Caravan Rebuild - Part 8

Today is part 8 of the blog and I write this with a mixture of emotions - happy because we made a lot of progress today, however sad because if you've been reading my previous blogs you  will know that my partner in the rebuild has been my brother Lee, well today was the last day Lee will be helping on the van and I will be going it alone from now on......boo hoo! 


On Good Friday we had cut out the final pieces of ply for the cupboards and above the door.  My job this Saturday morning was to paper them ready for putting into place - easier to do these parts out of the cupboard rather than in!!  To do this I used PVA glue and a good quality vinyl paper.

I will be painting this when in position, but a lot easier papering before putting in the cupboard.

After a quick trip to B&Q for yet more adhesive, it was onto glueing and stapling them in place.  We started in front upper right cupboard.

Here you can see the ceiling in place and the wall - looking good!

The front section (to the left) is still to do.  This join doesn't look great but it will have an edging put in place to give a good finish after painting.

We noticed that the side cupboard was hanging quite low - it hadn't been secured to the ceiling joists properly or at all as can be seen above.  You will see in a later pic that we've secured it well into position now.

After doing the top cupboard we moved over to the other side to put the piece in around the window.

We  used the same trick as we did on the other window when putting the wall board in, garden string under the window seal to help lever the window seal over the wall board whilst pushing into place.  This handy tip was picked up on Wizards caravan repair site.

It's not the easiest thing to do, but certainly works.

We used some clamps around the windows and a couple of braces to hold it in place and ensure a good cure.  It looks odd at the moment but the whole of the van is going to be painted with emulsion so the new section shouldn't stand out as much then..

Front of van now taking shape, we moved on to above the door.

I didn't paper the ceiling piece because it was a really tight fit above the cupboard and would have ripped the paper off.  Because it's quite an open space it should be easy to paper in position - I have to say my template making skills are not bad.

Now into the cupboard above the fire - this area was problematic because we had to find a way to get the board in there!  The front cupboard we unscrewed the bottom of the cupboard from the wall boards and pulled out to slide the panel up between the back of the cupboard and the wall.  We couldn't do that with the fire wall cupboard and didn't fancy taking the whole wall unit out.  So what we did was unscrew the top cupboard from the bottom shelf just above the drinks cabinet and eased it forward to push the panels up and into the top cupboard.  We couldn't do it one piece so like the front cupboard it's in two parts.

You can see the join in the middle this will be braced shortly.

Wall and ceiling - again when painted this will be finished with some edging. 

We made another shelf cover to place in the cupboard help raise the floor and give a good coverage on the bottom of the cupboard walls.

This is the brace in place

This will help to keep the seam in place and also help with the bonding.

I mentioned earlier in today's blog that the front cupboard had not been secured to the ceiling - well this plays an important part in maintaining the structure of the caravan, you could clearly see the cupboard wasn't in line with the cupboard over the sink and had dropped by about 3/4 of an inch.  We managed to get a good securing into the ceiling joists and then to support that we screwed from the cupboard side into the cupboard above the sink - we had to support the cupboard with some wood struts to do this as both of us did not have the strength to hold it place.


What a difference now nicely in line.

You can see here that it lines up nicely with the cupboard over the sink.  You can also see here the new pelmet support shelf.  These were cut out of 22mm ply board and are very lightweight but sturdy enough with the 4 supports to mount the pelmet.  All of the pelmets will be recovered with the honeycomb chenille terracotta material we have bought.

You can see in the above pic the new pelmet support, we did this on the opposite side to help with the bracing and bonding of the new panel around the window.

Above both the windows is a wooden baton so we know we've got a good fix for corner support brackets the boards, better than previously when they were just screwed into the ply and insulation sandwich.

One important addition to the van is the carbon monoxide alarm - £13.95 is a small price to pay for peace of mind and the safety of our young family!

So with the main part of the van looking good it was time to go back to the back quarter - the shower room.  As you know this has had quite a bit of rebuilding, most of the the wooden timber frame was replaced and we braced and glued the new plywood boards back in place.  Because this is an open space I am happy to paper the boards in place.  The shower room houses the living room table so I was keen to get this sorted and see another area near completion (if only to keep morale up).  We cut the board for the shelf and hinged flap behind the toilet out of 22mm ply so nice and light, it was cut into 27.5 inch x 9 inch piece and then a strip from that was cut at 3.4 inches.  The two pieces would make the back shelf and the hinged flap.  These were covered in d-c-fix and then a piano hinge bracket was screwed into place.  I had bought a new support bracket to screw into the wall at the top of the table from the caravan shop which also comes with the support for the shelf to hold the table into place at the bottom.  Here you can see it all in place.

This is the shelf in place prior to fixing, just checking it fitted well with the upper bracket.

Here you can see the piano hinge bracket and the base support for the table.  Really pleased with the finish on the boards.  This room is to paper and finish with silicone sealant in parts so we will revisit this room when it's complete.

So after a very productive day we had a good tidy up and swept the floor ready for my next stage which would be the delaminated floor. 

Time to say a big thank you to Lee who has been invaluable and I have enjoyed every minute working with  him, and I am sure he's going to miss it, maybe not working with me but working on the van - he was even eyeing up another van for a little project!!!