4th Sept 2004

Apologies for the delay in updating the website - after the van was finished (well useable at least) i've been out and about enjoying weekends away and recently a 2 week trip round Scotland and the Hebrides, here are some pictures of the van in action and the places its been to - just goes to show the hard work in converting a van is more than rewarded when you can camp at some of the locations below:

Left: Skelbo forest on the way back from Scotland Middle - View from the window at Loch Etive - Right - after a walk along the loch you are presented with this view.

Skye - Camuscross - view from the door and outside showing the van in the great setting.

Sunset after a days travelling - this was taken at Sgeir Lang Slipway, near Uig on Skye

The above 4 photos taken at Aird on the island of Benbecula - between north and south uist. This beach was a perfect find, as too was the weather

Onto North Harris and to another "perfect" beach/cove called Huisinis

This is a spot camped at on the East coast of Lewis called Bail Ur Tholstaide, Tolsta Head - the van can just be seen in the centre of the photo

If anyone would like details on any of the wildcamping sites stayed at in the Scotland / Hebrides tour - drop me a line and i should be able to provide maps and more photos.

After using the van several times i'm pleased to report that nothing major has gone wrong, the only slight irritation is the Carver P4 heater that has now decided to play up - working only about one time on twenty attempts, and then cutting out after 10 mins. So its either a repair (expensive and not guaranteed) or a factory upgrade to a new Truma heater (again expensive, but half the RRP of the truma) or try and get hold of an Eberspacher diesel heater - but these seem to be nearly as expensive on ebay - i'll keep searching round the commercial scrappies to hunt one down.

As for minor niggles - i need to add a switch inline for the mains supply to the water heater, as fumbling around using the distribution board circuit breaker is too fiddly. A cigar lighter adapter needs to wired into the leisure side of the batteries to allow the laptop charger to be in use when the engine isn't running. The freezer door hinges snapped, and have been replaced (£10 from leisure spares, morley). The side loading door seal needs adjusting to stop a very small leak when the van is used in heavy rain.

After the use of the van, i'm over the moon with how its performed -but am always thinking - in the "next" van i'd like to try this in that location, and see what doing things in that manner would work like...... so it look like i'm going back to the pad of paper, and have a go at getting ideas for the next van written down (well i've got to do something constructive over the coming winter months! :-)

22nd June 2004

Quick update - after an ebay purchase of a new pair of Ducato/Relay seats i swapped out the old 'tired' seats and these bolted straight in. Now whilst the upholstery fabric on the benches might not be the 1st choice, at least now the van's seating is clean and rip free.

20th June 2004

After a quick real world trial of the van at Clumber Park near Worksop, i'm happy to report that everything worked perfect, the bed was lovely and comfy, even if the pitch i was on wasn't perfectly flat.

The last little bits i have to do are getting ever smaller - mainly sort out the upholstery, and the front seats. In the last week i made a table for the van, fitted the self adhesive vinyl tiles, screwed down the TV and freeview receiver and fitted a soundproofing kit.

The pictures above show the table works perfect for dining, fixed on an island table leg, which can rotate to allow easy access to each side of the table

9th June 2004

Got the lining carpet installed on the ceiling and walls, this was not a fun job - went through 6 400ml tins of spray adhesive, and by the end of the day my head was buzzing with all the fumes from the glue - this stuff requires all the windows and vents open whilst you use it! I've still got the floor carpet to fit, but apart from that its just doing finishing touches to try and finish the van (yeah - like i'll ever finish doing this !)

The drop out holes have been drilled under the fridge/heater, the water heater, the cooker and in the gas locker - just need to fix some plastic soffit vent trims to keep insects and the like outside the van.

Bed made in the 2 left hand photos - nice and comfy too, also shows the internal silver screens - RH pic shows the mini heki with blind and the smoke alarm fitted

Wardrobe lined out with a shelf, hanging rail and door operated light installed. RH pic shows the plate rack

at the back of the van i've fixed an Argos camping hanging tidy to the rear wall - this is to take odds ans sods of tools/cables etc. RH pic shows gas bottle strapped in with a drop out hole to the left - all i need to do back here is to put some protection over the soft copper gas pipes to stop me from squashing the pipes whilst changing gas bottles.

30th May 2004

A day of wiring (again!) - got the 2 lighting circuits wired up - 1 is for the 12v halogen downlighters, and the other is for the 12v rope light which i'm hoping will be a nice accent light in the van, also got the last mains socket wired to provide the microwave with power. The microwave is now in position through a combination of timber battens, carbond, screws and double sided foam tape, now its all set the microwave is nice and secure (lets hope it doesn't break down!). Got the bathroom light wired, and installed a wardrobe light that is switched on when the door to the wardrobe is opened

A quick test of the lights as dusk fell:

No Lights

Rope Lights

Spot Lights

29th May 2004

Finished the cupboard doors, and got part way through the microwave housing. Installed the 12v 10W halogen downlighters into the cupboard bases.

