Sunday 14 May 2017

Table D'hote or Let There be Light

It's been a fairy busy week with lots of goodies arriving, and hence needing fitting.

The table components were delivered in the middle of the week, and duly fitted. I'll set it up and take a photo some time but suffice to say it works OK. I'd hoped it would fit down behind the units inside the tailgate but the fittings are just too wide so it's been added to the end of the seat with the bed extension. That does mean that if the toilet is stowed as well the front seat is too far forward to be used. That's not a problem, I probably only carry a passenger a few times a year and it would only be the work of moments to move the table and board to the floor temporarily.

The single biggest issue with the conversion was the lack of any lighting. In itself it's not a huge issues, there are plenty of LED battery lanterns available but I decided I wanted a more permanent solution. I decided to order the same LED light as I'd used in the previous campervan. They're effective, but a bit stark so I wanted an alternative for when I'm relaxing. The solution to that was a warm white LED strip. I wasn't entirely sure where I'd use it but thought I'd get it and see.

I'd already ascertained that it was possible to remove the trim where necessary to feed power cables to the roof, and it quickly became apparent that the light would fit above the unit facing forward and the LED strip would go just inside the tailgate facing backwards - that may seem odd but it means you get a soft indirect light.  It took a bit of work with the fishing rods to complete the wiring but I got there. The light is screwed on but the LED strip is self-adhesive.



The two photos show the lights on, and also the new wiring. There was very little 12v wiring in place, and I wasn't entirely happy with it, so I decided it would be improved. Normally I'd have kept everything inside the cupboards but the back of the unit isn't actually visible unless the tailgate is open so it made more sense to fit things there and keep them accessible. It's only a temporary setup at the moment. The choc-block will be replaced with proper distribution fittings. The converter had a liking for 30A fuses which I'm not happy with as some of the wiring isn't going to take that current if a short occurs so there'll be a fuse box with appropriate protection.

I've moved the 12v "lighter" socket to the front of the unit which seems far more sensible than on the worktop. Also visible in the pictures is the kitchen roll holder that filled the hole. It's probably overkill but never mind.



The other main job, given that I'm away soon, was to work out where the heck I was going to stow all the kit. The essentials have all gone in, just, with a bit of creative effort. It's left one space in the seat locker free, apart from the sleeping bag, for clothes and incidentals. The toilet, bin (an Ikea one I bought for the previous camper and couldn't fit it) and fridge (a Waeco compressor coolbox, expensive but much better than the thermo-electric ones) fill the floor space behind the front seats. I'm happy with that, it would be largely dead space anyway.

There were a few final tweaks just to finish off. I had to pull the radio out to fit the aerial adapter for if I ever do listen to analogue, unlikely but might as well have it working. While I had it out I plugged the original back in and made sure it was switched off before removing it again. That means the car clock works properly. I should have got this right first time having had the same issue on a previous Citroen. I've fitted a new phone holder as well, and run the cable for the dash cam. The latter was a cheap Aldi purchase and I'm really not sure if it'll get much use but I'll give it a go to try and enhance the website and blog. 

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