[JonR]

Hello! Thought I'd start a thread covering the work I'm doing on my bus, especially as I've asked a few questions! Its started life as a 2011 T5.1 van bulkhead and all, 180k on the clock, standard tradie issue with shelving ply and dinks galore.

The plan was to use it as a base for some sailing competitions in France but then covid struck and well you know the rest. So far its been used for some bike adventures around the place, and I'm working up towards a more complete bus for hopefully next years sailing and more biking.

I apologise I don't have enough photos of the work in progress, a lot was done during a covid induced break from work after lockdown last year and geared up to go up north for some biking stuff with a mate.

The beginning:

Removed the bulkhead, shelves, and built a frame for a sliding bed.

Ikea mattress used for sofa bed style, needs some adjustment on the back I reckon

Noise Isolation + Insulating

The walls and ceiling are insulated with dodo silent matt and dodo insulation, with cheapy plastic bottle filler for the gaps. The floor is duo matt, as I said not enough pictures but:

The walls are a carpet that as passed on to us as unwanted, so great value for money

Carpeting and trim

The sliding door and rear threshold have Transporter HQ trims to upgrade the old ones. The interior bulbs are all LED from them too, (cheeky bonnet strut and windscreen "gap" rubber as well)

I need to sort the outside paint as it has a few marks, and organise some windows to be put in (the insulation there now as for last year as a "get it done" measure).

Electrics are planned along with a new roof, and an upgrade to the bed to build it in a bit more (although I'm keeping most of the storage underneath)

I'd also like a swivel seat for the passenger up front and some filler trim for the bare metal thats left.

 

[WillsT5Ted]

Great starting point.
Got any plans for the outside as well as the tidy up outside?

 

[JonR]

I'm thinking of facelift bumpers, as I have the standard van ones, plus some banded steels like JBW, more swampy than anything else

 

[WillsT5Ted]

I'm thinking of facelift bumpers, as I have the standard van ones, plus some banded steels like JBW, more swampy than anything else

Very nice, will be looking forward to seeing the end result of the swamper look!👍

 

[Charcoalflunky]

Great van I personally don’t hate the standard tradie bumpers with some added and side mouldings - that’s my plan anyway

 

[JonR]

Great van I personally don’t hate the standard tradie bumpers with some added and side mouldings - that’s my plan anyway

Mine are quite battered, I've seen refurbed / 3rd party ones that look great in a dark grey to complement the paint rather than matching paint ones, which might be an option

 

[Mrfixit]

So far so good eh!

 

[Pduk]

Nice work thus far.

 

[JonR]

This is still a work in progress but finally getting somewhere with the roof (the beam is just a mock up for the furniture in the corner, which is going to be storage, fold down table and kitchen stuff.

 

[timster66]

Loving the ceiling!!

 

[Pduk]

Very cool, top work

 

[JonR]

New bed / sofa base (channeling @Pduk here, this is either mk 2 or mk 3 depending on how you count) thats gone together this week, door accessible storage for tools / toys, with the back storage being accessible either by lifting the lid or via the rear door.

I'm half thinking about making the rear a slide out drawer for either the storage, or drop in pod.

Electrics are being installed on the left box behind the drivers seat (which is still missing a lid currently)

 

[64 SPLIT]

Pduk is the master of rebuild versions! 😂 … but provides plenty of inspiration for others.
Looks like your interior is coming along nicely.

 

[Pduk]

😂I think I need to add a disclaimer under my sig that I can not be held responsible for more money being spent of reworks and rebuilds
Looks good though, all about evolving our set ups to better cater for our needs.
Have you got something to hold the storage boxes in place, don't want them sliding about.

 

[JonR]

Have you got something to hold the storage boxes in place, don't want them sliding about.

The floors rubber at the moment, they don't slide.

 

[JonR]

Added a stitches + steel barn door awning to the van this week. Great quality but I feel the straps at the van side could be hooks on bungee to make it easier to fit! Bit fiddly otherwise. Also have a kiravans cab divider curtain to install, but I'm umming and awing on positioning 😂

 

[JonR]

Theres also some trims coming along for the bed to make it match the roof, along with a cover for the "cupboard" that I'm going to try attaching with magnets, and the frame for the cupboard / bed extension on the far side are coming along

 

[Pduk]

I keep thinking about getting the barn door cover, but every time I look it's out of stock. Interested to see how things are progressing.

 

[Pac-Man]

I've been after some stuff from stitches and steel but pretty much everything on the website has been "sold out" for months ?

they got a stock or production issue ?

 

[BitterandTwisted]

I dont remember a time when s÷s had much stock of anything