The Awning

This is our T5's first camping trip! The awning is a great addition to the van and adds a huge amount of living space. This was £235 and has a 2 man cubicle which can be hung inside the main awning, or the awning can be used as one large space

Windows, Carpetting, Kitchen/Waredrobe Unit and Bed

 

Here is the van with the side windows fitted

 



 

You can just about make out the windows. They are 'privacy'

windows and look very classy! (im my opinion)!

 



 

 

One of the toughest jobs in this project is fitting the carpet. All the wood panels needed to be painted with pva glue in order to provide a good surface for the carpet to stick to.

 



 

The carpet I used became plyable when heated so Hannah's hairdryer got alot of use in this stage!!

 

As well as carpetting all the ply panels, the visible metalwork needed to be carpetted (apart from the side door).This was the most tricky part. All paintwork was rubbed down with sand paper, then spray adhesive was applied to both the metals work and the underside of the carpet. this was left to go 'tacky', then stuck in place. the hairdryer was used here to stretch the carpet into all the nooks and crannies!

 

 

The above pictures show all metalwork and ply panels carpetted and fitted. The internal light was repositioned over the sliding door. Other movable internal lights will be used to illuminate the rest of the van.

 

I decided to upgrade the alloys from 15' to 18' wheels.

 

 

Above is the kitchen/waredrobe unit finished and fitted. This is a flatpack which I purchased from 'Greendog Campers'. This is a great product and is cut to fit a VW T5.

 

Here is the Rock n Roll bed..... still on the pallet it was delivered on, all ready to be fitted. I bought the bed with seat belts fitted.

 

I dont know how but I managed to lift the bed into the back of the van on my own. (I would not recommend this)!

 

To fix the bed in place, 4 holes needed to be drilled through the floor of the van. It can now be bolted down in place.

 

Fitting The Side Windows

This was a daunting job..... cutting 2 big holes in both sides of the van, however if you take your time you cant go wrong! :-)

The size of the hole to cut out for the side windows is determined by the internal skin of the van. There is a perfect 'window size' on the inside panel of the van. This was used to drill some pilot holes at each corner of the new window. The pilot holes were then be joined up using masking tape. The tape was applied to the outside of the van and then carefully cut round (I used a jigsaw). The panel was then taken out and you now have the opening for the side window..... Scary, but trust me.... its the right size!!

All you need now is some primer and some strong windscreen bonding and......

....you have a great new side window. The process was repeated for the other side of the van.

Insulation

All the side panels, doors, roof and floor were insulated. polystyrene, rockwool and aluminium bubblewrap were used.

Rockwool was put into all the gaps in the side walls then covered with bubbulewrap.

All the insulation was taped up using gaffa tape so no condensation can get through to the bodywork and cause dampness/rusting.

3 layers of bubblewrap insulation was applied to the floor.

New VW T5

This is the story so far, of converting a VW T5 Transporter, to a campervan.

THIS IS OUR NEW VW T5 BOUGHT IN FEB 2012!

As you can see its shelved out as a working joiners van.

The van had 84000 miles on the clock.

The van was stripped back to the bare frame and cleaned, ready for insulation.