Royal Kitchen Stand

As an alternative to making my own Kitchen Cabinet, I'm thinking of just buying this Royal Kitchen Unit for £65 plus delivery.

It pretty much ticks all the boxes I was hoping to achieve with a custom built one:

• Space to put my existing gas hob on top (plus the added bonus of a built in splash screen which will help protect the inside of the van when cooking bacon in the mornings!)
• Space for 2 gas cylinders in the bottom.
• Easy running of gas pipe from gas bottle to hob (it's designed to do this).
• A washing up sink built in.
• A worksurface built in.
• Shelving for all my camping kitchen bits and pieces like pans and crockery.
• Somewhere to hang kitchen utensils.
• Portable - it is fold up and it even comes with its own carrying bag.
• Size-wise it fits nicely into the space I have assigned it to go - opposite the sliding door.
• Looking at the frame it should be easy to bungee it in place for driving - those aluminum poles look well capable of having bungees wrapped around them.
• It's also probably cheaper than what it would cost me to make a wooden cabinet when you take into account the base materials, then primer and fablon (if I take the same approach as the rear cabinet).
• Plus it's professionally made which is more than can be said for my work!
• It can be here in a matter of days rather than the weeks it will take me to build one.
• There is a whole range so we could also pick up a Royal Camping Wardrobe for example, at £55 plus delivery, as one of the things we found was that the back of the van was messy with clothes all over the place.

Downsides include:

• Is it strong enough to hold everything we need in there?
• I'll get no sense of achievement in making it myself.
• It's not 100% customised to how I want it - although to be honest it pretty much does everything I was hoping for.

Jury is still out on this one - and I've not run it past Mrs Blakey yet either.  Anyone have any comments?  Anyone actually bought one and have review?

Kitchen Cabinet

Whilst parked up camping this weekend we realised that the biggest pain we have at the moment is that when we arrive anywhere we have to unpack a bunch of boxes and "set up camp", and then if we want to go anywhere we need to break camp and stick everything back into their boxes again.  Also, when we stop up somewhere, in order to make a cuppa we have to get the gas hob out, hook it all up, dig out the kettle, the cups and all the bits we need.  This was not a great hassle but slightly inconvenient and something we'd dearly love to avoid when we're touring later this year.  So we decided to design a kitchen cabinet to go into the van behind the driver's seat and opposite the sliding door.   This is what we have come up with so far.

The cabinet doesn't have to be permanent like the one we built in the back.  In fact we definitely want it to be easily removeable so that we can take it out when we are not camping and easily put it back in when we go camping.  As it will be sitting where the rear seats go in the Kombi we don't want to remove the potential for having them back in so the cabinet needs to be easy to take out.    We plan to hold it in place with the load lashing points in the back and with bungees.  One bungee will go around the plinth at the base in order to pull it back into the van wall and one will go over the top at the back to pull the cabinet into the floor.   As we thought more about this we decided the bungee over the top will run under the work surface out of sight behind the main cabinet so it does the job right but is out of the way.  To remove the cabinet simply unhook the bungees and lift it out.

The cabinet will basically be rectangular.  No complicated 'following the curved edge of the van wall' like in the case of the rear cabinet.  This will make creating it shed loads easier.  I believe the wall of the van is such that just under the window is slightly further out than floor level.  So if the cabinet sits against the wall at the floor there will be a gap at the top.  The plan then is to make a worksurface on the top that overhangs the basic rectangular cabinet and thus abutts the wall just under the window.   This overhang can hide a pair of hooks at the back of the cabinet which the bungee can feed through.

The basic cabinet will be made from simple 2"x1" wooden slats, cut to the right size.   It will be walled and backed with MDF panels.  I will add a floor and shelf also cut from MDF.    By adding an MDF floor to the cabinet anything inside it will be held in place when the cabinet is picked up and taken out of the van.   This means it can be used to permanently store all the camping stuff we want in it and simply put in the shed.  When we go camping we pick up the cabinet, carry it to the van, strap it in and we are ready to go.  Simples.

I am thinking that the floor will have a 2" plinth underneath it which will be used to strap a bungee around to hold the whole thing in place against the back wall, allowing the doors to be opened when held thus.  However I'm also thinking this will look a bit untidy and be unnecessary when we are parked up, so perhaps the best approach is to not have this plinth and instead when we travel use a bungee around the front to hold the cabinet in place and also keep the doors shut.    This might be a better solution but needs some more thought.

