Van life, brahh

Oof! Where to start?

I still own the van, for better or worse. Back at the beginning of the summer I got rear-ended on the motorbike; stayed upright, but gained some neck injuries that put a dampener on any bike trips. I also found myself with sinus/ear infections and complications one after another. Even now my ears don't feel right but referrals and treatment is mega-slow. That means I've not used the van for big trips as intended from a personal point of view. But I also found myself spending more time getting mechanical work done this past 12 months than driving it anyway.

Some of this is a recap of the previous posts on here, but....

Insulation:
Used trim-fix to attach a couple layers all around. It's superfoil-type stuff.

Trim:
Found some non-stretch stuff kind of like roller-blind material in grey, and used that. It's a bit of a shit job but complete. Previous material was Cordura, but the plastic backing was impossible to stick.

Bulkhead:
Still the cage behind the driver side. Recently put a sheet of thin black material up to stop people seeing what's in the back.

Seats:
Single driver seats for driver and passenger. Passenger is on a swivel base.

Floor:
I replaced the original slightly rotten ply with new sheets, cut to shape with a multi-tool using the original as a template. For a year I had some lino vinyl flooring on top, but it was looking worse for wear.
Recently I fitted laminate flooring on top. I kept the vinyl in place as an underlay. Looks much better. Quieter, stronger, cleaner.

Beds:
The bed on the wall worked well but wasn't massively comfortable. It also rattled around when driving and generally flexed when laying on top.
When I needed to fit the gf as well, I opted to buy a Jay Be single bed. Initially I had the Jay Be alongside the fold-down bed, and the gf and I slept side by side, but I slept badly. I ripped it off the wall and dismantled it, and got a second Jay Be single. They take up next to no space when folded up against the wall

Ideally I'd own the folding double, but I won't pay rrp for one, so it's scouring marketplace until one comes up. They are rare, though, so it's two singles for now.

The beds have Futon Company guest futons on top, not the Jay Be mattresses. The futons fit in the frame when folded no problem.

Storage:
I use a vintage gun safe along the base of the bulkhead fixed to the floor. This is a great bit of low-lying storage, and acts as a wheel-stop when loading the motorbikes.

Recently I also bought a couple long slim flight cases (think large musical keyboard-sized flight cases). Plan is to use them either inside or else they are perfect low-profile for a roof rack.

I also found two roof rack bars, that attach to the sil. I would prefer to have two more bars, or a full system on top. The roof bars aren't fitted at the moment as I want to treat and clean and polish the roof before fitting them and promoting any more rust.

There's always a wheel ramp tied to the wall in the back. Countless occasions the past year it has proved useful to leave it in there.

Camping:
As above the beds, and various stuff like gas stove. Start of the summer I also found a huge 4berth Cabanon canvas frame tent, which weighs a fair bit. The plan was to use it as an awning but it might be overkill... I have a line on a smaller awning that I might buy, but it needs some minor repair and doesn't have the inner bedroom compartments.

Sleeping in the van can be cold, there's a lot of volume to warm up. Even with the windows cracked open and the two roof vents, there's condensation inside in the morning. Tough to avoid and not uncommon. Clears quickly.

Extras:
The van has a cheap dashcam fitted high at the 'rearview mirror' position, and beside it a second screen. The dashcan has a rearview camera fitted at the numberplate, for direct view, and at the top of the rear door I fitted a second rear camera that points downward. This way I can always see the worst point in the blindspot when reversing before clipping anything.

Maintenance:
One of the first jobs last year was replacing the lower engine mount with one by Febi. That fixed the clunky gear shifting.

I managed to sort most of the typical van oil leaks. The dipstick mount needed tweaking to stop it leaking on the halfway up join, but I also paid for a genuine Ford one-piece dipstick tube and dipstick, but they're still sat unused now the original is leak-free.

On the way home last December, something struck beneath the van, and I had to get recovered. Van sat until a new oil cooler arrived.

There's still a minor leak around the injectors even though they had all been sorted by the previous owner. Probably just related to blow-by past the rings because it's a high mileage van. At 210k as of this month, it would be unrealistic to expect it to run without any issues at all.

Turbo was on its way out about a week after the bike rear-ender. I was going to sell the van but after umming and arring for a month or so I decided to keep it. I had the turbo replaced with a Garrett/Ford one. Thanks to age and seized bolts I also had the box section cut open to get the upper engine mount replaced, and it was then welded back.

A few months ago I also had a hit&run on a narrow road, where a land/rangerover type 4x4 screamed past and hit the wingmirror. I collected the plastic pieces and plastic-welded them back together. You wouldn't know if I didn't point out the hairline.

Next steps:

I have some little spotlights arriving that I may look to fit. Could work great as fog lights, especially how bad it gets in the morning driving back from Devizes. If nothing else I'd fit one or two for reversing so I can see better. Cat-eye LED's also on the way. They're awful for projecting light but great to be seen. Thinking about fitting some if there are any left over after modding the motorbike.

Long-term it's tempting to fit extra windows, and would be great to fit a window to the rear doors. If I did then I may remove the curtain and fit a proper rearview mirror as well. If it's a side-door window then it will be the typical vanlifer type.

Though tempting to have a towbar fitted, but with the high mileage, it could be a bit expenditure for very little use and zero increase in value.

Bigger wheels/tyres (higher profile) also tempting to jack the van up a little, increase ground clearance when turning up to events. No cashflow and I'm loathe to negatively affect the handling I currently enjoy.

Music, I was using a little bluetooth-fm adapter into the old stereo, which worked well. In the end I've been buying CD's from charity shops and listening to them instead. I would like to replace the stereo with something better, but I don't trust the android-interface cheapy double-din's, and I'm not sure what else I'll gain until I pay big money.

Built-in satnav would be the only benefit to replacing the stereo unit, and so far a phone in a mount is okay. Maybe if I found a recent TomTom or Garmin at an affordable price (ie, free) I would use that instead.

The roof racks were initially for maybe fitting solar and a leisure battery, but I parked that after being unsure about how to fix everything in the most secure watertight manner. What's more is, do I really need them? Still, it would be good.

Might look at making a removable mount to pop the 25L water tank to the roof by the back, and invest in a gravity/solar shower type thing to use from behind the rear doors + awning.

I think that's it. If I find time I'll search out some in-progress photos or at least try take a couple new ones.