Series III LWB 'Tent on Wheels' Conversion

[Lime Tree Heros]

But, I'm back on my feet now, so on with the carpentry... Next up was building the fridge / battery charger / other gubbins unit. The biggest item was the fridge - this is what I'm planning to accommodate:

Having cut the base, next up was the front, including access doors.

The doors were then covered in vinyl, the holes are for airflow, to the fridge unit (upper) and to the batteries / battery charger (lower).

This is the internal view showing the dowel and P clip door hinge system...

With the doors out, the front was fitted to the base, with side supports and the top trial fitted

And then the fridge popped in to check it fits.

Next up is finishing the internal structure of the unit and working out if / where all 'the other gubbins' will fit. I'm hoping to include: 2 x plug sockets, cigar lighter, water pump, battery master switch, 2 x heavy duty fuses, battery charger, 240v distribution board and all associated wiring and plumbing - there's loads of room in the back of a Landy...

 

[SeriesG]

But, I'm back on my feet now, so on with the carpentry... Next up was building the fridge / battery charger / other gubbins unit. The biggest item was the fridge - this is what I'm planning to accommodate:

View attachment 522184

Having cut the base, next up was the front, including access doors.

View attachment 522185

The doors were then covered in vinyl, the holes are for airflow, to the fridge unit (upper) and to the batteries / battery charger (lower).

View attachment 522186

This is the internal view showing the dowel and P clip door hinge system...

View attachment 522187

With the doors out, the front was fitted to the base, with side supports and the top trial fitted

View attachment 522188

And then the fridge popped in to check it fits.

View attachment 522189

Next up is finishing the internal structure of the unit and working out if / where all 'the other gubbins' will fit. I'm hoping to include: 2 x plug sockets, cigar lighter, water pump, battery master switch, 2 x heavy duty fuses, battery charger, 240v distribution board and all associated wiring and plumbing - there's loads of room in the back of a Landy...

That's an amazing amount of work for someone with a broken heel. Very impressive! All kidding aside I'm loving your project and all the updates. Thanks for all the inspiration!

 

[Paul d]

But, I'm back on my feet now, so on with the carpentry... Next up was building the fridge / battery charger / other gubbins unit. The biggest item was the fridge - this is what I'm planning to accommodate:

View attachment 522184

Having cut the base, next up was the front, including access doors.

View attachment 522185

The doors were then covered in vinyl, the holes are for airflow, to the fridge unit (upper) and to the batteries / battery charger (lower).

View attachment 522186

This is the internal view showing the dowel and P clip door hinge system...

View attachment 522187

With the doors out, the front was fitted to the base, with side supports and the top trial fitted

View attachment 522188

And then the fridge popped in to check it fits.

View attachment 522189

Next up is finishing the internal structure of the unit and working out if / where all 'the other gubbins' will fit. I'm hoping to include: 2 x plug sockets, cigar lighter, water pump, battery master switch, 2 x heavy duty fuses, battery charger, 240v distribution board and all associated wiring and plumbing - there's loads of room in the back of a Landy...

Same here great work ..glad your back on your feet again .

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

Thanks for the kind words.

Currently melting my head trying to calculate wiring sizes for the leisure batteries charging circuit...

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

2 steps forwards, 1 step back...

So, whilst building the 'fridge' unit a lot of trial fitting was going on at the same time, no matter how I tried it the battery charger and distribution board was just too tight a fit. So, a new location for the distribution board was needed. Eventually worked out it could go in the bottom section of the 'hob / sink' unit, so out it came...

Firstly a 12mm plywood 'wall' had to be cut and fitted for the distribution board to mount on, made trickier by my 'no visible screw heads' rule, so it involved some rudimentary 'bracketry'... Photo shows the before...

Next I had to re-route the wiring from the 240v hook up.

Finally check fitting back in the LR.

Now... Due to a design change the access 'hole' in the 'fridge' unit base wasn't needed, not only that a base there was needed to accommodate wiring and fusing for the charging circuit. So a plate was cut and fitted.

