I slept well in #PaddyTheCaddy last night. My bedtime routine is now established. I know what order to do things and where things live.

This is my first overnighter with my fridge, Jackery and new stove. The kitchen isn't finished yet but I have a secure frame to which I clipped some hardboard to act as the worktop. I have a choice of porridge or yoghurt with fruit for breakfast. Luxury. 😋😀

Oh no! Weird Skoda man has just driven in (and out!) of the carpark again. He seems to be looking for something or someone.

#VWCaddy
#VanConversion
#Microcamper

I'm in #PaddyTheCaddy tonight. On a beach in North Wales. So many places have signs explicitly forbidding caravans, motorcaravans and sleeping in vehicles, but this place has no signs...... so it's busy.

Some vehicle occupants are like me, ie wanting to spend a quiet night looking out to sea. Others, I suspect, are different. A recent arrival is playing boom boom music.

I'm making my tea now. I'll see how the place feels in a couple of hours. Plan B is just down the road.

#Campervan
#VWCaddy

Today I'm measuring up for the kitchen worktop. I've bought a lovely quarter sheet of bamboo plywood and I'm quite nervous about cutting it.

I'm trying to optimise usable worktop space with adequate knee room when I'm sitting on the bench.

This piece of cardboard is currently a little too deep, as I need room to reach into the kitchen storage while the bed is extended. My habit of keeping cardboard boxes, in case they come in handy, has been well justified in this project. 😄

I'm not looking forward to cutting the hole for the sink, but it doesn't have to be a perfect circle.

I secured the kitchen frame to the floor yesterday. Things are starting to come together. 🙂

#PaddyTheCaddy
#VanConversion
#VWCaddy

I decided I needed to stick to a plan and stop dithering when building #PaddyTheCaddy's kitchen.

I'm 85% sure what the design is and maybe 90% sure how I'm going to build that 85%, so I've spent the afternoon carefully re-measuring and constructing simple jigs out of right-angled cardboard boxes, lengths of wood and lots of clamps.

I learnt a lot from making the bed frame and I won't be making those mistakes again. 😄

I needed to get building and let the unknowns sort themselves out along the way.

Tomorrow I'll work out exactly where the floor bolts will go, then screw together the side rails/legs to the floor struts.

I have a nice piece of bamboo to cut for the (split level) worktop.

#VanConversion
#VWCaddy

I've been going round in circles trying to design #PaddyTheCaddy's kitchen.

I decided that I would use 20x20 Aluminium Extrusion and I've been watching videos and studying the different kinds of connectors and joints.

However, I just don't think I'm clever enough to order the right stuff. Yes, I could phone the friendly and helpful customer service line but I suspect they're more used to dealing with engineers who have a more specific question than "So, what's all this about then?"

About 20 minutes ago I changed my mind and am going to make it out of wood. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. 😄

Wood will be heavier but I can make anything I want. It'll look "homely" but #MyVanMyRules.

#CamperConversion
#VWCaddy

I've made a folding shelf to bridge the gap between #PaddyTheCaddy's bench seat and the folded flat 2nd row seat. This means the bed is long enough to stretch out on.

I need to finish the support struts and I'll need some kind of hook and eye to stop the shelf bobbing about in bench mode when I'm driving.

#VanConversion
#VWCaddy

I've made a bench for #PaddyTheCaddy.

It pulls out in 2 sections to make 3/4 of a bed. The remaining 1/4 will be at this end and built onto a folded down middle row seat.

Bits aren't straight. Some of the joints and screws are woeful and I've already identified things to improve or correct but, overall, I'm well chuffed with that. Look what I made! 😃

#VanConversion
#MicroCamper
#VWCaddy

I'm starting to believe that I will eventually have a #campervan.

The frame of the bench is secured to the floor.
I've built the small section of pull-out bed. (Subject to some minor additional fettling.)

I'm identifying lessons at every stage. #PaddyTheCaddy2 is going to be AMAZING!!

#MicroCamper
#PaddyTheCaddy
#VanConversion
#VWCaddy

#PaddyTheCaddy's bench seat is coming along. I've made most of the fixed frame. I planned to put 2 more legs in the middle but I'm sitting on the loose slats now and it seems quite sturdy, so I'll have a think about that.

The fixed slats will be spread along the length with gaps between them. The gaps will be filled with a sliding, pull-out set of slats which makes the bench into a bed.

The bench is only just over a metre long as the bed will extend over one of the folded down 2nd row seats.

Some of my woodwork is awful but I've been learning as I go and I wouldn't want it to look TOO professional. 😁

#VanConversion
#VWCaddy