23rd May 2004

After a brain fade during the week i just couldn't work out how to fix the cupboards to the roof and wall, lots of sketches and a few mock-ups later the answer is nice and simple, the problem being that the roof and the walls are not flat, so a template that works fine in one position needs adjusting to suit a location a couple of feet away.

The bulkhead cupboard front took lots and lots of trial and error fittings, after about 2 hours of planing and jigsawing it eventually went home okay. The cupboards are made in sections about 970mm wide (2 doors), the front and the base are screwed to an angled 1"x1". The battens on the roof and wall extend the length of the whole cupboard run to take advantage of the steel spars on the van, and with big self tappers used where the battens cross the steelwork - it should ensure the cupboards won't fall down.

22nd May 2004

Today i got the thetford swivel WC installed and wired/plumbed up, also commisioned the water system, which was fun (not) - first of all the water carrying business isn't much fun (I went to 2 caravan shops for food grade cassette hose, but no luck) so using a 15l water carrier i managed to soak myself through and got about 10l into the tank. On with the water pump - whoosh ...... swirl...... whirr..... then the sound of rushing water from the bathroom, off with pump and a quick look to see that the basin tap push fit connector wasn't engaged properly, fixed that and turned the pump back on - then i noticed water in some quantity coming from a pipe near the pump, but the problem with finding a leak is you can;t shut the water off until you've found which connection is at fault - after about half a litre of water leaked i found the culprit - a push fit connection where the pipe had been used in the donor caravan and had been crimped by a jubilee clip - so narrowing the diameter ever so slightly - this was fixed, as too was a slow drip from the fiamma outlet (I hate plastic threaded things - i'm so worried about stripping the threads, and so don't tighten them correctly)

And just when you thought they'd never make an appearance - here they are again - the yellow props!! :-) :

Just this last wall panel to install after all the wiring was complete - and i managed to make a suitable panel for the switchgear:

I think it looks okay - the little rocker switches really do look the part when mounted in a panel - i just need to borrow a label machine and put some identification for the 7 switches.

14th May 2004

Went to O'Learys today to pick up the omnistor awning - well actually o'learys sent the awning about a mile down the road to Mark at Warrior Motorhomes who helps o'learys out with parts fittings - Mark had the platform lined up in his workshop, awning unpackaged, bolts at the ready, and with his assitant fitted the awning in about 30 mins - very professional, and all for £20. Thanks Mark. I went back up to the shop to pay for the awning and pick up some more furniture board to help with the high level lockers/cupboards, and whilst i was there i realised i've not had much of a chance to photograph the van properly from the outside:

you may be able to see its in need of a wash, and there are a few dings that are to be sorted out soon, together with a paint job, or a touch up and graphics (depending on cost)

phot above is bcak at home with the awning half rolled out - at least now i can work when its raining and not get the inside of the van wet!

9th May 2004

Finsished the bed base sides today, but left the front of the bases for easy (read emergency) access to the electrics and plumbing should the need arise in the first few test runs. Here are some pics of the bed

View from outside the van - a couple of shots of the seating - the RH base has the slide out section which uses 3 brackets as shown from Hafele.

bed made up - still need to decide what to do with the cusions - i have a few spare cusions from the caravan and need to work out which layout is best - have a full length backrest for the LH sofa, or just a cushion thats as long as the metal panel it rests against. As long as decsions don't get any tougher than this then i think i'll be okay from here! :-)

Built the make-up peice that links the bed to the kitchen units, as well as fitting a mains socket and another rear speaker, still unsure what to do with the cubby hole underneath - a cupboard or a bottle holder or a shoe/boot space are currently in the running. - Any suggestions - please let me know!

I had a couple of e-mails after i put up the post about the maplins switches on the dashboard earlier - i've sourced the exact same switch but with a nice little red LED to give a warning that the circuit is in operation - They can be bought from Vehicle Wiring Products in either red, amber or green, mine came from Sewells in Leeds (just off Sweet Street) and are made by Durite. I've got seven of these switches, plus the 2 carver controls, the water tank guage and the 3 panels on the RH side to build into a panel of some form. The Voltmeter in the middle of the RH pic is an old Maplins LCD project they used to sell - it runs from a 9v battery, and fits snugly into a modified Clipsal panel - a bit nicer than having to get the multimeter out to check the battery condition.

Phew - so now i've got a van that meets the insurance requirements of Shield Insurance, in that i have a bed, side windows, on board water, a wardrobe, and a (removable) dining table - Apologies to Shield for having to ask for an extension in the 6 month window that dictates the van should become a motor caravan, meeting the above criteria, but hopefully now the pictures here will satisfy them. I'm preparing the V5 to be sent away to complete the tranformation.

