Today I mostly .....

[Zelandeth]

Well having that hooked up didn't last long! Discovered when I went to actually get the pipework properly clipped in place that two of the lines (hob and oven) were several inches too short...so had to faff around extending them. Added all of ten minutes work but was irritating nevertheless. As was realising that the clips I'd got were for smaller pipe than I'd used...so I wound up using larger ones with a bit of rubber hose cut to size as a sleeve.

There's more under there than you'd think.



It's not tidy but working in such cramped quarters (getting far enough back to take that photo involved the camera effectively being in a drawer) I'll take it. Everything is well secured and routed so nothing can vibrate and rub against anything else. The other thing I'm keeping very much in mind is that the work surfaces will be getting replaced in the not too distant future. Once the worktop is out I'll have far, far better access. This also means that the appliances may well be moving somewhat so I don't want to go too overboard when I'll likely want to take a lot of it apart again. My patience is somewhat limited when I'm bodily folded into a small cupboard, sitting on a bracing rib and working left handed!

As it stands though everything is now hooked up, leak tested and working.

This is good because it means that I'll be able to complete the gas locker properly. I'd had that lashed together pretty crudely before as I knew there was still plumbing to be done and I didn't want to wind up having to dismantle and rebuild it a dozen times. The fuel tank for the heater will be moving from where you can currently see it, I'll be tucking that away in the gas locker as well, it's essentially outside the cabin then but will still be readily accessible for refilling. Once that's done I can finish off the cupboards and drawers (one of which hides the grill - the metal box for which I managed to unearth again today having not seen it in about a year).

Speaking of things I've not seen in a long while, I also found the missing knob from the hob, so that's been reinstated.



Getting there.

Figured I'd stick the camera in place to show how the Jag is behaving following the work on the ignition system a couple of days ago. I was already out picking up and delivering medical supplies to some of our friends who can't get out and figured adding just under two miles to the trip wasn't going to end the world.



She feels far more eager when moving off and definitely sounds smoother.

Has obviously barely left our block recently so a few boots away from roundabouts has probably done the world of good too.

Ps: From 4:20 is more representative of my normal driving. I was deliberately provoking some revs here as I was wanting to see how things were behaving under load. Plus it's the first time she has been able to go above 40mph in several weeks so helped running in itself... suffice to say a big V12 isn't too much of a fan of bumbling around for only a couple of miles at a time week on end.

[Zelandeth]

Dogs need to go in for their vaccinations tomorrow so I needed to get things in the van buttoned back up and hoover out all the sawdust as it's the only vehicle which is really suitable for taking them both out.

Spot the difference?



Yep, the gas locker is now boxed off. The cable tie is currently holding the heater fuel tank upright (tied to the oven front panel) as I've still got to pull that out and relocate it. The aluminium foil tape you can see is just a belt and braces approach to sealing off any gaps.

It's not pretty, but it will be covered by an insulation sheet then buried behind the back of a cupboard so honestly I'm not too bothered what it looks like.

Unsurprisingly given that there's no longer a direct path between the cabin and the outside world (the gas locker is of course vented to the outside) it's noticeably quieter in there. Should help with the insulation too, not that the van really seems to struggle with that. Nice to see it starting to come together properly inside though. The last few bits and pieces should be pretty quick to get sorted.

[Zelandeth]

Had a couple of errands to run today, about ten minutes into the day the Jag was ditched on the drive and the van taken out. It was just too hot and sticky in the Jag. Getting the air conditioning sorted needs to move up the list. Without it the ventilation system is essentially useless.



Opening the windows generates epic levels of noise but doesn't actually seem to get much air into the cabin. Thus far I've had no luck tracking down a pulley/clutch assembly on its own. Looking like a whole new compressor may well be the route we need to take. With a £3-400 pricetag...before getting the system recharged which will be another £50+, assuming there are no leaks elsewhere! Bearing in mind that I trust the jubilee-clipped line between the condenser and compressor about as far as I can throw it, even if the jubilee clips are factory! They just don't belong on HVAC systems!



