Was thinking about the various work opportunities that are making themselves available and yet seemingly not so as some are far from where i live.It was after nearly overdosing on easter eggs late Sunday evening i had an idea, why not make the van suitible to sleep in, i'm not talking campervan quality but maybe insulated and some power in the back to charge a phone and make a cuppa.
Spent Easter Monday watching youtube vids of people converting vans into mobile homes, some good some, well not so, but got a good idea of what was required so set about making a specification be it a minimal one to enable a frost-free sleep in the back.
Then it was to the van to remove everything in the cargo area, a full strip back to a tin shell, surpisingly this only took a few hours, however in true Rog style i didn't think to price up what would be required before stripping the cargo area of the van back to a shell, the shock came as i started pricing things, mainly plywood, flooring and loads of insulation.
Still, the thought of paying travelodge or premier inn in the region of £3-400 a week shook me out of my reluctance to execute the work plus seeing as theres a total dearth of work where i live its almost a practical decison if not a particularly cheap one.One thing i noticed early on is how quick the van goes with nothing in it, jesus, i've got throttle response and oddles of power under my right foot, normally fully loaded you put your foot down and it just gets louder.
Still having returned from a number of suppliers i began making a new bulkhead, this started okay with the first piece going in then the second piece needed to close off the cab soon revealed the downside of global manufacturing, as the sheet of 12mm marine ply almost split in two after cutting out the piece i required.
Still after much cursing i though i'd get the new floor down which proved just as frustraing as none of the sheets were square and the finish is pretty crap.
Today i got the first hit of insulation on the inside from top to bottom, did the same to the floor before fitting the ply over the top, tomorrow i'll finish insualting and applying the vapour barrier before fitting the furring pieces and then the ply panels.
All this links be it indirectly to the boat as i've conservatively estimated i need another £15k to finish so as much as i hate doing something i dont want to, the ends justify the means so the life of a traveller beckons all be it temporarily.........................
Sooooo .... I've been following this from the beginning. 15k to go, what do you think the total cost will be ?
ReplyDeleteGulp.
I can tell you, total cost will be somewhere in the region of 50K, and thats just materials. When you think about the labour that's when.....well i tend not to think about it really.
ReplyDeleteThe last proper tot up i did in 2011 was around 20k, and a cursory look at what i've spent upto now i'm sure i've done another 12 - 15k in the last four years.
The 15k to finish is a back of an envelope calculation: off the top of my head,
The rig will be somewhere in the region of 6-7k (sails, standing rigging and fittings, mast rebuild and a new boom) and i've still yet to buy running rigging, genoa cars, mainsheet system etc and a million and one barton blocks for everything, that will take up 1k easily, then theres the crane to lift the boat, bout 2k, ancillaries for the engine room, £500, paint £500, new pulpit & pushpit another 1k. Then things like cushions, heads, galley easily another 2k, so whats that in total, about 14k so yeah 15k is pretty realistic.
Hence the change of the blogs title!
cheers
Yes, I noticed the change :)
ReplyDeleteI really think that you could get some of your money back by writing a book. You have a really easy style, are eloquent and often very funny.
You just need to find the time :(
Keep up the good work
Cheers anon thats a good idea, just got to think of a catchy title
ReplyDeleteAt least the weather is warming up.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure you will recoup the investment in converting the van to stealth camper fairly quickly.
Don't skimp on a decent mattress and a hot water bottle works wonders at the bottom of a super tog sleeping bag ( it still gets parky at 3am.
A good way of accessing hot showers (if you are in one place for a month or so) is join local authority swimming pool normally around £20 ish per month .
Cheers Norman
ReplyDeleteWas thinking of doing something like joining a gym or something similar to ease the boredom in the evenings and stay clean!
Hot water bottles now on the list, thanks