The Year

The Year of the Van

So on the 2nd October 2014, I started this blog to keep everyone updated of the progress of the van conversion.

I had actually started the actual physical work a week or so earlier, but didnt start the blog till a bit later, but I wanted to give an update today on the first year since I began the blog.

Since the last update in June, when I was blogging about the 2 weeks away I had in June at Bearded Theory Festival, I have been away a lot in the van over the summer months.

After Bearded, I had 10 days at home and then drove down to Download Festival for a week. Straight from there it was up to T in the Park for 6 weeks whilst I stayed onsite the majority of that in the van, I did go home a few times for a night to do washing etc.

After T finished, I had a day at home then went up to Inverness for Belladrum Festival and was up there for 2 weeks.

After that, I left the van up there at the airport, flew down to go to Boomtown Festival to party for a long weekend, then caught a flight back to Inverness and headed to Groove Festival for 5 days.

So that was about 11 weeks away with only around 9 or 10 days at home, the van done me proud!

I did have an issue where sometimes the van wouldn't start, normally bump starting it from the leisure batteries normally did the trick. I posted a thread on eFestivals HERE about it, have a read as it was a very strange issue.

Since then, I've had it up at Blair Castle for a week working, and then took it down to Alchemy Festival in Lincolnshire for 5 days and had no issues with it starting again.

All in all, quite a sucessful first year in the van, here is to many more

Cheers

x

The Journey

The Big One

So no updates over the last few weeks due to nothing actually being done on the van, plus as I mentioned in the last blog, I was away for 17 days in it!

I was down in Derbyshire for most of it, at a festival called Bearded Theory, which is a fantastic event and one I recommend for you if you like your festivals.

Due to work, I was there for 2 weeks and being on nightshift, I was using the van as a base for during the night. Didn't have any issues with power for the lights/TV etc, couple of times I even used the hook up.

The shower/boiler worked great over that period, with plenty hot water and luckily I had plentiful supply of water taps around the site.

Only thing was that the van was a bit cold at night, middle of May isn't best time to have no heating, so might look into that over winter.. but plenty coffees and even putting the hob on briefly took the chill out of it.

So overall, another successful trip and every night I spend in the van, it makes it feel more worthwhile... it's better than a tent!

The Festival

Testing Times

So after the lovely drive I had as described in the previous blog, I arrived at Inverness and had time for some lunch then go get some food/drink shopping.

Then it was off to Bogbain Farm, just outside Inverness for this years Brew At The Bog. A few of us went last year, and had a brilliant time so thought we would try it again and brought more friends along too.

Got there just before gates opened, and a short wait then into the campervan field. Wasn't long before I was set up and enjoying a cold cider out the fridge.

More friends arrived and we even had a van warming party with wristbands for entry. Thankfully we didn't have any unwelcome visitors!!

As the sun went down, and a few more drinks too, we headed off into the arena for a bit and then the after party was back at the van. 

Think we had about 8 or 9 of us in the van at one point, bit of a squeeze but it was certainly warmer than outside or in a tent.

There was no problems with the power/lights/tunes all night, and it did go on till about 7.30am the first night, so am glad the solar panels/batteries were doing their job.

Had a shower when I eventually got up, that was great to have at a festival and so glad I put a wetroom in the van.

Also cooked several times over the weekend, and the fridge seemed to keep everything chilled but there was a problem with the freezer as ice was melting at one point so need to look at that.

The rest of the weekend was similar.. food, drink, party, sleep, repeat... good fun though!

And as for the verdict on the van, very pleased with it and noticed a couple niggly things I need to sort, but the big test will be next Thursday when am away for 17 days!

The Trip

A Day In The Life

So at the weekend I went up north for the maiden journey of the van. I got the van loaded up with some food/drink supplies, some other camping bits n bobs and a bag of clothes.

So I set off from home, towards Glasgow and then up past Loch Lomond which is a great drive along the windy lochside road. Then up to Crianlarich, Tyndrum and then onto Glencoe.

Did my first rest stop just up past the climb after you pass Bridge Of Orchy, where the view is stunning.

Then continued on to just before Glencoe Ski Resort, and took another short break.

Quick cuppa, and then off again up the A82 through the Great Glen, and it's hard not to stop at every layby for photos, but here's a couple more.

I then pulled into Glencoe village for some food, and did plan to stay there overnight but decided to just have a quick pint at the Clachaig Inn and carry on.

As it was still early, and was heading to Inverness I decided to just keep going as it was a gorgeous day, so I went on up past Fort William, Fort Augustus and eventually pulled in at Drumnadrochit.

I found somewhere quiet to park up, and made some dinner as by now it was around 6pm so also had a quick cider to wash down the burgers.

I'd done about 160 miles out on the road today, but took my time and enjoyed the drive. The van was great and no issues at all. So I went to the local pub for more cider. Just to get into practice for the weekend ahead of course!

Then it was back to the van, to chill out and watched a film.

The next morning, I had no reason to get up early as never had far to go to get to Inverness, so just lazed about and made some breakfast.

So then took the short drive into Inverness, getting there about 12pm, exactly 24 hours after leaving the house.. what an enjoyable first day it was, makes all the hard work seem worthwhile :)

Link to Photo Album

The Budget

Balancing it Out

So, now that the van is ready to use, I thought I would update you on what it has all cost in total.

Back when I first seen the van, away back on the 12th May last year, I guessed a rough figure of £2000 to do the conversion on it (Facebook Post)

I also stated on my thread on eFestivals (Link) about the same figure, as this is what I thought it would have cost.

Ok so as mentioned away back when I started the Blog, I bought the minibus from the RNIB for £750.

As it came with all the seats still fitted, wheelchair ramp, wheelchair restraints etc, I sold everything I could on eBay and Gumtree.