It became quite apparent after a few minutes of driving the van that in addition to the not inconsiderable amount of noise exiting the tailpipe that there was a fair racket emanating from directly underneath the driver's seat.

The source was this nuisance of an exhaust joint.



I've already had issues with this joint working itself loose and rattling. So it was dismantled today, cleaned up, thoroughly slathered in Firegum and the clamp then tightened up as far as I dare before risking snapping the bolt. Hopefully it will stay that way this time. If it does it again the clamp is getting replaced.


After a not inconsiderable search of the pile of junk out the back of the house and the garage I eventually found the base for the grill, which was absolutely *not* where I thought I'd left it.



I've had a bit more of a think about the hob in the van. This has caused quite a considerable amount of head scratching while I've been trying to figure out where it originally was.

Originally I had assumed it was directly above the oven, this would make the most sense. This isn't an option though as there's nowhere near enough depth available.



The other thought was at the rear of the van where the draining rack currently is. However there's no way that can work either as the hob is about 19" deep, and the work surface here is far less than that!



If the hob was installed there you'd no longer be able to open the bathroom door which would be...suboptimal.

The only thought I do have is that the hob *might* be able to fit below the water heater if it were turned through 90 degrees... I'll need to take some more measurements tomorrow.

Really wish I had a photo of the kitchen before things got moved around!


In other news the new wheel nuts for the Invacar have arrived.



While sorting the one hub is still a work in progress, at least I'll be able to get a properly matched, non-mangled set fitted to the other two wheels which should hopefully help reduce the potential for future issues due to dodgy threads.

[Neil Chowney]

Those wheel nuts....

Were you ever tempted, even just a little bit, just to weld the wheels straight onto the hubs.... go on you can tell me.....

[Zelandeth]

Those wheel nuts....

Were you ever tempted, even just a little bit, just to weld the wheels straight onto the hubs.... go on you can tell me.....

Given my welding skills, not so much! Especially given how much more terrifying the prospect of losing a wheel on a three wheeler is.

Welding in a replacement for the errant stud...yes. Though you'd need access to the back of the hub for that, and if you need to take the hub off anyway you may as well throw it at a professional machinist to sort.

[Zelandeth]

Today I made a horrific mess.

My foul up with the hob positioning had prompted me to do something about the ridiculous worktops in the van kitchen.



These were just normal household worktops and aside from being about five times the weight of what you'd normally use in a van they were also about twice the thickness of normal camper/caravan ones. This causes a few problems as the fasteners that hold the sink and hob down are captive in the units - and aren't long enough to reach all the way through. It also meant I'd had to resort to bodges like this with the taps.



After a bit of messing around and three online sellers failing to deliver, finally picked up some slightly less stupid board to remake the worktops.



It's just furniture board so nothing special, but it will do the job. That panel even before it's trimmed down etc is lighter than what has been taken out by a fair chunk.

Of course the next step was to start tearing things to pieces.



Before going anywhere further however I'm taking the opportunity to tidy up a lot of the stuff I bodged together when I was trying to get the van ready for the first outing with us. I've got a good stock of laminated ply ready to rebuild the gas locker and the drawer/cupboard framework in there.

The fridge will be getting raised up about 1/2" so it fits the surround properly, the pipework & wiring tidied up, then we'll start putting things back together.

...Once I've figured out how on earth the bits of metalwork which I'm assuming originate from around the oven fit together.

[Zelandeth]

Bit of work done in the van today to start putting back together what I pulled to bits yesterday.

First up was to extend the top of the countertop over the fridge so we didn't have two different heights to work with. Luckily I found a couple of offcuts floating around which were exactly the right size to get the height right.



By complete and utter random chance it turned out that I had a thin MDF offcut floating around that was almost the exact right size to close this off. It's a bit warped from sitting in the back of the shed for about three years but that's hardly a problem here.



Yes I did make sure to leave enough of a drop so the drawer can latch closed.

Those little metal L brackets will feature heavily in this job, and are a favourite of mine for many tasks.

