Thank you for going into such detail right down to the screws, these are essential details most other youtubers miss but are important for DIY dunces like me 😊😊
I've watched alot of van build videos, you are the best host; straight to the point, clear and give the measurements of materials you use. Thank you!!!
Just found your blog. First time I saw your van had to look out the window. My friend up the road has exactly the same van. Blue with peeling paint 😱😂 his van is still there 👍
Loved this video Craig. Well set out, presented and formatted. It’s clear and easy to follow which me and the wife love. Looking forwards to the next stage. Stay safe. Best wishes from Dave and Mal in Stoke
Thanks guys, appreciate that. Hopefully it will be in a state to use come next spring and all being well everyone can get back out there and enjoy the great outdoors again. 🙂
I don't think any two self builds have been built alike. There's so many ways to tackle most stages. Looking forward to seeing what you do with your own! 😊👍
This was perfect, cheers. Just hit a wall with wooden cladding the sliding door side of transporter, without doing battens. Found out this evening that the beam immediately next to the sliding door is at a different projection than the rear. Battening will hopefully level it all out.
As always very informative and made to look easy. FYI I fitted the same Wi-fi and puck aerial the only difference being I have a 3sim. So far everything is working brilliantly without issue.
Cheers Brian! 😊🍻 Good to know our chosen wifi solution stands up to the test out there on the road. Sounds like our research will pay off for us. Our phones are on 3 and we're more than happy with the coverage. The plan was to have the router sim on a different network to give us options should one network have a spotty signal. If the 3 sim plays as nicely as you say with your router we might have to rethink our phone networks to pick up the mobile sim for the van. Thanks for sharing. 😁👍
Very good and v practical video. Well done. I'll def watch your insulation video . I've seen many other put down floor batons with no lateral batons inbetween
@pilgrimpods thank you for the great video! To clarify please - the reason the doorway needs more battens is to distribute the weight of people's steps more evenly? Just wanted to check 😊 thank you!
Craig, thanks very much for these videos, sometimes good to watch someone else's van when you hit 'the wall' on ideas! I seem to spend a lot of time measuring, sitting, thinking and then finally doing (and sometimes redoing) stuff. I'd be interested to hear what your ratio of 'thinking time' to 'doing time' is!
Thinking/doing ratio... It's really hard to say as we've been watching campervan builds for about six or seven years now in the hope that one day we'll eventually be able to do our own. We've wanted a campervan (originally a T25) from about 13 years ago and when we collared onto the self build thing we've been glued to RUclips build vlogs ever since. In that time we've absorbed a lot of information (right and wrong) on how to tackle most aspects so when we tackle a section it's probably fair to say we have a good idea of how we'll approach it. Of course things don't always go to plan and that's when we'll do some head scratching and turn to the internet for answers! Hope that kinda makes sense John. Good luck with your own build! 🙂👍
Fantastic video with all the useful info needed. My only complaint is why the music needs to be so loud compared to the narrative? Having to turn the volume up and down is annoying?
Thanks for checking them out and the feedback Jeff. I think the volume issue differs across devices. However you're not the only one who's mentioned it detracts from the videos so I'll definitely be rectifying in any new videos going forward. Thanks again! 🙂👍
Cheers Anton. 😊🍻 You'll get there mate as will we! We just break everything down into steps so it doesn't seem as daunting. This video is another chalked off the list! 😁
Hi when you put your roof cladding did you remove the interior back light (cargo) one? I want to delete my one but I don’t know if I’m going to have a signal on the dashboard (boxer year 18) thanks
Hey Craig, I'm enjoying watching these videos as I convert my T4. I will be putting my ceiling batons on tomorrow. I was wondering, do I just screw directly into the metal or use pre existing holes? Many thanks.
Hey Jeff, not just yet sorry. We'll definitely do an update when we're finished with the conversion and out and about using it. A few others on Facebook groups who have the same setup have mentioned how well it works for them so we're hopeful our research will have paid off. 😊🤞
Hi there. Just a bit of a question if you don't mind. I've got a merc that is slowly being converted and I've put 20mm wooden battens across the roof struts using screws and PVA glue. My question is; with your use of wall battens, screws and glue, how much weight are you expecting to hang off the wall battens. I'm not 100% sure how much batten penetration is required to hold up x amount of weight. Ie if I sink 15mm screws x 10 say in to 20mm wood battens, would that hold up 20kg when bumping along the rode?
Our overhead cupboards aren't going to be very large because the campervan is only going to be used for short trips away. If we were going to live in it they'd be much larger for the extra storage space. I've seen videos with folks really going to town with their fixings and others who haven't. My own thoughts regarding my build will be should we have a crash have I applied enough fixings to hold things in place? I think it's a 'how long is a piece of string' question and all any of us can do is apply common sense coupled with research to questions such as this. Sorry I couldn't be of more help Ian.
