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0:34 -okay so hopefully you found your chassis, mine was a Sprinter, it was a utilities
0:38 -vehicle, so that meant that it had a low mileage and it was ideal for what I
0:42 -wanted, it had a window in the side load door already, it had six extra seats in
0:45 -the middle, and it actually had a toilet in the rear, all of that which I would
0:49 -rip out, although the toilet was reusable, anyway, and after that I wanted to plan
0:54 -my layout, so I got specific needs, I've got big windsurfing equipment, so I was
0:58 -experimenting how much space I'd need
1:00 -for the windsurfing equipment, and then
1:02 -kind of masking out with masking tape
1:04 -where the cupboards would go, where the
1:05 -fridge, where the freezers would go, and
1:07 -eventually made myself a plan, next, where
1:10 -do you start on something like this, I
1:12 -started with the seat bases, I wanted to
1:13 -have swivel seats, I couldn't find
1:15 -anything available at the time, and I had
1:17 -a double um passenger seat base, and I
1:20 -definitely would need to find a single
1:22 -seat base, [couldn't] find anything, if I could
1:23 -find anything that would allow me to
1:25 -swivel that single seat, so in the end I
1:27 -decided to convert my own, I found
1:30 -uh seats with swivels built in, I think
1:32 -they come from a Vauxhall Sintra, and I
1:34 -decided to make up my own seat bases
1:37 -using some extra angle iron and welding,
1:39 -cutting, as you can see in the pictures
1:41 -there, and just making up them seat bases
1:43 -so I could swivel the passenger seat
1:46 -without having to open up the door, and
1:48 -also I could swivel the driver's seat
1:50 -without having to open up the door or
1:51 -change the handbrake, I decided to put
1:54 -some battery isolators inside the
1:56 -driver's seat so I could isolate the
1:58 -power if I'm going to leave the vehicle
1:59 -stand, which was handy, and then of course
2:01 -little things like the safe in the seat
2:03 -base, leisure battery storage in the seat
2:05 -base, and all them other things that you
2:07 -might want, and that's my seat bases
2:09 -pretty much organized, bit of paint and
2:11 -ready to go, next thing, leisure battery
2:13 -wiring, uh heavy duty relay for my
2:15 -leisure batteries, one leisure battery in
2:17 -each seat, um, and the leisure battery is
2:19 -powered up from an alternator wire, the
2:21 -run wire, so a wire that only goes live
2:23 -while the engine's running, next, get a
2:26 -friend in to give me a hand, my friend
2:27 -Mark decided to give me a hand, which was
2:29 -very helpful of him, cutting out the roof
2:31 -vent, putting in the roof vents, those
2:33 -clamps that you can see are really handy,
2:35 -actually I think if you're putting in a
2:36 -roof vent you're probably going to screw
2:38 -it in, but also using some sealant and
2:40 -using those clamps, you probably need
2:42 -eight of them, I bought some clamps, I
2:44 -tried to get away with just four, I tried
2:46 -to get away with some cheaper squeeze um
2:48 -like um pressurized ones, but in the end
2:51 -those ratchet, up eight of them done the
2:53 -trick, they were ideal, and if you're
2:55 -using any kind of sealant on a motor
2:57 -home for the roof I would recommend only
2:58 -two types, one is Sikaflex, and the
3:01 -other one is Tiger Seal, forget your Wickes
3:03 -bathroom sealant, it's only going to
3:05 -last a few months or a few years, and
3:06 -you're going to have water piling in, so
3:08 -just don't go anywhere near that
3:10 -stuff, the roof vent I decided for a big
3:13 -roof vent, and that needed some
3:14 -reinforcement, I had to put some angle iron
3:16 -cuz I decided to take out one of the
3:18 -cross members across the roof, and I want
3:19 -to leave some
3:21 -support, next one with the wiring loom, I
3:23 -wanted to box this off, so in order to
3:25 -box this van off, that wiring loom
3:27 -hanging down underneath the roof just
3:28 -wasn't practical, I wouldn't want to
3:30 -leave it there and try and leave that
3:31 -plastic and box around it, so I decided
3:34 -to run that wiring loom, cut all the
3:36 -wires in the wiring loom, run it above
3:38 -the um roof reinforcement struts where
