this to this in 17 days this is the transitvan i have bought its not too old - 80,000 miles just need to convert it so i can live for free - everywhere. and inside it is pretty filthy just got to give it a good clean up i have taken off all of the wooden panellingfrom the ceilings floors and walls. just taking out all of these bolted attachments,pretty hard to get out. so i have taken out the bulk head from thefront which really opens up the van. i am going to have a divider in here anywaywhich will make things a little nicer. [saw noise]
i have cut the window out and i have run afile around the edges to take off the sharp bits. but on this van there is some metal sections,so i have taken a pair of molegrips and, with a piece of wood behind it to support it.. i'm just closing them up to take away thegap. got the window in. i am just letting it cure with tape and somebits of wood underneath. just to hold it in place. i am putting in batons and they sit withinthe runnels in the van. it leaves 2.5cm which is perfect for insulationboard.
and i will put the ply in on top. i am putting in the insulation. day 2 i have been putting in the conduit this willall be for my wiring. i have wires for back leds, front leds, moreleds and extractor fan and two more leds! we are going to town with leds! and also i am going to have these side-lightleds so i have another conduit coming all the way around the side. i have also put on the solar panel.
i made a hinging bracket which is attachedby one bolt and the other one is a hinge. that means i can lift the solar panel up,only one way, if i need to, if maybe in winter it is not getting enough light. hopefully it is tight enough to the roof. and, underneath, you might be able to somerubber tap washers just to make it a little better with vibration. on the other side of the solar panel its justconnected by one bolt so if i undo this bolt i can lift the whole solar panel up. this is one of the one things i was kind ofworried about.
it was a bit of an effort to do but it tookthe best part of half a day to engineer these brackets and yeah, i got them on with a bitof help from my mum! so i have 50 meters of 1.5mm squared wireand i will use this for all of my smaller stuff like my leds and extractor fan. i am going to start pulling it through theconduit and labeling the wires so i can remember what they are later when i come to wiringit up to the battery and all the other electronics. glue gun is an easy way to keep the conduitin place. this conduit is amazing! shove the wire in!
and it comes out the other end! i know that is what it is meant to do but,there it is! it came out the other end. so good! now i am putting in the batons and these arewhat i am going to attach my cladding to. its kind of a difficult form its slightlycurved these beams are slightly tapered. and theres some parts i have had to cut out. to help it flex a little bit i have put somecuts all the way along the wood. and i have bolted it in two places and i willglue and seal around it just to give it additional support.
i have got in the four batons in all boltedup. i have had to make a load of shaped partsto fit in. it is kind of annoying with this van becausebasically every single one is a different shape and different dimensions because ofhow the van has been constructed. day 3 with parts of the insulation in i have beensquirting foam gun which is a very enjoyable activity. all around the edges in the side. filling in some of these ducting in the van. it should hopefully make it nice and warm!
most of the insulation is now in. i will give you a top tip for when you areusing expanding foam. if you are doing a six foot high ceiling,and you are six feet tall, wear a hat! i might have to give myself a haircut a bitlater! day 4 taadaaa! and now i just fill it with spray foam. it is a bit like putting cement in. i have put in this 50mm celotex insulationboard up and then..
i am covering it with this foil insulationwhich is technically another 4 centimetres so by the time this van is finished it willbe the equivalent of 9 centimetres of insulation so it should be pretty good. it is the end of day 4 now. and all of the insulation is basically completed. put this foil and some gaffa tape around. this will all be trapped behind stuff anywayso it will be well fixed in. and i have got little holes, flaps cut formy lights and fan. now i can start putting in some of the framework for the base and the bed and cabinets.
that will be quite cool! day 5 i am adding some cladding and i have madethe window just the right size to put some wood in and i will have a nice window sill. i have some redwood pine which will look abit better here. because there are some parts where i cannotactually attach it with screws because i want it to have a flush finish i have been usingthese clips, cladding clips. they are really good because you cannot seewhere i have attached it in a line here. so it looks really clean, which is quite nice.
continuing putting on the cladding. to give an example of how i am putting thecladding on some of the box metal work, i have put ply wood on, all the way around andup the middle. this means i can bridge it all the way alongwith the cladding and i can use those clips so it does not mean i will have any screwson the face of the wood. day 6 i have put in a cut off part of the old bulkheadwhich gives me a really stable thing to attach things to and now i am going to build my own woodenbulkhead with a slider here which i will cover up with
an insulated screen. on the other side it will just look like itis just a builders van because it will have auto carpet on it. i didn't realise that the seats would projectback in to the van so when i was doing my plans i did not really account for that. unfortunately it is probably going to adda day to the build to work out how to make the slider and i am probably going to havea shelf at the top of that now. but hopefully i will get it done today. so this is the extractor fan and i have justcut a bit of wood that will fit in behind there
it looks a little rough, but when it is behindthe edge it will be completely fine. these labels are a test of patience. if you go to fast you have a sticky mess! this is the end of day 6 and i am almost fullyclad. i still need to clad those back doors buti have the walls done, ceiling, there is a little gap herejust because of the distances and lengths and the fact i had to line things up to fitthe fan in. but i need to get that filled. it should not be too bad, just a slither ofcladding or something.
