Okay next up it’s time to strip this thing out! We had a starting weight of 2.78T (thanks local dump station weigh bridge!) and I just went hard ripping everything out as I wanted to start with a blank canvas.

Making Money Back on the Strip-Out

I managed to make some decent cash back by selling off the old components. If you are doing a camper renovation, definitely don’t just bin the expensive stuff!

• Sold the old Engel fridge for $600 (chaching!)
• Sold the old stainless steel freshwater tank for $285 (chaching!)
• Sold the old generator for $285 (chaching!)

I also kept the old couch cushions, as foam is surprisingly expensive! Everything else went to the tip. Eventually the weight came down to… 2.18T! That is an insane 600kg drop of weight. It is now around the same weight of a normal SUV!

The “Dark Turn”: Discovering Water Damage

When I purchased the van I knew there was some water damage in the walls and roof, but assumed that this apparently being a aluminium frame/fibreglass shell vehicle, I could just strip the wood away and start from scratch.

However when I peeled apart the roof lining, things took a dark turn.. it was a wood framed fibreglass shell, and some of this wood was rotted! Uh oh. After the initial heart-break and panic, I came up with a plan.

The Solution: An Aluminium T-Slot Sub-Frame

I had always planned to build most of the inside out of aluminium extrusion t-slot, so this just mean I’d have to build a bit of a larger ‘sub-frame’ out of it to give the shell of this van a bit more strength!

It’d add a bit more expense onto the project, but at least I’d know I had something solid for years to come. So, we ordered the aluminium, and got to work finishing off the stripping. Next up, insulation!