3:41 -possible, and for the ones where there
3:43 -wasn't enough enough room, just drilled
3:45 -like a 20mm hole, using convoluted tubing to
3:47 -protect the cables it went through,
3:49 -soldered up all the wires again, and heat
3:51 -shrink the connection, and that was also
3:53 -a suitable place for me to pick up my
3:55 -reverse feed, which would activate for
3:57 -the reverse camera which I would fit in
3:58 -there
4:00 -now I used a caravan as a donor for
4:02 -parts, one of the parts was a shower, now
4:06 -that shower, when you try and take it
4:07 -from a square caravan and fit it into a
4:09 -van that's tapered, particularly like the
4:11 -shape of the Sprinter, it would need
4:13 -quite a lot of work going into this also,
4:15 -so it weren't just a seat bases that
4:16 -were going to cause me hassle, I cut it
4:18 -down, folded it, bent it, did whatever I
4:20 -needed to do, heated it up and glued it,
4:24 -sealant, and got it to match the actual
4:26 -shape of the
4:28 -body, next part, getting on with the van,
4:30 -the van completely gutted out, all the
4:32 -old ply gone, and uh, and now I'm sticking
4:34 -with the outside of it and I'm doing the
4:36 -windows, so doing the windows using a uh
4:40 -jigsaw to cut the windows out from the
4:42 -inside, and I decided to use the the
4:44 -Mercedes windows, I mean once you cut out
4:47 -the panels you've Waxoyl the cut edges, or
4:50 -you've used um Hammerite paint, whichever
4:52 -your preference is, the next thing from
4:55 -there is to actually bond the windows in,
4:58 -but you're probably better off getting
4:59 -a local windscreen man to come around and
5:01 -fit those windows, cuz it's probably only
5:03 -going to cost you £30 a piece of glass
5:05 -for him to bond it in with the proper
5:07 -stuff, and that'll just save you from
5:08 -faffing around, although of course you
5:10 -could do it if you wanted
5:12 -to, next thing, where I took that
5:14 -passenger seat off, that has a part of
5:16 -the seat belt tensioning tool for the
5:18 -for the SRS, for the airbag, so I would
5:20 -need to um put a resistor in there in
5:23 -order so I don't have an airbag warning
5:24 -light coming on on the dashboard, so that
5:26 -was another bit of the job to do, and
5:29 -still sticking with some basic
5:31 -preparation works, I really wanted to put
5:33 -a hook in my shower, so in my shower, I
5:36 -windsurf, go surf, and I want to be able
5:38 -to hang the the wetsuits up inside the
5:40 -shower and have them dripping, so just
5:42 -doing preparations for things like the
5:44 -um putting a piece of timber above the
5:46 -shower, which I would later put a hook,
5:48 -stainless steel hook, through the shower
5:50 -into the the piece of timber, with a
5:52 -recess bolt inside the timber to hold
5:54 -the weight of the the wetsuits and
5:56 -things hanging up, and again continue to
5:59 -work on on all these small little
6:00 -details before really going ahead, you
6:02 -pull something in, you take it out,
6:04 -you twist something, adjust something,
6:06 -pull it out, pull it in again, and keep on
6:10 -going, solar panels, so solar panels on
6:13 -the roof, and again that would be Tiger
6:15 -Sealed in for me, that was the choice for
6:17 -my sealant, I made lots of little spaces
6:19 -to support them as I as I went, going for
6:22 -the gas now, I decided for LPG gas, of
6:25 -course you can have your propane gas
6:27 -bottles, but you're probably going to
6:28 -have to have one that you're using, and
6:30 -then one ready, so when that one runs out
6:32 -you can just switch over to a new one,
6:34 -but LPG you can just top it up before
6:36 -you go on a trip, which is ideal, as long
6:38 -of course as you're going a place where
6:40 -you can fill up LPG, because I was on an
6:42 -island where there was no LPG, and I had
6:45 -to watch how much gas I was consuming,
6:47 -so I knew I'd be there for 10 days, and
6:49 -so I couldn't be leaving the heat on too
6:51 -too long or too high, so it's six of one and
6:54 -half a dozen of the other, LPG, doing the
6:56 -tanks it's going to be more expensive
6:57 -but save your space, I don't need two gas
7:00 -cupboards, I've got an underslung tank
7:02 -under the chassis rail, I think it's a fly
7:04 -leader tank, and it's just ideal for
