How to Get a Level Floor in a Campervan - 2 Mistakes to Avoid - video Dailymotion

Life With No Anchor

Complete Van Floor Installation Masterclass Join our Toyota Hiace Super Long Wheelbase (SLWB) Hightop transformation as we tackle the foundation of any successful campervan build. This detailed tutorial reveals professional techniques for installing a level floor and highlights two crucial mistakes that could derail your entire conversion project. Marine Plywood Professional Installation We walk you through the complete process of selecting, measuring, cutting, and installing marine plywood flooring. Watch as we navigate the complex contours of our Hiace, creating precise cuts around wheel arches and fitting every piece like a puzzle for a factory-quality finish. Innovative Dual-Layer Insulation System See our creative solution for maximizing insulation efficiency by repurposing the van's original flooring material. This approach delivers superior thermal performance and enhanced soundproofing, transforming your van into a quieter, more comfortable living space for any climate. Expert Fastening and Structural Integrity Learn why proper screw selection matters as we demonstrate installing our marine ply using Zenith 8G 25mm metal screws. We explain the engineering behind fastener choice and show you the techniques that ensure your floor remains rock-solid through thousands of miles of travel. Advanced Problem-Solving for Van-Specific Challenges Watch us tackle the trickiest aspects of van flooring: managing the engine bay rise, maintaining spare tire access, and creating inspection hatches for the fuel filter. These solutions showcase the planning and foresight that separate amateur builds from professional conversions. This comprehensive guide combines successful techniques with honest mistakes, giving you the complete picture for your own van conversion. Perfect for weekend warriors and full-time nomads alike - master these flooring fundamentals for a build that lasts. Subscribe for more professional van conversion content and join our growing community of DIY builders! Timestamps 0:00 How to Get a Level Floor in a Campervan - 2 Mistakes to Avoid 0:17 Cutting the marine ply flooring 0:56 Flooring plan explained 1:16 Plan for marking out anchor points onto the marine ply 2:15 Progress update walkthrough 2:41 Planning for access to spare tyre 3:03 Wheel arch boxing plan 3:28 Fuel filter inspecton hatch 3:40 Planing for the engine bay rise 4:30 Zenith 8G 25mm metal screws to fix marine ply to Hiace floor 5:26 Measuring and mapping the floor 5:32 Additioanl floor support considerations for the rear of the van 6:18 Chrissy's idea to resuse the original flooring 7:32 Laying the marine ply floor #CampervanConversion #ToyotaHiace #VanLife Special thanks to UGOKAWA! Previous Episodes Episode 1: https://youtu.be/_bnGqKQl29o Episode 2: https://youtu.be/JeEQsZfDxlU  Follow us on 🌐 Instagram www.instagram.com/lifewithnoanchor/ 🌐 Facebook www.facebook.com/lifewifnoanchor 🌐 X (Twitter) www.x.com/LifeWifNoAnchor

Transcript

00:00Off they go, bags in tow, Matt and Chrissy hit the road

00:05Maps unfold, stories told, adventure's never getting old

00:10Matt and Chrissy roam so free, through the city, past the sea

00:15Finding joy in every mile

00:30G'day, it's Matty from Couple of Sitters

00:59And we are nearly done with the floor

01:01We've got the pieces all cut to fit roughly where we need them to be

01:05It's been a bit of a jigsaw puzzle, but I think we've made it work

01:10So I'm going to give you a quick rundown on what the next step is

01:13So we want to make sure that we get this right

01:15In the previous video, we had marked out where the anchor points need to be

01:21So we ran a string line up and back and side to side

01:24And now what we're looking at is tracing that string line with those anchor points