So whats left? - well the list still exists, but the main elements to do include fitting a set of high level cupboards, sorting out the cab seats, perhaps sorting out the sofa upholstery, fitting the lining carpet to the walls and ceiling, fitting carpet to the floor, and then i can turn my attention to getting the dinks and scratches repaired on the outside, combined with a possible respray.

8th May 2004

In the last week i have been adding to the wiring - running feeds up the wall to provide mains power for a high level microwave compartment over the sink, and for the 12v lighting to the cupboards. Also i got the split charge relay installed, using nice thick 8 guage AWG cable to connect the starter battery to the leisure batteries with 80 amp fuses. The relay is rated at 180 Amp so even with a totally imbalanced system with flat leisure batteries when the engine is started the fuses and cabling can stand a lot of juice being transfered for and aft. I have been advised that the French are known for providing alternators rated just at the exact output needed, and nothing more, a warning that with a lot of cab equipment switched on and driving at night with the lights on will take most of the alternator output, with very little left over for charging the batteries ! - I'll have to see how i get on with the setup, as my main problem fitting the split charge was actually finding the alternator - its up behind the engine somewhere - i can see the belt, and a bit of the pulley, but can't get near to it - so i took the charge wire trip feed for the relay from the back of the instrument cluster. Whilst i was twiddling with coloured wires i've changed the radio wiring so that its powered from the leisure batteries.

The woodwork side of things this week has seen me trying to get the bed based completed:

A simple framework built to support 3 sections of bed slats salvaged from the caravan, allowing access to the electrics in this bed. The back of the bed is semi exposed to the side loading door aperture so i've had to trim the back panel with furniture board. The sprung cushions to the bed fit lovely, and after several trial fits i decided that the 350mm height for the bases was a bit too much, as these cushions are a good 150mm thick, so the bed bases are now about 310mm meaning that my little legs don't dangle off the sofa :-) The plan is to get the flowery pattern replaced with some new covers or completly re-trimmed (when funds allow)

The larger bed will have a bedside cupboard, here is the side wall contructed - just need to pop a worktop and edging on top and front up the cupboard

1st May 2004

Electrics - i need to get the wiring sorted under the 2nd sofa before i build the frame and so restrict access, its not rocket science, but it is tedious work, routing cables, stripping insulation, crimping connectors. here is a picture during the wiring and one which should be near completion - just a couple more wires to route and tidy up.

28th April 2004

Bit more work on the water tank, pump and filter, and whilst i was in the mood i got the batteries held down:

LH pic shows a 12mm ply board with a 30mm x 3mm rebate down the middle, middle photo shows the screws started and the ratchet strap offered up, RH pic shows the 2 110 Ah batteries located and securely strapped down.

The fiamma water tank has a similar 12mm ply base underneath, the water connections are a little awkward as the fiamma outlet elbow and the pump inlet and outlets are designed for rubber hoses and jubilee clips, and the water heater and cold water supplies are push fit connectors, i did try and source push fit adapters for the pump and tank, however on second thoughts the rubber hose may be a better option to absorb the pump vibrations better than the semi rigid tubing used on the push fit system. In my case the water filter provided an ideal point to change from rubber hose to push fit

25th April 2004

Started the bed / sofa - cut down the slats that i salvaged from the caravan, expecting them to be nice quality timber, instead they are simply 1x1.5" with the edged rounded they have knots and other defects in the slats, so it just goes to show top quality isn't needed - these slats were spanning 1400mm, my design only spans 650mm, so i'm confident they'll be strong enough.

photos above show the frame on the workbench, after screwing the slats together the bed wouldn't pull apart, so for the slats attached to the movable section i inserted a large washer as shown to give 1mm clearance

test install in the van - threw the cushion on top to check the height, and with a base height of 350mm plus the cushion my feet are flat on the floor with my legs being nice and comfy.

24th April 2004

Finished off the kichen unit, and finished off the fridge unit:

The oven went in fine, tested ok with the gas and the electric ignition, the carver P4 is plumbed in and works fine, as does the fridge on the gas, and mains, the water heater is plumbed up for gas, but i've still got the water connection and pump to fix.

17th April 2004

Started work on the kitchen unit:

it was easier to get the workop installed, level in both directions, then measure down from this for the side panel and support frame

layout of storage unit under sink, with rounded corners to openings, simple ladder framework will support back of shelves, and allow a duct behind for the waste and supply plumbing to live.

