Since our little outing to try out the awning things were coming along apace with Project Campervan. The cupboards are almost finished; looking very swish covered in black, wood grained vinyl. However, we’re still trying to work out how to do the worktop. Paul favours using the left over laminate flooring to match in with the floor, I’m not so sure.
Our next big task was to source some foam for the seats/bed. Paul scoured website after website; we looked at high density foam, foam with a memory foam layer, full memory foam; you name it, we looked at it. And all of them were going to cost an arm and a leg. Then, a few weeks ago, we found an upholstery shop in Rotherham which made lounge chairs and sofas which sold seating foam. Duly masked up we went and tried out the different options. Well, I tried them out by laying each density of foam on the shop floor and getting down to bounce up and down on each one. Paul thought the medium density would be enough but the minute I sat on it I could feel the floor. So we chose the firm density despite Paul thinking it might be a little too hard. We gave the assistant our measurements and made our order. One week later we collected the foam which came in one full 4ft 6in x 5ft 9in piece made up from two pieces glued together down the centre. After having a giggle at how daft we’d been by specifying the full bed size Paul set to, cutting it in half again to fit the seats. Now all we had to do was decide on upholstery. We had been thinking of using the grey Cameronian tartan, for sentimental reasons, but since it is primarily for clothing it is proving quite difficult to source at the quality needed to stand up to the wear and tear it is likely to get as seating in the campervan. Also, the only place who said they could help took ages getting a sample to us and then had the cheek to increase the price they had quoted. Needless to say, we started to consider other alternatives and using the tartan as accents. Nevertheless, with or without covers, we now had a useable bed. All was looking good up to this point and we were beginning to get quite excited as we felt that we were nearing a point where we could go off and try it out. And then Paul took the van for it’s MOT.
The result was not good. The dejection on his face when he walked through the door said it all. It was bad, very bad. It had failed the test miserably. He showed me the failure sheet, a list as long as your arm of stuff that needed to be done before it would be roadworthy. It needed loads of welding and quite a few mechanical repairs. Paul muttered something quite uncomplimentary about Volkswagens,T4s in particular, for being money pits, before he sloped off to lick his wounds. In one short hour we had gone from eagerly anticipating new adventures to considering throwing in the towel. Until someone on one of his forums dragged him from the pit of despondency.
Over the next couple of weeks the van went up to a chap in Castleford who carried out all the mechanical repairs at a very reasonable cost. Next it went to a local chap for three days to have the welding done, again not charging the earth, even when he found some extra bits which needed welding. One re-test later and we are happy once more. As one of our daughters pointed out, at least we know that it is all good to go now.
Which is what we did last week when we took it for a test run to Anglesey to visit our daughter and family. It drove like a dream; although the front seats were a bit uncomfortable and the dog whined for the whole trip; and proved to be quite economical on a good run. Since our daughters house only has three bedrooms and they’ve got three kids we also got to try out the bed. The bog box cum bed leg worked perfectly, the foam was comfortable and we were as warm as toast; even at the top of a “mountain” on a clear night in October.
On our trip to Anglesey we had to stop off in Bangor to pick up some new pillows and pillowcases since we’d forgotten to pack any. Paul chose a a set with a sort of grey tartan check with a stripe of orange running through. He decided that these were the colours he’d quite like in the van so; once we were back home; we returned to our search for upholstery fabric with this in mind. Paul’s first idea was to buy a set of grey curtains from IKEA to use to make the seat covers but we found nothing suitable. Our next call was to Dunelm, since that was where the pillowcases had come from, to see if they had matching curtains. Not in the grey they hadn’t. We ambled across to the very small fabric section and looked at all the grey choices. Non of which we would be happy with. Not wanting to compromise we were ready for walking away when I spotted some fabric in a rather nice orange and stone coloured tartan check, and just above it a plain warm orange fabric which complimented the tartan perfectly. Paul wasn’t too sure at first since we’d been thinking grey all this time. I thought the orange might warm up the interior making it feel more cosy that a sea of grey, which, Paul had to admit, was a good argument. So we came home with the orange for the seat covers and the tartan for the curtains and, hopefully, a few scatter cushions.
Now all we have to do is make them up. Mind you, with another lockdown around the corner we’ll have plenty of time.
Yes the shit box as it is now affectionally called nearly got scrapped.
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