Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2013 15:54:19 GMT
A resume of where I'm at :
Floor insulation done using 2 layers of camping mats on top of thick ply which was already in and which I couldn't remove without removing the wooden frame along the whole of one side (van used to belong to a window fitter who built the frame which is perfect storage, but I have to make sure I balance the weight equally so sink, loo, seat etc on the other side).
Roof insulation done using camping mats and silver bubble wrap - very pleased with it, has made a massive difference.
Side and rear doors insulated behind ply using sheep fleece from local farmers with camping mat and / or silver bubble wrap as vapour barrier. Another layer of silver bubble wrap will eventually go on top of ply, and then carpet. Bare metal covered with aluminium tape.
Passenger side of van insulated with sheep fleece and loft insulation (I ran out of sheep) behind ply. Leak at rear end located and temporarily resolved, will be permanently resolved once it's warm enough to use Sikaflex. Ply put back on temporarily with just a couple of screws as I want to remove it to check the leak is sorted in a couple of weeks time.
Once that is done, I will cover the whole of the ply with more silver bubble wrap and then carpet.
Ply on drivers side - no insulation as it's going to be a bugger to get off without removing the frame, so leaving that for now.
Box over wheel arch on passenger side removed (was going to get rid of it but decided to keep it), stuffed with clear bubble wrap (ran out of insulation) and box replaced.
The seat I made to fit over the wheel arch has now moved to sit directly in front of rear doors (can be easily removed if necessary) - provides storage underneath for tools, outdoor equipt, kindling and charcoal for Ghillie kettle & bbq. Provides seating for 2 people.
Sunlounger which was used as a bed lengthways along the centre of the van, with 3 x 2ft boards hinged together is now redundant
Bed boards have been shortened so that the total length of them is 67" - the width of the van over the wheel arches is 68". Part of the frame on the drivers side has been removed over the wheel arch to allow a bed to go widthways over the top of the wheel arches (I'm only 5ft3 so plenty of room).
An old solid wood toy box which I got from freegle is exactly the same height (12") as the boxes over the tops of the wheel arches and is the perfect support for the middle bed board, with each end bed board resting on the wheel arches, to provide a level supported bed.
During the day, the bed boards are folded up and stored against the frame, currently held in place by bungees but i'll come up with a more secure solution in due course.
During the day the toy box is moved from across the width of the van, to alongside the passenger side wheel arch, held in place with bungee but again a better means of securing will be used in long term. Duvet and pillow stored inside the toy box. 2 square cushions on top of toy box means it can seat another 2 people. The memory foam mattress folds up inside a big home made cushion cover and is used as a back rest for the toy box seat against the ply on top of the wheel arch. Will probably use some velcro to hold this in place.
Batteries - I suspect both are dying as they seem to be losing charge very quickly, but I have been offered a free 2nd hand starter battery by Big Boack (thanks v much) who lives not far from me, and a 2nd hand leisure battery by Croftlands1 on the big W for £20 - he lives near Big B so hopefully I'll be able to pick up both batteries this week sometime.
Wires to smartcom now superglued in - a small fan type fridge (the kind which fits 4 cans of beer and space for a packet of sausages) which is both 12v and 240v, is wired off leisure battery. Don't use this much as it drains the battery pretty quick but I switch it on when driving and it's better than nothing. Also useful to keep sausages safe from the dog. Have bought 2 terracotta wine coolers off ebay for £5 total and have a tall thin milk jug for one, the other will be for wine / beer bottle.
Lighting is by various means - 2 flourescent roof lights running off main battery were already fitted, but I don't use these much but useful if battery is good. Will remove the rear one to fit a roof light at some point. Grills over the top, useful for hanging things off!
Several AA battery powered fairy lights.
2 magnetic rectangular 72 led battery lights which stick to the metal grill over the florescent lights. Also a couple of round 24 led magnetic battery lights which stick to the lids of tin cans stuck around the van in various places.
A long string of solar powered fairy lights along side of van, across bottom and back up the other side, with the solar panel on dashboard is great for about 6 months of the year, lasts about 5 hours when fully charged.
Several 5 LED USB lights running off adaptor from leisure battery, can be angled to give best light.
