Finally, after many distractions and other commitments, I’ve now managed to invest a good few hours back into the campervan interior. It is great to start to see progress. It’s now turning from a minibus into a campervan!
I’ll run through what I’ve achieved so far…
The first couple of jobs to be done were to add some shelves, plus a back and a door frame to the main cupboard/wardrobe in the living area. See below…
I also built a cabinet in the bathroom which blocks out part of a second window. See below…
The kitchen area…
Next to be constructed was the kitchen wall, which is made of 1/4″ ply on a jointed timber framework. The back wall has to be strong enough to take the weight of the ceramic tiles, top cupboard and cooker hood.
The cooker hood is going to be made out of aluminium and shaped like the cardboard mock-up in the picture below.
Walls and runners…
I then moved on to make the 2nd wall that sits behind the seats on the passenger’s side, and a top and bottom runner for the sliding door (see picture below).
The two cutouts you can see on the left wall are there stop the side sliding door handle and top hinge from hitting the wall when the door is closed.
The left side wall is made of 18mm MDF which is screwed top and bottom to the sliding door runners. The runners are made from two pieces of old pine bed frame I found in a skip. I used a router to create a 10mm channel the full lengths of the timbers. Using self-tapping screws, I then screwed the top runner/wall support to one of the strengthening supports in the roof, and the bottom runner/wall support to the floor. The result is very sturdy, effective, and cheap partition wall.
In the picture below I’ve used an offcut of hardboard to show how it will look when I’ve made and fitted the sliding door. It is actually starting to look like a proper campervan interior. We are well pleased!
Now we’ve got a table…
When we were delving in the skip for the pine bed parts (ask permission first – most people are only too glad to let you take stuff) we also found a couple of table tops. We bought them home, and I managed to cut one of them down to make into a dining table.
This will also double as part of the bed base as you’ll see in the pictures further down the page.
I made a table leg out of a piece of aluminium tube I had left over from another project…
… and fabricated a plate to hold it onto the table.
The leg is held in place by a spring clip.
I’ve used a piece of aluminium angle (which was part of the pine bed) to cover the cut end of the table top.
The angle also acts as the main table support. The table slides into a runner which is screwed onto the back wall.
The table is held nice and tight. It can also be moved to different positions (left to right) without being totally removed.
Second seating / bed unit…
The final piece of furniture I built was the 2nd seating/bed unit. I made this out of 18mm MDF and some scrap bits and pieces I was given some time ago by my wife’s uncle (when he kindly raided his garage for us).
The left-hand side of the seating unit is going to be for the electrics, mains RCD/fuse box and 12v battery. The other side is for general storage. The unit is also fitted with a ledge at the front. This is where the bed pullout on the first seating unit will lock onto.
The seat with the cushions on – very comfy!
More work on the bed…
When the bed base is pulled out, there’s a gap between the 2nd seating unit, the table top, and the back wall – so I had to make a small insert section. This hooks onto the side of the 2nd seating unit and also hooks onto a batton screwed to the back wall. Again, this was made out of some scrap pieces of wood and aluminium angle.
The picture below shows how the bed base looks with all the corresponding pieces in place. It makes for a good size and very solid double bed. We will be sleeping across the width of the vehicle.
The campervan interior is taking shape – and because of all the recycling on this part of the build, it has only cost us about £25.00. Not bad, eh!
Cost so far £425.00
Next > Making doors
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