Might Re-Selfbuild our van. Thoughts on this design?

[Minxy]

That's an unusual battery set-up, our 2 certainly aren't on a raised platform like that, so may be peculiar to whoever installed them originally.

I've just had another idea, not sure if it would work but ... behind the drivers and passenger seats as you've found the plastic 'grid' panels come off, in ours I removed these and put on some flat board instead which has given me quite a bit of room behind the drivers one to put a basket for dog leads etc on top of the raised step area, and behind the passenger seat gives extra room for our Romy to spread out (she's a heffalump!), so maybe there's an option to put the battery in a 'boxed' area on the floor behind the passenger seat? I've found that having the basket behind the driver's seat and some cushions behind the passenger seat (missing from my photo) doesn't stop comfortable sitting at all.

Get yer tape measure out! Better still, make a model of the battery out of a cardboard box and see how it would work in reality.

 

[Wissel]

Things are starting to happen

As we will be living in this van, we want it nice. One of the things the Missus has requested is a proper sink. This is my solution.

http://www.wilsonart.co.uk/zenith-worktops

These are a solid composite material, the type found in expensive kitchens. But as only 12.5mm thick, not very heavy. The advantage of these is they can be cut and shaped however needed as the same material all the way through.
This means I can fit a proper underslung sink, with draining grooves cut into the surface. It will be like the image below, but with a smaller sink (same style) and shorter grooves:

The sink itself will have a chopping board cover, made from the same surface, to maximise working area. I may use the same surface in the bathroom. This all arrives next week

I'm in Wales this week, so tempted to go to Morland's on the way back to Cornwall and buy all the furniture board. Think we will go with all cream furniture and walls, then "driftwood" effect doors and accents. These will be made-to-measure as in my current van (I sell made-to-measure doors as my day job).

Tempted to go completely handleless on all doors and drawers as well, using this system:

I think this could work quite well as the handle bit would give a 50mm ridge at the bottom of the wall units to stop things falling out. Plus no handles to catch ourselves on.

What do you think?

I know it might seem a little OTT, but it will be where we live.

Can't wait to get started now

 

[CazPaul]

All looks good to me, top notch stuff.

 

[two]

Just an idea: The draining area to the side of the sink may be needed for other purposes (such as food prep) that the drainage channels might interfere with. Rather than several fingers radiating out from the sink, why not rout out a the perimeter of a larger area? I hope you understand my thinking. Unless the top is horizontal, water between the 'fingers' may travel in the direction away from the sink and wherever that may lead. A 'perimeter' could offer a larger catchment area and would be suitable (flat) for other purposes. If there is a natural slope (towards the front) I'd place the drainer on the higher (rear) side.

 

[Wissel]

That's a very good idea @rogher - one that I'd use if thse draining area was going to be bigger.

As it happens, the drain grooves will only be about 15cm long, just enough for a few bits to drain (using a clip-on drainer over the oven when a whole load to wash). The chopping board over the sink will also cover these groves when in situ (and sink into the sink so it can't move in transit).

Thanks.

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[Minxy]

How would you secure the doors in transit without any form of locking mechanism?

As for the work surface, looks good but I'd NOT have the draining grooves and just keep it as work surface which you can easily put a drainer/tray on when you need it for pots (and prop it up to keep it level if needed), then when you don't need it for that the surface will be much more practical, also the groves will get limescale deposits in them which will make it look mucky and can be a pig to clean - I used to have a composite dark brown sink and it was a s*d to keep looking nice ... my FIL once cleaned it with cream cleaner and totally stuffed it as it stained ... meant I had to get a nice new stainless steel one! Using a tray also means that you can move it out of the way with the pots still on it to use the worktop, if they are just popped straight onto the grooved worktop you'd have to move them, mop up etc first.

