DIY Surf bus / campervan build - The Yellow Peril
Discussion
Chicken Chaser said:
Marvellous job on the upholstery! I'm cracking on with more furniture for my T5 (Must get a build thread up) but the upholstery is something I'm worried about tackling, despite doing everything else myself. Think I'll have to leave it to the pro's
More than happy to talk you through it bud.Depending on where you are I might be able to help you, or you could use my workshops.
I have a reading week this week for Uni so I decided to push on for a couple of days and get the seating in and the units in. I can honestly say that I have been so frustraited at time this week I could have punched a horse in the face.
We started off with these carcasses
With some CAD design ( cardboard aided design ) couple of templates of the wheel arches, began marking out what to cut off the things I spent hours waiting to buy a few days earlier.
I took the Van back to the workshops as I thought I would need all the tools of the wood working rooms as well this time ( I was very right )
I put 1 inch battens on the floor to raise the cuboards so I could run my electrics under them and to give a nice look. These are screwed into the metal floor of the van
Bottom units cut, tried out in the van (little tip for anyone doing this, do it before you put the bed in, that one little nugget of info could have saved a few expletives and a cut head).
I put in right angled brackets to help with bracing due to having to cut out so much of the back of the bottom cupboards
Everything was fitting perfectly, all straight, so I screwed them together and to the battens on the wall and screwed the seat and back pads down called it a day for Wednesday, went home with the van like this. Finally I can carry 5 people again.
Thursday rolls around, I think that it will just be a case of removing the carcasses and fitting the doors and bobs your uncle job done.
No.
First one goes fine, cut the back out of the rear section as it blocked by the bed in the up position and makes a good "boot" accessible only from the back. Start ti get a feel for what the gloss doors will look like (they still have protective film on them dulling them down).
That about where the fun ends for this story as the next 7 hours was full of spite, anger, frustration and hatred of all things ikea.
Basically the measurement I took originally for the units didn;t have the upholstery on the frame, they raised the levels by 4 inches. That essentially meant doors that would have open over the frame now would open a inch then hit the bed, only way around it was to raise the back units up 3 inches. The front three kitchen units couldn;t be raised that much as it would have made the work top above the side window and look gash.
Also meant the gap of a inch that made the units float now had a step init and meant you can see 3x2 under the rear units.
Also the top two units at the back of the van were going to open with a top hinge and the one by the seat would open sideways with a rightside hinge. This all had to be changed and the one by the seat had to be hinged down using the top one hard ware.
Lots of putting in, retrying, taking out, got me to a point where I realised that things weren;t lining up like they had last night. Again 2 hours of undoing, redrilling, refitting, moving battens, shouting etc and we started to get some where
Doors shut
Doors open ( nice little fold down table as well for the back!)
At this point it started to rain like buggery, I was seriously pissed off and wasn;t prepared to stop for fear I would never start again, so I looked a the space between the double doors to the shop, looked at the width of the van and thought that was a perfect fit. It was, only problem was I couldn't get it all the way in, nor open the sliding door and had to walk around to the back of the shop to get into the back of the van.
In and dry
Millimeters to spare
I continued to work into the night knowing it was the last day on it, had loads more problmes putting together the ikea draws, fitting the remaining three units and squaring the doors off to each other. At least I was in the dry and had proper lighting.
You can see by raising the units the CAD cut unit now don;t fit the shape of the wheel arch.
Few more hours later I am finished. You can see the step of the rear units.
So I will have a sink and hob on the left with the water and gas underneath in the left hand unit, then a unit for kitchen crap, then three drawers to finish off the kitchen.
The units by the bed/seat. Bottom one on the left is a fixed pane; and will have the battery and electrics in it, accessible from the top with the hinge down door above it with a shelf in it for day to day stuff. The bottom back unit is fixed as well and will be used to dump stuff in.
Found out ikea gave us the wrong worksurface so found a nice piece of oak from a table which I will use as the work surface and take the ikea one back.
Still some more adjustments of the doors to do, but they are in with no catches yet but I think I will get some push fit ones to try and keep the look as clean as possible.
We started off with these carcasses
With some CAD design ( cardboard aided design ) couple of templates of the wheel arches, began marking out what to cut off the things I spent hours waiting to buy a few days earlier.
I took the Van back to the workshops as I thought I would need all the tools of the wood working rooms as well this time ( I was very right )
I put 1 inch battens on the floor to raise the cuboards so I could run my electrics under them and to give a nice look. These are screwed into the metal floor of the van
Bottom units cut, tried out in the van (little tip for anyone doing this, do it before you put the bed in, that one little nugget of info could have saved a few expletives and a cut head).
I put in right angled brackets to help with bracing due to having to cut out so much of the back of the bottom cupboards
Everything was fitting perfectly, all straight, so I screwed them together and to the battens on the wall and screwed the seat and back pads down called it a day for Wednesday, went home with the van like this. Finally I can carry 5 people again.
Thursday rolls around, I think that it will just be a case of removing the carcasses and fitting the doors and bobs your uncle job done.
No.
First one goes fine, cut the back out of the rear section as it blocked by the bed in the up position and makes a good "boot" accessible only from the back. Start ti get a feel for what the gloss doors will look like (they still have protective film on them dulling them down).
That about where the fun ends for this story as the next 7 hours was full of spite, anger, frustration and hatred of all things ikea.
Basically the measurement I took originally for the units didn;t have the upholstery on the frame, they raised the levels by 4 inches. That essentially meant doors that would have open over the frame now would open a inch then hit the bed, only way around it was to raise the back units up 3 inches. The front three kitchen units couldn;t be raised that much as it would have made the work top above the side window and look gash.
