The Transformation of Ervin UrVan

I've been promising this one for a while so here we go. I'll keep it short and sweet so we can get on to the good stuff like travelling around to  beautiful places with Ervin and Melba Malvern. This is Ervin when I picked him up. Not bad for a van that has had multiple owners and was lived in by three canadian guys at one time. He's a little beat up on the outside but workable.

Jonathan was proud of his red velvet curtains which look a little like something out of an ill reputed french establishment. I was thinking maybe a little update, that headliner could be a little more feng shui also.

I like the dresser idea but it too was a little rough. 

The bed was constructed of thick and heavy particle board, starting to come apart a bit, but you gotta admit the sub woofer is cool.

Ervin also needed a serious cleaning, that took a couple of days itself. I guess I needed a project when I bought this van but it does have lots of room, a bike rack, and low kilometers. I wanted to get rid of the carpet and put in some vinyl so I went with a thin plywood floor. I found recycled building materials store in Christchurch and got my materials very cheap. 

Here is a photo with the vinyl installed, starting to look good and easy to clean plus the storage containers slide in and out nicely. 

Then I went in with some girder type supports built out of 2 x 2s, no wait, they are actually 25mm x 25 mm. I'm still getting used to the metric system.  But you have to love having a speed limit of 100 on all of the main highways. 

Next came the platform for the bed. One of my ideas with this design was to maximize the storage underneath. It worked out well. I learned some things that I might do differently but that is always the case when you build something; or at least when I build something.

I had been thinking about how to build a stash location, somewhere to keep my computer etc. when I was out tramping for a few days. Somewhere big enough but not too conspicuos. 

I really like the way it turned out and it only took me about half an hour to throw together. 

I bought some curtains at the Salation army and found a seamstress to help me make them fit.  Her name was Sashi and she was from Fiji so I was more than happy to work with her. She did a great job for a fair price. There are curtains all the way around so complete privacy if you want it. I had her add some velcro so they can be pulled back away from the bed and pretty much sealed so no light gets out. The tinted windows also help.

Here he is with the bed installed and made up. It is pretty comfy inside. and set up to cook or anything else you need to do. Well almost, he's not fully self contained but it could be done. Sashi sewed together some of the excess material from the curtains to make the new headliner.

A new dresser complements of the Salvation Army, for a small fee of course.  I built it up to a nice height and have room for my shoes and other things beneath. I have my clothes in the bottom drawer and my kitchen stuff and some personal items stashed in the other two. 

This is Ervin at the Albert Town Campsite, close to Wanaka a.k.a. mountain bike heaven. It felt good to move in and start travelling around and it is going to work out. well. 

Some may say I put in too much work but hey, I have more time than money and having a project felt good. It was fun for the most part but wasn't toally free of frustrations. I ended up putting in a water pump that I hadn't planned on and drove a screw into the overhead light shorting out the radio which was a real bummer. I figured it out pretty quick though and and it only cost me a blown fuse. So now Ervin is road worthy, New windscreen and brakes complements of Jonathan the former resident. Two new tires and alignment, new water pump, and some odds and ends. He should be good for another 200,000 Kilometers.