The Van

Sunday 28 April 2013

Cupboard Progress

Hello!
Made the first wall cupboard and fixed it to the wall ! The front is made from strips of 12mm ply which are biscuit jointed and glued together and the base is one piece of 12mm ply.They where then laminated with some 3mm light oak board.A length of radius corner is used to get the curved front.Batten is then fixed to the back and top edges for fixing.The doors are made in the same way.I will do a more detailed post later on as I forgot to take many pictures! I'm pleased with the results and have now started making the cupboard for above the sink.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Boarding Out.

Hello! It's been loverly and sunny here this week so Ive made a start on fitting the lining boards.Decided to go with the light oak patten in the end.Its 3mm thick , 8 x 4 sheets.Magnums delivered me 4 sheets , plus some knock in edging and a radius corner all in light oak.Also I needed to buy a router bit for cutting the slot for the knock in edging trim.4 boards may not be enough,but will give me plenty to be getting on with.

Once cut the boards are glued in with good old PVA wood glue.I started with the wall behind the settee as this took a whole sheet.The settee base and one side of the wet room have now been covered.

The next job is to make a wall cupboard to go above the settee to house crockery and food.Ive made a start on it and will show the results in a Seperate post.

We decided last minute to wildcamp last night and drove up the road to Barton for the night.

Enjoy your van!

Stephen.



Sunday 14 April 2013

Layout Change.

Hello! As we've been using the van for quite a while now,(even though its not finished) and the swivel seats are not fitted yet,it became clear that it was a bit cramped with the dinette seating and the table up.The rear seat didn't have seatbelts as it wasn't a travel seat and wasn't needed to carry passengers.So I decided to take it out and build a side facing settee.This would giveaway bigger seating area and more space in the gangway.
Theres a bit of extra work to do,mainly moving the batteries and wiring.The water heater stays in the same place and the batteries move to the other end of the new seat.The first picture shows the old seat removed and the second one is the basic framework in position.The frame is constructed from 18 x 44 softwood which is glued and screwed.The outside of the seat will be clad with some 3mm finishing ply.



Sunday 7 April 2013

Progress Report

Hello everyone, Im back ! March was a bad month for me for a few reasons.Firstly I had no spare cash to spend on materials as work was quiet in Jan and Feb.I have to cut all the boards and wood outside and the weather has been crap!
Things have changed for the better now though! Work has picked up and the weather seems to be as well! So after finally deciding the choice of wall covering I placed an order with Magnums.4 sheets of 3mm light oak boards ,knock in edging and radius corner strip.Also bought a router bit to cut out the slot for the knock in edging.
I can't praise the service of Magnums enough,being as they are in Grimsby and I'm in the Deep South of England.I ordered the bits and they arrived next day,fully intact and the boards were very well packaged so all the corners of the boards were intact!
I have enough materials for a big push now, so should be posting more progress soon.
Happy building

Stephen.