Last few jobs!

Hoping to set off next week so had to get the last few jobs done. 

Solar Panels / Solar vent installed:

I went for 2 x 100w semi flexible solar panels. These were stixalled onto the roof and then screwed in at the corners. The extractor vent is also solar powered and can be run day and night.

Back door carpeted and bolt fitted

The rest of the doors have had deadlocks fitted to them but I didn't bother with the back door. So I wanted some added security but also wanted to be able to get out if all the other deadlocks were on. 

Front floor - wire covers

I used three battens stixalled to the floor and attached some ply on top, then stuck the vinyl on. Quite happy with the outcome.

Kitchen front and cushions

There's been loads more little jobs that I've done but I haven't got pictures or anything because I want to get on the road!! I may put a finished video up some point soon! As you can see by the cushions, Kim has started to leave her mark on Reg!

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Vinyl Floor and Mat..

We got the vinyl flooring done earlier in the week. Really happy with how it's turned out. Took a while to cut it all into shape. I purposely over cut it, in case I had got any measurements slightly wrong. We then went about sticking it down with double sided vinyl tape. Once it was down, I went round the edges cutting away any excess.

Here's how it turned out:

I hadn't figured out what to do with the side step, in terms of covering it etc. I then had the idea of adding a welcome mat to it . I was going to fold it in half and have it going up the side too. However, as I had over cut the vinyl, it turned out I could just fold this down the side and stick it as well. I then cut the mat to shape and stuck it down:

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Batteries

I had always planned to fit my leisure batteries under both of the seats. Obviously, this reduced the size of battery I could have. So after a lot of research and measurements, I decided on 4 x 100ah Numax leisure batteries. These are by no means the best battery in the world but for the money they are pretty decent. If you keep them maintained, they should last a good while.

When it came to installing them, I had a couple of problems. The first being that, the LT35 cab floor isn't flat. There is a gradually slant and unfortunately, batteries are supposed to be installed as level as possible (obviously this changes depending on where the van is but overall they should be level to the van). I therefore had to come up with a solution of how to install them. I created a level platform for each battery to sit on, being careful not to make it too high, so the terminals wouldn't come into contact with the chair.
Here's the installation:

This is how the batteries sat before I installed the base. As you can see they are fairly slanted!

I installed to batten wedges into the floor

 Ply Screwed into the battens

Straight batteries!

Although the batteries can barely move in the seat base, I needed to make sure they aren't going anywhere at all. So I bought some ratchet straps and used the raised platform and the seat to clamp the batteries in.

The next task was to wire them all as I had set out in my electrics diagram. This was more of a pain than it should have been because I didn't have a lot of cable! The pos and neg cable needs to be equal length, so it was a pain. However, I got there in the end:

I may add some rubber tops to the terminals on each battery. Just as a precaution, should it come into contact with the seat.

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