The cabinet dimensions are determined by a few factors.  As we want to lash it in, it needs to fit between the load lashing points on the van floor, width-wise.  In terms of  depth, we want to keep two large gas bottles in here stored one behind the other.  And in terms of height we want it to fit under the window so we have full access to the window.  That pretty much defines the size.

The top of the cabinet is going to be used to make use of existing kit we own.   We looked into buying a SMEV gas hob and sink combination with a glass top to put on the top of the cabinet.  That would be sweet, but seeing as the prices are about £200-£300 for the hob and sink alone we are talking a fortune.  We already own a perfectly serviceable gas hob and want to make use of it.  In addition we'd like a sink built in.  But we don't have water tanks in the van, nor drainage so we want it as simple as possible.  As such we're not looking for anything more hi tech than a plastic washing up bowl - in a perfect world perhaps one with a lid on it.

So we are going to make the top of the cabinet out of kitchen worksurface material.  This is both water and heat resistant which makes sense as we're sticking a cooker and washing up bowl into it.  Into that surface we are going to cut rectangular holes and drop our gas hob and washing up bowl into those holes.   Most washing up bowls come with a lip on them which is what will stop the bowl dropping through into the main cupboard.   Unfortunately our cooker does not have a lip so we're going to have to modify the cooker slightly to add some sort of lip to stop it dropping through.  We will let the gas pipe drop through though, down into the cabinet to where the gas bottles will be stored, so it can be connected up underneath out of sight.   We shall make the worksurface as deep as we can sensibly do without getting too intrusive to the space in the van, so that there will be some space in front of the hob and sink to use as a typical work surface.

The cabinet will be designed to store two large gas bottles, our pan set, a complete set of plastic camping crockery and cutlery, our water bottle, washing up stuff, the Blackcat gas heater (till we fit a diesel heater) and any spare food we bring.  I would like to add a cutlery draw into it somehow but this needs to be thought of some more.

Finally, on the outside we'll add some hooks to hang kitchen utensils and some of those plastic push in tea-towel holders so we have a handy place to put the washing up stuff.  The two doors on the front (side opening) will have netting added to the insides as this makes excellent lightweight storage for all manner of odds and ends.

Edit:  Another thought after looking at this unit:  washable rollers instead of doors on the front.  Nice touch.
I'll post more thoughts on this as I have them and of course document it here when we come to build it.

More Thermal Screens

After camping this weekend with thermal screens for the cab it was clear just how handy these things are.   They're not cheap but they are easy to fit using suction cups, they completely cut out the light and they are great insulators too.

I called Just Kampers, who we bought the original cab screens from but they don't do a set for the back of a T5 so I had to look around.  The cheapest other option I could find was these from South West Campers so I've ordered a pair of side windows and a set of barn door windows for a total of £105.   They are due to turn up tomorrow and we'll make use of them when we take the van to Dorset camping in a fortnight's time.

Oh, I also ordered a 12v kettle whilst I was at it.   I'm thinking that can sit in the van at all times, along with a little box of tea, coffee, sugar and coffee mate packets and a spoon. I need to keep a small flask of water in the back too.  That way I always stop and make a cuppa - even if the 12v kettle takes 20 minutes to boil!

Easter in Kent

This weekend me and Mrs Blakey took the van off to Kent for Easter.   The weather forecast was shocking but we couldn't wait to try out the van with all the latest upgrades!

We packed up the usual camping stuff in boxes in the back of the van, all held in with bungees and set out on Friday morning.  We arrived at the campsite at Manor Court Farm in the pouring rain and were shown to our pitch.  As we had ordered a mains hook up we were directed to the 'tennis court', which appeared to be an overgrown field which was once a tennis court.   We were there with a lovely looking splitty and no one else.  The rain had driven everyone else away.

A quick check with the spirit level showed the old tennis court was flat as a pancake so we parked with the side door furthest from the gale and rains and popped the roof.

A few minutes later we had all the boxes unpacked, the front seats swivelled, the mains hookup connected, the table up and we were settling in.  Kettle was put on, tea was made, cookies were opened - and we were on holiday.  

It was lovely to just pop the roof rather than have to faff about pitching a tent - especially as it was chucking it down outside at the time.

That evening we went to the pub and on returning had our first experience of sleeping in the roof.  It was a little tight in there and the matress was not very comfortable, but it was still easier than a tent.  It was very cold though but it was only just above freezing outside so was no worse than a tent would have been.

