Welcome

WELCOME


Welcome to the blog for our campervan build

This project began in May 2020 during the 'lockdown' in the UK due to COVID-19. We were supposed to be touring Europe in our existing camper conversion 'Movano The Van Hoe' but this obviously wasn't going to be possible... So after finishing a pretty ambitious Hot Tub Trailer build (see the blog here) we decided we needed another project to keep us occupied during however many weeks left of lockdown.

We put Movano The Van Hoe up for sale and bought a Renault Master which we will convert over the coming weeks/months.

We are fortunate in that Elliot has a fully equipped workshop with tools and space to work, and we're also fortunate in that this is Elliot's second camper conversion, so we're not totally winging it!

This is a blog of the full build and I make no apologies that it is very photo heavy. The primary purpose of the blog is to document this build both for our own records, and for anyone else who's interested.

We plan on touring around Scotland with our Trailer Hot Tub when travel restrictions are relaxed enough to allow this.

Disclaimer: This is NOT meant as a tutorial. Do not try this at home. Always seek professional expert advice.

Monday, 25 May 2020

BBQ, Battening and one Back Door

We both had to do some actual real-life work this morning, and had a wee cheeky barbecue outside the workshop before even starting on the van this afternoon.



We've added vertical battening to support the 'walls', using the same 38 x 25mm treated timber as the horizontal battens, secured to the van chassis with the use of 20mm angle brackets and the battening sandwiched together where needed using Sikaflex.

We plan on having 'cubby holes' within the walls, where we can store clothes and other stuff. This is to utilise the space otherwise lost in the curve of the van. (I'm sure this will make much more sense later on in the build!!)



We noticed two rivets on the locking mechanism of the back door were loose so these were drilled out and replaced. I dunno, I thought this was cool. It's very secure now!




Next was to template the first of the carpeted panels. We've started with the back doors as these can be finished first. To template, a piece of cardboard is stuck to the door and the margins of where we want the plywood panel to finish are marked out accurately using masking tape around the edge.


The cardboard template is then placed onto the piece of plywood and the shape cut out using a jigsaw.




The plywood is then tried for size, and trimmed further if need be.



Oh! Here's our HUGE roll of Veltrim


We've chosen to carpet the interior in Veltrim as its cozy and durable, and we've chosen their 'Stone' colour. 

The Veltrim is fixed to the plywood with contact adhesive, folded around the back, and the excess trimmed off using a Stanley utility knife. 



The finished panel was screwed to the chassis of the van with self drilling screws.  It's so nice to have one tiny part of the van looking 'finished'!





1 comment:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete