I get comments on some of these posts once in a while, but the email that the notifications goes to I hardly check anymore...so...
Please go to my new blog at http://www.vagabonderz.com/category/iamsamthevan/ if you would like to contact me or leave comments. Thank you! :)
Monday, April 11, 2011
Sunday, December 13, 2009
And the winner of the name S.A.M. contest is...
Nick!! He left a comment on this post and we knew right away that was it. Oh...and the name, by the way:
Self Assembled Madness
Brilliant.
Not that there actually was a contest though. So, Nick, sorry, but we have nothing to offer you as a prize except our gratitude and your knowing that you've contributed a large part to our future travels with S.A.M.
We've always thought it would be something-something-mobile...maybe something-Australia-Mobile. But this just captures the essence of the van and everything that we're pouring into it. Because, really, it is Madness. The van is madness, the money and time we're putting into it is madness, the design, sleeping in a tent on the roof...MADNESS.
So, thanks Nick. We wish we'd thought of something ourselves, but this is too good to pass up, so the egos must take a backseat.
Self Assembled Madness
Brilliant.
Not that there actually was a contest though. So, Nick, sorry, but we have nothing to offer you as a prize except our gratitude and your knowing that you've contributed a large part to our future travels with S.A.M.
We've always thought it would be something-something-mobile...maybe something-Australia-Mobile. But this just captures the essence of the van and everything that we're pouring into it. Because, really, it is Madness. The van is madness, the money and time we're putting into it is madness, the design, sleeping in a tent on the roof...MADNESS.
So, thanks Nick. We wish we'd thought of something ourselves, but this is too good to pass up, so the egos must take a backseat.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Building the sofabed
This was, and hopefully will be, the most complicated construction in the campervan. We ended up spending quite a lot of time on it, much more than we planned. We borrowed the idea from Deep Red, another DIY camper (a bit more of a proper camper than ours). If you actually clicked that link, you'll see that there isn't really any instruction. We just had to look at the pictures and try to figure out how it was built.
It's a really cool design. The bed pulls out using a slats system and when it's in sofa mode you can lift up the front to access storage underneath it. So what does this all mean? A trip to Bunnings of course, our favourite store in the world right now. If you're in the Port Melbourne Bunnings anytime soon, go find Roy and tell him we said hi. He was a super friendly cabinet-making professional who gave us some ideas.
As we aren't engineers/architects/carpenters/mathmeticians, we didn't really plan everything out to the last measurement. This was too complicated for that. Instead we ended up kind of taking it step by step. We knew we wanted it 6 ft (180 cm) long and that was easy enough. We wanted it 3 ft (90 cm) wide when pulled out, but that was harder to plan as it was hard to grasp the concept just in our heads. It was something that you needed to actually have in front of you to fully understand how it works.
We were close in the end. It's 80 cm wide when pulled out (180 cm long). Comfortable as a single bed, and just big enough for the two of us to sleep on, but no room for much movement. It's only for those rare times when we're forced to sleep inside anyway, like on the streets in cities and such. The majority of nights will be spent in the rooftop tent.
First thing's first. The Bosch multi-tool, in sanding mode. Did I tell you I love this thing?
This is the external frame. The top pieces are the front parts that slide out to make the bed. The second is the front part just behind them that is stationary. The last pieces are the sides, one slightly longer than the other to make up for the contour of the van side walls. Yes, the Bosch tool was used extensively to make the rounded bits pretty.
We used pine veneer edging strips for a nice finish, especially important on the plywood to hide the layers. The underside has glue and when you iron it melts it. We also stained the external pieces.
We used three internal rectangular pieces for the inner frame. These screwed into the external frame and into the van floor, holding everything together.
The horizontal pieces on top are the beginnings of the bed part; the finger-like slats are installed across them. It works in two parts: one half is stationary, and the other half slides out. The front parts that slide out are on the floor, just in front. You can see the other horizontal pieces screwed into them that will sit flush on the bed and flush against the other horizontal piece near the front.
The finished product. We used 15 slats on each half and two hinges per half for the lifting. It's important to make one of the slats extra long on each half, so that it latches on to the part that slides in and out, this will allow them to connect together when the "lid" is lifted to access storage. Confused? So were we. The pics below might make it more clear.
The bed pulled out. See the slats that don't pull out? Count 4 from the right, notice the extra long one? That's what I was talking about. When the bed is pushed in. this will sit on top of that horizontal piece that's connected to the front. This is what makes the entire unit lift up. See below.
Both sides lift up for storage access. Pretty cool design isn't it? Note: pics taken with a 10 mm wide angle lens. The van is not as big as it appears to be!
