Reginald the Campervan

Has been a tough few days trying to get my head around how to build the first seat box.
I made several mistakes along the way but I think I got there in the end.

So I started off with a basic design using simple butt joints. These would all sit round 4 or 5 thick, solid "legs". There was so much to think about when designing the beds though. The main two things were A) How high the bed and frame would be and B) the depth from the wall.
Each of these had several things within them to think about. I'll start off with the depth:

The width of the van is 173cm from wall to wall (at the bottom). Now the drivers side is going to be where the main bed is. This is going to extend to make one massive bed. Therefore, when making both seats, you need to think of what size gap you are leaving in between. You also need to think of how wide a bed should be and how wide a seat should be! I did several different calculations and came up with what I thought would be manageable. I then, got to dining chairs and sat them facing each other at the exact same distance apart as I wanted to check leg room. So I got my dad to sit on the one opposite me and it was ok. So each seat will be 67.5cm wide and the gap will be 38cm.

The height was an absolute ball ache to work out and I completely messed it up the first time.
I got all my calculations done, including mattress depth, cushions, everything. I was that confident I even went ahead and cut all the legs to size. It was only when I went to put the legs in the van that I realised my seat base didn't even go over the wheel arch!!! MAJOR ERROR!!
So I had to completely scrap plans and start again. I worked out all the measurements again. Taking into account the height of the wheel arch, the height from floor to window, the mattress depth, the "gap" mattress (which will be against the wall when unused and therefore comes into height calculations). It took me a while but I got there in the end.

I started cutting the wood and was confident enough to start fitting it out:

The batten lengthways across the middle is screwed into the floor. This will give strength to the frame whilst also making it square. At this point only that batten was actually screwed to the van. The rest of the frame is loose. The reason for this was because I needed to add the cladding at the end. I wouldn't be able to get to it to screw it in if it was already in place.

Cladding added, was getting late, so called it a night here. Was relatively happy with what I'd done.

I set about adding the front cladding the next day.

Starting to look quite smart now!!

I added another strengthening batten behind the front frame. This is also screwed to the floor and should stop the front going anywhere!

I then started cutting the frame and slats for the lid:

Then I made my second big mistake. I had cut the lid frame using just a front batten and a back batten, which would be attached with the slats on top. I went and got some hinges and screwed the back one to the frame. Luckily before I started adding all the slats and attaching it to the front, I realised you wouldn't be able to lift the lid!! I had attached the back batten vertically, so it folded up and down fine but when the slats were added to the top of it, there wasn't enough room for it to go anywhere!!! DOH!!

I unscrewed it all and headed to Wickes to pick up a wider piece of wood for the back. I cut that to size and attached it. I then had to go over all the slats again and cut off a bit at the end and re-drill them all.. urgh!!

I added another bit of supporting leg for the wider bit of wood to sit on and then started screwing the slats in. 3rd mistake!! I only used one screw for each slat. This was just stupid, the lid could pivot on the screws and was seriously wobbly and all over the place. So I unscrewed all of them again! and re-drilled 2 holes in each end. I then attached them all back on again. What a ball ache!!!

Anyway, I fixed the original back section under the slats to add extra support and was finished!!

I went over all the rough edges with 320 grit sandpaper and then Kim went over it all with Danish Oil for me whilst I worked on other things. Here is the final piece:

New thing, a song per post.. This week has mostly been this:

We nipped to Screwfix and Homebase to pick up some varnish and a couple of other bits.
The wood needed sealing in order to protect it. So I used a water based varnish on all the ply, I'm not bothered how this looks because it won't be seen, it's purely for protection.
I then bought some natural Danish oil for the cladding after reading up some info about it. I'll apply one coat of this to seal it, then sand it smooth and then add Antique Pine Danish oil until I get the colour I want.

Anyway, first thing today was to put the wall in behind the drivers side. There's a slight gap on the end due to the size of the ply, I have more ply cut to fit this but wont put it in yet because of wiring.

Once the wall was in, me and Kim got down to varnishing! We started with the floor using brushes and varnishing along the grain of the wood. We left this to dry and then I went down to seal the cladding. I used a cotton t-shirt and basically just rubbed the Danish oil into the wood.

Pics:

Does exactly what it says on the tin...