Also meant the gap of a inch that made the units float now had a step init and meant you can see 3x2 under the rear units.
Also the top two units at the back of the van were going to open with a top hinge and the one by the seat would open sideways with a rightside hinge. This all had to be changed and the one by the seat had to be hinged down using the top one hard ware.
Lots of putting in, retrying, taking out, got me to a point where I realised that things weren;t lining up like they had last night. Again 2 hours of undoing, redrilling, refitting, moving battens, shouting etc and we started to get some where
Doors shut
Doors open ( nice little fold down table as well for the back!)
At this point it started to rain like buggery, I was seriously pissed off and wasn;t prepared to stop for fear I would never start again, so I looked a the space between the double doors to the shop, looked at the width of the van and thought that was a perfect fit. It was, only problem was I couldn't get it all the way in, nor open the sliding door and had to walk around to the back of the shop to get into the back of the van.
In and dry
Millimeters to spare
I continued to work into the night knowing it was the last day on it, had loads more problmes putting together the ikea draws, fitting the remaining three units and squaring the doors off to each other. At least I was in the dry and had proper lighting.
You can see by raising the units the CAD cut unit now don;t fit the shape of the wheel arch.
Few more hours later I am finished. You can see the step of the rear units.
So I will have a sink and hob on the left with the water and gas underneath in the left hand unit, then a unit for kitchen crap, then three drawers to finish off the kitchen.
The units by the bed/seat. Bottom one on the left is a fixed pane; and will have the battery and electrics in it, accessible from the top with the hinge down door above it with a shelf in it for day to day stuff. The bottom back unit is fixed as well and will be used to dump stuff in.
Found out ikea gave us the wrong worksurface so found a nice piece of oak from a table which I will use as the work surface and take the ikea one back.
Still some more adjustments of the doors to do, but they are in with no catches yet but I think I will get some push fit ones to try and keep the look as clean as possible.
Edited by Tampon on Friday 21st February 18:41
Well it has been a couple of months and finishing my degree and hnting for jobs has left me precious little time.
We have been using the bus ( more of which I will do later).
So I left it with the carcases in and the rock and roll bed.
Since then I have found a vivaro 9 seater bus step for the sliding door area to help smarten that up. Had to modifiy it a touch to get it to fit but it finishes it off nicely now.
Then we decided to take her out and give her a test run to see how she went. We went to Leith Hill in Surrey and wild camped in one of the woodland carkparks. Really nice afternoon and evening, I have bought a smev sink and hob but haven;t got the work surface fitted yet so not able to use that. We have a spare flat camping stove which we took and have campaign and steaks in the evening with the dogs roaming around. Van was really comfortable with it being 5 degrees out side. Had some doggers pull up early in the evening and waiting by the van but the dogs kicked off and they quickly left. I found it funny wife was worried she would get gangbanged.
We have been using the bus ( more of which I will do later).
So I left it with the carcases in and the rock and roll bed.
Since then I have found a vivaro 9 seater bus step for the sliding door area to help smarten that up. Had to modifiy it a touch to get it to fit but it finishes it off nicely now.
Then we decided to take her out and give her a test run to see how she went. We went to Leith Hill in Surrey and wild camped in one of the woodland carkparks. Really nice afternoon and evening, I have bought a smev sink and hob but haven;t got the work surface fitted yet so not able to use that. We have a spare flat camping stove which we took and have campaign and steaks in the evening with the dogs roaming around. Van was really comfortable with it being 5 degrees out side. Had some doggers pull up early in the evening and waiting by the van but the dogs kicked off and they quickly left. I found it funny wife was worried she would get gangbanged.
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 27th April 13:40
Couple of thing we found when doing this test run was that although we were more than warm enough the windows in the morning were covered in condensation even with the front windows rolled down. Also the blacked out windows are great during the day as no one can see in if you are changing in the morning, and good in the evening keep the van dark, but with the lights on in the van you can see everything, not great when you wild camp like we do and aren't supposed to be there. So blinds or window covers are the order of the day.
Another thing is we really needed swivel seats at the front and sitting next to each other in the back whilst we read, listened to music, ate etc was odd, so that was next on the agenda.
I say next because I decided to see if the van was multi purpose and took the rear seats out and went and bought a motorbike ! She worked a treat although I am now extremely careful with the high gloss cupboards and not scratching them or scuffing the floor. Keep the tie down points was definitely worth it. Took me and my friend about 10 minutes to take it out and 15 minutes to put back in. The main issue is the seat doesn't fit through the back doors as with the cupboards in the pillar on the left hand side stops the seat coming straight out. so we unbolted it, extended it, flipped it on its edge carefully inside the van then took it out.
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On to the swivel. We decided against getting it straight away as at £250 we thought it might be nice to have it at some point. Well after the trip it was well needed so we splashed out on a double swivel base. I arrived and Jesus wept, it is seriously heavy, crash tested and quick release so it should add value to the van in the long run. Fitting it is easy, 5 bolts undone, rock double seat back, bolt down base, bolt double seat on to base. Job done.
Only issue is the washers they give you look like they wouldn't stop a fart in a fishing net so I got some heavy duty ones and finished it properly. It has made a MASSIVE difference to the van. Bigger inside, comfortable as one can read with their feet up whilst the other sits on the bed. give extra space for changing inside as you can leave the bed down and sit on the bench and get changed as opposed to hopping about crouched over. All in all really worth the money, transforms the usability of the van. Only issue is you have to remember to disconnect the seat belt pretensioner or risk f
king the wire, first thing I did was nearly cut through the wire! I think I might splice in a quick connect connection to make thing easier for longer trips.
|http://thumbsnap.com/wMRPTw18[/url]
So the seat is in, it has two locating pins and then the four twist lock handles which lock it into the base. It can be spun around with the doors shut with a little shimmying. It doesn't lock when the chair is facing back ward to prevent people traveling with it like that
Another thing is we really needed swivel seats at the front and sitting next to each other in the back whilst we read, listened to music, ate etc was odd, so that was next on the agenda.
