Building Arabella

[Almost There]

And we have a bed - no mattress yet but we have a bed...

It took 4 times as long as it should, humidex at 5 PM still sitting just shy of a 100F...5 minutes worth of work, 10 minutes in the cool of the house, down some more water, work for 10, cool off for 20...sigh!

The bed as seen from the passenger seat:



And a shot of the freezer space -



And last but not least, a pic of all the storage available from the rear of the van. There's also two good sized storage compartments over the wheel wells.

 

[Queen]

That is really nice! Really wish I was short enough to sleep side to side.

 

[highdesertranger]

looking good. highdesertranger

 

[old grey dog]

Looking good Almost There

 

[Almost There]

And today Lady Arabella looks even better!

I got the vinyl laminate installed today! Easy job once I learned a few tricks they don't put on the box.

I lucked out at Habitat for Humanitys' ReStoreit store a few weeks ago. It wasn't what I was looking for at the time but 2 boxes of commercial grade vinyl laminate for a total of $30.00 was too good a deal to ignore.

It looks wonderful!

 

[flying kurbmaster]

looking good, coming along nicely

 

[cargovanconversion]

And today Lady Arabella looks even better!

I got the vinyl laminate installed today! Easy job once I learned a few tricks they don't put on the box.

I lucked out at Habitat for Humanitys' ReStoreit store a few weeks ago. It wasn't what I was looking for at the time but 2 boxes of commercial grade vinyl laminate for a total of $30.00 was too good a deal to ignore.

It looks wonderful!

I like how you created a bigger floor by using part of your step-in area and more storage!

Van Williams

 

[Almost There]

I like how you created a bigger floor by using part of your step-in area and more storage!

Van Williams

Thanks,

It was partly done out of desperation when I was planning the layout. I had the kitchen in place, the bed planned for and then had to figure out where the 'bathroom' was going to fit. I ran into a floor space limitation.

Once it's used for travelling instead of carrying building materials home from the lumber yard... , it will be rare that both doors *need* to be open at the same time, it became feasible to extend the floor out over the stepwell.

Since I had to put a support in on the floor extension anyways, it became an ideal place to use for wet storage. There's bungie cords in there now but it will be a place for wet shoes to travel.

 

[4GNomad]

Almost,

Just caught up with your thread. Great job on the continued work and thanks for the comments on mine. Hope to share my progress soon.

 

[Almost There]

Thanks 4G and thank you for bringing this thread to the top so I didn't have to go hunting for it....

After much delays caused by trying to finalize a few things so I can leave home, having too much fun on canoe trips and other excuses, I finally got the last of the cupboard doors on today!

After all the hardware installation (drawer slides, handles, hinges and latches) I have a severe hate going on for little teensy Philips head screws... If I never see another one, it will be alright with me!!

Anyways, here's a pic of Lady Arabella just about ready for the road. She's as finished as she's going to get before departure date. Electrical will be done in Quartzite, in the meantime I'm going to be running on my headlamp and a rechargeable lantern and the dash accessory plugs.



Now that I have cabinet doors and they have latches so they won't open and throw up all over the van while going down the road, I can finally start loading stuff. Right now I have piles of my stuff all over the master bedroom which is no longer a bedroom. One pile is 'van', another is 'give', then there's the 'goodwill' pile and the 'trash' pile and finally the 'trailer' pile. I ran out of room for piles.

Three weeks to go and I should be on the road.

I'm going to take the time and write up a 'lessons learned' post as a summary.

 

[4GNomad]

Looks great! Hoping to make it down to RTR so I can meet up with you all early next year.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

looking good nice work good luck on the final prep.

 

[BobBski]

Enjoyed reading your whole thread and following your trials and tribulations. Looks fantastic, great job.

 

[66788]

Great color scheme. Hope to see it in person at the RTR this January.

 

[Almost There]

Thanks to all of you!

I chose the two tone gray color scheme so that I could do something bright and colorful with the curtains/bedspread and throw cushions. The curtain material is so bold that I will have to tone down the bedspread....

I got the curtains hung on the two upper windows yesterday and forgot to take pictures. Today the tail end of Hurricane Patricia is just starting here so pics will have to wait.

Lessons learned:

- put the flooring down everywhere first before you start building the cabinets. I put the flooring in after all the cabinets because it would be cheaper and I didn't want to be building and painting on nice new flooring. That was a good thing considering all the drips that are hidden under the laminate BUT installing the floor afterwards means that I now have to run 1/4 round in spots to cover up the edges...

- The Kreg pocket screw jig is my best friend. The last interior I built in an Astro had literally hundreds of angle brackets and it wasn't nearly as intricate. This one has exactly 4 - to hold the false front in front of the sink in the kitchen in place. I saved several pounds of weight and a lot of dollars.

- count on needing corner and seam trim to finish off the job unless you're a miracle worker. BTW this won't be in place until I have time to work on the van AFTER the RTR so y'all will get to see my less than stellar cutting and seaming... :dodgy:

- just start off buying a box of each and every length of screws from 1/2" to 2" when you start building. It will save endless trips to the hardware store and multiple delays in building. Similarly, buy at least a 10 pack of 1/64 drill bits, you'll need them...

