Furniture, fridge, gas and electrics !

Wow it’s a long time since I updated the blog and I’ve been very busy.

Needed to hit the insurance deadline so I took a couple of weeks off work and went hard at it.

Carpet (cut earlier) now laid but before so doing I ripped up the floor an put extra supports under there as it was a bit weak in places.

The furniture is now in - the pieces were CNC cut, vinyl wrapped, MDF from Jasmine at Horbury Bridge. They came wrapped in cling film and so during test builds I left it on to protect the finish so some of the photos may look weird. I should have taken more photos of the furniture build but my mind was on the job rather than the blog …..

Fridge went in and out soooo many times, needed to raise it 5mm to line up with the flue. Building the metal baffle on the underside of the fridge cover was a challenge and took far too much time. I should have bought some thinner aluminium sheet – it would have been so much easier to work with.

I needed to get the gas connected too. Fridge, grill/hob, heater to the manifold then through to the gas locker. Now plumbing is not my forte but I amazed myself – not a single leak and its all tested and certified by a local LPG Gas Safe chappie.

Then on to the water side – pump connected and wired in – I wish all the jobs were that easy !

Cabling up the electrics should be included in a yoga text book – I found myself contorting into positions and places that beggar belief ! Getting all that wire back to the wardrobe to wire everything together was interesting. Message to self …. Next time fit the electrical control unit first and build everything around it. Also well p@@@ed off with the install documentation that did not make it clear that the wiring diagram was for looking at the plugs from the rear not the front ! That added a day to the job rewiring the darned plugs after the event …. Not happy with that! But all’s well etc … all tested and working well now.

We also got the soft furnishings in last week. These are from Premier Furnishings in Ilkestone – loose (well bloody tight really) covers on the front seats and cushions covered and quilted in the rear.

I will do another blog entry just on T5 seat removal as this is so easy when you know which bolt to unscrew !

Just got the one cab seat covered for now – doing the second tomorrow …

Carpet (on the floor) ... insulation and more holes.

Remember this …. “This weeks plan is: holes get cut for LPG gas inlet, 240v socket and fridge vents, carpet to be laid, improve brackets for leisure batterymake a bracket for the heater”


Well we got the holes cut for fridge vents, 240v & gaslow and fittings installed.
Waste outlet appears to be right under the porta-potty DOH! So had to drill another hole in the floor no big deal just slowing things up.
Carpet … cut but not laid.
Leisure battery now properly safe and secure.
Heater bracket – components made ready for swift assembly once furniture arrives. I don’t want to install just yet – would rather just do it once!



Went through to see Michael from Jasmine on Saturday to discuss final tweaks and changes for the furniture. Fingers crossed should have it next weekend.



Also found that I had put too much insulation in the sliding door and it was bowing out and touching the van side so that had to come off and be replaced.

Off side insulation has been installed behind the furniture. Of note is the insulation behind the fridge. Some say don’t do it but ….. this is my reasoning:
Warm moist air condenses on cold surfaces.
The air behind the fridge will be warm …. and moist as its open to the elements and sucking in the cold night air, mist and dew.
An uninsulated van side will also be cold and condensate on the inside of van side is an obvious (to me) consequence.


So it’s well insulated with a double skin of recycled rigid 25mm kingspan - Thanks Steve - with a thin layer of recycled plastic insulation behind it. I used rigid stuff here because I don’t want it to block the air flow.


We also acquired some Fiamma drip stop for over the sliding door but that’s yet to be installed ….. it says do it between 18 and 35 degrees ! Some hope at this time of year !!!!



Plans for this week, just get the carpet down and build up strength for next week. I booked some time off work so it’s going to be fun …..