Initially this was thought to be just a bit of rotten timber (chipboard), no problem get this sorted in a weekend... However like all old campers...
The more I picked the worse it got. The location made access difficult. The rot was running along the 'offside' where the side panel and the floor pan meet. Given this is a right hand drive van this is under the... yup you got it - the kitchen module, so no five minute fix here! Several cups of coffee later it was dawning on me this was a complete interior strip out, so... This was the way we approached the problem...
Having got this far next I had to work out the simplest way to tell my wife I was going to do this without completely destroying the van! (my wife thought I had when she saw this!)
To do all this it helps if you have somewhere to work, a drive, garage etc., we've got neither! This is what the parking space opposite the house looked like with everything out!
While carrying out the work, most of what you see in the picture lived in a three and a half foot wide hall, this went down well with the family.
After the shock... we next had to work out a plan or schedule of works.
top of pageTackling the problem or... our four step plan to tackling the problem!
That simple? Well we'd (one of my sons and I) done the first two steps so... half way there, easy! ...yeah right!
top of pageThe first step, working out process and getting rid of odds and ends was easy. Quarter the way through our 4 step plan "we'll be done in an hour" my son and I agreed! And that's where we were wrong, oh so wrong! To remove the kitchen module first the fridge needed removing... It came out simply enough, 40mins later after undoing all sorts of unnecessary cables, pipes, screws and bolts! Putting this aside we blamed the length of time it took totally on the desire/need to take pictures at each step for writing about later. Can you wear that? No thought not!
Next step get the kitchen module out, now here we hit a snag... Well quite a big one actually... After getting all the obvious fixing points undone it didn't move, still fixed fast.
Puzzled looks and another cup of coffee later... It was decided we needed to learn a lesson or two, three - or four - from removing the fridge, t h i n k l o g i c a l l y. Simple then (and obvious really with hindsight). These things are assembled in a factory where it's nice and dry (raining as we did most of this!) gets assembled in a logical order and all slots together, easily. All we needed to do was to 'think' and do everything in reverse. So to get the kitchen out we took out:
- the hanging space,
- remove the side window,
- remove the interior window GRP cover molding, held in place in part by the curtain track!
- the window GRP cover molding was fixed to the worktop (silicone and nails!),
and...
This lot only took us about 90mins - two and a half hours from start to finish if you include removing the fridge and all the pictures we took.
Simply put, if you're attempting this, take plenty of time analyzing the problem and build a plan for logically dismantling everything. With this sorted the rest is reasonably straight forward. We reckon we could pull it all apart now in about an hour (knowledge and the gift of hindsight's a wonderful thing!).
top of pageSo this became the 'real' work (destruction) process...
...Now get it welded up!
Welding the floor up is covered here
top of pagewelding - Air Cooled Workshop, Ninfield
timber and sundries - local Wickes, B&Q and Focus superstores
Insulation - local Focus superstore - will add more detail on insulation type etc. later
