Badjamins van conversion

Refurbishing an absurdly rusty swivel seat base. Anyone near hudds have a rivet gun I can borrow? and rivets? and a rattle can of primer and satin black? :laugh: :whistle:

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Now fitted the refurbed swivel... it's made the seat too high for me and too far forward even with too many washers under the front edge and can't afford a lowered base

Might have to sell it and get a folding bracket instead. Feel a bit sh*t about the whole thing now pff
 
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Keep the swivel, get the folding bracket and see if the 10 degree recline gives you more headroom.
Anyway, what you doing in the passenger seat?
 
As above but in conclusion... potentially too long to read sorry

Okay so a long week of very short quick jobs performed in a very haphazard and absurdly long winded manner.

Wood bought for rear doors and sliding door panel. Doing it myself definitely saved me a stack of cash but took me too long. Not having much room in my garage to lay stuff out and work was a pain. The panels look good and neat but will need to come off when I route in wiring for stuff and am concerned trim tool prying may cause the 4mm ply to fracture... also still having the rear quarters to do is a pain. I don't wanna buy any cause am skint so will get a sheet of 8x4 4mm ply for £12 at some point and start that horrible job. I should have routed the wiring first obviously but I knew i could do the panels and don't have wiring skills so have avoided it I guess. I guess I can use the eco flow to power interior lights but not sure, do I need to routr 2mm wire and fit a three pin plug?

I find 'Sounds like a golf' door seals massively underwhelming but I got a bit stupid and decided I needed them. I wouldn't have bothered in hindsight.

Seat swivel was a bit of a drama. Buying second hand and as cheap as poss is my Yorkshire curse. The thing was a rusty mess not a rusty lee - the K on the knobs lead me to believe its a Kiravans swivel also. I disassembled it completely and sanded it back (all yesterday morning) and painted it with hammerite so should hopefully not get rusty again soon. I'm guessing the person I bought it from had it in a cellar or something - i should have asked for lots of photos first so that's on me I guess. Anyway I installed it this morning and cannot believe how high it is... hopefully the wife wont have an issue with headroom but the two 6'+ stepsons aren't gonna be comfy. A lowered seat base is not in my budget - i couldn't get a folding seat bracket in the end as the budget wasn't there. I reckon that would have helped with the head room perhaps.

One thing from this week I am happy with is my wheel spacers. So glad I got them as the van looks way better without the sunken rear wheels. I'd say it's one of my favorite purchases for the van so far.

The clips on the sliding door rail have now been replaced so that is now alligned... small win

Next...

Reinstate bed system and slightly modify it so it's flat - slight step up fornthe fold up extension to ammend. Once this is done and we have used it in March and April i may dismantle and use the timber to create a U shaped setup. Or I may buy some laminate sheets to coat the timber and sell it for £100 i dunno.

I need to sort the rear cargo head liner out as it's not securing fully as some of the clips won't go in completely. In re of the the head liner I'm loathe to carpet line it as at some point I'll be getting a pop top but as it's unlikely to be any time soon maybe I should just go for it.

I need to get some 12mm and put a floor and Altro down. Bare metal is no good obvs and I am delaying because as the plan is to get a rock and roll bed and a side unit i don't wanna put a floor in and screw in through altrofloor for a U shape layout or indeed my current layout until then...

Thanks for reading
 
That is deffo a Kiravans swivel.
Wife is 5’8 and no probs. I’m 6’0 and no issues either. My ex colleague is 6’4 and his head used to touch the roof on the way to work-he was a little uncomfortable.
My ply panels are only 3mm thick and fitted with those hidden trim clips and the trim tool gets them off without breaking the ply if being careful. I have split the ply in one place, but a bit of wood glue and a clamp and it’s stronger than ever by the following day.
I made all my panels out of 3mm ply sheets myself with a fine toothed jigsaw blade-being a value-orientated Yorkshireman like yourself.
It’s not a big deal. Try to find someone who is removing those original hardboard panels and use those as a template-that’s how I did it.
On the floor thing, mine is 9mm ply, not had an issue in over 4 years. I’ve got Altro floor, was from a place near us that does roll ends and it’s stuck down with double sided tape.
I’ll find you details of the place for the Altro when you are ready to do it mate.
Always happy to pop over and give you a hand if you wish.
 
Today I have installed flooring... but I ran out of sikaflex so it's only almost done - as is my way.

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She's dirty inside

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I got wood - £40 2x 8x4 9mm

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I used the forum cut list for the packers. Glued in up to the front few but gonna have to buy some more gunk and it started raining a little and I've been at it for hours.

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Looks good enough though :)
 
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Am acquiring bits for the electrics and have mocked up my first draft leisure diagram if anyone would like to scrutinize. Fuse sizes will be my undoing

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This week is a big one. Got lots of new stuff to receipt along with the bits from last week I will have:

I have a fogstar drift 105ah leisure battery and charger, a wired campers 1200w pure sine wave inverter and am due a renogy DCC50S 12V 50A DC-DC On-Board Battery Charger with MPPT + BT-2 Bluetooth Module due at some point

I plan to have two reading lights with usb, two twin usb plugs, 6 x dimmable roof puck lights, a fridge, a diesel heater, maybe a water pump and gas igniter also - although I hadn't planned on a sink and hob

I have a full O/S unit coming with sink and hob, a 112 rib, trimmed front seats, a reclining bench bracket, a swivel that works properly I hope.

A travel kettle and some levelling ramps.

Some curtains from shorevans

Some T6F stickers

And maybe some 16mm cable to feed through bulkhead to drivers seat base before all that gets chucked in the van. Should be a steady month come april... sheesh
 
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