Posts that Didn't Happen: November 2024

And on to November - a month when 'Project Van' pretty much dominated life.

Endless debates over wall panels, ceiling panels, lighting, security and so on - and lots and lots of shopping, from automotive 'carpet' and cork tiles (for the walls), to plywood (for the ceiling), electrical bits and pieces, bed mattresses (a split mattress to accommodate the sliding sections of the bed), and even cooking appliances.

So what did we actually achieve?

 

Plywood panels, were covered with bits of old OS map for the Lake District (where I used to live) and our home 'area' here in Wales - pasted down, and varnished with decorator's varnish.

These panels were then fixed in place to form our new 'ceiling' (complete with LED lights):

 

Martin also wired up the ceiling MaxxFan (which should help keep us cool when the hot weather comes) - and got the new outside light fitted and connected - as you can see it works beautifully!

And a plywood 'Frankenstein' creation was (after much angst) fitted round one of the windows - ready for me to 'decorate' in due course.

None of this seemed to go as smoothly as we would have liked - and some days it felt like we just weren't getting anywhere.

So, when the new 'Captains' seats arrived for the front of the van - to replace the single driver's seat and double passenger seat - I was rather fearful of how the installation process would go.

The original seats were removed - and new seat bases (slightly lower to accommodate 'swivel' plates) fixed down.  So far so good!

 

The instructions for the 'swivels' were less clear, and it took us a while to work out which way up they were supposed to go, but we got there in the end.

In fact, it turned out to be one of the least stressful tasks to date - the new seats are much more comfortable than the old, and have really opened up the cab area.

They didn't come cheap mind you - the plan being to sell on the old seats to recoup some of the cost.

Still lots to do!