£900 Budget VW Campervan Full Build Start To Finish

we're going to be converting this 2019 VW crafter van into a camper van on a budget of only a thousand pound and on a time frame of only three weeks just to show you that anybody can do this the first stage was assessing the panel work that was already in the van to make this budget we want to try and keep it as much as possible the various bits that are broken are going to be changed but for the most part it's going to be kept we marked all the bits of wood where it was going to go so that when we put it back in we could align them perfectly so we knew which bit was which we labeled every single bit so that we knew exactly where in the van that little bit went followed by simply unscrewing every single panel keeping hold of every single screw making sure we kept everything in place and assessing the metal work afterwards there was a little bit of sound then in but there was a lot of few little scuffs here and there we found the Earth in Port and we had to go around and paint every single scratch every little Nook everything that was Bare Metal just to save any rust problems in the future it was then time to move over to the floor we had to get the flooring up clean all underneath it and again repaint all the bits of metal work that was scratched underneath that the floor was absolutely perfect we had a bit of insulation hoovered it all up laid the floor back down this did however create a lot of dust around so we cleaned it all up and it was time to get the ball head out this is a heavy bit of Kit so if there is two ears it's always wise to use two reviews to do it 33 bolts on the back and it just pops off hello that's a bit big that's absolutely freaking amazing look at that all the way through let's get in the front look now let's see I can go hi you guys let's move over to installing the windows fairly straightforward normally you'd angle grind this line here and this line here to get it nice and straight we don't have an angle grinder we're going to get a drill and just drill loads of little holes all the way along that line there all the way along that line there all the way through there we're going to start with a small drill bit do it all the way around them up into a large drill bit then we've got a metal jigsaw bit I'm just going to go around the aim is we need to be able to crimp this piece of metal work together with the outside panel through a Rubber seal that goes all the way around but we're actually going to be starting on the driver's side there's the first hole down [Music] but it's just started raining we even let Danielle have a go and she was having a bit of a meltdown look at that face top tip if you're finding yourself you want a relationship or anything one of the top things you can have in a woman is while you're hard at work drilling holes in the Saudia van find a woman who'll go onto Facebook and try and find some free kitchen counters she's measuring one that she just found now with that done we need a starting point for the jigsaw blade and it can't be one of those holes because they're not big enough so we've done a big hole there and it's only an eight mil and then we've got this step drill bit that'll go in there and now the jigsaw blade can go in there and we can start there and just work our way around we want to leave just one of little gaps on each corner just to hold it in place until we've got the rest of it cut out then we can just nip nip the whole panel should fall out that is in theory anyway there's the window there's me start hall there's me jigsaw with a metal blade on it let's go shall we we'll start just there put it in the hole and that went through like absolute butter we've left that one piece up there she's gonna hold it inside while we run around the outside oh grab the jigsaw stand on our makeshift wheel Arch box and are you ready yet there we go now it's scary oh my God we've got a window how cool is that so what we've just done is file down all the rough edges all the way around both inside and now it's time to start preparing the metal work now we're left with some residue all the way down the sides and this needs to be a dry clean surface so we're going to give it a good dry and a good clean a bit of fake hemorrhoids all the way over the bare metal edges now it's time for the seal we've got a used seal just like that and it's got a seal already built inside it now it's got to go over the two trims together so if we need to squish the trims together to be able to get it on so be it if we need to jam this open slightly we can stick something in there and jam it open slightly and we can just go from there top tip at this point is to where you can look on the outside you can see any potential high spots just grab your crimps and move it in because inside that rail these little bits of metal and no matter what you do here it just crimps it nice and safe so it just keeps it a little bit more secure so we offered the window up to the hole Danielle went up drew a hole around so now we know where to Prime and where to stick it it's time to get the glass wipe wipe or this panel down degrease it basically and do the body work we've got the primer just there we just got to shake it up for 30 seconds you know men have got good muscle memory doing this we put it around the trim and then around the top edge of that line and that's where the ceiling is going to go apparently it's important to do this in one smooth motion all the way around I've got the silicone that comes with it with the nozzle already there that pre-mix the right amount of silicone that goes in there so you just run that along pump it in it is thick if you can warm it up a little bit better that's even better after putting the bead of silicone on and Prime in the window it's time to fit once you've got it on go around bashing the corners in I know it's the big rattle down here so it drops a little bit more sealant just in that bottom corner just forced it give it a clean afterwards tape it up and hold it for about 20 minutes it was then time for a trip to Ikea we wanted to get some ideas and pick up three score of the mid beams they're the beams inside the middle of the IKEA bed the first need to do is grab one of these score of the mid beams now the thing with these is they are full of extendables and due to the shape of them they're extremely secure we're going to put one across the back doors and see how far back we actually want the final Beam at the back of the van and mark up the brackets on each side these are the brackets just here three bolt holes in the top with the ridge just there they're just linking to that Ridge just there nice and it's going to go in line with all of these bolts so that I know it's going to be level on the outside I'm going to be using M8 bolts just again because I'm fat these are big heavy duty things now they fit into that one perfectly fine but I need to make them eight mil wide so I've got a step drill bit that's one of these drill bits just here it's like behind the panel to see if there's anything obstructing your way through the hole start with a pilot hole and then we'll step drill it again I've got the M8 bolt a washer