2026-02-21
First thing in the morning, I set about measuring the mattress in the van, and the gap between it and the wall at the head end when the mattress was slid down to the longest extension position. This is in order to make and fit a bolster at the head end, and thus increase the length of the bed, since my feet hang over the end otherwise. I also consulted the list of required things, and we set out to purchase various bits and pieces. This took most of the morning, and involved going via Stafford, Enoggera and Keperra, but at the end of it, we had a foam bolster, fabric to cover it, some drinking water hoses, a small step, some cam-lock fittings and a set of mounts for a spirit level. I've also booked the Prado in for towing mirrors and to replace my now dead driving lights.
First job after lunch was to cut up my grey-water hose in to 2.5m lengths and fit cam-locks to them. Why? you may ask. Well initially I thought of storing them in a piece of PVC pipe across the back of the van, but we'll trial them in a bag first and see how annoying that is. The shorter lengths though, means I only need to deploy enough hose for the site I'm on, rather than draping a long length when not needed. Anyway, the fitment of the cam-locks was more involved than I'd estimated, as I'd failed to measure the internal diameter of the hose, and the cam-lock barbs were a smidge too big. A bit of time on the belt sander, and the application of a heat gun and some vaseline to the hoses and all the fittings were installed and secured with ring clamps (not that there'll ever be any pressure in this hose).
Next job was to install the hose fittings on the drinking water hoses, and to cut one in half and install fittings on that too. Giving me 1 x 10m and 2 x 5m hoses. Once again, done to minimise the amount of hose deployed at any particular site.
I also mounted some "StealthMount" brand level clips and installed the spirit level in the tunnel-boot, so now it won't slide about randomly.
Finally, I made a cardboard template and then cut out a mat of the internal step, and the offcut was just the right size to sit on the external step. The remainder of the fake grass matting was divided in to two, to form two larger mats we can roll up and deploy as needed.
Lea is currently sewing up the bolster cover, and then it can go in the van too.