Show us your homemade interiors

I cant afford to buy already made interior,s so is it possible to see your homemade interiors, and what you used to make them which types of wood etc. Another project for over winter getting my interior sorted for next year the list is drastically spiralling out of control for things to do!!

Thanks,

 

Basic but serves a purpose


http://s962.photobucket.

 

That looks excellent Hull Tiger loving the colour scheme what did you use mate what typ of wood mate?

 

Cheers Ron
it was 4/5 years ago, did it on the cheap, white MDF,

 

I'm in the process ok making a unit for my Smev sink/hob combo and fridge. Still a bit to do, but it's getting there.


Thought I'd uodate you on progress... just needs plumbing and wiring now, and all at minimal cost!

 

Seen some absolutely stunning home built units over the years, but the main issue of home made over bought seems to be weight......a lot of people use cut down kitchen units and the like and they weigh a frikkin ton! I would think ply or 5mm MDF would keep the weight down. I'm appaling at woodwork so i had to go down the bought route. Great units and great quality, but at a price.

 

When I bought Molly the Robowagen she had no interior and with virtually no budget my priority was a bed, I looked & looked & decided to buy one from @Rusty Lee and so glad I did it bolted straight to the seatbelt mounts & was half the price of the usual suppliers...



We had a few cushions and scrounged some out of a relatives old caravan & my mum made us some covers with material we bought from ikea, I cut a kick board & mounted some speakers too.



We also re-trimmed the grotty looking interior panels with some heavy camo material bought from a little shop in Hunstanton.

Then we went camping

Then came storage, again on a budget and not that clever with wood so I scrounged some marine ply 12 & 6mm and made a bench seat with a pull out cooker inside...





Then we went camping


I really enjoyed making my homebrew style bench seat which works great for us, I just can't imagine fitting loads of units with cooker & sink etc. because we have got used to the space we have, I love @zed 's bench seat with built in cooker etc. that is a work of art...

If your more like me then all you need is some marine ply, box of screws, some L shape metal brackets and a jigsaw

 

Here's mine. Made of MDF mainly. Buddy seat holds a chemical toilet beneath. Fridge in left hand cupboard, gas and water in right hand cupboard, SMEV sink and hobs on top. 3/4 rock n roll bed. Foam and material from haberdashery and put together by my talented Aunt. Cheap offcut of lino for floor from carpet store. Perfect for one or two people, practical with all the modcons!

 

i used to cruise all day at 50--since added interior out of mdf,it struggles at 50...the key is to use them lightwieght boards that coachbuilders use......now i want a dayvan layout ...with toasty seating and big f off bed .....sod the cooker and fridge ....use tesco.

 

Used plywood and mdf fronts (would use plywood all around if i had enough $$ mdf is heavy, hard to paint and very sensitive to moisture. (everything you don't want in a camper) but yes it's cheap and easy to work with.

It's a non-walkthrough interior, and some parts are still on the drawing board.









Cost less than £ 200 in materials

 

Deffo avoid MDF due to weight although you can get external grade stuff its still bloomin heavy, I have a table leg but have yet to find something suitable to cut up for a table top

 

love homebrew interiors. some innovative work there!

 

I love that last picture. The view says what campers are all about

 

@Sven is that last pic actually a real view?

 

Ive not found mdf to be too heavy, and they also do lightweight mdf 1/3 lighter than tge conventional stuff

 

do you think its a bit hazy or does he needs to clean his windows

 

That's a cracking idea ... slide out stove ... like it

 

I love this (@Robo

 

I really didn't fancy cooking inside the van, cooking smells & kids jumping around! When we have the awning up I take the camping stove with me & cook / boil kettle in the awning but when we did a one night'er & didn't bother with the awning I rolled out my drawer and brewed up on this the shelf under holds the essentials, mugs coffee & spoon however I do need to tweek it over the winter because I want my squat gaz cylinder to go underneath & I forgot to allow for the blooming regulator thingy I may need to rebuild it 30mm taller but hey its only four screws

 

What you decide to use depends very much, on your budget...
the simplest option, would be to buy a complete secondhand interior [but a) where's the fun in that? and b) Why are they getting rid of it?]
the next option (and possibly the cheapest) is to buy Ikea type units and chop them accordingly....get yourself a router as many of these rely on routed joints to make them stable
the third option would be MDF...or film faced chipboard...cheap but not very cheerful, due to the weight, and also not particularly strong IMO
Birch throughout ply is pretty bulletproof, nice to work with and takes a screw very well...but quite heavy unless you use 3, 6 or 9mm plus battens (think old school kitchen carcasses and early caravan interiors) much more work but worth the effort
the final option is Motorhome furniture board, which is approximately 1/2 the weight of a similar thickness ply board. To create rigidity, you can use thicker board (12mm is fairly standard) Lots of manufacturers use this so there's a good range of trims, edgings, mouldings etc to finish cut board. The downside is that pound for pound Leightweight Furniture board is about twice the price of birch faced ply.

One route I haven't mentioned would be to use proper timber (Oak, Ash, Cherry etc.) Looks absolutely gorgeous, but your getting into expensive territory here.
If you're very handy, then you could always buy reclaimed timber/old furniture and make good, but it'd be a lot of effort...
I built two interiors for mine from scratch....one was cheap Melamine faced chipboard, the other Leightweight furniture board from Magnum Motorhomes in Grimsby (cheaper than any where else, and a veritable Aladdin's Cave...well worth the trip, assuming they're still in Business)
They both looked OK, and did the job...the proper board is so much better