15th April 2004

Just a bit more work on the fridge cupboard:

RH pic shows the cubby hole behind the fridge - this space is too valuable to block in - would make a nice secret wine rack! The two mouseholes at the bottom of the panel are for the wiring loom and for the ducting to the Carver P4 heater. The base of the cupboard will have a shelf to hide these bits, the top of the cupboard will house a speaker for one of the rear channels of the cab CD/Radio and the switch for the omnistep.

11th April 2004

minor update - finished the wardrobe, put the t-edge trim into the bathroom door, started the cupboard next to the fridge, ran out of woodglue!

Here are the pics so far:

Gas locker on the left, bulkhead gas connector inside, and on the right the access door to the thetford swivel cassette

Start of the fridge side cupboard, Carver P4 and gas manifold

Bathroom wall with trim completed, wardrobe completed, and although the donor caravan doors aren't an exact colour match they appear closer in colour in real life! The shower tray is stuck to the floor with carbond, hence the rock-salt keeping the tray weighted down. RH pic shows wardrobe door from donor, which is too big for the opening, but its easy to trim the latch rod down in length, and I've swapped the worn brass effect push handle to a matt nickle effect.

The waste for the shower tray either ended up directly above the spare tyre or interfered slightly with the bracket for the spare wheel holder, and as there was no way of moving the shower tray I decided that I was going to keep the spare wheel under the van.

9th April 2004

Bathroom today - cut a sheet of shower board down and glued it to the ceiling with lots of PVA glue, with today being nice and dry this set in a couple of hours, after which I could remove my favourite yellow props and install the boxing around the wheelarch and then install the vanity unit, the tip up sink and the splashback.

Whilst taking the photo of the boxing to the wheelarch I was reminded of a medieval castle toilet, where the WC consisted of nothing more than a plank with a hole in it - the toilet was positioned over the moat! :-) The hole in this case is for the water pipes and waste pipe from the tip up sink. The shower fitting will be fitted on the left hand wall, but after I've started the kitchen unit build so I know the pipework will be concealed

also got the boarding to the wall above the fridge done - I've inset two single outlets in the wall - one for the 240v socket, the other for the aerial outlet and 12v power connections, as you may have guessed this worktop area is the TV spot!

The fridge framing was completed, the metal heat deflector installed on a sw batten with cut outs for the wiring and pipework. The worktop is a section of 28mm B&Q worktop, with a rebate on the two outside edges to accept the cherry effect moulding from O'Learys

8th April 2004

After removing the 9mm ply wall yesterday it was laid onto a sheet of 3mm shower wall board, stuck with a layer of PVA glue, this sandwich was flipped, and a sheet of 3mm cherry effect finish board stuck to the other side, then weighted down and left overnight.

The boards were trimmed back to the shape of the 9mm ply with a router, however the showerwall doesn't like being cut this way, its heavy plastic surface doesn't cut easily, and so i needed to trim this with a craft knife after the router.

left piccy shows the bathroom side with a sample of t-edge moulding to check everything was working to plan, and the rh piccy shows the finish board to the "lounge" side - i decided to stop this finish board halfway over the door, so that the next board will provide a decent overlap to the 9mm ply underneath - you can tell the joint in the 9mm ply with the different shades of timber.

A bit of wiring too today - the LH piccy shows one end of my access duct where things need tidying a little! :-)RH piccy shows the loomed cables that go up the side of the fridge.

The waste tank shown on the left with the sender connections for the guage, and the waste pipework that comes as standard with a CAK waste kit - the 4 inch length of waste hose is about a foot too short, and means crawling around on your hands and knees fumbling for the release tap - i'll change the hose for something longer soon. The RH picture shows the mounting bracket, but not as CAK supply it - they give you raw steel, which was already starting to rust, so i've smoothrite'd this bracket black.

After discovering that the poorly starter battery had been drained by me leaving the reversing camera and screen plugged in, and after a day or so of trying to recharge it, i replaced it with the correct sized battery (the previous owner was running around with a car sized battery on, which struggled to turn the engine over), and to avoid flattening the new battery i went to the local Citroen stealers to get a couple of fog-lamp switches to use, however at £9.60 + VAT for each switch i decided to use the good old faithful Maplin rocker switch. I have used these little gems in all sorts of projects over the years, and they've never let me down, and look very good too - £1.49 each. So out with the drill and the blanks left by Citroen made a home for the Maplin switches - okay not completly OEM, but good enough for me!

7th April 2004

Guess what - more woodwork! :-) time to get the bathroom enclosure finished:

9mm ply after several trial fits, eventually goes into the space, but guess which stupid git wedged the ply in so hard it wouldn't come back out, and guess which side of the wall most of my tools were ? :-)

Luckily i got a drill and a hole saw rigged up and cut myself a hole from where i could prise the timber from its new home, after which i cut out the door opening as above.

