Offroad MK3 Camper

[axxez]

[axxez]

Today I worked some more on the inside of the couch and created a box around the white drawer (see drawer in some older post). The kitchen is also nearly finished, from a wood point of view. More to come... Will start the electrics soon. I know, stupid to do the wiring AFTER everything is finished But it has some advantages: I will always have access to the wires easily.
So or so a lot of work is not planned or let's say I plan it while I do it. That's the way I can enjoy it the most, but of course is not the most effictive.

Here are the pics:

[axxez]

Started the electrics today and went fine so far. I also tried something with the kitchen. I like the idea with the plastic, but it scratches too easily... The alternative would be metal, as it or with colours. What do you think?







DIY cable bracket:

[Keef]

Nice van. Just a thought ... are you able to get to the back lights to change the bulbs?

[axxez]

@max
Good idea Luckily I was thinking about that before, because now it would be too late. I cutted some holes into the wood and checked if I can reach the bulbs. It's no fun, but it's possible. When I fit the carpet, I'll fut some hook & loop fastener (right translation??) on it so I can open it again.

I spent some thoughts about the electrics... 12V in a car are not 12V DC from a normal power-supply. You always get between, let's say 11 and 14 V on load. So if you don't wanna burn your brand new LED-stripe after a few hours of use, you need a DC/DC-converter to stabilize the voltage. I searched for that, found different unsatisfying electronic parts which wheren't "ready to use". So in the end I found this one and will use it in my car with some LED-spots or stripes (not sure yet):

http://www.meanwell.com/search/SD-25/default.htm

[RustWidow]

Liking what you're doing. I would opt for a wood finishing but painted would look good too. Well done

[axxez]

Hm... wood finish.. Seems difficult. This thin gabun-wood I used doesn't look too nice in my opinion. So I'd need to fit some plates there and need to make them waterproof as well. I want the kitchen-walls to look a bit different, but not sure yet. Another idea would be some PVC. Easy to clean an stuff, but most of it is an imitation of real wook, which I don't like. I'd rather go for a graphical print than for sth like that. I tend to go for a metal finish in the end.. More suggestions welcome!

I also need a stylistic solution for the cabinets. I'll deffinetely cover all the OSB-plates cause I don't like the look. Most of it will be ocher carpet, but my idea was to cover the doors of the cabinets with something else. Any suggestiones?

[transitandy]

Very good thread m8y

[axxez]

Thanks!

This weekend I worked on the shower. Previous I wanted to buy a shower-base for camping cars. Biggest problem was that the Italian manufacture would ship them in about 2 months... No other options, because there just aren't a lot of companys for this stuff and I needed a very small one. So I tried to find something else that would do the job as well. A friend of mine had an idea with a barrel, but I droped that again. In the end I found something called "oil tray" and some "cat-toilet". I went for the "oil tray" which works absolutely fine for me! Don't need no nice colors, it just has to serve it's purpose and the price was less than half of the camping shower-base. I installed everything, but still have some small problems.. I forgot to put some kind of gasket inside of one winding. So when I ran a test with some water, it dripped from there. Not a big problem, because it's already outside of the van. But still. I'll have to remove the spare tire for that and I have a feeling that it will take me a while.
Originally I wanted the shower to be near to the kitchen-sink, where I also store my water. But again I went for low-tech: no pump, just some selfheating solar shower on top of the roof and that's it. No electrics needed. And as the shower base was small enough to fit between the seats I went for this idea.

Here are the pics:

[transitandy]

More good work m8y

[axxez]

I like that you like that Wait untill i'll fit the carpet! I'm pretty sure that all of a sudden the interiour will look absolutely great.

[axxez]

The soundsystem in the back. Most people would just have cut a hole into the seat and put the subwoofer. But I created a complete box, surrounded by some rubber mat for construction areas (also used to uncouple a washing machine from the ground). I also prepare to fit some speakers into the back doors, red shitty speaker just temporarly. The test went fine, the vibrations are quite acceptable. No disturbing noise on a moderate volume (mobile-phone radio@ max volume, amp @ max volume). Will test that again with a radio / laptop to double the volume and see what happens In the end I'm quite sure that the efford was worth it.

So here are the pics:

[axxez]

Btw, fitting the speakers to the back doors has another advantage: When I open the back doors I have an outdoor sound-system

[axxez]

I added the second drawer in the back, another cupboard, finished the pipe of the heating-system (quiet some trouble with that!!), installed and tested the speakers, created a net and started to install some light-switches.

[axxez]

Worked on the LEDs today --> They work fine, exactly 12V before, during and after engine-start. Not even a small flicker, thanks to the DC/DC-converter. I also tinted the windows some days ago, pics will come.