 

[Riverbankannie]

I agree with Mel here. Looks great but not sure how practical. We don’t bother to level up unless on a silly slope. We sleep at rear and like to keep head slightly raised to tend to park rear up. Our draining board (and shower unfortunately) has drain hole towards the rear so we always end up with up to half inch water trapped away from the drain and towards the front. That’s Ok on ours as the draining area is inset so can be managed and easily cleaned up but not sure how it would work on yours.
Mel has given one solution, to use a separate tray and an alternative would be a draining mat to soak up the water.

 

[Wissel]

Think you could be right @Minxy Girl - I'll give this more thought (but if I do add grooves they would be really short anyway, just enough for a cup etc)

We have one of those draining boards now - works well, but a pain to store. I think I like @Riverbankannie idea of using a draining mat (why hasn't that idea even occurred to me lol). This could be rolled up for storage (and is now added to my "getting ridiculous" Amazon watchlist

 

[Riverbankannie]

Think you could be right @Minxy Girl - I'll give this more thought (but if I do add grooves they would be really short anyway, just enough for a cup etc)

We have one of those draining boards now - works well, but a pain to store. I think I like @Riverbankannie idea of using a draining mat (why hasn't that idea even occurred to me lol). This could be rolled up for storage (and is now added to my "getting ridiculous" Amazon watchlist

Instead of rolling up for storage, use as an anti rattle device!

 

[Minxy]

Think you could be right @Minxy Girl - I'll give this more thought (but if I do add grooves they would be really short anyway, just enough for a cup etc)

We have one of those draining boards now - works well, but a pain to store. I think I like @Riverbankannie idea of using a draining mat (why hasn't that idea even occurred to me lol). This could be rolled up for storage (and is now added to my "getting ridiculous" Amazon watchlist

I use a very shallow tray with a silicone collapsible drainer on top so they don't take up much room at all, I wouldn't use a drying mat as the problem is you have to make sure they do dry otherwise they can get smelly/mouldy, but a tray can easily be wiped down and you can use it as a tray too!!!! This is the drainer I have:

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[Minxy]

You can store the drainer on the back of a door - I used to keep a larger 1970s one on the back of a wardrobe/cupboard door in previous campers and MHs - to hang it up I just hooked it onto a couple of cup hooks which I'd screwed into the back of the door with a small brown twist clip to keep it in place (see bottom left of drainer just above the door catch), but for the above collapsible one you could just drill a couple of small holes into the edge for the hooks to go into.

I also have a great set of caddies which sit on their own shelf so don't take up precious cupboard space ... I put some 'grip' mat stuff on the base of the shelf and in all the years I've used them (in several MHs/campers) only one (the teabag one fortunately!) has ever jumped off and that was when we went into a massive pothole in Portugal!

 

[Stonemags76]

Just a thought for the dog - perhaps put extra insulation in that bit, as it will be sleeping on the floor, and in sub zero temperatures it can get quite cold down there, even with the heating on!

 

[Wissel]

Just a thought for the dog - perhaps put extra insulation in that bit, as it will be sleeping on the floor, and in sub zero temperatures it can get quite cold down there, even with the heating on!

I just mentioned this to the dog. He approves

That's a really good idea. would be a simple job to add an extra layer inside his den.

Heating wise, one of the vents will be opposite his little room.

Thanks

 

[Minxy]

I just mentioned this to the dog. He approves

That's a really good idea. would be a simple job to add an extra layer inside his den.

Heating wise, one of the vents will be opposite his little room.

Thanks

You could put a curtain across his dog bed bit so that it is a bit more snug for him but he'll still be able to push in/out when he wants to or just peek out to see if he wants to get up!

 

[Wissel]

You could put a curtain across his dog bed bit so that it is a bit more snug for him but he'll still be able to push in/out when he wants to or just peek out to see if he wants to get up!

But then he won't be able to sit in his bed, watching his fire @Minxy Girl

(I'm not joking btw)

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[Minxy]

But then he won't be able to sit in his bed, watching his fire @Minxy Girl

(I'm not joking btw)

What fire????

 

[Wissel]

What fire????

At home at the moment we have one of those fake fires on the wall. My dog loves it - every day he gets excited about it being switched on. Then he lies beside it for hours. It's very cute.