Got the gas pipework started too, the Carver P4 heater is under the fridge, the metal tubed burner exhaust and inlet pipes have been passed through the floor of the van, the heater tubing for inside yet to be fitted. The gas manifold can just be seen securely fixed to the timber upright - i've run a short length of pipework through into the gas locker and connected the bulkhead fitting in there, and plumbed in the gas line to the fridge, the bottom vent has also been finished to the fridge.

and now for some toys! - I've ordered this 12v white ropelight from the USA for the conversion (if anyone knows of a UK stockest, please let me know) - the photos aren't too great but you get the idea - the lights are going to be fitted under the cupboards and possible inside the wardrobe, and anywhere else that springs to mind.

4th April 2004

Woodwork again :-) today was a day of finding things to do as i need to stock up on some more ply sheets, so a quick dummy run with the bathroom cabinet

still undecided if i can put up with the cabinet following the curved wall, or whether to put a false wall in to straighten up the cabinet, there is space as the tip up sink sits above the rear wheel arch, and the shower tray/wc tray starts from the wheel arch and heads over to the wardrobe, but putting a false wall will loose about 3 inches from overall width of the shower room, and its small enough to start with!.

Here are some pics of the start of the fridge install:

left photo shows the framework going up with a ply shelf for the fridge to sit on - the two front posts will have a stud fixed to the top of them eventually, and on top of this will be a removable worktop to gain access to the wiring and gas connections for the fridge, i much prefer this access method to the gas connection, rather than some installs where you need to slide the fridge out to gain access to the connections causing strain on the gas pipe.

The 2 right hand piccies show the box i've made to sit behind the fridge - the instruction manual states that this must be in place to ensure that air flow behind the fridge is correctly routed over the cooling fins, seems to make sense to me, and it gives me a cubby hole to store stuff, only problem is that next to the fridge will go a lower worktop and cupboard, but i guess i'd rather make access to this behind fridge space, rather than loose it completley.

Bottom photo shows the top fridge vent installed, and the bottom one ready to go in, but as with every other hole i've cut on this van, the minute i get the steelwork cut it starts raining! a quick run round with a touch up brush and some white smoothrite to help rust prevention, and lots of sealant on the plastic grille should help in keeping the water and rust away from the van.

3rd April 2004

Wardrobe and Gas locker today - nice and simple timber framework with a 9mm ply skin, for timber that is stuck next to secure panels i'm using 34mm x 21mm planed stock, for timber which is forming corners and needs to have less flex i'm using 44mm x 34mm planed stock. The gas locker can just take two 13kg Eurogas cylinders, with about 75mm clearance above the bottles to allow regulators to be clipped on and for some leaning of the bottles whilst changing. I made a frame for the access door using the smaller sized timber, drilled a hole through and ran a bearing guided flush router bit around to cut out a doorway in the back wall - i'll make a door for this later. The wardrobe face has 9mm ply with opening cut using rounded corners. This 9mm ply is simply screw fixed to the timber framework, with the screw heads pulled flush with the ply, later i'll be sticking the 3mm cherry veneer effect finish board to cover all these screws.

Whilst this job looks nice and simple the problem i had was with trying to get square faces to work from - every panel fixed to the van wall isn't straight, and usually curves along its length (compound curve?) so taking measurements was a nightmare. Things did go slightly wrong, with one of the walls ending up 3mm out of square, but this wall disappears behind the side of the fridge position, and if this is the only thing that i don't get square i'll be very happy :-)

28th March 2004

More ply lining - this time starting on the roof, working from the back so i can get building the other bathroom wall asap, again about 6 pairs of hands ae needed for this job, but as i've only got 1 pair, i had to rely on those wonderful

yellow props again.

27th March 2004

Not much happening for a couple of weeks - been picking up bits and bobs to help with the van. Managed to get an awning light, after a tip from a SBMCC forum user i didn't pay the £35 caravan shops want and got the PIR awning light from Halfords for just £25:

Seems to work quite well - 2 normal bulbs inside the unit with a PIR sensor under the lamp - picks up users from about 5ft away, and turns itself off after 2 mins.

Photos above show one of two floor ducts i've built into the van, these allow me to feed cables from one sofa to another without having to surface mount, and allows for futire cables to be fed through. To construct the duct i simply cut out the insulation from the sandwich construction and installed the back half of some plastic electric conduit, two holes in the top layer allow access to the duct.

Managed to start lining the van with 4mm ply - this was simply cut to shape and glued to the metalwork of the van using Carbond glue, the yellow support props came in real useful again. For the window cut outs i removed the inner frame from the S4 windows before putting the timber lining up, then very carefully drilled a 12mm hole from the inside through the ply, and ran a flush trimming router around the inside of the window frame, added seme more glue and used an electric brad nailer to fire some 15mm pins around the frame. The back wall has been installed - this is 9mm ply, which will recieve 3mm showerboard on the inside, and as you can see i've been double checking the layout by offering up the toilet and shower tray there is going to be a gas locker and wardrobe to the right of the shower tray which should beef up the slightly flexible 9mm back wall.

