Andy's shed on wheels

[Andy_l]

Not progressing as well as Zoltan's but I thought it was time to share some pics of the transformation of my shed.
It's going to be a weekend truck for the two of us, not as ambitions as Zoltan's full family expedition vehicle.

When we got it it had this rather odd arrangement of furniture and blue emulsion paint


Functional, but not practical or particularly comfortable, the double bed was only 3 foot wide :0
Oh, and the carpet had to go as there was only just enough headroom with bare floorboards.
First time we used it the condensation was unbelievable! Wet weekend and cooking pasta on a gas hob, the place was just wringing!

Floor boards cleaned up pretty well

walls lined with a kind of vinyl foam (used in steel hull narrow boats) to reduce condensation Table folds down and right hand seat pulls out to full length. Storage in the seat bases, with hindsight I'd have at least one opening at the front so that you can store things without lifting the seat and cushions.

Seats and cushions and all that stuff. There's a higher back support on the right now with a worktop on top.

All folds down to a BIG bed!

In the back corner is the wee room...

which has a bi-fold door so that there's enough room inside


That's about it so far, no cooker/sink or heating yet, we use a plastic bowl and camping cooker!
Having spent a weekend in it at the beginning of December I know that we REALLY need a heater!

But mechanical stuff next I think.
It always starts eventually and it always gets there (eventually). My next goals are for it to start without needing to crank for 20 minutes and to be able to top 45 mph on the open road

Andy

[zoltan]

Brilliant Andy. I like your bi-folding door. Mine is simply too wide so you need to be quite slim and wedge yourself in the corner to open the door at the moment. I've bought piano hinges to make it fold in the middle but I like your solution as far as best utilising the interior space
Have you tested the efficiency of the vinyl foam yet with another pasta test? I found like you loads of condensation over a very cold night with three of us sleeping in. I'm certain to put an extractor in for cooking

[Ditch]

To help with the condensation problem I think these truck bodies could do with some decent high level ventilation. I was toying with the idea of a spin up circular type like on a canal boat or an opening skylight like a deck hatch with a view of the stars.

I've slept in cars and vans quite a bit over the years and the secret to keeping warm is keep the windows open a bit. The humidity you build up makes you feel the cold more than the temperature with the window open.

[Andy_l]

We have a small circular boat type vent front and rear (the front one is visible, the rear one is in the loo - need to add a vent to the loo wall I think)
When we were away beginning of December there was no condensation on the walls, but the door isn't covered and that was running so I guess it works!

Considered putting a caravan type roof vent / light in, but this is a little tricky due to the slight curve of the roof, not sure of the strength of the roof afterwards (I will still need to walk over the roof to get at things) and they always project inside a bit where headroom is only just sufficient as it is.

Have to admit, I didn't do most of the work myself!
Before I got my own shed I kept the truck outside a friend’s workshop (in a locked compound), he fits out narrow boats for a living. He has the tools, materials and experience, did me a favour and had no work on at the time so I got him to do most of the work, though Jane and I planned it out with him.
He was trying to use stuff from his stock, so the materials are what he had about, all nice stuff tho. All the wood is oak and beech (apart from the floorboards they were already there!)

[Andy_l]

Anyone who knew my truck from previous owners might know that the propshaft broke under a previous owner and left a dent in the floor visible from the underside. The propshaft was replaced but the damage to the floor remained.

The floor is pretty think with a few layers of different materials, but when we removed the carpets I could see that it had actually damaged the floorboard inside too. So this was lifted and glued down (with an old anvil on it for weight!), but the join was still visible and needed to be sanded. This was the main reason the floor was sanded and varnished, although that was what I had wanted in the first place, Jane wanted a vinyl floor! I got my choice by accident

That red floor paint is very very hard work, lots of belts and two sanders gave their lives for that floor!

[Luke]

I like this thread, I love seeing all these build threads, they really inspire me!

[Andy_l]

Brilliant Andy. I like your bi-folding door. Mine is simply too wide so you need to be quite slim and wedge yourself in the corner to open the door at the moment. I've bought piano hinges to make it fold in the middle but I like your solution as far as best utilising the interior space

That door is the width of the gap between the wheel arch and the back of the truck. Convenient and a good size too.
The bit it bolts against when expanded is cut (divided) at an angle so that it doesn't have to be removed if you want to open the second rear door. Not while anyone is on the loo tho, obviously

[zoltan]

Brilliant Andy. I like your bi-folding door. Mine is simply too wide so you need to be quite slim and wedge yourself in the corner to open the door at the moment. I've bought piano hinges to make it fold in the middle but I like your solution as far as best utilising the interior space

That door is the width of the gap between the wheel arch and the back of the truck. Convenient and a good size too.
The bit it bolts against when expanded is cut (divided) at an angle so that it doesn't have to be removed if you want to open the second rear door. Not while anyone is on the loo tho, obviously

My cubicle is actually the same width as that wheel arch gap but deeper, out to about 3 inches from the door split line, I wanted a shower tray in the bottom as well as the porta potti (cue the sauna jokes )

[38thfoot]

Any further developments of the "shed".

cheers

tony

[Andy_l]

ha, well, no!

I'm still here, but Last year was stupidly busy for many different reasons and I just didn't get time to play with it.
Only some tiny changes inside, tried out a replacement for the lights in the back. Wanted LED for good light and low power consumption and low profile. I find it remarkably easy to bang my head on those big glass covers when I'm bent over at the weorktop!

What little time I did have was spent underneath it! I finally fitted an electric fuel pump and regulator and replaced all the old petrol pipe (some of the copper pipe just fell apart as I removed it!) This showed that the carb float valve was leaking, petrol just poured into the carb and flooded out all over the engine when the ignition was turned on!
Finally got a couple of hours to sort that last month (birthday treat - 2 hours to myself in the shed!) and that was the first time it had fired up since May. Started straight away by the way It hasn't left it's cosy shed since April
No, I moved it across the road out of the way to work on something else in May! But it hasn't left the street since April

Andy