Blacksmithing is way more difficult than it looks...and a young woman that can use a ratchet and a cordless reciprocating saw (in the rain) is all right in my book. Mad Props! 🦌
As I recall... she and her most recent gf fitted out a van in a similar way. Gf is out of the picture now, but the design was a good one, so she got her own van and is building it out for herself.
My dad taught me to make a flat unboxed cardboard box template first. Once your cardboard template fits appropriately then a trace of the cardboard onto the plywood and a cut would get you real close to what you need.
Your videos are so peaceful. I hope, even though you're stressed and some days are tougher than others, that you find a similar peace not just in the projects, but in sculpting these videos to share with everybody 💛💙
Wonderful job Nicole! Absolutely can't wait for part 2! Brings back memories of when I used to design big car audio systems. One thing that I learned was that cardboard was your best friend for all those crazy curves. We'd make two templates, one for the left side and one for the right. We'd cut and trim the cardboard until it fit and then join the two halves together to make one big cutting template for the plywood. We never had to do any post fit trimming! For anyone who'll be making anything from laminate flooring, use down cut (also called reverse cut) jigsaw blades. If your cutting lines are on the "good" side of the board, the down cutting blades won't chip the top surface. Regular up-cut blades can chip out the good side. They're a bit harder to find, but worth the effort. And buy the pack, as laminate is really rough on cutting edges and will dull saw blades much faster than regular wood (laminate flooring is often used to test how long blades last!). Now it's time for a well deserved cookie! PS, I got your Okie Dokie mug and I love it!
Must say that I enjoyed watching somebody else try and fit a piece of hardboard in a space that should really have fit the first time ... I measure, I cut and still it won't fit. Love the video 🙂
You're one of the purest humans I've had the pleasure of seeing. Not a single milligram of glitz or excess. The world definitely needs more like you, Nicole!
I love that you didn’t edit out all of those iterative cuts to the subfloor at the back of the van. It's faithful to your experience and much more honest than many of the "perfect" renovation videos. Cheers!
Nicole your not alone in the search. I felt i did all i could do to make relationships work and yet here i am almost in my 60's and single. I have finally accepted that my path is one i must do alone and i am ok with that. Some of us are just destined that way, its not a negative. We all get lonely and feel society pressure to find our other half but some of us must accept its not in the cards. So stay busy, be happy and just enjoy the life and freedom you have. 😁
me being a slack bitch that also fucks things up often, when ive done much the same cut for different vans, instead of being one piece there, ive done two. get the wheel arc on one side right, fitting in, and then the other, and trim middle to sit side by side. much less yelling at inanimate objects that way.
Nice sliding bed platform. I have a mini van that I'm converting to a camper van. Just building a place for sleeping and storage. Don't need much more than that. I opted to use conduit pipe for my slider bed. A hacksaw, pipe cutter and screwdriver for connectors. I felt the wood might be too heavy, we'll see. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your build. It's nice to see you making lemonade outta lemons. Carry on!
4:17 - 6:10 - I think we all felt that. A job where it was all supposed to come together at one moment, but ended up taking half the day with numerous attempts to make it fit. Too bad the insulated floormat couldn't be removed and used as a template over the wood.
Measure once cut ... a bunch. But no one will know because you did it yourself and it looks great in the end. Unless you take a video of it and post it on the internet but who would do that? Honestly I'm thrilled you left it in. And it looks great.
I want a stock Delica, with all the nifty swivel/fold seats, but I can see how this was more useful for you, and all folding beds are terrible in one way or another
Great job with the floor, that looks amazing. And your Idea with the pull out bed is also very nice. The legs look a bit wobbly though, but that just might be, because it's on video. Realy curious how the finishe van will end up. I assume you have even more plans, like a maple syrup dispenser or something. ;)
This is a delicious maple recipe for taking to the road, to see what wonders' life has in-store for you. No axes were used in the making of this D.I.Y Okie Dokie episode. Special appearance: Bambi, the wood sniffing dog
I saw the use of a non-ax implement on wood. Unsubbed. Video is unwatchable. Lol. In all seriousness, I am totally showing this to my 10-year-old son who is insistent that whenever he gets older, he wants to live in a van and has been looking at sprinters that he can live in. Thank you for this, keep being awesome!
![Camper Van Renos [Mitsubishi Delica]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
