Is that a ceiling fan or a helicopter?

This is the end... My noisy old friend, the end.

After 5 years of (fairly) stalwart service, the dog van has taken its last journey to the great campsite in the sky.

Ironically this year I was going to finally sort out some of the major faults that persisted, and I had booked some garage time for some work on the gearbox. But on a drive to work one evening the oil light refused to stop flashing.

A brief history of this. The oil pressure light had a habit of showing off when the engine was hot and idling, but would extinguish above 2000rpm. I had the pressure checked at a garage and this was exported ok, it was low when idling but when pulling away and above 2000 rpm it was correct as per VW spec.

But on this journey it refused to extinguish.

Looking underneath I found a fine sheen of engine oil all over the underside of the engine. I'm guessing that a gasket or plug popped.

At this point I thought enough was enough. I was expecting a bill of between £700 - £1500 for the gearbox work and now I'm looking at a knackered engine...again.

So taking stock I decided now was the time to change vehicles, and looking through autotrader I found a nice looking Land Rover Freelander. Set up a time to see it on Good Friday and before I knew it I had 3 cars parked outside my house again (one being my wife's Beetle).

I've started a new blog about the Freelander, I get the impression it may become a bit of a saga. The new blog is imaginatively called "The Dog Van II".

Back to the original van, I spent a hectic few days stripping out things I can reuse / sell and called cartakeback to have it towed away. They only paid me in magic beans but to be honest I just wanted it gone. It was a sad sight seeing it on the back of the tow truck, but compared to the Freelander - god it sounded rough. I know diesels are noisy, clattering engines but this sounded like someone had thrown half a dozen penny washers in each cylinder, and didn't bother editing the head!

It probably didn't help that the tow man knocked the sump into the tow frame while he was loading it, but at least it was going to be scrapped anyway.

It was an odd feeling seeing the van going like this, for all its faults it never failed to get me to my destination, even when a coolant hose split 50 miles from home it took a little lateral thinking to avoid the tow truck.

But now it's gone.

And that's a wrap

Another one of my interests is the world of "every day carry". Originally borne out of survivalists and what they carry in the wild of the Rocky mountains or similar, it now encompasses urbanites and what they need through the day to "survive".

Of course a lot of this is entirely irrelevant to the UK - I don't need to carry a Ruger Super Redhawk in case I get jumped by a grizzly on my way home from Tesco's (part of me says that's good, but the gear-nut says it's a pity), but the premise is similar - if the van breaks down how do I get home?

But I digress, this post is about a part of EDC, paracord wraps.

Wrapping paracord (extremely strong nylon cord used for parachutes) is a handy way to keep a length on your person in a convenient form, be it a lanyard or a wrap around something you always carry.

A large number of knots and wraps have been devised / adapted from sailors knots and I have used a simple wrap on my vans grab handles.

This really is a simple wrap, but I have used reflective paracord to aid finding the handle in low light / under torch light. It also makes the handles a bit nicer to use, offering a more cushioned and better grip. It also keeps with the utilitarian mood of the van, and I'm looking for other areas that can get the paracord treatment...

A rather large alteration

Things have changed recently.

For the last week my left hand has been a little harder to lift.

This is due to my marriage to my ever understanding but often eye rolling fiancée Toni.

Unfortunately on the van front, spending has hit a temporary halt while we finish paying for the wedding, and also the rather large MOT bill. Yup, I got stung for some repairs that I hadn't realised needed doing. Luckily these weren't too terminal for the old girl, she is 11 years old after all and had little or no care in the years before I bought her.

But  back to the wedding, we had lei's from Flower's Up! which we hung on the back of the guests chairs.

These worked brilliantly as an alternative to the usual fabric bows, and added a little dub magic to the proceedings. And after buying so many lei's we have loads spare, so I'm going to re-string a few together to hang across our dash boards.

Load shelf redux

I've already covered my first attempt at a load shelf, and perfectly serviceable it was too. However, I knew there was a better use of the space.

After scouring the Land Rover forums and eBay I found an auction for an ex army under bed locker. These are often used by the LR boys to make an extending drawer in the back of their Defenders, so taking inspiration I paid out a massive £12 for one box!

Once it arrived I set about it with a tin of paint, I just needed to freshen up the parts that will be exposed once I have fitted and trimmed with Ally plate. I also cut a hole in the hinged lid to fit a drawer handle. I intend fitting a sheet of aluminium or stainless to the top of the lid so I will fit the handle then. I will also remove the original pulls and fit some chequers plate to the front, once the load shelf is fitted.

In preparation for installing in the van, I remade a new battery box and storage trunk which also serves as a support for one side of the drawer, the other side being supported by a MDF upright. Keeping weight down (as much as I can) I drilled both uprights with a large hole saw in a diamond pattern. This is mostly obscured by the carpet and drawer, but makes a huge difference in weight.

Once all of this was roughed out I placed an order to Megavanmats for some black carpet. I was tempted to try the mega stretch but as I don't need to cover too many awkward contours, I went for the regular stuff. This was just fine and I covered the side panels at last...

With the addition of some full extension heavy duty drawer slides the box was fitted, and it works perfectly.

Now I have storage, but also once I have covered the top with metal a cooking surface that is outside the van. This is important not only for reducing the risk of fires but keeping nasty cooking niffs at bay.

Next up for the load shelf is the actual shelf, to be placed across the boxed arches.

So if I'm cooking under the tailgate it would be nice to see what I've doing, right?

