front of the van

the front of the van has slotted in nicely. the girls are sitting on an ikea bed that doubles as a sofa. the draws under the sink was got street shopping across the road. the shelves at the foot of the bed was an old bookcase that i cut in half. mind you attaching it to the van was a pain in the arse cos there's no room to get any tools into the gap. dont know what to do about the gap above the drawers under the sink!
maybe i could make some kind of storage box. cut down a drawer. but we'll see, i suppose i should leave it until we start filling the van with gear and see what kind of extra storage we will need.
mind you there is still a lot of work that needs doing. and i have just been informed that 'we' will be needing fly screens on the windows...only slight problem, there are only 4 full frames for the 9 that are needed. as they are light weight frames, i dont suppose we'll be able to street shop for those...but you never know

looking pretty good

flooring is in, painting done, though i have to find the missing drawer handle. windows still have to be done. now thats it has stopped raining, i supose i now have no excuse.

frig and what will be the kitchen bench are in. they fit with room to spare - 280mm, in the area that used to be the single bunks. our bed just needs a base and matress and that is all ready to go,  gonna do some more street shopping to find a double bed base. got power from the kitchen via an extension cord, through the cupboard, under the bed and up around the back. bed size will allow a cabnet/shelf or what ever at the foot of the bed.

flooring

Pretty crappy photo, but had to take it through the back window. putting in a 2.8 x 4 metre roll in a van is a pain in the arse. cramped, no room and buggered knees. took the misses an i an hour and a half. but the finished product looks bloody good, so it should for $350 worth of vinyl.

photo taken from the door, mind you, you cant really see the darker dots that are on the vinyl.
now that the vinyl is down, i've covered it with sheets and blankets and an old idadown that was purchased in 1962 or 3.

taking form

what a difference a lick of paint makes! the microwave is bolted in - the one the previous owner gave us wasn't and is now dead. the oven is also bolted down. just have to put some fancier's on the drawers- no idea why they were off in the first place!! and find a chest of drawers to go in the frig space. its bulk rubbish in our area so could be lucky, although it pissed down with rain last night. once the vinyl arrives it shouldn't take too long to complete the interior. the main bed should only take an hour or 2 to complete. aiden's bed is coming from ikea and only needs putting together and bolting down - with a few adjustments to allow for the curve at the end. the preparation area is from ikea, need to bolt it down and somehow bolt down the frig. haven't worried about that yet, but now its starting to come together i suppose i had better!

kitchen before refit

The doors are off, everything out, ready for the undercoat. the beige colour is the previous owners idea of sprucing the van up. did a good job.

the matress was always gonna go. as we are 6' and over tall, i was gonna get a custom mattress and enlarge the base. however apparently a normal double size is cool, so i could have left it...however the bracing used would not have allowed for certain nocturnal activities without collapsing. so hours spent cutting 5mm angle iron and putting holes in them, i dont think i will ever get rid of all the swarf, except the bits i tread on, will see the problem rectified.

oops

note to others doing a refit. don't just pull the old vinyl off the floor, as it takes half the floor with it...the curved section is now only 2 layers of veneer thick. good thing we are putting a bed there, so no real problems.

quirky lessons

as we are going to use the beer frig in the van, i was planning on using the old van frig as the beer frig. as the wife doesn't do black and i had paint stripper i thought i could just take the black off, leaving the white underneath...wrong, the stripper takes ALL the paint off, good thing i tried it on the side first!!!
to paint over laminate you use an undercoat that will allow you to just about paint on anything, cant remember the name if it, however, make sure your not wearing a watch, or wipe spray off immediately, cos its a pain in the arse to get off when its dry - not surprising really, that it does its job. the same with tar based water proofing. i used it underneath, its like painting with molasses and you have to put it on thick. totally wrecked a drop sheet, the brush and the clothes i was wearing.

Still inside

The original van had bunk beds here. As we aren't having beds here we're going to have a kitchen here, with a full 230l fridge. with 6+ of us, the van fridge just wasn't anywhere near big enough.We are going to put an ikea chest of drawers in and put a laminate top on. i'm gonna put power in to run the fridge, kettle, thermomix etc.






                                                                                  This is/was the existing kitchen area. the doors, although the doors are not on, they were supplied with the van. as can be seen the fridge door has been painted black. not a problem as we aren't gonna use it anyway

the task ahead

having picked up the van, it was time to really see how much work was created for us.
the previous owner, to his credit, thought that one of the tyres was an original... as he worked in a tyre place, he put a used light truck tyre on. only problem with that is that there are now two different sized tyres. but oh well, add that to the list.
surface rust was everywhere underneath the van..and although i had checked before purchase and knew it was only surface, it would still have to be treated...wire brush and a litre and a half of 3M rust converter and primer, the job was done.
Time to start on the interior...
the wife has decided that she wants a retro interior, so time to gut for painting. as we are not having the table that converts to a bed, that structural work is removed. doors are taken off ready for their new coats.

this is the front of the van on delivery. we gained an old tset top box and v and dvd player cos the previous owner was buying a flatscreen. the wife doesn't do plastic wood grain, so the doors will have to go.

the rear end. you will notice that the windows are black. apparently the previous owner had a problem with sun entering the van. the solution, paint them all black. as only one isn't cracked, they all need replacing anyway. did actually get a quote from a van guy in neerabup..$1700. to replace with flash new ones...$2300. to replace with tinted perspex from a bloke in wangara..$350, so perspex it is, but more on that later.

the outset

the wife has a wonder lust. as i'm not working full time and she works part time. we are doing the van "on the cheap".
we could have bought a camper trailer from $5000 to $9000. but i like the idea of solid walls. so i reckon anything under $5000 is a bargain.
a gumtree search revealed a licenced, 1973 viscount ambassador for $3500.

the previous owners, were living in a caravan park and were tired of having to use the ablution block. they were moving in 2 days to a granny flat...(so they weren't looking for a larger place). because of that we got it for $2200.
let the refit begin.............