Ice Cream Van

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So, we’ve been so busy that every spare minute has been spent working on the van rather than blogging about it – hence some catch up blogs.

I laid the floor with 3 layers of Tesco’s campermat, alongside 2mm ply batons in a suitable pattern for bolting the seat down, topped with 8 mm ply for the floor. We aim to put some lino down once the seats are in.

Some electrical faults were also found around this time – so I invited some friends around to fix them. Phil turned up to fix the rear fog light – we took apart the fuse box and played around, changed absolutely nothing and suddenly it worked again. All the playing around had drained the battery. After wondering about how to push start the van down a hill in Cambridge, I was about to call a friendly car owner to help me out when I realised I had bought a battery charger (for the secondary battery, which is why it took me a while to remember). I hooked up some temporary ‘shore power’ and left it overnight – all looks good now. Constantly being in the van and moving around the driveway without driving anywhere must have taken it’s toll on the battery.

We also filled some gaps in the walls so the carpet fits nicely. After stressing about how to cover these for a day, ice cream tubs worked really well!

Floor done and sealed
Side door step
Cab part way through electrical fault finding
Gaps in wall
Ice Cream Van

Sun and Water in Patterdale

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So we took the van in its part-converted state on a hillwalking club trip to Patterdale in the Lakes. It was so hot and sunny, we decided to try ghyll scrambling – a great way to cool off, get some good scrambling done and have a lazy day. We also explored a very beautiful deserted valley – quite impressive for the Lakes on a nice weekend. We ended up on Fairfield and took a quick dip in Grisedale Tarn before returning home.

On the second day, we did a quick round of some hills we haven’t done before near Kirkstone Pass. We also managed a quick paddle along a stream.

Links to our photos are here:

Dave’s photos – nice landscapes and a few of scrambling

Jo’s photos – mostly ghyll scrambling

Ply is done

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So we’ve been working most evenings on the van, thankfully the sun is finally out and it’s really nice outside.

Thanks again to Joe, who came over to lend a hand and straighten out some things.

Next is the floor insulation and ply, and then carpet (the floor is the one place carpet isn’t going)

I’ll let the photos and captions do the rest.

Scotland (van-less)

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While Dave was working hard on the van last week, I went to Scotland for a week’s post-thesis/teaching holiday.  It was wonderfully sunny and equally wonderfully midge-free, and a reminder that in the right conditions the Highlands are difficult to beat.  Most of the trip was spent camping with Alison, David and Ruth at Ardmair just north of Ullapool.  The site was delightful: right on the shore with views of the surrounding hills and out to the Summer Isles, and it also afforded the opportunity to snoop at various camper vans staying there!

The weather and time of year meant long days on the hills, although some time was admittedly spent sitting on the sun-warmed rocks admiring the view!  Ascents of Ben More Assynt, Conival and Glas Bheinn; Cul Mor and Cul Beag; and An Teallach put us at the heart of the magical Assynt landscape: steep sided ridges of layered Torridonian sandstone rising from a lochan-strewn gneiss plain and capped with glittering quartzite, against the backdrop of an incredibly blue Hebridean sea.  It’s been eight years since I was last there on a first-year field trip, but I hope not to leave it that long next time – it would be a really fantastic place to explore in the van.

On the way to and from the far north, we made various stops: a weekend in Edinburgh to catch up with the duffer contingent there, Schiehallion (for David’s Munro completion), Beinn a’ Chuallaich north of Kinloch Rannoch, Ben Wyvis, and Ben Tee by Loch Lochy.

Some photos from the trip are below; there is a more extensive and better quality collection here.

David completing his Munros on Schiehallion
The beach at Ardmair
The view from Conival
Admiring Suilven
Stac Pollaidh
From the top of Cul Beag – what a view!
An Teallach

working for nothing

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So on Monday, Joe came over and we finished cutting the hole in the roof. We then cut up some scraps of wood to make floor batons and a few other pieces to make the floor. This took us most of the afternoon, but as the floor insulation hasn’t arrived yet, and the paint hasn’t dried, we’ve got nothing to show for our efforts. We started on the celotex insulation on sides and roof, but it took longer than anticipated to cut flat board to very curvy van sides. We gave up with just enough time to get a second coat of paint on before dark. We ended up eating at around 10 pm – well worth it for what we got done (despite the photos making it look exactly like the night before)

It’s now raining, so I’m hiding inside tonight (although I did manage to get out to cut the hole in the floor for the gas locker). Hope it dries off soon so I can get the roof vent in and sealed – until then the van is stuck on the drive.

Joe finishes off the roof vent hole
Started on the easier sections to insulate
Rain proof – for a while…

PS Although Joe worked for nothing, he did get dinner and a lot of fun out of it (I hope) – thanks for the invaluable help (and tools)

Cleaning, Painting, Cutting

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After getting out on the bike for a quick (very quick actually) spin yesterday, I’ve been working on the van today. Cleaning takes a long time, and on Thursday we got as far as taking off the plywood that lined the back. Since then I’ve manage to clean most of the muck off and expose all the bare metal – non of it rusting yet luckily, but put on some anti rust (red oxide) paint just in case. Also started cutting the hole for the roof vent, but the jigsaw blade broke and I ran out of time; it had taken me longer than expected to measure and re-measure before I was confident enough to start cutting.

Also bought some insulation, and picked up 5 online orders today – lots of toys to play with, but I really need to start putting things in the van to stop the built up of parts filling the house.

Jo is off wandering in the hills of Scotland this week so I’m is on my own with the van – which basically means the house is an organised tip as van parts spread out until the cleaning is over and I start putting insulation and wiring in.

Anyway – pictures:

After cleaning
After painting (first coat)
The ‘almost-hole’ in the roof – hope it doesn’t rain tonight!

Dave

Introducing the van

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This is our van. It’s an ex-AA yellow one. Or a ‘corn yellow’ Vauxhall Vivaro SWB 1995cc 1.9 TD 2700 cdti 5 year old that’s done 118000 miles (if you want all the details).

We’re currently in the process of planning the conversion and cleaning the van (it was quite muddy inside).

Our van
Sliding door (we’ll put a window in it)
tail lift door – good for standing under in the rain
It’s very yellow