well you've got a job ahead of you there mike, but after building a couple of houses I cant see you having a problem, did you first fix or second/final fix or did you complete both tasks if you second/final fixed then your carpentry skills are already up to scratch and you really dont need advice when we built ours we used mdf instead of pine framing and we fixed it all with biscuits, glue and chipboard screws, we found this resisted the "skewing" of the carcase, with the length of the bus, the frame of the vehicle is built to "twist" a little and you must take this into account when building any "long cupboards" overhead as well as bench, any top will "pop off" just a simple "expansion joint" would suffice but if you need advice just give us a yell on whatever, someone here has done it sometime

many thanks Dave, that was something I hadnt thought of, at the moment I bought a lot of Aluminium 1 inch square with plywood for the internal walls using a small philips headed tek screw, (looking for a tight fit), The kitchen is a s/h one from a house not seen it yet but expect it to be normal melamine which will be modified to suit , and now the "twist"will be taken into account enjoy your sunrise,s Mike and Judy

no dramas mate, anytime, the s/h kitchen would, I expect be made out of moisture resistant chipboard, and the lengths involved should negate the twisting problem, due to the average length of a kitchen bench being not longer than 3 mtrs, try not to go too tight a fit with the plywood, leave at least 1 mm gap, it is easily covered if you use a covering strip of material to cover the joins, the plastic joiners used for hardi flex sheeting should be perfect for this, it can then "flex", expand and contract in the cold and heat, or else you may get bulges and eventually splintering the aluminium and plywood should suit the walling situation just fine, preplan where you want all the wiring first and try to get some insulation in to her as well, it gets mighty cold and mighty hot out there, good time to run the water and gas pipes as well, remembering that by law the gas bottle must remain isolated from the internal living area, this can be achieved by building a box and letting it in to the wall mate, built one myself from scratch a couple of lifetimes ago so I know what you are in for, one hell of a lot of fun and hours of enjoyment, with a certain degree of pride when she's finished, little bit jealous actually!!!

Hi Mike & Judy. We built our motorhome from the chassis up. You can get exactly what you want at a price that you can afford, with a great deal of satisfaction to boot. Three things to watch very closely: 1. Weight. 2. Weight. 3. Weight. Are you Guys members of the CMCA? There are a lot of home builders very active on their members forum. A great wealth of experience that they share freely. Very worth while. Cheers, Peter

Thank you all for the replies The kitchen didnt pan out, i would have been a case of trying to shoehorn a size 12 into a size 5 , it was also chipboard, so thats a no no in the high humidity of the north, and the weight was also against it, so have decided to wait till I get back to sapphire and custom build it from ply myself, so have bought a couple of cabinets to do us till we arrive there, so we dont have to cook and eat of the floor we have all we need from the caravan show, amazing how far they come down in price when you walk away, so a tip for all, barter as thought you dont need it, no matter how strong the need all this has come about because we met a Peter and Margeret driving a MAN bus in Coober Pedy on the way down here, strange things can happen when you meet strangers, we will be joining the CMCA shortly, but will keep in touch by this medium mike and Judy enjoy your sunrises

Well shes home , drove it up tween the xmas and new year, experience told me the road i chose would be quiet, and it certainly was, Newell and Castleriegh hwy to Sapphire,
Went like a dream, but on the bad road around Walgett started a lot of pitching, at times bad enough that air was tween the seat and me ,am assuming it was because the thing was empty, and at just under the 8 tons she was a bouncy little girl, maybe if I reset the springs and loaded about a ton of water tanks it will improve, quick flight back to Melbourne for the new year and to continue the trip, but if the weather continues to be cold will head north again with the van, missing the warmth of the north, and the peace of the bush quite severly,
happy new year to all


enjoy your sunrises

can someone pse help. I want to buy a van for me,myself, and I. But find that there is a marked lack of plans etc on the net about building a small van for one. Must be capable of gravel roads and some national parks and the side of the road,not 4x4 etc Erehwon