I say next because I decided to see if the van was multi purpose and took the rear seats out and went and bought a motorbike ! She worked a treat although I am now extremely careful with the high gloss cupboards and not scratching them or scuffing the floor. Keep the tie down points was definitely worth it. Took me and my friend about 10 minutes to take it out and 15 minutes to put back in. The main issue is the seat doesn't fit through the back doors as with the cupboards in the pillar on the left hand side stops the seat coming straight out. so we unbolted it, extended it, flipped it on its edge carefully inside the van then took it out.
[url]
On to the swivel. We decided against getting it straight away as at £250 we thought it might be nice to have it at some point. Well after the trip it was well needed so we splashed out on a double swivel base. I arrived and Jesus wept, it is seriously heavy, crash tested and quick release so it should add value to the van in the long run. Fitting it is easy, 5 bolts undone, rock double seat back, bolt down base, bolt double seat on to base. Job done.
Only issue is the washers they give you look like they wouldn't stop a fart in a fishing net so I got some heavy duty ones and finished it properly. It has made a MASSIVE difference to the van. Bigger inside, comfortable as one can read with their feet up whilst the other sits on the bed. give extra space for changing inside as you can leave the bed down and sit on the bench and get changed as opposed to hopping about crouched over. All in all really worth the money, transforms the usability of the van. Only issue is you have to remember to disconnect the seat belt pretensioner or risk f
king the wire, first thing I did was nearly cut through the wire! I think I might splice in a quick connect connection to make thing easier for longer trips.|http://thumbsnap.com/wMRPTw18[/url]So the seat is in, it has two locating pins and then the four twist lock handles which lock it into the base. It can be spun around with the doors shut with a little shimmying. It doesn't lock when the chair is facing back ward to prevent people traveling with it like that
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 27th April 13:44
As far as actual work on the van that is pretty much it. I changed the interior light bubs for 16 diode LED ones. They are much brighter and have hardly any draw whatsoever. So we have just used those for lighting at the moment. I left the lights on for 24 hrs and the battery had gone down 0.1 of a volt in that time, so they definitely work. The only thing is they give off a very white light which I don;t really like but my wife does so that doesn't really matter.
I had some Ferrari Lego that I bought from a shell station a few months back and decided that the van needs some fun in her so I built it and blue tacked it to the dash board. The wife hates it but I love it and like the idea of taking them on my travels with me. Might need some characters as well but can;t decided which.
Everybody needs a little bit of lego in their lives.
|http://thumbsnap.com/COQDMvKQ[/url]
I got a knackered car battery recently and research how to recondition them. It was measuring 11.9 volts charged before I started. Stripped it down, drained the acid, refilled with Epsom salts and distilled water. Slow charged it for 2 days. Dumped everything again and refilled with Epsom salts and it showed 12.8 volts. I ran a few cycles on it with a home rigged lighting kit and charged it a few times, and it remained at 12.8 volts and would drain 0.08 to 0.1 volt in a hour with the lights that will go into the van. I left it in the shed for a week as well to see if the cold would drain it like a knackered battery would, and it dropped 0.2 volts.
All in all looks like I have found a cheap way to get a used leisure battery working well later on. Now I just have to buy the split charge kit and wire the van up.
We went to the south of France at the beginning of April for my wife to write a chapter on her PhD and for me to write my final year dissertation. We set off for the family house in the Dordogne. We left london at 4pm, got to the ferry for 6 with a bag of fish and chips, landed in Dunkirk at 10pm and drove down just south of Paris and stopped at gone 1am. We stayed in a Aires off the Paege and had a lovely nights sleep there. Got up in the morning and went to the house. Spent few weeks writing with not many explorations although we did go to Brantome for lunch a few times.
I have to say that the drive down was dead easy, bit slower than I normally drive ( average 90mph in the cars in the years before) the van would cruise at 90mph but a hill would see that drop to 80 mph. Also the mpg took a battering. Averaged 32mpg at that speed, but that is what to expect when you are trying to push a loaded square brick at fast speeds. 6 speed box made things nice and comfortable for the long journey and the sound deadening of in the van worked a treat, easily have a conversation at normal voice level at that speed.
On the way back we decided to wild camp in Versailles as we have never been there before. Drove up and arrived at 10pm the day before our ferry. Drove to the Palace and then started searching for some where to park up, there were loads of campers in car parks just off the main strip but that not really us, and it was a touch too noisy by the main road so we drove around and found a car park behind the Palace set in some trees off a side road so camped there.
I had cut some of the foil wrapped bubble wrap to fit the windows perfectly and stay there with just the tight fit against the frame. Total black out and no condensation on the windows so that worked a treat, just have to find a way of making them more attractive. Got up in the morning took the dogs for a walk in the gardens next to the palace and then had a coffee and drove to the ferry.
Over all the bus did great, I do miss having a car though, when I was down south as trying to hustle the van round those windy corners wasn't 'fun' like it is in the car. We drove a touch slower on the way back about 75mph and the mileage shot up to 41mpg, so I might have to change my driving style on these trips now. One goo thing is I can drive from London to the south of France on one tankful, where as before I would have had to fill the Subaru Legacy up three time on a one way trip.
