Blue van - build 1

[Garywrench]

Ok so instead of building just one van I have three on the go. This one is to replace my trusty VW transporter Kombi which I sold after 5 years and still got £18k for it .. nuts. So I saw this van going cheap at a Citroen main dealer in blue at £9k plus vat just three years old with 65k on the clock ex lease...

Paintwork is terrible, faded around LOTS of graphics , lots of scratches which show up because of the white base coat and it’s fair share of dints.. the inside is worse as they had a diesel generator inside and all the ply is black and soaked with diesel. I nearly walked away and apparently lots of others had but I could see the potential and bid the dealer in the nuts at 8k plus vat with 12 months Citroen warranty and breakdown . Binned thenoly and washed inside out with soapy water , had a valeted give the outside a 3 stage mop and polish for £150 ( took him 8 hours lol !) So this van needs to replace my VW Kombi which seated 5 , carried my motorbike, and gave me somewhere warm to sleep so needs rear seats, diesel heater, and a bed bit of course I’ve got carried away with it . Rear seats are a bit low but serviceable , they are brand new Transit Tourneou people carrier seats and fit to brackets facing forward/ backward (camper mode!) or take them out altogether . Got them brand new for £400 inc vat delivered . Kingspan floor with 12mm ply matches the seat floor mounts.

Bonded glass in (fake rear windows as panels dented and scratched) MV Aero diesel heater in, got a shower tray for over wheel arch from ‘RoadTrippin’ and starting to build furniture.

Still got some tanks to fit underneath, finish furniture, do plumbing , second fix electrics but not bad after a few weeks work considering I’ve been on camper number 2 as well...

 

[Millie Master]

I have never seen a plastic moulding to fit around the wheelbox before, where did you get it from?

Your rate of build is exceptionally fast considering the apparent quality of your workmanship, truly well done.

Phil

 

[Garywrench]

Hi Phil, I bought a full set of interior panels from Solway Campers (£1000 !) for my silver conversion but because of both vans having a wheelarch shower tray they only need one each so had a spare for the blue van. Rate of build is fairly fast.. I’ve never done this before but I’m fairly handy. I wanted the finish to be similar to our Swift caravans. I’m making all the mistakes on the blue one so don’t look too closely to those pictures ! Hoping silver one bit better, then gold one mint ( I hope !) my main business is dead in December / January but picking up a bit now so things will slow down
Solway will sell those panels individually.

Gary

 

[Garywrench]

 

[GEOFF]

Van looks great and as Phil said build coming on really well. Geoff.

 

[Millie Master]

Gary; when you described your Blue van in your first post, I was expecting to see an absolute dog, but my gaud it's polished up well, it looks like a stonking good buy to me.
Phil

 

[Garywrench]

Gary; when you described your Blue van in your first post, I was expecting to see an absolute dog, but my gaud it's polished up well, it looks like a stonking good buy to me.
Phil

That’s the valeter.... get close and it’s a bit rough with touch up all over and a few dints, but it’s only my daily driver / bike van really so it’ll be fine

 

[Garywrench]

Underslung tanks in today, and 50mm hole drilled through to inside for filler, then realised I don’t have a hole cutter the right size for the water inlet outside grrr.. or a 20mm one to put through the floor for the pump feed. Damn. Screwfix order coming in morning then . I’ve got to do some real work later in week and away with work all of next week so need to really get a move on now to see it done and useable for bike trip end of March .

 

[trevskoda]

WE just dont get enuff hrs in the week to work on our vans.

 

[Garywrench]

Nor do I haha ! I’ve managed 50 hours a week since Christmas except for two weeks we had work in. All my tools are at work 10 miles away so I can’t nip out for an hour at weekend and do any more though which is annoying