I decided against bothering to elevate the fridge. Doing that would have required me to dismantle and completely redo the flue and I really didn't want to take that apart again.

Having thought on it overnight I decided that the fuel tank for the heater was going back more or less where I had first put it. It was just going to be awkward having it inside the gas locker and there was always the worry of it getting bashed while putting the gas bottle in - though it is really sturdy.



I prefer this as well in that it means that the fuel level can be checked visually from inside the van without needing to go outside. It's positioned such that filling can be easily done through the gas locker door though.

While I was working in that area I finally got the water pipes into the two brackets right in the corner. I didn't have enough hand strength to do that when I was standing on my head under there when I did the plumbing! The clips are really intended for 15mm copper pipe so these hoses are a really snug fit, it takes quite a bit of effort to get them to snap closed.



I need to tidy up the tail light wiring. That's probably going to be a job for tomorrow. That's what all that spaghetti is, the feeds for the high level tail lights.

Also, yes. That is a patio gas cylinder. I've got a proper one in the garage waiting to go in along with a new regulator and hose tail. This was the only one I had to hand for testing a year and a half ago (nicked from the barbeque) and I had honestly forgotten about that until seeing the "patio gas" logo on it today. Not sure what the difference is mind you, the ratings on the regulator are identical to the one which will be going in, just a different fitting.

I'll be sealing around the tank so it doesn't leave a gaping hole in the gas locker. I will be constructing things a bit differently to how they were originally as well as I'm not bothering having a separate lid on it.

This got me to an a stage I was dreading...starting to rebuild.

There are some things I am good at and some things I am not good at. Carpentry is one of the latter. Generally no matter how much care, patience and care I put into jobs involving woodwork things degenerate into a complete farce in no time flat and the results make the dimensional control on the Lada production line on a Monday morning look like something from the space program. Even if all I was cutting out was a simple square.

With that in mind I didn't have great hopes for making things like this.



How far away from fitting was it then?



I nearly died of shock...aside from some slight wobble on the long edge that I was aware of and really isn't a problem here, it's pretty much a perfect fit. I didn't need to take it back out to be altered, which means it's nanometre perfect in my book!

How about the other side?





Now I'm getting a little scared...that fit too!

The joins along all the edges will be sealed carefully to ensure that the cabinet is as close to sealed from the rest of the van as possible. I'll be cutting bigger vents in the floor as well before everything is buttoned up. I've got appropriate grills to cover them. Around where the pipework passes know if out will also be treated with tape and/or expanding foam.

I'll add a buffer next to the edge of the heater fuel tank where it protrudes into the locker to protect it from getting bashed when inserting or removing the cylinder. I could have set it back a bit further but that would have made filling more awkward.

I do have a cylinder securing kit in the garage too, will be nice to switch to that and ditch the bungee cords and ratchet strap system!

While it looks tight it's not bad actually.



Probably the most annoying thing when inserting/removing the cylinder is the kitchen sink waste - however I can't really move it any further back due to the position of the chassis outrigger this corner of the van sits on. It would have been flush with the wall if there wasn't a 3mm thick steel plate under there!

I'd like to ditch as much of the flexible drain pipe as possible somewhere down the line anyway, so that may be revisited.

Yes, the tail light wiring is running through a ventilation hole... it's already on my list (and has been since it was lashed up like that). Pretty much everything in this corner was done to prove things worked and fully expecting to come back to it (which I now am) to do a proper job of it.

I had to stop at this point as I have run out of fixing brackets, and nearly run out of woodscrews of an appropriate size...will need to make a Toolstation run to restock.

Next steps (in no particular order):

[] Tidy high level tail light wiring.

[] Replace gas cylinder regulator & hose.

[] Install gas cylinder fixing kit.

[] Install buffer adjacent to heater fuel tank.

[] Seal gas locker.

[] Add further ventilation to floor of locker.

[] Add further hole for sink draining rack drain line.

[] Trim screws where they protrude into the locker (not strictly necessary but feels the right thing to do).

[] Pick up more brackets, screws & gas fittings.

[] Paint everything under there white once it's all fitted.