day 7 and i am going to try and put in the batteries. or find out their position. ive drilled a hole in the floor in the mostmessy way possible for this power box. i am going to have the power inlet on theunderside of the vehicle so it is much more stealthy. so it does not look like a camper van anywhere. and also i am starting to build the bed frame. as you can see here i am blocking it out,trying to make sure it is completely parallel
to the other side the van is not really straight and it curves in all directions so it is kindof complicated to make sure it is completely perfect. but i do not want to have several differentlengths of slats as i go backwards along the bed. but otherwise, once this is blocked out, ican start the electronics. which i do not have a clue about. but, i can read the internet, so its ok!
a mini tour of van being done. this is my bulkhead where i will have a slidingscreen here which will cover up and insulate more. in this top corner you can actually hang ahammock across to these points in the roof. nice big window. there is going to be a bench at the back ofit. kitchen unit here, in this side. and i have just put in some of the frame stuffin for the bed. i have just put the bed in, the bed is justhere so i can kinda measure off it basically and make sure i have got things right.
i have just put in a load of slats underneath. eventually they will be screwed in and itwill mean that because there is nothing between here and the back if i want to take out theseparts then i can still use the van as a big space right now i am trying to work out the electronics. i will just run you through it. so we have the main plug which will go underneaththe van in to the mcu and rcb. this is a battery charger which goes in tomy two batteries and this is my inverter. from the inverter will go to the plugs. that is the only thing that will come offthe inverter.
and then from the solar panel on the roofit will come down to the solar charge controller which will go in to the battery. also from this we have the remote monitoringthing. and it will go off to the fuse box and fromthe fuse box it will go to my lights, other 12v applications. i will have these two cut off switches forthe battery, one between the car battery and the split charger, and also one which willessentially sit between the battery and the fuse box. and also, all the lights which will go onthe roof.
and this is a roll of leds which will go inmy side lights. and.. also off the battery will go to the heartsource heater and off the heater will go the thermostat. its quite a lot. but it is not too bad. i think it is figureoutable. lazy dog. yes! you are on your feet.
as you can see my panelling is almost completelyfinished. now i am going to be using some sand paper,not too heavy sand paper, i don't know what this is, p150 and basically going to smoothit all down and going to use some danish oil to bring out a bit of a sheen which shouldlook nice. um and i have to do that to the whole van. you leave the danish oil for 6 hours, letit set, and you do it again, and you just rub it on with a cloth. so in a day in a half it should be done. in terms of getting the cladding sorted anyway.
these are my two leisure batteries i havemade it so that they cannot move anywhere, they are quite heavy and they would shiftaround with the vehicle. i have screwed blocks all the way around them. this is going to be the panel, accessed throughunder the bed. i will have this fixed up a little bit betterand these are also connecting to these two cut off switches. day 8 danish oil, now done, first coat. i have to do that three more times.
i have used about two thirds of a can, sotwo cans should do the whole van. so that is not bad. so, evening of day 8, and i have battonedboth sides of the van. i have got these pieces of ply which willeventually be covered in a thin layer of foam and then fabric which will go each side ofthe sleeping area. i am going to try and hang them now so i canbuild everything else around them to make sure it fits. i got this arrived, this is the gaslow 11kgbottle. its basically refillable lpg gas which meansi can get gas anywhere in europe or anywhere
in the world i guess. which is good! and i will be able to start marking out thekitchen a little bit better now. also my kitchen sink and cooker has come soas soon as i have finished most of the sleeping area stuff, or blocking it out, i can startworking on the frame work of the kitchen and the chair and stuff. end of day 8! so i have got the panels up which will havethe under lit leds. i have build out some frame work around thebattery housing.
it feels like i have not done much today but,quite a lot of planning, i know how i am doing of things. i can start to build some of these separatershere which will kind of fill in that gap. i am just really not looking forward to haveto build the cupboard unit. its going to involve too much detail, toomuch accuracy two things i am not a massive fan of. so yeah, roll on day 9! day 9 and i am making kitchen block work, just putthe block work in and i will put panels on
the back and sides which will give it a lotof strength. on the front side it is going to be paintedso i will screw it from the back. and i will need a peice all the way alongthe back to block in the bulk head. there is the sink in place and how it is goingto look. it has got this like fold up lid - which iskind of cool. and underneath it has the gas bottle and twojerry cans [water], so it is a bit of a snug fit but it should be ok. right now i have got stuff from and old conversion,parts of when i converted my estate car about a year ago now.