There's probably more but it's early in the day.

I also want to do a costing but since it will be in Canadian $$ at Cdn prices it will look horrible to all those stateside. I'm also kind of afraid to do it, the cost will probably send me into total shock....

 

[B and C]

Glad to hear you made good progress.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss

 

[cargovanconversion]

Lessons learned:

- put the flooring down everywhere first before you start building the cabinets. I put the flooring in after all the cabinets because it would be cheaper and I didn't want to be building and painting on nice new flooring. That was a good thing considering all the drips that are hidden under the laminate BUT installing the floor afterwards means that I now have to run 1/4 round in spots to cover up the edges...

- The Kreg pocket screw jig is my best friend. The last interior I built in an Astro had literally hundreds of angle brackets and it wasn't nearly as intricate. This one has exactly 4 - to hold the false front in front of the sink in the kitchen in place. I saved several pounds of weight and a lot of dollars.

- count on needing corner and seam trim to finish off the job unless you're a miracle worker. BTW this won't be in place until I have time to work on the van AFTER the RTR so y'all will get to see my less than stellar cutting and seaming... :dodgy:

- just start off buying a box of each and every length of screws from 1/2" to 2" when you start building. It will save endless trips to the hardware store and multiple delays in building. Similarly, buy at least a 10 pack of 1/64 drill bits, you'll need them...

There's probably more but it's early in the day.

I also want to do a costing but since it will be in Canadian $$ at Cdn prices it will look horrible to all those stateside. I'm also kind of afraid to do it, the cost will probably send me into total shock....

- Per definition, subflooring should go wall-to-wall in any case, but with floor coverings that's not always so. I plan on installing a hardwood floor and to save on weight only where visible. Most other cases, I agree, installing carpet, vinyl, etc. is way easier wall-to-wall , doesn't add much to weight and gives a much better finish.
- The Kreg pocket screw jig may be your best friend, but there are lots of different construction methods in wood that are equal or better. However, many people will probably benefit from a tool like Kreg's, with improved and sturdier end results.
- "start off buying a box of each and every length of screws from 1/2-2inch" is probably the best advice you can offer those that contemplate a conversion or modification.

Nice work!

Van Williams

 

[Almost There]

- Per definition, subflooring should go wall-to-wall in any case, but with floor coverings that's not always so. I plan on installing a hardwood floor and to save on weight only where visible. Most other cases, I agree, installing carpet, vinyl, etc. is way easier wall-to-wall , doesn't add much to weight and gives a much better finish.
- The Kreg pocket screw jig may be your best friend, but there are lots of different construction methods in wood that are equal or better. However, many people will probably benefit from a tool like Kreg's, with improved and sturdier end results.
- "start off buying a box of each and every length of screws from 1/2-2inch" is probably the best advice you can offer those that contemplate a conversion or modification.

Nice work!

Van Williams

Thank you!

Just to clarify, the sub-floor was laid edge to edge, it was the first thing that went in the van. I laid click and snap vinyl laminate strips for the finished floor. It looks great but cutting in around all the furniture components was definitely time consuming although it took less than a day to install.

In terms of the Kreg pocket jig, it's important to keep in mind that the entire build was done with only two power tools - a jig saw and a single speed drill (well other than my own power and determination). I realize that there are other methods of joining wood such as biscuits and routered joints, they would have entailed buying more power tools. Them babies is expensive up here... the cheapest plunge router is $135.00 without any bits which run between 20 and 30 bucks apiece.... No woodworking shop for this woman!!

 

[66788]

I bought all my woodworking tools from Craigslist.

$35.00 for table saw
$10.00 Jigsaw
$25.00 powered mitre saw
$20 router table with router.

 

[Almost There]

I bought all my woodworking tools from Craigslist.

$35.00 for table saw
$10.00 Jigsaw
$25.00 powered mitre saw
$20 router table with router.

You were very lucky - Craigslist is virtually non-existent around here and Kijiji kinda sucks except for vehicles. Keep in mind I also live a 45 minute drive from anywhere and 2 hours from a major urban center. It's a $20.00 gas bill to the closest W/M.

Work space was a prime consideration so table saws and work benches were out of the question.

I did the first part of the build IN the van working on a folding 2x4 table until I got tired of cleaning up the inside of all the sawdust.

Then I did the rest of it working beside the van in the parking lot of the 4 unit converted house where I live, all the while under the watchful eye of the construction crew working on the job site next door and of course the very nosey watch of what seemed like the whole town   (village of 1,000 and I live on Main St...). I know from comments in the local grocery that I was the subject of much gossip...

When the fall rainy season hit, the final paint jobs were done in my living room with a large tarp protecting the floor. That was fun as I had to do the painting in small batches for lack of places to put the newly painted pieces while they dried. At one time I was confined to the computer room for several hours because the living room floor was covered in wet cabinet door frames...

All in all, doing this build was certainly an adventure. I can't say that I'm ready to jump in and do another one any time soon though!