lot of small jobs, tidying up the insides of the cupboards and got some more carpet trimming done as well. I glued the laminated map onto the table. The wife and her mate gave it the thumbs up.

I made a couple of speaker boxes that fit under the driver and passenger seat.

Took a few photos of the outside just before the sun set.

A couple more weekends will see it all done.

Some photos of the interior lights took tonight.

I’ve Got The Power

Electrics and plumbing were on the cards this weekend.

I got the leisure battery fitted and connected. Then 2nd fixed the 240v power and the 12v lighting.

I need to alter the labeling on the 12v fuse and switch panel, although I quite like the idea of having an anchor light and a bilge pump.

The door side got a decent reading light and some blingy blue led spots. The battery monitor got stuck on this cupboard too.

Theres plenty of info on the little battery meter’s read-out.

The kitchen unit got a nice bright led strip light above it and I added some more blue led spots at floor level. If you look real close you can see a 12v outlet under the drivers seat I added to plug in the cool box fridge.

So it seems to be coming together, the hob got plumbed to the gas cupboard in some small bore copper pipe and the sink waste is now installed as well.

It Started With A List

Wrote up what was needed to complete the build on a white board in the garage. Quite a few bits left to get on with.

On Saturday I started on the temporary kitchen worktop. I had some Formica covered marine ply which I cut and laminated to make a nice thick worktop. Then came the job of marking up and cutting out the sink/hob hole. This will later be replaced with something a bit more “bling”

My idea was to stick the same rubber tiles I used on the floor on the worktop. And it didn’t work out too bad and may stay for a while.

I then made an end panel near the sink which got the rubber treatment too. This will have a double socket and a four gang light switch wired into it.

Then it was onto the doors. Cut and edges rounded and all now ready for going away to be painted in a high gloss finish.

I also made a start on a shallow shelf unit above the cooker that will have some small spots fitted in it. I got the boards cut ready to fit to the bed frame and cut, carpeted and fitted a front panel on the bed base.

Quite a productive weekend.

Cupboard Love

Today I had a bash at the cupboards again.

First I needed to add a few more bits of framing for where doors would go.

Then lay the frame on the sheeting and mark out the cuts.

I used a large hole saw to get a nice radius on the door openings.

Then the big nasty router came out, the thing scares the hell out of me.

When I’d got all the door openings cut it was back to carpeting.

It now needs fixing in the van so I can scribe the two ends of the tall cupboard to match the curve of the van sides.

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.