Camper Part 19: MOT Ready or not here I come...

There hasn't been an update for a few days as I have been putting all my energy into getting ready for the MOT (annual road fitness test).

As the vehicle is undergoing a conversion to a 'Motor Caravan' it qualifies for an MOT Test instead of a Goods Vehicle Test. This however means that it must have the basics of a Motor Caravan, like beds and kitchen.

On the weekend I fitted the new dash plastics that I had bought on eBay which resulted in the moving of some of the switches fitted during the ambulance conversion.

This was followed by continuing with the kitchen units. As you know (if you've been following) I completed the carcasses before, so this weekend I cladded the sides in plywood. I also fitted the sink and cooker hob to their respective counter tops and fitted the sink one in place.

At the same time I did the remaining two walls of the bathroom and the bathroom roof. This also involved cutting the holes for the lights in the bathroom and feeding through the wiring. Next steps for the bathroom will be the waterproofing, cladding and then fitting up.

After work I ventured out again and fitted the cooker counter top in place. This was followed by installing the grill box & door as well as the cooker oven. The gas lines for these are connected at the back, but still need plumbing through the floor for connection to the flexi-hose with bottle connector. The long term goal is to fit an under vehicle gas tank.

I also installed the fridge under the sink, but before this drilled the holes for the water supply and waste pipes in the floor and fed the pipes through. I still need to fit the external connections and pump, but didn't relish working on my back on cold concrete at 9:30pm so left that for another day.

As the finishing touch of the day, the passenger seat went back in (it had been removed in order to work on the auxilliary battery) and the cushions for the beds were fitted.

All through this time my wife was helping by clearing out all the accumulated tools and fittings that had migrated into the lockers in the vehicle during the build.

The pictures today aren't great as they were taken in the dark with a mobile phone, but you can get a sense of more completeness...

Camper Part 18: Kitchen Carcasses Complete

As promised in yesterday's installment I got on with the final kitchen unit carcass today.

Having done the major cutting last night, tonight I trimmed the angles on the rear legs for where they meet the roof and assembled the whole lot. I also fitted it, including fixing to the floor, the wall and the cooker unit which it stands next to.

I had to move ond of the light fittings a bit as it will be partially obscured by the cupboard. It still is a bit due to a structural roof bracket preventing me from moving it further. This should be a problem however as the tube can still be changed easily.

Having now completed all the kitchen carcasses, next steps for the kitchen will be the counter tops. I will however be moving back to the bathroom in order to complete the side walls so all structures are in place.

After that, plumbing and electrics with paneling of the various carcasses being the last thing done in order to not have to remove them again (and not dirty them).

I also need to get on with checking the vehicle over for the MOT and booking that for next week.

Today's pictures:

Camper Part 15: Kitchen Kapers Kommence

As per the last installment, then next steps are the caracssing for the kitchen units.

This will allow for then fitting the bed units which in turn will allow for the modifcation of the mattresses to suit the shortened length.

My approach is to make carcasses which will then be skinned in ply. This approach allows me the get the final size of the units while still retaining decent access for plumbing and electrical work.

On Sunday evening after recovering from the headache which had plagued me for the whole day, I measured up the 'wet unit' which will comprise the sink, fridge, a small cupboard and drawer.

As I had retained the old fridge cupboard out of the caravan, I was able to table accurate measurements of the space required. In the caravan the fridge had a cupboard below it as it was placed over the wheel well, so couldn't sit lower. In this vehicle I will be locating it closer to the floor as the sink will be above it and the sink bowl means that the fridge can't be as high. Also having the old sink counter meant that I could easily measure that up as well.





Sketching this out to scale allowed me to figure which wood to use. I had previously purchased a pack each of 44x18 and 33x18 planed pine in 2.7m lengths for this job (I managed to make all the bathroom walls from the wood reclaimed from my neighbours' old kitchen).

On Monday evening I commenced with the side frames which were finished in short order as they are square and standard shaped, with no wierd walls to comform to.






Tuesday night was taken off as Lorraine was out of town and I prefer to not work outside with Kyle alone in the house.

On Wednesday I was able to complete the carcass started on Monday. The photo shows it in place in the vehicle although not fixed in at this stage. The large area on the right is for the fridge, the narrow vertical area on the left is the cupboard mentioned. The upper horizontal area will be divided in two with a drawer on the left, while the right hand side will have a cosmetic 'blanking' cover as the sink bowl will be behind this space.






Next steps are:

• Add the vertical divider for the drawer


• Add a framework for the fridge to rest on and be fixed in place with


• Complete some of the bathroom piping and outside of the bathroom wall


• Fix this unit in place


• Fill the three holes in the floor caused by the removal of the stretcher fixings

The above will then let me continue with the beds and then the cooker unit which will stand opposite the sink unit.