I've seen the same wrt the large discrepancy. Also the same with not a massive amount overhead as in a roll anything can come lose. Heavy weighted items and spiky projectiles will be under the head which is steel and bolted in to the van. No worries. Thought I would ask to see what your considerations were. I'm about to go and see if I can work out the sloping angle of the van walls before putting the batons in
Hi- thanks for the useful video- really appreciated...can I ask, after 2 years or whatever it is- are the battens still stuck? Have you had any problems with the screwless ones on the floor?
Hi mate, at the 3.28 mark there are some black clips on the lower mid structural support member . . .Did these come with the van when you bought it? Would love to know if you can buy them! Or indeed what their actual name is :) Cheers!
Hey mate, they came with the van and supported the original ply lining. Had a quick nose on eBay put couldn't find them with my searches but then again I don't know their actual name. Hope that kinda helps. 🙂👍
I have those black clips in my van also. But don't trust them. They are made of thin aliminium and can be bended easily with bare hand. I drilled them out.
Before you build anything else go invest in a 18v impact driver and some impact screw driver bits. Too late for your lining but would make life a lot easier for putting screws in.
I actually thought that was one item I was missing from my toolkit when tackling screwing the battens to the ribs. Driving those screws in was much harder work than it needed to be! I'll add one to my shopping list for future investment.
@@noskills9577 thanks for the advice. If a decent one pops up in the list I'll pick it up. As you say, I'm sure it'll come in useful for lots of things over the years.
Hi Craig Can I ask why you went for a medium wheelbase and not a long wheelbase, reason I ask is I am in the thought process of doing a camper van, as I am 65 this will probably be my last big project after having done 3 popup caravans over the years. I will probably go for the Citroen relay but still undecided on medium or long wheelbase 🤔 Anyone else please feel free to offer your thoughts 👍🏻
It was all about getting the right van for the right money to be honest. I had my eyes peeled for anything between a MWB and XLWB in a Boxer/Ducato/Relay and had a rough idea of what I'd do with each. Each length had it's pros and cons for us and the likelihood was we would get a LWB as there are more about and they're the middle ground in size. Just so happened our van came up for £1500 and had recently had a load of maintenance done to it at a local garage, was a PDSA van so chances were it hadn't had a hard life and ticked a few other boxes too. Don't regret the decision but I do wonder whether the width ways bed might be too short for me.
@@PilgrimPods Thanks for that, I am pretty set on the relay so just need to find a good one👍🏻 only is the two of us and two wee dogs but may opt for the LWB. Stay safe and happy touring 🏴👍🏻
Thank you for going into such detail right down to the screws, these are essential details most other youtubers miss but are important for DIY dunces like me 😊😊
Cheers David! 🙂🍻
I've watched alot of van build videos, you are the best host; straight to the point, clear and give the measurements of materials you use. Thank you!!!
Thanks for sharing your build and I’m just about to start my build. I’m based in Walsall and you sound very local 👌🏻
Great detail in your videos, sets you apart from the rest
thanks, it is very helpful. very detail walk through and simple method
Just found your blog. First time I saw your van had to look out the window. My friend up the road has exactly the same van. Blue with peeling paint 😱😂 his van is still there 👍
There's quite a few of them out there with the same issue. Tell him to get it rollered! 😁
Loved this video Craig. Well set out, presented and formatted. It’s clear and easy to follow which me and the wife love. Looking forwards to the next stage. Stay safe. Best wishes from Dave and Mal in Stoke
Thanks guys, appreciate that. Hopefully it will be in a state to use come next spring and all being well everyone can get back out there and enjoy the great outdoors again. 🙂
Nice work! Yep did my van totally different 😂👍 looking forward to the rest of the build👍
I don't think any two self builds have been built alike. There's so many ways to tackle most stages. Looking forward to seeing what you do with your own! 😊👍
Great demo. Thank you. I will be back.
Thanks Shey!
Well done, that’s the way to go! Looks great! Take care, stay well and safe!
Thanks mate, appreciate it. 😊👍
Thanks for this great video! We worked through all of this on the weekend in our van and made great progress 👍🏼
Thanks! That's great to hear you found it of use. Thanks for taking the time to check it out.
It’s definitely going well so far! 👍
Slow and steady Andrew, slow and steady! 🐢😊👍
This was perfect, cheers. Just hit a wall with wooden cladding the sliding door side of transporter, without doing battens. Found out this evening that the beam immediately next to the sliding door is at a different projection than the rear. Battening will hopefully level it all out.
Thanks mate and good luck working on that transporter of yours. 🙂🍻
As always very informative and made to look easy. FYI I fitted the same Wi-fi and puck aerial the only difference being I have a 3sim. So far everything is working brilliantly without issue.
