Hot Water! (well nearly).

I've been busy this weekend. It was time to fit the hot water boiler. It's a Truma ultrastore 10 litre,gas only model.Its possible to add a 240v element to speed up the heating of the water.I probably won't bother as mostly we like to wild camp, so no hook up and the gas tank is 38 litres, should be enough.

Fitting was quite straight forward , once a few things are taken into consideration . Firstly the flue outlet should be more than 300mm from an opening window and 500mm from a gas filling point.The only place that I could fit the boiler is under the travel seat.Its under the window, but more than the 300mm needed, and that part of the window is fixed and more than 500mm from the gas filler point, which is the black circle to the right of the flue in pictures 1&2.
The next problem was to make sure that the flue exited above the plastic trim line.This is done by making a ply plinth for the boiler to sit on. Mine needed the hot water pipe running under the plinth.There is a gas drop out hole to the right of the boiler, and I also needed to drill a hole and fit the shower waste.
On the outside the flue is sealed with some butol mastic ( the type used for sealing gutter joints etc ).It only comes in black and is quite runny.Top tip is to buy some cheap baby wipes from lidl or similar.I find them very useful for wiping away the excess.
So that's where we are at the moment, need to connect the gas and water pipes up and then we're ready to test 😄.

Ceiling boards & lights.

Nice and sunny this weekend, so I managed to fit the last ceiling board and wire in the four lights.I would defiantly recommend boarding the ceiling first before building any framework etc! I'm pleased with the finished article though, and the four downlights light the van well.

Also had to change the wet room ceiling.This was because I used UPVC T&G boarding, but when I came to screw up the inside of the roof vent, I found that the ceiling was too thick! So I've used an offcut of the hardglaze board which is lining the walls.There are two led lights in the ceiling.

Plumbing & Ceiling.

Plumbed the sink waste in today using 28 mm rigid push fit pipe. It's very easy to assemble and I've added a small smell trap. The rigid pipe exits through the van floor then goes into 25mm super flex pipe to the waste tank. It's a good system and the water runs from the sink quite quickly . 

Also fitted two ceiling boards and three down lights. It's quite tricky cutting around the wardrobe and shower room, and in hindsight I probably would board the ceiling before building any framework. Very happy with the finished article though and hopefully cut
and fit the last board tomorrow.

Cornwall Wildcamping

A few pictures of our trip to Cornwall

Cornwall

We've been down to Cornwall this weekend, mainly to stay in the van and make sure that it would be able to get into the field that we use. It does!

I managed to get a temporary work surface made from a half sheet of 18mm ply.Fitted the smev sink and plumbed in the cold water.My order of waste fittings didn't arrive in time, so we had to use a bucket under the sink.

All White

Been busy lining the shower room Walls this week. Bought 3 sheets of hard glaze from Magnums.Took a bit of time to profile it and cut, but finished result looks quite good . Glued it on with neat PVA.The boards need to be held in place with battens and the odd screw here and there, until it sets.As it's been quite hot, that didn't take long!
I need to seal all the joints with a good quality sanitary sealant.

The Water Works.

I've been working on the water supply lately.Piped the fresh water tank in and filled it up. All the pipe work has been done in 15mm JG Speedfit.This is a very easy system to use and I've been able to install isolating valves for each appliance.
The fresh water tank is located under the kitchen unit and is pumped round the back of the fridge, under the bed and tee's off for the toilet ( electric flush model) and carries on to supply the water boiler, which is not fitted yet and the shower & basin.
The toilet is now working and there are no leaks ! Also wired up the tank gauges and tested. The fresh water probe is working but waste pipes to tank are still to be fitted.
Each side of the pump I've used semi rigid blue pipe to stop rattles.There's a drain off exiting under the sliding door, which comes in handy for filling the dogs bowel. 