REBUILD COMPLETE

It has been a while so thought (after requests) I had better update you all on the progress.  The interior was complete so we moved onto reattaching the awning rail and inserts.  We also resealed all of the skylights.

Fablon was used to cover the scratched end panel and looks ok

Decided on maroon awning insert to match the decals

The centre roof strip was removed and resealed for good measure too

Well after all our hard work we finally got away in our little beauty.  We did a few trips locally and then moved on to trying further afield and headed to Great Yarmouth, Wild Ducks at Haven.

We had a wonderful time

We thoroughly enjoyed our week away, and Mark (above) loved towing!  Made easier because she towed really well.  So after our week away, guess what - we're hooked.  But that also comes at a price, because after all our work she is now up for sale and we've purchased a 4 berth Elddis Typhoon so we can have a little more room for all of us!

This one hasn't come without a few jobs, floor delamination now fixed, sink cover sourced and fitted and new barrel hinges for front table bought and fitted.  Little jobs in the grand scheme of things.  Damp free and all in all a little bit of luxury for us.  We did go out and buy a used pyramid awning (just like the one with the Challenger) and are picking up our new Inaca porch awning this weekend (ready for autumn trips).

So if anyone knows anyone looking for a starter Swift caravan with awning, that's had plenty of work done - message me!

Caravan Rebuild - Part 12

It has been a long two weeks getting these curtains made.  There were four pairs of curtains and the door curtain a swell as the pelmets to cover.


I got one door curtain sewed and thought, wow this is going to take forever!!  So I moved onto something a little easier.  With the help of my brother Lee we got all the seats back into the van and secured, this meant I had something to sit on and could set up the caravan table and my sewing machine, and I cracked on with doing the pelmets.


Once done I got these screwed into position and was a little shocked at the colour as it seemed more vivid in the photos than it does in the van.

Still have to clean the paint of the window rubbers....but that's an easy task.

As you can see, I shop at Harrods of the North for my haberdashery items 'BOYES'

The floor does look busy next to the seating, but I plan on putting a runner in the living area so this will be a block colour, the tiles are to give some extra insulation.

My lonely door curtain done, I put that up (not an easy task).

Due to the length of time these curtains were going to take (not the two hour job I initially thought) I carried all my equipment back into the house and over the space of an evening and a morning cracked on with sewing all eight curtains....my daughter (aged two) tried to sabotage my sewing machine, but once I figured out how to put it back together, I was back on the case.


In the meantime, I had bought a runner, which unfortunately was not quite wide enough for between the two seats so we decided on carpet tiles from Homebase.  I fitted these so they went under the seats, so a half hour job unscrewing the seats again to do this.


All curtains made, pressed and cushions made as well, they were bagged up ready to go into the van and hang.  Before hanging the curtains I put the corner edging (bath trim) into place, this is self adhesive.

This is in the shower room and really tidies up the edge.  There are still the ceiling plastic strips to put on.

The edging has come away slightly but is easily pressed back into place as it's self adhesive.

All of the curtains in place.

Here you can see the 'sand' carpet tiles in place, they certainly add a bit of warmth.

Unfortunately on the photo's you still can't see the orange fleck in the seat covers, but it is there and the curtains do go.

Caravan Rebuild - Part 11

On the evenings of this week I will be attempting to make the new curtains for the caravan.  I started by using the original curtains as a template, as they fit and they fit well.


I have decided to use black out lining, mainly because I had a large pair of blackout curtains in the airing cupboard from my son's childhood.  I spend Sunday evening measuring the curtains and cutting the black out lining exactly the same size.


I then gathered all my tools together with my fabric to start work.

I then laid out my material and put wrong side fabric to wrong side lining.

I then marked a 2.5cm hem allowance around the lining using tailors chalk.  As so...

After I had cut out the first curtain I did check that the allowance worked well with the lining to ensure they were the correct width.  I put right side to right side and pinned a 2.5cm seam allowance down each side, I then folded it inside out so the curtain fabric was the right way and everything measured up nicely.  I may have left the hem allowance a little tight on the side curtains but I can adjust the allowance at the top of the curtains to give me a better hem - so shouldn't be an issue.

Here you can the lovely terracotta fabric which has an honeycomb effect.

This is the curtain fabric next to the upholstery fabric on the seat cushions, I was hoping the curtains would bring out the terracotta stripe in the seat fabric....not sure if it does.

It took me about an hour and a half to cut all the curtains out.  Here they are ready for pinning and sewing.

Now it was onto covering the buttons on the pelmet, this is a fiddly job but one you can do sitting on the couch watching television, which is what I intend to do.

Caravan Rebuild - Part 10

Well after releasing some of the one shot, the next task was to remove it....so I had to get this off...

Which I did with a saw!  It took some doing....phew, finally removed my brother's boss had kindly lent me a decent sander, so out I went this morning, opened all the windows and started sanding.


Once that was done, I let the dust settle and returned an hour later to hoover up the dust.  Now I could start laying the floor tiles.  These vinyl floor tiles were bought from B&M and cost me £1.99 for 7 tiles, I bought 8 packs to do the job which would be more than enough.  I decided to start over the centre axle mount that is bolted into the floor to ensure good coverage, I used the grid lines from the delamination for a straight edge and then started in a stepping pattern from that point.


I didn't take any photo's as I went along as this is really messy job with the tiles being self adhesive...my hands were covered and sticking to everything I touched.  All in all it took me just a couple of hours to cover the whole area, and that was mainly because there was some fiddly cutting with scissors around some of the areas.  


Once the floor was down, I then cut the door bars and secured them with screws onto the floor.  What a difference...

The rest of the floor does look a bit busy, but I guess that's because the seating isn't back in yet, so once that is back hopefully it will look a lot better.

This is the door opening.

The terracotta curtains should look lovely against these tiles.

The great thing about the self adhesive floor tiles is that you get a really neat finish around pipes and flexes because you can just cut them with scissors.

Now the floor was down, and it had had a good hoover, I decided to tidy up a little bit.  I cleaned the hob, grill and cooker...

Struggling to removed the black from the hob rings...any ideas?

Still need to do the oven rack.

The fridge is still to do....

I even managed to mount the clock on the wall..

I then cleaned the bathroom and the cupboards, and am still astounded by how much storage space there is.

So now, one more coat of paint, and then hopefully next weekend we will be able to put the seats back in and put the curtains up!!!  One step closer.