| The oak plywood had to go, what we found underneath was the original Devon fitted melamine cupboards. I had to spend a good deal of time sorting out the surface. Nearly all the white powder coating on the fittings had gone. |
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I have ended up painting these fitting with white hammerite paint. Some of the features just had to be renewed like the cushions on the buddy seats. The clip on half of the seat I had to source off the inter net, as that had long gone. |
| Underneath the rotten carpet we found some 'very nice' lino, circa 1978, fitted as standard by Devon Conversions Ltd. The round plate in the floor holds the table leg. But that lino, isn't it a wonderful design. |
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Normally the lino would not be seen as fitted carpet covered it. We normal carry a large rubber mat that doubles as the carpet and a floor in the drive away awning when we go camping. That and the fact we have two dogs that like to get wet! |
| In the back we have a lot of storage space. The three pigeon holes will take shoes, spare awning lights and Wendys collection of silly hats. The lower hole houses the 240v electric consumer box with four sockets, so when on a site with electric hook up we can have all sorts of extras, like a fan heater on those colder nights. |
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The hook up socket is mounted inside the engine compartment, and the wiring comes up through the side engine vent. All you need then is a standard caravan hook up cable. The larger cupboard normally holds our jumpers and trousers etc. It will hold about a weeks worth. |
| The top locker is very useful for storing those extra towels and bits that the ladies always seem to have to have. When we bought Katy someone had hacked holes in the front of this for speakers. One day when Wendy was packing, the Melamine just fell apart in her hands. |
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So I ended up re making the front face. You can not get replacement melamine in the same colour, so I ended up painting white melamine with machine enamel paint. The colour match in very good and it's the only stuff that sticks to melamine. |
| The table is normally stored under the top locker on brackets attached to the under side. One other feature we fitted was a smoke alarm on the under side of the pop top. It is sensitive, we had some oil burn off the heat ex changers under the engine bay, it picked up the faint residue of smoke from this. |
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The fridge door was looking a little tired, so I painted it the same colour as the cupboards. Unfortunately all the extra handle holes in the doors had to be filled so I ended up painting the lot with 'Bamboo' machine enamel paint. |
| There is a very large and deep locker to the side of the bench seat. This currently holds the gas bottle, and other bits we use when camping. Under the bench seat is another locker used to store the bedding. You can just make out the table leg clipped just under the seat. |
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The cushions were made by Wendy using the 5" blue foam used in chair making. This is fire retardant and firmer then the cheaper white foam. The check material is used throughout the camping area to give a consistent look. We are planning to cover the lino with green and cream floor tiles in the future. |
| When we camp we like to make our mark as can be seen here at Vanfest 2004. Note the rainbow over the van, it's just visible. This clearly shows the drive away awning, you just unhook it from the side of the van when you want to go visiting. Its very useful for keeping your spot on the camp site. |
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We have a number of flags we carry with us when we are away, people seem to like them flying. One tip is to mark the position of your wheels before moving off. We do this with talcum powder. It soon washes away and you can realign the van to the awning a lot easier. |
