Category Archives: Camper

Cab floor III

Well, that’s the floor finished.

There’s just a small amount of rust to sort out, where the new kick boards will be fitted, then we can lay the floor insulation and carpet.

Cab floor II

Since my Wickes delivery (cement) arrived early, I made a start on masking-off the cab ready to paint. It was good to see that the rust treatment has turned black, so it maybe just needs cleaning up a little more before priming.

After masking most of the cab, I gave the seat mounts a coat of primer, since the runners on the driver’s side had been in a bit of a mess (there aren’t actually runners as such on the passenger side.

They look a lot better after just the one coat.

I should probably say that the seatbelt are going to be replaced, so I didn’t bother removing them right now.

Cab floor

Well after several delays (there are always better things to do), I made a start on the van’s cab floor today. The seats were really easy to take out, so I was pretty optimistic as to getting the floor cleaned-up quickly.

But then I took the rubber flooring up. It actually came up easily, but the old 1970s double-sided adhesive tape was firmly stuck and a real pain to remove from the floor.

This picture’s from around the halfway point in tape removal and sanding.

There was quite a bit of rust, as I’d expected, but it was limited to the surface. The blue/black areas below show the rust treatment starting to work.

To be honest, though, after removing the kick boards, the van’s really in decent shape for its age.

The paintwork in the picture is all original and virtually rust free, a good thing since this is the front of the van.

We knew that the van had spent most of its life in Florida, which has undoubtedly contributed to its preservation. However, a find under the driver’s seat shows that the van had made at least one lengthy trip before moving to the UK; to Wyoming.

I also learned that seat belt design had remained unchanged since the bay window Type 2 was introduced in the late 60s.

I’ve a cement delivery tomorrow, so a coat of primer should follow on Thursday.

And so to bed

The van has moved into storage temporarily.

It does somewhat resemble a pig in the second picture.

Cabin floor IV

The van seems to have taken over my life this summer; it’s seriously addictive.

So I’ll now talk about the van again. I had to choose against a fixed or floating cabin floor and was leaning towards the latter, buying insulation to lay before plywood. However, having bought rather rigid floor tiles, I was concerned that a floating floor above insulation might not be rigid enough. So I decided on a fixed floor.

To level the floor, I fitted 6mm ply padding (the edges are raised).

This was followed by 10mm plywood, which made the floor pretty firm.

And then the vinyl tiles.

It obviously needs cleaning, but the adhesive needs to cure first. I’m really pleased with the result.

Next is the cab floor.

Cabin floor II

While sanding the cabin floor of the van, to treat rust spots, I found holes. Just three small ones, but holes nonetheless.

They don’t show up too well in the picture, but they’re under the keyhole-like fixing points. I’m assuming that water had become trapped there, under the flooring.

The holes are actually filled now and much of the other bits of rust proved to be minor. It actually looks worse now, since the rust treatment has turned it black.

I probably could have finished spraying the floor today, but I had other stuff that needed doing. Maybe tomorrow.

On a (barely) different subject, an old number plate was purchased. This reflects the van’s new name as well as its previous place of residence.

Cabin floor

Having bought some new floor tiles for the van, today I set about removing the rock and roll bed and existing laminate flooring.

I doing so, I made several discoveries. Firstly, our van has air conditioning. Or, rather, a hole in the floor.

Yes, that’s the road surface. I’m uncertain as to whether this is an original feature, or whether it was created to accommodate the table.

On removing the bed, then the flooring, I found that the expected plywood floor wasn’t there. Fortunately, one can be purchased at a reasonable price, which will avoid the hassle of making one.

It also seems that the bed isn’t original. I’d suspected this, but I’d not expected it to be non-standard. Since we plan to have seats re-upholstered, that leaves me with the choice between altering the bed to make it conform, or buy a new one.

One positive, though, the cabin floor is in great condition, with hardly any rust.