Pics and plans

Sunday morning...well my mornings start around noon, thanks to finishing work at 1am. Mothers day today, No 1 child (21) is out in the stormy Highland rain/sleet playing at a hockey match,  No 2 (18)child is serving breakfast to the esteemed guests at a local hotel. Archie is chewing a floor brush.

Wanted to upload pics of the van (Im thinking he may be called 'Lance' but seem to call him 'chuggalug' whenever I drive him :)) Anyway following pics are the interior of the van as I bought him. Last owner had plans to use it as a motorcross day van, hence the heavy duty OSB boarding (and broken window... motorbike handlebars + right hand turn = smashed window).  I'll be removing all of this as its too heavy for my plans, and of course not where i want it to be.

I've decided to build all of the fittings out of the van, and fix to the van as complete units thus allowing them to be removed and fitted into a new van if the need arises. Im not overly confident at the 200K + mileage, nor my mechanical or indeed driving skills! In the event of the base van dying, I would not then have to start from the begining again. It also help with insurance (minefield!) Self builders have limited choice of where to get insurance, even more limited if you want to spend most of the year on the Continent. However, once insurance is obtained, they only give you 90 days to complete the conversion. Not building the units in-situ means I can run on normal van insurance until all the units are assembled.  Again, thanks a millions to Adrian, who's garage and driveway is invaluable!

All fitted units will be below window height, with the exception of behind the drivers seat, where I think I'm meant to have a solid panel anyway (stops my contents hitting me on the head, in the event of a shunt!)  As mentioned yesterday, I now have a kitchen sink tap which doubles as a shower head. I do not need nor want and enclosed shower/toilet, as it will generally just be me and Archie in the van, privacy isnt a big problem. We will have to ensure any visitors are close friends though as essentially the loo will be in the Living/Kitchen area! The portapotty thingy will be housed in a box, which doubles as a seat, just behind the passenger seat. Lifting out the loo will reveal a shower tray beneath, with a curtain rig up all the shower water can be directed into the box.  Siting the Kitchen sink adjacent to this seat/loo/shower box and having a high level support for the shower head, I think I can get away with only 1 water system.

My bed will run across the van at the back (I so appreciate being smaller, 5' 2" on a good day) I couldnt stand having to shift cushions around twice a day to get to bed, so a fixed made-up single bed will be fitted (just below the bottom of the windows with storage beneath), with the ability to extend this down the van to make a full length double bed, when required...never know why this might be required ;)

To help reduce weight (this is important although before I get the van weighed the payload numbers mean little to me) Im not planning fixed wooden units at high level, but rails with canvas bags hanging, these are mainly for clothes, linen and knicknaks. Not seen anyone else do this, Im sure the flaw will become apparent in time, but as yet I like the idea.

Currently the cab only has a single passenger seat, which means I only have 1 additional legal seatbelt, this will usually be enough but I can foresee the need for 2.  A double seat relatively easy to procure for around £60.

If anyone knows what all the switches dials are for, please let me know....appart from the 'cut off everything' switch Dan discovered (Did he get a fright!) the rest seem to do nothing...

Enough rambling for today, the rain/sleet has gone and we now have glorious sunshine! (Highland weather is a force to be reckoned with, not least when deciding what to wear!) So a quick walk on the beach before lunch with kids and Adrian, then another 8 hours behind the bar.

Work begins tomorrow with a thorough clean and proper measurement/parts survey.

Costs Carried Forward £557 (nothing spent today :))