7:07 -me, now the bolts for that chassis, I
7:10 -realized I'd never going to get to them
7:11 -bolts again, so I was welding, making
7:14 -up the studs, putting the heads on them,
7:15 -welded them up so they wasn't going to
7:17 -come undone under the floorboards, if I
7:18 -ever had to undo this one
7:20 -day, now doing some electrical work,
7:23 -Parrot mobile phone hands-free kit, the
7:25 -stereo system, I'm running um DVD wires
7:29 -to the TV in the back, to an outside
7:31 -television, so there's stuff going on all
7:33 -over the place, lots and lots of cable in
7:35 -this one, nice and complicated, the stereo
7:38 -as well, I want it to run off the leisure
7:39 -batteries, so I'm taking the power supply
7:41 -to the leisure batteries, on the on the
7:43 -side there's my switches for the stereo,
7:46 -you can switch the switch down and you
7:47 -can have it off running without the
7:49 -ignition on, so the stereo is on while
7:51 -you're camping, switch it up and it goes
7:53 -on and off with the ignition, just
7:55 -like a regular car where you're driving
7:56 -it around, so that's that's
7:58 -ideal, and insulation, I used a
8:00 -combination of 25mm Celotex, I used some
8:03 -thick high density Rockwool, and also
8:06 -the foil-backed bubble wrap, which you'll
8:09 -see, and that's nice versatile
8:13 -stuff, now board storage area, near where
8:15 -I was going to put my windsurfing board
8:17 -storage, I was going to have that as a
8:18 -wet area, so I'm paying particular
8:20 -attention to putting Waxoyl around that
8:22 -area, Waxoyl that will go around the
8:24 -side of the van, Waxoyl on the floor, and
8:26 -I would later put Waxoyl in other
8:28 -places of the van, I'll show you that as
8:29 -we get to them, now we're going for this
8:31 -outside window, this wasn't the first
8:33 -window, I wanted an opening window on
8:35 -that side, but I really struggled to find
8:37 -one at that time, and in the end I did
8:39 -manage to find one, I ended up getting
8:41 -the Volkswagen genuine part, which really
8:44 -cost a lot to buy cuz it was so expensive,
8:46 -but just at that time I couldn't find a
8:47 -decent window to go in the side, and I
8:50 -wanted a large window, and I wanted one
8:51 -that looked nice on the
8:53 -chassis, other infrastructure, wiring
8:56 -going into the side load doors, all this
8:58 -wiring here, you see, I pulled apart
9:00 -that whole long hinge and that took
9:02 -hours, but that would be for lighting to
9:04 -go on the outside of the van, on the side
9:06 -load door, and that wiring that went on
9:08 -the side load door for those awning area
9:10 -lights, really work well, and I'll show
9:12 -you a video of
9:15 -them, now we're underneath the motorhome,
9:18 -you can see the wastewater tank which I
9:21 -put in there, which was for the sink, and
9:23 -then on the other side the LPG tank, um
9:26 -so they're sort of adjacent to each
9:28 -other, using the threaded rod and nuts um
9:31 -to actually fix these into place, the
9:34 -water tanks, this was my wastewater tank
9:35 -for the shower, at the back I had all my
9:38 -waste tanks and the freshwater tank made
9:40 -by a local firm that made them exactly
9:42 -to the size that I wanted, they cross-
9:43 -baffled them, they did a fantastic job, I
9:46 -don't think they're in business anymore
9:47 -so I'm not able to share with you their
9:49 -contact details, but it was amazing, what
9:51 -I do know is I probably went a bit over
9:53 -the top of these wastewater tanks, if you
9:55 -buy yourself a new motorhome
9:58 -they've probably got a token effort in
10:00 -terms of wastewater tanks, they're
10:01 -they're like 2 or 3 litres often, so
10:04 -they're barely good for anything, just
10:05 -for the sake that you can go onto a site
10:07 -and you can say yeah I've got a wastewater
10:08 -tank, so you probably don't need to go as
10:11 -far as I did in terms of the capacity of
10:13 -those tanks, you can just be sparing when
10:15 -you do the washing up, in the bowl, just
10:17 -throw it out over the hedge once you
10:19 -finish, rather then it will go in the
10:20 -wastewater tanks, but hey it's there
10:23 -anyway, got my gas outlets, my outlets
10:26 -that are going on the side of the
10:28 -vehicle, these my uh other areas going in,
