Another Tip run

After a busy day elsewhere I managed to get some work done on the caravan. I stripped out the remaining wood, shower and sink units and managed to fill quite a few of the holes left by the removal of various pipes and leads. Those coach builders knew what they were doing. It was easy to follow their methods in reverse. The problem with these old caravans is that they were made for a time when campsites didn't have many facilities.The well intentioned shower and sink were fine back then but nobody wants to shower in a cupboard anymore right? So what we are left with now is a totally stripped out caravan. No plumbing, no electrics and one wall in a bit of a mess. The ceiling looks like a machine gun has gone off at random. The dilemma now is whether or not to block up the windows or remodel them into a different shape or possibly go for stained glass. There is an abundance of double glazing being thrown away so one or three of these units could do the job. Failing that I intend to make a custom window frame for each of the windows and glaze with some strong perspex. Just a few items left to dismantle and work can begin on tarting the old girl up or (Pimping My Caravan).

Day 2

Who's idea was it to buy a tatty caravan? Two days later and I am still stripping out 1970's furniture. Almost a blank canvas inside now but still lots of work to do on the walls, insulation, waterproofing, flooring and then the vintage wallpaper. From there the plan is to gather all the shabby chic furniture we have been restoring and try somehow to get that in. A few throws, a tea set, a book shelf and a nice comfy chair and occasional bed and hey presto.I managed to remove the water pump, shower, electric circuit boards and a whole lot of other stuff, which may have worked, but it is far easier to just install a new fuse box and forget about the water. A nice big bowl and jug on a stand is just the job. The trouble is that it is easy to see the finish line but there is a heck of a lot of work in between. I am discovering a few more problems as I strip it back. There are definitely areas, which will need resealing. I will be blocking up most of the vents too. They seem to be everywhere and Welsh weather finds them easily. I am considering lining it with insulation boards and then covering with ply. The floor is spongy in parts so I will have a look at that tomorrow. The caravan is now extremely lightweight and easy to move. We intend putting moveable lightweight furniture back in. The only original item going back will be the fold out bed. As I take it apart I can se the methods used by the coach builders. It is good stuff but the down side is that they used big nails to fix the top rails holding the furniture in place. It is difficult to remove those without damaging the ceiling board. All cupboards were fixed to the walls with demonic rivets with claws. When these are removed they also leave their mark. I cut off all the gas pipes and the electrics. I would not be happy with gas in there. As soon as the inside is finished and if I have the energy, I might just paint the outside.

Creperie in a Caravan

I love the stuff you find on this new fandangled thing called T'Internet. Just look at these pics. There I was thinking about what I could do with the caravan and i find this La Boheme CreperieWe will see what develops. It could be the first creperie in Pontyates.

Caravans

Some Inspiration

The Work Begins

After a bit of haggling I bought a caravan. As with anything, it is worth checking and double checking what you are actually buying. I have bought a caravan in the past but back then I had the help of a man who knew all there was to know about caravans. We settled on a Royal Tour Ranger, which lasted us a while and is now pitched on a friend's small holding looking as good as ever. After buying our latest model an old aluminium number, we brought it back home and began to give it a real god look over. It didn't take long to notice that one side of it was absolutely soaking wet. The timber was like a sponge. I hadn't really looked that hard when buying it. Usually you can smell the damp. The only thing to do was look on the bright side and begin the deconstruction process. With the help of my two young lads, we began stripping out the fixings. They were nice but not brilliant. A sad wood laminate, which was peeling off and they were also quite cumbersome. I bit the bullet and decided to do a total rebuild inside. After much unscrewing of panels I finally exposed one wall, which on inspection was black, mouldy and wet. It looked like the damage had been done via leaking window seals. The water had made its way along the walls side to side an downwards. After cutting out most of the rot, I gave it a spray with mould and mildew killer. I have removed the old seals and opened the windows to allow as much of it to dry out as possible. After searching online for similar projects I was energised by what I saw. The plan now is to strip the rest of the interior out, expose the floor and try to repair most of the water damage. My basic idea is to fit it all out in new ply panels and then to overlay those either with wallpaper or with tongue and groove. From experience, wood seems to attract mould so wallpaper might just be the final decision. I have to check the electrics and water system next. There are quite a few wires hanging about where I stripped out the furniture. I am in two minds as to whether or not I paint the outside. At the moment it doesn't look too bad. I am not sure whether to strip out the windows either and reseal them all. The mastic around them at the moment is messy.

I will be uploading some photos as I go along. Meanwhile here are a couple of caravans, which caught my eye.