Drivey Cottage

Progress so far has been slow due to factors including working full time, the weather, the fact that Drivey Cottage currently resides in Kenilworth where we reside in Daventry and the fact that we’re doing the boring bit.

A full update will come later, but we are still in the process of stripping old timbers and preparing to treat and resupport the steel frame in readiness for the interesting bits. Which are still in the planning stage. But I guess once we get going it will all sort of fall into place. Right?

I also recently invested in Van Dog Traveller’s book on how he built his van. I find his writing generally very good and easy to follow along with, and his simple approach to graphic design is fun too. In particular his love of electronics makes the idea of putting together my own electrical system (under his guidance) a little more bearable.

(Is that good enough for you Martin?)

Those of you who have seen this blog before about yesterday may notice that the name of the site has changed. Well, the new van no longer needs a name as it has one.

So we went to Midsomer to collect ‘the van formally known as the new van’, and stopped in Bristol to show her off to a few friends before finally delivering her to the farm where she will rest up while we start work stripping her down to ensure the frame is sound and to begin re-cladding her. Part of this repainting will include hand painting the frame, having put down a good layer of rust proof primer and then a respray of the cab courtesy of Mal, Lindsey’s father, who has a new-found love of airbrushing.

While discussing possibilities for artwork that we might want on the cab to brighten it up a bit Mal suggested he could paint some ivy growing up around the cab and perhaps around the box. He then went on to suggest that we might then want to call our new home ‘Drivey Cottage’.

A sucker for puns, I immediately fell in love with the idea and said it enough times that Lindsey gave up shouting at me to be quiet, so I think she’s on board as well.

Hopefully future writings on here will contain a bit more detail on our planning process (sort of think about it and doodle a bit), the materials we’ll be using (when we know…) and then some documentation of the build process. Somewhere I have an old mobile phone that I re-purposed as a time lapse camera. If I can dig that out then maybe even some time lapse videos of our build days (no promises!).

One day insurance bought, vehicle taxed, driver lined up and bribe ready to go.

Only one sleep to go until we collect the new van!

First order of business will be to get some more accurate measurements so we can really get started on planning the layout and looking for all the quirky, whimsical and in no way hipsterish fixtures, fittings and decorations that we both want.

Due to a change in my work arrangements I will now be collecting the truck early! On Wednesday in fact. Then we’ll take it up to the farm to store it off-road while we convert it and get it re-registered at the DVLA as a motorhome.

A short while after that it looks like I/we will be driving back to the South-West again to collect the first major piece of furniture for the van: our new (old) wood burning stove!

We picked this up on eBay yesterday and it wasn’t particularly cheap but it is beautiful and Lindsey fell in love with it.

In my quest to find details and advice on things like electrical systems, plumbing, hot water, space-saving ideas etc. I’ve started to come across others who have done this before, and documented their journey both figurative and literal.

Van Dog Traveller is the story of a young man who quit his job, bought an LDV Convoy, converted it and has spent the last year and a half travelling around Europe: http://vandogtraveller.com

Deep Red is a similar story told from an older viewpoint. This couple bought a new van to create their own self-build motorhome for holidaying. They don’t like in theirs full time but they have done a pretty decent job of documenting the entire process with information on the toolss and techniques they used as well as the build process itself: http://deepredmotorhome.com/

Update 17/11/2015

Handmade Matt briefly covers his build process on his blog here: http://handmadematt. … atch-to-home-on.html

Build a Campervan, while not about a specific build, covers loads of general info that we will want to refer to. Although it appears that this is geared more towards “conventional” motorhomes rather than the full-time home that we plan to have, with many quirky touches that will be planned or that will creep in as we go along!

I’ll update this entry with more like this, if and when I find them. If you have come across any good self-build blogs please leave them in the comments below!