Hi Folks.
We are back again, for another day working on the conversion, with the usual 4-6 hot drink breaks at points, were I need to do some research and generally rest and discuss what we are gonna do next.
Os as usually happens I sit on here, answering silly ebay questions from people who cannot be bothered to read the descriptions fully, which to me just wastes time I really do not have! I do not mind questions about something I had not thought about and therefore not in the descriptions of the listings.
My hands are still not good, and definitely my knees are still very unsteady, but we are gonna get a fair bit done again we hope....
Lynne and Michael are shopping this morning.
so for a while I am on my own.
As my knees have already showed us they are not in very good working order, kneeling on the floor is a no no.....
So altho we are still not 100% ready for this outside of the Bathroom/Kitchen frame, I am gonna get it as close as I can, and then with Lynne's help to finish it were we want it.
Lots of moving the board so I can cut it safely, means I am up n down like a yoyo, but for now it cannot be helped.
But very slowly as I take of a little bit of board at a time, plus I am having to use the angle grinder, which is not the best tool, but as I cannot grip the saw, I do not have any choice.
Luckily were I am cutting the rough edges will be covered up with the final side & roof panels....
Everytime I trim a piece another part is in the way, Luckily I am in no rush as i cannot get on with the rest of the bathroom/battery storage area until Lynne comes back.
So I am happy just to keep going as I am, even tho my knees are not!.
The top is getting very close now, so it is time to work on the rest of this side, just shoving the board in as far as it will go, Mark were the transit frames are in the way and cut them out as carefully as I can..
The top is almost there, I still have lots of spare 3 ply were the door will go, But I have a feeling that a lot is caused by the lower end of this board, with just very small shaping at the top required...
Bit by bit I am getting there :) :)
The top is were I want it to be,
But the rest of this side still has a long way to go!.
For some unknown reason the 3ply is not sitting square ??
I have cleaned the floor along the frames but still I cannot get it to fit right.
Time for me to take a break and wait till Lynne gets back and we can look at it together!
I have plenty of ebay sales and listings to keep me busy whilst I wait.....
Right I am back in the van on my own, and I am really struggling to stand, let alone get on with doing anything!.
So I decide whilst I wait for Lynne to join me, that I would mask up this window.
It will get me one step nearer to painting the bulkhead!.
So I clear some space so I can move the portaloo and sit down to start the masking after I have removed the extension cable reel.
It would be nice to get more work done in the bathroom today, But I am not sure we will have the time, as we need to get certain things done that I cannot do on my own, so they are taking priority.
That's the extension real moved and hanging on the clamp we used to use when sleeping at rallies we were booked at...
And it is time to cover the windows grill.
I do not have a clue how it is held in place, it certainly is not nut & bolts!.
That's one more step nearer
Altho this green area has been washed, the masking tape refuses to stick to it!.
So I will leave this to think about it and find something else to do.
As I am stuck for work, without Lynne, I decide to get Gay Gordon out and sucking up the dirt and what a great job he does :) :)
that's all the cleaning done, and now I sit down to wait for Lynne.
and think how I would like the rest of the day to go!.
Today seems a lot of stop n go......
Lynne's arrived and we look at the bathroom/Kitchen 3 ply and we still cannot find out why it will not fit as it should, we cannot see anywhere that the ply is hitting or other obstructions.
Lynne is sanding a slight bow out of the floor end of the board..
We finally decide to cut of 5mm of the bottom and it does the trick, a little bit of sanding is required, but that is manageable.
We now have the board in place and screwed in
Place around the edges.
We still have a lot of batons to add to the wall yet, as soon as we work out were the kitchen buts up to the wall and were we are gonna put the sink.
But that will take some time, as at the moment we need the long 3x2 timber, to be cut for other jobs, and we will hopefully have some cut offs we can use inside the framework.
We are now ready to have a clear out, so we can move the kitchen unit into place.
we will not be able to get it exact at the moment as we have to make some alterations to the unit so it clears the wheel arch.
So for now Lynne has removed all the original fixing screws, and we start to tidy up the rest of the van!.
we get the kitchen unit within inches of were it will live :) :)
and we even have time to see what the covering, we are gonna use on the kitchen unit top, but we decide it will be too much!.
we decide a plane covering would be best above the tiles.
we have had a massive cleanup up, and have sorted many bits of wood n metal that will be transported down to one of the sheds, after we have a nice brew :) :)
This does 2 things for us, one the bits I cannot move on my own, will be out of the way, and we can then get to work on the kitchen unit and get it altered to suit, which will then allow us to measure the bed area and the side battery storage area with dummy
floor for storage and to sit on.
The unit will not be as wide as we wanted it to be, but in fact will work a lot better and leave even more floor space. :) :)
Right kettles on, back in 45....................
We are back, this time with Michael, so we can move as much as possible but still allow me to work!.
and slowly Michael and Lynne move the wood n bits I put by the door for them :) :)
Until finally we have everything out that I want for now. There are more items, that will have to be removed, but not just yet and they can be moved when Lynne n Michael get home from work.
Lynne is giving Gay Gordon a good work out and the van has not been this clean since we cleaned it out, after we brought the van!
So now it is time to see if we can get the kitchen unit where we want it to go...
But the hardboard shelf in this cupboard (where the fridge used to be) has collapsed and as I do not want the shelf where it is, we rip it out!.
Plus it would not clear the wheel arch.
We also need to get rid of this piece of wood!
as it is in the way,
So whilst I lift the Kitchen Unit, Lynne Slides in 2 3x2 off-cuts, so I do not cut the floor!
We wriggle n move the kitchen unit into place. It is not as close to the side of the van as we would like, but we have to allow room for the heat to escape from the cooker & grill.
Gonna have to research this, for best gaps left, and what material to sit on top of the 3 ply, to protect it from the heat..
the old fridge cabinet is now as empty as we can get it, When I get a smaller diesal heater
as it appears my 800 watt heater is too powerful and will burn the heater segments.
So tonight I will order the 400 watt diesal heater and if I can find the pipe size the heater pipe diameter.
I will order the heater tonight as well.
We remove the draw to get at some screws for the other cupboard.
But the old fridge cupboard, is ready for measurements, so we can build a proper frame to make the cabinet stronger.
The cupboard under the cooker, has had its useless shelf pulled out as well!
And like the other cupboard, needs a complete frame making up !
we close the door and put the draw back.
And have a good tidy up of the larger bits that are on the kitchen top.
We cannot make out yet, whether the top is screwed in place or glued, either way to recover it will be easier off the carcus...
We cannot do anymore to the kitchen for now, so we go back to working in the bathroom.
We double check the framework and clamp it together.
Just as we are coming to the cross member (which will be under the portaloo) the batteries on all 3 screwdrivers/drills went flat one by one.
So this is were we called it quits for the day.
Another great day with the conversion, maybe not as much achieved as we did yesterday!.
But visually a lot more visible today.
Our main target for the weekend, was to get the kitchen unit in place, where it will be living in the future, but due to my hands n knees, we had to cut a few corners to get there!.
We were not ready to have the 3 ply screwed in place, but we were left with no choice.
It will make working in the bathroom, just that more restricted and harder, but we can work around that.
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