You commute to work in it?  :-O

Yep, it's my daily driver.

So is that rear view fitted to a camera yet, or do you just enjoy seeing inside of your van as you drive? :D

It's fitted to a camera!
Works quite nicely during the day, when it's not raining too hard. Especially useful for reversing, combined with the van parking sensors.

That's the 3rd one I'd bought though. First one broke, second one was absolutely awful, this one is good enough and hasn't died yet. Got refunds on the others.

Still not spent the night in it yet (fail)
Been lazy and not really finished it, but been trying to get more bits done whilst I've got nothing else to do.

Next major thing I hope to get done this weekend is a drawer unit that will slide out of the back to hold a camping stove. Then I think to get going just tidy things, some panels to cover the wooden frame. Then eventually cushions rather than an airbed.

RPi van computer installed in the electrics area, along with a bluetooth amplifier



Speakers - not the most ideal spot, but work quite nicely




Switch/control unit

Where is the 65" flat screen going? And the disco lights?

Seriously, it's looking good.

 

Telly on the roof. Disco lights around the outside.

More electronics updates.
USB charger and dimmer switch for lights




Drawer unit with single stove




Tidied up the panels and covered the storage areas. Will make a proper lock/clip for the drawer.




Added some lights




Need a leg/bracket for this

About time I did an update....

Loads of photos here
https://www.instagram.com/LittleRedCamper/

    

Bought a twin stove

   

Tried to fit a mini fridge but it requires too much power.
It was one of those thermoelectric ones with a Peltier Plate as the cooling method. Unfortunately whilst that technology is nice, it's not very efficient so requires a lot of power. Something like a constant 12V/4A/48W.

Traditional fridges use way less power, but you don't get them in a mini variety.

Next steps will be to tidy up cabling, modify some of the storage to make it more easily accessible, add some sort of inside roof storage unit, then give it a lick of paint! Oh and put something on the floor so it's not just the ply lining.

Been out in it a number of weekends over the last couple of months. Only one night at a time, need to try two nights when the weather gives us two good days/nights. Usually go somewhere later on a Friday or Saturday evening, sleep there overnight then go out for a hike the next day.

Last weekend was the first time I felt cold at night, but that just means I need to actually start wearing pyjamas or something similar in bed.

Looking good.

What's the total weight like, have you had to uprate the suspension to stop it squeaking at night?

And how does insurance etc. work?

So, had a crash a few weeks ago. Very steep cobbled street, more snow and ice than I thought. Things went..... downhill very quickly. Crashed into a parked car at the bottom. Could have been way way worse. Thankfully no injuries to my girlfriend or myself.

It went off to the scrap yard in the sky on Friday.

I guess one positive is that I managed to negotiate a good payout from the insurance which will go towards a bigger van. Problem is, van prices are a bit silly at the moment and nearly all listings that I've contacted have already been sold. Remove the bloody listing then!! :@

 

OH NOs! All that work. I imagine you managed to rescue some of the insides, but obviously not all the custom carpentry etc.?

Rescued the custom carpentry. Whether it'll be much use in a new van I'm not so sure, but some parts could possibly be cannibalised.

Tried to remove the solar panel, but turns out I used too much (too strong) adhesive and it started peeling the roof paint off. So that has been sacrificed.

Otherwise it's just the insulation and carpet lining that has been left. Stripped all my other electronics.

Maybe put a crash bar on the front next time. Or not.

Yeah, late 90s I was that rare beast, a trade union rep inside a huge international IT company, EDS (EDS had an HR director who was a rich-list billionaire, so well in touch with the needs of his staff). I circulated a note to all members suggesting they lose their "bull bars" as they were totally useless other than to fuck people they hit. Since the whole management team at the site where I worked had bull-bars, even on their sad corporate Vauxhall Cavaliers (really), this did not go down well.

EDS. I remember that name in connection with some far-right USian nutjob, which narrows it down to ~70-million.

The outsourcing/consultancy bit that I worked for ended up being bought by HP although I think it's fragmented into various bits now. The original EDS was started by Ross Perot if that's the chap you're thinking of. The Board was a typical smug bunch of Ivy League, entitled, rich people and we were blessed with vanity published hardcover books of their wise thoughts about business and life in general every few months. Worth a laugh after the cringe had worn off. That said, they weren't a bad company to work for.

Ross Perot, that be him. From the few media appearances I took in, he had the charisma of a turnip.

He was a MAN OF ACTION. When a couple of EDS bigwigs were locked up in Iran after the revolution he organised a private rescue operation led by former Green Beret Arthur "Bull" Simons. GM took over the company in 84, although it continued as EDS, and he eventually stepped aside in favour of Les Alberthal who was CEO when I worked for them. Alberthal had an eye-wateringly vast retirement fund. When he stepped down in caused a drop in the share price.