the actual bracket and the bolt a couple of 13 mil ratchet and spanner and that is absolutely solid the whole run the whole Van's rocking the other side we don't even need to measure it we know the middle bolt goes in that middle hole just there so we just level that up Mark the holes and drill on so now it's just a case of dropping this behind me clicking it on to that side and then pulling it across completed it onto that side That's How Strong One beam is let's get the next beam in place this is just click onto there perfect pull it over wow yes another successful bed frame got another one in the middle to do Bolt the slats on place because I want them bolted in Chuck the mattress on and see how big this bed actually is I'm not going to bore you with fitting the middle beam so there you go and with the slats on that's what it looks like obviously I've got to secure the slats down I'm thinking just straight through the mid beam self-tapping metal screws straight down that'll do that way when I've got Flex when I'm on it the outsides can still move ever so slightly if I bolt just the outsides and a flex in the middle it's going to put a lot of strain on these mid beams on the outside bad when you have to start thinking about I'm fat how can I make this secure that's it from the outside the back doors uh it does hang over a little bit but not enough and we've got a massive garage area underneath now the lighting is crap so I do apologize but you can see two holes straight in the middle perfectly sideways on it now it is a bit bolted in the middle but it's foam so it will mold around all the curves on the outside the most important stage of building your own camper van is sound deadening and insulation we're going to be using dodo map both sound deadening and insulations throughout this entire build one because they don't build it and think that's good enough for you they build it in collaboration with campervan owners and campervan Builders so they know exactly what's needed for you to have the perfect campervant and there's links and discount codes in the description down below if you want to look into them yourself sound deadening and installation comes in three different processes you've got the sound deadening in itself that takes away a lot of the panel boom you can see for an example here this is the VW standard one just here and then this is without sound deadening so that works to an extent this works even better we've got the thermal liner that stops the heat transfer if we can stop the heat transfer from inside to outside and outside to inside it reduces condensation to near enough nothing and then at the back we've got five rolls of Dodo thermal fleece all those together inside the van correctly and I'll be able to drive until I can't physically Drive anymore and just pull over into a labor and have a nice relaxing sleep all the cars passing won't wake me or the noise outside won't wake me this is going to save me a good night's sleep we'll start sound deadening this panel first sound deadening only needs to cover 30 to 50 percent of the actual panel roll the panel out cut out the section that you need clean and decrease the panel that you're actually going to work with I'm going to use dodo mats prep spray just a quick spray and a good degree so cover the whole area that you're actually going to be working on you get the piece of panel that you've already cut out it's self-adhesive so just peel back the adhesive and adhere it to the panel the way I like to do it is to put the very bottom piece on first and then slowly work up like you would do a normal sticker on the side of the van this just assures that the whole hex design gets attached to the van and really reduces the panel boom and the panel vibration giving you the best you possibly can get out of this material don't forget to go down the panels that you can't see behind with this panel now sound deadened both that bottom piece the middle piece and up in the top piece both the front panel and the outside panel you can see we've got a piece just there you can hear the sound difference massively listen compared to it's a massive difference common knowledge to get the wheel Arch the wheel lights actually underneath this wood here but make sure you get the inner wheel Arch as well I've put loads there that's where the majority of your road noise is coming from that's where it actually comes through them the most so sound deadening in that section is the most important it comes up there through the vibration through all the body panels and just resonates throughout my entire van if you could sort that perfect you're gonna have a quiet value this is a great way of showing you see the sound then I'll just put on the ceiling there and not there well look at this one oh now look at this one you can really hear the difference can't you once you're finished with all your sound deadening both on the ceiling and the side panels it's time to go over to the next step which is this the dodo matte Thermo lining this is a closed cell foam self-adhesive reflective barrier this is what solely stops the condensation coming through it stops the heat from transferring from outside to inside meaning you get less condensation this stuff goes over every single external panel throughout the entire van so you do need quite a bit I've got two rolls for this van let's do another flick test shall we've got this panel up here it's got the sound deadening and the thermal Lino flick test now if we go down to this panel here we've got a fan to put in here so I've not put anything on here yet but listen and again be careful not to cover anything that's going to cause general maintenance issues in the past through these holes they're access holes to these bolts they're to do with the runners for the sliding door don't cover them because if you do need to do maintenance it's just going to make your life a bit harder in the future I'm quite sure for myself because normally I'd make a mistake like that the game is to basically stuff it into every little knock and cranny I've already started you can see it up there this is the dodo map fleece it's made from recycled plastic bottles so it keeps the van eco-friendly with these bits here there's nowhere to physically tuck the insulation under so what you do you get your piece of fleece and you chop off the bit you need you get your big piece of insulation you line it up you chop it to about the right side you need and the joyous it just tears really nicely contact adhesive this is the dodo mats contact adhesive just give it a nice good layer across the area leave it for and then grab your insulation line it up and just stick it into place you can't forget something like these areas here all along these ridges because you can put them in and just use your fingers to push it all the way down it'll eventually go there then this one you can push it up and in and you really want to get these bits insulated too you'll reap the benefits of all the insulation when you sat there parked in a lay-by thinking crap I can't drive anymore because I'm tired yeah pull over you go just let me you still get a good night's sleep when you've stuffed all the edges