Planning

We started a certain amount of outline planning before we found a vehicle. This was to try to work out what we needed to look for.

We asked ourselves a few questions:
Did we want a shower?
Were we likely to use it in the winter?
Did we mind putting the bed away every day?
What sort of cooking facilities?

As a result of much deliberation we eventually worked out a rough specification.

We needed a toilet, a shower, a hob (maybe could do without an oven), a water heater, a fridge, a bed, a table, storage for clothes, storage for food, storage for ‘stuff’ (hose pipe,hookup cable,etc).

Once we had agreed to buy the minibus I could start work on detailed planning. I had measured the floor area when we had the initial viewing. So I started on a floor plan. It was a tight squeeze, but I thought that we had enough room for everything.

An early design decision was about the bed. At first I’d hoped to have it going across the van, to free up more space in front. But it soon became clear that there wasn’t enough width higher up. There was just about at floor level, but the van sides slope in. This feature was to prove problematic later!

 

 

 

Rough sketches and calculations
Chart on my workshop wall