Not a lot done this weekend.

We had a quieter weekend.  Mick had to work most of it, so there was not a lot of time to do much to the van :(

I did manage to get the raw timber seat bases painted and sealed with the AquaBlock paint we already had.

I also painted the front edge of the lounge seat in a dark brown. You can now hardly see it under the cushions.

Next big job is to tackle the bed ends.  We think we have devised a way to have a full queen sized bed at the lounge end. The front bed end will be the original small bed size.  We will use this area as the place to store our clothes and bags when we are camping.

A long weekend, lots achieved.

This weekend is a long weekend, so we have taken advantage and managed to do a fair bit on the camper. It is really coming together :)
Over the past couple of weeks, our friend has wired up new LED lights for the outside of the van.  We don't need to do much more and it will be ready to be registered.  We have now managed to get it up to our factory, so now that we have access to power, we can do so much more work. The concrete area at the front of our shed is in the shade from about 1:00 every afternoon. It is actually very pleasant. We usually finish work at 3:00 so do not spend much time there in the afternoons.



Saturday.
I gave the van a good sweep out and vacuumed thoroughly. I was able to plug into mains power and have now ascertained that all the power points work.  We have 3 double points inside and an outlet outside as well.
We also ran the fridge and (YAY) it worked!!!!   I unscrewed the vents behind the fridge and got the air compressor and blew out all the dust and accumulated "stuff" from behind it.
We decided that it would be a good idea to make some brackets inside to bolt the outside lift arms.  Previously they were just screwed into the frame.  Now they feel much more secure.
Mick made up aluminium framed boxes that will be the dinette seats. These have a hinged timber lid, so we will be able to access the space under the seats as storage.  Our "porta-potty" will also reside under one of the seats and be able to easily slide out for use.

Sunday.
Last night I was looking on Gumtree and found a 3 seater leather sofa bed in the next suburb for FREE!!!   What camper doesn't deserve a leather lounge 😀.   We knew it was going to be a little bit long, but it has wide armrests, so I was pretty confident that I could cut it down to fit.
It is not in perfect condition but is perfect for our camper.
Also as it was a sofa bed, it had a very clean innerspring mattress that we will be able to use as our bed.  Big saving!!! I was going to buy a high density foam mattress at a cost of  $159.

After collecting the lounge, I set to removing the folding metal bed mechanism. Once it was out, we now had an empty space that we will be able to use as storage.  We needed to reduce the width by 100mm.  I carefully cut the leather from the outside of the arm. Cutting from the centre up to each corner, I was then able to carefully roll the leather back over the armrest and expose the timber frame underneath.  Then it was just a matter of marking the timber and cutting 100mm off each side as we rolled it over.  Once it was cut down, I could then pull the leather back over the edges and pull it tight and screw it back to secure it.   Because it will be hard up against the wall, it didn't need to be pretty.
Mick cut a piece of timber that acts as the base that the cushions sit on. The base also has holes so we can lift it up to access the storage space under the couch.
Lifting the couch into the van turned out much easier than we anticipated. We laid in on its back on top of a rubbish bin and the back edge of the van and then simply rolled in into place.
We are very pleased with it 😀
Mick fixed the dinette seats in place, now I just to make the cushions for them.  We also bought some 3mm white laminated board to line the walls of the front section.
All in all a very successful day.

Monday.
Not a lot to do today.  Mick managed to free up a seized stabiliser leg on the rear of the van.  A bit of "gentle persuasion" with a grinder, crowbar and brute force got it moving. A good spray with CRC and it winds up and down as smoothly as the other 3.  He went around the whole van and sprayed every nut, bolt and the springs in the lift arms with CRC.

We are very happy with the progress made so far.

Waterproofing, Anti Mould and Sealing.

This weekend FINALLY give us the time to get some more work done of the van. The past few weeks have seen wet weekends and a  long weekend away, consequently  we just have not had any time to get into the van :(

Over the last couple of weeks our friend has totally redone the running gear. We now have nice new brakes, so when we go....we will be able to stop. This IS kind of important :)

We had thought that we wanted to seal the any raw wood in the van with  cheap paint with some antimould additive in it.  The idea was to prevent any mold growing under the flooring etc.  A trip to Bunnings found a good product.  "Aqua Block" Waterproofing paint.

This is a primer, sealer, binder, undercoat that will waterproof and seal as well as being anti mould and mildew. PERFECT!!!!

