The Wandering FamiLee

What’s been happening?

We have been fully wintering here in the UK for the first time in three years. I’ll be honest, it’s been hard going. We’ve been away from the cold, damp and winter germs for so long that our immune systems were not ready for the shock of the UK winter and all that it entails. Bugs and flu viruses have been mainstay, early nights and pyjamas on at 7pm the norm. Chilly 5am wake ups for work and driving around the county for this and that, places to be, deadlines to make and a plethora of bills to pay.

Hold on a minute, wasn’t this what we gave up?

Yep, it seems we are well back on the train we had worked so hard to leave.

However, this time it is absolutely positively temporary. We have extended our stay here in the UK this winter for three things:

1. A baby! We have just two months before our beautiful bundle of joy and dirty nappies arrives and we cannot wait to meet her.
2. Work. Although living out of England is incredibly cheaper than living in it, we do need to earn some money to take us on our next adventures and to pay for…
3. Our overlander build. We have written about the journey to get Rusty our Mercedes 1113 ex-firetruck to here in the uk and our first steps of transforming him into a bespoke off-road camper for our family, but now work is over half way and today we share our progress.

A whole heap of progress on our Self-build Overlander

It might have been dark, freezing and wet most of the time, but that hasn’t stopped us progressing on our project. Jez has been busy working on the camper build pretty much anytime he’s not actually working.

Where we were

Last time, we wrote about Rusty the overlander, we had the firetruck back removed, the chassis stretched and we had sent the truck to a local body builder to put the unit together and mount on the extended chassis, add some windows and paint the cab and body.

Disappointed

That all took some time and to be completely honest we were not super happy with the final unit build. The finish was scrappy to say the least, the box itself not watertight nor strong enough to be used for the purpose of an overlander, We were disappointed. We had used our savings for the unit build and ended up with something that was really not fit for purpose. We had no choice but to rectify what we had and so the following month was spent doing just that. We cleaned up and made the body watertight, increased the strength in the unit and fitted bespoke caps to every external angle to ensure this truck will be fit to last and take on everything we through at him.

Moving on

Ok, so now we were ready for the fun part, the internal build! The plan had always been to build a camper that had overlanding capabilities, a bit more space and fixed beds for us adults and the two children… Hold up, make that three children now. We knew we needed a good shower, a spacious toilet (as families do), space for eating and chilling, storage for all the usual motorhome stuff, the ability to take motorbikes, bikes and a quiver of boards. We also wanted to do it in our style, so a 70’s modern interior was both a nod to the production year of the truck (1977) but also to our own personal taste.

What we’ve done so far

We started by fitting a parquet LVT floor for longevity and some 70’s style. Then we started the stud work for the shower/loo area and external / internal storage. We decided on using highly glossed OSB on the ceiling and separating wall to give the truck some warmth and cosy vibes. We built the frame for the bunk beds for our eldest two (who are still squabbling over who gets the top bunk). We wallpapered the area behind the bunks and fitted some little windows to give their spaces more of a bedroom feel. We ran electric cables throughout, ready for the the second fix and then fitted a beautiful german kitchen with colourful overhead cupboards to continue the bright mid-century theme,

Something original

We wanted to continue the 70’s feel onto the other very white and plastic walls so we commissioned our lovely friend Nellie to design and paint a mural on the wall, which is looking amazing. Look out for the finished piece here on the blog soon.

The technical stuff

As well as running a tonne of electrics in the unit we have taken out a heap from the cab as well. As a working firetruck there was an unbelievable amount of wires and switches that we just wouldn’t need so with the help of Phil, the best auto-electrician in town we cleaned up the cab of unnecessary electrics and fitted some new ones to the back of the truck so we can drive with all the necessary rear running lights working perfectly.

We had a few mechanical niggles sorted too but overall our truck was given a full bill of health giving us great confidence in taking Rusty anywhere in the world.

We have also removed a lot more from the cab of the old firetruck, The original seats, box and frames have all been put aside (maybe for future use) while we insulate and soundproof the cab and put in some new seating that will accommodate our two adults, two children and a baby and three spaniel needs.

Now for the outside

Last weekend we got the family up early (dog’s and all) to head off on a little road trip to Essex where we dropped off Rusty to our main man and metal fabricator’s workshop – RL Metalworks. Roy is going to look after Rusty for a month and give him a new look too! Expect a more rugged Rusty when he comes back with a whole heap of new and bespoke black painted metal work including an over the cab roof rack, side ladders and a bespoke bike and motorbike rack at the rear. He’ll also be fabricating a new larger fuel tank to ensure this truck will get us places and a bespoke water tank to keep us full of much needed water to live from. While he’s there he’s going to add even more strength to the unit body with cross bracing, and mount our vintage Boeing 747 aeroplane seats to the cab floor. Quite a lot of work for a month!

What’s next?

We won’t be idle while Rusty is with Roy for a month, there is much to do. Preparing for the birth of our baby being one of them!

Plus, when we have collected him, we will fit the solar, leisure battery and inverter system. With the help of our friends at AMC Motorhomes, we’ll finish all gas installations and checks and generate a habitation certificate.

Nellie will be back to finish the internal mural and do something cool on the outside.

Jez will be building a lounge/dining area in the rear as well as beds for us parents and the little one. Then there’s the finishing of the cab area which needs to be completely insulated before being made into a practical driving space for all the family and the also a separate chill out space for when we are parked up.

Plus, there’s the soft furnishings (my favourite) which I’ll need to dig my sewing machine out for and a tonne of other jobs I haven’t even got on my radar yet.

Then there’s the paperwork. Rusty will need to be down-plated and registered in the UK as a motorhome.

So, that’s it for now. We’ve got work to do!

Love, light and happy new year wishes from us to you xx