Internal rebuild

Well I have decided to rebuild the inside of the van it has the original Devon interior which we love, but it is beginning to look a little
sad, so I bought some lightweight furniture ply from Moreland who are not too far away from where I live and started on Saturday so far I have taken
out the roof locker and remade it I have to say the ply from Moreland is superb quality,cut it with a jigsaw and then finish the edge off with a router and it leaves a
beautiful edge, photos of the old locker and the new one so far below.
Old Locker from heavy duty chipboard !

This is the area around the rear door hinge,
And the new piece, I have biscuit jointed the front to the base and just used the corner fixings as additional support while it dries.
And from the front I have to fix the door on with the original piano hinge, and have cut an arc of plywood for it to stop against and the catch to work on as the original
metal strap was not in great condition, the speakers I have kept as they sound great and i have just added some Led lights so we can read in the evenings.
I will fiti it back into the roof tomorrow, I just want to take a piece out at a time and remake it and replace it in a weekend so the van will always be
able to be used, the only challenging thing will be I think the swing out cooker, anyone ever remade one ?
I will keep the photos of each unit coming as I make them just in case anyone is either thinking or doing the same or has anyone already done this ( I'm sure loads have )

 

Top job, you may have a market for these

 

I'm about to make up a rear over head locker, how is the timber work fixed in place?

My pop top runs quite a long way back so the front will fix into the bed board but not sure about the rear/sides?

 

It hangs on some brackets, I'll get a picture up later when I have photographed them

 

Oh and thanks Madpad, but work brimmeth over at the moment so not looking to do anything else work wise

 

That would be great, no point re-inventing the wheel

 

the swing

should look lovely if the rest of it turns out as nicely....
The swing out cooker is a pice of cake....it's a rectangular box. But if you're doing the rest of the interior i recommend you buy yourself a dowelling jig, unless you're very handy with a router....

 

Actually I have a biscuit jointer which I think will do the job any pics of the swing out cooker remade

 

I've made a few tbh....no pics unfortunately. They were all based on the original with various changes: height/width/doors/different stove etc.
if you own a biscuit jointer, I imagine you won't have any issues with the swing out....back panel needs to be the same material as the uprights for obvious reasons

 

do you know why the side of the swing out cooker is a sheet of galvanised steel doesn't appear to be any reason for it at all
unless it is to protect the cooker when it is 'swung out' from the sliding door

 

The locker hangs in these brackets which hook over a flange in the top of the roof one either side they sit in them and three screws hold them secure,
then the back of the locker has three self tappers up into the metal behind the door, I will be fitting this next week so will take some photos of it as
I do it.

 

Oops here are the photos

 

I've not come across this before. On mine it was a straightforward chipboard box....maybe the PO fitted it to stop the side getting trashed when s/he was transporting stuff....Who knows?

 

I'll whack a pic up of mine later on. I did much the same as you in terms of taking the units out and remaking them to spec, in better quality stuff. The overhead locker's more involved than it looks....
After a few year's use, I decided to change things round a bit (as you do) and did a completely different layout to accommodate a full width bed. I wanted to mount some 5.25 speakers in the rear, and the overhead locker was a prime candidate, so partitioned the back of it to provide an enclosure, and put some side pieces in just to tidy things up....I lost a bit of storage space up there, but mainly the bit that you end up stuffing with socks 'cos nothing else will fit

 

Did you get measurements before refitting, by chance, so that I could make some here?

 

Ill measure them before they go back up this weekend

 

Here they are hanging on the lip at the back of the van


Just the handle to fit now and then on to the other cabinets.

 

@restored where did you get your lights + any good?

 

Thanks @restored they are useful photos, are the brackets fixed to the lip or do they just hang in place?

 

These are fitted in my moonraker aswell, they just hook onto the internal lip of the inside of the van metal work