I would recommend using the Aires in France, try and go for one without Petrol stations or shops as they are quieter, we wen to one and outside of Paris and it was like a youth club, seemed to be bus loads of student partying there, odd. Same on the way back, monday night 20 year olds drinking at motorway services? We heard horror stories about how we would be robbed, gassed etc but it was dead easy, loads of other people sleeping there. Lots of salesmen/ Reps kipping in the back of the BMWs or Audis as well as the truckers.
The ferry was the same price as a car which I was surprised about, we entered it as a small van first and it was double the price, same size vehicle but in as a small motor home and it came right down, something to do with commercial vehicles.
I had some Ferrari Lego that I bought from a shell station a few months back and decided that the van needs some fun in her so I built it and blue tacked it to the dash board. The wife hates it but I love it and like the idea of taking them on my travels with me. Might need some characters as well but can;t decided which.
Everybody needs a little bit of lego in their lives.
|http://thumbsnap.com/COQDMvKQ[/url]I got a knackered car battery recently and research how to recondition them. It was measuring 11.9 volts charged before I started. Stripped it down, drained the acid, refilled with Epsom salts and distilled water. Slow charged it for 2 days. Dumped everything again and refilled with Epsom salts and it showed 12.8 volts. I ran a few cycles on it with a home rigged lighting kit and charged it a few times, and it remained at 12.8 volts and would drain 0.08 to 0.1 volt in a hour with the lights that will go into the van. I left it in the shed for a week as well to see if the cold would drain it like a knackered battery would, and it dropped 0.2 volts.
All in all looks like I have found a cheap way to get a used leisure battery working well later on. Now I just have to buy the split charge kit and wire the van up.
We went to the south of France at the beginning of April for my wife to write a chapter on her PhD and for me to write my final year dissertation. We set off for the family house in the Dordogne. We left london at 4pm, got to the ferry for 6 with a bag of fish and chips, landed in Dunkirk at 10pm and drove down just south of Paris and stopped at gone 1am. We stayed in a Aires off the Paege and had a lovely nights sleep there. Got up in the morning and went to the house. Spent few weeks writing with not many explorations although we did go to Brantome for lunch a few times.
I have to say that the drive down was dead easy, bit slower than I normally drive ( average 90mph in the cars in the years before) the van would cruise at 90mph but a hill would see that drop to 80 mph. Also the mpg took a battering. Averaged 32mpg at that speed, but that is what to expect when you are trying to push a loaded square brick at fast speeds. 6 speed box made things nice and comfortable for the long journey and the sound deadening of in the van worked a treat, easily have a conversation at normal voice level at that speed.
On the way back we decided to wild camp in Versailles as we have never been there before. Drove up and arrived at 10pm the day before our ferry. Drove to the Palace and then started searching for some where to park up, there were loads of campers in car parks just off the main strip but that not really us, and it was a touch too noisy by the main road so we drove around and found a car park behind the Palace set in some trees off a side road so camped there.
I had cut some of the foil wrapped bubble wrap to fit the windows perfectly and stay there with just the tight fit against the frame. Total black out and no condensation on the windows so that worked a treat, just have to find a way of making them more attractive. Got up in the morning took the dogs for a walk in the gardens next to the palace and then had a coffee and drove to the ferry.
Over all the bus did great, I do miss having a car though, when I was down south as trying to hustle the van round those windy corners wasn't 'fun' like it is in the car. We drove a touch slower on the way back about 75mph and the mileage shot up to 41mpg, so I might have to change my driving style on these trips now. One goo thing is I can drive from London to the south of France on one tankful, where as before I would have had to fill the Subaru Legacy up three time on a one way trip.
I would recommend using the Aires in France, try and go for one without Petrol stations or shops as they are quieter, we wen to one and outside of Paris and it was like a youth club, seemed to be bus loads of student partying there, odd. Same on the way back, monday night 20 year olds drinking at motorway services? We heard horror stories about how we would be robbed, gassed etc but it was dead easy, loads of other people sleeping there. Lots of salesmen/ Reps kipping in the back of the BMWs or Audis as well as the truckers.
The ferry was the same price as a car which I was surprised about, we entered it as a small van first and it was double the price, same size vehicle but in as a small motor home and it came right down, something to do with commercial vehicles.
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 27th April 13:39
dasherdiablo1 said:
Have you thought about the uneven loading? Looks like a lot of weight on the drivers side so might make it handle a little strangely? I'm sure you have thought about it but don't want you putting in all this hard work and it makes it hard/dangerous to drive.
I did think about that when I was putting in the cupboards but it really isn't a issue, the weight of the swivel seat and the rock and roll bed even it out. Even if they weren;t there I doubt it would be a problem at all as driving van for work before with uneven loads was fine. sticking a tonne of lead against the right hand wall might be a issue but not for normal loads.
roverspeed said:
Great build thread.
One addition I would highly recommend is cruise control.
I have a t5.1 for work, never though I'd use cruise control much, makes a huge difference for me on mpg
That is already on the books. I have had it on all my cars and love it. One addition I would highly recommend is cruise control.
I have a t5.1 for work, never though I'd use cruise control much, makes a huge difference for me on mpg
It costs about £400 so isn't a small investment. So I am waiting til I start teaching in June and earning the big bucks!
If anyone knows any place round Heathrow/ Surrey that can do it or can recommend please let me know.
Afternoon, currently sat in a villa in Spain after driving round France for the last couple of weeks. Bit cloudy outside so I thought I would update as I have had a few people email me questions about stuff with the van.
