Week 44 - Battery Tray

By this point I have started getting together most of the electrical equipment I will need to supply power to the van and keep the batteries charged up. I have also been working on the wiring schematic (with much help from members of the SBMCC forum). 

All of the electrical gear will be fitted under the front two passenger seats. This area is split into two parts however, and the smaller partition is also hampered by a storage space under the seats.

The first thing to fit into this space is the batteries as they take up the most space so I started building a battery tray to house the two 110Ah batteries which I have bought. These will be connected in parallel to provide 220Ah in total (220 amp hours = 1 amp of current for 220 hours, 10 amps for 22 hours, 100 amps for 2.2 hours, etc).

The battery tray was made of ply with wooden batons screwed on. The tray is raised slightly to allow for cables coming from under the van to run underneath freely. I fitted 2 battery clamps to hold the batteries in the tray with the brackets fitted to the partition inside the seat and on the battery tray. The straps then do up tight to hold the batteries down.

I also built-in a shelf in the smaller section which will hold the mains powered battery charger… more on this later.

Week 43 - Main Bed Frame 2

Now that the steelwork was in place, I fitted some bed slats between to take the weight in the bed. These were about 20mm thick (actually a little bit overkill for this use) and joined with a ribbon to keep them spaced equally. They are pretty solid, and held in place by the seats on either side. I used a thin piece of 4mm plywood to go over the bed slats and make sure the surface is flat. 

I made up two panels to fit over the other book box and the bench storage unit and cover the gap in between. These also raised the height in this region so that the bed frame is now all at the same level (or as level as it can be with the shape of the seats).

All parts of the bed frame can be removed and stored behind the rear-facing seats without taking up any additional room

Week 42 - Main Bed Frame 1

The main bed will fit on the rear seats. I got some small brackets made up at work and these were painted up the same way as the gas locker.

I fixed these between the seats – two to the side wall, one to the larger book box, one to the end of the storage bench.

I then used two removable pieces of stainless steel box section 30x30x3 to span between the brackets. A quick jump-up-and-down on them showed they were definitely strong enough.

Week 41 - 12v Sockets

It is time to make some modifications to the 12v socket at the rear of the van. I decided that I would fit a separate fusebox in this area which would take care of the rear light and an additional 12v socket. Accessing the socket from inside the inside of the bench storage unit is far from ideal too, so I decided that the sockets should be accessed without lifting the lid.

I measured up and mounted the 2 sockets on a piece of ply and then drilled corresponding holes through the end of the bench. I used sealant to fill in around the holes before positioning the sockets in from behind and tidying up the sealant. The sockets are now secured in place and can be wired up to the fusebox.

I also fitted three small battery powered LED lights just so that there is back-up light if there is a power failure or the batteries get flat. One is above the kitchen area (pictured) and two are fitted on the underside of the bunk bed panels.

Week 40 - Alarm

I have bought a wireless burglar alarm for Vanny. The alarm (about £10 from eBay) runs off four AA batteries and basically comprises of a PIR sensor and a siren. It also came with two remotes to turn the alarm off when entering the living area of the van. After a quick test in the kitchen I can confirm it is pretty damn loud!

I have fitted it is broad view of the side door window as a deterrent as much as anything. Hopefully it will stop any opportunistic thief who is peering through the window, and if not, it will certainly attract some notice when they set it off.

As well as the alarm, I have put some warning stickers up as an additional prevention measure. I think I will probably get a wheel lock in the future too.