Well already in hand, I've reused the LED roof lights I had in my first headlining mod, and fitted them along with another Carling switch in a remodeled tailgate panel. This is done in the same was as the side panels were, and once covered in carpet I think it looks very cool.

The lights set off nicely against the black carpet.

And the switch looks good too, and sticks out only as much as the MDF so is fairly low profile.

Now I just need to make sense of the spaghetti mess at the rear and fit it to the van...

Switch on, switch off

Something else I found on the Mud stuff website was a nice range of Carling switches. I've been trying to find some customizable switches for the various new circuits I'm putting in the van and these fit the bill nicely.

Not only do the types of switches cover all the bases - on/off, on/on/off, mom/off/mom etc, but they take legends in the front illuminated area. All assemble they look factory, so an order was placed (of course) for 1 switch and a 6 way bezel, along with the rear terminal plug and terminals and legends. I only ordered 1 switch for now as I wanted to check fit and finish first.

In the hand these switches really are nice, solid action and well made. This goes for the bezel too.

Originally I planned to replace all of my existing switches with these Carling ones, but as the VW hazard switch and heated screen switch both house the relay too, I've had to keep them original.

I've decided to mount the 6 way bezel above teh heater controls, it fits here perfectly and I've never used the cubby. Having it in line below the stereo helps it look factory, rather than just cobbled together.

How neat is that!

So first up is a switch to isolate the night heater, and also a switch to control the rear fan.

Ever planning for the future, I made up a loom for all 6 switch positions. With my plans for heated front seats I have 2 spares.

And here they are, looking very neat.

Here we have a shot at night, I may change the illumination colour in the future to match VW's.

Keeping the look I will be utilising these switches in other areas in the van.

Bulk-head-lining

All work and no play makes Jack...

I've been working hard lately, just not on the van. Ok, well maybe I haven't been working that hard, but I have been working as many hours as I can get.

But every now and then I get a bit of energy and I get things done. Like the headlining. When I last updated I had covered some hardboard with 6mm foam, and now it was time to recover in the final material.

I had already bought this many moons ago, so no cost was involved as I had some adhesive left over from the carpeting. The material is almost suede to the touch and lends a feel of luxury to an otherwise functional conversion. While I was at it I recovered the nasty front headlining to match.

With the sun visors sprayed satin black to match the black supports it all comes together nicely.

So that was relatively cheap, and the next job was potentially cheaper.

I've been looking out for a mesh bulkhead to fit behind my rear seats for some time. I've looked at genuine VW T4 ones, landrover ones, nearly won a Landcruiser one on eBay too. But no luck, either too expensive or too far away.

Then, as I sat surfing I had an epiphany. Mercedes Vito's are the same basic shape and size as the T4, and they don't attract the "scene tax" as VW's do. A quick search uncovered a mesh bulkhead only 50 miles away. The best bit, £0.99 starting bid with no reserve!

So a late bid was placed, and I got it for 99p!

Ok, a 100 mile round trip costs something but it's still a steal.

In the cold light of day it's about 2 inches too wide. But with swift application of the grinder (my new favourite tool) 4 inches were removed (to make fitting easier) from the middle. I was considering welding it back into 1 piece (with my 2nd favourite tool) but SWMBO made a decree that it should be in 2 halves to make removal easier. This makes sense and now I can still carry long items if I remove 1 side.

To fit the van I bonded some ply (the same used previously for the fan) to the roof in which I had already installed some "wood nuts" (http://thedogvan.blogspot.com/2011/03/boxing-clever.html). As I have laid ply to the floor more of these nuts were fitted there. Adding a small piece of angle to the bottom of each bulkhead, they are now held in play with 3 M8 bolts each.

Rock solid and easily removed, just what I wanted.

I chose a mesh bulkhead as I wanted to hang some MOLLE pouches on it, keeping everything more organised.

I have now removed the dog guard I previously fitted (http://thedogvan.blogspot.com/2011/04/carpet-bagging.html) but might need that behind the drivers seat to stop my dogs from trying to get in my lap whilst driving!

Loads on my mind

I new I would change it. My battery box was originally going to be a stand-alone item. But doing some research (pouring over Google image searches) into expedition vehicles I discovered it's de rigueur to have a load shelf,  drawers or cabinets to organise and safely store loose pieces of equipment.

That looks fun I thought, and this way I could safely carry my trolley jack, and have some tidiness in the boot section.

So off to the DIY store I went and came back with an amount of 12mm MDF and some batten.

The frame is made to fit between wheel arches, and is divided into 5 sections. The 3 rear sections are for the fuse / battery box which will is now built in, and also to house a pair of plastic crates for carrying cooking utensils or whatever. These will be accessed from the tailgate and simply slid in/out of position. I still need to come up with a way to secure them during whilst driving.

The 2 front sections are for "recovery equipment", including my 2 tonne trolley jack, wheel braces, fuel can (empty), snow socks and foldable shovel. These are accessed through 2 hinged doors in the top with lockable catches.

Originally I planned to use the same carpet tiles that I will use on the floor, but it will be easier to use hard wearing speaker box carpet.

Another use for the load shelf is as a seat when parked up. Now we can open the tailgate, climb in the back and sit in the shade / out of the rain.

Whilst the main shelf sits between the arches, the angles front and sides will actually extend over the arches. It's neater this way and also provides suitable real estate for fitting some sockets and switches in the rear next to the battery box.

The shelf edge will be protected / neatened using some aluminium treadplate corner protectors, this ties in with the rest of the van.

I'm thinking of adding a load net to the top, but for now this will do me proud.