you've got that one piece left I'm just gonna literally then stick it job's an absolute good and just like that starting to fit some of the boarding back on now we've got windows on both sides to cut around and figure that one out we've got a bed in place now so we've got to sort of figure how to cut all that out but wow so there is the panel with that window in place perfectly fine we've left it a bit of an indentation going down and on the same going up that's because we can hide a blind in there and pull it down for night time put it back up for daytime the door let's show you that one both exactly the same scenario we've got the big dip there so we can sort that all out granted it's rough edges we've got to clean it all up the rest of the van is fully boarded back in we've got to do the ceiling we've got to stick some uh fleece up on the ceiling and a max air fan maybe even a skylight over the bed so I'll come up with the idea there's the blinds and I've took some little caps off the end and you can see you've got like a rail see just there where it lips in just there I've got my top piece of wood put some screws in like that so that can catch the rail just like that there's the rail there's the screws holding the rail and there it is so basically now I can get this whole unit slide it up inside there and screw it so it's right the way up here sort of place so it's completely hidden from view I've got it recessed up there perfectly fine I've got a box all the frameworking down there and down there because that's going to be a window ledge down there but all I do is let's see how dark it is when we fully close all the blinds so there's that one done and then we come over to this side we've already got the blind on the front of the van folder because we were in the van last night parked up and then that one's done and this is pure daylight and you can just about see there's the wide angle lens that light you can see at the front that's for the internal locks and stuff I'd say they're pretty black out we bought an eBay kit we've got the 30 amp DC to DC non-isolated victron charger and a ton of wires and conduit and everything connected it to the battery it's that cable there coming under that's connected underneath the main terminal that now means this side is completely live when it comes around to actually connecting it I'll put the fuse in there and that make the whole system live screw the fuse down run the cable safely hidden away all the way on there comes out there and we're going to run it along the floorboards all the way across we have covered it in this conduit just here and fitted the DC to DC victron charger up here that's all going to be encased in with the batteries keeping it nice and safe leaving space for solar panels which will be on a later build so subscribe for that if I'm thick enough to do this and anybody can do this cure the cable down with some clips once the positive going in is connected connect the ground the ground goes around to the negative on the battery terminal and then to your ground Point wherever that may be that is when you'll start to see the Bluetooth light Flicker and it'll come on you then go through the app and set it up to exactly your battery specifications then connect your positive over to a 60 amp fuse and back up into the charger that is the charger fitted and completed before this is going to charge you need this this is a remote Loop start and it plugs it in just under there like that this is what's going to tell the victron when the battery has started plug it up that is it done built a compartment to go over it with enough space for another battery in there that is nice secure solid and it's secured in that side and on the other side so it can't move around we've taken a positive and negative of that straight up to the fuse box we've got to tidy up the wiring don't mind that so now when we put the diesel heater in the fan the lights the USBs everything we can just connect it straight to that instead of having to mess around getting the batteries out now we've left this side open because that will come straight up and blocked off by the piece of board that blocks the garage off these are amazing little magnets I've got one there middle and down the bottom and they basically stick to see that metal frame just there when the glue is dry on them I'll be able to one put this all the way up to the top and they will just stick to that because the biggest problem at the minute is while you're driving it's rattling so when it's dry I'll be able to put them all the way up they'll stick to that top one if I only want half light I can stick them down to the halfway mark if I want full light I can stick them to work there there it is so yeah another job done Danielle's here to help us wave Danielle she looks at me dead sarcastic she's cracking on with some paintwork while I'm fitting the diesel heater we've been under the van that's where we go we drilled the hole through there as a start line put the turret plate on the top and the way we're going to do it is different to everybody else we've got a 64 mil hole saw and that basically goes over that one and it completely drills out that full section there then over that one again completely drills that section saves doing 114 mil all the way around and saves drilling really individual holes there's no going back now we've started I get that far through and the goddamn battery dies oh the Fan's got a boo-boo now this is a fun bit you've got the fuel tank and we've got to start building it all up so we've got this little flat piece here and I've just had to drill a hole in it why do that I've got this little Noggin that's what I'm going to call it a noggin and I've got to basically take the nut off thread that entire Outlet into the top and try and jiggle it around so that it comes out of that tiny little hole and then put the bolt back on where I did it I stuck a wire through the hole out the top bent it over stuck the fitting on So in theory with a bit of jiggling now that should it's actually currently halfway up there you go slowly but surely that'll come out the hot fitting hole the rust prevent treated the exposed metal work and then we fitted the fuel tank into the bag we stuck the hose on the actual outlet and then stuck a hole through the floor ready for the fuel pipe don't tell her this I'll never admit it to it which is actually a really good painter she's done a lot better than what I would have done with the exhaust and the air Inlet fastened on tightly we've got the fuel to do the way we do that we've got this little piece of Hose here that squeezes over to the top of that and then we've got this hose to go in to the other side top tip though when you're pushing this into there it's really really tight and really snug and it Clips on with some clips but you never know exactly how far you've gone in grab yourself a Sharpie mark it and then you know exactly how far you've gone in then we just have to get it tip it over drop it in there and we have got some big Hefty anti-theft bolts to hold it in place now the floor does bounce up and down because of the general Ridges of it fire resistant sealant so I'm just going to pack loads of it around there and drop it straight in maybe just a tad over the top we had to make sure it was nice and secure so it's bolted in really solidly left that to cure overnight fasten the exhaust underneath facing towards the back of the van and the air in late towards the front of the van we ran the fuel hose along the brake line hose throughout the distance of the van comes out the bottom down into the fuel filter up to the fuel pump at a 30 degree angle back down underneath the van secured the whole way down the van and back up underneath the diesel heater that is all getting boxed and it's not always going to look that ugly the plumbing here is quite easy it's just Jubilee Clips onto the big hose we've got a t-junction we've got two of these Vents and an extra bit of Hose just there pretty much have it Go in wherever you want now the wiring may look extremely confusing however it's been made simple you've got plugs into absolutely everything so you find the plug off the actual unit itself and you basically find the plug that matches that unit push them in together you've got one that goes to the unit one that goes from the wiring harness to the fuel pump and one that goes to this display connect the live up to your fuse box the neutral to your ground Dawns and it's alive now obviously we still need to get some Diesel and stuff like that so I ain't gonna mess around with it right now now it's time to get the max air fan on the roof there's the line we've drawn on the roof we've built the framework to go around the turret for the inside now it's time to drill more holes we're going to go on the outside line drill a hole there on all the corners go up onto the roof and cut it all out we've made one hole bigger than the rest and that's going to be the starting point for the jigsaw let's get everything on the roof to uh start cutting another hole in this one give all the rough edges a good file we've got to degrease the whole area all the way around get it nice and clean ready to adhere to the Silicon we've got to treat the exposed metal for rust we'll leave all of those exposed edges to cure for around about half an hour before we hit the next stage five two two second Flex all the way around it generously you get it screwed down the one I used with these self-tapping metal screws and all the way around the edge after you've put the Silicon on and it squishes it all out I'm going to run your finger along that and get all the excess and put it all over the top of all the screws I don't know how that's going to make a difference but every other YouTuber seems to do it so it must work just like that like a glove that's what the inside looks like you can tell I've used enough uh sikaflex because it's all starting to pour through let's get the actual fan on you drop the fan into place then you've got two holes one there and one there you have to have the fan open to access these holes inside there is a rubber grommet and you just drop two screws that come with it straighten those two and two on the other side too and then that's it time for the satisfying peel oh yeah we've done another thing we've done another thing it's just hope it doesn't rain wiring it up can't be any easier you've got two wires if you have a look down further down be careful the black wire is not negative the black wire is positive and over here the white wire is negative run them together we're gonna crimp the join just like that and then heat shrink over the top of it run it up over down because we've got something going there that's quite nice it's gonna it's made to hide all the wiring and stuff and then over to the fuse box just there there's your remote control the temperature is set at 26 so if the fan detects the temperature is higher than 26 it'll automatically come on or circulate the air it'll do something like that the room temperature currently is 15 degrees it's closed and it's off so if I press that oh it's opening and it's come on now it may look like a lot happened since that last clip but let me quickly run you through it we boarded off the garage that was easy we just cut a piece of ply board both bolted it straight in we bolted it to the frames on the actual bed put these two seats in these two seats will convert into another single bed it's freshly painted so I can't really play around with it too much underneath that one that's where your diesel heater is underneath that one that's where your your victron is underneath the garage is where the batteries and the fuse box actually is it's all just framework that we've put in nothing special this area is where the sink's going to be just solely so that we can have a tap that we can swivel around to outside so that you can actually like wash off sand and stuff off your feet from outside that's going to be another unit just there with the water tanks over here it's just a long set of units we can have the toilet we're gonna have the hob we're gonna have everything else just in that area just there and we've just completed the main structure for the overhead storage this is all again wet paint it's going to look a lot different when it's actually finished we're gonna have like a trim piece that goes all the way around it it's going to be vinyl it's going to it's just gonna look really nice when it's actually done that and that is basically just built framework as you can see that's just built framework the overhead took a little bit of maths and a bit of working out let me show you that we've got one board just there to see the length of wood that stretches the full length we've got another one just there and that attaches to the ceiling that one attaches to the actual back of the van we've got the fascia of the actual overhead storage running the four-way and the base of it and another piece of wood inch per inch securing them both together on the inside of the actual unit we've got some uprights just there with latches and cabinet hinges and they close and they do click in together it's just wet paint so I'm not going to do it just now we traced out a piece of cardboard and made the end plates for both this end and the other end we've still got loads to do to it we've got to block on all the different sections off we've got the trim pieces but yeah it's looking together so while at the minute I have no idea what that actually what I actually just said they're looking to uh yeah anyway let's move on where we're up to you now we've obviously got the overhead storage painted DC fix this is like a heated up laminate sort of thing like a yeah that goes on the fronts there and if you open them up we've still got a trim to put all the way around the outside that's a job for today or over the next three days and we've got the handles to put on we've also got to separate them so they're three different compartments inside that roaring that you can hear in the background that's the diesel heater running away because it's minus one everything's had a Fresh coat of white primer paint with a chest of drawers that we fitted in there we'll put a nice trim on it and it's just a normal bedside table we've stuck some little clip locks onto it so that they shut and they stay shut while you're driving I've got the donut about fleece and some contact adhesive to be able to insulate the roof a bit more starting to look like Santa's Grotto with all that on the ceiling then we've got this three mil hardboard so it's just three mil really lightweight we're going to do this for the top piece of the ceiling I'm just going to try it I've not seen anyone do it before so we're just gonna try it we've got check out the cute little tape Vision look how cute he is oh he's so cute and we've basically just got a load of measurements try to cut out the hole for the max air fan we have got the cowl for that to be able to fit up there and we've got to plan some lights as well Danielle's coming over in a minute to help plan where the lights are going on this board once that piece is actually cut fitted up and secured we can go right there we go we know where the screw holes are now because the screw holes are really quite complicated on this check this out they're going to be screwing into this metal wrong but there's holes everywhere all the way along it last time we've done it we just kept drilling into the holes and we missed it so we're gonna have to try and figure out a different plan to get into the holes well Danielle's going to start painting that piece with the max air fan and everything cuts out I've got to get the puck lights out take them apart that's what they look like and I've got to find which wire is the positive and which one is the negative follow them down and mark them with a bit of tape that way when I connect them all off together to the wire that's already in place then I can re-evaluate everything put them all on different switches so the front of the van can be on one light switch the back of the van can be on a different switch the overhead uh reading lights can be on a different switch and so on and so on organization well Danielle started painting the satin black on the ceiling I worked on the framework we now have a good plan on where all the drawers are going where are going to be cabinets and drawers and you build the support so they're back for the shelving units we've got the MDF boarding put it to size for the fascia of the unit we decided to go for a style of aphasia with some copper doors on the front of it just like the old t5s nice simple case of Gorilla Glue wood glue glue the thing back on screw it in done well kind of done for now started snowing so we're painting we've got the actual facial for the work unit that's going black we've got these trim pieces they're all gone like a natural pie color that's the window ledge and the others are the fascias to go around the overhead storage now that black fascia just like this with the DC fixed natural wood look it should look quite nice we've just put the window ledge on this side and now I'm going to attempt no Nails these straight up on top of the fascias of those overhead storage getting all this done is just taking off loads of little bits little fiddly bits over the next three days to hopefully get it finished it's not too shabby I mean it's not a professional job but I'm not a professional person I'm happy with that just a quick um well done to anybody who can do a ceiling perfectly fine this is the second ceiling I've ever done and it's just as hard as the first time so we've got all the lights in this piece this in this exact panel that we're going to do and we've threaded them through the hole for the max air fan that's where this has to go again straight through that hole so when we put it up it will just bolt straight to the joists on the ceiling but getting it up there is a pain in the butt first off I forgot that there was a light there so I've had to take it back down cut that light hole into it get everything lined up because it is only Flex board it's just literally hardboard it's super hard to work with cost effective and lightweight yes just super hard to work with I can see why people tongue and groove this is a pain in the butt it's just a black ceiling for now a little trick before fitting the coal we fitted little magnets onto the corners on the inside of the cowl so on the outside we can put a magnetic uh like thermal sheet over the front of it that's the magnets on the outside they're not secure they're just magneted on through the other side they've been no nails done this bash Bosh next we've got under overhead storage counter lights these LED lights we've got three of them they're easy enough to install just double-sided sticky tape oh the wire just tucks up straight through a hole and it comes down here label everything we've got overhead and we've got ceiling lights coming down there just onto dead end wires because they're gonna have to go through to the fuse box now to trim the countertop for there we got a bargain Ikea leftover reserves five pounds this big seat here I've just got to cut it down to size and then it should just screw straight on with some little hinge brackets that was dotted around the top it's starting to come together this is not staying white this is going the same color as these again DC fix Danielle has already done one of the drawers with a leather handle how cool does that look oh got one drawer in and again just with a couple of hinges just there both just gotta stick some latches on the problem is I've just noticed I didn't put my shelf in that's typical the way I tend to do things isn't it the Eco flow died so I've put that on charge while it's a beautiful sunny day I've got that on the solar charger for an hour we're going to work on the table now because we've still got power in the electric screwdriver we're gonna do like the old Transporters have they have the bar that goes across on the table that Clips onto it so that's what we're going to look at now we've got the bar just there we're going to keep the full length of the bar that way it's going just under there if we want to move the table over that way if I'm sitting over there and nobody else is here we can do that if I want to keep it the central so two of us can sit there we can do that the way it works we've got a couple of Clips one like that one like that they go in the end of the bars and fasten to the back wall this piece goes on the middle of the bar just to have a bit of support through the middle these bits over here clip onto the actual table or screw onto the actual table and then when the table gets stored it Clips onto there boom that's how it says fastened to the bar if you didn't understand it to start with there's the bar it's securely fastened to that backboard these clips clip on the back of the table that piece was marked out just there they go underneath and screw from underneath so there is a little hook just there so when the table is in use it just hooks onto there we've got a table leg that goes in the middle we have a table when it comes around time to turn it into a single bed we unclip it off there and drop it straight down there we've got some bits of wood that we're going to tidy up and secure down there so the bed will sit comfortably straight on top of them with some black and white paint it was time to start spray painting both the sink and the mixer tap just a standard mixer tap you get in your house we'll show you some tricks like this some drift will be found on a beach in angle see we're going to make a key chain out of this so we're going to bolt it to the side of the unit stick some hooks in it great for storing our keys DC fix the work top that's going on the long pitching unit that just that's just a fascia that's all it is it's going to be stuck on there nicely shaped trimmed deadly done the single bed then we're now working on an adjoining piece something that comes down here that's got a few little cubby holes a couple of shelves in do you know those coffee pods you can get we want something that's going to store a few of them because we're going to have a coffee machine in there and we're going to build that while we're waiting it's a pretty simple case of build one side of the unit get it all marked out because you can see we've got the big gap down the bottom the way we marked that was we put that there stuck a Sharpie next to it and just ran that up the wall that created that line there so we now know the angle of the back wall if we can create one side then that means we can recreate it on the other side just simply by tracing once cut it'll look like that seamless down the back I don't know what I'm going to do on the front yet I'm still playing around with ideas for that once you've got your board trace it out onto the right board that you're going to use and then get your jigsaw into your Eco flow and start costing and then it's just a case of drop some shelves in the way I've done it I've glued and screwed it in from the side drop some little faces on so when I put stuff in there they won't come flying out and they're nice and secure now I'm going to run around and cork all the little bits that I've nicked in the wrong places and leave it to dry then paint it and I've got to drop some board in the back to hide the wires we wired up some of the uh sockets so we've got the under counter lights one and this little buttons on the side too and there's another one down here three so they're all wired up we just was a positive negative goes straight through there underneath this seat into the fuse box on the other side both how cool does that look but then we've got this one wired exactly the same the overhead lights are wow got another thing complete it Danielle just come back from the shot I swear to B and Q and she found a scrap wood pile outside so she picked up a worktop for the sink so I've lined the sink up on there obviously because it's the size sanded all the areas down marked out the sink I only done it by quite easily laying it upside down where I wanted and then going in two and a half centimeters and in theory in theory that should be enough to for the thing to just sit straight and picked up some cheap Lino flooring 25 quid for an offcut so that'll be going in we've got a headboard we've got to modify that because that's going to go up that side of the headboard just there we've got loads of more bits of wood to finish making shelves and Corner units and just loads of bits and pieces some more DC fix but this is what we've recently just done you haven't seen how we've done it so I'll quickly walk you through how we fitted a cold water tap a cold water system to a mixer tap in a deep dish sink and how we saved an absolute Fortune doing it first off the sink five pound X display from B and Q the tap eight pound Facebook Marketplace perfect we spray painted it nice and black like a satin black but underneath we've obviously got the weight there that is so you can pull the tap out as you can tell let's see perfect we've got these two little 10 liter tanks this is just basic bog standard cold water system now because it is a mixer tap if you turn the cold on and you've got the cold water coming through perfectly fine and you turn it to hot you're going to get the cold water go through the hot so we've had to cap the hot side of the actual unit just there that is the cold Inlet so it comes with a plastic tube 15 mil it's a plastic push fit to adaptation just there that then runs all the way down into our cold water fresh water tank where there's a submersible pump that runs on a electric cable that comes all the way out we've got it rigged up to a switch I think I'm going to change the submersible pump because quite frankly it isn't that powerful the waste water comes out the bottom of the sink straight down into the gray water tank we turn that on we wait for a whole few seconds and we have water now if we press that button just there we and then we can pull it out and move it around and do what we want first job was this sink had little notches you can see just under there a little Notch so I've had to just Notch this one a little bit just to be able to get it to sit perfectly so that I can silicon it down properly next job doesn't involve me using a pencil but in fact these pieces are little like templates to go up in that corner there we put the template up and then realized we need to go a little bit taller and we've marked out on this exactly how much we need to do traced it out onto a new piece of wood cut that and hopefully that should fit then we can build some nice little plant Shelby sort of stuff into it trim basically got some water trim it's got some varnish on them and while they're dry we've got these Uber cool leather handles I'm gonna mark them out to where they need to go on here now we want them to kind of hang down ever so slightly just like that that'll look cool they look cool down there so I'm pretty sure they're going to look cool up here too I'm 35 no no I'm 36 on that old I can't remember my age I think this is cool so it probably isn't like a glove and just a quick yeah yeah if anybody is scared of building their own camper van trust me do it if I can do it anybody can do it a little bit of no Nails got the trim on that piece finally proper power and through this now here's a top tip best way to cut foam this is an Ikea mattress just a foam bog standard mattress and we just chop it up into pieces you can see one piece there there there and this piece I'm cutting is going to go on the back there this is going to make the single bed best way to cut it is an electric bread knife I broke mine last time so I've just got a normal one never ever build a van in Winter it started raining they've had to come in to dry well it's raining let's try out the bed so that goes on there perfectly fine back rest number one comes over and goes it's not neat it's not tidy it's it's what it is backrest number two comes out nice snug fit and that should snugly fit in there but I think it's a bit big nope I just needed to move that one over a little bit but there you go full on Single Bed the fatty test I fit on it quite nicely a sec oh this would be perfect for one of the kids when they come with us Danielle chose some lovely stick on tiles it's well cool it's just a case of trim them into the shape you want peel them off stick them on we're going to do the whole back area of the kitchen before putting the side pods back on we went down to B and Q and got some wood cut we basically got a big sheet of MDF and we've got the right measurements for the sink unit and we went up to the man and said can you cut them in these lamps but yeah no problem so I've got them cutting the right lamps I've marked out little notches that I need to cut and make so hopefully this one should fit on the side we're going to have to drill in a hole for the switch for the sink and a vent hole for the heating that comes out there oh you can't see any framework from the inside now that's quite cool we've got the vent for the thing to go down there that'll get sealed in we've got the light switch for the sink that goes in there light switch for the sink the one-way switch one port switch for the low I know what I mean now we've got some free wood from Ikea if you go to The Exchange department on Ikea outside on a Monday Tuesday Wednesday about 10 11 o'clock they put out all the exchanges so this is a wardrobe back panel or side panel they actually brought it back somebody bought a wardrobe took it back to them and said one panel is broken they split the Wardrobe up Chuck it all in that little pile and you get free pick of everything I've done a few Tick Tock videos on it go over and check it out if you want but we've marked out the line for another one of those doors over the back panel this one's to cover the toilet door then we're going to do the other two doors get them hinged on get them latched on get them DC fixed so they look just like that then that unit should be complete minus a divide out just there and a shelf in there and we're going to make those shelves out of the same wood the free Ikea wardrobe fake wood stuff like I've said this is only a budget build that will get changed in a later build so make sure you subscribed there you go once in life this was a wardrobe door from Ikea it's cheaper for them to just give it away than it is for them to dispose of it so we get it for free who doesn't love something free how nice does that look I've got the tiles up we've got this corner unit here for a few little plants and a few little bits and Bobs we built this unit or we built it up a few days ago and then we took it down to get it painted and we DC fixed these and the white accents on the black just suits it just lightens it up that touch more and that is so solid in there look at how nice it looks from the other side of the van up to now it's looking good they've been painted we've got all the doors on there I have to lift these doors up slightly although they do open perfectly fine they catch on the rug which means they're going to catch on the rug when the floor is down so I've got to lift them up nicely underneath there we've got a shelf we've put a shelf under there we've we've put all the cooking stuff and a bit of Bobs up there we've got down the bottom the airfryer the coffee machine and the toaster we've got the Drone and shoes and stuff down there at the moment that is all going to change location eventually up here just odds and solid bits and pieces for the build over this side our power bank is the all powers S2000 again we can solo charge that with the Drone we've got the cover for the front windscreen which we're going to change we're going to put um sort of a curtain up instead of that but anyway that's done over here we've started working on this this is a bit awkward we've got a little fridge this is just a 12 volt fridge but it's nice and secure there that runs to a cigarette lighter charger cable which is down here somewhere which means we've got a cupboard there which we've still got the floor to do and the fascia and all that sort of stuff we've moved the waste water and the fresh water down here we've got to extend the cable for the switch for the sink and we just got loads of bits of wiring stuff to do right now we've got a bigger fuse box just here we've got to wire that up there was more wires to a fuse box than I originally planned but this was the sole reason why we've just left the wires out like this because we didn't have a full plan the top tip for building a campervan is to base quickly plan it properly otherwise you don't fall into this we tend to find that the majority of our building is repairing the stuff or adjusting the stuff we've already put in so we've got this piece here this cable goes down and through the bulkhead of the bed that goes through to the fuse box this is for the sink it then runs along to this wire here which goes into the fresh water tank where there's a submersible pump the positive is split to this cable here which runs to the switch which turns the tap on this cable is too short so we need to basically make a longer one and plug it over to the switch which is here and that'll make the sync run it's amazing how much hidden weight think about how heavy is 10 meters I think this is actually 50 meters of cable that had some weight into it you don't tend to consider that weight into the actual build same with a box of screws how heavy is a box of screws where times that by seven because that's how many boxes screws have gone into this one I think I'm going to need about that much I'll get a little bit more just to be safe I can always trim it but uh it's just awkward to add on to it it's amazing how much how heavy is a big tin of paint we went through I think six liters of white all the way around then the added black paint that we've added all the way around primers on the bare plastic and all that sort of stuff it all adds up and it's something you don't actually think about that's done so now it's just a case of get these cables plug them into the outlets on the switch and again they'll get heat shrinks but in theory this tap should work perfectly fine and this will be a great test for the plumbing as well because we've put this unit in here we've still got the floor to do and stuff but it should now work a bit better than it did and in theory in theory fingers crossed we're going to check if it leaks that's going to come down there overflow into there that'll go straight into the Wastewater tank which is there we'll be able to see if it leaks because there'll be a few drips on there so let's give it a little test we'll move over here we press the button on and there we go yeah I love this sink I am going to get a much more powerful sort of pump because this pump is very very uh weak so to speak with the fridge being a 12 volt fridge and it runs up a standard 12 volt connector it uses quite a lot of energy so we've got the normal 12 volt connector it'll plug in there if we have it on all the time we're basically going to have no electric I've just found out the fridge has actually gone on off on it now sometimes when you turn it off it still draws some sort of electricity so let's test it shall we so we've got it on plugged into the S2000 on DC and it's drawing 46 45 volt Watts if we turn it off both turns the screen off turns all the lights off and it the wattage is dropping it's dropping it please say zero so I don't need to add a switch I can just turn it on and off from the front now I know that that'll make things less complicated wiring wise I can just plug in the 12 volt socket and just plug it in that way we then find a suitable place for the 12 volt socket for the fridge thread the cables through that we've already connected to the 12 volt with it wired into the