Pre birth of a camper - No laughing!

ianc

Adventurer Wannabe
Got back from the US on Saturday morning. A good, productive work week. But I'd expected to have decent weather in NY in late March. Here's Ground Zero under snow!!

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I managed to get the steps back from the US as standard checked luggage. I'm not sure how heavy they are, but the bag was 18Kg which included some shirts and jeans also stuffed in the bag.
Here's the steps just out of the box:

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And then fitted to the van.

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They can swing back to store them when travelling (the pole is just holding them place for measurement.

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The electric valve for the switchover from hot water to heating also arrived from China while I was way. The quality looks fine and I've fitted that.

Cabinet Maker bloke is coming this evening to take measurements and do up a cutting plan.

Progress!
 

ianc

Adventurer Wannabe
I also cut the hatch between the box and the cab this evening and I'm now itching to do a window.

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docka

Adventurer
Steps look neat, presume they'll need boxing in somehow to keep the road dirt off...
Thanks for the updates, keep it coming, it's going to be great!
Let us know how you get on with the zone valve...
 

ianc

Adventurer Wannabe
That's Martin McFarland's van. He had a website up on his build of it and I copied many of the ideas from it. I'm very sorry to hear he has to sell. I understand his wife was unwell.
 

docka

Adventurer
Yes, I don't know them but that's sad.
I can definitely see the similarities between your vans. Is his build website still available to view?
 

docka

Adventurer
That's a shame, from the pics and description on ebay it looks like a really well put together van. Do you know who did the box for him, were they UK based?
 

mmmartin

New member
Thank you for your kind words, it has been a hard decision to sell our bus. With Ian's kind help we have now been able to put back up our website, it is not as posh as originally but does give those interested an insight as to how the vehicle was converted. Ian, thank you again for your help with this. Here is the link, I hope you will find it of interest, we have not put up our travel pages for now. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/159305149/build_home/Home page/Home.htm Ref the box, it was manufactured by a company in Hull who make refrigerated truck trailers, the company who helped with the internal fitting out is no longer trading.

Unfortunately I made a mistake when listing it for sale on Ebay which resulted in it being removed (I put not Vario in the description) If you would like to see the new amended add please see this link: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251256669724
 
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ianc

Adventurer Wannabe
Thank you for your kind words, it has been a hard decision to sell our bus. With Ian's kind help we have now been able to put back up our website, it is not as posh as originally but does give those interested an insight as to how the vehicle was converted. Ian, thank you again for your help with this. Here is the link, I hope you will find it of interest, we have not put up our travel pages for now. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/159305149/build_home/Home page/Home.htm Ref the box, it was manufactured by a company in Hull who make refrigerated truck trailers, the company who helped with the internal fitting out is no longer trading.

Unfortunately I made a mistake when listing it for sale on Ebay which resulted in it being removed (I put not Vario in the description) If you would like to see the new amended add please see this link: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251256669724

A lot of the ideas for my van were lovingly stolen from Martin's.

Martin one Q - How did you allow for being able to remove the under floor tanks in the event one of them was damaged?

I
 

mmmartin

New member
This indeed did happen, the black tank split against reassurances that it could not. Unfortunately, even though I did have access to the tank I could not get it to re-seal. It split very slightly on a seam. I tried all types of adhesives but in the finished decided to take it out and replace it with an aluminium one. Trying to get anything to stick to an oil based product is not easy, its like putting the strongest ink or paint on your own skin, its only time until it lifts of because of our natural oils. The black and clean water tanks are in the under floor section (heated). Black tank access is via the side doors and the clean tank from above if needed. The grey tank is between the chassis rails (not heated) so would be dropped down if needed, at times of hard frost we ensure it is drained and the tank valve left open, not ideal but it works
 

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