With me finishing my degree and starting work as a teacher I now had set deadlines to have things completed for due to school holidays. With one month to go and constant nagging that the van would;t be finished for our trip to Europe on the 23rd of july I decided that I would have to pull my finger out.
First off was to sort the electrics so I could put the ceiling up with the lights then do the sink and hob, finished off with the curtains.
Bought a 120 amp kit off ebay with a volt sensing relay (VSR) which means you only have to hook one end to the starter battery and the other to the leisure battery and the relay sorts the rest out. Other much cheaper ones need wiring into something that only works when the alternator is on to allow the circuit between the two batteries to be broken when you switch the engine off to prevent the van battery being drained.
The kit cost around £70 for the relay plus 5 metres of cabling and all the connections, heat shrink and 60 am fuses and holders. You have to build the loom yourself though and the purchase of proper wire strippers and crimpers along with a cheap soldering iron and kit made the job easy.
I have never touched electrics before and after enquiring about costs of installation from a sparky (£150-250) I thought bugger that I will do it myself. Turned out it was very easy once I got my head around "grounding" a circuit to make it work.
I spent best part of 2hrs cutting, measuring, stripping, crimping, soldering and heat shrinking the connections for the connection between the two batteries.
Next up was a second battery. I read about people restoring car batteries with Epson salts and desulphering the plates with a slow process of slow charge, drain and start again. I got a knackered 70 amp hours battery from a friends mondeo he was chucking out and drained the acid out of the battery, chuck two teaspoons of Epson salts into each cell and topped it up with distilled water.
The battery started off only showing 11.3 volts fully charged, with the first drain and refill it went straight up to 12.4 volt fully charged. I then ran the battery down to 12.1 volts with my led lights left on for a day and charged it again, this time it went to 12.5V.
I then ran it down again with the lights hooked up and they lasted 36hrs to 12.1v. Drained the battery and redid the Epson salts and distilled and charged it, ran it down, charged it, ran it down and charged it. The battery now show 12.76 volts fully charged and goes up to 12.8 on a hot day. I have left the battery for 2 weeks in the shed and it loses 0.15 Volts in that time. Perfect a second battery for the cost of £4.50. I also restored my wives scooter battery and should get another 12 months out of it as it was getting sluggish.
Checking the wiring worked and it would charge the second battery and switch off the circuit when the engine was off.
The cable attached to the main battery then a fuse and was run under the flooring mat to the drivers die where it pops out and then runs under the cabinets to the rear "service cupboard."
It pops up here. I have drilled two 1 inch holes in the floor here as a drop out for the gas and for the vent for the battery.
I bought a fusebox and hooked it up to check if everything was working.
I grounded the 2nd battery to one of the bolt holes used for the tie down points now covered by the cabinets. I used a dremmel to sand the area around the hole back to bare metal. I used a grounding block next to the fuse box to ground each item and connected the grounding block to the negative terminal on the 2nd battery (which was grounded to the van body). Took me a while to figure that little lot out as I am a proper newbie to this stuff, but it is all extremely simple once it clicks.
With me finishing my degree and starting work as a teacher I now had set deadlines to have things completed for due to school holidays. With one month to go and constant nagging that the van would;t be finished for our trip to Europe on the 23rd of july I decided that I would have to pull my finger out.
First off was to sort the electrics so I could put the ceiling up with the lights then do the sink and hob, finished off with the curtains.
Bought a 120 amp kit off ebay with a volt sensing relay (VSR) which means you only have to hook one end to the starter battery and the other to the leisure battery and the relay sorts the rest out. Other much cheaper ones need wiring into something that only works when the alternator is on to allow the circuit between the two batteries to be broken when you switch the engine off to prevent the van battery being drained.
The kit cost around £70 for the relay plus 5 metres of cabling and all the connections, heat shrink and 60 am fuses and holders. You have to build the loom yourself though and the purchase of proper wire strippers and crimpers along with a cheap soldering iron and kit made the job easy.
I have never touched electrics before and after enquiring about costs of installation from a sparky (£150-250) I thought bugger that I will do it myself. Turned out it was very easy once I got my head around "grounding" a circuit to make it work.
I spent best part of 2hrs cutting, measuring, stripping, crimping, soldering and heat shrinking the connections for the connection between the two batteries.
Next up was a second battery. I read about people restoring car batteries with Epson salts and desulphering the plates with a slow process of slow charge, drain and start again. I got a knackered 70 amp hours battery from a friends mondeo he was chucking out and drained the acid out of the battery, chuck two teaspoons of Epson salts into each cell and topped it up with distilled water.
The battery started off only showing 11.3 volts fully charged, with the first drain and refill it went straight up to 12.4 volt fully charged. I then ran the battery down to 12.1 volts with my led lights left on for a day and charged it again, this time it went to 12.5V.
I then ran it down again with the lights hooked up and they lasted 36hrs to 12.1v. Drained the battery and redid the Epson salts and distilled and charged it, ran it down, charged it, ran it down and charged it. The battery now show 12.76 volts fully charged and goes up to 12.8 on a hot day. I have left the battery for 2 weeks in the shed and it loses 0.15 Volts in that time. Perfect a second battery for the cost of £4.50. I also restored my wives scooter battery and should get another 12 months out of it as it was getting sluggish.
Checking the wiring worked and it would charge the second battery and switch off the circuit when the engine was off.
The cable attached to the main battery then a fuse and was run under the flooring mat to the drivers die where it pops out and then runs under the cabinets to the rear "service cupboard."
It pops up here. I have drilled two 1 inch holes in the floor here as a drop out for the gas and for the vent for the battery.
I bought a fusebox and hooked it up to check if everything was working.