We have given the raw areas a fairly thick coat, and we will coat the back of the wall board we will put over the top.

For further information on this paint. Crommelin Aqua Block


The resulting pictures are pretty boring.. but the van does look brighter and fresh with come white paint around.  We have decided that the rear lounge is in OK enough condtion to stay for the time being. The white paint also highlights any holes that we will fill well with "no more gaps" before the top sheet goes on.

Next job is lights and wiring before we re-sheet.

Gas Struts, New Wheels and Tyres

I have been trawling through the vast amount of information on the internet regarding Popup Campers.

One of the issues many people have with our style of camper is the weight of the roof and the difficulty raising and lowering it.  I found many people had solved the issue by installing gas struts to aid the lift.  After reading a few posts I had a fair idea of what to buy and how to fit them.
I found the struts we needed on eBay.  HERE  Once they arrived, we worked out what nuts and bolts we needed and went about making some aluminium brackets to mount the struts to and then to mount to the lift arms of the camper.   I was put to work on the drill press drilling holes :)  and my little fingers were able to fit up inside the support brackets to hold the nuts while the bolts got screwed in.
It took a couple of hours to fit the brackets and struts to the lift arms, but it has made a big difference.
We now have to pull it down rather than struggling to hold the weight and guide it down.  Pushing the roof back up is also much easier as the struts want to push it up.

We had got a price on new wheels and tyres from our local tyre shop. While we thought the white "Sunraysia" wheels would be nice, I just though $100 a rim (plus tyres)was a bit much to spend.  On a whim I thought I would look on eBay and Gumtree to see if I could find any used ones at a better price. The local guy had written the specs of our wheels and tyres on a card, so I knew whay to look for.   I got quite excited when I found THESE on eBay...  needless to say we have pretty white wheels.  For the moment I have bought just 2, but will order another one just before we are ready to get the roadworthy certificate.

Our next step is having our friend renovate, repair and replace the running gear.  He has pulled the drums, brakes and so forth off, and has bought lots of new parts.  That story will be the next post :)

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Viscount Explorer Campervan.

A bit of Googling has determined that the camper is in fact a late 1980's model Viscount "Explorer" campervan.
Theses are some images I found online.

Demo Day

We planned a day to gut out the front lounge area and pull out the ceiling.
We were pleasantly surprised to see new "C" Channel roof supports and fiberglass
insulation  had been installed.  We had expected the roof to be timber.

Now that we have stripped it back better we can see the water damage, we will replace wall and floor boards, and give it a primer coat with anti-mould paint.

 A few hours later, and a ute full of rubbish to take to the tip and we were done.

The next job will be to take the heavy checkerplate off the sides of the roof and install gas struts to aid in the lifting.
These photos are the efforts of today.

Clean Up Day

Today we spent some time cleaning up the camper and inspecting what we had bought.

We knew the roof was going to be very heavy to try and lift, and certainly did prove to be too heavy for us to do on our own.

Luckily one of our friends was at work with his forklift, so he lifted the roof and we were then able to secure the roof into the "up" position.

We have done some research and will replace the springs and install gas struts to the lift bars.
We will also remake the roof with much lighter material. These modifications will make the roof a lot easier to raise.

Once we had the van up and open, we set to clearing out the miscellaneous "stuff" that were in it.
We removed all the loose cushions and mattresses ad gave the whole lot a good sweep out.

We are very pleased with how big it is. The main van is 3.6m long and 2.1m wide (plus the double beds at each end.)
We are very pleased with how clean the fridge and cooker is.  The fridge is a 3 way fridge and our friend said it is in very good condition.  The cooker is also in great condition and has 2 burners a grill and oven

We have bought a towball lock and a couple of big tarps to cover the van while we pull it apart in the next few weeks.

Tomorrow we are planning on stripping the roof  ready to rebuild it.

 Here are the pictures from today.

We Bought a Project

We had been looking for a camper van to renovate for a while.
While browsing on Gumtree recently, I found this vintage push up camper.

 It was located less than an hour away, so we went to have a look.

A little while later and it was ours, loaded on a tow truck and brought home, ready to be reborn.

Follow along and watch as we transform this old camper into a modern looking "glamper"

I am keeping a tally of the project's cost as well.  You will see a tab at the top of every page "What it cost"  I will attempt to keep this updated.

Click on any image to enlarge.