and it is nice to be able to recycle it intothe new van. so, end of day 9, still yeah i got a lot ofblock work done today, but i am tired! i have been doing like, twelve or fourteenhours on this and then in the evening working to order more materials and i am actuallypretty tired. i think maybe tomorrow i will have a longlay in or maybe have a day off. i am just tired and starting to get a littlebit stressed about things when they are not going right and not having the patience todo things the way they should be done. so probably a good time to have a break. so for the kitchen top i could spend a lotof money on something or i managed to find
these two pieces of mahogany, they are slightlybowed but if i put them both together they should make quite a nice kitchen top. just glue them together, sand them down alot, they should look really good. so this is the reclaimed wood - i have justsanded it down and now i am going to clamp it up with a lot of glue so we have two partsthat become one. it will be romantic. day 10 and i have boxed in the cupboard units. it has been a real pain, i have done somecomplete screw ups here to try and make this.
i am going to have four flaps coming acrosshere. it will be a long cupboard beside the bed. i've made this little shelf here. i have cut these angles out here and sandedoff the back of them to make the window profile, otherwise it is quite difficult to do. other than that, i have re-done the roof withdanish oil - so i can put the lights in finally. stuff them in. and i have done some work on the kitchen sinkthing so that should be dry tomorrow. two parts become one.
and then i can cut it out and turn it in toa sink bench with a lot of sanding, hopefully it will look good. and, tomorrow i need to buy gas stuff, i haveno idea what i am doing with gas but i have to connect up the bottle to the gas cookerand also the gas heater. and this stupid thing here the mppt whichis bust, i am going to get a new one tomorrow, hopefully, else i am really behind. because everything, all the electronics, gothrough it. so until that is working, i don't know ifanything works. my flooring has arrived.
two packs of kind of greyish oak. some family were getting rid of this futonwhich happens to be made almost entirely of foam, so i can use that in the seats, harvestsome foam from it, which will save me from having to buy some foam. it is day 11 and i have been shopping formore wood. this van eats wood like nothing else! my kitchen top i cut down the sides and thisshould be ready to cut a hole in so hopefully its going to be ok. so trying to get the scratches out of thiswood.
it is quite deep. i am just using this scraper thing. but the grain is coming up really nice! it is half past 12 on day 11 and... we have lights! all coming through the solar controller. and stuff looks pretty! its kind of working! i mean there is nothing coming through thesolar panel right now because it is night time
but that was working earlier this morning. i just couldnt get any load out, but for somereason there is a short in the heater so i do not know why that is but i will have tocheck that out. but it is just really exciting to be ableto turn on and off a light with a switch. its cool, very happy now. so it is day 12. i was really ill yesterday so i took a dayoff but now, feeling a little bit better, and just putting in the gas tank. ratchet strap, a good idea from the vandogwebsite, using that to basically fix it in.
because it is lpg you have the filler nozzleon the front which should work quite nicely. and i have a regulator and stuff arrivingso i can start putting in the gas pipes and hopefully connecting most stuff up. but i do not know what i am doing so i havea friend who does and i will ask him to check it when it is done.. because i do not wantto blow myself up! day 13 i am just working on the slider screen. which will separate the cab from the mainpart and shut it off. and on the back of this i have put the insulatedfoil.
in the end i will put some auto carpet onthe back of it so it just looks black in the back of the cab. which should be a bit more subtle. so put this other seat in. with a mechanism underneath which means thischair can fold down as well. my grey fabric still has not arrived so ican't do the top panels but i have been sorting out the set-up for it. and now we have.. side lights! these are these 3m led strips kind of a warmlight colour.
the fabric i ordered 10 days ago has finallyarrived. it is a little more blue than i thought buti think that will probably be better anyway, a little bit of colour. i have just put the foam on the boards. now just smoothing it down and i will turnit over and staple it. so end of day 13 and i have got to go to londontomorrow so i wont get much done in the next few days so basically i will have a few daysoff. one other bit of learning has been the solarcharge controller. i just bought one, yeah, got a solar chargecontroller.. that is awesome.. but my panel
is 300 watts and essentially, really, witha bit of margin i need a 40amp one and the one i have is 10amp. so it does not take long for it to get over-voltage,i mean it is charging the batteries but after a point it is too much for it, it can't handleit. so basically i have got another one in thepost, arriving in a couple of days. i have to leave the panel unplugged at themoment just to be safe. day 14 so, i am back from london, started to do abit more work and day 15 i guess in terms of working on it.
