Week 13 - Storage Bench 1

Opposite the kitchen units, I set about making a long storage bench with top opening lids. By making the lids open at the top, it is not necessary to fit child locks to keep them shut when the van is moving. The bench will cover the second wheel arch and also house two lots of electrics. Firstly, a couple of 12v sockets and the wiring to the rear light at the back of the van, and secondly, a double mains plug socket which makes use of the space in front of the wheel arch.

The construction and finish of storage units will remain constant throughout the build. Ply is used to house a frame made from wooden batons and screwed together. The ply is glued on with PVA wood glue so that no screws are visible from the outside.

Most people constructing furniture for inside their campervan tend to use a veneer finished board but I decided to stain and varnish the units instead (cheaper, but much more time consuming). All the units had 3 coats of Ronseal Deep Mahogany Wood Stain followed by 2 coats of Ronseal Clear Gloss Outdoor Varnish. The resulting units looked great and I am really happy with them. I fitted roller catches to match the kitchen units and even went back to B&Q to pick up some more of the same handles.

Week 12 - Kitchen Units

I spent £160 in B&Q on some kitchen units and a worktop which I then modified to fit in the van. The units were fitted first, using a jigsaw to cut out the areas which would sit over the wheel arch.

There would be plenty of other chunks taken out of these units later in the build but at this point I hadn’t decided exactly where everything was going to go.

Also, because the sides of the van are curved and do not run up straight, it took a bit of time to cut the back of the units so that the fitted tightly to the wall. When positioned correctly, I fixed these units to the wall. The cupboards consist of a large double-door cupboard on the left which has a lot of space inside, and a smaller single-door cupboard on the right with a drawer above it. 

One thing I quickly realised was that the doors open and clatter around when driving the van so I fitted some roller catches (see picture below) to the three doors and the drawer. As well as preventing the doors from opening, these also give a nice feel when opening and closing. These catches alone don’t always hold the doors shut though, so I fitted some child locks too, and between them, they do a great job.

The task of making the curtains fell on my mum, who is very capable on the sewing machine. She wasn’t too happy with the curtains but I think they look great.

Week 11 - Vinyls

Although my van will not exactly be a “stealth camper” when it is finished, I did not want it to look like an easy target for burglars by sticking campervan-style stickers all over it. Equally, I didn’t want it to look like a plain white van.

As a result, I decided to add some vinyls to the outside which would give the van a bit of identity but wouldn’t look too out of place. The logo I chose is from a skate and clothing company (called Element) but has a very “outdoor-explorer” feel to it. Vinyls were added to each side, plus one on the rear doors.

Week 10 - Curtain Rails

This week has been a bit of a dull one as far as work on the van is concerned. I did however manage to fit some curtain rails from Homebase. These went in 4 places:

• Between the cab area and the living area.
• Above the sliding side door
• Above the main rear doors
• Over the far side window

I also went to a local fabric supplier and picked up some fabric for all the curtains and also some to cover the seats.