I grounded the 2nd battery to one of the bolt holes used for the tie down points now covered by the cabinets. I used a dremmel to sand the area around the hole back to bare metal. I used a grounding block next to the fuse box to ground each item and connected the grounding block to the negative terminal on the 2nd battery (which was grounded to the van body). Took me a while to figure that little lot out as I am a proper newbie to this stuff, but it is all extremely simple once it clicks.
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 3rd August 14:11
Next up was insulating the roof and cutting out the ceiling boards. We noticed that the van still got seriously hot in the sun and were getting really worried that we might not be able to leave the dogs in there ever on our Spanish/ French trip. That would have been a major hassle to not even have the option of going somewhere like the supermarket without one of us standing outside with them.
As such I went to town once I realised the ceiling is where all the heat comes in and goes out after touching the 5 ribs that were exposed on the ceiling between the sections I had glued yoga mat to, they were almost to hot to touch and needed sorting.
I glue the metal coated bubble wrap to the ribs after filling every hollow space with expanding foam. I pulled the driver cab ceiling down and glued layers and layers of yoga mats to it and replaced the ceiling panel. Then I cut out the ply wood to the shape of the ceiling. What a faff that was, best part of a day, putting in, holding up, taking down, adjusting, putting up etc etc. DEFINITELY a two man job for your own sanity.
Once I had the ply cut to the roof I figured out where the standard lights for the van are and cut out holes in the roof for them. Then put the boards up and figured out where we wanted the lights (Ikea dioder LEDs but maplins do exactly the same for nearly half the price).
I drilled the holes for the wires to come through, the benefit of the LED lights is they are only 3 mm thick at the most so sit flush without cutting out the ply. Upholstered the ceiling in the lightest coloured carpet I could get as I realised I went too dark with the interior walls so wanted to get as much light in as possible. Once that was done I glue a whole layer of foil lined bubble installation to the back of the ply to added an extra layer. The the lighting wiring was gaffered to the back of the first board and recycled plastic insulation was used between the rafters. It was a real squeeze to put the ceiling in but realised that would defeat the point of insulation so split it in half and compressed it as little as possible.
The noise in the van wasn't much at all before we did the ceiling but it is so quiet now at 80mph, also we have solved the internal temp problem, more later.
As such I went to town once I realised the ceiling is where all the heat comes in and goes out after touching the 5 ribs that were exposed on the ceiling between the sections I had glued yoga mat to, they were almost to hot to touch and needed sorting.
I glue the metal coated bubble wrap to the ribs after filling every hollow space with expanding foam. I pulled the driver cab ceiling down and glued layers and layers of yoga mats to it and replaced the ceiling panel. Then I cut out the ply wood to the shape of the ceiling. What a faff that was, best part of a day, putting in, holding up, taking down, adjusting, putting up etc etc. DEFINITELY a two man job for your own sanity.
Once I had the ply cut to the roof I figured out where the standard lights for the van are and cut out holes in the roof for them. Then put the boards up and figured out where we wanted the lights (Ikea dioder LEDs but maplins do exactly the same for nearly half the price).
I drilled the holes for the wires to come through, the benefit of the LED lights is they are only 3 mm thick at the most so sit flush without cutting out the ply. Upholstered the ceiling in the lightest coloured carpet I could get as I realised I went too dark with the interior walls so wanted to get as much light in as possible. Once that was done I glue a whole layer of foil lined bubble installation to the back of the ply to added an extra layer. The the lighting wiring was gaffered to the back of the first board and recycled plastic insulation was used between the rafters. It was a real squeeze to put the ceiling in but realised that would defeat the point of insulation so split it in half and compressed it as little as possible.
The noise in the van wasn't much at all before we did the ceiling but it is so quiet now at 80mph, also we have solved the internal temp problem, more later.
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 3rd August 15:28
Now for the nervous faff of a job. Installing the oak worktop and Smev hob. The units we got from ikea were not a deep as the cut out needed for the sink. So I practiced a few times on some ply wood to get the smallest possible cut out needed for the sink to work before cutting it out of the work top.
The template was used on the cabinets and as you can see it need some of the wall of the cabinets needing to be cut out as well.
Once that was done I shaped the oak top ( a leaf off a nice Oak table) to the profile at the back and then marked out the shape for the sink. Cut it, trimmed it here and there added the rubber trim to the edge, drilled holes for the waste pipe through the floor of the van, hooked up the gas and secured the bottle in the cupboard, wired up the water pump to the tap switch and protected the gas pipe work and job done.
Our beautiful sink and hob. Lift the glass lid and there is a sink and draining board, lift the draining board and there is a hob. Expensive but pretty (£280 for sink and all the pumps, taps, sink plugs, gas regulators etc).
The template was used on the cabinets and as you can see it need some of the wall of the cabinets needing to be cut out as well.
Once that was done I shaped the oak top ( a leaf off a nice Oak table) to the profile at the back and then marked out the shape for the sink. Cut it, trimmed it here and there added the rubber trim to the edge, drilled holes for the waste pipe through the floor of the van, hooked up the gas and secured the bottle in the cupboard, wired up the water pump to the tap switch and protected the gas pipe work and job done.
Our beautiful sink and hob. Lift the glass lid and there is a sink and draining board, lift the draining board and there is a hob. Expensive but pretty (£280 for sink and all the pumps, taps, sink plugs, gas regulators etc).
Edited by Tampon on Sunday 3rd August 15:56
Another rainy day here in Viladrau.
I finished off the electrics with a quick control panel. I put in a electric cigarette socket with a voltage meter next to it on a switch. The other switch is for the lights in the roof. Simple set up to start and get my head around 12v electrics.
