Hi Folks.
After another great day all round yesterday, i am hoping for another good day today.
Again lots of rest time, but will also be nipping in and out of the transit, so hoping for another good day in there...
As you have seen, it's more about ripping the insides out and seeing how the transit has faired up since it was first on the road in 2005.
As you may have seen in yesterday's Album, I found some leaks n holes, that are all gonna have to be address, but with Xmas & new year, I do not expect to get it looked at till January.
Still, I have plenty I can get on with, for now and that is the main point!.
Whilst I am forced to be very careful and slow, I am getting a lot of the ground work done, for a blitz in January & February to try n get as much done as possible.
All the skirting work, will be left for now, as it is the wrong time of the year, and will be sorted when I am on the road, were I can.
I am very unsteady and altho I would like to work at the back here,
I am just not confident enough to try n squeeze thru...
S I will leave this area for now.
This power inverter came with the transit.
i do not know it's details and is bolted in at this time.
If it is not powerful enough for my needs, I will clean it up and get it listed on eBay..
Also in the cubby hole is this box of break pads, that I must have brought at some stage.
If they were used, I do not normally keep the old ones, so I will have a look sometime.
With Lynne & Michael's help, I finally have electric in the back of the transit.
Very basic, but it will do for now :) :)
This means I can have the oil filled radiator in the back with me, and it is set on very low, as I only want it to dry the condensation and damp air out, as I get things ready to start gluing the insulation in place.
The radiator is only small, but as we have
found out in the past, it soon heats the back of the van, so it's toasting in there, and once we have the van to the temperature we wanted we turned it right down and it kept the van nice n warm.
So as I start to insulate the van, I am expecting not to have this rad turned on very high at all.
With the help with cable ties on the reel, as we used to use this and have it hung up out of the way when away discoing.
It is tied and hung on the grill for the bulkhead window :) :)
Light & heater all plugged in :) :)
And I can move it around the van as I need to...
I have just enough room to bring the porta loo out and to slide the kitchen backwards.
As it is in my way at the moment.
Mixture of old n new Timber n bits!
I am gonna have to re move some of it soon,
as it is in my way and I do not want to keep moving it around, so I can get on with the jobs I want!.
I am sat down and surveying the area I will be concentrating on today, and probably a few more days as well.
The bulkhead is well rusty at the bottom, but is totally dry, so I sit n contemplate my options, before I ask Lynne to see what she thinks..
The door area flooring or what is left of it!
at this stage I am not sure what to do, so I break of as much as I can and it comes away very easily, before I find solid wood.
And give it a good going over with the dustpan and brush.
Time to give this area a good sweep with the dust pan and brush.
And it looks so much better !
I manage to unscrew some of the screws left behind, but most are gonna have to be ground off.
I am slowly putting a list together of items I will be needing from the Workshop
So everything can be got in one go :) :)
Well that is the plan, whether we stick to it is another matter
But this area is starting to look a lot better.
I manage to find the edge of the damaged boards
and I have 2 options that are forming in my brain.
I will discuss with Lynne in a bit.
What was behind the panel after sweeping the dirt away, looks good n solid.
Fingers crossed it will not be
Long before we start prepping for putting in the insulation....
Damm the shakes have come back, so time to go for a rest the roof is covered in condensation.
Once it has dried out, I will try n see if I can find any leaks, id not it will soon be ready to wash n scour and install the insulation :) :)
Back laters Folks.................
Lynne has come back out with me, and we have a good discussion about several things.
1. the floor - I will remove whats left and measure it up and go and buy new 1cm 3 ply.
Ok it's not the cheapest route, but one we agree on will last the longest and give us no trouble for the years to come.
we are gonna make a couple of minor changes, around the entrance area, but we think that would be for the best, in the long run...
2. We have agreed on rough position of the portaloo & the hand basin sink..
which will not require any leaning for me and even at my worst, I should be able to wash my hands easily and safely.
3. There are some cubby holes, that Ford have kindly made for us, so we are gonna line them and make little cupboards out of them,
These will be flush to the wall panelling unlike the row of cupboards above.
4. Rough position n size of kitchen window and the vent roof vent, but actual final locations, will not be known until the kitchen unit is finally bolted into place.
We discussed a few other things, but they still in embryo stages at this point and not worth adding here, as they may change or not happen at all.
So we decide the whole floor section to the end of the damaged floor panels, will be replaced.
I was not planning on spending any more funds at this point, but needs must.
So my first job, is to carefully get to the rear of the transit and stack the boxes up, as the kitchen unit is as far as it will go and it is not enough!
That is a lot better, This side of the transit I can easily get to the screws (those that will come out)
Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the other side of the van.
I could do with a dry day when Lynne & Michael are around, so we can stack all the wood outside, whilst I remove the old floor.
And then see if there is somehow I can put it all back, were it is NOT gonna be in my way, till the new floor panels are laid down, in a week or so's time...
a tall order me thinks...
I need to stretch a bit, so I stand up and try and remove the plastic lugs that Ford use.
Unfortunately unlike the side panel ones, these do NOT want to come out!!.
Eventually I give up as my hands are cramping up!.
Somewhere in the workshop I do have the proper Ford tool for removing me, but it could be anywhere in there..
This lining is disgustingly dirty, warped out of shape, so it has to come off, plus it would make working in this area so much easier for me.
Once it is off, we will give it a good sweeping down with a stiff brush and then cover it in shake n vac and work that it with a nail scrubber and finally hoover it off.
I will have to order some new plastic lugs, but when it goes back, it should look very nice.
Once finished, this will be one of the larger storage areas.
I do not know what we will put in there at this point, as it is too far down teh line to even think about it.
Things were looking really good with what was behind the panelling!
And then I saw this ???
I need to get the transit up on ramps to see and clear all
chassis drain holes under neath, and then in this area.
I then need to find out were all this water is coming from ?
It is not far from the leak in the roof, could it be ???
Time will tell. I cannot do anything until the area is nice n dry, so I can clear all the rubbish away and see what we are left with....
The floor panelling is thicker than I thought it was.
About 9mm thick, so that is what it will be replaced with.
As soon as Andrews Timber is open again.
So I measure the width and the length, as I am hoping they have an 8x6 foot sheet we can get cut down to what we need.
The floor covering is currently cut into 2 sheets, and I presume, this was for ease of
fitting, so we are gonna do the same.
I have ordered a couple of hundred self tapper screws, as I do not have many in the workshop and hopefully that will be enough to do the whole vans various projects.
So far 3 tries at sweeping all the muck up and it looks like it is gonna take several more tries, before it is all gone..
I am presuming that the small blocks of wood, are to stop the wood bowing, were there
is no floor risers, I know I can do a better job than that. I will reuse the good bits of the old flooring and cut in solid pieces so there is no chance of any flexing..
My back is starting to ache from all the bending and even with the disco light, it is not easy to see clearly as it gets dark outside.
I do have a strip light, but not worth wiring up and temp fitting as when I have to drive, it will probably break the tube!.
So I will persevere for now.
Once I have the broken floor panels replaced, I am hoping to have prepped the side walls and the outer insulation stuck to it.
I then need to look at at wiring that will be going from the 2nd battery under my drivers seat, this will be mainly used, to the 2 USB Charge ports that will be in the toilet area to charge the rooms lights, when needed.
At this stage I am not contemplating adding any more to that battery, but things may change, once we have all the various information for the items that will be 12 volt.
That will probably be it today in the transit, I will ask Lynne to take the extension lead from the house and put it into the van, ready for a possible few hours tomorrow, if I need to get away from everybody for a bit.
Or it will be Boxing day, before I can get in there again...
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