Finally a semi removable 'switch' panel was fitted in the 'fridge' unit, this will accommodate a battery cut off (in the starter battery to leisure battery line) a voltage sensitive relay and an aux plug - fridge unit power - I decided to keep the auto plug power to the fridge, rather than hard wire it so if I want I can still relatively easily use the fridge in another vehicle.

Then, I trial fitted both units back in the LR again...

Next up, it's cutting the 'fridge' unit top for its plug socket and trial fitting up everything in the fridge unit, before taking it all apart again and sanding, filling, sanding and varnishing the whole unit...

 

[mikeau]

I take my hat off to you sir...

 

[robwlondon]

We have the same Alpicool unit and its very impressive, very low current draw. Ours is not fixed, its on a plug connection and in winter we lave it at home and in summer we load it up. Our reason is that the leisure battery can't run the fridge and night heater so we prioritize by season / weather.

 

[Kernite]

Just read your thread. Inspirational and look forward to seeing the finished work. How did you accommodate the curves/bumps on the top side of the side panels above the wheel arch?

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

Just read your thread. Inspirational and look forward to seeing the finished work. How did you accommodate the curves/bumps on the top side of the side panels above the wheel arch?

Do you mean those in the top right hand corner of the plywood shown below?

That's the end of my 'kitchen' unit, created by careful measurement and making a cardboard template to cut around. The indentation in the middle of it is my private bug bear, it was sod's law that on both sides my visible uprights 'hit' rivet tails, so I had to accommodate them...

 

[Kernite]

@Lime Tree Heros I knew as I wrote that I would not make much sense. It’s the top of the seat bases and the small bump over the wheel.
Not sure picture makes it any more clear.

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

@Lime Tree Heros I knew as I wrote that I would not make much sense. It’s the top of the seat bases and the small bump over the wheel.
Not sure picture makes it any more clear.
View attachment 523687

That's nice paintwork!

Sorry, but I can't help, my rear side 'benchs' had flat tops - mine's an ex military Series III, don't know if that makes any difference. Provided the 'bump' was less than 64mm I could have 'accomodated' it within the bench on the LHS, provided my carpentry was up to it. On the RHS the 'kitchen' unit wouldn't really be effected, but the fridge would project further up in the 'fridge' unit.

These were my thankfully flat 'bench' tops.

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

Progress today, trying to sort lots of little things...

Started 'fitting up' the fridge unit with components to establish positions and eventual cable runs, also fitted a finishing strip to the top edge.

Had to cut the top for a plug socket and aux plug.

Interior of the 'fridge' unit - still got to trial fit everything on the 'switch' panel and work out the charging circuit cable runs - this is made slightly more complicated, as I want to switchably 'hard' wire the starter batteries into it, so I can choose to top up the starter batteries from the 240v charger when hooked up if I need / want to.

Next, I need to strip the fridge unit out and start the sanding / filling / varnishing process, but I need +10 degrees for that, so maybe next week... Instead I popped everything back in the LR and started on the 'cross' bench - the bench against the main bulkhead between the two side units, taking note of access holes for wiring.

Doing all this also threw up the next problem to solve - battery access... currently there isn't any... (is that an electrician's joke?) - they're hidden virtually out of sight and inaccessible under the bench on the LHS...

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

1 step forwards, 2 steps back...

Next up is the 'cross' bench, that sits against the bulkhead and between the side bench and the fridge unit. Underneath the bench will be the leisure batteries and water tank.

Firstly, I cut, notched and drilled the component parts.

Then I glued and screwed them together.

Before check fitting back in the LR.

Then drilling cross bench and side bench to fit T nuts and bolts to secure in place.

Now the problem... The more observant of you may have noticed in an earlier photo, Despite careful measuring there is a 5mm discrepancy between the height of the bed support on the cross bench and the fridge unit / kitchen unit.

Ahhhh....... What to do? And the answer is walk away and have a think.

There's no use crying over spilt milk, I've just got to crack on with it. Realistically there are only two options i) dismantle both fridge and burner units, remove the 'fronts' of both and replace them with the bed support in the right place, which entails making new doors too, or ii) bodge around the problem...

