Miss Slowbrick gets a Dak Dak Bus

Reasonable sized update. Been slowly plugging away at the interior on the rainy days and working outside on the sunny ones. Things that weve done since the last update.

- Nearly finished the side cabinet. We made this from scratch. Turned out pretty good if you look at it from a few metres away and with a squint hahaha.

- Made our own version of a slide out sofa bed in place of the RNR seat. Will be a temporary measure until we decide on if we are happy with the van to invest in a real RNR.

-Fleshed out the rear cabinet some more and it now has two small shelves and a side cupboard. It also has a compartment now for the 70ah battery that came with the van.

- Rust converted, painted and sealed all of the little screw holes left from who knows how many previous owner installations. I decided against welding them because i wasnt too keen to find out what is flammable under the floor of one of these so opted for marine sealant and gorilla waterproof tape over the KBS rust seal that I dabbed into each hole.

- Stripped and repainted the window sills and B pillars in Pastel White which was the original colour according to the paint tag. The outside is no longer Pastel White but the front doors are still that colour and we both liked the colour so decided to spray some back down on the sills. Someone had previously painted the rear window sills with some sort of house paint of white out with thick bristle brush and it just looked awful.

- Repainted the passenger side wheels in duplicolor hyper silver. Not sure what to do with the caps yet as they are no longer chrome and are rusted and pitted. Thinking I might sandblast them, sand a pattern and clearcoat. Not sure on that one yet.

-Repainted the front bumper, windscreen wiper arms and grille. The grille was a bit of a hassle as it looks like its been painted before and underneath the super thick layer of white and black paint was a grille marred by scratches and solvent burns. I ended up just painting it, putting a clear down and calling it a day. It looks fine and most people wont even notice. Its a huge improvement over the crazed and cracked black paint that was showing the white undercoat everywhere.

-Found a can of potbelly and sprayed the remainder of the can on the exhaust. The exhaust is rusty and rattly so i guess now its just rattly and not so rusty!

That brings us pretty much up to date with today! Next steps will be to get the interior back in and making sure everything fits nice!

Dont you worry, a lick of paint will bring the cabinet back into the 20 foot club.

Welcome the latest addition to the 20 foot club

Boom 20ft cabinet and 20ft sofa bed team up to make 20ft campersuite.

Put up some lights and sofa got some mad cush.

Started wiring up the rear cabinet. This will house all of the electrics and will be the central distribution point for all of the power needs for the van. When its installed the only part visible will be the switch panel and outlets.

Philia_Bear

Renogy 50amp dc dc charger with built in mppt is the shiznit for van life

I already had this Victron unit laying around after converting the duckpen pond filter from solar to 240v. The power requirements are going to be quite low with the largest single load being the 200w inverter or maybe the fridge on startup.

I got around to fitting the side floodlight and the two lights in the rear tailgate. Should be perfect for camping and roadside repairs at night should they occur :S

Duck grotto went to AC because I built a shed on the slab next to it. When I went to disassemble the solar setup to move it into the shed I found that ants had built a nest in the controller and the inverter. Inverter was still alive but controller died after shutting it down and wouldnt power up again. Bought a spare but then got quotes to hook up the shed to AC if I wire it up and have them connect it and sign off. Was much cheaper to do that than repair the 3 year old mini solar setup and also would be much more reliable in terms of the pump that runs 24/7 as well as having reliable yard lighting.

After all that I ended up with a spare controller that I was just going to install in the HQ when it eventually is finished but the van gets it instead. The van already had solar but it was just a simple kings unit which ill just keep as a spare.

Victron is just a solar charger and battery doesnt charge from the engine at this stage. Its something i might look into at a later stage.

Sink is just going to be a portable pop out unit that goes on a table outside and water will be just a portable jerry with a hose connection to a 12v pump to enable it to be removed when not camping.

Philia_Bear

If you want to have water pressure and avoid having a cycling 12v pump

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Quality-Water-Pressure-Tank-2-12-24-36-50-60-80-100-Litre-Suit-Water-Pumps/252445156230?hash=item3ac6e76386:g:FwgAAOSwlk9c8MYh&frcectupt=true

Just have a standard water hose inlet and a on/off valve for filling it

also... stupid long ebay link for one of them hot water heaters that you can plumb in as well https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GASLAND-Gas-Hot-Water-Heater-Portable-Camping-Shower-LPG-Instant-Caravan-Black/273994738282?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item3fcb5bea6a:g:HX8AAOSw3IFfEBEM:sc:AU_StandardDelivery!2148!AU!-1&amdata=enc%3AAQAFAAACcBaobrjLl8XobRIiIML1V4Imu%252Fn%252BzU5L90Z278x5ickkY3FSd4Ad8xn3oRtkVexxrGYfrJaJRNjRI9zN1uXVXFylw6flq6XCzRKsm%252Bl7bA5iBy%252F2EVYEaetwHtBJxNE62%252Bz9Ux%252F6ainIp6q1%252FQsVVELWKe1jBgIXDWWBq1JWymD0%252FC9ObRD2PPZXO4SaHWgSQzThJ03bQQA2jNloN69DHS6p4qCxKJYPrX9YRfqwNHfrVHQRoLFCJMpOfx2oQIPCINOXH7qVcNBjmjtQZGTqRKgL4OFhYNXhlwr5x5%252Be46BX0v8HQMHBmR6ZSvBFpLNCwHBzh4nVcPO5syK1WzUAq3rf5UEoCriN%252FeeHJgwMdff6V4IVCns7gOhCIzaAYlBpbvc2ex6s9ajYR3WU5JDUtY8fN%252BLAVf1wIkxCVuDFS0b6kLgp1E2IaIv4u0vn2b8KLvSoePnU2vjcXABVdsgZG2OGPCYr9UiZsJVAPiAc4dbc4vgzK20UU04VAjKzEsfT%252B4Xkzb8JUCwFrR7iLqbsCKKkXOzGdDuAWJyv7zUimu5N1Fo9IuFBSYDl91kJlzyEGiI5TcipeUaxFpEHVuPTRoBGhNCfm9FUnu0UcQ%252Frw8VakajJu%252Be2%252BgQMIKZ9SWX4waRoq6%252F1G6ZHI5imTp88RlS%252BdnNttRD5LGqSIvXln7X7RNVsOha4Z9Y6z4uR6ud2EZMsjngNyrTbAYNlMGNlJLfAB%252FLUyqV9j%252FH%252B6JI0IEyRYU3nVLVNvpZrAEHbI5suWctXxgpljY%252FMg4CHE4bIR%252BiqsUhEgXbi9qpl8UsN2YL8AXG5YfKTD1hOwFEJCZXVXw%253D%253D%7Ccksum%3A273994738282361c7382da5941a98c0b95bc72fcd15e%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524

Though I have been thinking that you should be able to take the heater core loop and have it run through a 12L insulated tank (just a coil of hose inside the tank) after driving for 45min I would expect the water in the tank to be nice and warm and stay warm for a while

The usage of the water pump will be so small that it wont be worthwhile to install something like that. Also there really isnt alot of room inside for something of that size. A quick and cheap portable 12v pressure pump will be what we use and it will just be used to wash off dishes, wash feet after the beach etc.

In regards to hot water we will most likely use a solar one or a portable one that doesnt require a permanent mount because space is a limited resource.

I have thought of alot of these ideas but they all get vetoed because of space and a requirement of simplicity.

Yesterday I got mission control installed along with all the lighting circuits. Lights can now be switched on and off separately from mounted switches in the cabin. Also tried out the bed and its pretty comfy. Plenty of room thats for sure!