[] Install cupboard and gas locker (remotely switched obviously) lights.

[] Properly figure out where sink, hob and draining rack are going!

[] Refit oven heat shielding.

Speaking of the heat shield... I'm *assuming* that's what these bits of pressed metal are. There are two identical ones there.



Has anyone who's done work on something like this have the foggiest idea how they're meant to be fitted...it really isn't obvious! To be honest the outside of the oven doesn't really get all that hot so I'm not sure how necessary they are. I've had it running for a full hour flat out during testing and it never got to a point where the surface temperature was worrying. It's double skinned as it is. The panelling between it and the cupboard will be lined with foil for heat reflection anyway and there will be a decent air space around it on all sides.

Feels like progress is being made...was a bit disheartening seeing the mess I'd made yesterday and the amount of things I'd out together that I had just pulled apart again. Nice to see proper panelling going in rather than paper thin chipboard you can cut with scissors or Foamex which was used for a lot of "this will do for two trips I've one afternoon to prep for" too.

[Zelandeth]

This is one of those days where there's depressingly little visible to show for a lot of work at a glance!

While I didn't do a direct before and after, here's the general area a couple of days ago before work really started beyond pulling off the worktops.



Here's where we left things today.



Prior to this working the oven was basically just floating. It was held in purely by the four screws in the surround (which in itself had about as much structural rigidity as silly string).

Step one for today was to remove the oven so I can get into the area behind it unhindered.

Step two was further carpentry to make the divider that separates it from the cupboard.



Again, this fitted with surprisingly little hassle...the only fettling that was needed was to make the cutout for the pipes a little deeper as I hadn't taken account for the fact that I had bent the gas lines for the hob and oven back a bit to keep them out of the way.

This then allowed me to locate a shelf beneath the oven for it to sit on, and to properly tie the front of the worktop frame to the wall of the van again. This was where I also discovered that it wasn't actually screwed onto the floor anywhere except for right at the one end. Once this had been corrected it actually felt sturdy for the first time ever. This is relevant as the oven is by far the biggest source of squeaks and rattles while driving, so anything I can do to reduce its ability to wobble and bounce independently of the van itself is to be taken advantage of.

After probably an hour of faffing around with the L shaped metal panels which I have to guess originally formed a box around the oven I ran out of patience. I have to assume that there was an additional piece or a load of battens or something that went with them that I just don't have. I decided to just use them to line the enclosure the oven was going to live in and call it good. I've no idea how they were originally used and I'm sorry if the designers see this and tear their hair out. One is mounted underneath the oven and to the rear, the other is to the front and left. The little strip left in the one corner has been covered with aluminium tape to offer a bit of thermal reflection too.



I think this is probably a bit overkill given the amount of heat that isn't chucked out of the back and sides of the unit (most of the output comes out of the vent below the control panel at the front), but I figure the more heat that's kept away from wood the better. The underside of the shelf which was then put in to close this area off (after leak-checking the reconnected gas line of course) was also foil lined.

The liner for the grill was then attached to the shelf - this shelf was reused from the original setup - I know it's what the liner was originally attached to as all the holes line up!



I've no idea what the rear of this was originally closed of with - if anything. I'm going to slot a piece of steel sheet in here though. Already have it marked out, just need to get the grinder out to cut it out. I'm planning to make a couple of plates to go over the top as well either side of the burner to keep the heat off the frame and keep it as completely enclosed as I can. Not going to make those until I've decided precisely where the hob assembly will sit as it will obviously affect the geometry. Just the fun and games of trying to make something that is designed to get hot with a frame out of what's essentially low grade plywood! The oven is pretty easy as it's inside a pretty well insulated metal box, the grill needs a bit more care taken, which means I need to do some metalwork.

That's where we left off today though.



Doesn't look like much for more or less a full afternoon of work does it!

[Zelandeth]

Only had an hour after dinner today, but as per my recently set out rules, I always want to get at least one thing on the to do list ticked off. So out we went.

Today I wanted to start getting the void in between the oven and the gas locker actually starting to look like a cupboard for the first time since I'd owned the van. This whole area was just an empty void when I got it.

