I sort of fell out of the rhythm for recording all the work I’ve done on the van over the past few months, but I’m slowly catching up now. For that reason this part is written in no particular order, and I have the advantage of hindsight to look back at how I could have done some stuff differently…
Wheel arches
If you’ve converted a van of your own, or looked into doing it, you’ll probably already be aware that the wheel arch is a real pain. It sneaks up on you when you’re in the design process and gets in your way while you’re building. I left the ones in my last build pretty much untouched and just built around them, which is fine, but in this van I decided to make boxes to cover them, hoping that the square edge of a box would be easier to work with than the curves and contours of the wheel arch itself.
So to do this I just measured the dimensions of the wheel arches, cut up some 9mm ply to slightly bigger than the wheel arch dimensions, and fixed it together using some scrap pieces in the corners to screw into and add strength. Its worth making it so that your top piece sits on top of the sides/front so that its stronger if you plan to put anything on top of it.
I then filled the empty spaces between the wheel arch and the box with insulation, and screwed it in place. For this I managed to recycle some little plastic fastenings which had been used to attach the original ply lining in the van when I bought it, so it was nice to use those up.
Full disclosure, I actually ended up removing one of the wheel arch boxes at a later date and instead just carpeting the wheel arch as I needed a fraction more room for another part of the build. I guess the loss of the box means a little less insulation, but the pay off is more space, so it’s a 50/50 really.
Overhead storage
At this point I turned my attention to the storage space which is above the cab. I’d already covered it with reflectix style insulation so figured the best way to finish the space was to use the four-way stretch fabric used in lots of van conversions.
I got some dark material as I thought it might be more forgiving of my mistakes (it was) and watched a couple of youtube how-to videos before giving it a go. Id figured that the inside of this storage area would be a good place to practice with the carpet as no one would ever really see it. Id say it was a very awkward space to work on, which either means I could have practiced somewhere more “beginner level” to start with, or that from now on everything else I carpet will feel easy in comparison! Either way, its done and the dark material combined with the fact no one will look too closely means I think I got away with it.
Another confessional here, for some reason – either I skimped on the adhesive or I did it on a really cold day – I opened the van after some really hot weather and saw that the carpet material above the cab had sagged down. I think the heat had degraded it somehow. It was a simple fix of slicing it to make a slit big enough to get my arm through and then spraying lots more adhesive in, letting the solvent air off, and sticking it back down. You can’t see the slit I cut in and I think that’s it fixed now, so fingers crossed its worked better this time!
Hammock
A hammock was a definite addition I wanted to make to this van which is a feature I never had in my previous van. I wanted to be able to have a hammock up on the inside as a nice place to chill/read, but also as an emergency third bed space. I also wanted to be able to use the van as an anchor for a hammock that could be strung from a tree or post etc outside of the van, so I could relax outside for more chilling/reading but without needing to find two trees growing just the right distance apart. And lastly I wanted a swing-seat set up in the sliding door area as extra seating, but also because it just felt like it would look cool and be fun to use.
To rig a hammock is really straight forward, for mine I just wanted to use a carabiner at each end to clip on/off the attachment points in the van quickly and easily. I use carabiners from some climbing gear that I didn’t need, but I think most hammocks come with carabiners rated to the weight that the hammock can hold.
For the attachment points I ordered 4 sport climbing bolt hangers. These are complete overkill as far as how much weight they can hold but, as a climber, I just wanted them for the aesthetic more than anything else.
To attach it all I drilled through the frame of the van a hole big enough to tread my bolts, and in some places (it wasn’t possible to access everywhere) I put a small piece of sheet metal behind them as well to act as a sort of reinforcing backing material. I don’t think its strictly necessary, which was why I wasn’t bothered about not being able to put it everywhere, but it definitely doesn’t hurt to add where possible.
That was it for the hammock set up and its worked like a charm so far. Dead easy to do and hopefully something I’ll be able to enjoy for a long time.
