Van

Thursday 29th of July 2004


The van as purchased for �400 on Thursday 22nd July 2004 (advertised in local newsagent window).

Empty 1994 (L-reg) Leyland DAF 400 2.5L Diesel with 174000 miles on the clock, a few oil leaks, a number of bumps and scrapes and bucketloads of rust. Bare walls, ply floor (with rotting wood/grease/rust etc underneath!). The poor thing has had a hard life.




Not terribly well looked after?

Note big air intake was masking taped onto engine(!) and had almost come right off (hmm.. lots of junk in engine now?)




The Cabin




Lots of space though.. 3.25 metres from behind the seats to the rear doors, 1.8m across.




The big clean begins




The next �60 of damage...




An example of the rust!




Rust-killing primer applied

Wednesday 4th of August 2004


Rust remover gel added




Uh oh.. I think I made it worse!




Best prime it before it breaks right through...




Fibre glass filler applied




Body filler on top




Doors after treating all rust, filling all holes, sanding and painting

Thursday 5th of August 2004


Engine bay after first can of degreaser

I don't particularly feel like spending money on more, so it can stay a bit dirty for now!




Looks like the sealant in the gearbox isn't doing a whole lot these days




Suspicious how just the mid section of the gearbox is covered in oil...




Uh oh..

I'd been putting off the task of sanding/tapping these suspicious patches of floor rust, but when I did my fears were confirmed :( Note the spanner in the hole (the rust is above a chassis beam)




The other end of the spanner...




On the up side, the outside is starting to look a bit better

Sunday 5th of September 2004


That nasty right-hand wing has been thoroughly ground down, sanded, belted with a hammer, treated for rust and now body-filled




Looks a bit nicer with some white anti-rust primer over the top




Our stash of caravan bits from Bedford

Found an ad in the local Trader paper: interior contents of caravan fo �50. As it turns out the guy had stripped a few caravans and we had a choice of a few different sinks, cookers, etc. We ended up picking some extra pots and pans, a loo and a few other bits and took the lot for �85. Unfortunately the fridges there were a bit dodgy looking, so we're still hunting for one.




Our next big purchase - 320 square feet of 30mm foil backed foam kingspan insulation and two big sheets of 15mm 'smart-ply'

Another paper ad, a bit closer this time (15 mile drive to Chatham), �8/sheet for the insulation (instead of �20 from the hardware store) and �5/sheet for the smart ply (not advertised, but was in the same pile as the insulation so the guy asked if I wanted some ply as well.. quite convenient :)




The floor, finally cleaned, rust removed/killed, holes repaired and bare metal primed.




Triple layered floor: 6mm ply, 30mm kingspan insulation, 15mm smart ply.




Tut tut, it looks like rain...




A rough mock-up of the layout

The lounge consists of the cushions from the Bedford stash (which just happened to be the perfect sizes to fit our plans) inside some sleeping bags zipped together which we found advertised just around the corned for �5 each. So much easier than sewing custom covers, and can be slept inside on cold nights :) We also picked up a double sleeping bag from the same people. Where the Kingspan is will be a full height wardrobe. A kitchen bench will span the entire left hand wall, incorporating all the bits lined up there in roughly that order. We found a nice piece of black laminated kitchen bench top in a skip when walking one day, and found that Steve had a very similar offcut left over from his kitchen; these should be enough to cover it all. Floor will have lino on it. Overhead cabinets will be installed. Roofvents and a skylight will also go in. The walls and ceiling will also be insulated with kingspan. The table top behind the lounge can be set up between the two lounges (note the passenger seat is facing backwards to become a lounge). The lounge will be set up on a unit which pulls out to become a decent sized double bed, and will have a bath tub underneath. Yes, a bath tub. The fridge will be between the sink and the cooker, above the wheel arch where the heater is. The loo will be hidden in what looks like just another kitchen cupboard, but the bench hinges upward and door forms a wall. You'll see :)

Tuesday 19th of October 2004

Long time no update...

Any van related news over the last month has just been posted on the generic news section - things like buying a bath, winning a fridge on eBay, etc.. mostly acquisitional. Our desire to get started on our travels and realisation that we've now been in West Malling for 6 months - 1/2 our holiday - have given the project a kick start since we returned from Sweden so we are in go-go-go mode. Have been doing quite a bit of carpentry recently. Would love get moving before November, but it looks highly unlikely with the amount of stuff we have left to do... we'll just keep at it...




The Construction Site

I've taken to doing all my construction inside the van, so it is very saw-dusty, gluey and otherwise messy. You can see above the start of construction the bath frame.




At great expense we have employed a professional insulation engineer

The Cutter and Sticker of the 'Kingsfoil' (Lord of the Rings joke...)




The Lounge

Obviously more comfortable if you put the mattress pieces on top...




The Bed

Just slides out to the desired width. Nice and sturdy.




The Bath

Custom-built wooden hinge allows slatted plane to rotate. We obviously won't be filling the bath up full of hot water each night.. just a couple of kettle-loads to splash around in. Also allows us to do handwashing of clothes, etc. Can also hang clothes over it to dry.




