Little upgrades

I love my T5, but I'm always looking for little improvements where I can.

So far I've sourced a nearly new steering wheel, to replace the aged and cracked one I have now.

The centre console light has been upgraded to one from a Mk4 golf, which has two map reading lights built in.  Bargain too, at just £8 off eBay.

And lastly, I thought I  would try to improve the standard headlights of the van, with some chameleon tint film.

I'm still not decided on it though..

Finally, I've had the badgless grill painted gloss black, which I think looks loads better than the basic textured black.

Doorstore improvements

So from ealrier in the blog you'll see I bought a Kiravans DoorStor.  Which I love!  Such a great idea, and mega useful.

However, it's always bugged me that it didn't match the rest of my interior.  As such, I set about carpeting it.

Im quite impressed with the outcome.

Looks loads better now it's covered, and the carpet hides some of the rough edges on the plastic.

It's been a while

So it's been an age since I updated this blog with anything useful!  I've been out and about using the van, and enjoying it.

In March I took the van away for a long weekend, and we used the new Outwell Country road awning for the first time.  Ended up wanting more kit to go with the awning, but it worked well, and it was a blessing having the extra space with all the kit we took for Kensie.

Also I've managed a day out by the beach on Anglsey.  Lovely day, and a very quiet and isolated little spot we found.

Not too long ago, a friend has finished converting his own day van, so we gave it a test run on a local site.  The weather was terrible, but the company, BBQ and drinking made up for it all.

Finished!

Well maybe not 100% finished, I'm sure I'll find something I want to add or change in the future, but essentially for now the van is functional, and ready to go.

It's taken a bit longer than I had hoped, but with my daughter being born, a few months were soaked up with no progress being made on the van.


All in all, I'm really pleased with how it's turned out, and can't wait for some time off to get out and use the van.

I appreciate you all taking the time to follow this blog, and I'll carry on with periodical updates.

Anyway, here is the finished article.

Finishing Touches

Once again it seems like an eternity since I updated this blog.  however, thankfully this time, I have some reasonable progress.

The main kitchen area and storage unit is now finished and secured down, the gas pipe is fitted, there is now the gas fallout through the floor, and the waste water outlet plumbed in.

I've also started the final part of the kick panel storage too, the door to hide the porta-loo, next to it will be  a drawer for further storage.  This is still to be finished, and find some suitable

Finally, I've added another small shelf at the back of the cupboard.

Hopefully another few hours, and the vast majority of this build should be complete.

Spring Update

So it's been quite a while since my last update, our first family Christmas has been and gone, and then it's been some pretty awful weather, which has limited what I could do.

Now the better weather has arrived, I've been busy on the van again, and I finally have some progress to share.

First up was a re-work of the rear flooring.  I'd cut it a bit short, as I didn't have the  rear threshold panel when I originally did it.  I cut back the flooring to a point which after much measurement, would be under the seat frame, and thus hidden.

Then after much more careful measuring and cutting, the new flooring is done, and looks much better now it all sits under the threshold.

The next big job I had to tackle was the propper fitting of the 112cm RIB Altair seat.  This was quite involved, as I had to remove most of the plastic under panels from the van, to get access to the securing bolts.  This pretty much took all day, and involved a lot of measuring and head scratching.  There was even a strop thrown in for good measure.  Thankfully I've a very understanding fiance, who was able to help, and actually came up with a solution!  (You've no idea how much it pains me to write this)

Here is the full installed finished article.

The main wardrobe/cupboard unit is now in place, but not secured down, while I route final cables, and set mounting points up.  One job I'd yet to do, but had not been looking forward to, was installing the power controls. Eberspacher controller, and the mains switches.  I really wanted these to be dead square, and  well placed, so lots of measuring, and checking, and a few cardboard templates were used.

I'm pretty happy with the result, and I still have space to add an LED spot light, which is something I've been considering.

Plenty more to come in the next few weeks.  Thankfully the addition of my little helper has been invaluable.

Eberspacher Fitting

So one thing I loved about my old T25, was that I had an Eberspacher D2 fitted, which meant year round use, and lots of cosy evenings in the van.

It will come as no surprise, that I've planned on fitting the D2 in the new van  However, given the different layout it has taken a bit longer to figure out the best place to fit it.  I opted to fit it under the drivers seat, pulling cold air from the cab floor, and direct the rear vent directly into the rear space.

Fitting the unit was pretty straight forward as usual, being careful with the cutting, and ensuring all the new holes in the floor were rust proofed and painted.  There was a little bit of trimming the rubber flooring away to get a snug fit, but nothing too major.  The most complex part was dropping the tank to fit the fuel pick-up stand pipe.

The wiring is still loose in the back as the cabling for the controller and power etc need hiding away.

Heater tucked under the drivers seat.

 The tell-tale exhaust poking out from underneath.

If I can offer one piece of advice to anyone wishing to fit their own, don't do it on a very cold dark winters day!   Think ahead, buy it and fit it in the summer / autumn. You wont regret it!  If you use your van daily, they are a god send,  no more defrosting the windscreens in the morning, set the timer, and let the van warm up for you before you get in it.

If you look around on eBay you can pick up some bargains in Spring and Summer.  Especially ex BT van units, which come with a built in 1 hour timer, but there is an easy way to bypass this, or simply swap the controller out for a non BT software version one.