Hi everyone,
We kicked off the renovation project on 'Bob' at the weekend, starting with a
complete review of the state of all the systems, interior clean and mould
removal, then a complete exterior green mould and moss removal and full window
clean, just to make us feel better at looking at what we bought and get some
alu shining in the clear sunshine. This took hours, with cold water you loose
the feeling in your hands after 10 minutes, so not a fun job.
We slept overnight in 'Bob' on an airbed before we took out the front bed, it
was -3 C outside overnight, but with a small electric oil heater and the
windows closed we survived!
After cleaning, we patched up some bumper mount chassis holes, heavy duty arc
welder did the job easily.
Next days job was to strip everything out forwards of the door, we found an
indoor swimming pool around the water tanks bad couplings, so the floor is
going and we are down to the chassis in places. next weekends jobs are to
remove the rest of the floor to get to the chassis up to 4 foot line from the
front windows (width of new ply sheets over here). Then a coating of Hammerite
on all dried out and sanded chassis steels, plus patch up holes in the
underbelly skin. Then next day put in lots of insulation and a sheet of marine
ply to walk on as we progress down to the back end. We are staying in a B&B to
avoid the fumes this trip.
Next weekend jobs include remove stove/oven/ kitchen area, Type 53 fridge
freezer if we can get the access hatch to open, wardrobe and bathroom, we
shall see how good the floor is, but I would prefer getting to the chassis
anyway and giving it some preservative coatings, and fitting new floor
throughout so we have freedom in the new layout. Plus the Aircon unit is
going, what a design classic that was!
We will probably put down laminate flooring throughout once the ply laying is
complete, and then see what works as practical to meet our touring needs
regarding final layout.
So a busy weekend has just past, and difficult to stay away at work on
Monday!
We recorded the work, you can take a peek at the progress here
http://belmont.smugmug.com , I'll upload photos every week.
Should be on the road for Easter with just the new floor, airbed and camping
stove, pending US to UK vehicle hook up conversions to meet all UK legal
requirements, so Feb and March will be busy!
By August we will have new shower, new kitchen and new toilet finished, plus
new lighting, new fresh/grey/black water systems, new beds/rooms and then a
1500 mile round trip up to Scotland and back.
Jon Adams
1969 Globe Trotter #134
London, England