10:32 -so cutting the holes around the sides,
10:33 -cutting the holes in the bottom of the
10:34 -van, holes for the fridge, holes for um
10:37 -air circulation for my windsurfing
10:39 -equipment wet storage area, air hole, um
10:42 -holes for the gas in, for the um 240 volt
10:46 -in, for the gas, sorry, for the gas out, and
10:49 -for the 240 volt out and 12 volt out, hot
10:52 -and cold water mixer, outdoor shower,
10:54 -really really good, and again using Sikaflex
10:57 -to um seal these from the elements
10:59 -getting in, and of course using rust
11:01 -protection to treat the um the cut
11:05 -metal, Waxoyl is a really good one to use, I
11:07 -would recommend Waxoyl for
11:10 -sure, now before you box all this up,
11:13 -obviously I've gone to all this trouble,
11:14 -all these wires, all this insulation, and
11:16 -everything there, I don't want to go put
11:17 -in a screw through these wires when I
11:19 -screw in my ply afterwards, so I want to
11:22 -know exactly where all my cross-sections
11:24 -are going to be, and more importantly
11:25 -where any wiring is, then I just make
11:27 -sure I don't ever go put on the screw
11:29 -through those wiring looms, and if I've
11:32 -got all the measurements here on the
11:33 -computer, pictures of them, then it means
11:35 -that I don't need to go around pulling
11:37 -the whole van apart to find out where
11:39 -the wiring loom is, cuz I'm I'm going to
11:40 -know, I'm going to be able to go in here
11:42 -and take a look, it's mad, you get to a
11:44 -point where you put all this work, and
11:45 -you spent all this time, all these
11:47 -hundreds of hours, all this money on the
11:48 -van, and actually you can barely even see
11:50 -any difference when you get to that
11:53 -point, before you start putting all the
11:55 -internals in, before the wood goes in,
11:57 -before all the carpet goes on, this is
11:59 -the the stuff that will make your motor
12:00 -home, the stuff you do at the beginning
12:02 -before you really get stuck in, so don't
12:04 -skimp, um, don't don't rush through this
12:06 -part and just go building all your
12:07 -interior, think it through, and that's
12:09 -that's my advice, get everything um
12:11 -really nice, I took the time, jet washed the
12:14 -chassis down, all in the
12:16 -underneath of the van, and then Waxoyl'd
12:18 -up all the van on the underneath as well,
12:20 -just so I want this motorhome to be a
12:22 -long around for a long time, getting my
12:24 -awning lights ready in position, all run
12:26 -to the relevant relevant places,
12:30 -Labcraft was the lights I decided to use,
12:32 -and I added quite a few of these on there,
12:34 -seven in total, on the on the side, here's
12:36 -my gas hot water, gas water heater, it's
12:39 -240 volt or its gas, my fridge vents, all
12:43 -in position in the side of the van, the
12:45 -outside starting to come together and
12:47 -looking nice, getting ready, finishing up
12:49 -with these awning lights, doing a bit
12:51 -extra with the insulation, a bit of
12:53 -expanding foam in the areas where I
12:55 -couldn't get to with cutting the
12:57 -insulation, making good with the floor
13:00 -where there are any holes, having been
13:02 -there before, applying the primer to
13:04 -the holes, getting the exhaust pipe
13:06 -for the gas system, for the heating, to go
13:08 -up onto the roof, running all my water
13:11 -pipes around and finishing off any
13:13 -electrical cable, and now we're already
13:15 -starting to get going, so we're in business
13:16 -now, starting to get going with the
13:17 -inside, getting the wood cut, getting the
13:20 -carpet in in place, if you're doing
13:22 -carpet and you want heat resistant um
13:25 -spray adhesive, contact adhesive spray it,
13:28 -you'll see plenty of stuff on the
13:29 -internet of how to do that, spray it to
13:31 -one side, spray it to the other side, you
13:32 -leave it a bit of time till it goes
13:34 -tacky, few seconds, maybe even half a
13:36 -minute, a minute, and then stick it on, I
13:39 -was trying to reuse the ply that come
13:41 -with the van, the dirty old ply, but I
13:42 -think in the end I decided it's just no
13:44 -good, you know, once you're in for a penny
13:46 -you're in for a pound, so you end up,
