No  Boundaries  

Steves' Campervan Conversion

Steve continues his story and introduces his family
('Murphy' also starts to make house calls!)

More timber to frame the chest of drawers was purchased yesterday (28May).  Today the cupboard for the stove, 12v cooler (a proper chest fridge/freezer will replace this when funds allow) and sink was constructed although it will not be finished off until the exact position for the bed frame is established.  The idea is to use the available space to maximum advantage so the bench top will be completed after the bed is in place.

A minor problem has surfaced during the making of the rails for the bed (Murphy's been at it again, he keeps changing his Laws).
The rails were cut to length from square section. Flat bar welded on to the square section to form the mounting brackets that will be bolted to the walls of the van.  The rails were sat in position and measurements taken at both ends between the rails, well that's where our mate Murphy put in his appearance!  The rails are not parallel and therefore both halves of the bed would have to be made out of square!  As this is not acceptable to my work practices the problem will be solved by packing or modifying the rails so that they are parallel (this is important as to two halves of the bed are going to be hinged to fold up against the sides of the van).  The reason they are not parallel appears to be because the pressed panels on the inside have varying shapes in the panels to allow for sliding door hinges and tracks, and the other assorted bits in between the inner and outer skins of the body work.  The variations do not stand out to casual observation of the interior of the vehicle.

The main thing highlighted by this little hiccup is that it is not a good idea to just rush wildly ahead pre-fabricating all the components to be installed after having done just a few basic measurements. 
When commencing a project on an unfamiliar vehicle, it is best to get the basic idea of what you require overall.  By doing the work in stages and fabricating components as you go, allows for all the pieces to fit without having to re-do the work.  This can be a cost saving in materials as well as time and also keeps the blood pressure in check.
After the bed rails have been installed parallel to each other, the fabrication of the two halves of the bed base will begin.

A little side note - Our son and granddaughter turned up for a visit today - in his new van.  Looks like he decided the 'Old Man' was onto a good idea, so he went and bought  himself a 1988 Toyota Lite Ace.  It will receive a minor conversion sometime in the near future.  The idea for that will be a fold down bed, slide out storage drawers with stove etc. and an annex on the side.  Maybe more about that on a later date

Meet Richard and Baylee Anne

Now the happy couple themselves - "The Trailer Man" and "The Child Bride" (Steve and Kim)
Ed note:  Where do you buy the new plastic beetroot wine bottle?

Today (30 May) was a low motivation day!  The fact that the work being done out in an open carport on a fairly cool Melbourne day might have had something to do with it I guess.  None the less, the work goes on; the main job today was to work out how to solve the out of line rails for the bed.  in the end it was a matter of positioning the rails and measuring how far out of parallel they were and what shape the rails would have to be re-fabricated to, so that they would match the internal contour of the van walls.  This was done with some care and several double checks of all measurements.  I wanted to make sure that there would be no reason to have to buy more steel and re-do the rails again.  The rails look simple and the mounting using existing seat belt bolt holes will give a solid support to the bed.  The tricky bit is making sure the brackets are welded in the right places and drilling the hole for the bolts needs to spot on.  The rails are bolted in place and checked for levels front to back and also to make sure that they sit at the same height and level to each other on opposite side of the van.

Saturday(05 June) has arrived again and so back to it.
The day was spent making the bed frame.

Once again, the benefit of doing things in stages has proven its worth as the hinges for the bed required a minor re-think.  The idea was to have them flat on top of the framework, but when they were positioned they would not rotate far enough in the up position for the bed.  Easily solved by bolting them to the side of the support rails instead of the top.  Luckily the difference only altered the frames overall width by a couple of millimetres on each side so there was still clearance between the two halves

The pivoting support legs will be fitted to the frames and then ply will be attached to the top of the frames.  All that will remain to complete the bed will be the to attach the securing system to hold the two halves of the bed up against the sides of the van when not in use.

The 'ockie strap' is definitely not on the list as an acceptable option for the finished job.

The Project will continue...

Stay tuned for progress reports in the near future.

Regards, 
Steve

thetrailerman@bigpond.com

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