If all else fails, several battery powered torches and candles.
Cooking - a cheap camping gas stove using butane gas cartridges on top of dog cage behind the seats, whirly gig roof vent directly above. Also a mountaineering gas stove running from resealable valve coleman propane / butane gas canisters as extra burner or when very cold and butane alone isn't effective. Also Ghilliie kettle for hot water and can be used as mini bbq when weather is ok for cooking outside. Also a mini bucket bbq / fire bucket.
Loo - home made bog in a bucket, pics in blog on the big W, will upload here in due course.
Sink - the current project. Bought from Doodles for a tenner (thank you), circular 45cm diameter with same size separate drainer. Plan to build a unit for the sink to drop into with storage underneath for water and grey water. Not planning to wire in a tap, may consider a manual pump tap or investigate whether I can use my 12v shower as a tap. For the moment the separate drainer will sit on top of sink as a lid/ chopping board etc whilst I think about how I can incorporate it better. At present, waste water can be disposed of via a funnel attached to a bit of washing machine pipe through a hole I found in the floor in exactly the right place. Plan is to fix that underneath the plug hole in the sink. I have a water canister for grey water but when wilding it's not really needed.
Dog has own bedroom, a big cage with 11 mm ply on top for cooker and work top, which is directly behind seats, with cage door facing side door so that he goes straight into it without messing up rest of van. Cat has wicker basket on front seat, held in place with seat belt, when on the move, when parked up she has free range of the van. A black plastic mushroom box wombled from the recycling centre with sawdust makes a good litter tray.
Van has roof rack and ladder on rear door, planning to fit a solar panel and roof light when finances allow. Have debated removing roof rack but will be useful for mounting solar panel onto and it makes van easy to spot amongst other vans. And it could be useful at festivals to get a good view. And also useful for attaching tv aerial and repeater cable for laptop dongle to get better reception. And for attaching ground sheet to to create a rain shelter over doors or sunshade etc.
What else? Can't think of anything else at the moment, and I really must get on with making the sink unit. Feel free to ask questions, I'll try to get some pics added in due course.
Floor insulation done using 2 layers of camping mats on top of thick ply which was already in and which I couldn't remove without removing the wooden frame along the whole of one side (van used to belong to a window fitter who built the frame which is perfect storage, but I have to make sure I balance the weight equally so sink, loo, seat etc on the other side).
Roof insulation done using camping mats and silver bubble wrap - very pleased with it, has made a massive difference.
Side and rear doors insulated behind ply using sheep fleece from local farmers with camping mat and / or silver bubble wrap as vapour barrier. Another layer of silver bubble wrap will eventually go on top of ply, and then carpet. Bare metal covered with aluminium tape.
Passenger side of van insulated with sheep fleece and loft insulation (I ran out of sheep) behind ply. Leak at rear end located and temporarily resolved, will be permanently resolved once it's warm enough to use Sikaflex. Ply put back on temporarily with just a couple of screws as I want to remove it to check the leak is sorted in a couple of weeks time.
Once that is done, I will cover the whole of the ply with more silver bubble wrap and then carpet.
Ply on drivers side - no insulation as it's going to be a bugger to get off without removing the frame, so leaving that for now.
Box over wheel arch on passenger side removed (was going to get rid of it but decided to keep it), stuffed with clear bubble wrap (ran out of insulation) and box replaced.
The seat I made to fit over the wheel arch has now moved to sit directly in front of rear doors (can be easily removed if necessary) - provides storage underneath for tools, outdoor equipt, kindling and charcoal for Ghillie kettle & bbq. Provides seating for 2 people.
Sunlounger which was used as a bed lengthways along the centre of the van, with 3 x 2ft boards hinged together is now redundant
Bed boards have been shortened so that the total length of them is 67" - the width of the van over the wheel arches is 68". Part of the frame on the drivers side has been removed over the wheel arch to allow a bed to go widthways over the top of the wheel arches (I'm only 5ft3 so plenty of room).
An old solid wood toy box which I got from freegle is exactly the same height (12") as the boxes over the tops of the wheel arches and is the perfect support for the middle bed board, with each end bed board resting on the wheel arches, to provide a level supported bed.
