The Dispatch | Expert | Scudo Hub

Well, it is now done Well, not done, but it is now at least usuable!
The removable piece nearest the nearside side door now mounts as a backrest across the offside side door so we now have a useable bench seat.

The biggest thing left (apart from the door panels that I keep on forgetting about! ) is some cupboards/selving/table over the nearside wheel arch. That will take a lot of the stuff (cooker, plates, washing up stuff etc) that is currently taking up space under the bed.

But, for this weekend, everything fitted in that we need so we took it out for a couple of day trips. Today being an amble along the south coast near Worthing.
A walk along the beach followed by bacon butties and a cup of tea by the van was a nice relaxing way to spend the day although we did cheat by bringing the washing up home to do.

I have to admit that the thing that impressed me most was the toilet (sad, I know...). I have always hated the smell of chemical toilets so we got a Kampa Khazi (which is basically a bucket with seat and lid) , lined the bucket with a bag and sprinkled a handful of compressed pine sawdust pellets (from a pet shop, sold as cat litter) in the bottom. The pine pellets swell an amazing amount to absorb any liquid and, even after being used all day, the only smell was a slight smell of pine sawdust. Way, way better than any chemical toilet I have used plus at the end of the day you are left with a plastic bag that can be tied up and dumped in any household waste (just like a baby's nappy). We do need to get some properly bio-degradeable bin liners to use with it but otherwise I cannot see any downsides.
Oh, and it was great not having the search for a public toilet and then jostle with plague ridden tourists just because I had too much tea with my bacon buttie

Anyway, enough about toilets. Apart from the aforementioned door panels and cupboard/shelving etc my wifes main complaint was the soft bench passenger seat as she rolled around a lot on corners. At least, I think it was the seat, not the fact I was driving it like I drive my bmw......
Either way, I think some new seats might be necessary at some point.

The weather is now hampering progress but I am getting there slowly......
The offside "infill" piece. This lifts up to get tall things (like the loo) out from undernearth. It will also lift out completely to allow carrying of large stuff.

Then the rear fixed section. There is space underneath for the waste water container although there is also space for it to the left behind the wheel arch. Cupboards/sink/cooker are likely to be here but all this will wait until we have used the van a few times so we have got a feel for how will will use it.

Well, the old shelves did not survive. Mostly because I mis-measured the space required for the bed so they do not fit very well. Maybe they will get a reprive later.

It is now starting to look like it might turn into a camper. A part built bed/seat base with a test fit of the mattress halves to make sure they fit. They do, just......

Then an almost complete (ie done bar any cladding ply on the sides of the base) seat base. The top is lift up and removable at the moment but might end up with a hinge later. At the bulkhead there is now a support for that end of the bed base and an infill piece will complete the gap.

There will also be some boxing around the wheel arch to protect it from stuff sliding around but that is not a high priority at the moment.

I have no practical experience but, based on those figures, I would have though that the glow plug is the equivelent of 3 minutes of normal running of the heater. I assume you need 30 minutes running or more to heat any decent quantity of water so probably less than 10% of total power use?
If I got that right then I guess the diesel heater will be more efficent on battery overall, probably by about 30%?

I did see one review of the diesel water/air heaters where it appeared to need to run the hot air heating whenever it was heating water. Doesn't sound great to me and would waste a lot of power, assuming the van does not actually need heating.
I don't know how that compares to the propex? Plus I could have misunderstood that!

edit: btw, I think it was also the other way around. ie he needed to run the water pump when the air was heating otherwise the water boiled.

Nice to see someone doing similar but different to me. Your way looks quicker!

What are stick pins? I assume the things with corks on? Some way of holding the celotex while the glue dries?

looks like you have plenty of space to work with though

Some small progress. The interior is insulated but a few more door panels to ply and then I can get onto making the bed etc. To that end I got my wife to compare our double mattress with the inside of the van and she decided that it would be much better use of the space if we had a 4' wide bed rather than the full 4'6". Which is what I told her from the start but better late than never

So, mattress attacked with a bread knife. There is no going back now!

Not so my progress the last week. My boss suggested I should actually do some work
Still, I have now insulated (dodo fleece and a layer of foil/bubbwrap) and ply'ed the ceiling.
The ply took a good few hours although about 30 minutes of that was arguing with my wife how to do a template! I think I won the arguement in the end
She also tells me I am being way to fussy with the fit and we could have done it in half the time. She might have a point but I like the results......

Oh, and halfway through doing the ply my neighbour told me that my wife said we are going away in it next weekend. Which was good, as I really needed a good laugh at that point

Today's installment - cutting the ply floor (mostly).
I thought about a hour to trace the floor pattern to the ply and cut it out with a jigsaw but no, more like 2.5 hours of blood(*) sweat and tears!

Sorry about the wonky picture, I had a very sore thumb(*) when I took it so was not paying much attention!

It still needs the join between the sheets marking and rebating for a half lap joint. Then screwed down.

(*) the sore thumb was the blood (and almost tears) bit. While I was doing the floor I decided to make a circular saw guide rail and, while screwing two bits of ply together, managed to put the impact driver bit through the side of my thumb. It hurt and bled quite a bit which was a bit incovenient given I had to finish screwing the rail together before some glue set 

Well, I said the hammerite was a mistake and it was! Even after 4 days it stank so bad I got a headache working in the van. I did think of just leaving it and hoping but decided I was likely to regret that (I do have a very sensitive sense of smell.) so......
Masked it up and sprayed on a coat of Zinsser B-I-N Primer/Sealer & Stain Killer. This is supposed to suppress odours and it appears to work. 20 minutes after applying my wife came to see what I was doing and commented she could not longer smell the paint.

This gives a slightly rough and powdery finish so a couple of coats of black spray paint on the bits that might be exposed after the floor goes down....

Obviously the black topcoat smells but I am confident that will go quickly as it is just normal paint. So hopefully I can actually make some progress (ply the floor) tomorrow!

Oh, and I reckon that spray priming the rusty bits then spraying a top coat as I have done here would have taken half the time and no more money than brush painting the hammerite on. Lesson learnt.......

Today was interrupted by work and having to fix my car (aux belt tensioner failed yesterday...) but some progress - sound deadening is going in.....

Side doors, floor and ceiling still to go then I can start on the floor and insulation.

I think the plan at the moment is to have the toilet under a bunk and it can be brought out for use in a toilet tent if necessary. Or, in an emergency, in the rear when it is in seating arrangement.

A good point about the cab floor. I am concerned about that as water has definitely got it over the years (the passenger seat frame is rusty). Again though, I am burying my head in the sand and ignoring that for a few months. Once we have proved we want to continue with using the van as a camper I will sort that, maybe even fit a swivel seat (or two) and also sort the rust at the rear underside. That is phase 2 though