13:48 -before you know it, you take that off, you
13:49 -buy new ply, you buy new wood, you buy
13:52 -this, you buy that, so whatever budget
13:54 -you've got in mind in the first
13:56 -place, it's very very easy to blow that
13:58 -budget, so bear that in mind also when
14:00 -you're planning your your build, I used
14:02 -the foil-backed um insulation to go on
14:06 -the floor, Waxoyling around on the roof,
14:10 -um around any of the areas where the
14:11 -water might sit, so there is
14:15 -the view that you can put a water
14:16 -membrane across the top of the roof, so
14:18 -any moisture gets caught by that
14:20 -membrane, but the reality is you're going
14:22 -to punch that membrane with screws going
14:24 -through and things, so it's probably,
14:26 -you're just going to make a void where
14:28 -water's going to get, um, so I decided it's
14:30 -better that if the moisture can go up
14:32 -there, it's better that the moisture can
14:33 -come away again, but I did spray the Waxoyl
14:35 -where possible, so that any of the
14:37 -metal showing, hopefully the water is not
14:39 -going to sit around on that too
14:43 -much, getting ready for the shower to go
14:45 -in place, getting started, the board
14:47 -storage area as
14:50 -well, getting my sink unit, that's going
14:53 -to go where it covers the feet, covering
14:54 -up all the equipment, which is all my
14:56 -electrical cupboard, my water cupboard, my
14:59 -water heater
15:03 -cupboard, trimming up in some extra places
15:06 -above the side load door and the trim
15:07 -that would hold the the interior lights,
15:09 -I had it so that my lights on the inside
15:11 -of the side load door would turn off
15:13 -automatically when the door was closed,
15:15 -cuz they don't need to be there if the
15:16 -door's closed, and then come on when the
15:17 -door's open, of course there's switches on
15:20 -them as well, power inverter, 1000W
15:22 -power
15:25 -inverter, got my television on, which goes
15:27 -on the cupboard, open the cupboard door
15:29 -to see the television, close the
15:32 -cupboard and it's out of the way, it's a
15:33 -quite a simple element, the wastewater
15:35 -tanks, um waste, empty in water, just the
15:38 -little plastic taps which can hook up
15:40 -out of the way when you're not using
15:42 -them, all the underneath, the chassis Waxoyl'd
15:44 -or the stone chip around the the LPG
15:47 -tank, running any wires on the underneath
15:50 -of the chassis, nice and tidy where
15:53 -necessary, and then it's a good time then
15:55 -to take an opportunity, before you finish,
15:57 -before you've reached the point of no
15:58 -return, and have a test camp, so use the
16:00 -van a little bit while it's half built,
16:01 -and that was great, cuz you know, you
16:03 -remember, I should have done this, I should
16:05 -have done that, and you can still do it
16:06 -hopefully at that time, and you can
16:08 -include that into your build, so camping
16:10 -midway through the build is very good
16:12 -advice, I would
16:15 -say, building up on my board storage area,
16:18 -getting organized here for where I'm going
16:19 -to keep my windsurfing equipment,
16:22 -getting into like a water contained area,
16:24 -so sealing it off from the from the
16:27 -van using waterproof membrane, having
16:29 -those uh three or four vents on the
16:32 -inside of the van at the bottom, to
16:34 -the outside, allowing air to circulate
16:36 -around, getting all my plug sockets, plug
16:39 -sockets that work off the inverter, plug
16:40 -sockets are going to work off the hookup,
16:42 -a remote switch for the inverter, of
16:44 -course the bit of a subwoofer for a bit
16:46 -of extra sound while you're driving
16:48 -around, some extra facilities so I can
16:50 -run all the sockets on the motorhome
16:52 -off of the inverter, 240 volt, if I want,
16:55 -or I can just have it that most of the
16:57 -sockets are run from when I'm on a
16:59 -hookup, and then just plug in, and just
17:01 -having like the two sockets running off
17:03 -of the
17:04 -inverter, bit of storage area above the
17:07 -head of the driver and passenger, so
17:08 -that's quite a nice area just to stuff
17:10 -like pillows in, or duvets and bedding, is