During the day, the bed boards are folded up and stored against the frame, currently held in place by bungees but i'll come up with a more secure solution in due course.
During the day the toy box is moved from across the width of the van, to alongside the passenger side wheel arch, held in place with bungee but again a better means of securing will be used in long term. Duvet and pillow stored inside the toy box. 2 square cushions on top of toy box means it can seat another 2 people. The memory foam mattress folds up inside a big home made cushion cover and is used as a back rest for the toy box seat against the ply on top of the wheel arch. Will probably use some velcro to hold this in place.
Batteries - I suspect both are dying as they seem to be losing charge very quickly, but I have been offered a free 2nd hand starter battery by Big Boack (thanks v much) who lives not far from me, and a 2nd hand leisure battery by Croftlands1 on the big W for £20 - he lives near Big B so hopefully I'll be able to pick up both batteries this week sometime.
Wires to smartcom now superglued in - a small fan type fridge (the kind which fits 4 cans of beer and space for a packet of sausages) which is both 12v and 240v, is wired off leisure battery. Don't use this much as it drains the battery pretty quick but I switch it on when driving and it's better than nothing. Also useful to keep sausages safe from the dog. Have bought 2 terracotta wine coolers off ebay for £5 total and have a tall thin milk jug for one, the other will be for wine / beer bottle.
Lighting is by various means - 2 flourescent roof lights running off main battery were already fitted, but I don't use these much but useful if battery is good. Will remove the rear one to fit a roof light at some point. Grills over the top, useful for hanging things off!
Several AA battery powered fairy lights.
2 magnetic rectangular 72 led battery lights which stick to the metal grill over the florescent lights. Also a couple of round 24 led magnetic battery lights which stick to the lids of tin cans stuck around the van in various places.
A long string of solar powered fairy lights along side of van, across bottom and back up the other side, with the solar panel on dashboard is great for about 6 months of the year, lasts about 5 hours when fully charged.
Several 5 LED USB lights running off adaptor from leisure battery, can be angled to give best light.
If all else fails, several battery powered torches and candles.
Cooking - a cheap camping gas stove using butane gas cartridges on top of dog cage behind the seats, whirly gig roof vent directly above. Also a mountaineering gas stove running from resealable valve coleman propane / butane gas canisters as extra burner or when very cold and butane alone isn't effective. Also Ghilliie kettle for hot water and can be used as mini bbq when weather is ok for cooking outside. Also a mini bucket bbq / fire bucket.
Loo - home made bog in a bucket, pics in blog on the big W, will upload here in due course.
Sink - the current project. Bought from Doodles for a tenner (thank you), circular 45cm diameter with same size separate drainer. Plan to build a unit for the sink to drop into with storage underneath for water and grey water. Not planning to wire in a tap, may consider a manual pump tap or investigate whether I can use my 12v shower as a tap. For the moment the separate drainer will sit on top of sink as a lid/ chopping board etc whilst I think about how I can incorporate it better. At present, waste water can be disposed of via a funnel attached to a bit of washing machine pipe through a hole I found in the floor in exactly the right place. Plan is to fix that underneath the plug hole in the sink. I have a water canister for grey water but when wilding it's not really needed.
Dog has own bedroom, a big cage with 11 mm ply on top for cooker and work top, which is directly behind seats, with cage door facing side door so that he goes straight into it without messing up rest of van. Cat has wicker basket on front seat, held in place with seat belt, when on the move, when parked up she has free range of the van. A black plastic mushroom box wombled from the recycling centre with sawdust makes a good litter tray.
Van has roof rack and ladder on rear door, planning to fit a solar panel and roof light when finances allow. Have debated removing roof rack but will be useful for mounting solar panel onto and it makes van easy to spot amongst other vans. And it could be useful at festivals to get a good view. And also useful for attaching tv aerial and repeater cable for laptop dongle to get better reception. And for attaching ground sheet to to create a rain shelter over doors or sunshade etc.
What else? Can't think of anything else at the moment, and I really must get on with making the sink unit. Feel free to ask questions, I'll try to get some pics added in due course.