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Watching the sun appear over the distant hills really made an impact.
The re-build of my Toyota van
Roland Jones
It was the 19th January 2021. I had a fishing trip at Kawhia. As I had recently purchased a van for my business, I decided to throw a mattress inside and head off. After a great day’s fishing and a few beers afterwards, I put my head down for the night tucked up in my sheets.
I woke up early the next morning and reached out and opened the door. It was so peaceful with a slight breeze. The smell of the sea and watching the sun appear over the distant hills really made an impact. I was bitten by the lifestyle. With retirement pending, I realised this was a fantastic opportunity to explore our beautiful country.
After a lot of encouragement from my wife and daughter I fitted out my first campervan.
As time progressed, I added more features— I added overhead cabinets. I upgraded the electrical system (with a lot of advice from fellow members) — with a 140W solar panel I had more power than I needed. Originally, I was going to fit thermal curtains then I decided to install wooden shutters.
The unexpected bonus was that they kept out the lights of other campers arriving late at night , plus kept the van warmer. I also installed a diesel heater, amazing, warms the van up, but I have to have it on its lowest setting otherwise I’m toast.
When I built the van, I knew that sometime later I would have to upgrade it. The utility drawers only came out about half way as I had used some old drawers I had removed from a kitchen. This was not a problem until my wife had a new mattress made for my van. I was able to lift the old mattress to get to the odd item in the back of the drawers but the new mattress was very rigid and heavier, making it almost impossible to get to the back storage units.
Time to upgrade
I completely removed all the old units. I built a new, double-shelf unit. The left drawer and centre drawer contain the everyday items, drawer #3 hits the wall of the van, however it does open approx 400mm, therefore I can keep tools, guy ropes and pegs there. If I do need something out of the back of drawer #3 then I can completely remove drawer #2. All drawers have little rollers on the back to ease the open and close and they have magnetic catches.
Stage 1 completed
Stage 2, later this year, I will re-build the fridge cabinet and bench top, plus install a new toilet. I need it all completed for my next big trip in the South Island — 5 months, starting Feb 2025.◼️
Photos ©2024 Roland Jones
9 Spring 2024
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