Cheers Brian! 😊🍻 Good to know our chosen wifi solution stands up to the test out there on the road. Sounds like our research will pay off for us. Our phones are on 3 and we're more than happy with the coverage. The plan was to have the router sim on a different network to give us options should one network have a spotty signal. If the 3 sim plays as nicely as you say with your router we might have to rethink our phone networks to pick up the mobile sim for the van. Thanks for sharing. 😁👍
Really good video guys, so exciting that your getting to this stage now - can’t wait to see what you do inside xx
Thanks guys! Slow and steady wins the race! 🐢😄😁
Thank you so much for doing the videos.
Hi Atma, thank YOU for taking the time to check them out. 🙂👍
Very good and v practical video. Well done. I'll def watch your insulation video . I've seen many other put down floor batons with no lateral batons inbetween
Cheers Paddy! 🙂🍻
Great series, keep it up, defo will be doing similar on my build 👍
Cheers! 🙂🍻 Best of luck with your own build mate. 😁👍
Great video! Just rewatching the ceiling bit at the beginning, did you pilot holes into the metal first? Thanks
Great vid mate, cheers. It’s the first time I’ve seen you guys, so I gave you a sub, as I’m interested to see how you progress.
Thanks for taking the time!
nice one fella
Cheers Robert. 😊👍🍻
Great content thank you. It would have been great to have seen how much meterage you guys used
@pilgrimpods thank you for the great video! To clarify please - the reason the doorway needs more battens is to distribute the weight of people's steps more evenly? Just wanted to check 😊 thank you!
Great video. Did you use the 32mm screws in the roof battens? I thought theyd be too big?
Great video
Cheers Kev, thanks for watching mate. 😊🍻👍
Super helpful, thank you
Thanks for watching it.
great job well done
Cheers Aaron. Thanks mate. 😊👍
Craig, thanks very much for these videos, sometimes good to watch someone else's van when you hit 'the wall' on ideas! I seem to spend a lot of time measuring, sitting, thinking and then finally doing (and sometimes redoing) stuff. I'd be interested to hear what your ratio of 'thinking time' to 'doing time' is!
Thinking/doing ratio... It's really hard to say as we've been watching campervan builds for about six or seven years now in the hope that one day we'll eventually be able to do our own. We've wanted a campervan (originally a T25) from about 13 years ago and when we collared onto the self build thing we've been glued to RUclips build vlogs ever since. In that time we've absorbed a lot of information (right and wrong) on how to tackle most aspects so when we tackle a section it's probably fair to say we have a good idea of how we'll approach it. Of course things don't always go to plan and that's when we'll do some head scratching and turn to the internet for answers! Hope that kinda makes sense John. Good luck with your own build! 🙂👍
Fantastic video with all the useful info needed. My only complaint is why the music needs to be so loud compared to the narrative?
Having to turn the volume up and down is annoying?
Thanks for checking them out and the feedback Jeff. I think the volume issue differs across devices. However you're not the only one who's mentioned it detracts from the videos so I'll definitely be rectifying in any new videos going forward. Thanks again! 🙂👍
Looking good guys, my L2H2 is still at the empty box stage. Feels like sometimes its not progressing 🙈🙈🙈🤣🤣🤣🤣
Cheers Anton. 😊🍻 You'll get there mate as will we! We just break everything down into steps so it doesn't seem as daunting. This video is another chalked off the list! 😁
not bad m8, not bad at all!
Cheers mate! 😁🍻
I’m not sure if I’m being dim or not, but, how do you screw the screws into the metal? Do you use the holes that are already in the metal ?
Hi when you put your roof cladding did you remove the interior back light (cargo) one? I want to delete my one but I don’t know if I’m going to have a signal on the dashboard (boxer year 18) thanks
Hey Craig, I'm enjoying watching these videos as I convert my T4. I will be putting my ceiling batons on tomorrow. I was wondering, do I just screw directly into the metal or use pre existing holes? Many thanks.
Hey Sophie, apologies for the late reply. Hope you sorted the ceiling out without issue. Personally I just screwed them straight in without a pilot. 🙂
What screws do we need to drill in to the metal
Hi just wondering if you’ve got any update on your mifi ? All the best 👍🚐👍
Hey Jeff, not just yet sorry. We'll definitely do an update when we're finished with the conversion and out and about using it. A few others on Facebook groups who have the same setup have mentioned how well it works for them so we're hopeful our research will have paid off. 😊🤞
Thanks mate realised this after I sent the message. All the best 👍🚐👍
Did you use self tapping screws for this?
3:27 How are you fixing this batten to the van please?
Hi there. Just a bit of a question if you don't mind.
I've got a merc that is slowly being converted and I've put 20mm wooden battens across the roof struts using screws and PVA glue.