So I figured I'd build a smaller version, say 30cm x 30cm and fit it into the bed wall opposite his bed. I'll have toughened glass cut so it's completely safe, and use 12v led bulbs. It will either run off the vans 12v (really low power draw) or 18650 batteries.

Just a little bit of home for the dog in his new house.

 

[Minxy]

At home at the moment we have one of those fake fires on the wall. My dog loves it - every day he gets excited about it being switched on. Then he lies beside it for hours. It's very cute.

So I figured I'd build a smaller version, say 30cm x 30cm and fit it into the bed wall opposite his bed. I'll have toughened glass cut so it's completely safe, and use 12v led bulbs. It will either run off the vans 12v (really low power draw) or 18650 batteries.

Just a little bit of home for the dog in his new house.

Could something like this be adapted for the flame effect?

Amazon product ASIN B01EUOIV2A

 

[Wissel]

Could something like this be adapted for the flame effect?

Amazon product ASIN B01EUOIV2A

Good idea

I'm hoping to take apart the one we have and adapt it, but have added that to the colossal watch list

 

[32143]

At home at the moment we have one of those fake fires on the wall. My dog loves it - every day he gets excited about it being switched on. Then he lies beside it for hours. It's very cute.

So I figured I'd build a smaller version, say 30cm x 30cm and fit it into the bed wall opposite his bed. I'll have toughened glass cut so it's completely safe, and use 12v led bulbs. It will either run off the vans 12v (really low power draw) or 18650 batteries.

Just a little bit of home for the dog in his new house.

I'm soooo glad our dogs can't read

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[Minxy]

Just had an idea ... what about a flame effect screen saver on a tablet mounted on the side of the bed base! If you train him to touch it with his paw he could even turn it on himself!!!

 

[Wissel]

Bits are starting to arrive

The worksurface looks and feels like slate. At only 12.5mm thick it's light as well. Then the sink:

Again, nice and light, but big which is what she wanted

Some of the 12v electrics arrived as well:

The plan is to divide the van into 3 sections, and have a separate fuse board and negative busbar in each section. Each of these sections will have 10mm cable running to them (positive and negative) to minimise voltage drop.

The isolater is to shut all van electrics off from 12v.

 

[Wissel]

Decided to finish work this morning and close everything down for Christmas. I'm not sure having free time is a good thing for me

Anyway, I fired up the van design. Something that's been bugging me for a while, is what to do with the space between the oven and the dividing wall. marked in red below.

We need this 100mm gap, otherwise there's a risk the hob could burn the wall. Of course it would have a door, but I couldn't decide what to do with the space.

Then it hit me. At the moment, our cutlery drawer would be quite low, below the sink. Why not design an upright cutlery drawer.

This is what I've come up with:

From above, there will be square plastic inserts for normal cutlery. Then behind this (built into the same block of wood) will be a custom made knives rack to suit our knives.

This unit will be 900mm high, so below the knives will be two 100mm deep box drawers for other cooking implements.

The whole unit will be on side mounted, fully extending runners. This will make it easy to get at everything, plus it will be able to be extended across the van whilst cooking to stop the dog going backwards and forwards.

I can't start the van refit until the end on Jan as we need to use the van. So I've started building some of the bits to go into it instead. I think this one will keep me busy for a few days

What do you think?

Also, I'd like to build the knives rack and cutlery inserts out of a single piece of wood. Any suggestions on what wood to use for this? Usually I'd use an oak, but thinking of weight. Thanks.

 

[Minxy]

@Wissel ... any developments?

 

[Wissel]

@Wissel ... any developments?

