Getting my van home was a weird experience , almost surreal. Id  never driven anything bigger than my car and I was also realizing a fairly long term ambition - once home I realized that this was gonna be a really fun project.

Now I could start work proper  - I had already drawn up tentative plans - based on dimensions found on the web. Fortunately the LWB (Long Wheel Base) Master offers a good deal of "living space" 12' 1'' x 5' 7'' excluding the cab.

After removing the seats (all 15 of them). I took some measurements of the vans internal dimensions , then went back to the drawing board. I decided to attempt to use a CAD (Computer Aided Design) package, to draw up the final plans. I initially used "Design CAD 15 Day trial" - which can be downloaded from :- http://www.imsisoft.com

Having never used CAD before it took some getting used to. However after some practice I got the hang of it and decided to buy an upgrade of the package . £27. 50,  money well spent I think.

I had 3 design plans in total. But finally settled on this one - with a few minor alterations as building progressed :-

Within two weeks my initial plans - were transformed into tentative CAD plans. A week or so later the final plans looked like this :-

MATERIALS

An important consideration of any successful design is the practicalities and functionality of the materials used for the build. With a van build it is important to remember the weight factor - the heavier the build - the heavier the fuel consumption !! however durability and strength are also vital. Hence compromises have to be made.

I decided upon, essentially a 2'' x 2'' pine frame work; cladding with varying thickness of marine ply (ranging between 4mm to 9mm).

TOOLS

Though I already owned the majority of tools I would need for the job I decided to invest in an electric miter saw. At £25 from Argos - it has been worth its weight in gold. I bought other tools as the need arose. An electric rechargeable screwdriver is also very handy.

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