Wednesday 31 July 2013

VWLT35 Camper Conversion - Frame and mid supports

Busy day today, went to the builders yard at 9am, carpet shop at 9.15am. Wind was up so got on the water for 1030 with the intention
of doing a fast hour, rigged big for what was a good wind. It dropped as I stepped on the board, the forecasts this past few weeks have come in early each day, wind was forecast for midday to afternoon, so I stuck it out and bogged upwind. Got off the water and home for midday as the wind did not arrive.


Van jobs done today
  1. Drilled second gas dropout vent for under the stove.
  2. Kurusted and hammerited all screws that the previous owner had left poking out of the bottom of the van from the ply flooring. (thanks to my able assistant Sebastian)
  3. Built the mid frame section for the kitchen.
  4. Secured framework with temporary fixings and loaded the van with kit.
  5. Found my ideas are working, can fit 4 boards from 110l down, or 3 if I need my 130l. 8 sails - 6 cammed, 2 wave, 5 masts, 3 booms. This is more that I will ever carry in one go but the option is there should I need it. All of it is out of sight and leaves a lot of space left in the van due to how the boards will be put in.
  6. Built angled frame to join the rear section to the kitchen.
  7. Ply lined the frame and primed it ready for carpeting.
  8. Built a secret cupboard, one of many planned.


All this along with teaching Seb how to use a saw without cutting his fingers off, also how to use a drill and change bits in the drill. Finally set him the task of making a couple of coffees so I guess he has now moved from apprentice to master builder ;-)

The pictures below show a front and rear view of the mid section. This is not yet fixed into place as I need to finish the panels off with carpet before fixing it. There is not enough room to do it easily once in place, I also get quite claustrophobic when having to work in a confined space and also when forced to go shopping in crowds with Kat.....good excuse ;-)

The kitchen comes out into the van a little further than I thought it would, but this allows for the extra boards and there is still quite a lot of space left. The supports actually fit perfectly either side of the drivers seat, allowing me to recline it a bit more, if I made it slimmer then the seat would not move back more.

The space on the passenger side at the rear is the perfect width for my kit bag to slide in as well.



Tomorrow they should all get bolted down and finished off. The wet box area will get lined and the ply for the bed will be cut to size so I can finally get rid of this huge roll of foam out of my living room. If I get enough time I will do further work on the kitchen area as well. My deadline is next Monday night as Kat has a few days off after that and we can go and test it all :-D

Good speeds and winds
The Bus mk2

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