Diary: 9. The Van Conversion Part 3

Hi, this is Matt writing this time :)

With time of the essence, our budget started to go out of the window. Things such as the sink, jerry cans, and water pump are items that we would usually save some money on by looking out for them on gumtree or thoroughly searching through the internet. However, with only 10 days to go, it was more important to get them delivered quickly and installed in time.

We never actually planned on having an electric water system. Our original plan (due to our lack of skills) was to simply have a metal mixing bowl below a water can that would be fixed to the wall (something Jenna had seen online). Turn the tap of the can to release the water. When bowl is full, throw it out of the window. 

But Jamie, with his more technical knowledge, convinced us to get an electric water pump and have proper running water. Admittedly, I’m quite glad he did. The setup is actually pretty simple and a nice luxury to have, but it cost us £110 that we hadn’t budgeted for. 

Other big time consuming jobs were the toilet area, and the sofa bed - not in building time, but from decision making and research.

We wanted to be able to shower in our little toilet area using a solar shower that you hang outside to warm up. We would then bring it in to have a nice naked shower, instead of one in our swimming gear outside. I was worried about creating a hole in the bottom of the van (it has enough holes as it is) but was also concerned that we might drill into something important underneath. 

The other hurdle that we couldn’t get round was waterproofing the area. None of that back corner of the van is straight. We were able to cover our partitioning walls in PVC cladding but we didn’t know how to protect the cork. As a result, we scrapped the shower idea and decided to just use it for going to the loo.

The bed/sofa - this is something that changed several times over the course of the conversion. First, we wanted a permanent bed. When we realised the amount of space that would use, we thought we’d try building a high pull-out bed. Then we realised that the shape of the van and lack of support voided that idea. In the end, we settled on having a pullout sofa bed...but a very specific one. 

First of all, it had to be easy to turn from a sofa to bed. No mucking about disconnecting this part, attaching that part, filling it in with another cushion. We wanted something that would transform with one swift motion. There was no time to build it, so we tried finding that type of sofa bed for less than £80, that also fits into a space of 180cm x 180cm when laid flat. It seemed impossible.

Finally, when I was having a bad day and being very unhelpful, Jenna convinced herself to try looking online one more time. Low and behold, she found one on eBay - the right size, near enough the right type, 20 miles away and with a starting bid of £10. Jenna quickly messaged them, offered to take it off their hands now for £20, and the next day we had somewhere to sleep and my hope was restored. 

All that was left now - lay the floor, build a table and load up our stuff.

Matt :)

Next Post: 10. The Van Conversion Part 4