From the back of the van - 2 pics showing how the 9mm ply board is fixed - with furniture blocks obtained from Hafele, also shown is an aluminium strip used to join the 2 sheets of ply needed to span the van. This space at the back should be useful for keeping deck-chairs and perhaps a table to use outside. I've yet to cut the opening door for the gas locker in the left hand side, and i'm still undecided about if i should cut a hole into the shower enclosure from the back - i'm not planning on using the back doors for access, and i've no real plans to use the van for long loads, so i can't see the point.

13th March 2004

Omnistep fitting - what a job this ended up being - laying flat on your back under the van, knocking dust/muck/steel swarf from the van into your face! after lots of cursing and trial and error fittings i managed to come up with using screwfix brackets fixed to the underside of the floor and to a chassis rail using self tapping screws:

From this i hung some lengths of threaded rod, with lots of nyloc bolts, washers, normal bolts, shakeproof washers to keep the step secured. In the end the result is perfect (apart from being slightly out of level, but twiddling with the nuts on the rods should allow me to level this up) The step is hung from 4 rods, and kept in place using an aluminium trim peice fitted over the omnistep front bezel, and self tapped to the citroen bodywork/cill as shown, just need to sort out some form of sheild to stop the side of the unit getting all the road grime from the front wheel.

Also managed to get some more holes cut in the van for the mains inlet, the carver water heater, and the water inlet locking cap.

The electical bits are shown on the floor to see if everything will fit - the 85Ah amp battery will be changed for a 110Ah unit

2nd March 2004

Time to finish this insulation! with only 2 props to hold the insulation whilst the glue goes off means lots of visits to the van every 3 hours or so to do 10 mins of work, and then leave again for 3 hours

here's the pics after the insulation has been completed:

the overcab area is difficult to finish off, lots of curves to fit flat boards to, i don;t know how much difference it will make, considering the front of the van has so much glass and uninsulated panels to let cold through. The panels near the wheelarch were a swine to do - each peice of insulation needed to be passed through the metal panel bracing - biggest peice in here is about 4"x4"

now its a little rest fo me whilst i plan the electrics to ensure i get wires in the right place before i glue up wall and ceiling boards.

oh - here's a pic of the garage from inside the van sat on the drive- thought you may be interested to see how untidy i really am :-)

28th February 2004

Got a Seitz Mini Heki rooflight from Leisure spares in Morley for a reasonaable £65, and i also had a standard small rooflight/vent which was bought from ebay a while ago, so here are the pics of the install:

LH Photo - The original crew van had those spin ventilators fitted, this is the mess they left after i removed them and the plywood framing - the excess of mastic dripping down is where i stuck a cereamic wall tile to waterproof the van after removing the vents.

Middle Photo - after drilling the corners with a big bit, its a simple case of join the dots with the jigsaw, a problem i was having with the side windows was the metal flapping about as you weaken the panel by cutting into it, resulting in it being very difficult to keep a straight line with the jigsaw - so after each cut i stuck a strip of duct tape to reinforce the panel slightly, this trick really worked, and also means that when you complete the cuts you don't get struck on the head by a falling panel of cut metal!

RH photo - a quick frame of timber was made with the chop saw, the depth of timber made so the ceiling boards would lie flush with this and the main vehicle spars - as this mini heki was being fitted in a factory recess the depth of frame is about 8mm deeper than the rear vent.

LH Photo - view from the landing window :-) The quick clamps are used to keep the frame in place until the carbond adhesive starts to cure.

Middle photo - Same view, but showing the newly fitted S4 window to the side loading door

RH Photo - After removing the clamps, the rooflight was fitted with a strip of mastic, and i filled in the 'dips' in the roof with a layer of extra mastic strip, after placing the rooflight into the opening, the inner frame was offered up and screwed in place.

After the inner frame was fitted tightly i went round the outside with a generous bead of Caraseal BV white mastic.

LH Photo - marking for rear vent

Middle photo - Timber frame fitted, vent dropped in and clamped with Stainless screws (don't want shower/ humidity in here to start rusting cheap screws)

RH photo - finished vent with even more Caraseal BV mastic - here i simply put one layer of mastic strip on the vent, screwed it into position, and from outside pumped the cavitys left in the dips with gun applied mastic.

