1972 Crossover Dormobile - Full Restoration Work In Progress

[gninnam]

i'm thinking that it may need to be remade though not sure who's fault that is. he has pics of a dormobile interior, but didnt have the rail.mmm

B@ll@cks......

I'm sure you will come up with a solution

 

[Trikky2]

Bummer

Easy mistake to make. How could they know unless they are very familiar with Dormobiles or have the originals to work from.

IMO stepping the rail is not viable. Not only will it not look nice (IMO) but the spacer you would need would be subject to considerable twisting stress when the bed is "laden".

Then theres the issue of whether stepped table brackets would fit in the stowage rails - doh!

 

[Haveacamper]

ye i thought about the step and the twist. unless i offset the t pieces that connect to the table so they biase the rear and then the table can still travel but the rail doesnt need to go over the drawer...however, the table still would

 

[Trikky2]

No dont do that. The weight at the end of the table with a full bed on it would have too much leverage and would tip the table forwards ripping the fittings from the wood. Dont forget your full body weight will be on the forward edge when getting in and out.

 

[Haveacamper]

cn u confirm that you support your bed with just the table and the standard leg and not at all on the side unit

 

[mginty]

hi, love this thread & you've done some cracking work
I'm also doing similar to the interior that you've done - I'm planning on a light oak veneer on a modern Dormi setup with flush push catches etc/ fridge in same place and possibly a new cooker/ sink unit so it's really nice to see what a built unit looks like.

On that note, do you mind me asking which cooker units you went for & where do you keep the gas?

Re your table issue....instead of using a horizontal runner would it be viable to use vertical slots similar to how the buddy seats are attached? Would that take the weight of the bed?
Don't think you will be able to open the drawer tho.


Cheers
Rob

 

[mginty]

hmm actually maybe the vertical mounts not such a good idea as you won't be able to move the table to support the bed/ have enough space to eat off it?
Incidentally, I always moved my bed over to the side unit and also used the table with the standard leg.

 

[Benyon]

Nafe

I had my bed solely on the table and the bed extension cushion on the side unit. My interior was a dormi copy:

My table was made of pine and snapped along one the the joins in the pine so I had to move the bed over the side unit again, the problem then was that there was no support if I move the cushion over to the door side of the van.

This was the layout before I broke the table:

This was after:

The table actually broke towards the back of the van where the bed hinged in the middle while I was climbing off. Also make sure your cushion follows the profile of the bed as shown in Trikky2's picture, I only had a flat cushion and it turns out to be a big drop down off the bed!

 

[Trikky2]

cn u confirm that you support your bed with just the table and the standard leg and not at all on the side unit

Yes confirmed. One night we actually had four adults in the bed :lol:

Stock table is about 3/4" quality chip with formica glued on both sides. Strong but heavy.

I dont know why Dormobile used chip when the rest of the furniture was ply which is stronger.

 

[Trikky2]

Nafe

I had my bed solely on the table and the bed extension cushion on the side unit. My interior was a dormi copy:

My table was made of pine and snapped along one the the joins in the pine so I had to move the bed over the side unit again, the problem then was that there was no support if I move the cushion over to the door side of the van.

This was the layout before I broke the table:

Agreed pine will not be strong enough at stock table thickness. Also your table looks shorter / doesnt appear to have the longer rounded end of a stock one.

 

[Haveacamper]

well what an eventful day yesterday. after pointing out to the interior place that i will not be able to mount a rail and use the bed it all got a bit tense. i had told them previously that i wasnt going to be using the dormobile rail and that i would be sourcing a different rail. apparently, this was interpreted that i would not be using the dormobile rail and that i wouldnt be using a rail.

i phoned them up and was told that they didnt have enough time to remake an interior so my optins were to either engineer some kind of solution by moving the rail and trying to maintain the standard table height, or they were willing to "scrap" the interior and give me my money back. there was no compromise!!!! he said that he didnt have time to remake the taller unit again and the fact that it wasnt a matter of replacing the unit front it would have to be made from scratch. as i couldnt afford for them to stop i told them to continue with the interior while i thought up a solution. thats where there conversions on here yesterday started. after a big discussion with my dad i realised that even if i did engineer a solution for the rail, because the table had to be at the fixed height, it would be obstructing the drawer - meaning that i couldnt use the drawer without either collapsing the table of pushing it rearwards.

i came to the conclusion that i had 2 options:
1) ask them to remove the taller part of the main unit (its made in two and screwed togethr) i would pay for everything else and then i would get the taller part made again and painted all in one.
2) collect the bus without any interior and accept the loss of shipping the bus down to interior place and home (£400)

so i phoned them back and asked the feasibility of option one, when the guy told me that it wasnt worht him doing that cos he'd be left with the tal unit that he couldnt sell, whereas if i left the whole interior he had an perfectly "operational interior" that he could sell. cutting a long story short, i made the point that i was trying to work out a solution and he toldme to just come down and collect my bus without the interior!!! quite shocked at the guys attitude of not wanting to try and find a solution to the problem we had i told him to stop work on the bus and i would organise collection of my bus with a full refund.

by that time i was a little stressed. with the total spend on this bus probably being in excess of 20k i was not willing to mae a compromise on the interior. i left work and delibrately put my phone on silent in case they phoned me back.

when i got home 45mins later i had an answer ohone message from the woman who is usually front of house, saying the guy has gone back to the workshop to try and find a solution cos he doesnt like people thinking he's failed and they have never had a bus leave wihtout an interior etc etc etc.......

long story short he was apparently working late last night and this weekend and remaking the main unit with a slightly smaller drawer above the fridge. due to the components of the cooker within the cupboard and the manufactuer's installation spec with clearances etc. the external drawer height is goig to be reduced from 140mm to about 120mm

all in all i wasnt too impressed with the guy's original attitude, but glad that we have come to a conclusion and have a way forward.

NaFe

PS EDIT: i am not in any way putting 100% blame on the interior place for the mistake as i did say i was not fitting the rail and that i was fitting another rail - i would have had to because of the bed. i was just completely shocked by the initial reaction of like it or lump it lol we've got it all sorted now though and are moving forward

 

[Trikky2]

I was thinking about this last night and could only come up with 2 other solutions.

Modifying the drawer and its aperture and hiding the damage by applying a veneer or equivalent coating.

Building a table that located into slots in the floor, like you see used on some modern conversions that rely on moving the seat base back and forth.

Glad to hear you got something sorted.

 

[Haveacamper]

the trouble will always be the table getting in the way of the draw when its in situ.

i'm so glad that we came to a solution and the company have managed to find enough time to remake the unit

 

[gninnam]

Sounds like you got a result in the end which means the interior will work as intended 8)

 

[Haveacamper]

So the bus is finally back. And as expected the quality of finish is 2nd to none. Here are a few pics of the interior made by Kustom Interiors:

coming off the trailor i could help myself

i'm off snowboarding on friday so prob wont get anythign done before christmas if i'm honest. its good to get the bus back though

 

[gninnam]

The interior is looking ace 8)

it is a good feeling when the van comes back home too :mrgreen:

 

[justcruzin]

Wow, I love the interior!! They did a great job. Your bus is looking very nice!!

 

[rallye dale]

Thats stunning

 

[Haveacamper]

deluxe trim is on:

couple of the lovely headliner?

 

[gninnam]

The trim works so well with the colour of your bus 8)

Did you do the headliner as it looks the dogs... :mrgreen: