Kitchen Pod Being Priced Up

This weekend we really realised how much we need to get the kitchen pod sorted.  When we stopped and camped up, we got all our camping stuff out of their boxes and set our stuff up ready to cook and generally be in camping mode, but each morning we had to pack everything away into their boxes again in order to head off to the beach for some waves, and then unpack again each evening when we returned to the campsite.  It didn't take all that much time but it was quite annoying and we realised that if we were wanting to tour around - as we will do later this year when we head out on our European Tour - we'd be wasting an awful lot of time.  So we have decided to get the kitchen pod sorted as a number one priority on the van.

After about 6 iterations we finally have the design for the pod finished.   We are going for a three door design with two cupboards underneath - one with 2 doors and one with a single door.   On the top is a recessed area for our existing gas hob to drop into, with a flip top lid and opening front and next to that is an area we are planning making into a cutlery holder.   The basic design for the top of the pod was stolen shamelessly from Darran's design off the Brickyard:

Darran's Kitchen Pod being built.  This gave us the basic design for the top

The two lower cupboards will have three shelves each and each of these will be adjustable to give us as much flexibility as possible for storage.

The kitchen pod, final design, closed and opened.

After a chat to a few knowledgable people I have decided to use 12mm plywood for the panels with 2"x1" timber for the frame.  This plywood option is nice and thick and will make the whole cabinet especially robust and solid which is required as we want to be able to take it in and out when packing the van for and after a camping weekend.  Being picked up and ported about the place a lot means we need it to be sturdy.   Especially as the plan would be to carry it in and out of the van with all the camping stuff like the gas hob, gas bottles and pots and pans left inside it.

As for sticking the pod into the van I have been thrashing out all sorts of options.  Bungees, metal rods clamped into tool clips in the wall, and a split baton approach have all been considered and discussed on the BrickYard.  At the moment I'm favouring this neat little clip system suggested by Shapey off BY.  

Trouble is I'm not sure if it will actually work with a flat backed pod and a curvy van wall.   So current plan is to build the pod and then worry about securing it when I'm done.  I can always bungee it in place for travel if the worst comes to the worst.

Due to the cleverness of Google Sketchup I was able to break the design down into exactly what size of bits of wood I need very easily and today I printed them out, popped down to Lawsons with the list and asked for a quote for all the wood, cut to size. Hopefully come the end of the week I'll be able to go and pick it all up and then the actual building can start!

Bude Weekend

This weekend we took the van on a surfari to Cornwall and the town of Bude.   It's about a 5 hour drive down there and we set off after work and arrived just after 10pm.  We stayed at the Bude Holiday Park with about a dozen mates. 

The holiday park itself is big with loads of static caravans, a children's play area, an outdoor heated swimming pool (which we declined to try out) and lots of pitches with and without electrical hook ups.   They had a lot of washing and toilet facilites which were all in pretty good nick.  And they let in groups which most smaller campsites won't.  Plus they let you turn up as late as midnight and check in.   But that's where the good points end. 

The campsite was full of "interesting" people who really should have been wearing burbery, the bar was so bad that we went in there to pay for our stay up front on the Friday night and never went near it again after that, even choosing to pass on watching the Elvis impersonator who couldn't remember the words. And the security guards?  Oh my god.  Nazis.   We've finally found where all the ex-prison camp guards have been retired to.

Anyway, not letting the prison camp guards put a damper on our first night we set up camp and everyone piled into the two T5's we'd taken down for the weekend and had a few beers and talked of how the waves were going to be 3' and glassy this weekend.  Before we knew it the early morning hours were slipping away and it was decided to crash out.

Marshy, another T5 owner and surfer

Saturday dawned cold and cloudy but with no hint of wind.  It might be great down at the beach.  We all piled down there and drove into the car park.   Hmmm.  Not exactly 3'.  More like 18" on a set.  But it was clean enough and if the sun had been out it would have been lovely.   Still about half of us got in the water and had a splash about.   The others set off on a 9 mile trek along the coast path to Crackington Haven.  Some even walked there and all the way back again! 

The gang at Widemouth Beach

We stayed down at the beach all day, doing two sessions and in the afternoon the swell had picked up so we were getting maybe 2' waves on the bigger sets and still pretty clean.  Trouble was it was about 5 to 10 minutes in between sets and with the water at a chilly 9 degrees it was a long wait for each wave. 