It's a really cool design. The bed pulls out using a slats system and when it's in sofa mode you can lift up the front to access storage underneath it. So what does this all mean? A trip to Bunnings of course, our favourite store in the world right now. If you're in the Port Melbourne Bunnings anytime soon, go find Roy and tell him we said hi. He was a super friendly cabinet-making professional who gave us some ideas.
As we aren't engineers/architects/carpenters/mathmeticians, we didn't really plan everything out to the last measurement. This was too complicated for that. Instead we ended up kind of taking it step by step. We knew we wanted it 6 ft (180 cm) long and that was easy enough. We wanted it 3 ft (90 cm) wide when pulled out, but that was harder to plan as it was hard to grasp the concept just in our heads. It was something that you needed to actually have in front of you to fully understand how it works.
We were close in the end. It's 80 cm wide when pulled out (180 cm long). Comfortable as a single bed, and just big enough for the two of us to sleep on, but no room for much movement. It's only for those rare times when we're forced to sleep inside anyway, like on the streets in cities and such. The majority of nights will be spent in the rooftop tent.
First thing's first. The Bosch multi-tool, in sanding mode. Did I tell you I love this thing?
This is the external frame. The top pieces are the front parts that slide out to make the bed. The second is the front part just behind them that is stationary. The last pieces are the sides, one slightly longer than the other to make up for the contour of the van side walls. Yes, the Bosch tool was used extensively to make the rounded bits pretty.
We used pine veneer edging strips for a nice finish, especially important on the plywood to hide the layers. The underside has glue and when you iron it melts it. We also stained the external pieces.
We used three internal rectangular pieces for the inner frame. These screwed into the external frame and into the van floor, holding everything together.
The horizontal pieces on top are the beginnings of the bed part; the finger-like slats are installed across them. It works in two parts: one half is stationary, and the other half slides out. The front parts that slide out are on the floor, just in front. You can see the other horizontal pieces screwed into them that will sit flush on the bed and flush against the other horizontal piece near the front.
The finished product. We used 15 slats on each half and two hinges per half for the lifting. It's important to make one of the slats extra long on each half, so that it latches on to the part that slides in and out, this will allow them to connect together when the "lid" is lifted to access storage. Confused? So were we. The pics below might make it more clear.
The bed pulled out. See the slats that don't pull out? Count 4 from the right, notice the extra long one? That's what I was talking about. When the bed is pushed in. this will sit on top of that horizontal piece that's connected to the front. This is what makes the entire unit lift up. See below.
Both sides lift up for storage access. Pretty cool design isn't it? Note: pics taken with a 10 mm wide angle lens. The van is not as big as it appears to be!The Delica penthouse suite
We wasted a whole lot of time shopping around for a roof rack the traditional way (Thule, Rhino, etc). In the end we went with a Tradesman roofrack, a custom built rack that is used mainly by tradesmen for things like ladders, conduit, and all sorts of other manly tools and materials.
Paul at Tradesman (in North Bayswater if you're interested) was awesome. He spent a lot of time with us discussing the options and showing us all the different types of racks. He custom built it to suit our rooftop tent and included a little basket with mesh bottom in the front for carrying extra supplies. It cost us the kindly sum of $778, but that's how much a normal roof rack would have cost us in the end.
A week after it was installed, we took it on a little camping trip down the Mornington Peninsula (Sorrento) and tested out sleeping in the penthouse suite. What views.
S.A.M. getting fitted out.
Paul (left) working his magic.
The basket in front will carry extra gear and there is room under the tent as well for some storage.
Camping at the Sorrento Foreshore campground. The tent freshly opened for the first time.
Inside the tent. Quite comfy.
Doo doo doo, looking out our front door.
The view the next morning. Look at those suckers who have to sleep on the ground! How uncouth.
We have to do something about that ladder. Need to be a little more stealth than that when we travel long term. Pondering taking only half of it and adding an arm that props it against the side of the van.
Paul at Tradesman (in North Bayswater if you're interested) was awesome. He spent a lot of time with us discussing the options and showing us all the different types of racks. He custom built it to suit our rooftop tent and included a little basket with mesh bottom in the front for carrying extra supplies. It cost us the kindly sum of $778, but that's how much a normal roof rack would have cost us in the end.
A week after it was installed, we took it on a little camping trip down the Mornington Peninsula (Sorrento) and tested out sleeping in the penthouse suite. What views.
S.A.M. getting fitted out.
Paul (left) working his magic.
The basket in front will carry extra gear and there is room under the tent as well for some storage.
Camping at the Sorrento Foreshore campground. The tent freshly opened for the first time.
