making new interior panels/door cards

[16vmini]

what material are people using ? need to replace some panels in my westy... they seem to be made from some sort of hardboard ..

i assume you cant get panels any more ? ie sliding door , long panel above sliding door.. ? if you can i bet they are not cheap

so thinking of just make some new ones , and covering them in something suitable

cheers

Matt

[Titus A Duxass]

Matt,
I used 4 mm plywood (spruce) and covered them in that cheap cord carpet that you can get from DIY shops.

If I were to do it again I would use 4 mm hardboard as the ply breaks easier than expected.
I had to feather the edges to account for the thickness of the carpet.

[billybigspud]

They are about £100 for a set of MDF ones. Quite a few places do em. Just template your own. At least you know they will fit.

[Andrew Evers]

I templated mine onto 4mm ply. Then spray glued and put on some cheap carpet. Only problem I had was the winder handle mechanism caugth a bit of the carpet and pulled it out from the back causing the handle to jam and the carpet to lose a big patch every time I did the window up or down. I re did it and this time the carpet didn't catch. It looks really good, was cheap and only took an hour with a jigsaw and some sharp scissors. The spare carpet I used to make a template of the van floor. It means I can take it out when we're wet or muddy, but can put it down when we're camping. the warmth of carpet on the feet as you step out for a call of nature in the middle of the night is far better than cold vinly, though I'm thinking about how hard it'll be to put under floor heating down.

[CovKid]

Agree on ply. The MDF ones can swell and break up if they get wet or very damp - not a great deal better than the nasty hardboard originals. You can buy ply sets on ebay and I guess you could muse the cost of them but with all the work involved, its probably more economical to buy them ready made than mess about cutting up boards. Also, as your leg tends to sit against the door panel, a padded covering is a better bet. You can buy padding etc.

[clifford coates]

Whether making your own or buying ready cut remember to waterproof with varnish or something. Especially the door cards as water is designed to run inside the doors to an outlet at the bottom. I have purchased MDF and ply ready made - neither fitted exactly (probably due to my van being out of shape!) and the MDF useless if needing to re-bore fixing holes, etc.

If I were to do it again would make my own using marine ply and the originals as a template. You can cover with lining carpet or vinyl/plastic (see Woolies http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) but if using vinyl/plastic best to have a thin sponge layer underneath.

Also, when using ready made I had problems with the original door clips (as new cards were thicker than original) and ended up using "fir tree" fasteners which work but can not easily be taken out.

If not already done so, insulate doors with foil insulation (Wickes, B&Q etc.) as made a big difference to cold and heat to mine.

Good luck mate.

[16vmini]

If not already done so, insulate doors with foil insulation (Wickes, B&Q etc.) as made a big difference to cold and heat to mine.

Good luck mate.

just done that last night .. as its a westy it originally had the loft insulation everywhere .. sure that stuff acts like a sponge.

well i have been offered some 3mm hardboard off freecycle .. so will go collect that today .. little bit thin .. but might be of use.

just finding something to cover it in , that looks nice and at a good price.

will keep everyone posted of what i do, as i am thinking there is room for a pocket in the sliding door panel ?

thanks again for all the advice

Matt

[billybigspud]

get some firtree clips for fixing and stick em in first. cant remember the size you need but just measure the hole in the door and get em off of ebay.

[Plasticman]

ref the insulation, well on the westies and the atlantic Ive just done there is as good as zero water ingress, these were built with factory glass so condensation cannot run off the windows into the cavity ,whereas with the van conversions it has a path straight onto the inside of the panals etc.
mm

[16vmini]

interesting thing has cropped up , i have the ability to get these door panels made in fibreglass ...i could then have the door pockets moulded in , and then the panel would just need covering ...

is that of interest to anyone ? if its not then i will just continue down the hardboard route

[16vmini]

collected my free hardboard last night , and started to make a mess in the dinning room as the wife was at work

started by re-making the top panel that goes above the sliding door .. as its completely cracked...



after sawing .. just needed to trim up and drill some holes ( in hindsight i should drill the holes once it was in bus .. as its seems tricky to get it to match )


i have decided to block off the two vents ( ie remove them ) never use them .. and thinking of fitting a light in the panel for when the sliding door opens ?

I have put the panel back in the van , but not completely finished

Matt

[tannera34]

Dont know if it is going to help, but we bought some new door cards from just campers and we covered them in cream leather.

The end result looks a million dollars.

You can buy a whole hide on ebay for about £70 any colour you like. You need to cut it to size with an extra two inches all round.

We used an adhesive backed 3mm foam (B&Q wood floor underlay) on the wood and then the leather stretched over the top and secured on the back with spray glue.

Been in the Van a year now and look just as good as ever.

Happy to knock up some sets for anyone, we quite enjoyed doing it.

[ambibus]

Just spent this weekend making my interior door cards out of 3.5mm ply. I've cut out the roof lining as well as it had a few rips and tears, just to be awkward VW decided to make the interior roof 8' x 4'3" so I have had to buy two 8x4 sheets and have a join at the c post. The 'waste' has done both sliding door cards though. off to Wickes tomorrow as i have heard they do a sideways H plastic profile for joining 2 pieces of ply neatly. Also just noticed that the van roof narrows toward the back by at least 2-3" so will tackle that another night. Its hard work balancing a 4' square of ply on your head and marking with a pencil.

Bought jumbo chord carpet from Carpet right £3.49 m2 13.5 m2 will do cards and roof and tailgate, £41.50

Have you noticed if you fancy a quite night in with a bottle of wine or a take away with the missus someone turns up? but if you need a lift with something for half an hour there is no one around