That evening it was back to the campsite via Sainsburys and bar-b-que time.  We all huddled in the leigh of the van and made a circle to defend outselves against the prison guards.  

Bar-b-que in the evening...

Fortunately they seemed busy elsewhere in the prison camp this evening and we didn't see them.  It probably helped that the rains started to fall before midnight so everyone beat a hasty retreat and hit the sack before they realised we'd been enjoying ourselves on their watch.   Oh, but not before we'd celebrated Cecile's birthday with a few bottles of champagne and some cakes and candles!

...which became a campfire after dark

Sunday was another cold cloudy day but this time it was blowing a hooly and onshore too.  The swell had picked up to about 3' on the sets but it was very blown out.  Still, we'd come this far and even though the conditions weren't great it was still time to get in there and catch some waves.

Emil

It was a pleasure to the able to change out of my cold wet suit in the back of the van, standing up as we had the roof up, and Mrs. Blakey even greeted me with a fresh cuppa made from our new 12v kettle as I got out of the sea.  Bonus!  

The two T5s side by side

Getting out of a sandy soaking wet suit in the back of the van did mean I left puddles of wet sand everywhere but the practical kombi floor means that a quick sweep through the next day and a damp cloth and it's sparkling like new again.  Very useful.

Local boy Glaz

After our Sunday session we said goodbye to the others and went and visited our great friends Glaz and Frances who live down near Bude and have just had a new baby.  Then we headed off home, dropping in at my sister's pub the Peter Tavy Inn on the edge of Dartmoor where my brother in law delighted in taking the micky out of this blog.   But he's clearly reading it!!!

My sister's pub on Dartmoor

From there it was a simple 4 hour cruise home down the A303 and once again I was pleased at just how easy it is to drive the van for long hours at a stretch.  Got home after 4 hours without a break feeling fresh as a daisy with none of the usual fatigue I'd feel after the same drive in a car.    I do need to invest in cruise control though - I really miss it on the long drives.

All in all a really enjoyable weekend although it would have been even better had the weather stayed as it has been all week.

Oh and as for the campsite, I'm giving them 3/10.  Probably about 6/10 for the campsite itself and -3 for the nazi guards.

One Wedding and a Rugby Match

Just back from another weekend in the van.   This time the main event was the wedding of friends of ours down in Shaftsbury, Dorset.  We packed up the van on Saturday morning with the bare necessities - it was only an overnight stay so we hardly needed anything - our table, 2 camping boxes and the cooker.

We headed off to Shaftsbury and parked up at Blackmore Vale campsite, just off the A30.  The owner was a very friendly chap who showedus to the field that serves as the campsite and told us there was no rush to be off in the morning.  Excellent.   A mere £14.50 for two of us, the van and an electrical hook up was a very good price.

We parked up and popped the roof, unpacked the camp boxes and were set up in a little over 10 minutes.  Sweet.  Only us and a caravan on the whole field and we had loads of space to ourselves.  Plus the campsite kindly provides a safari bench with each electrical hook up so we made full use of the extra table and chairs.

This weekend we'd taken a full 240v electric kettle with us and it was a good move.   Easy tea within minutes can't be overestimated!

The weather was amazing this weekend - a complete opposite to our Easter camp and it reminded me just why camping is the best way to spend a weekend when the weather is good.  And as Mrs Blakey was getting ready for the wedding we realised another advantage of a black van with limo tinted windows - a bonus mirror for straightening your hair in!

The wedding was a great event and free champagne all night and a hog roast plus barn dance was a lot of fun.   We got back in the early hours and climbed up into the loft for a comfortable night's sleep.  It was cold again - Mrs Blakey got out in the middle of the night and there was a frost on the ground and on the sides of the van - testament to the quality insulation I think.

We rated the campsite about 6/10.  It was cheap and in a pretty spot, with some heavy road noise as it was just off the A30.  The facilities were old and knackered but at least they were clean and the price was very good.  Value for money was 9/10 and it was perfect for what we wanted - a cheap over night spot - but I'd not have wanted to stay there any longer than a weekend.

Sunday we chilled out in the sunshine with a leisurely breakfast and then packed up and headed off to Bristol for a Championship play off match between Bristol vs Bedford.   Bris won and are in the semi-finals, there were 11 tries in the game and we stood roasting in the sunshine for the whole game.  

Drove home down the M4/M25/M23 and even got a big thumbs up from a passing VW van on the M25, so all in all a top weekend.

