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.

Friday, 3 July 2020

The kitchen looks like a kitchen!

After installing the gas and water supply, and the waste pipe, we could fit the kitchen permanently. We made a raised base unit to accommodate heater ducting, plumbing and two custom made drawers so there is no wasted space under the units.

The units were glued and screwed together and secured to the floor and walls of the van. We've fitted our cupboard hinges and doors (B&Q GoodHome Alpinia Shaker Style in Matt Ivory), and worktop (Ikea Ekbacken in Light Oak).

We've cut holes to accommodate our appliances, and sealed all the cut edges of the worktop with gloss varnish to waterproof.

We've installed the sink (Smev 928 round sink), tap (chrome with pull-out hose from eBay), drinking water tap (Comet London microswitched tap), and hob (NJ Domino-G LPG 2-burner hob in white glass)

The reason for the two taps is so that we have a dedicated drinking water tap supplied from a 15l plastic water carrier under the sink. This means if we are filling up the 100l underslung tank from a water source we are not 100% about the quality we can still have separate clean drinking water. It also means we can easily ask to fill up the small container from any pub/restaurant tap.

Another reason for the separate water system is that when we use the van in the winter and it's too cold for the underslung tanks and the water system is drained and winterised, we can still use the drinking water tap.