Winter warmer

 

 

Just wanted to remind myself and everyone else what we've had and what is to come. Sometimes in the winter a drive in the van just evokes a little bit of summer for me. We had two good weeks in Cornwall this summer. The plan for 2014 is to put the van on the boat to Santander, spend a week in Northern Spain then meander back up through France. Going to order a sun canopy...

Winter camping

Ok, testing this mini oil filled radiator on the drive, only 600w, it's snowing at the moment and I can report it seems to work. The plan is to go away for the night next weekend when we will be able to keep it on all night. I already have a fan heater which is good for a blast of heat but I'm hoping this will provide a reasonable level of background heat.

Summer sun

The van has had plently of use over the summer. West Beach at Littlehampton is a great place to pitch up for the day:

Went to T4/5 Fest at Beaulieu on our way to New Forest. It was a great event, a real mix of characters ranging from youngsters in battered, stickered and lowered T4s to fully loaded older Cali T5 owners. Everyones van was different and in some way personalised by owners. Good vibe and a good water fight.

Glen turned up with my old van, which he's done a lot of work to since I had it.

Then we went on to the New Forest for a few days and then to the Isle of Wight.

This cost £100!

Mobile beach hut at Ryde Promenade, watched the world go by for a good few hours here.

 



Keep it simple and have fun

Well we have been away a few times so far this year, we were rained off in Somerset in Jubilee week but we have had a couple of good (reasonably) dry weekends since then and a good number days out where we have had maximum use of the van as a base/tearoom/cafe and resting place.

One thing I am sure of is that keeping the spec simple gives maximum flexibility. Using crates and a portable 12v coolbox means you can load and unload the boxes in the kitchen at home. The van stays loaded in the summer minus clothes, food and water ready for a quick off whenever we want.

Here's a few pictures of recent camps and days out:

West Wet Somerset

West Wittering

Preston Park Brighton

Newhaven

Ashdown Forest

Double front seat swivel

This is a clever bit of kit from Kiravans, not cheap but well made. It allows my double front seat to turn round allowing for seating for five in the rear of the van, it really opens up the space. Importantly you also get to keep all that valuable storage under the seat.

Here's how I fitted it: The electric terminals under the seat have to be tucked under the floor, you have to take about 5mm off the top of the floor studs, I took the studs out of the floor and did this in a vice in the garage. The swivel plate goes over the modded studs and the seat bolts easily onto the swivel.

To turn the seat you have to unscrew the four substantial knurled bolts and lift and secure the bolts clear of the swivel. It is a bit hit and miss getting the bolts re-threaded, two were very stiff and I noticed some paint being pushed out the threads. I oiled each one and have used them half a dozen times now and it's getting much easier. 

The seat sits an inch higher and I have had to move my kitchen unit over a bit, it's all a tight squeeze with the bed down but means if my daughter wants to sleep we can sit in the van in the warm and read if the weather is bad.

Today we had a day out in the van, after we had walked the dog we had soup and played cards comfortably in the van while the May weather impersonated January.

Subtle steels

Yesterday I had a day off work and fitted the new steel wheels (using my new bargain Lidl £20 trolley jack which makes things a bit quicker). Hopefully they wont be putting any more salt on the roads. Still getting used to the look and stance, think it might need to go a bit lower but not sure.

My first attempt at carpeting and self tappers was on the sliding door using the ply lining base before I discovered the MVM fixings (see earlier posts), a few weeks ago I retrimmed the original hardboard panel so I fitted it with fixings to match the rest of the interior panels. The last picture is of the bonnet strut I fitted a while ago. This is great for me as I regularly need to get under the bonnet to access the 240v hookup. I also fettled the drivers door to fit perfectly flush. Gave it a good clean as well. All easy mods and a nice way to spend your day off.

Same colour van honest:

Retrimmed door panel:



Bonnet strut:

 

Praise to the lowered

Here's a few pictures, stock:

A year later, spot the difference, five external ones, answers below:

Bus stop, back end could do with a wipe:

A: coilovers, windows, repeaters, deflectors, wheels painted