Finally we are getting somewhere again

Work has been a little slow for quite some time now due to the fact that I broke my ankle in March and had to spend 3 months in plaster and a stupid boot.
Anyway, after a long recuperation, and a lot of hard work the van finally has carpeted walls. They have all been done with Veltrim, in Heather colour.. We still have the roof to sort, but I finally feel that we are getting somewhere again.
It also has an insulated and hardboarded floor on top of the original wooden lining, and sparkly blue vinyl flooring to top it off.
Rock n roll bed here we come!

Soundproofing and Insulation

And so the huge learning curve continues..... How on earth do we stop the van being a tin shed on wheels?




Molly waiting to go out



She was already ply lined in the back, quite neatly thank goodness - The bulkhead had stopped too much noise from the back coming forward, but it was still very noisy, especially when we were taking Molly the crazy Border Collie out and she was doing her usual rabid barking dog act from her cage! We sounded like the dog warden coming down the road (oh the shame)!!!
We also had the problem of lots of condensation gathering on the roof - when it froze we even had stalactites!!!
So lots and lots of reading later we ordered some soundproofing sheets from http://www.haymoorproducts.co.uk/ - self adhesive this seemed the best option as a starter. 2 sheets @1m x 500mm x 5mm.
Just to see how it went really - this lot cost £30 so we wanted to make sure that it was what we wanted before buying more.

We stripped out the cab headling and started there - soundproofing 1st then aluminium coated bubble wrap from B&Q as an added insulation layer.

Then began the harder part. Oh what a way to spend a half term week.

 

Back ply removed and panels cleaned, soundproofing applied as a base panel - then sheeps wool insulation - then aluminium foil bubble wrap. Applied to the back sides, both door bottom panels (tops not done yet as we are hoping before long to have windows put into them so it seemed a waste).

Back still to do - hopefully today if I can muster up the energy!

Then we need to decide on more soundprrofing material for the roof panels and soundproof and line the floor.

Oh the fun never ends....

Beginning the road to conversion

After much debate we decided that the full metal bulkhead between the cab and the van had to go. Apart from a bit of tinkering and tidying this was the first major job that we had undertaken, and quite daunting really.
We read as much as we could beforehand and then began stripping the interior door pillar covers so that we could drill out the rivets. Not a problem really - until we came to the bottom of the bulkhead that is. The rest of the panel was riveted to the rear. The bottom however was riveted to the cab side. This meant taking out the drivers and passenger seats. Not something we anticipated.
The drivers seat has the handbrake attached which needed dismantling before the seat would come out.
The passenger seat was a little more challenging however as the battery and fuse box, along with all the wires that they entail are under the passenger seat - something we just hadn't realised! (We had been under the bonnet loads, and never even noticed the absence of a battery - this doesn't really bode well does it for a couple planning such a major conversion)!!!
Finally the way was clear though for the removal of the seats and then the bulkhead.

The starting point

After searching for some time for a Vito that both met our needs and pockets we finally found a suitable one in December .... this blog is the story (I hope) of our conversion, from panel van to camper.
It seemed a shame really not to document such hard work, and so the idea of this blog was born.
Hopefully it will not only be a diary for our own benefit of what we have done, but also it will help others doing the same thing. If only from learning by our mistakes - of which I am sure there will be many.
We are learning as we go, having only a very basic idea of what we are doing!!!