Inside the tent. Quite comfy.
Doo doo doo, looking out our front door.
The view the next morning. Look at those suckers who have to sleep on the ground! How uncouth.
We have to do something about that ladder. Need to be a little more stealth than that when we travel long term. Pondering taking only half of it and adding an arm that props it against the side of the van.Floor finishing touches
Last post about the floor. Promise.
We had to cut off the plastic tabs on the bottom of the step so that it sat flush with the new floor.
My new favourite man tool (previous one was the butane powered soldering iron/torch as described in this post) is this Bosch multi-tool. It grinds, sands, saws, makes plunge cuts and it great for tight spots. This tool was essential in cutting off the plastic bits on that step above.
Before
We needed to screw down a piece of wood to raise it so the plastic step fit snugly.
Snug as a bug in a rug.
The finished product. Note the new carpet lining the right side.
We had to cut off the plastic tabs on the bottom of the step so that it sat flush with the new floor.
My new favourite man tool (previous one was the butane powered soldering iron/torch as described in this post) is this Bosch multi-tool. It grinds, sands, saws, makes plunge cuts and it great for tight spots. This tool was essential in cutting off the plastic bits on that step above.
Before
We needed to screw down a piece of wood to raise it so the plastic step fit snugly.
Snug as a bug in a rug.
The finished product. Note the new carpet lining the right side.Monday, November 16, 2009
Floor down, furniture to go
If anyone ever tells you that you should re-floor your van over a weekend of 35 degree Celsius heat, don't listen to them. Trust me.
First, the carpet
We decided to re-carpet the front of the van. Easier said than done, right? Right.
Tip #1: If you're going to use a template to cut the carpet, make sure you pay attention to the orientation.
After cutting the carpet using the template we made (to go around the handbrake, 4WD shifter, console, etc.) we realised we did it upside down. No problem. "I actually like it better this way. Nothing will get stuck in the carpet," Yvonne convincingly said. To be honest, you could hardly tell as the underside was the same colour, just not as fuzzy.
So we spent the next couple of hours (and about 3 litres of sweat each) painfully trying to install it. In the end we decided that it wasn't bending properly and was creating weird bubbles. "It's because it's upside down," I smartly said. Duh.
Tip #2: When you know you've screwed up, cut your losses and start again. Don't try to "make it work."
I spent the next 45 mins driving around to different Bunnings stores trying to find the carpet. I was convinced we purchased the last 1.3 meters of it the other week, until I finally found some, on the third try.
Learning from our mistakes the first time round, it was quite a bit easier to put down this time. Practice makes perfect.
Carpet the right-way up
The final look
Tip #3: Make sure to check under the handbrake. You never know when you're going to find $9 in change from the previous owner.
Score!! Now for the rear
Carpet up front, hardwood in the rear. Not exactly hardwood. MDF. We wanted to use plywood, but after calling around to various timber places it was obvious no one sold the size we needed. We wanted to use one solid sheet, rather than piecing it together (sounds reasonable, right?).
I finally found a place that could order a sheet of MDF in and cut it to size. When I went to pick it up, we realized it wouldn't fit into the back of the van. I had to return the next morning and borrow their trailer.
With a trusty $35 jigsaw we bought at Bunnings, I set to work on cutting out the contours of the van flooor: the wheel wells and the sidedoor instep. To do so I used a template I cut out from this thin blanket thingy. We trudged this heavy piece of timber (did I mention it's 18mm thick?) from our backyard to the front where the van was parked and huffed, puffed, and twisted the piece of wood in. It turns out I was close, but not close enough. I cut it too tight and the piece of wood wouldn't sit flush to the floor, getting caught on the wheel wells.
At this point we were exhausted and taking it out and lugging it back to the backyard was out of the question, so I set upon it with a wood saw, hacking away until it finally fit. Problem was, it was more hacking then we realized and would have been well worth the effort and time to take it out back again and go at it with the jigsaw.
Tip #4: Don't be lazy. Just take the damn thing out and do it properly right off the bat.
The blanket thingy template for the floor
When living in the city, you generally don't have work horses hanging about
Carlo doin' a jig...saw that is
The final cut
Once hacked properly, the floor fit like a glove.
A stroke of genius. We used the original seat holes to screw the floor to the van body (4 of them). We scratched our heads for a long time figuring how to accurately find the holes when the floor was in (this is harder than you'd think). I thought of this template, where we marked the back edges on the van so we knew where to put the template down to "point" to the hole.
Now, it's hard to give this effort the justice it deserves. The few paragraphs I write here tell nothing of the blood, sweat, and psychological trauma endured.
