Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Jag, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70
Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 11:36 pm
Bit of work done in the van today to start putting back together what I pulled to bits yesterday.
First up was to extend the top of the countertop over the fridge so we didn't have two different heights to work with. Luckily I found a couple of offcuts floating around which were exactly the right size to get the height right.
By complete and utter random chance it turned out that I had a thin MDF offcut floating around that was almost the exact right size to close this off. It's a bit warped from sitting in the back of the shed for about three years but that's hardly a problem here.
Yes I did make sure to leave enough of a drop so the drawer can latch closed.
Those little metal L brackets will feature heavily in this job, and are a favourite of mine for many tasks.
I decided against bothering to elevate the fridge. Doing that would have required me to dismantle and completely redo the flue and I really didn't want to take that apart again.
Having thought on it overnight I decided that the fuel tank for the heater was going back more or less where I had first put it. It was just going to be awkward having it inside the gas locker and there was always the worry of it getting bashed while putting the gas bottle in - though it is really sturdy.
I prefer this as well in that it means that the fuel level can be checked visually from inside the van without needing to go outside. It's positioned such that filling can be easily done through the gas locker door though.
While I was working in that area I finally got the water pipes into the two brackets right in the corner. I didn't have enough hand strength to do that when I was standing on my head under there when I did the plumbing! The clips are really intended for 15mm copper pipe so these hoses are a really snug fit, it takes quite a bit of effort to get them to snap closed.
I need to tidy up the tail light wiring. That's probably going to be a job for tomorrow. That's what all that spaghetti is, the feeds for the high level tail lights.
Also, yes. That is a patio gas cylinder. I've got a proper one in the garage waiting to go in along with a new regulator and hose tail. This was the only one I had to hand for testing a year and a half ago (nicked from the barbeque) and I had honestly forgotten about that until seeing the "patio gas" logo on it today. Not sure what the difference is mind you, the ratings on the regulator are identical to the one which will be going in, just a different fitting.
I'll be sealing around the tank so it doesn't leave a gaping hole in the gas locker. I will be constructing things a bit differently to how they were originally as well as I'm not bothering having a separate lid on it.
This got me to an a stage I was dreading...starting to rebuild.
There are some things I am good at and some things I am not good at. Carpentry is one of the latter. Generally no matter how much care, patience and care I put into jobs involving woodwork things degenerate into a complete farce in no time flat and the results make the dimensional control on the Lada production line on a Monday morning look like something from the space program. Even if all I was cutting out was a simple square.
With that in mind I didn't have great hopes for making things like this.
How far away from fitting was it then?
I nearly died of shock...aside from some slight wobble on the long edge that I was aware of and really isn't a problem here, it's pretty much a perfect fit. I didn't need to take it back out to be altered, which means it's nanometre perfect in my book!
How about the other side?
Now I'm getting a little scared...that fit too!
The joins along all the edges will be sealed carefully to ensure that the cabinet is as close to sealed from the rest of the van as possible. I'll be cutting bigger vents in the floor as well before everything is buttoned up. I've got appropriate grills to cover them. Around where the pipework passes know if out will also be treated with tape and/or expanding foam.
I'll add a buffer next to the edge of the heater fuel tank where it protrudes into the locker to protect it from getting bashed when inserting or removing the cylinder. I could have set it back a bit further but that would have made filling more awkward.
I do have a cylinder securing kit in the garage too, will be nice to switch to that and ditch the bungee cords and ratchet strap system!
While it looks tight it's not bad actually.
Probably the most annoying thing when inserting/removing the cylinder is the kitchen sink waste - however I can't really move it any further back due to the position of the chassis outrigger this corner of the van sits on. It would have been flush with the wall if there wasn't a 3mm thick steel plate under there!
I'd like to ditch as much of the flexible drain pipe as possible somewhere down the line anyway, so that may be revisited.
Yes, the tail light wiring is running through a ventilation hole... it's already on my list (and has been since it was lashed up like that). Pretty much everything in this corner was done to prove things worked and fully expecting to come back to it (which I now am) to do a proper job of it.
I had to stop at this point as I have run out of fixing brackets, and nearly run out of woodscrews of an appropriate size...will need to make a Toolstation run to restock.
Next steps (in no particular order):
[] Tidy high level tail light wiring.
[] Replace gas cylinder regulator & hose.
[] Install gas cylinder fixing kit.
[] Install buffer adjacent to heater fuel tank.
[] Seal gas locker.
[] Add further ventilation to floor of locker.
[] Add further hole for sink draining rack drain line.
[] Trim screws where they protrude into the locker (not strictly necessary but feels the right thing to do).
[] Pick up more brackets, screws & gas fittings.
[] Paint everything under there white once it's all fitted.
[] Install cupboard and gas locker (remotely switched obviously) lights.
[] Properly figure out where sink, hob and draining rack are going!
[] Refit oven heat shielding.
Speaking of the heat shield... I'm *assuming* that's what these bits of pressed metal are. There are two identical ones there.
Has anyone who's done work on something like this have the foggiest idea how they're meant to be fitted...it really isn't obvious! To be honest the outside of the oven doesn't really get all that hot so I'm not sure how necessary they are. I've had it running for a full hour flat out during testing and it never got to a point where the surface temperature was worrying. It's double skinned as it is. The panelling between it and the cupboard will be lined with foil for heat reflection anyway and there will be a decent air space around it on all sides.
Feels like progress is being made...was a bit disheartening seeing the mess I'd made yesterday and the amount of things I'd out together that I had just pulled apart again. Nice to see proper panelling going in rather than paper thin chipboard you can cut with scissors or Foamex which was used for a lot of "this will do for two trips I've one afternoon to prep for" too.