Out with some high quality drafting materials for our template...



Which was then translated into actual material.



I have moved away from the chipboard now and will be using this laminated chipboard going forward. It's a lot stronger and cuts more cleanly. I didn't start out with this as I had yet to have confirmation that these panels were actually fair game to be used or I would probably have gone with this to start with.

This was then assembled into an actual shelf.



The battens along the front and rear edges serve a dual purpose of helping add a little additional rigidity to the shelf and also giving us an edge to prevent things from being able to fall off. Bearing in mind this *is* a van, so there's always the chance of things moving around in transit - even though I will be putting non-slip rubber matting on the shelves and the door will have the ability to be secured closed.

I will be adding a panel to cover most of the heater fuel tank (being careful of screw length - I'm aware that there are quite a few I need to cut back in this area as it is - nowhere local had anything shorter than 1" long in stock, so I just figured I'd spend half an hour with a Dremel trimming back some screws where necessary) to protect it, just leaving myself a "window" to observe the fuel level through. Another identical shelf will go in above this one, just above the fuel tank. As the door itself is quite narrow (about half the width of the opening here) it will be quite a black hole, so I will be fitting lighting in here so that you can actually find anything.

While it's a small thing it feels like quite a big step forward as it is the first time that this space has actually been starting to take shape. Feels like I am actually starting to put things back together now rather than pulling stuff to bits.

[Zelandeth]

Just a bit more progress today.

The seams around the panel above the fridge were sealed off with ally tape. There's a large vent to the outside open to the area below this panel so I wanted to make sure it was well draught proofed. I've found this aluminium self adhesive tape to be really good for this sort of job where no real mechanical strength is important.



It looks messy, but does a good job of sealing. I blocked off a couple of gaps in the floor and such when I first got the van and they were all still there fine a year and a half later when I removed it to put proper seam sealer in there.

The next shelf was made up and installed.



Yes, the bottom one is slightly off level. Not totally sure how I managed that given that I measured it three times. Easy fix though.

The framework for the cupboard door was added.



Then the gap between the door and the corner was panelled in.



Don't worry about the tiny gap in the corner. I'll be putting a little L shaped trim in there anyway.

So we actually have a proper cupboard now.



The grill has now been lined with foil tape for heat reflection. I was originally planning to fully panel this, but thinking about it a bit more, for all the time it will be running to heat up the odd piece of toast once every few years, it should be absolutely fine. I've done some experiments with the grill and the heat distribution from the burner is very directional and focused on the centre of the pan with very little actually reaching the sides. With the heat reflective foil on there, it will be absolutely fine I think. I may well still add some metal plates though...nothing to stop me from doing that later. I'm not holding up the rebuild of the kitchen on it anyway. We've been out with the van a few times so far and to be honest haven't missed the grill anyway so I don't mind if we need to come back to that.



Before I closed things up for the day I propped the new worktop material up on top of the cabinets. This gives a better idea of the finish on it than the earlier photos.



Should look nice I think. You can see how much thinner it is than the surface that was in here before looking at the gap under the panels by the water heater. That was cut back to allow the previous work surface to fit. It's a good 3/4" thinner.

The thinner top on there should mean I can actually properly reinstate the rear window lower trim. Previously this was all bent out of shape around the worktop as you can see here. This also meant that you couldn't use the fly screen on this window as there was no way to secure it in the lowered position.



...Which does a good job of highlighting how messily the work surface was installed and one of the many reasons I wanted to change them!

I'll need to find a new lower window channel trim as this one has been cracked in a few places, but that shouldn't be too hard.

[Zelandeth]

Seams around the gas locker have now been sealed and the grating has been refitted over the floor vent.



Obviously the top ones will be done once the worktop is in place.

After a search covering about 80% of the house I've managed to track down the wiring conduit and the connectors so I can get the tail light wiring in there tidied up. I also need to tidy things up a bit as there's a horrible goopy mess of sealant around some of the areas where the pipework passes into the locker...but we'll get there in due course. I'm having to fight the temptation to box the pipework in in the interests of tidiness, reminding myself that it's in the gas locker...you won't be able to see any of that once things are finished...I've gone for overkill as far as sealing things are concerned, even if that does mean it's messy.