To top off the floor, we used vinyl strips that look like hardwood with adhesive on the bottom. We were worried that with the heat the van will be exposed to, the glue would come undone, so we also applied contact adhesive for extra sticking power.
Looks pretty good, don't ya think?!
Yvonne hard at work.
Next up is the designing and building of the furniture. We think the hard part is over. We shall see.
First, the carpet
We decided to re-carpet the front of the van. Easier said than done, right? Right.
Tip #1: If you're going to use a template to cut the carpet, make sure you pay attention to the orientation.
After cutting the carpet using the template we made (to go around the handbrake, 4WD shifter, console, etc.) we realised we did it upside down. No problem. "I actually like it better this way. Nothing will get stuck in the carpet," Yvonne convincingly said. To be honest, you could hardly tell as the underside was the same colour, just not as fuzzy.
So we spent the next couple of hours (and about 3 litres of sweat each) painfully trying to install it. In the end we decided that it wasn't bending properly and was creating weird bubbles. "It's because it's upside down," I smartly said. Duh.
Tip #2: When you know you've screwed up, cut your losses and start again. Don't try to "make it work."
I spent the next 45 mins driving around to different Bunnings stores trying to find the carpet. I was convinced we purchased the last 1.3 meters of it the other week, until I finally found some, on the third try.
Learning from our mistakes the first time round, it was quite a bit easier to put down this time. Practice makes perfect.
Carpet the right-way up
The final lookTip #3: Make sure to check under the handbrake. You never know when you're going to find $9 in change from the previous owner.
Score!!Carpet up front, hardwood in the rear. Not exactly hardwood. MDF. We wanted to use plywood, but after calling around to various timber places it was obvious no one sold the size we needed. We wanted to use one solid sheet, rather than piecing it together (sounds reasonable, right?).
I finally found a place that could order a sheet of MDF in and cut it to size. When I went to pick it up, we realized it wouldn't fit into the back of the van. I had to return the next morning and borrow their trailer.
With a trusty $35 jigsaw we bought at Bunnings, I set to work on cutting out the contours of the van flooor: the wheel wells and the sidedoor instep. To do so I used a template I cut out from this thin blanket thingy. We trudged this heavy piece of timber (did I mention it's 18mm thick?) from our backyard to the front where the van was parked and huffed, puffed, and twisted the piece of wood in. It turns out I was close, but not close enough. I cut it too tight and the piece of wood wouldn't sit flush to the floor, getting caught on the wheel wells.
At this point we were exhausted and taking it out and lugging it back to the backyard was out of the question, so I set upon it with a wood saw, hacking away until it finally fit. Problem was, it was more hacking then we realized and would have been well worth the effort and time to take it out back again and go at it with the jigsaw.
Tip #4: Don't be lazy. Just take the damn thing out and do it properly right off the bat.
The blanket thingy template for the floor
When living in the city, you generally don't have work horses hanging about
Carlo doin' a jig...saw that is
The final cut
Once hacked properly, the floor fit like a glove.
A stroke of genius. We used the original seat holes to screw the floor to the van body (4 of them). We scratched our heads for a long time figuring how to accurately find the holes when the floor was in (this is harder than you'd think). I thought of this template, where we marked the back edges on the van so we knew where to put the template down to "point" to the hole.Now, it's hard to give this effort the justice it deserves. The few paragraphs I write here tell nothing of the blood, sweat, and psychological trauma endured.
To top off the floor, we used vinyl strips that look like hardwood with adhesive on the bottom. We were worried that with the heat the van will be exposed to, the glue would come undone, so we also applied contact adhesive for extra sticking power.
Looks pretty good, don't ya think?!
Yvonne hard at work.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
A/C good to go. Next!
Quick one. Had the sparky check the system with his UV light and all looked good. We lucked out this time!
We found though that the front condenser fans need replacing (there are two, one is burnt out - it's a single unit). Apparently this is a fairly easy job so I'll be looking to tackle this before the summer brings the too hot weather. This is not to mention the other things that still need work on the underside of ol' Sammy.
Still on the lookout for roofracks and will hopefully start designing the interior somewhat soon. Any designers out there that can help with blueprinting this in software? And can offer your services for free? :)
We found though that the front condenser fans need replacing (there are two, one is burnt out - it's a single unit). Apparently this is a fairly easy job so I'll be looking to tackle this before the summer brings the too hot weather. This is not to mention the other things that still need work on the underside of ol' Sammy.
Still on the lookout for roofracks and will hopefully start designing the interior somewhat soon. Any designers out there that can help with blueprinting this in software? And can offer your services for free? :)
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