First up was to extend the top of the countertop over the fridge so we didn't have two different heights to work with. Luckily I found a couple of offcuts floating around which were exactly the right size to get the height right.
By complete and utter random chance it turned out that I had a thin MDF offcut floating around that was almost the exact right size to close this off. It's a bit warped from sitting in the back of the shed for about three years but that's hardly a problem here.
Yes I did make sure to leave enough of a drop so the drawer can latch closed.
Those little metal L brackets will feature heavily in this job, and are a favourite of mine for many tasks.
I decided against bothering to elevate the fridge. Doing that would have required me to dismantle and completely redo the flue and I really didn't want to take that apart again.
Having thought on it overnight I decided that the fuel tank for the heater was going back more or less where I had first put it. It was just going to be awkward having it inside the gas locker and there was always the worry of it getting bashed while putting the gas bottle in - though it is really sturdy.
I prefer this as well in that it means that the fuel level can be checked visually from inside the van without needing to go outside. It's positioned such that filling can be easily done through the gas locker door though.
While I was working in that area I finally got the water pipes into the two brackets right in the corner. I didn't have enough hand strength to do that when I was standing on my head under there when I did the plumbing! The clips are really intended for 15mm copper pipe so these hoses are a really snug fit, it takes quite a bit of effort to get them to snap closed.
I need to tidy up the tail light wiring. That's probably going to be a job for tomorrow. That's what all that spaghetti is, the feeds for the high level tail lights.
Also, yes. That is a patio gas cylinder. I've got a proper one in the garage waiting to go in along with a new regulator and hose tail. This was the only one I had to hand for testing a year and a half ago (nicked from the barbeque) and I had honestly forgotten about that until seeing the "patio gas" logo on it today. Not sure what the difference is mind you, the ratings on the regulator are identical to the one which will be going in, just a different fitting.
I'll be sealing around the tank so it doesn't leave a gaping hole in the gas locker. I will be constructing things a bit differently to how they were originally as well as I'm not bothering having a separate lid on it.
This got me to an a stage I was dreading...starting to rebuild.
There are some things I am good at and some things I am not good at. Carpentry is one of the latter. Generally no matter how much care, patience and care I put into jobs involving woodwork things degenerate into a complete farce in no time flat and the results make the dimensional control on the Lada production line on a Monday morning look like something from the space program. Even if all I was cutting out was a simple square.
With that in mind I didn't have great hopes for making things like this.
How far away from fitting was it then?
I nearly died of shock...aside from some slight wobble on the long edge that I was aware of and really isn't a problem here, it's pretty much a perfect fit. I didn't need to take it back out to be altered, which means it's nanometre perfect in my book!
How about the other side?
Now I'm getting a little scared...that fit too!
The joins along all the edges will be sealed carefully to ensure that the cabinet is as close to sealed from the rest of the van as possible. I'll be cutting bigger vents in the floor as well before everything is buttoned up. I've got appropriate grills to cover them. Around where the pipework passes know if out will also be treated with tape and/or expanding foam.
I'll add a buffer next to the edge of the heater fuel tank where it protrudes into the locker to protect it from getting bashed when inserting or removing the cylinder. I could have set it back a bit further but that would have made filling more awkward.
I do have a cylinder securing kit in the garage too, will be nice to switch to that and ditch the bungee cords and ratchet strap system!
While it looks tight it's not bad actually.
Probably the most annoying thing when inserting/removing the cylinder is the kitchen sink waste - however I can't really move it any further back due to the position of the chassis outrigger this corner of the van sits on. It would have been flush with the wall if there wasn't a 3mm thick steel plate under there!
I'd like to ditch as much of the flexible drain pipe as possible somewhere down the line anyway, so that may be revisited.
Yes, the tail light wiring is running through a ventilation hole... it's already on my list (and has been since it was lashed up like that). Pretty much everything in this corner was done to prove things worked and fully expecting to come back to it (which I now am) to do a proper job of it.
I had to stop at this point as I have run out of fixing brackets, and nearly run out of woodscrews of an appropriate size...will need to make a Toolstation run to restock.
Next steps (in no particular order):
[] Tidy high level tail light wiring.
[] Replace gas cylinder regulator & hose.
[] Install gas cylinder fixing kit.
[] Install buffer adjacent to heater fuel tank.
[] Seal gas locker.
[] Add further ventilation to floor of locker.
[] Add further hole for sink draining rack drain line.
[] Trim screws where they protrude into the locker (not strictly necessary but feels the right thing to do).
[] Pick up more brackets, screws & gas fittings.
[] Paint everything under there white once it's all fitted.
[] Install cupboard and gas locker (remotely switched obviously) lights.
[] Properly figure out where sink, hob and draining rack are going!
[] Refit oven heat shielding.
Speaking of the heat shield... I'm *assuming* that's what these bits of pressed metal are. There are two identical ones there.
Has anyone who's done work on something like this have the foggiest idea how they're meant to be fitted...it really isn't obvious! To be honest the outside of the oven doesn't really get all that hot so I'm not sure how necessary they are. I've had it running for a full hour flat out during testing and it never got to a point where the surface temperature was worrying. It's double skinned as it is. The panelling between it and the cupboard will be lined with foil for heat reflection anyway and there will be a decent air space around it on all sides.
Feels like progress is being made...was a bit disheartening seeing the mess I'd made yesterday and the amount of things I'd out together that I had just pulled apart again. Nice to see proper panelling going in rather than paper thin chipboard you can cut with scissors or Foamex which was used for a lot of "this will do for two trips I've one afternoon to prep for" too.