Yep, loads

Almost every detail is now planned (thankfully)
Lot's of the parts are here
Started stripping out the current van
Built a workshop to do the build
Van is in garage at moment to make sure any mechanics are perfect before start
Once it's back I'll be systematically un-wiring each part of the vans electrics, de-oxidising, cleaning and re-wiring (want electrics perfect)
Then I need to do a little bodywork and paintwork touching up
Then add the new solar panels
Waste water tank is going back to Barrett to have 32mm waste connectors fitted
New plywood should be here next week, along with the vinyl I'll be covering it in and the sealers, glues etc
BMS for LiFePO4 is on it's way from Netherlands
Internet is sorted
Adding a few security features which are all organised
Plus tons more lol

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[Wissel]

I've been thinking for a while about a way of winter-proofing my underslung water tanks. These are my tanks:


Thinking along the lines of making a plywood box around the tanks, that also covers where the pipework goes through the floor. Basically one big box, that houses everything water wise underneath.

I'm thinking ply as I'm good with it, I could then fibreglass it and stone-chip it.

It could be fixed via the existing tank hangers that hold the tanks up, which would leave a 25mm gap between the tanks and the box to insulate. It would also be fixed and sealed to the underside of the van.

To stop the tanks from freezing, I'd divert the heating from the van into the box (the same way as it's done on twin-floor motorhomes).

Not been under to take a look, but would need to do something with handbrake cable at least.

What you all think?

By the way, it's all go now. Ordered loads of the stuff I need today, including the vinyl I'll cover the ply with to make the furniture. Off in the morning to pick up the ply and a few other bits, then building a makeshift workshop in the afternoon

 

[Sue]

We have a 6.3 m IH rear lounge conversion. Your solution of raising the rear seats to make a garage space is a bit "robbing Peter to pay Paul" as the saying goes, we have upper lockers that wrap all around the rear half of the van and they give a lot of storage, you would not be able to have these and sit up in bed. We are currently in France and it's quite warm!!. Do think about how you would be able to get a good airflow with the restricted headroom in the rear. We have side, back and roof windows but still hot in bed.

Sorry, don't mean to sabotage the thread, hopefully this will help anyway...
We have a IH rear lounge, love it ...but found it cold in the mountains in Spain in November...how do you keep warm over winter in yours?

 

[Riverbankannie]

Sorry, don't mean to sabotage the thread, hopefully this will help anyway...
We have a IH rear lounge, love it ...but found it cold in the mountains in Spain in November...how do you keep warm over winter in yours?

Hi Sue, my glib response is, it’s toasty enough out on the drive with a frost heater on inside! and we’re not in it.
Weve only done some late autumn early spring in uk but just about to try out Spain in March. Not exactly overwintering in mountains.
We don’t do cold weather as husband can’t keep extremities warm. Obviously we would have to keep the heater on gas if stuck somewhere that cold. We carry 2 Bromptons under the bed so we do not even carry silver screens.

 

[CazPaul]

I've been thinking for a while about a way of winter-proofing my underslung water tanks. These are my tanks:


Thinking along the lines of making a plywood box around the tanks, that also covers where the pipework goes through the floor. Basically one big box, that houses everything water wise underneath.

I'm thinking ply as I'm good with it, I could then fibreglass it and stone-chip it.

It could be fixed via the existing tank hangers that hold the tanks up, which would leave a 25mm gap between the tanks and the box to insulate. It would also be fixed and sealed to the underside of the van.

To stop the tanks from freezing, I'd divert the heating from the van into the box (the same way as it's done on twin-floor motorhomes).

Not been under to take a look, but would need to do something with handbrake cable at least.

What you all think?

By the way, it's all go now. Ordered loads of the stuff I need today, including the vinyl I'll cover the ply with to make the furniture. Off in the morning to pick up the ply and a few other bits, then building a makeshift workshop in the afternoon

Good idea to insulate, you need to have a lever to turn the heat off and on when you require it, will the fresh and waste drain valves also be inside the heated box?

 

[Wissel]

Good idea to insulate, you need to have a lever to turn the heat off and on when you require it, will the fresh and waste drain valves also be inside the heated box?

Cheers CazPaul. I can't think of a good way of having the taps inside the housing? I should b able to get it so only about 20cm exposed to the elements I think. Not perfect, but better than now. Think I need to jack the van up and spend a bit of time under there. When the weather improves

A gate on the pipe will sort directing the warm air I think, and tanks will both have temp monitoring.

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