After fitting the rooflight and vents i could start on the roof insulation - here is the 25mm kingspan (same as i used for the floor build) being held with an adjustable prop (bought from Machine Mart for about £20 a pair) the only trouble with these props is that i need about 12 of them to make decent progress - the insulation needs supporting until the carabond glue i'm using cures (between 6 and 24 hours depending upon temp)

21st February 2004

Today was a day to finish off the window frames, and to start the insulation,

The frames to the windows will allow the lining/wall boards to be pinned to the frames - these frames are simply bonded to the steelwork and brad nailed to each other and the smaller frame used earlier for the window to clamp to. the side reveals of the frames are jigsaw cut to follow the profile of the van sides. I think the final finish to the walls will be carpet, and i've yet to decide of to finish off the window reveals - trying to get a decent edge to edge finish on an external corner with carpet is a nightmare, and i'm not too keen on using timber or plastic L profile to use as a frame, but i may well have to use them. The wall carpet will be a light grey, if i can get plastic in a grey finish and i can continue the edge so that the whole reveal is plastic clad then i think this will be the chosen method. I'll pop along to the local uPVC window factory to see what profiles they have in stock.

Insulation ! - Celotex Tuff R that i think should be 35mm but as its from Seconds and Co the thickness is slightly off - hence Celotex classing the boards as seconds - these boards measure between 38 and 40mm

The left photo shows the cut outs needed to ensure the boards fit snug to all the steelwork in the van, the middle photo shows one side complete - i'm not sure about how to insulate the panel around the wheelarch - the right hand photo shows the panel just behind the drivers seat - when i've finished all the big panels i'll come back and infill any small areas near bracing to try and get as continuous coverage as possible

20th February 2004

After a day away yesterday at the NEC show i'm full of bright ideas, and no idea how to get them to work, looking at completed motorcaravans on stands really does make me want a completed van.

Today's task was to get the windows installed: here's the pictures:

The existing crew bus windows removed gives me space to mark up the bigger opening for the Seitz S4 windows i've bought - here i'm putting in a 900x600 window. The fitters for the previous window removed the horizontal metal panel strengtheners - as can be seen from the grey lines, but...

I need a windo putting in the rear section, and so need to knock out the 2 ribs. This was done at first by trying to chisel the welds apart, but all i ended up doing was causing the vertical ribs to distort slightly as i pryed away - this could have led to the panels getting bent, so i decided to simply leave the spot welds in place and chop off the steel with the chisel and in 2 places with a angle grinder, after the ends were free, a strong hand and a sharp stanley knife cut through the mastic glue used along the length of the rib.

Magic - ribs gone!

Back to the front window - after carefully measuring and with a slow jigsaw i cut the aperture to the correct size, and drilled some holes around the opening - these are for tiny screws which help out holding the timber to the panel whilst the glue goes off.

The framing for the window consists of 25mm 20mm battens, fixed to the steel to give approx 26/27mm total thickness for the windows to work without any addional packing or framework. The timber was glued to the steel with Carbond 940 adhesive (£3.50 a tube from o'learys) This officially has a cure time of 24hrs, hence me using the holding screws to keep the slightly curved timber panels next to the timber whilst the glue goes off - after which the clamping effect of the window itself will hold the timber in place for the next 24 hours of curing.

after removing the clamps the outer section of the window can have a generous caulk of Seamseal BV mastic applied so that when pressed home the area behind the factory rubber gasket and the corner of the steelwork/timber is full of the stuff.

Inner fram for the window offered up and then the process of hand screwing the frames together can begin - its a bit like tightening the rocker cover bolts on the engine, as you work your way around the frame it slowly pulls itself tight with the steel and timber, and you need to keep going round re-tightening screws.

Process was same, but easier for the smaller window this one is 500mm wide by 450mm high

finshed this side - windows with the blinds down

View of the sliding door window, another 600mm high unit, 1000mm long.

15th February 2004

After a the purchases of yesterday, which included 2 universal seat swivels from O'Learys in Beverley (speak to Russ at O'Learys - he saved me a few quid as the bespoke ducato/boxer/relay swivels are identical to the universal units, and are £5 cheaper each - still expensive at £75, but they are built very well indeed)

I didn't take the camera with me whilst fitting them, but after about an hour both seats were complete. The process involves fitting the swivels under the factory runners, and on top of the seat boxes. To ensure the seat swivels you need to cut off the front mounting lug from the runners (the ones that drop down and have horizontal bolts holding them to the front face of the seat boxes) after which you need to drill a hole through the runner rail. the back mounting bolts on the runners fit into the swivels perfectly. When fixing the swivel to the base the back two bolts fit fine, but you need to drill the front two holes and mount with suitable bolts/washers.

Pictures above show the very shoddy state of the seat fabric, but that will be fixed at a later date, the drivers seat is turned as far as it will go, to turn further the steering wheel needs to be removed.

