Recent Purchases

I've spent some money. I've ordered the following bits for the van, some of which have turned up and some of which are on the way:

• Thermal windscreen covers from JustKampers.
  These should hopefully block out the light, give some privacy, and keep us warm when camping. They look great and stick up easily, blocking the light into the van well. We've not tried them out overnight yet so I'll report back when I have used them in anger.
• 2 chrome indicator bulbs for the front indicators from T5s R Us.
• 2 crystal smoked side repeaters, again from T5s R Us.
• Side wind deflectors, also from T5s R Us.

Hoping these last three are going to turn up this weekend and I can get on and fit them.

Planning to Carpet the Van

Speaking to a few people on Brickyard and also having a long conversation with Mark from Mega Van Mats, I am beginning to think I can handle most of this job myself. I'm certainly thinking I'll be able to get the panels carpeted without professional help and maybe I'll even consider tackling the metal work.

Basically this appears to be a two stage process. The first is to remove and carpet the panels. The second is to carpet the remaining exposed metalwork.

Phase One
I'm currently trying to decide on an exact type of carpet and on the colour I want. I'm thinking something almost black as it will look great in the black van, but equally I have to balance this with making sure it doesn't show every mark and dirt patch. Anthracite is my current colour of choice. I think I'm going to get automotive carpet, stuff designed to do the specific job, rather than just any old carpet cut off from Carpet Right. Not quite decided where I'm going to source it from yet.

The plan is to remove each panel by removing each of the plastic rivets, carpet one side (the inside!) and then replace the plastic rivets with a replacement rivet-thingy Mark is going to send me an example of. I'll post a picture when I get it. This should allow me to simply clip the panels back into the metalwork easily. I'll need to order about 4m sq. to do this job which should come in at about £40 or so.

Phase Two
If phase one goes well I will consider taking on phase two myself. This involves carpeting the remaining exposed metalwork. Basically the process here is to take all the panels off, then very carefully carpet directly onto the metalwork aruond the panels, going into the recesses that the panels sit over, so that when the panels are refitted they sit snugly against the newly carpeted metalwork again, leaving no edges visible. That's the idea anyway. I think the main issue might be trying to get around all the edges and corners and folds and curves without making a total cock up of it all. I guess we'll see how I feel about this when I get to this stage!

Planning to Insulate the Van

I have a plan to insulate the van. I'm shamelessly copying Stone174's blog about how to do this (thanks Stone!!!!). This is my plan:

Clearly the default interior of a kombi is not all that comfortable. It has plywood panels riveted onto large metal panels with no sound proofing in between and with no comfortable interior finish. One stage towards making the van more comfortable to live/camp in is to change all this.

It's basically two separate jobs typically done at the same time. One is to add a layer of insulation between the metal and wooden panels, both for purposes of cutting down road noise when travelling plus outside noise when sleeping in the van, and for the purposes of making it warmer to sleep inside. The second job is to carpet the interior walls and wooden panels, making for an more attractive and comfortable interior. This entry is only looking at the insulation job.

Insulating the van involves these distinct phases:

• Removing the wooden panels from the back of the van.
• Sticking large amounts of Flashing Tape onto the metal panels. This changes the resonant frequency of the side panels which stops them vibrating around so much, generally dampening driving noise and also stopping these panels vibraring with the sounds of things like the stereo. This is cheap and simple and very effective at reducing road noise. It will not be at all effective at stopping noise passing in or out of the van however.
• Adding a layer of Celotex insulation board. The choice of insulation has to be made carefully as it's important to get a version which wont absorb moisture easily - as moisture in this place will simply rust the outside metal panels and will also rot the interior wooden panels. Celotex board becomes a barrier between cold external air and the warmer internal air to cut down condensation. The 'wool' type loft insulation, over time, hangs on to moisture. Celotex actively repels moisture, is fully fire retardant, and is easier to work with than the 'wool' type insulation materials. Hence this is my insulation of choice.
• A layer of Thermal Insulation Foil. This is essentially a foil-lined bubble-wrap material that acts as another layer of air between interior and exterior. Again, it's fully fire retardant. This 'layering-up' process is just like clothing in winter, more layers rather than one thick layer seems to work best.
• Adding a polythene sheet water proof lining over the top of the insulation. This will keep the insulation dry and stop dampness from the inside of the van reaching the insulation.
• Stick this down with water proof tape.
• Replacing the wooden panels in the back of the van.

My plan is to get up early Saturday morning, drive to Wickes (the nearest one being some way away from me!) and grab the bits I still dont have, and then start taking this job on. I've also taken Stone's advice and bought a couple of tack removers from B&Q. They are like flat headed screw drivers with a 'V' cut into the blade. I tried popping one of the default VW plastic rivets off the planels with them and it's dead easy. A vital tool for the job I suspect.

Run to the Clouds

This October we headed off for Cornwall and our annual Run to the Clouds event. We took the van, back seats removed, as we knew we'd need to shift a lot of surf boards about that weekend. The long board even fits in the van once the rear seats are out, although it has to slide in between the front two seats alongside the handbrake.

We had a great run, getting to Bude in about 4 hours which is close to a record. Again this shows the van totally happy to blast along at 80 mph or so and the run wasn't even tiring - we simply didn't stop the whole way there. On the way I was struck with the thought that for years and years and years I'd wanted a van to go surfing and finally I'd got around to doing it. And this was my first ever surf trip with the van. It was ace.



12 people decided to go surfing so we had to pick up ten extra boards from Zuma Jays surf shop and transport them to the beach and back to the hostel. The van was the perfect solution and God only knows how we'd have managed without it!



Given the evil conditions of Sunday, blowing a hooly and raining horizontally (Saturday was shorts and t-shirts weather) being able to jump in the back of the van, shut the doors and change in relative comfort was great. Although once again it showed that having a raising roof would have been perfect as hunching over to change wasn't as comfortable as it could have been. Still it was much better than being outside!