Also installed the first of the cabinet lights. There will be one of these on each shelf in the cupboard.



This one however is positioned so I can see what I'm doing when connecting/disconnecting the gas cylinder and turning it on/off.

They're dirt cheap little LED things, but work well for occasional use applications like this. I think they're actually meant to be number plate lights, but are about 7,000 times too bright for that application really.

The switch will obviously be in the cabin, not having switches in the gas locker...

[Zelandeth]

Picking up where we left off yesterday it was time to start trial fitting things. At the very least I wanted to get the main chunk of the worktop into a position where I could have it in place as trying to work around a 2.5 metre long chunk of board on the floor in the back of the van was getting on my nerves. I also didn't want to have to try to get it *out* of the van again as it only just fit through the door.



I may well take the edge back a bit further yet, this is the full 600mm depth that the board was supplied in. There's a balance to be struck between floorspace, workspace and the edge of the worktop not getting in the way of accessing things below it. The one at the rear will have to be shallower so that the bathroom door can still be opened.

I think that this is *approximately* where things will be going.



That will leave the whole area at the rear of the van clear as a workspace. The sink isn't stuffed away awkwardly in the corner and nothing's situated in a way that will be a pain to hook up. I am finding myself tempted to take the opportunity to get rid of the convolute hose for the drain pipework while I've got a lot of things apart though. It doesn't flow well, Getting the joins water tight is an exercise in frustration and while it's not a problem I've had in this van I know it's prone to causing smelly drains as the ridges in the pipework tend to hold both soapy gunge and water - obviously of course there are no proper traps on the sinks here either which make that more likely to be an issue. I'd use waterless traps here anyway to reduce the odds of problems with freezing in the winter.

Before I finalise anything though I'm going to borrow Abby and see what she thinks. She's the most proficient and enthusiastic cook in the household so I'm happy to bow to her guidance on what will work best in terms of kitchen layout.

Once everything has been properly situated the worktop will be glued down to the framework in addition to the screws to hopefully reduce any potential for squeaks or rattles in the future.

[Zelandeth]

Moving on from yesterday the last bit of the worktop has been fitted.



The last bit was a lot more awkward as the gap it had to fit into was far from square.

Starting to look more like a room again.



Annoyingly the gas line for the water heater is now looks to be about 1/8" too short! So I'll probably need to cut it and add a coupler in there. Frustrating...but that's the way these things go sometimes.

Appliances going in will be the next thing on the list.

[Zelandeth]

One of the gremlins I've been aware of on the Jag ever since it entered the fleet was a slow leak of brake fluid from somewhere in the vicinity of the master cylinder. The whole thing was wet with fluid, and the deposits in the vicinity suggest it's been leaking for a long while.



I had originally assumed this was down to the seals between the plastic hose stubs and the cylinder body, right up to the point that I discovered that the hoses weren't snugly fitted. I guess over the years the rubber has shrunk and compressed below the hose clips so it's no longer a tight fit.

I don't want to disturb the actual hose connections until I know that all the bleed valves are operable...and I'm slightly scared of the rear ones as if I break a bleed nipple off I'll be in for a whole world of pain as sorting it would mean having to drop the entire rear subframe. I'd rather not do that!

Decided to try an experiment. Got a couple of small table ties and fitted them as tightly as I could. Result of sitting overnight after cleaning things up and after about 1/2 an hour or driving:





That looks better to me! Has proven nicely that the issue is with the connecting hose between the reservoir and the cylinder. This is preferable as it's a lot cheaper to sort.

Being totally honest once I get some suitable hose in I'll probably do away with the typically Jaguar flexi-metal-flexi arrangement and just run hoses directly from the reservoir to the master cylinder.

