TallPaul's Caravelle - MTB wagon!

[roadtripper]

This is lovely work Paul and kicking off all sorts of long term thoughts as a fellow Caravelle owner.

I thought I'd respond to your comment in the other thread here rather than divert it further...

And thanks! Tbh with the amount of work I put into this one I'd struggle making any profit! But if I had access to CNC machining it would make things a lot more precise and quicker. Ultimately though, the amount of people who want to store 2x bikes in a SWB van, AND sleep in it, AND have a full kitchen... Must be pretty low!

Counterpoint there are likely quite a number of people who have a Caravelle who would like the option to swap a mid seat for a kitchen... should you ever decide on a side hustle you'd have at least one potential customer!

 

[TallPaul_S]

This is lovely work Paul and kicking off all sorts of long term thoughts as a fellow Caravelle owner.

I thought I'd respond to your comment in the other thread here rather than divert it further...



Counterpoint there are likely quite a number of people who have a Caravelle who would like the option to swap a mid seat for a kitchen... should you ever decide on a side hustle you'd have at least one potential customer!

Tbh van gear already do make decent kitchen pods, a lot of the inspiration came from them. Obviously (the running theme with my van!) there wasn't anything available off the shelf which suited my needs and space.

Vangear CRX-Pod campervan fridge pod (Black)

Vangear CRX-Pod Campervan Pod for CRX50 fridge (Fridge NOT included) Black Fully assembled and ready to fit, now with new tap 2-3 week lead time We have fridge options on our shop page (Dometic CRX50 =£549 and the Alpicool CR50X =£375) The Vangear CRX-Pod is a universal fitment into many...

www.vangear.co.uk

Although, the prices are a little... Well.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Bed frame is now done. Well, 99%. Just need to do some tweaking and fit the end caps.

I may get rid of the fold out section at the front, I'll be making the foam cushions to fit to the interior shape so would have liked a bit of support but I'll see how it is.

There's a set of legs between the seats, one set at the end, and the 2x upright plywood bits at the back.

Deployed:


Folded up - there'll be 4x stacks of cushions on it which will hold the following section up between the cushions and the seat back.

And for long term storage over winter it'll fold almost flat into itself.



I'll get the foam ordered this week, and can then start making the cushions.

The bed frame took me 2x full days (10am to 7pm) to make, and I'm bloody cream crackered!

Just the cushions to make, and tailgate/cab divider curtains to fit and I'll be going on a first overnight in the van.

 

[TallPaul_S]

Foam ordered from efoam. I've gone for 3" with a 1" memory foam top (Inc in the 3"). I was limited by the height when stacked, I could only have 3 cushions top of each other with 3" foam.

Oh and I've had the fabric for ages, this is what the cushions will be finished in

 

[roadtripper]

Having just scrolled back through this thread I'm struck how it's escalated (in a great way) from "I need a bit of a frame to stop 2 bikes rattling around" on to "fully bespoke highly engineered conversion"

Does that alu profile come with any kind of capping to finish off the cut ends - just wondering how well it sits against existing trim and/or snag issues when loading?

 

[TallPaul_S]

Yes it has end caps, although annoying the caps I bought are for profile with an 7mm centre hole, and mine has a 10mm hole so I'm trying to find some correct size caps. If I can't, then a bit of sikaflex to glue them in seems to do the job.



I'll cap off every bare end with the caps once it's fully done.

 

[TallPaul_S]

I have foam!