Seat Carcasses Done, Fitted First Time ! :P

Finally got around to the seating today, originally intended to just cut the wood to size ready to put together, but ended up doing that too.

It got to the stage where I thought to myself, just go with the design in your head and see what happens, if it doesnt work out then you'll have to do it again.

Well I emptied that camper, crossed my fingers and then put the seat over the wheel arch first, then the one behind the driver seats, praying that it would fit in, it did ! For the first time ever, all my measurments worked out and it all fits exactly how I planned, how cool is that :).

This is the carcasses without the seat boards or finishing trim, at the moment you can gingerly sit in the middle of the seats where the cross members are, and they work great :). Head room isnt that brilliant, only a few inches to spare when you are sitting down, I based the seat height on caravan seats, approx 36cm high plus cushions, obviously caravans have more height, so not sure I should have made them a touch shorter, but I think the height is inline with the rock and roll bed heights, so think it will do. :) In any case I was really happy I managed to work out in my camper pad ( a notebook where all my ideas and measurments and contact details of anything to do with this conversion are, I highly recommend you keep one too if you are doing one yourself, you will find it invaluable) from the measurments taken inside the van, then cut the wood and put it together and it fitted ! I was quite worried about the seat that goes over the wheel arch and getting that right, so all's good :)

As you can see, there isnt much room in the back on the left hand side of the pic, once the seating is put into a bed. This is a major problem as this is where I had intended putting the sink and hob. Now the seats are built up, im not so sure there is enough space for a sink and hob unit. The pic below is the Smev 9222, its 900mm wide, and 370mm deep, and about the slimmest combo unit you can get, I am hoping I can fit this somehow, its pretty expensive at £240, but will be worth it if it fits and will add value to the camper. Will measure more tomorrow and see if I cant work it in somehow.

Thats about it for tonight, quite a good bit of progress, will take some more pics when I sort the metal bed frame out, and finish off the seating so you cant see inside the carcasses, also need to get the seat boards too, as well as taxing it ! This isnt a cheap hobby this converting :)