I discovered while doing this however that I do not have a working brake fluid level warning light. The float is jammed in place at the top of its travel and one of the terminals has corroded sufficiently to part company with the lid. I'll get a new one ordered. If I wasn't the sort of person who actually does a regular check of fluid levels that could have been nasty. This is why you should never rely on warning lights folks!

In the afternoon I turned my attention back to the van. First order of business was to finish tidying up the tail light wiring in the gas locker.

Nothing special but better than the spaghetti that was in there before.



With a bit of fermangling I managed to make the gas line for the water heater reach. Not the prettiest bit of work but it passed the leak test just fine.



Attention was then turned back to the worktop.

The location for the hob was pretty much fixed by the position of the framework under the worktop, so that was the obvious thing to start out with as far as cutting holes in my nice new surface.



By some miracle (and thanks to quadruple checking things!) I managed to get it fitted straight.

After a bit of thought we went for this layout as it gives a decent clear area at the rear for food preparation etc.



After generating approximately fifty tonnes more sawdust...



Nothing actually hooked up yet, but it is actually starting to look like a kitchen again. Now it's time to actually get things reconnected...which I'm honestly looking forward to far more than the blasted carpentry!

Only bit of further cutting needed (well, aside from making a few holes for pipework) will be to make a blanking plate to sit in the sink to allow that to be used as extra space if needed.

I do have to admit to feeling quite satisfied with how things are looking now though...hopefully I won't foul it up before I'm finished!

[Zelandeth]

Today hasn't seen all that much actual physical work done, but quite a bit of thinking regarding the plumbing was done.

I'm going to be doing away with pretty much all the convoluted pipe in the greywater drainage system in the van in due course. I'm not bothered about the one vent line or the outlet from the bathroom sink (which is a specialised caravan one), but the vast majority of it will be getting binned. The bathroom sink I can get to the back of easily at least as the line it dumps into is accessible in the service compartment below the wardrobe, so I can add a trap in there easily enough. The couple of inches of line between the sink and the trap I'm not going to lose any sleep over. This is something I can look into though once I pull all the lines underneath the van off (the one from the bathroom side is more patch than original pipe!) and replace them with 40mm rigid plastic. Just now though I'm not quite feeling like facing that challenge. However as I've already got the kitchen in pieces it makes sense to me to pipe that up properly so I don't need to take it all apart again.

Firstly, we need to ditch this outlet on the sink.



Replacing it with a standard household 1 1/2" one. The existing plughole on the sink side was retained



The overflow port on here is where the draining board will hook into.

The one challenge I did face was that I had very limited clearance to work with in the cupboard and I really didn't want to go cutting holes in the shelf to make room for the trap. So I went scouring both the Toolstation and Screwfix catalogues to find the shallowest trap that anywhere locally has in stock. I may replace this with a waterless one in the future as I'd rather have a water free solution to prevent possible freezing issues in the winter - not that a scoosh of antifreeze when I winterise the van wouldn't solve that issue - and the new heater controller that's on the way has a frost protection mode anyway.

This was the arrangement we ended up with.



You know sometimes that you measure everything down the nanometre and it still ends up looking like you never gave anything a moment's thought? Well sometimes it works the other way too...when what you ended up with completely at random ends up fitting absolutely perfectly.



The seal and thread on the base of the trap didn't exactly inspire confidence, so I gave it a good blob of assembly goop before putting it in place.

The pipework runs down to the back then drops down where the old drain "downpipe" used to be.

At this point I had a challenge however in that I needed to hook the 40mm rigid pipe up to the existing convoluted line under the van. Cue a bit of headscratching and digging through my box of random "stuff" to see what I could come up with.

This was the result:



One boiler condensate drain attachment point with the compression fitting replaced with a washing machine attachment barb. It won't flow fantastically well...but it will be getting hacked off and replaced with an elbow not all that far down the line when I replace the underfloor lines. It just needs to drain the odd small sink in the interim. It will do fine I reckon. The compression fitting is just an inline coupler with a push fit end cap blocking it off. That will disappear entirely once the elbow is fitted...In the meantime it can be a sediment trap I guess...

Should get this all together tomorrow and can then get the sink and drainer bolted in.