Electrical success, insulation, and progress with the bed/seat.

I managed to rope my Dad in this past weekend to help me install the electrical stuff in the van. In a nutshell we:

• Installed the leisure battery (it went into a nook right next to the main battery above the left wheel arch perfectly...oooh it felt good)
  
• Installed the Zig unit (temporarily. I need to actually build its permanent home at some point).

• Wired the main battery and leisure battery to the Zig. It will charge both when driving or hooked up to 240v (via the external socket which I've yet to install) but only draw from the leisure battery when 'on site' though the main battery can also be used in a tight spot with the flick of a switch. Now I'll simply wire up some spot lights, switches, 12v cigar sockets, and fridge to the multiple 12v outputs at the back of the Zig (at least that's the plan. Perhaps using the term 'simply' is tempting fate). The 240v hookup is wired via a 'consumer unit' (circuit breaker box to you and me) and this then supplies the zig and the 240v sockets.
• In summary then, the zig allows split charging of the main and leisure batteries when driving. Selection of which battery to draw from is via a switch on the front. Mains, when connected, will supply everything (transformer in zig) and charge the batteries.

The bed has been coming along well and is now beginning to take shape:








The girlfriend and step-Mum where employed in sanding and teak-oiling the bed, whilst we played with the electrics.

And a fine job they did!











A few little design mods are needed to ensure smooth running of the bed but it's pretty much there. This is obviously a bit experimental and I would comment so far that although soft wood is light and easy to work, it may not last a huge amount of time. I'm going to sure up the joins with metal 'L' pieces which hopefully will add to it's longevity. The below pic shows the base part (on the left) and the first of the sliders on the right. The 2nd slider will take the bed to it's full 195cm length (double bed size). I've done it this way, a) to try to conserve storage space underneath as it's only a small van, and b) so that we could have a full sized bed. We figured that the thing you do most in a camper is sleep so we decided to have a good size bed, I guess it's a personal choice.


The bed packs up into a 70cm long 130cm wide seat. The whole thing uses a futon cushion. So the first full incarnation is left without the back rest at the moment, so it looks a bit saggy.

This pic also shows the start of the insulation going in. This has been a bit of a headache because I thought originally I would put fibreglass in with some heavy duty polythene vapour barrier and silicone sealant to keep the dangerous glass fibres at bay. I was never comfortable with this though - it's alright for a house because its never disturbed but on a vehicle when it's being bumped around frequently.... So I was delighted to find B&Q selling plastic fibre insulation which has no floating fibres at all, is easy to work with, cheap, and feels very warm. So we started putting that in yesterday with a semi-permeable vapour barrier to keep moisture away from metal.

Next moves are going to be: 3 way fridge installation (works on 240v, 12v and gas) acquired from ebay a few days ago; 240v external and internal sockets installation (involves cutting a hole in the side of the van - eek); ply-board ceiling and walls and carpeting the whole lot; installation of 12v spot lamps and cool lever switches; storage units installation (the inside of the van is all strange angles so that's probably not going to be fun).

Oh and as we had the first rain today in a while, the van has, of course, leaked at the front. Going to have to basically cover the area under the windcreen with an elastic filler of some sort. Whoopdeedoo!