WHERE IS ALL THE DUCT TAPE ?
The most notable change to the outside of the van is the repair to the offside wall . All the rot has been cut out , with the large hole repaired by new 12mm ply . It ’ s been bogged and sanded , and once it has been painted , you ’ ll never know the difference .
Inside , Andrew has carefully removed the kitchen ’ s laminate splashback . He has managed to keep it in one piece and intends to re-use the laminate . During a restoration , he always aims to reuse as many parts as possible . When that can ’ t be done , he ’ ll either source an exact replica or something that is as close as possible to the original .
As some point during its life , someone had replaced the Cadet ’ s ice chest with a small refrigerator . Upon removing that old fridge , he discovered that pieces of the cabinetry framework had rotted . These pieces were removed and replaced with meranti timber . Andrew plans to hand-make an ice box from the late 1950s .
As he stripped items out of the van , including the junk that was inside when it was delivered , he was surprised to discover that it once had been fitted with a deep-cycle battery , complete with old-fashioned alligator clips for the positive and negative terminals . Whether he removes the battery permanently and associated 12V wiring to the lights remains to be seen .
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