17:14 -ideal, I didn't want to put cover
17:16 -doors on there, just to take away the
17:17 -space of loading and unloading if I
17:20 -did that, so I just put on a bit of a
17:23 -bit of a trim and a
17:25 -curtain, um, an extra monitor for the
17:27 -outside, so I showed you the DVD player at
17:30 -the front of the van, I showed you the
17:31 -television at the back, and there is a
17:33 -television on the side, so if we're all
17:35 -sitting out in the awning area, we've got
17:36 -the awning room for it, you can just be
17:38 -watching your favourite windsurfing
17:40 -films, or watching the television on
17:41 -there, or whatever DVD it would be, and
17:43 -it's, yeah, nice handy little, handy
17:46 -little focus point, and handy little
17:48 -trick, plug sockets at the back, 240 volt
17:50 -and 12 volt outlets at the back, 12 volt, 240
17:53 -volt outlets on the side, and the
17:55 -barbecue hookup, the gas outlet, they're
17:57 -on the side as well, trimming the inside
18:00 -cupboards, the inside
18:05 -view, all the boards going in there now,
18:07 -so all the storage coming together,
18:09 -the awning room at the back, the board
18:12 -storage, the barbecue area, and now it's
18:14 -time to go back and do another few jobs,
18:15 -so those seat bases from earlier, again
18:18 -pulling them apart again, now pulling
18:20 -them out the van and trimming them, so
18:22 -carpeting them up, making them look nice,
18:24 -boxing them all off afterwards, bit of
18:26 -bit of uh wood with carpet over the top,
18:29 -wonders for making things look good,
18:31 -finishing them off, this would be my bed
18:34 -area, and then a lovely beautiful trip
18:37 -onto the west coast of Ireland, to
18:40 -Brandon Bay on the Dingle Peninsula, just
18:42 -absolutely fantastic to be able to get
18:43 -out in this van, it's just
18:46 -brilliant, it's the gas heater from the
18:48 -caravan, with um external blowers, the
18:52 -extra bed insert, so we can sleep a rear
18:55 -bed at the back, although it's a bit high
18:57 -on top of that board storage area, so
18:59 -it's not going to be the main bed
19:01 -for us and never will be, it's found that
19:03 -actually the front bed is no problem to
19:05 -pull out to use, the toilet
19:08 -area, the toilet actually does unload, the
19:10 -cartridge unloads into the the gangway
19:13 -inside the van, it's a bit of a shame, I
19:15 -would have rather it unloaded to the
19:16 -outside, but it just wasn't possible with
19:17 -my layout, so one thing about this, what
19:20 -you'll find, it's all about compromises,
19:22 -so you're just compromising and making the
19:24 -best you can of everything, making the
19:26 -most amount of space as you can, to
19:28 -fit as much luxuries as you can, and
19:30 -there's a tradeoff whether you bother
19:32 -to have a shower, whether you bother
19:33 -to have an inside toilet, um, it's
19:36 -all a bit of, you've got to weigh up for
19:38 -yourself, you know, what's right for you
19:40 -won't be right for someone else, and
19:41 -what's right for me won't be right for
19:42 -everyone else, that's for
19:45 -sure, the seats swivel around, once the
19:47 -seats swivel around from the front seats
19:49 -it makes a really nice seating area, it
19:51 -um, it feels nice and spacious inside,
19:53 -it's
19:55 -great, now I hope you found this video
19:57 -inspirational, useful in some way, um now
20:00 -I would say, go out there, build your van,
20:03 -make a great job, convert it, I hope
20:05 -you've taken some insight of what I've
20:07 -done on mine to make yours just a little
20:09 -bit better, and I hope you have a great
20:11 -time enjoying your van, our website
20:13 -address is www.sussexinstallations.co.uk, there
20:17 -are some pictures throughout this build
20:18 -on the website which you can take a look
20:20 -at, we also do leisure battery
20:21 -installations, we do security locks,
20:23 -reversing cameras and so on, um, but we
20:27 -don't do camper conversions, and of
20:29 -course don't forget to subscribe to this
20:30 -channel, thanks for watching
20:33 -[Music]
Transcript source: the YouTube transcript supplied for this project with minor corrections. Automated transcripts can contain recognition errors and should be checked against the original video.
