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Anon
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Where to start designing....
Electrics first? then build around it or..
benches, beds & kitchen cupboards?
i'm thinking something along the lines of this for installing the benches.. so they look nice and neat inside the back, with no removable bits that could get damaged or tatty..
what do you think? obviously looking in from the end of the van, in cross-section form :)
here the 'middle' bed panels fold down to make the kick panels of the benches (precise measurement needed obviously!)
the kick panels are lifted up, a railed frame slides out and perhaps drop bolts in place... the kickboards form the middle section :)
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 Sun 14 Oct 2007 @ 07:26
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Anon
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My advice is to start at the edges and work in:
1) Insulation (if not already done with the fibreglass body)
2) Plumbing, gas and electrics. You don't want to fit a sink unit then not be able to power or plumb it!
3) Make templates of your furniture (bed, sink, cooker, wardrobe etc) out of scrap/really cheap wood. Place them in the van to make sure the layout works before you start fitting things in permanently.
4) Paint the furniture before installing it, especially if you are as bad at painting as I am.
5) Try and finish one job before moving on to the next
Most of this I have found through experience! Don't want you making the same mistakes as I did.
My last bit of advice is to enjoy doing the conversion, always helps keep the motivation up when it is freezing cold and you feel as though you are never going to finish.
Take some pics of your progress and keep us posted
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Sun 14 Oct 2007 @ 18:05
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Anon
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and carpet or flooring before furniture. nothing tattier than a ragged edge of carpet which will continue to fray.
planning planning and more planning
I used the van with a couple of mattresses, a loo [everyone else had to get out if someone needed it]
a camp kitchen and 2 cook stoves. an aqua roll 45 ltr.
and a planning book.
the end of that year i started to put things in place permanently and it worked well for the 2nd year. no one was uncomfy and we did not fall over each other moving round when stuck in on rainy days
but
we had failed to plan perfectly. it was a real pain getting clothes and food from under seats every day sometimes more than once so end of year 2 project was to enlarge the cupboard and put in 2 extra shelves, 1 for clothes and 1 for food so we could keep a couple of days stuff in there and only had to grapple under the seats every couple of days.
forgot to say
the design layout changed about 100 times before I was happy.
i did it with no help because it was before i found cf or sbmcc or any other website.
it is ok and it works
but
at the end of the 5th year, after all the experience gained from talking to others and looking at their plans and learning loads from people on here and other places [thanks all of you]
i have more plans which will be better and everything will come out and I'm going to start again.
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Sun 14 Oct 2007 @ 20:52
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Anon
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some great tips there.
i was chatting a friend of mine on the way home this morning who was asking what i'd have inside the van.
i listed - bench seats, converted into a bed, cooker, sink and shower.
then i thought -how would i warm the water for a shower? are there many tutorials on installing hot water heaters or shall i just plumb it in between the radiator in and out pipe so i get hot water just after long journeys?!
as for the gas cooker - i'd want to run it on the gas canisters, rather than a huge calor gas bottle. is this possible? i've got a camping stove and i found that for the amount i used it i prefered the simplicity of canisters.
oooooh so many questions!
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Thu 18 Oct 2007 @ 06:10
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Anon
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Since you have an ex-ambi, could you not mount the water tank and gas bottle under the van in the storage areas? One of the biggest problems with my van is stowing the gas and water, meaning I lose 1 of 3 cupboards.
Also, how would you warm water using the van's cooling system ?
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Thu 18 Oct 2007 @ 08:27
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Anon
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the easiest shower is a 25 ltr garden spray.
the shower head is built in. paint it matt black fill with water and leave in the sun [if we ever get any - in winter resort to a water otter - kettle] pump and stand under.
water is at a premium the less used the longer you can camp. if you are planning to use camp sites why fit one. use the camp sites.
I got 2x storage containers from B&Q at £8 each and set them close to the front under the bench seats and connected with pipes to a mechanical foot pump [an electric one tends to use more because it's just too easy to use]
they self level too.
a lot depends on what you want this camping machine for and only you can decide.;
I bought a book and the guy started off with a merc panel and gutted it then went to town with the best of everything.
his end bill was about 1 1/2 times what it would have cost him to buy a panel merc conversion done professionally. it was no wonder the book was over £20.
my conversion cost £400 including the van base.
one thing also
no matter how good it looks.. there are weight considerations.
the heavier you are the slower you go and the more fuel you use.
if you use MDF or the like your springs will need assisters.
I build with a 1x1 frame and use cladding boards from B&Q which are like balsa but stronger. they look great sanded and varnished.
I built an internal gas cupboard to save running propane in the winter.
my mrs is 6'2" so we had a problem as with the insulation there is only 5'10" across so we finished up with bunks.
probably not a consideration for you.
it's done us good service for well over 400 nights out not any where near a campsite and in 7 countries.
it is actually more comfy than the 4 berth coach built we now have. we fall over each other and only one person can do anything at any one time. designed by a MH designer not a MH user
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Thu 18 Oct 2007 @ 11:30
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Anon
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to answer the original thread topic
where to start designing
decide on use it will be put to.
how many people [animals]
gourmet meals or just brews or somewhere in between
and work from there on paper or computer.
use a shoe box and make little paper models fit them in and try to picture moving around in it [all of you, especially kids] on a rainy day.
move things till it feels right. in the meantime throw camping kit in and use it. you will learn where things need to go.
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Thu 18 Oct 2007 @ 11:40
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Anon
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Bench seats, cooker, sink and shower...
By far the easiest way to do this is with an old caravan interior or a modern, written-off caravan interior. Either should cost no more than a few hundred quid. Hundreds of them on Ebay with no reserve. You'll have all the wiring, heaters, plumbing, vents, cupboards, fixtures & fittings... everything you need to do a conversion. When you're done, scrap the shell and sell the trailer that will be left.
What you won't have is the satisfaction of your own design or perhaps the quality you can get going full-on self build. Self build interiors are generally of a higher standard than commercial caravan/coachbuilt ones but as Roi has pointed out, you can spend a fortune. An air heater alone can come to a few hundred pounds, and all this kit will be in your caravan.
Old interiors can easily be freshened up with new fabrics,modern flooring, spray paint, new handles etc and clever use of lighting, just as a few examples.
Worth a thought if you don't have the hundred of hours it will take to do a nice job from scratch, but you will get a better result if you do it yourself, and all your DIY is up to scratch !
(Edit - Ed, I think DJ is talking about using a heat exchanger for the shower hot water. Essentially free heat, but it won't last long.)
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Fri 19 Oct 2007 @ 13:39
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Anon
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How are you getting on?
Got some pictures for us to see?
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Thu 15 Nov 2007 @ 16:17
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