We drove the van around for a while as it was. It served a purpose but it wasn’t very luxurious!
We spent some time looking for different self-fit van interiors. At the time we were attending a lot of VW and Van shows. So, there were a few different kits to choose from. Eventually, we went with a VanWurks interior as they had just started, so the price wasn’t bad, but it was also good quality laser cut units. It had everyting we needed, a cooker, sink and space for a fridge as well as room for a 3/4 rock and roll bed which we bought separately.
Of course, before we could fit we, we needed to take out the old interior.
Out with the old
This was at the point of owning the van when we started to realise it wasn’t as good as we had initially thought. We weren’t under the illusion that it would be perfect but this was certainly the point at which the welding started.
After removing the old units and flooring we were left with this:
Yes that is daylight you can see through some of those holes.
Flooring
After a “little bit” of welding and a lot of paint/rust removal we managed to stop our feet from going through the floor. We added rust treatment and a decent amount of hammerite.
It looked a bit better.
I also had to drill a few holes in the floor for some of the piping and wiring for the new camper interior. Also, at this point we had to decide where we wanted to put the table because we had to create some space for it.
I fitted some marine ply on the floor and covered it with a simple checkerboard pattern of lino flooring. I also insulated any part of the van I could manage to squeeze some insulation into.
I tided up the cab a bit (fitted a new stereo and some new mats). I also changed to a nice wooden steering wheel and a scat gear shifter which makes quite a bit of difference to the look of the van.
Units
Fitting the kit of the units was actually pretty straightforward. It all screwed together nicely but most of it was pre-made. It included three roof cupboards which were quite useful.
There was a bit of plumbing (feed and waste) and wiring and a small about of gas piping but nothing too difficult. I fitted a simple 12 peltier cooler (which can also be a heater).
I fitted some rear speakers under the seat which is really the only place they can go with this layout. I made a mount for the table top at the back of the van.
I also put in mains which could be switched from either the shore power or an internal 1KW invertor. I fitted a TV behind the cab passenger seat and put double headphone sockets next to the bench seat so that the family could watch the TV with headphones while we were driving.
For charging the 12V leisure battery when on shore power, I added my favourite 12v Milka charger.
I finished off the look by covering some of the panels with vinyl.
(Note that some of the pictures were taken later – there were some minor changes)
After adding some extra power sockets and switches in the cab the wiring diagram for the ‘camper’ wiring looked like:
I thought I would just add a final picture to show how cosy it looked in the evening when set up for sleeping (even though it was only two berth):
