September update

Not managed to do a great deal recently, but I'm not far off finishing the interior now....

I've knocked up a table using an off-cut of MDF and covered it with the left-over of the Silver Vinyl that I used as a wallcovering in the kitchen area. This has a screw-off leg and folds away behind the crew-seat when not in use. It also sits across the battery-box seat as part of Josh's bed. The third bed (Josh's) is now formed by swivelling the front passenger seat facing rearwards and reclining the back flat with the headrest removed. The table has 2 battens on the underside that sit each side of the battery-box seat to locate it & prevent it from slipping off. I am using a roll-up self-inflating camping mattress that sits over it all when in place. Similar to the main double-bed, takes less than a minute to put up.....

I refitted the original ambulance 12v map-light that is on a bendy stem.
This looks like it will be quite useful as it is bright & very versatile. It is positioned
over the table area, but bends to a variety of places....... 

I've also tidied up the fuse panel area, and made a proper click-shut access door for it. I've cut a bit of foam from the old over-cab ambulance doors to make a backrest for the 'battery box seat' and covered it with some of the old grey carpet that covered the now removed cab partition. I've also lined the battery box seat and surrounding MDF with the last remnants of the carpet and started on the last bits of exposed cream-fibreglass from the ambulance interior with my grey van-lining material. The cupboard doors have eventually been trimmed & fitted to the over-cab storage area. Part of the off-cuts have been used to make the backrest to the 'battery box seat'.

The 3000w inverter supplies power to the microwave, kettle, toaster, water-heater
and the 240v sockets for additional appliances (hairdryer, straighteners etc.). It vents
from the front (socket side) and out back (battery side). It sits on 2 x 140ah leisure batteries
that are charged via the roof-mounted solar panel.


I have replaced & rewired the inverter on/off switch to an illuminated one on my control panel. This allows you to see that it is switched on, and acts as a reminder not to leave it on. I have also wired the inverter through my Mains Contactor, so as to share the same mains wiring & sockets. The contactor also has a switching relay that disables the inverter once the mains hook-up is attached.



The nickel push-fixings from the old overhead doors were used on the new ones.



Crew Seat, Temp Flooring and more Wiring...

The van's coming on really well now. So far I've got up and running:-
Hot & cold running water plumbed into kitchen & bathroom, electric flushing toilet, shower, gas grill and gas hob.
Mains hook-up with consumer for site electrics or garage connections. This is connected via a contactor that allows use of the same circuits for both Mains and Inverted power Sources. It automatically switches over when mains electric is connected via the external mains socket.
Microwave, Kettle, Toaster and Water Heater running off solar panel rigged to 2 x 140ah Leisure batteries and mains inverter.
3 way fridge running on 12v, 240v mains and gas.
Eberspacher Diesel Air Heater for the cabin, Flat Screen TV/DVD, 3x USB Charge Points (front, middle & rear)
Bluetooth iPod connected ICE with 6 way Kenwood speakers.
LED low energy lighting. (12v)
Halogen Lighting. (12v)
Blue LED mood lighting. (12v)
Extra Crew Seat with travelling for 4 (seatbelt restrained)









Plumbed in the gas yesterday, so was able to box in the appliances
and faced of the undersides of my fabricated units to neaten them off.

Managed to blag a piece of 'scragg-end' wood effect vinyl when I bought the grey stuff for the kitchen walls. Wasn't quite wide or long enough for a proper fit, but it does the job great until I can get round (and afford) to fit the proper finished stuff.

Still need to box off the overhead cab-locker storage area and design some sort of table/sleeping area at the front.
Starting to look the job now though.

Main Control Panel above for the cabin electrics. I rewired the switch for my power
inverter to work remotely on the panel. It also illuminates when on so it shouldn't
be left on inadvertently.

Control Panel for Galley

Kitchen & Shower Completed

Dropped lucky with the toilet hatch. Didn't hit any steel supports, but had
to fit it over a rebate in the van body. Used part of the cut out as an infil... 

The walls of the van are already well insulated, so I'm hoping we

won't be getting many issues with condensation etc.



Knocked up a narrow drawer above the fridge for cuttlery

Kitchen & Plumbing

Finished off the bed/seating area now, so have moved around to the other side where the kitchen is going to be.

Found the final location for the fridge, so was able to measure & mark the vents and flue.

Cut-outs made in floor to enable any leaking propane gas to fall out of the van

(LPG vapours being heavier than air)



 Connected up the mains too, so am now able to run fridge on mains electric, charge van batteries up during hours of darkness, as well as use power tools off the van's power sockets.

Solar Charger (black), Mains Charger (red) and Mains Consumer Unit

Shurflo Pump fixed in rear 'garage' area

The Shurflo pump is quite a powerful unit. As I had mounted it on the
bulkhead between the living area and the garage, I fixed it to a seperate board
and then sandwiched the board and screws between rubber-grommets
 to dampen vibration & noise.

This pump is a diaphragm type, which works on a pressure switch that is built in to it. When the taps are closed, the pressure builds up in the pipe and this operates a microswitch in the pump that switches off the power. When the taps are opened, pressure drops and the pump kicks back in from the microswitch.

Fitted 2 PC fans onto the vents to assist cooling.

'Inhale' at bottom & 'Exhale' at top.

These are connected to a thermal switch that kicks

in when the area behind the fridge becomes hot

Smev inset sink now fitted onto the worktop

Electric water heater is loose fitted under the sink. Power is fed via the neon switch next to the 2 gang plug.

Both of these are fed from the mains inverter connected to my batteries, or mains electric if on hook-up 

I decided to use the other cupboards that I removed, but needed to cut them down

to allow for the shower/toilet area

The doors & fittings will be taken off and the doors then faced

with the wood-effect fablon used on the other side

Faced off the new cupboards and used them to help support the housing for my microwave & gas grill

A bit of a dry run outing at Josh's football practice.

Managed to knock up a brew and chill in front of the telly for an hour!