Probably the thing that takes the most time with a self build is working it all out. The day started with a quick call to Propex, the manufacturers of out blow air heating system. When I was installing the wiring loom for it there were no instructions. The termostat cable was straight forward as it was 5 pin and there was only one 5 pin socket but the 3 pin 12v dc socket had a choice of two locations, cn18 which was next to the themostat socket or cn24 which was the other end of the board. I opted for cn18 but made a written note to call and check. I was informed that the less obvious cn24 was the location. It will work from both but apparently create problems in the future. We forgot to include wiring instructions in the manual, they said lol.
Norm got on with the shower room and completed the “wing”. This is a work of art and sadly will never be seen again once installed. It is his own creation, designed to equal out the curve of the van so the shower room wall will be straighter, I am looking forward to seeing how it performs
Clamps are an important part of the self builders tool kit. Here Norm is bonding the wing to a piece of ply. We used a different form of clamp – a spreader for the ceiling boards and when we took a few holding screws out this last weekend the ceiling did not move (or drop lol). The bonding we used, which was Gun and Nails had dried and bonded superbly having been pressured in place.
Meanwhile I kept busy fitting the truma water heater. Again the instructions were a little bit slack in place. I was working on the outlet. A hole was cut in the side of the van, the truma, complete with extension offered through, and all the way through so it connected with a metal plate I had screwed to the outside of the wall. Bedding mastic was used to seal it all, wood battons on the inside to screw into and then finally the unit itself screwed to the floor inside. Sounds easy and quick but in reality it took all day to check and recheck I was doing it correctly. This is gas we are talking about and fumes etc