On the morning of our ferry I dashed about to get the curtains fitted. I saw kits from megavanmats around the £200 mark. I decided to get one from a local guy for £70. Everything is exactly the same except that the curtains aren;t blackout. That isn;t a problem in the morning as the windows are tinted but you can see that there is someone in the van at night with the lights on although you can't see what going on behind the curtains. All in all I think it was worth the massive saving.
Installing them is another matter. Everybody online say they are a right ahole to fit and they weren't wrong. I don;t have any tips to help as I just swore and punched things as I had the clock ticking down to leave for our evening ferry.
I finished off the electrics with a quick control panel. I put in a electric cigarette socket with a voltage meter next to it on a switch. The other switch is for the lights in the roof. Simple set up to start and get my head around 12v electrics.
On the morning of our ferry I dashed about to get the curtains fitted. I saw kits from megavanmats around the £200 mark. I decided to get one from a local guy for £70. Everything is exactly the same except that the curtains aren;t blackout. That isn;t a problem in the morning as the windows are tinted but you can see that there is someone in the van at night with the lights on although you can't see what going on behind the curtains. All in all I think it was worth the massive saving.
Installing them is another matter. Everybody online say they are a right a
hole to fit and they weren't wrong. I don;t have any tips to help as I just swore and punched things as I had the clock ticking down to leave for our evening ferry.Edited by Tampon on Monday 4th August 17:42
Another job done quickly just before we left was the undersea storage draw. Knocked it up in plywood and will figure out a more elegant solution when we get back. It has made a big difference finally having it as it gets all the food and cooking stuff out of the cupboards. Also I put double magnetic push fixings on the cupboard doors so I don;t need to have handles and can keep the clean look and stop the doors flying open when turning left.
Now for the really good cooling of the van. I was worried that even with the wind deflectors on the front and the windows wound down but still secure there wasn't flow of air through the back.
I researched it and found a company called Ventlock, who make extensions to the rear door catch so you can close the door ajar and still lock the door. They come in lengths up to 2ft. Because we don;t have a tailgate the door looks open even slightly ajar so I wanted to keep the van as secure as possible so bought the 4in version.
So with the back open that much ( I can't get my arm through there) and the front windows down this much
Which looks like this from the outside
There is a lovely breeze through the van. With the insulation there is no issues with heat now, and it give us a breeze when we are camping as well.The slight gaps don;t worry us as the dog go mental at anyone by the van any way so it would be a brave lad to try and stick their arm through with two big dogs going bat st inside.
To make it even better, i thought that on a still day or in direct sunshine there might not work so I knocked this up.
Which is a computer fan from maplins with 2-3metres of left over wiring, wired into a fused ciggy plug.
I then hang it from the ceiling at the back blowing the hot air at the top out of the back door which draws air into the van from the front.
It works a absolute treat, we tested it on a 30 degree day in full sunshine on the windscreen with out the wind screen thermal covers on, just the windows down 5 inches and the rear door vent lock on and fan running. After 1 hr went back to the van and it wasn't any real difference to being sat in the shade. Perfect, now we know that if we have to go to the supermarket and can;t find a shady spot we can leave to dogs for half and hour with water and they won;t die a sweaty death.
I also wanted a campsite hookup as we are going to one campsite for 5 days with family and I wanted to charge the battery. After seeing rcd hook ups at £45, and non rcd ones at £25, I decided to by a hook up plug from screwfix for £2 and attach it to my 25 metres extension lead. Job done for £2 ! As it is only running a trickle charger I am not worried about the rcd.
Now for the really good cooling of the van. I was worried that even with the wind deflectors on the front and the windows wound down but still secure there wasn't flow of air through the back.
I researched it and found a company called Ventlock, who make extensions to the rear door catch so you can close the door ajar and still lock the door. They come in lengths up to 2ft. Because we don;t have a tailgate the door looks open even slightly ajar so I wanted to keep the van as secure as possible so bought the 4in version.
So with the back open that much ( I can't get my arm through there) and the front windows down this much
Which looks like this from the outside
There is a lovely breeze through the van. With the insulation there is no issues with heat now, and it give us a breeze when we are camping as well.The slight gaps don;t worry us as the dog go mental at anyone by the van any way so it would be a brave lad to try and stick their arm through with two big dogs going bat s
t inside.To make it even better, i thought that on a still day or in direct sunshine there might not work so I knocked this up.
Which is a computer fan from maplins with 2-3metres of left over wiring, wired into a fused ciggy plug.
I then hang it from the ceiling at the back blowing the hot air at the top out of the back door which draws air into the van from the front.
It works a absolute treat, we tested it on a 30 degree day in full sunshine on the windscreen with out the wind screen thermal covers on, just the windows down 5 inches and the rear door vent lock on and fan running. After 1 hr went back to the van and it wasn't any real difference to being sat in the shade. Perfect, now we know that if we have to go to the supermarket and can;t find a shady spot we can leave to dogs for half and hour with water and they won;t die a sweaty death.
I also wanted a campsite hookup as we are going to one campsite for 5 days with family and I wanted to charge the battery. After seeing rcd hook ups at £45, and non rcd ones at £25, I decided to by a hook up plug from screwfix for £2 and attach it to my 25 metres extension lead. Job done for £2 ! As it is only running a trickle charger I am not worried about the rcd.
Edited by Tampon on Monday 4th August 18:31
The trip started on the 23rd of July with a 8pm ferry from dover. Landed at 11.30pm and stopped around 2am outside of paris at an aire.