The picture above shows the swivel plate sandwiched between the runners and base - you can just work out the little rubber coated handle that releases the swivel from its forward facing position. The length of bolts used is critical as they will foul as the seat turns if too long.

14th February 2004

Seitz windows are a real pain to buy if your stockist hasn't got the size you need, so now i've had to rethink the layout to suit the windows that i could buy. Here is a layout in AutoCAD of plan B, and end bathroom design.

9th February 2004

With the help of some black insulation tape - i've drawn the proposed layout onto the plywood, and i can't seem to get my head round how small the layout is, how tiny the bathroom is, how narrow the corridors are, but i've double and triple checked the dimensions, and the tape is right - it must be one of those optical illusions - i think i'll stack some cardboard boxes to represent the furniture to see if the perception of space changes.

Here is the AutoCAD plan i've worked up - from this you should get an idea of where things are going.

8th February 2004

Finished the floor ! - the insulation complete and the top layer of 12mm ply has been installed - loose fit at first as i'm sure they'll need to be lifted for some reason. The final plan is to simply sit the bottom layer of 6mm ply on beads of cheap mastic (£1.99 a tube), then secure the insulation using nothing more than a few squirts of spray contact adhesive. the top of the insulation having a spray coating before sitting the 12mm on top. There are no mechanical fixings securing the floor down, its self weight will ensure it doesn't lift, and once the furniture is screw fixed to the top layer and the walls of the van the floor will have little chance of moving in any direction.

This picture shows the build up of the sandwich construction for the floor

12mm ply on 25mm Kingspan insulation on 6mm ply with small cavity beneath where ribs of metal floor exist, the white section at the bottom is where the floor folds down, beneath this is the guide for the sliding door gear.

This last picture shows the holes I nearly forgot to cut out near the back doors- they allow access the bolts securing the spare wheel cradle - I need to maintain access to these.

5th February 2004

After the frosts and rain of the past couple of weeks I've managed to get back into the van and install the first layer of 6mm plywood on the floor, and start to install the 25mm Kingspan insulation, this will eventually be topped with a layer of 12mm plywood.

18th January 2004

The van took longer than I thought to strip out, apart from the 6 crew seats, there was rubber faced 18mm ply which was held down with rusty bolts and screws, the walls were lined with ply fixed to the van using dozens of rivets, each one proving more difficult than the last to drill out and remove.

4 views of the inside of the stripped van (bigger pics if you click on them), as you can see there is some surface rust left by the metal bars used to secure the crewbus seats. A quick polish with the wire brush and angle grinder plus a liberal coating of white smoothrite should see this problem easily solved. Next on the list is getting the central locking fitted, electric windows and the alarm wired in, then its the windows, which I'm not looking forward to - apart from the expense of buying new windows I've got to cut great big holes in the sides of the van! :-)

Dec 2003

Nothing exciting to report on here - cold nights combined with the sad loss of one my dogs, who had escaped from the driveway and was knocked down and killed on the main road during the last few days of stripping the caravan out meant that things went very slowly.

R.I.P. Tess

24 Nov 2003

The van has been bought, - an e-bay purchase of a 1997 P Reg Citroen Relay 2.5 TD, previously used a crew bus by a railway maintenance company, it came with seating for 6 in the back along with the 3 front seats, also included was a Carver P4 heater, which I've decided to use instead of the Carver fanmaster salvaged from the caravan.

One Citroen Relay van, ripe for conversion!

The stripdown of the caravan continues, the odd question about bits and bobs are being expertly discussed on www.sbmcc.co.uk - please visit this site and join in!

The factory method of construction at Avondale is to start with a floor, assemble the cabinet work, fit the electrics the plumbing etc, and then wrap the caravan with its walls and roof, as such, many cabinets are fitted with screws and staples from the outside, which is making the strip-out process more time consuming than i'd imagined.

Pictures of the strip-out can be seen here

10 Nov 2003

Early am (7.00am!) the recovery truck pulled up outside, orange lights flashing and reverse beeper making sure that all the neighbours were awake to witness the delivery of a damaged caravan :-) I've got some explaining to do in the pub later this week! :-)

Pictures of the caravan can be seen here

8 Nov 2003

After the past few weeks I have been searching for a suitable panel van to convert into a motorcaravan (the banner above shows a ducato, which may change - I'm looking at just about every panel van made, but am tending towards a LWB iveco daily, as the length of these monsters means you have plenty of elbow room!), this search still continues, however I've managed to find a very nice donor caravan which should provide me with all the parts and appliances I need for the conversion. The caravan is a 1999 Avondale Rialto 550-4 with an L shaped lounge, The caravan has suffered a roll onto its right hand side, writing it off. Of more importance are the interior fixtures and fittings which are complete and intact , and indeed in "as new" condition.