Bought a van with no fifth gear, slap some shoe polish on the bumpers, add fifth gear, add a bit of insulation, add a leisure battery and a split charge kit, chuck in some cheap vinyl flooring. Furniture is now a go but just plodding along fairly slowly. Keeping things basic but comfy enough to spend a few weeks on holibobs in!

I like a van thread and I like a T4 so I’ll keep an eye on this 👍

People will tell you MDF will go soggy and fall apart, I built a van interior from MDF and it lasted 6 years until I sold it with no signs of issues. I would recommend painting it to seal it though.

Cool. Keep the pics coming!

Cheers, MDF will be getting painted when its all built.
Forgot to mention i had a side window chucked in it a couple of weeks ago too.

As an ‘interested observer’to all these camper van threads I’d like to know how all the wooden frames are fixed to the floor and sides. For instance, are they bolted through the floor and glued to the sides?

Vinyl flooring in my T4 was carpeted over as a bit slippy for stuff being on it if not fixed down, still clean and easy though. Never got round to boot polishing the bumpers though!

@failedengineer Ive just used screws. That unit behind the bulkhead is screwed into the bulkhead through the plywood and screwed into the floor. Its also screwed to the plywood on the walls but more to stop any chnce of them rattling together than for structural strength. Dont know what everyone else does.

@Marin The boot polish is class all things considered. I did this when i first got the van back in julyish and still as good as new now. Interested to see how it lasts but for a quid and an hour or so of rubbing it on im happy if it needs redoing every 6 months or so.

Before:

After:

As an ‘interested observer’to all these camper van threads I’d like to know how all the wooden frames are fixed to the floor and sides. For instance, are they bolted through the floor and glued to the sides?

I’ve heard of people just screwing straight into the floor but I didn’t want to piece the skin anywhere I really didn’t have to (Transit, so not galvanised) I used the bits where the tie-downs used to be and made an inch-thick lattice frame which I bolted to these points, then screwed a 15mm plywood floor to this frame and used that as the basis for the other bits. Transits have many ribs and things on the walls and a couple on the ceiling, I’ve screwed into these and they are solid.
Also, things like the upright for the cupboard next to the bed are floor-to ceiling, again screwed at both ends and this can be used as a solid base for other things, and the bed frame in the horizontal plane.
It’s not just about keeping things in place, all this stuff is properly heavy and you really need to think about what would hit the back of your head if you hit something at speed or rolled it, I have taken my bulkhead out so made sure everything behind me is really solidly attached.

Yup looks better. Happy motoring adventures. Check your spare occasionally as bolts get rusted up I learnt this the wrong way!

Looks a bit rough at the minute but should be alright with some filler and a bit of paint!