Category: Van

I’ve been focussed on finishing off as much of the van as possible recently. At the end of this week, I am off to Scotland for a tour with a mate, so it has to be at least useable.

The cabinet has a long space that will be perfect for a big drawer. There will be nothing that I can buy that will fit it efficiently so looks like I’m making it from scratch. Where possible, in the Van, i’m trying to keep the face of the wood fixing-less. I want as clean a finish as possible. Sometimes this is not possible which is fine but a nice flush fitting, uncluttered look is what I’m going for. To this end, the front face of the drawer is a good bit of plywood – probably thicker than it needs to be, so I can screw into it from behind. I am also using wood glue so the connections are secure. This has turned into a very strong drawer. It slides on some batons and when loaded is heavy enough that it won’t slide out by itself when going around corners – hopefully.

Continue reading Orgy Of Snakes

The whole extendy bed construction relies on having a cabinet on the other side of the van to hook onto. I wouldn’t normally have used such chunky wood for a bit of studwork cabinetry but as this bed may have two full size male humans sleeping on it, I thought I had better not skimp. It would truly suck if in the middle of the night there is a cracking sounds followed by to heavy bangs as we hit the floor.

Continue reading Cupboard Creation

So I started to build the bed using EVEN MORE WOOD… I swear there is so much in this van its unbelievable! I know wood is renewable and reasonably environmentally friendly but im going to need my own forest at this rate!

Continue reading Extendy Bed Bits

So where are we up to now?

• Roof holes welded (not yet painted… bit lazy)
• Walls insulated, clad and carpeted
• Base bed box built and clad

Next is the most important part of a good camper van, and possibly the hardest to integrate to the rest of the vehicle. The bed. It’s a really awkward problem when you think about it, especially if you are as tall as me!

Continue reading Bed Building Begins

Another chance to get some vannery work done presented itself this week. A lot of prep work has gone into getting to where I am now. Plenty of time spent sitting in the van looking at its curvy shape and my wood stock (giggle) Working out the best way to get the most features I want into the space has meant that progress has been slow, up until today, when some of my plans started to become a reality.

Continue reading Headroom Highlights

Hoorah!! Major milestone completed!! All holes have been plug welded in my holey police van!!

I have been searching for about 5 months now to plug the holes in my roof. I’ve searched the local businesses, fabricators shops, car body shops, DIY stores and friends of friends sheds for someone (or thing) to fill them.

Continue reading Plug Weld My Pig Holes

Today my Van swallowed a whole sheet of plywood in one big gulp.

With the help of my Bro™, we man-handled the sheet into the back of the van. I parked strategically on the road to give us space to cut the board up outside. The neighbours didn’t seem to mind us using the space, that was until I spotted that their car had a fine dusting of man-glitter all over it!

Continue reading Warm Woody Walls

Next job: Insulate the walls of the van and prepare for boarding.

I was staggered just how much of a difference covering the walls of the van would have on the acoustics in there… when I bought the van it was just a shell with some badly fitted plastic panels flapping around. As you drove along, the van made such a crashing din you could barely hear the bag of cats screeching in the back. Now it’s (partially) insulated, it’s so much quieter you can have a normal conversation without going hoarse.

Continue reading Recycling Van