New van build ( Again )

[Squiffy]

Phil, haven't you missed one exceptionally important thing out of your description of the work schedule, or am I wrong?

Surely after cutting the metal, surely the next vitally important job is to smooth the cut edges and then to thoroughly paint the edges?

But otherwise, I love all of your descriptions.

Phil

Evening Phil, I did mention that in my post.
"The next job is gluing the premade wood frame to the back of the cut out, once the glue has gone off at this stage most folk would paint the raw edges of the cut out steel but my view is that I put enough adhesive sealant on the window seat so that it squeezes through over the top of the raw edge and covers it in anycase."

I used to religiously paint the edges. Then I was putting a window into a T5 and suddenly thought why am I doing this the sealant makes it waterproof from outside and the over spill from the adhesive sealant squeezes over the raw edge anyway and protects it from possible condensation from inside.
Only time will tell if my thoughts hold out. Phil.

 

[Squiffy]

And to continue:-
The next job is to put a midi heki into the rear section of the roof, this one I bought from Magnum motorhomes and have to say the quality of it including Led lights incorporated is exceptionally good especially for the price.
The booklet that comes with it gives the cutout size. My way is to mark out the cut out size on top of the roof in a rectangle then get a compass and in this case radius the corners 50mm
Same as the windows, drill two or three holes on the inside of the marked line so you can enter the jigsaw and start to cut around the mark. It's beneficial to have a helper inside the van to support the steel roof plate as you cut making sure they don't look up as hot shards of swarfe are constantly falling while your cutting, I'm not a health and safty geek but goggles and leather gloves should be used.
I did forget to remove the middle section of the rear roof support and snapped a jigsaw blade as it wasn't long enough to penatrate the roof support. So we had to stop operations until I'd cut the centre section out of this support with a disc cutter, making very sure the roof was not hit by the cutter.
With this removed I continue round and complete the cut out, which was recieved into the van by my helper eldest Son.
Now a confirmation fitting of the skylight to make sure it fits, having tested this I cut strips of foam and cut and disc sanded them to the shape of corrugation of the roof, in my case I had to make up 10 these are to fill the gaps caused by the skylight sitting on top of every other corrugation. Dont worry the fact its only Styrofoam as all your doing is filling the gaps the skylight actually sits on the up corrugations.
Now turn the skylight upside down and gloop adhesive sealant around the fitting flange, don't spare the tar as its better to have too much than to little. Making sure the roof area is comparatively clean. Then glue the Styrofoam into down corrugations, then with the skylight flange with a good bead of sealant turn the skylight the correct way up and introduce it into the cut out the sealant will sqidge out especially on the up corrugations and down the sidesI personally leave this as its on top of the roof and out of sight, but some like to smooth it down with wet wipes.
Next its down inside the van, where I cut two lengths of 25x50 batten that pass either side of the sides and another two lengths for the shorter sides.
Start with one of the longer lengths and apply adhesive to each corrugation and then place the longer length up against the skylight and fit your fixing clamps to the skylight and gently pull the skylight down but not tight 'Yet'. Continue around doing the same for all four sides. When this is completed slowly tighten all fixing screws so that it squeezes the skylight between the roof and the wood batten, don't over tighten just enough to squidgy out the adhesive on the roof all round.
Now is the time to get back on the ladder and complete the sealing front and back, the sides won't require any sealant but the corrugations will require some more to make sure that water can not enter. You will probably have to remove the plastic hinge pins and lift the front of the acrylic dome so that you get a complete view of the front corrugations, when done just replace the plastic hinge pins.
And Bob's your Aunty you now have a lovely midi Heki.
The following photos are a depiction of following work, have to admit I forgot to photo the cut out although it's the same principle as the windows.
The first two photos show that I intended to glue them in place first but time was of the essence and I decided to fit the skylight then put the batten around as I explain in the text. The next two were taken at night and are not particularly complimentary as the dew had covered the acrylic and my head torch didn't help but I think it showes the corrugations. The gorilla is my eldest . Phil

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Once more into the breech dear friends, after a few days of doing odd jobs about the house and garden I'm back onto fitting these windows.
After I had marked up and measured the cut outs and measured them again the horrifying business of actually removing great swarths of panel from the van sides has started.
In the first three pictures on the sliding door it shows where I've marked it out on the inside for the cut out size and drilled an 1/8th inch hole through each corner so that from outside I can using a permenat marker draw a line from corner to corner.
I then lay in my case 2.1/2 inch gaffer tape along the outside of the line to stop the jigsaw foot scrapping the paintwork.
Then in various areas along the lines just inside them I drill holes large enough for the blade of the jigsaw to pass through. If your right handed put the hole closer to the right side of the top and bottom line and vise verse if your left handed.
Then continue to insert the jig saw and make the first cut along the top, having completed that put two pieces of tape across the cut and continue to cut up the left or right side putting another strip of tape on either side once the side is cut this is to hold the cut piece of steel in place once cut out and to stop vibration while cutting the bottom line. Now all cuts are completed remove the side tapes and swing the panel outwards on the top two tapes hold the panel and remove the hanging tapes, voile! You now have a rectangular hole in you sliding door.
The next job is gluing the premade wood frame to the back of the cut out, once the glue has gone off at this stage most folk would paint the raw edges of the cut out steel but my view is that I put enough adhesive sealant on the window seat so that it squeezes through over the top of the raw edge and covers it in anycase.
This is one occasion now where another person is required to press against the outside of the window once it's in place, so as to allow you to screw through the backing plate and pull the window snugly up against the outside skin, holding the window firmly in place. Once you have a screw in each corner your helper can leave the window and get you a large brandy to calm your nerves . Go around the outside of the window frame with a paint cleaning wet wipe and wipe away any surplus sealant.

