Journeys and Exploration of Life in the Campulance

I won’t bore you with this bit too much. 

Having spent more time scouring and watching various caravan interiors and random things to get ideas of what would work for us in the campulance, i came across a caravan dealer in Bradford breaking a few, nearly new, vans that had been insurance write offs.  The bidding was for the upper lockers only and remaining wood work after the salvage of the good bits by the guy himself.

A couple of seconds from the end, i had a pop and won.  So, a trip to Bradford then.  With no idea of how easy or difficult it would be, i hooked up a trailer, tooled up the car, including a chainsaw to speed up the process if needed and pottered across the country.

Where to start stripping a caravan with no idea how it was put together is tricky.  Thankfully, there were two other lads there on the same mission who had won two vans on ebay so i had a little chat to them and got some tips and ignored them immediately.

To cut a long story short, it took me 4 hours and i left nothing.  They arrived two hours before me and were still there when i left just starting the second van.  The screws, walls, lockers, shelves, bed, panelling and any remaining electrical parts came out and crammed into the trailer and car.  It is surprising how much goes in to a caravan really, and they are very well fitted.  The bits that i knew would be useful for direct transfer to the campulance were remove sympathetically and the bits that would be useful for taking up space in the lockup got the crow bar and saw treatment.

Happy in my plunder, and with more wood than a than the Forestry Commission i trundled back across the country to see what i really had that was of use and not what i thought i had when chopping and wrenching .  If you do plan to use a caravan for the interior of a self build i would take another person to give you a hand stripping it.  It is very tricky and sometimes frustrating when screws round off and the battery goes flat on the drill.  Also, take a chainsaw.  It is much quicker, much more satisfying and the poor buggers stripping the van next door by screwdriver think you are a nutter when you exit the van with a wince, a limp and muttering under your breath about 30mph in a 60 zone and bank holiday Mondays!