The next day we headed into Tunbridge Wells.  Sorry, I mean Royal Tunbridge Wells. Very posh.  It took us a while to find any normal shops. All we could find were expensive boutiques, expensive cafes and estate agents that advertised houses with no prices.  You know - the sort of place that if you have to ask the price you can't afford it.   Lovely place though.   Oh and eventually we tracked down a camping shop and even a surf shop.  Not bad.

From there we set off to Bewl Water to have lunch - sandwiches from Tesco.  It's supposed to be quite lovely there but when we got to the car park it was going to try and charge us £4 per person just to park up.   Seemed a bit steep and as there was Scotney Castle, a National Trust castle about 200m away we figured we'd go and park there for free (we're members) and have our lunch there instead.

Whilst there we took a stroll around the two houses and the grounds as the sun made a rare appearance for the afternoon.

That evening we took advantage of the major reason for going to Manor Court Farm - the fact they let you light your own fires in the grounds.  There's not much that beats a few ales and a real fire outdoors. Sweet.

The next day, Sunday, we headed off to another local attraction, Bodiam Castle.   This is a really impressive place. A 12th century construction that has survived pretty much intact to this day.   I'm a great fan of olde english historical buildings and this place ticked all the boxes for me.  Loved it.

Oh and the fact we could pull up in the car park, pop the roof up on the van and sit and eat our sandwiches and put on a quick cuppa somehow made it all the more enjoyable.  We're determined to use the roof like that every chance we can!

This weekend we really had a chance to trial the new additions to the van.  Overall I'm happy as Larry about the changes we've made.  Sitting in the back of the van at night with the thermal screens on the windows, sipping a hot cuppa which we'd made on our gas hob, with built in LEDs providing the light, tunes from our iPod plugged into a normal 240v socket and thinking of the bottle of white chilling in the 12v powered coolbox in the cabinet next to me, really made me feel like I was in a fully kitted out campervan. 

Yet I got home, put the camping boxes in the shed and suddenly have a normal van I'm going to drive to the office tomorrow morning.  And it's all ready for me to throw surf boards and mountain bikes in the back without destroying all that furniture you'd have in there if it was a real campervan.

And I think it looks pretty cool too.

Stoked.

Electricals Finally Finished

After much head scratching, research, asking members of the Brickyard (over and over and over in some cases as I tried to get my head around what they were telling me), we have finally got the electrics in the van sorted.

We now have a 70 AH gel leisure battery installed in the back of the van.  Installed next to it is the mains charger which allows me to charge the leisure battery when we are near a mains.

Attached to that is an intelligent split relay charger which charges the battery when the van is in motion but stops anything from draining power from the starter battery.   This box also provides a fuse box into which all manner of 12v items can be wired.   

We have a couple of LED lights wired into the split relay charger and two double 12v sockets, one inside the cabinet and one outside, providing access to the back of the van.

Finally we also have a mains hook up, located hidden away under the rear of the van, which provides a double 240v socket to the inside of the van and a single 240v socket inside the cabinet which I use for plugging the Ring charger in when hooked up on a campsite.  This is protected with a trip switch.

CMC fitted all this stuff when they did the carpeting and roof and again I'm extremely pleased with what they have done.  The wiring was all neat and well hidden.  The mains hook up is invisible inside the van.  All the wires run neatly and out of the way.

All this neatness means that the bottom section of my cabinet, which I expected to be full of electric wizardry is still fairly empty.   So I've stowed my handy 12v vacuum cleaner, a 75w inverter and my handy box of bungees in the back and still have loads of space for putting bits and bobs in here when I want to.

I need to make a special mention here for CMC. I gave them a big wordy description of the configuration I wanted and went away hoping that they might vaguely get something like I'd asked for. It was quite a bespoke set up really and involved fitting everything into my cabinet. I went to pick up the van 4 days later and was blown away with how good a job they had done of the electricals. It was exactly as I'd asked and neater and more professional than I had expected or hoped for. Great job.


After all this I now have a leisure battery which powers two double 12v sockets.  It is automatically recharged when driving.  On top of that when I park up in a campsite with a mains hookup I can plug into the mains and this gives power to a double 240v socket inside the van and a single 240v socket inside the cabinet.   Into this 240v socket I plug my mains charger and as such when parked up this way the leisure battery is also charged off the mains so effectively all the 240v and 12v sockets are powered from the mains this way.

Really pleased with the results.

Carpeting

As well as fitting the Reimo Roof, CMC also carpeted throughout the van.  The always carpet the shelf of the roof when putting it in so I figured rather than try and match the colours and match the fit it would be best to simply pay them to carry on the carpeting right to the floor.  I chose charcoal grey carpet which whilst dark I think compliments the look of the black van really well.

