5) Oh no snow!!!!!!

Well just as i go back to work and have my first day off, the snow decides it would be a good idea to appear! For someone working on a convertion this is not good news.


As you can see it was not just a dusting of snow but what ended up approx 7" of snow.

Now for those who do not know transits very well, or vans in general, the bigger they get they change from front wheel drive to rear wheel drive.

Unfortunately my big baby is is like a dog on laminate flooring and doesn't know which way each wheel is going to slide. It went back to bed on thursday morning and the car went to work.



Nevertheless, snow did not stop play(convertion) and the tarpouline was out to continue work



Where there's a will, there's a way!!

What i did under the tarp was to fit the flooring to the rear bedroom. I have used aqualoc laminate flooring from B&Q. What i did was i took the insulation foil that was used on the walls and put a layer of that on the floor, i then used 2mm laminate foam on top of the foil and then measured the laminate to fit.

Remember that when laying laminate to lay it across the ribbing on the floor and not along it, as the laminate will likely break.

The pictures showing the new flooring in the van are not fuzzy, it is the snow falling in front of the lense.


I'll get some better pictures on soon.


Next time i might just have a complete cooker unit, who knows as my plans and order have become fairly mixed up

4 ) Well today ended up a bit more constructive than yesterday with the beds now in the van.



The beds were bought off of Ebay and were kind of expensive by my standards but the were hard to find and there was not much else similar anywhere on the internet. They are originally designed for a caravan but as you see they fit like a glove (once cut to length), the ladders were extra pinched from my daughters old bunk beds (another freebie) cut to length to fit the van. All that is needed now is storage and floorcovering which will be in a future blog.

Latest on the light cluster is that it is now had primer put on it and it now shows all the bits i have missed when sanding.


At least it know looks a bit closer to how it should do.



Now I did say about saving money on your kitchen unit. These units can cost anything from £200 to £1500 depending on how big you want, whether you want equipment like cooker and sink, whether you want extra storage, the coices are vast.

Here is my unit as i got it





I saved myself a fortune on these and you can to if you are prepared to get a little dirty, and do some DIY in them as i have, and i am no expert.

This unit complete with cooker and sink cost the grand total of £5 pounds............ I'll say that again, £5, not 50, not 500,....... £5, how? well i got it from an old caravan in a scrap yard (hence the get dirty bit) scrap dealers are not interested in wooden items, it is worth nothing to them.

I have already made some alterations to the unit which i will upload when complete and you will see the final result and i think you will be surprised.



Next time i should be able to show you the storage for the back and possibly the kitchen unit finished.

3 ) Not much to post today as i was carrying on with lining the van but i thought that i would put in a picture of the inside as it stans as you have seen the front, back, but nothing in between!

as you can see there is certainly more than nothing, the van is kitted out with five seats in the rear along with a table.

Chances are that these items will come out to create the main eating area and also my sleeping area.



Next i should be able to show you the rear bed complete and how to save a small fortune on your kitchen equipment.

2 ) The last couple of days have seen me get brave and use a circular saw on the van and cut out the doorway that will lead to the back bedroom.

In the picture you see that the walls and roof have started to go black, this is because i have started to line them with carpet tiles, dead easy to use just a bit hard to cut.












Now you may be wondering what has happened to all the stuff that was ripped out the van, Well it is neatly piled up ready for someone with a van to take it to the dump.



Yes I am seriously pushing my luck the longer it stays there.


If you are following this and are thinking that this would be something you would like to do the a word of warning. Please, please, please do not use this as any type of instructions or way to do things as this is just how I did it, by all means take some of the ideas to products and design but every project will be different with different hurdles to overcome.



Coming soon

I buy a kitchen unit with a difference, bunk beds to be put in, and flooring for the bedroom.

1) Transit Conversion

I have decided if somewhat late to document my conversion of my LWB Transit to a Campervan.....yes i am off my head !




Here is my new baby, well four weeks old now and has changed somewhat.

Firstly my beloved L2 KWD now has pride of place on the vehicle and I am now the legal owner

I bought the van from Ebay, yes i did say Ebay, no dealerships or warranties, from a seller on the Isle of Skye. Recruiting my Dad as some sort of sanity to the trip we left johnstone at 0615, got the train to inverness, then on to Kyle of Lochalsh, to be met for a trip to his house which was 1 hour on from there taking us to almost the most north western part of scotland.

We drove it home all the way until Hillington when the alternator belt fell off! Sounds painful and serious but not really although expensive it was not terminal.

As i said earlier this is a catch up of the work already done and then i will continue as work is done.

In the rear of the van was a toilet cubicle and sink, to which mairi demanded it was removed due to apparent health and safety reasons......her health and my safety. so it was removed to leave the next picture



all i need to do now is remove the units from the left hand side and take out the flooring, still a strong smell of some sort of chemicals.

Flooring is now out and metalwork scrubbed down with bleach, looking good.

OUCH!!!!

This is one of the cosmetic jobs that needs done to make the outside of the van looking better. I dig out my body repair skill from the depths of my mind, and remind myself of the smell of body filler, mmmm lovely.





Well not to bad, just needs painted



INSULATION


One thing that i would recommend is that the van needs to be insulated to try and keep my wonderful cherubs warm.

I have used B&Q Aluminiun insulating roll, which is as best described as metalic bubble wrap

This was easy to fit as it. I removed the wood panels from the inside of the van, cut the foil with scissors, and stick to the van with good old gaffer tape, does the job beautifully.

Replaced the wood panels and bob's your uncle. (well he is mine)




Coming next time I start cutting wood (oh dear) and lining the inside.

Please wait

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