My question is; with your use of wall battens, screws and glue, how much weight are you expecting to hang off the wall battens.
I'm not 100% sure how much batten penetration is required to hold up x amount of weight. Ie if I sink 15mm screws x 10 say in to 20mm wood battens, would that hold up 20kg when bumping along the rode?
Our overhead cupboards aren't going to be very large because the campervan is only going to be used for short trips away. If we were going to live in it they'd be much larger for the extra storage space. I've seen videos with folks really going to town with their fixings and others who haven't. My own thoughts regarding my build will be should we have a crash have I applied enough fixings to hold things in place? I think it's a 'how long is a piece of string' question and all any of us can do is apply common sense coupled with research to questions such as this. Sorry I couldn't be of more help Ian.
I've seen the same wrt the large discrepancy.
Also the same with not a massive amount overhead as in a roll anything can come lose. Heavy weighted items and spiky projectiles will be under the head which is steel and bolted in to the van.
No worries. Thought I would ask to see what your considerations were.
I'm about to go and see if I can work out the sloping angle of the van walls before putting the batons in
@@iancoe3044 best of luck mate with the battening and beyond and have a great Christmas.
Cheers buddy you too
We're just about to build our van. It's more or less the same as yours once was! Did you drill pilot holes for you batten screws?
Hi- thanks for the useful video- really appreciated...can I ask, after 2 years or whatever it is- are the battens still stuck? Have you had any problems with the screwless ones on the floor?
No issues at all. 😊
Hi Craig. above the middle of wheel arches. Whats that spacer your using?
Hi, I 'think' you're referring to a little supporting bracket which was already there behind the original ply lining.
@@PilgrimPods Ahh I see! No worries, thank you.
Hi mate, at the 3.28 mark there are some black clips on the lower mid structural support member . . .Did these come with the van when you bought it? Would love to know if you can buy them! Or indeed what their actual name is :) Cheers!
Probably better view of these at 4:26 :)
Hey mate, they came with the van and supported the original ply lining. Had a quick nose on eBay put couldn't find them with my searches but then again I don't know their actual name. Hope that kinda helps. 🙂👍
I have those black clips in my van also. But don't trust them. They are made of thin aliminium and can be bended easily with bare hand. I drilled them out.
What glue did you use please .
I'm not him but heard great things about Stixall extreme stick adhesive. That's what I'm about to use for my conversion
Before you build anything else go invest in a 18v impact driver and some impact screw driver bits. Too late for your lining but would make life a lot easier for putting screws in.
I actually thought that was one item I was missing from my toolkit when tackling screwing the battens to the ribs. Driving those screws in was much harder work than it needed to be! I'll add one to my shopping list for future investment.
@@PilgrimPods good on you, you’ll wonder how you worked without one after a while. Even a cheapo brand one will help ryobi/erbauer etc etc.
@@noskills9577 thanks for the advice. If a decent one pops up in the list I'll pick it up. As you say, I'm sure it'll come in useful for lots of things over the years.
What screws drill in to the metal
Hi Craig
Can I ask why you went for a medium wheelbase and not a long wheelbase, reason I ask is I am in the thought process of doing a camper van, as I am 65 this will probably be my last big project after having done 3 popup caravans over the years. I will probably go for the Citroen relay but still undecided on medium or long wheelbase 🤔
Anyone else please feel free to offer your thoughts 👍🏻
It was all about getting the right van for the right money to be honest. I had my eyes peeled for anything between a MWB and XLWB in a Boxer/Ducato/Relay and had a rough idea of what I'd do with each. Each length had it's pros and cons for us and the likelihood was we would get a LWB as there are more about and they're the middle ground in size. Just so happened our van came up for £1500 and had recently had a load of maintenance done to it at a local garage, was a PDSA van so chances were it hadn't had a hard life and ticked a few other boxes too. Don't regret the decision but I do wonder whether the width ways bed might be too short for me.
@@PilgrimPods
Thanks for that, I am pretty set on the relay so just need to find a good one👍🏻 only is the two of us and two wee dogs but may opt for the LWB.
Stay safe and happy touring 🏴👍🏻
It's probably obvious but I'm wondering why people use treated battens for the floor but nowhere else??
What size battens are they?
They're just plain old roof battens.
@@PilgrimPods great work on the channel, your the go to bloke for how to do your van. Keep it real !
Has anyone ever told you you look like david michell from peep show 😂
Looking good, thanks for the follow back over on Instagram 👍
Cheers Mark. Looking forward to following your own journey mate. 😊👍
My husband used these plans from Stodoys and he is very pleased.
Great to know, thanks! 🙂👍
@@PilgrimPods Glad you love it friend 🤙✌️
Good video but I think you would have more views if you cut your hair.
The hair is getting out of hand! Future manbunn incoming!? 🤔😄 Thanks for watching me dude. 😘