Kitchen Construction

Will house all our gas appliances as well as sink, water tanks, loo, etc.

Thursday 4th of November 2004


The roof getting warmer...




Semi-complete kitchen unit...

Half the bench-top (lovely glossy granite laminate) courtesy of Steve Kemp's kitchen makeover leftovers, the other half from a skip we happened to walk past... yoink.




Told you the loo would be in a cupboard...

(aka. water closet)




Spot the new leisure battery (110ah) and combination relay (split battery charge and fridge power)

All seems to work ok, and much to our relief the fridge does work (even on 12V power - the bloke on eBay was selling it because he thought it was gas only... bonus :)




Wardrobe skeleton

I hope we don't have more stuff than space...

Friday 3rd of December 2004

Time for a big update...

Have been a bit slack on the web update front of late.. here's a summary of the past few weeks...




Construction of the overhead cabinets begins




Right-hand overhead cabinet showing off new electrical distribution panel (courtesy of Steve via eBay for 6 quid.. must pay him for that sometime)




Lino lain

A very large (3m x 4.5m) 'remnant' picked up in Maidstone for 60 quid (apparently quite a good price)




Cladding begins

7.5mm tongue-and-groove pine installed in removable panel sections for maintenance access




The parcel man came!

We've been ordering a lot of stuff online recently. Our (well maybe just Simon's) favourite shop is toolstation.com which has loads of cheap hardware with free delivery. Pictured here also is our new rooflight and gas tap manifold.




Finally, somewhere Simon can stand up straight

Loads of light and ventilation too.. rain may be a problem though




That's a bit better

Pops up and down and has a removable fitted flyscreen. I hope I did a good job with the silicone sealant...




Cosy

Either it was a very mild night or our insulation works very well.. most likely a bit of both.. but we were actually quite warm and we slept so well we didn't hear the parcel van come and go trying to deliver our next toolstation delivery :( Must rewire the doorbell to the van next time we test it out :)




The first curtain hung

We were very blessed to have two of these lovely warm red curtains donated; we didn't ask for them, but Helen just arrived one day with them and said "I don't suppose you could use these could you?"... as it happens they fit perfectly hanging just a couple of mm above the floor and just reaching wall to wall! We've rigged up a tensioning system using hooks and turnbuckles courtesy of toolstation for 40 pence.




Why you should always keep your hands behind the cutting edge...

We decided we've grossed out enough people with pictures of other wounds over the year, so we'll spare you this one.. apart from saying it's much deeper than the knife indicates and about 7cm long.. healing very well now




Varnishing

We actually had several hours of sunlight (not just grey light) in which to varnish our cladding the other day. Having been warned that you should varnish both sides to avoid warping, etc we constructed it in a way which permitted it's removal. Next we had to put it all in again once it dried...




Cladding complete

Now we can start loading the furniture back in once it's complete and varnished. Then we screw it all in, do all the gas fitting, finish wiring the lights in, load in some water tanks, hang a couple more curtains, cut a hole in the wall for the fridge flue, cut a hole in the floor and install the heater, put in a couple of gas cylinders having obtained to metal to line the cabinets with, put doors on all the cabinets, install random things like the carbon monoxide detector, try to dispose of all our construction junk, try to squeeze all our bits and pieces into the nooks and crannies, pray a big prayer and drive off into the mist... or something... stay tuned :)

Saturday 25th of December 2004


The Wardrobe




Hmm.. how to fit in all the stuff we've accumulated over 8 months...




Random Progress Shot

Ugly but useful mirror marring beautiful rear doors, new brass catch for bed flap, aluminium backing on kitchen unit




Dirty great hole through floor for balanced flue heater

Wednesday 30th of March 2005


Front left view, in caravan park in Rome

Fish shop incident repair may be visible on roof




Rear left view

By night in Switzerland




Rear right view




Interior view from rear




Front seat turned around to form additional lounge




Wardrobe




Kitchen




Under bonnet




Bed




Bed Slats




Bath




Optional third berth over front seats

Claire can vouch for the comfort factor from two weeks in Ireland/Wales/England




Dining Table




Additional small table




Gas heater

Thermostatically controlled with electronic ignition




Bench extension piece

For preparation of large feasts :)




Gas cooker

(2 ring 'hob' (stove), grill and oven)




'Water cupboard'

Not to be confused with WC next door... manual foot pump (installed as backup but worked fine so didn't bother with electric one...)




Loo




'Bathroom' with curtain

Ironically doesn't contain bath...

Sunday 3rd of April 2005

You can visit the eBay auction page here

Friday 8th of April 2005

SOLD!

We delivered the van last night and caught the train home. A bit sad, but it looks like it'll have some fun adventures around Europe with it's new owners, who have a couple of months to get the oil leaks and stuff sorted and figure out how it all works before they set off. We're seriously tempted to buy it back if we make it back here :)