I see someone was bright enough to use proper truck barn door catches on the new van Phil, I always fit them to the vans Hab doors as the MoHo oen are really not fit for purpose.

 

[Millie Master]

Evening Phil, I did mention that in my post.
"The next job is gluing the premade wood frame to the back of the cut out, once the glue has gone off at this stage most folk would paint the raw edges of the cut out steel but my view is that I put enough adhesive sealant on the window seat so that it squeezes through over the top of the raw edge and covers it in anycase."

I used to religiously paint the edges. Then I was putting a window into a T5 and suddenly thought why am I doing this the sealant makes it waterproof from outside and the over spill from the adhesive sealant squeezes over the raw edge anyway and protects it from possible condensation from inside.
Only time will tell if my thoughts hold out. Phil.

Knowing now what I didn't know when I did my build all those years ago and that is that with structural vibration, the effects of UV and the general ravages of the weather along with other such matters, whereas the flexible adhesive I had used had hardened and in places cracked, on removing tone of the windows I was very relieved to find that my exceptionally thorough rust treatment and paint were still as good as the day I had done them almost 9 years ago.

Oh and yes, I didn't read your excellent article slowly enough to see totally what you had written!!

Phil

 

[Pudsey Bear]

By the by when I first put a 1100X450 window into a Ducato sliding door 11years ago I was told by the commercial builders at varius shows that it couldn't be done as it was too big to fit into the space but I went ahead and did it, i noticed a few years later at shows that 1100X450 windows were appearing in commercially built vans, not saying i was the first but certainly one of the first. Now for the the top skylights which I hope to do today.Phil

I may have beat you to it Phil, this was in 2010/11, no way to get bigger on ein there, a real bargain too, brand new off their own ebay site £150 delivered

 

[Squiffy]

I may have beat you to it Phil, this was in 2010/11, no way to get bigger on ein there, a real bargain too, brand new off their own ebay site £150 delivered

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Well done Kev, I think maybe it was a marketing decision on behalf of the commercial builders, of course when talking to the reps at shows they in the main are sales persons and are not involved in the actual build so would say it's not possible, as the time and extra cost would significantly increase the price of an already expensive van. Phil.

 

[Squiffy]

Morning all,
Over the last few days I have started on the floor, my original intention was to have a complete floating floor i.e. 19mm original floor boards layed over 25mm insulation board, but I chickened out in the end and went with shorts blocks of batten sawn down to correct sized hieght to match the hieght of the insulation board when sat on top of the raised mouldings of the floor. I glued these blocks down and when set used the original floor board to cut the insulation to size, then layed the insulation in place over the blocks and gently palmed the top over where a block was and used the transfered imprint to cut out the area where the blocks were. This saves using loads of batten and weight.
As you can see the insulation board can be stood on without problem while doing other sections of the floor.
Once all the insulation board is cut and shaped and layed down, I'll then lay across the center duct that I've created in the floor soft copper 8mm gas pipe hot and cold 12mm john guest piping and several lines of parachute cord to pull through various electrical cables later on when the floor has been glued down permanently to the support blocks.
Here are some photos of work so far and I'll put up more later of the finished floor laying.

 

[Millie Master]

It is truly amazing how strong the foil faced insulation boards are. Because of the dangers associated with lying on very cold, bone numbing concrete floors, I have been using a large section of this amazing and very lightweight material to insulate my bones from the cold when working on any of my cars. I even had a shorter/smaller piece in the Millie garage for lying on when lying under her on sites. Quite amazingly it is all in perfectly acceptable condition!

 

[Squiffy]

It is truly amazing how strong the foil faced insulation boards are. Because of the dangers associated with lying on very cold, bone numbing concrete floors, I have been using a large section of this amazing and very lightweight material to insulate my bones from the cold when working on any of my cars. I even had a shorter/smaller piece in the Millie garage for lying on when lying under her on sites. Quite amazingly it is all in perfectly acceptable condition!

Brilliant idea Phil, I've got those jigsaw together foam rubber floor mats but thinking about it a large piece of 25mm insulation board would be an excellent idea which would actually be better than my mats. Phil