Meet Duke our new van conversion for bikes and dogs

I'd like to introduce you to our fiat Decato.

It took months to find the perfect van. We wanted something big. We looked at lots of ford transit but the just didn't seem big enough for our needs. There is two of us and two dogs to fit in the van with mountain bikes so it had to have plenty of room. one of our main reason for getting the van is to travel more with our dogs. 

I thought it would be fun to take you all along on the conversion of Duke into our new home on wheels. Here is what it looked like when we bought it. 

 We think it was a joiners van.

As you can see there is a lot of work to do to make this a van conversion. My husband is doing the work with my assistance but this is his baby so to speak.

First things first rip everything out.

We stripped everything right back to the metal and cleaned it out. We were very lucky the van was kept in good condition.

Next up lining the van with insulation. This was made harder with the lack of Celotex insulation boards. My husband did loads of research into what insulation would be the best for us. I have asthma and this was the best option for us.

 The celotex had to be cut to size for the wall panel these where then sparey guled into place.

next, a frame had to be built for the floor to hold the Celotex in place and make the floor level. 

This was then left to dry. This in all, cost about £8 for the wood to build the frame and the glue was a bit more expensive at £5 per can and we used about 12 for the whole van. The Celotex was in 25cm and 50cm sheets they measure 2.4m x 1.2meters. This came in at £200 approx.

Stay tuned for the progress post.