I also had bought a few things 2nd hand from people and salvaged some stuff from caravans which I later sold too.

So the total I made from selling everything on I didn't need, was around £680.

Now for the cost of all the parts, tools, joiner, kitchen accessories and bedding etc was £4300 but this included £300 of B&Q vouchers that I got free anyway so actual cost was £4000.

Cost Calculation

 4000   Conversion
-  750   Minibus
-  680   Sold Parts
--------
£2570


So around £500 over budget, which isn't that bad considering when I started this I really had no idea on what I thought it would actually cost.

I did plan to use a lot of 2nd hand caravan parts for the conversion, but in reality the only items are the toilet, oven and fridge that are used.

The budget also didn't include me spending a fair chunk of money on these items which I didn't initially plan to include in the conversion

• Smev Hob/Sink (£250)
• Solar Panels plus fixings (£230)
• TV/Bracket/Aerial (£140)

If I didn't put them in, it would have been just under the budget I guessed, but I feel they definitely improve the conversion.

Summary

I think it has been worth the money invested, and by not using a lot of 2nd hand parts has improved how the conversion looks, and I have been able to build it to the spec I wanted.

With the van only having just over 14k miles on the clock now, the bodywork is in good condition and is solid underneath, I feel this will last a long time if looked after and hopefully it will still be going in 10 years time.

Being curious to what I think it is worth, if I was to sell it as it is now, I've asked a few people and also looked on eBay to see comparable vehicles.

The approx range I've been told is around £6-7k but nothing lower than £5k

But no, it's not for sale!!


Link to Spreadsheet

The Wire

Keeping it Cool

When I am parked up, the fridge will either run off the gas or if I have a hook up, it will run on 240V.

However, when on the move if I want to keep it running, it needs a 12V feed from the van as if it was on the leisure batteries it would quickly flatten them.

There was 2 ways to do this, either run a split charge system which involves adding in a relay, fuses etc to the leisure batteries and a feed goes off the relay to the fridge.

The other, easier option was just to run a wire from the ignition live, so that when the van is running, the fridge can be powered and when it is parked up, it doesn't have power.

I wasn't really comfortable going with either option, but after speaking to an auto electrician yesterday, I decided to try the 2nd option.

Above the glove box, under where the reversing camera sat, there was a couple of relays which one is for the camera, and the other I think is for the door open alarm.

So in the picture above, I took the ignition live feed wire (the purple one) and ran a split from that. I tested the wiring with a multimeter to ensure it was only live when the ignition was on.

From that split, I put an in-line fuse (10A) which is ample for the fridge that gives out about 6-8A when running. 

Before stripping back the interior plastics to hide the wiring, I tested it out by connecting the live to the fridge and the earth to the van chassis.

All working, so when van is off it showed 0.00V to the fridge, but when I put the ignition on and selected the 12V switch on the fridge itself, it was running between 12-13V when the van was running.

I left the van running for 10-15 minutes and after that, I could feel the fridge getting colder.

Now I knew it was working, I ran the live cable down the side of the door behind the plastics and then along the passenger footwell again hidden away.

It then went along the side in the conduit, so the same place I put the socket cable for the fridge.

Ok so it's not the tidiest and discrete way to do it, but it's barely noticeable so will do for now.

So then I just connected the live wire to the fridge, and also connected up the earth to the chassis.

So as you can see, you can barely see it as the live runs along the back of the beading.

And completing this job was the last one on the 'To Do' list I had, so am pretty happy with that and all going well everything will work well next weekend!

Link to Photo Album

The Shower

Wet and Dry

I got the 2nd Gas Bottle I needed yesterday, but needed to order a new regulator so waiting on that. 

But I wanted to test out the shower properly, so I used the regulator off the kitchen gas bottle. 

So with it all connected up to the boiler, I grabbed my towel and shower gel and jumped into the van. Closed all the curtains, as didn't fancy having my neighbours seeing me getting undressed, and got into the shower.

It only takes about 10 seconds to heat up, in fact I had it a bit too hot so will need to adjust the boiler down a bit. But the good thing about having a mixer tap is I can do it easily from there too.

Also plenty of pressure coming through, actually really enjoyed the shower.. could even be better than the one in our bathroom at home!

I put a bath mat just outside the shower in case water got out but the shower curtain kept it all in.

Also the extractor fan worked well, with pretty much no condensation or steam getting into the main part of the van.

I had a proper full shower, probably in there for a good couple of minutes and interesting that I only used less than half of one of the water tanks which is better than I expected. 

Quite pleased overall of how the shower was and how well it worked. 

PS You'll be glad that there was no shower selfies in this blog update ;-)

Link to Photo Album

The Kit

Odds n Sods

I've still got a few things to buy for inside the van for when going away, but got a some bits the other week and also put the bedding etc in too.

The bedding stores under the long section of the sofa, in 2 storage bags to keep them clean and dry. Below shows them on the bed, it's amazingly comfy too!

I got a lovely red whistle kettle and pot.. and a little frying pan to match too. And the cups are in the van colours of red/black.

This is one of my favourite things I got for the van, it's a retro chopping board!

Other stuff I have got is a wok, bamboo cooking utensil set, bamboo cutlery set, tin opener, sharp knife and a few other bits.

And after all that, it was lunchtime so felt I needed to test out the table and have a cheeky cider!

Link to Photo Album

The Cats

Curiousity Didn't Kill The Cats

All along this build process, I've had numerous visits in the van by our three cats - Ollie, Floyd and Lulu and even a couple by the neighbours cat Sooty.

Ollie likes to have a quick sniff round, Floyd likes to make himself at home and Lulu just appears usually when am not there!

Here are the photos I've taken along the journey.. enjoy!

Link to Photo Album