Welcome to our family camper van build adventure! We’re transforming our Ford Transit Custom into our very own camper van, tackling every step together as a family. With our two young lads getting stuck in alongside us, this project is as much about bonding and learning as it is about creating something amazing together, for us all to enjoy. Join us on this exciting journey as we share every triumph, challenge, and tip along the way – don’t forget to subscribe and follow our story as it unfolds! 🙂
Sunday 2nd March 2025.
We were waiting for a dry day to tackle the floor, as we didn’t want doors open, rain pouring in, and risk getting the insulation wet as we did this job…
The job in question was the removal of the ply floor that came with the van. Today turned out to be beautiful, cool still, but bright and, as it turned out, warm in the sunshine. This was a welcome change to the weather February had given us! It gave us the opportunity to pop the roof up, unzip the windows in the canvas and open the side windows – the extra height and light was very useful as we worked inside the van.
Removing the floor turned out to be easier than we’d thought it would be. Some of the screw heads looked wrecked and we had visions of having to drill most of them out – fortunately it didn’t come to that at all! Apparently, all the thanks is to the tool, and when I was taking the photo of the floor, my ‘in the trade’ husband pointed out that the tool is the most important thing in the photo and should be photographed appropriately 😂 Enjoy!
We took the ply out and started the cleaning. I almost fainted when my eldest practically begged me to vacuum the van! He did a brilliant job too, getting into all the corners and making a lovely job of clearing away all the years worth of dust, odd screws and goodness knows what else this poor van’s seen!
After the vacuuming came the wiping down with some industrial wet wipes. We were able to leave her to dry off in the sunshine with the doors open as we then headed inside for a roast dinner, yum! We’d also left the specialist Deadn Duo, a clever sound deadening and insulation combo for floors, laid out in the sunshine, to warm up (and hopefully supple up) ready to apply in half an hour or so…
This product ended up being a bit of a pain to apply! The sunshine hadn’t had too much of an effect on the suppleness of the product, so the trusty hairdryer was bought out again (one day I’ll actually invest in a heat gun 🙈). We also noticed that this didn’t stick particularly well in the areas where the floor hadn’t been fully painted at the factory. This was a common theme throughout: I’d noticed some sections inside the wheel arch, where the paint hadn’t reached, was also utterly useless at getting the first round of sound deadening to stick to as well.
It ended up being a family effort all trying to force the Deadn Duo around the unique shapes of the floor as Dad warmed up section by section with the hairdryer. We’re not convinced it’s applied as it should, but the floor will be screwed on top again anyway so it should in effect still work. 🤞
Just a couple of hours later we were placing the ply floor back on top! A fun and quick family job completed! We’ve ordered an altro floor, precut to shape, but we’re just debating whether we should carpet before we put the nice floor in!
Very exciting to be working together to push our van build forward 😊
Read our progress so far!
03. Part 01: Stripping the Interior
04. Part 02: Installing the Windows
05. Part 03: Installing the Pop Top (1)
06. Part 03: Installing the Pop Top (2)
07. Part 03: Installing the Pop Top (3)
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Well done guys! I would definitely have given up and handed it to the experts by now! Congratulations on having the patience and perseverance to do it yourselves. It will be worth it when you’re touring around making more memories in it!
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Ahh thank you! I’m one stubborn lass, I’m determined we’ll do this… And hopefully all come out sane the other side 😅 I think the promise of mini adventures is what’s keeping us going 😁
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All hail the tool, bow in its presence!!
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😂 He’ll be chuffed to pieces the tool got some airtime!
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Set those kids working I say! Looks like things are progressing nicely now. When do you think you’ll be able to spend your first night out. I guess you’ll need you rear seat/bed for that
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Haha, well, they want an adventure van too so they have to help 😉 fortunately they’re as excited as me so they’re actually asking to help!! 😲. To be fair, we aren’t too far away from using it now, I reckon by May/June we’ll be away 😁🤞
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