01:30Over to the top of these pieces of marine plot that we've got

01:33So that we can make sure that we're actually screwing down into the risers

01:40Inside the body of the vehicle

01:42So I've done the back half here

01:45Front half's almost done

01:48It's going to be a two-person job on this one

01:50So I'll have to get Chrissy to come and give me a hand with it

01:52But the interesting thing is down the back

01:56We didn't take into account that our approach to using the offcuts

02:01Instead of cutting a completely new piece of timber

02:04Would require us to then remap the back area for the anchor points there

02:09So I'll spin the camera around

02:11And I'll give you a bit of a walkthrough

02:12On what we've done

02:14So towards the back here

02:20We've gone for two pieces

02:23And our original intention was to

02:25Where that hole is

02:27Have a second piece

02:29That would be a separate finger hole

02:32Lift it up, move it out

02:33To be able to get to what's hidden down inside there

02:36Because that

02:37Needs to be accessible

02:39That needs to be loosened off

02:41So we can get access to the spare

02:43So you probably don't want to

02:45Cover something important up like that

02:47And then find that you don't have access to your spare tyre

02:51When you're stuck out in the bush

02:52So we've got the two pieces at the back here

02:55Joining up into the third piece

02:58Which

02:59Even though there's a bit of space there

03:02That's okay

03:02Because we're going to be building a box

03:04To go over the top of the wheel arches

03:06Particularly on the driver's side

03:07That's where most of the solar is going to go

03:09And we believe the batteries will probably get mounted

03:13One of them at least

03:14Into that box

03:15If we can fit the two up there

03:17That'll be fantastic

03:18And then we've got our

03:20Other two main pieces of ply here

03:23And our inspection hatch

03:25Which

03:25What I'll need to do is

03:27Measure up and recut

03:29That piece of timber

03:30So I won't use that one as the final piece

03:32We'll get a clean piece

03:33That'll be in there

03:33And that way we've got no little

03:35Screw holes and notches

03:37And that'll all be tidy

03:39We've taken into account the rise

03:42In the middle of the vehicle here

03:44So the engine sits just underneath that

03:47By the time we've backfilled most of that

03:50We're going to use some extra bits of insulation

03:53And other bits and pieces

03:54To get that level

03:55We'll then be able to run

03:57A bit of two millimetre ply

04:00Over the top

04:00And then we'll sort of

04:02Scree it back onto the timber

04:04And then we can laminate directly

04:06Over the top of that

04:07But around the edges

04:09Once we've screwed this down

04:10We're just going to use a silicon sealant

04:13To fill in as much of that as possible

04:15And then we'll be putting the walls up

04:18We'll bead down along that

04:19And the walls will go up

04:22After the vinyl goes down

04:23So we'll make sure that all of the

04:25Electrics are done too

04:26So that's where we're at at the moment with this

04:29Based on the research that we've done

04:31We're going to be using metal screws

04:33Because they've got a decent amount of thread on them

04:35And it's close enough

04:36To be able to work with the thin panels that we have

04:38These are countersunk

04:41And they're also, I believe, capable

04:45Looking at the ends of them

04:46Of pretty much being self-tapping

04:48So we'll drill our guide holes

04:50Going through the timber

04:51To take the pressure off the screws

04:53And then they can just finish up

04:55And cut into the panel

04:56And we'll be right to go

04:58So they're not anything special really

05:01It's just a Zenith metal screw

05:05That's a countersunk head

05:07We didn't want a head that wasn't countersunk

05:09Because we're going to be laminating over the top of this

05:11And we want a nice smooth finish

05:12So we'll draw the pilot holes

05:15Countersink those

05:16And then we'll drop the screws in onto that too

05:18But first up

05:20We're going to measure out and map

05:21The rest of the areas that we're going to be drilling into

05:23So we'll see you in a minute

05:25Okay, so we've marked out all of the dots on the van

05:36There are a couple of areas where we're going to need to

05:39Anchor some supports underneath some of these panels

05:41Because they sit close to the back

05:43And there's just that little bit of a lip

05:45Where it doesn't have quite enough support for my liking

05:48So even though we've got anchor points

05:50Towards the front of the van on these panels

05:52They're probably a little bit disproportionate

05:56Because of the length or the size of the panel

05:57To how much support there is lacking underneath

06:02So we've got some 12mm marine ply that we're going to use underneath

06:06And we'll just screw that to the timber that's on top

06:09What we are also going to do

06:13Just having a chat with Chris

06:14And she reckons it's a good idea for us to be able to use

06:17The existing floor surface it was on here before

06:21As another layer underneath the marine ply

06:25Now that'll go

06:27We'll have to trim some of the fat off the edges

06:30Because there's a couple of areas where it sort of

06:32Sits up against the wheel arches and stuff like that

06:34Which we don't really want

06:36So I'm going to pull all of the timber out

06:38I'm going to grab that flooring

06:40Put it back in here

06:41And just come along with a Stanley knife

06:43And cut the edges of the flooring back

06:45Because otherwise it's just going to get thrown out anyway

06:47And then we'll put that down

06:49So that we can then have the marine ply

06:51Sit on top of that original vinyl and insulated flooring

06:57It's just like a little insule fluff

06:58Sort of mix underneath it

07:00So that'll hopefully improve the sound deadening

07:06And also improve the quality of the warmth

07:10Quality of the warmth

07:11Warmth has quality apparently

07:13Our experience

07:16It'll improve the quality of our experience we hope

07:18So if it doesn't

07:20Eh, no big loss

07:21It was going to get thrown out anyway

07:23We probably won't know whether it does or doesn't

07:27Because we're just going to put it down and give it a crack

07:30See how it goes

07:31So that's the next step

07:36So that's the next step

08:06So that's the next step

08:36balloons

08:38.

08:39.

08:48.

08:50.

08:52.

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How to Get a Level Floor in a Campervan - 2 Mistakes to Avoid

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