So whilst the thinking goes on, I fiddled around with the leisure batteries, so they're now in a position to be accessible (relatively), but still under the cross bench. I should still be able to get a 30l water tank in there too, but it is all really tight in there.

So, lots to think about and problems to solve...

 

[Hitchhiker42]

Really nice build. Very tidy work.

Despite careful measuring there is a 5mm discrepancy between the height of the bed support on the cross bench and the fridge unit / kitchen unit.

Frustrating isn't it. You are being a lot more precise on your build. I found the measurements on each side of my rear cabin were slightly different. The way I've built mine I can 'fill and seal' any discrepancies as none of my wood will be visible - all going to covered in Veltrim liner and leather. Had it been on show like yours I'd have had to be more accurate. Looking forward to seeing this finished.

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

Looking forward to seeing this finished.

Not as much as I am...

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

Some slow and steady progress...

First off I filled and sanded the fridge unit and fitted angle aluminium that'll help 'seat' the cool box in position.

Next up I drilled and cut the fridge unit switch panel for the wiring and battery master switch it'll take.

Then I cut the top of the cross bench. This is in two parts, the rear to be fixed (but removable) and the front to be hinged, but... When trial fitting I realised that if the front section was hinged I'd have to shave 5mm off the RHS so the panel could pass the finishing strip on the fridge unit... Which would look odd - so rethink in progress...

But the top does fit - so that's good news.

Finished off by popping a lock in the access door to the fridge unit switch panel. Don't want by batteries turned off and the 'key' nicked - that'd be a real problem on a trip...

Now the weather's warmed up (well it has for me) I suppose I'd better get on with varnishing the fridge unit...

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

Not a lot to show for recent progress, I worked out how to fix the cross bench front section, so drilled & rebated finger holes and started varnishing...

Drilled & rebated finger holes in the cross bench rear panel and with the switch panel started varnishing...

Stripped the fridge unit and started varnishing... (it's upside down in the photo)

Drilled & rebated the cross bench base for the T nuts that will take the bolts to a) bolt the base to the LR floor and b) bolt down the water tank. Then positioned the leisure batteries to start calculating / designing the battery braces.

Then started varnishing...

Next up - more varnishing...

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

So... On with the varnishing...

But no-one wants to see photos of varnish drying. So I used angle steel and wood to create a base for the leisure batteries to be clamped into, before cutting a rubber sheet base for one battery (ran out of rubber before cutting the second).

Then trial fitted the batteries.

The aluminium tube on the LHS is my dining table leg, just a trial to test a storage solution, before, guess what? More varnishing...

But if there is anyone missing seeing photos of varnish drying - here's the fridge unit, first external coat...

Next up? More varnishing...

 

[Lime Tree Heros]

So... On with the varnishing...
Though to relieve the boredom I moved onto the water tank... This'll sit on the RHS of the leisure batteries, under the cross bench and the fridge unit. First off I cut the base and bolted it down - this was the reason for the recessed T nuts in the cross bench base earlier.

Then I started cutting the sides.

This was all during a load of varnishing... Joy - now up to 5 coats out of 6 on the fridge unit!

There's probably lots of you thinking 'water tank - made of wood? That won't work' and I understand your viewpoint, however the back of the LR is a small space and I couldn't find a commercially available plastic storage box to fit the space and according to the Internet you can make wooden water tanks - we'll see, but I'll give it a go... hopefully it'll hold 25 - 30 L, but I can carry more in 5L containers if needed - it's a compromise and not ideal, but I plan to do a couple of trips and see how things go.

 

[Hitchhiker42]

A lot of thought going into this - great work.
I don't know what space you have available for your water tank but there are a lot of potable water tank options out there. Will none of them fit and save you some work?

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You can also buy them with the water feeds and filling points already fitted. My big mistake was forgetting to buy one with internal baffles (60L).
How do you plan to fill the tank? External fill point or hose/funnel and jerry can?