i got these ikea trays which work quite nicelyas slide out drawers. also down here i have got this bin, whichi will build in - which should be nice. my new charger controller, 40amp version isin, which is very cool and i have also plugged in the external monitoring unit, which isuseful. i wont have to lift up the bed to see whatis going on. pissed around with my gas stuff, that is basicallyfinished i think. now i just need to make a big drawer. i am going to have a big draw above thesewhich will have some art stuff or other flat stuff in.
and the other big bit to do is just this area. i have ordred a bathroom cabinet, i couldn'tfind one in like, i went to like 5 different shops, diy and home store shops. none of them had a small bathroom cabinet. i managed to find it on amazon. and i need to insulate this. because i was living in the van in londonfor a few days i really realised how hot the cab gets. it gets so hot and even just the metal workhere, above the cab.
it doesn't get any direct sun light but itgets roasting hot. and obviously the roof does as well. you can just feel the heat trying to get intothe main body of the van through here. apart from that the van is quite cool butas soon as you realise how much heat is coming through from the cab i realise that i am goingto double-down on insulation. all around this bulk-head area, i am goingto put another layer on the slider unit. and i am going to 'go to town' for the topof the cab because it gets so hot in the cab, and if i can isolate that from the main bodyof the van i think, even in a really hot summers day, i think it would be ok.
so, it is either day 15 or 16, i would haveto look at my videos to remember. basically it is time to sort the cab out. it has been a great tool store. but now i can store my tools in the tray,in the big art drawer i made. so it is back to foaming and insulation. remember how much i love this stuff. i have filled up the ducting, you can seeit is oozing out - but not in to my hair this time. then i am going to put a layer of foil becausethis thing gets so hot.
and above the cab, it roasts! i'll make it really well covered up! then i have this mirror unit that i will putin the middle. and then basically... oh, you can see it, it is basically snowingfoam. such a beautiful thing! so this is the cupboard unit i made yesterday. yeah, i mean it is such a beast! it is so heavy and cool but like, as you cansee inside here i tried to have four hinges
as i was thinking of having two doors on eachside. it just doesn't work you can only have twoelse it just really f**ks with it. so yeah, i just need to fix this in and ican start blocking out the sides but it is nice to see it in place. it is kind of starting to look like it isgetting close to finish. which is pretty cool. i am making the drawers. i am using some spare flooring. it is just tedious, making drawers.
but i just need to cut out the bases, i havethe sides, backs, fronts all sorted. cut out the bases, put in the runners, sandit all down, then put blocks in the corners to glue it together. and yea, just got to make the base. so much fun. so it is late, and i have just put in thedrawers. these handles i got from ikea. the fronts are flooring which i had spare. it is nice to get these in.
boring to make but i am quite pleased withthe general effect. looks kind of swish! i have added this little bin area. the bin pushes in and wedges. also, because it is right by the door, i haveadded a little light so as you come in you can very quickly find your way around thevan. incase you do not have light. i have put in the bathroom cabinet. really pleased.
it works really well. it has a magnetic push button, directly overthe sink, so it works well for having a shave or whatever. day 16 just upholstering the cushions using somestaple gun. way easier than sewing. it is actually the end of another day. i have been too lazy to film today but i havediscovered auto carpet. oh my god, it is so good!
it kind of just really fills in those gapsand takes al those weird edges. i can just put some random crap behind it,cover it up with auto carpet and it looks great. so just got to do that to the ends here. as you can see that is a bit dodgy. other than that i have included a nice matt. lovely. with this auto carpet, i have just been usinga screwdriver and shoving it into the corners. that means it is right behind the panellingand should just be secure.
day 17 this is the panel. and i a going to put it on the door. just glueing this panel on. its got some pretty bird pictures on it. and basically i am finished, apart from thesetwo cupboards. just got to make some doors. and i have been putting on auto carpet andit looks really nice. happy.
basically finished! cabinets in, solar monitor, extra usb, anotherusb in the middle of the bed, got the drawers, the kitchen the water tanks, the gas thingworks, the water works. basically i just need to put some knobs onthese cupboards. i got this bathroom thing, its pretty cool. i can have toiletries or whatever. the seat is mostly upholstered, just one cushion,the back cushion to finish. but year, f**king sweet, got this panel. and now i just need have this thing with apicture of yosemite and then almost done!
we have these side lights, which when it isdark like this it gives a really nice glow. and when you compare it to how bright it is,and white, with these ceiling lights, suddenly you realise how nice led side lights are. these leds actually eat quite a lot of powerbecause there are loads and loads of them - and they are not really super low energy but the solar panel can handle it. and in comparison we end up with a reallynice feel to the van.