Van

Finding a Van

We started looking about September time, but prices were too high and pickings were slim.

The next problem was viewing a van, we are from the North east and 90% of vans were down south. We were lucky enough to view a Merc Sprinter round the corner to us, to get an idea of size, headroom and features. From here we made a list of features we wanted and an idea of size and started looking again.

Introducing Ivan our Campervan, a 1998 LWB Iveco.

 

We found Ivan in Tawton, he ticked all the boxes including size, price, bathroom and decent mileage. We spoke with the owner and decided to make the 700+ mile round journey to Tawton and back, in order to buy a van we had never viewed (Massive Risk!) Picking up Ivan was a story in its own right. Nightmare. Check out the link to read about the journey to collect Ivan.

Fixing Ivan

First we started fixing the obviously broken parts:

•Speedometer not working

•Indicator hanging off one side

•Cab fans blowing cold air only

•Missing window latch

Paul’s dad Eric, who shall be known as Ivan’s GP, began work straight away the next day, and within hours the speedometer was fixed, just a loose wire thankfully.

The heater took a little more persuasion to fix after much trial and error it was decided Ivan needed a new mysterious part to allow him to switch from cold air to hot; this wasn’t actually fixed till a few days before we left. (Waiting for the part over Christmas had a lot to do with it).

The next problem was sneaky; the individual who sold us Ivan had obviously charged the battery before we arrived, as it wouldn’t start without help the next day proving the battery was goosed. A new battery ordered and fitted, and then Ivan started first time and every time since.

The Indicator bracket was smashed, and so a little ingenuity and some super strong glue fixed the indicator. The window latch should have been a quick and easy fix, but after first ordering the wrong part, and then running out of time waiting for the delivery man over the Christmas period, Ivan’s GP Eric doctored a new window latch, another problem solved.

After noticing wires poking out right left and centre, we discovered that 90% of the wires were redundant and weren’t connected to anything at all; these were quickly yanked out and disposed of. After scrutinising the wiring the battery selector on the wall was found to be wired wrong, and was giving off a false reading. The wiring took both Paul and Eric a full day to rewire, retrace and re label, to make sure everything was as it should be.

Whilst testing the water heater we discovered a small leak in the water tank; a small flood and one new tank later you would think it was fixed, but in fitting the new tank one of the inlet hoses snapped, so two new inlet hoses and we were finally sorted.

Modifications

Furniture

Ivan had two staggered single beds and no double bed; this meant we had two large bed areas and very little storage space. We decided to remove one of the single beds; this was replaced with cupboard space and a small single chair with under chair storage. Then the remaining single bed was converted to a double slide out bed (with more under bed storage). For help with this we drafted in my handy Uncle Philip, who worked flat-out with us for three days. The results were brilliant and it transformed the van.

 

 

Insulating

The overhead compartment was cold and damp, but was a huge space wasted if we didn’t insulate it. We used rock wool foil and glued this to the fibre glass inner surface of the van, then covered this in a thin plastic material to add protection, this worked a treat and the top cupboard shows no signs of damp.

Wet room/Bathroom

The bathroom and kitchen area was wallpapered, but this was torn and in poor condition. We stripped all the paper and bought splash proof wallpaper, and with the help of mammy Smith I got my first lesson in wallpapering; and a full 12 hours later, we had managed to paper around windows, taps, pipes, awkward switches and a cassette toilet, giving great results.

           

          

From there we varnished the paper with a clear waterproof varnish, and silicone around any edges/ joins in wallpaper, and around the toilet and sinks. We also added a shower curtain which covers the whole of the bathroom in a U shape for extra waterproofing, the one we purchased didn’t quite fit, but some careful measurements and the use of a hacksaw solved this problem.

Gas

The van came with two empty gas bottles; these were the tiny calor gas bottles. After a lot of research we decided to bite the bullet and pay to have refillable LPG bottles fitted, we opted for two 6Kg bottles and an external refill point (as we discovered lifting the bottles out to refill in stations is illegal in France) we also bought the three European filler adaptors we would need. This was a large expense, and the only place we could find to fit it was Autogas in Thirsk (1hr30mins away). However, all the articles regarding gas in campervans stated this was by far the easiest and eventually the cheapest option for travelling in Europe.

we also got a gas safety certificate provided for the bottles from Autogas, which we supplied to our insurers as our gas safety certificate, only to find at the last minute that this was not sufficient as it didn’t have the vehicle registration number on it, and it did not test the appliances. We then had to source a gas safety test in between Christmas and New Year; thankfully a gas registered man came in on his day off to fail us massively. New rules and regulations meant poor Ivan failed on almost every aspect of the gas safety test, our new gas bottles passed with flying colours, but Ivan let us down with 3 gas leaks and a fridge that was set up incorrectly and was burning carbon monoxide. The poor man had to come in for a second time on his days off to charge us a lot of money to get Ivan up to scratch, and the day before we left Ivan was finally the proud owner of a gas safety certificate.

Solar power

After much consideration we decided to invest in solar panels to charge our leisure battery; again this took a lot of research and then a lot of guess work, to predict how big the panels would need to be to accommodate our power usage.  When we finally decided on a company to provide the panels, we found that it would only cost £10 more to get two 80 watt panels instead of the one 120 watt panel we had originally settled on. This meant we needed an upgraded charge controller, but the company provided all the extras and the upgraded unit for no extra cost. We had spoken to so many companies about buying and fitting the panels and the quotes were sky high. The company we went with assured us we could fit them ourselves, and they had comprehensive technical advice available.

So with Dr Eric on the case, Paul took the van to his dad’s factory and using a ladder and forklifts they created a work platform for the roof of the van. The panels were fitted and they work perfectly. We have never had to charge the leisure battery since they were fitted and although we are energy aware, we still run a power invertor to power the laptop on a daily basis and all the van interior lights. An excellent purchase.  Big thanks to wandering Europe who gave me lots of advice regarding solar panels.

LED Lighting

The van was equipped with halogen bulb spot lights, and fluorescent tube ceiling lights. We decided to go down the LED route after reading EuropebyCamper’s blog (lots of excellent advice to be found on this site). We purchased the strip LED’s on eBay for a very reasonable price, and the two switches (sold separately), we went with ‘warm white’ LED’s after reading that the ‘bright white’ ones could be piercingly bright. The LED’s arrived and worked no problem; it took no time at all to cut, solder and wire up the strips. We have two strips down each side of the van, located under the overhead cupboards, each strip controlled by its own switch. The LED’s helpfully had an adhesive back so no glue / mess required. They use hardly any battery power and offer brilliant lighting (if not a little two bright).

Curtains

The last modifications were the curtains. Again Europebycamper had a fantastic idea for Velcro curtains; we used this idea to make several curtains for our van. We used blackout thermal curtains for the front cab area, these required cutting and stitching to size, and for that we have ‘seamstress Anne’ to thank. After fitting the curtains we stitched Velcro down the centre, to hold the two closed on an evening, and also two sets on either side of the curtains to Velcro them to the van. This works really well and eliminates any draft, we applied the same technique with the side door and backdoor (two different sized pieces of thermal blackout lining) however these pieces are not on a curtain rail and are completely removable for during the day. This not only removes draft, but means no light escapes on an evening and therefore no one can tell we are inside the van.

Before and After: