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Comet submersible water pump
This is the lowest flow rate water pump we could find, but still claims to be 8-10 litres per minute. We don’t know exactly how water is going to work in the van yet – how much we’ll use stored water on tap. But we expect it to be minimal, and as the flow rate…
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Connected with everything
If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you’ll come to understand that you’re connected with everything. – Alan Watts Via swissmiss. This kind of sums up what it’s all about.
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2017-10-12: Insulation woes
The last time I wrote about fitting insulation was back in May, and it feels like the job has been dragging on since then. When you look at the YouTube videos, you see time-lapses of people fitting insulation over the course of a weekend. Maybe we could have achieved that if we’d known exactly what…
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Recycled plastic insulation
This is the third type of insulation we’re using in the van. The primary type is the rigid Celotex board. We’re using expanding foam around that to seal the gaps, and fill in some of the ribs. This loft insulation comes in a roll like the traditional glass-fibre insulation, and we’re using it in some…
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Sealey AK3984 Short-Arm Threaded Nut Riveter
If you’re using rivnuts, you need a tool to fit them. You can hack about with spanners, or buy a cheap tool, but I’ve found this one works well, with minimum frustration. Sealey do a similar tool with longer arms for larger rivnuts, but this should work fine for sizes up to M8. £30 from…
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Rivnuts
Rivnuts (AKA nutserts, and other names) are a type of ‘blind fastener’; that is, they can be fitted through a surface without access to the rear of that surface, unlike, say, a nut an bolt, where you need access to both sides to fit and tighten the nut. The van is full of such surfaces, in…
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One week in the Brecon Beacons
We’re almost 6 months into our conversion, and the van is still looking very van-like. However, we have some basic utilities in, and it seems like a good time to test them out. So we’ve headed to Wales, to the Brecon Beacons, looror a week-long holiday and alpha-test. A quick recap – what’s in: Plywood…
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2017-08-06: Bench bed and cladding test
We’ve been busy on various jobs since I last wrote, mostly trying to get some basic components built in prototype form for we can take the van on a short trip and test some things out. Almost every design/build problem in the van is a chicken and egg problem. And we tie ourselves in knots…
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Dometic Seitz Mini Heki Rooflight
This is a pretty simple rooflight, about 40cm x 40cm across. It does the job, but I can’t say I’m super impressed: it feels very flimsy, and only comes in a disgusting peachy cream caravan colour. It’s also the frontmost object mounted to the roof of our van, so will take the brunt of all…
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MaxxAir Maxxfan
Following the crowd on the this one. This is the fan that seems to be most frequently recommended, at least by American convertors. And none of the European ones look all that good. It’s well designed, surprisingly stealthy when closed, and seems pretty quiet on low settings. £290 from Rainbow Conversions.
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Andrew Sleigh 