Roof Rack

I was unable to find a van with a roof rack, or to find a decent secondhand rack at a reasonable price, so I got a friend to fabricate one for me. This was no bad thing since it allowed it to be custom-made to fit the space on the rear of the van behind the …

Stop Procrastinating And Just Do It!

In the end the mantra simply wore my recalcitrant instinct down to the point where one day I just went out and bought a scruffy Mk7 Ford Transit panel van. I had no idea as to whether, or not, I could make a decent fist of converting it into a serviceable campervan, or what potential …

All You Ever Needed To Know About Solar And DC.

Well, now that I've finished the van's solar/electrical system; the result of many hours of research, head scratching and learning 'just enough to be dangerous', out of the blue Serendipity, sees fit to bring to my attention a great little book on the subject. Titled, 'Do It Yourself 12 Volt Solar Power' by Michel Daniek, it …

Do You Have A Weight Problem?

Well, not you personally, but rather your van! One of the main questions that you ask yourself when contemplating your new van is, 'just how much will all he fittings and my gear end up weighing?' All very well if you're a coach-build business that has optimized the design and is building multiple vans, but …

Treating Your Van Like An Oil Rig

... bridge, or a large container ship. Well, sort of. If your van has any amount of rust that needs to be treated there is an excellent marine product called 'Aquasteel' that converts rust (Ferrous oxide) into an inert organic ferrous compound that is claimed to be environmentally safe. It's very reasonably priced at around £18/L direct …

Osmo Polyx Oil

If you have (/plan to have) any amount of exposed wood in your van you may want to consider this excellent German product. I even went as far as using it to waterproof my shower cubicle which is entirely wood (8mm Spruce tongue and groove) with the exception of the 'tray' which is fibreglass with …

Fibreglass Shower Tray

With space in a van being at a premium at the best of times, the decision to build a shower/toilet cubicle can render spacing critical. It can also be a challenge to find a pre-formed shower tray with the right dimensions to fit your build plan and with a drain that is located over a …

That Sinking Feeling

Like me, you probably have every intention of fitting a sink in the kitchen work-top and then most likely considering fitting a removable board over it to reclaim the precious work-space lost to it. Having acquired a rather nice piece of Lebanese Cedar for my work-top and duly ordered a sink unit, I began having misgivings …

Fitting a Floor in a Mk7 Ford Transit

Unlike the old LDVs (Leyland Development Vehicle) where the cargo bay floor-pan had nice wide ridges and narrow channels, the engineers at Ford, in their infinite wisdom, decided to bestow a range of widths to the ridges and channels and just for good measure there are even two different ridge heights! To add to the fun …