9th Feb - Creating the seats and cladding the other wall

I began Sunday by starting to clad the left hand wall this weekend.  But about 15 panels in I snapped my last HSS drill bit (I'm having to drill into the steel framework for fixings along the top of the cladding).  So that quickly brought that to a finish for the day and made me start on measuring the seats.

I decided to go for 9mm MDF for the front of the seats (where children's feet will kick) and for the seat itself (for the family's back sides).  The rest I have done in 3mm Hardwood.

I measured up, allowing for the widths of the wood and wrote down every measurement as I went.  This was a bit of a test but once I had 25 measurements I knew I'd done the lot and could go inside and try to figure out how to get that out of as few sheets of wood as possible.

I managed to draw it all out and get the shapes I needed (including some spares) from 3 sheets of 8x4 hardboard, 1 sheet of 8x4 MDF and another 6x2 sheet of MDF.  I'm so glad B&Q bognor do the cutting service.  Although the fella wasnt too pleased as I handed him the sheets.  But we waited and watched for a good 45 minutes and left with plenty of wood panels.

After returning home ready with half a kilo of panel pins I set about trying to figure out which panel fitted which seat.  A couple of hours later we has the insides of a van starting to take shape.  Its nice to see some real progress internally.

I've also brought a night-latch for the rear door and more post has seen the arrival of the flooring, a replacement RCD, and the Artic grade electrical flex cable. Another trip to Toolstation & B&Q has provided me with more HSS drill bits and some more cladding so I can finish that job.

More cladding to do this week in the evenings and then some cable runs to put in.  All getting quite real now.

The only negative this weekend is that I've found out that I need a new battery :(

2nd February - Update Time for the Ambulance / Campervan Conversion

Over the last week a lot has happened really - not all good.  I'll try to give this update some flow for you.

Bodyshell first: From inside I bonded some cut out fibreglass panels to the old vent holes to fill them in.  This was weeks ago but the relentless rain has stopped them setting.  And the wind and rain last week pushed them right out one night and I had a wet van with holes in the side once again.  So the first task of this weekend was to re-glue those, drill in some supporting blocks and then cover it again.  One day this country will dry and I'll be able to buy some fibreglass resin and fill the holes from the outside.  But thats for another day.

Electrics next.  I really wanted to make a start on running the cables this week, but the combination of it being wet then a load more research led me to realise that Twin and Earth was not the best choice.  Flex will be better because of the strands and the potential for the vehicle vibrations to disconnect the single T&E cable.  So I had the wrong cable...  I also realised the consumer unit I brought doesnt have the right setup. So I've had to order a different RCD and a reverse polarity tester.  Ideally 2 pole MCB's are needed.   But I dont plan to go abroad to continental sites.  The plug outlet tester will be used every time we stop anyway to ensure the sockets are safe so I'm pretty confident once the RCD is fitted and the config of the consumer unit is turned around that I will have a very safe van.  I did drill through and pop in the mains inlet though.  So one part ticked off the list at least.

Kitchen tops:  I'd forgotten about these after cutting them to size a few weeks back. I'd oiled, then covered them up with plastic and board to stop them scratching while I used the tops as workspace.  Epic fail here was not securing them to the cabinets... Turns out the fluctuating temperatures has made them all warp!  Gutted!! and now all wooden kitchen sides and internal tables are upstairs at home being de-warped as best I can.  Again I could do with a nice warm sunny day to do this properly.  There are tricks apparently (we'll see).

So all pretty crap so far!!

I decided to consider my walls this weekend and started on one side, fitting battens and then some of the cladding.  Once the battens were in I covered the walls with a reflective and insulating foil over the existing loft style insulation and then clad on top of those.  Glueing every edge and then fixing every second panel.  It's real nice to see some progress to be honest.

I've also ordered a Karndean / amtico style floor from eBay to go in.  Its not enough to do the whole floor, but if I don't do it under the kitchen cabinets and under the seats it'll be more than enough to do the bits we'll see / walk on.  I'll use a slightly cheaper lino or maybe even carpet tiles (for warmth) under the rest.

I then fitted a high security rear door lock so we can be happier when not in the van.  When inside it'll be bolted from inside and a lock will also be fitted.

So, this week, I am hoping the other side of the van dries out.  I will then batten and clad that side.  Then its time to measure the seats and get the wood cut to clad those.  Then they can be fixed to the bed of the vehicle and painted.  I think once these and the kitchen cabinets are painted and secured It'll really start to look like good progress is being made.