CMC take the approach of not carpetting every single inch of the metal work.  I wasn't entirely sure how that would look when it was finished but actually I'm really pleased with the resulting look. 

They did a top job of it as well, carpeting both wheel arches, one of which was behind the cabinet I'd built in the back, and of course carpeting around the new roof supports.    I'm really pleased with the end result.

Adding it to the job of insulating the van that I had already completed last year and there is a definite reduction in both road noise and an improvement in the warmth of the van.  Again, I'm really pleased with the job CMC have done.

Reimo Roof

On Thursday evening we picked up the van from Concept Multi Car in Hythe, Kent where the new Reimo Roof had been fitted.   I ordered a Reimo roof with colour coding to match the pearescent black paint of the van, and an internal strengthened roof bed.   They had the van four days and during this time also fitted my split relay charger, a mains hook up, two LED lights are carpeted the van throughout.   And I'm really, really pleased with the results of all these upgrades.

With the roof down the profile of the van is altered slightly.  To the trained (i.e. vanarack) eye it's easy to spot the van has an elevating roof but it doesn't change the profile very much really.

There is a slight rubber lip added to the van above the windscreen which deflects the wind over the roof and, once I'd figured out how to secure the roof nice and tightly shut, I have had the van over 80 mph without any real noticable increase in road noise due to this little rubber cleverness.

The back of the roof doesn't quite go all the way to the rear spoiler which looks a little strange but I can live with that.

All in all I like the roof's asthetics when closed.

Opening the roof is a really simple task.  It is held down with two straps on the inside which I'm well used to from years of strapping surfboards to the roof of my old car.  Once these are undone a gentle push upwards is all that is needed to open the roof which slides upwards, pushed and controlled by the gas struts built in.

Once up, from the outside the van now looks like a good old campervan - a look I have always loved.

The interior has three openings.  The front one is plastic and transparent, and can be opened when it's raining or windy as it is sealed.  This lets a lot of light fall into the van without letting in any rain or wind.   It also gives you a nice view out of the bedroom upstairs.  The side openings are simply netted behind the zip up panel, so these are useful when it's warm to ventilate the van.  It was cold and rainy this weekend so we didn't use them much, apart from when we were burning the bacon!

The roof comes with a nice shelf all the way around it and we found this handy for popping all sorts of stuff on when camped up.  You have to take it all off when you bring the roof down to travel but you can keep things on there with the bed up or down, which made it a handy 'bedside table' sort of surface as it was easily reached from the bed.

The bed is an optional extra but for us was one of the main reasons for getting the roof added.   It was really too dark this weekend to take proper photos of the bed section.  It comes with a built in matress which is thin and not very comfortable to lie on all night long.  Also, although the foot end of the bed is raised, at only 5'9" tall I found that if I lay on my back my feet would hit the bottom of the roof.  Not great.  Also, I couldn't quite lie on my back and bend my knees as the roof was too low at knee position.   This basically restricted me to sleeping on my side - and when I awoke I found my hips were aching from the thin matress.   We need to think about how to make the whole experience of sleeping in the roof a little more comfortable.   I'll be posting about that on the BrickYard soon and seeing what others have come up with.

When not sleeping the bed pushes up into the roof.   The very back section of the bed doesn't push up, and the bed folds in a clever way which leaves space up in the "loft" at the back of the bed.  This space is big enough to store your duvet, pillows, sleeping bags and anything else you want whilst the bed is up.  Very handy.

The major plus for us was that when parked up with the roof up you could now stand in the van.  Absolute bonus and what we really wanted.  We can now get changed in the van without breaking our backs.  We can cook on our gas cooker without getting stuck bent over.  It was a real bonus.

Putting the roof back down for driving is something you have to take care over.  I know of a few people who have torn the canvas on the sides of the van by dropping the roof too quickly and having the canvas billow out and get caught in the hinges that hold the roof up.   The secret is to drop the roof to about 6" and then pull all the canvas in by hand at that stage, then drop it the last bit.   Not a great hassle to be honest.  It also helps to have a side door open to let the air out when you drop the van.  No problems for us with this over the weekend.  And when down the roof looks nice and neat.

Securing the roof is simply a case of pulling some straps tight.  It's really not difficult once you've figured out how to do it most efficiently.  And with it pulled really tight the road noise is negligable.

All in all I'm delighted with the new roof and I think as long as I can solve the comfort issue with sleeping upstairs we will have many fun weekends in the roof!

Oh, and getting out of the bed head first is not recommended!