Made it to the house in the south by lunch time the next day and stayed there for a week and meet up with the family. Bit of fishing, washing the van and sunbathing to kickstart the holiday.
Dog walks in by the river
The farmers ponds first light, fishing for big carp with my nephew
Well he was chuffed with it...
We went to Perigueux for the market, got there and could;t get to the centre as there were police everywhere. Turns out it is the penultimate day to the tour de france and the end stage of the time trial was there. So we wandered around the team camps and soaked up the atmosphere. Walking along we saw a few people ahead and a commentator on the mega phone so wandered over. Stood there for 2 minutes and helicopters started flying over head. Coming down the street was the winner of that days time trial someone Martin? then saw the yellow jersey ad eventual winner come through 30 minutes later. Brilliant bit of luck "bumping into" it.
Quick video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7auaYUygq6Y
After the first week we were going as a family to northern Spain for a week to a villa in Viladrau, http://www.cancapella.com, and then off to a campsite on the cliffs on the east coast then me and my wife bugger off for a little wild camping.
We decided to leave France the day before everybody else and camp somewhere in the Pyrenees for the night. The tunnel to Spain was shut so had to go through Andorra. I had romantic notions of it being like monaco, oh no, utter st hole. We drove up the mountain and when we got to the top it felt like god was trying to smite us. The temp dropped from 22 to 4 deg in a minute, slowed to 10 mph and hail covered the road. I refused to stop and drive through manic laughing whilst people were pulling over.
Got stuck at Boarder crossing into spain for 1 and half hours as it was a friday evening and the queue was massive. Drove around the otherside of the mountain to find a spot to wild camp and ignored the no camping signs everywhere and drove down a forest track and found a lovely spot. Parked up set up and chilled out. Few foresters and hunters came past fording the river, we smiled waved hello and they were friendly.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5dfQ_wlJOw
Everybody tucked up
Then set off for the villa
We went into the national park and drove around the mountains. Stopped for the fantastic views dotted around
Although driving down a mountain in 30 deg heat with 5 people, 3 dogs and a fully loaded camper got the brakes seriously hot on the switchbacks. They really started to smell so I pulled over and saw they smoking away so we had a bit of lunch and I put the fan I made to good use formula one style....ish.
Made it to the house in the south by lunch time the next day and stayed there for a week and meet up with the family. Bit of fishing, washing the van and sunbathing to kickstart the holiday.
Dog walks in by the river
The farmers ponds first light, fishing for big carp with my nephew
Well he was chuffed with it...
We went to Perigueux for the market, got there and could;t get to the centre as there were police everywhere. Turns out it is the penultimate day to the tour de france and the end stage of the time trial was there. So we wandered around the team camps and soaked up the atmosphere. Walking along we saw a few people ahead and a commentator on the mega phone so wandered over. Stood there for 2 minutes and helicopters started flying over head. Coming down the street was the winner of that days time trial someone Martin? then saw the yellow jersey ad eventual winner come through 30 minutes later. Brilliant bit of luck "bumping into" it.
Quick video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7auaYUygq6Y
After the first week we were going as a family to northern Spain for a week to a villa in Viladrau, http://www.cancapella.com, and then off to a campsite on the cliffs on the east coast then me and my wife bugger off for a little wild camping.
We decided to leave France the day before everybody else and camp somewhere in the Pyrenees for the night. The tunnel to Spain was shut so had to go through Andorra. I had romantic notions of it being like monaco, oh no, utter s
t hole. We drove up the mountain and when we got to the top it felt like god was trying to smite us. The temp dropped from 22 to 4 deg in a minute, slowed to 10 mph and hail covered the road. I refused to stop and drive through manic laughing whilst people were pulling over.Got stuck at Boarder crossing into spain for 1 and half hours as it was a friday evening and the queue was massive. Drove around the otherside of the mountain to find a spot to wild camp and ignored the no camping signs everywhere and drove down a forest track and found a lovely spot. Parked up set up and chilled out. Few foresters and hunters came past fording the river, we smiled waved hello and they were friendly.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5dfQ_wlJOw
Everybody tucked up
Then set off for the villa
We went into the national park and drove around the mountains. Stopped for the fantastic views dotted around
Although driving down a mountain in 30 deg heat with 5 people, 3 dogs and a fully loaded camper got the brakes seriously hot on the switchbacks. They really started to smell so I pulled over and saw they smoking away so we had a bit of lunch and I put the fan I made to good use formula one style....ish.
Edited by Tampon on Monday 4th August 22:23
Shinobi said:
Great write up once again, love the build and the colour. One question though, where do the dogs go when your moving? We are also looking to get a camper and have a big dog. Wouldn't have her running free in the van but not sure how to keep her safe? I was thinking a collapsible travel crate but at the moment she has a doggie seat belt and lies across the back three seats in the car.
Too be honest with you it is a bit of a problem. I the previous cars we had a dog gate and chucked them in the boot. Now as the floor is vinyl they side arou d. They sat right behind the front seats but some time one of the crawls up on to the rear bed when on the motorway. That is a big issue as there is a good 8ft space for him to smash into us. We normally get one in the front with us. Also ikea bathroom mats help as the grip the floor and give them somewhere comfy to lie down.
None of that helps with the secure in a accident and to be honest I am not sure what we can do. I have been thinking about ditching the front double seat and putting in a single and adding a colapasable crate for them but I think I will be too big to travel with. If I had one I would have them on the front double passenger seat with a harness. It is great fun having three of us sat up fro t having a look around.
I have also though of a harness and attaching it to the frame of the rear bed but they would slide forward everytime I braked hard.
Anyone one have any ideas?
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