Kitchen Pod Design Continues

Me and Mrs Blakey have been thrashing out some more details and Google SketchUps of the kitchen pod we want to put in.  We went into the van and came up with a set of dimensions and then redesigned it based around those numbers.   We have decided on adding the gas hob and cutlery draw to the top section, with a hinged door on the top and front of this section, split into two parts.   Below this section the main pod will comprise three sections, each with a door and numerous shelves.  This will lead to lots of smaller compartments which will mean things won't slide about as much.  The shelves will be adjustable with lots of height options to choose from.

The Google SketchUp picture above shows the new design, with from left to right, the kitchen pod all shut up (it's usual state), with it all opened (to show the insides and shelves off) and with it in "cooking mode".

Not 100% finished yet as I'm still not 100% convinced about three sections as this precludes putting bigger items in.  Also, we need to rescale it in terms of how deep it can be, as we have a maximum depth based on our desires to put a Variotech 333 seat system in sometime and this means we can't build this out too far.

Finally, my pal Terry had an idea to build a metal rod into the back of the cabinet and have clamps screwed into the panel of the van so that the metal rod can push back into the clamps and secure it in place.  I believe they use a similar mechanism for holding kitchen furniture in place.  Great idea for letting the pod clip into place neatly and then be removed when no longer camping.  Will also mean no need for slightly messy looking bungees.

Kitchen Design

I found Google Sketch today.  Wow.  A cracking piece of free software that's really intuitive and easy to pick up.   I managed to install it, run through the simple tutorial (like all these things this is a must) and then knock up a simple first design for my kitchen pod with it all in my lunch hour.   It's that easy to use.

The design is a simple one with a rectangular cabinet with single internal shelf.  Google Sketch lets you draw things to scale so you can really design something that is going to fit.

I've cut a hole in the top shelf and hinged it.  This is where the cooker will slot. 

Not bad for an hour's work!

Cabinet Reshuffle

This weekend I finally, totally and completely finished the rear cabinet.  Honest.   Back on the 15th January this year I first started to plan and design my rear cabinet and bit by bit I've built, adjusted, improved and tweaked the design and build till I am where I am today.  

When we last saw the cabinet it was "finished" but I still wanted to cover it with a wood effect veneer.   I'm a big fan of oak furniture and my local B&Q had some fablon in light oak which looked a good colour to me, so I snapped up a few rolls.  After reading about Darran's self built kitchen pod I realised I had to also pick up some MDF primer as apparently fablon doesn't stick to bare MDF as the wood soaks up all the glue.

So I got home this weekend and cracked straight on with priming the cabinet.   Not too difficult with suitable application of masking tape and an old curtain to shield the floor.  Only took a couple of hours including drying time.

Then it was on to the fun stuff - applying the fablon.  Mrs Blakey is a bit of a wallpaper whiz so I have to admit I let her do most of the tricky stuff. 

We did it all properly - taking all the speakers out, the coat hooks off, and the power sockets unscrewed so we could get all the fablon underneath all these bits.

This fablon covering means that the cabinet now looks more like a real wood box than a plywood box, plus it covers up all the screw heads that were showing, and on the sides where we had two pieces of ply and a miniture gap between them it now looks like one consistent bit of wood.   I'm really pleased with the final results.

So is Mrs Blakey.

Whilst I was there I took the chance to reshuffle the interior of the cabinet as well.   I took the mains charger out of its spot in the top cabinet and moved it into the bottom section where I bungeed it in place against the wheel arch.  It's not neat in there particularly but it is out of the way and stored with all the other electricals.  Additionally we can now easily read the charge reading on the battery and have easy access to the on/off switch.    Also into the lower cabinet I moved the AC/DC transformer we picked up.  This means we can now run the 12v fridge off this 240 power source when parked up on a mains hook up or run it off the 12v battery when we have no such luxury.

Moving the charger 'downstairs' freed up a space that was begging for use so I have put the 12v kettle and tea/coffee stuff in there for now.  

Whilst I was at it I got some fablon sticky shelf stuff and added it to the removable shelf. Oh and I also cut the shelf out of MDF to replace the plywood version we had in there earlier - simply to make it a little more strong.

All in all I am chuffed to pieces with the cabinet.  It looks good, does all the things I wanted it to when I first designed it, and its all built and designed by me (with a little help from my friends!).  Very pleased!

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?