fuse box the lights actually on which means there is power going to the fridge so let's give it a go shall we we should just go down press the on button oh the light comes on temperature's on yes we then secure it into its housing area where it's going to be permanently and we start designing the fascia front for this unit this is the exciting bit this is the last facial we need to actually build for this unit we get a nice big design on it we'll get it cut this included a hole for the cupboard door we've got a hole for an access panel underneath and the whole foot that fit make sure it fits into place perfectly fine sand down a few Corners to make it fit that a little bit better then get it back off and get it painted we're going to go for a couple of different coats of black on this well that's all giant I'm going to start these These are the door handles the leather ones yeah all the unit doors need them except for that unit down there where they look quite cool it's a gorgeous day so this should be dry uh yeah it's dry but I'm gonna give it another 20 minutes just to sort of harden a little bit more while that's trying we'll crack on with this and it is a table storage system so it's nice and secure now on the back door a couple of arches there and uh the table just lifts out all right let's get this on oh it's coming together it's a bit Dusty it needs another coat over some of the screw holes that I've done but oh the fridge opens up perfectly fine turns on perfectly fine got to do a door for there for that unit and I've got to do a cubby box at the bottom now the reason I've done this at the bottom is so that if I need to access the heater and all this random stuff that's under there I can easily just pop that off sort out what I need to sort out pop it back on plus I'm gonna have a vent hole in there for the heater to come out there as well as that one there I've got enough space at the top here now all the plumbings behind there so I can't really put a unit in there but I've got enough space there to stick something decorative I'm in a VW Crafter I wonder if a Ford bottle opener will work and today is going to be the last day of our van conversion hopefully that means it's another day where it's 8 A.M starting here that's actually sounded quite positive didn't I oh I'm gonna need one of them we need the rest of the ceiling just normal bog standard hardboard the hardboard is going to be used for the ceiling just up there we've got these fancy Duda rails I've got that thing there that's just to trim up some of the corners all the way around a couple of boxes of screws some more spray glue 53 quid now I have saved a ton of money throughout this build so it's going to be interesting to see whether I've actually hit budget I've been really trying hard to keep the budget but let's see if I have actually kept to it within one of the next videos where we do a full cast breakdown and see whether we've done it or not subscribe for that somehow I don't think we've managed to keep it to a thousand pound build budget because you think that includes all the windows all the trim or the wood all the electrics all the Leisure batteries all the drawers absolutely everything for a thousand pound in here you never know I am a tight ass and I may have actually done it we've also got these bits for later I'll show you what I'll do with them later but the idea for this is a strip going straight down that side and then patch up that side I think doing it that way made it so that I only only need one piece of this wood saves a bit of money instead of buying two we've got the line there but the jigsaw here I'll see you in a minute we've got the leftover dodo map thermal fleece that's going to get spray glued straight up to the top and then we can fit the ceiling give it a shake and give it a spray ceilings up in place anyway it looks a bit rough over there it won't do when it's finished because we've got this trim piece to get put up there and it's going to be blocking it off up there so you won't see that ugliness so to speak it's all gonna get painted black and then these bits are going to get painted the same sort of color as these just here and I didn't cut into any other wires because look whoa I fully expected myself to drill through the cables or something like that let's have a go with this stuff just here so what this is is basically just double-sided foam sticky roll but it's quite thick kind of a little bit like me and what that's for is can you see the blinds that we've got here well this side has got the magnets on it perfectly fine and it stops it from that way the other side the magnets come off and when they do come on it does that so I'm hoping to just basically foam the inside of there so while I'm driving down the road it does a row the magnets didn't work this should work yeah there's the foam and there's the after so much better then we went through and paint the ceiling I must admit I'm really not happy with this ceiling but this is the budget build there's parts that are not going to be perfect I think with the next build that you PVC clad in stuff yeah I think that's the next build we cut these lovely bits of wood as like a trim piece to go all the way up here we do have a problem there's gaps and stuff all over the ceiling and that's because I cheaped out on the ceiling the ceiling's a bit wonky it's the same problem we've got with hiding the wires that are up above the sliding door as well so instead of changing the ceiling that's a later project change in the ceiling so I'm just going to scrap those ideas and we've got this trim piece that goes along here and it's ugly as hell so I'm going to put some like LED lights up there time to start the flooring top tip this was just an off cut from a shop look at that 25 quid 4 foot 11 by 11 foot it's just a case of measure out what we need and cut it to size stick it down with some spray glue and a joy with Lino is you can just simply cut it with a pair of scissors chop away little tiny Corners to get around the little nooks and crannies but you do make a mess I must admit it's no showroom quality but God I'm so chill for myself for the amount of work that we've put into this and for what it's actually turned out to be like everything I wanted was in it everything that Danielle wanted is in it and it looks pretty good for compared to what it was just a bare skeleton van and I am so stoked with this last few bits with decals just through the door over the back of the bed we've got the curtains fitted from Ikea pole and curtains we've got the airfryer in the coffee machine and with some amazing plants we can't forget the VW Gunk we need a name for him we've got some usb chargers we've got some more Trinkets and bits and Bobs kicking around just to make this van looked a little bit more homely the final touch the double Community sticker and that is how I built this campervant to live in full time thanks for tuning in guys if you're new around here please subscribe

Channel: INDI_VAN_A_JONES Vanlife UK

Views: 329,141

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Id: QOYobhKivAc

Length: 54min 50sec (3290 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 02 2023