2011-04-28 GA,Atlanta “Vanna White” under construction (in order to make her like a small RV )

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I HATE cold weather, so I waited until spring to begin construction on “Vanna”.  During the winter, I went shopping both locally and on the internet. I bought anything that I thought that I would need for camping and that would make the camping experience more comfortable.
When the weather warmed, construction began with window coverings. The base is cardboard, with a black cloth stapled to it.
Next was sub-flooring; the first layer was blue foam – because the floor had ridges, the foam was an attempt to make the ridges more even. I used LOTS of packing tape to hold the form down. The second layer was reflective (foil on both sides with a middle layer of two air bubbles) for insulation (the tape used was reflective type). Next, my son, Joe put down the 1/2-inch plywood floor.
Then, I used the reflective on the side top and doors for insulation. I put styrofoam board in the ceiling and had to get wood wedges and auto buttons (in the van ceiling joint) to get the styrofoam to stay on the ceiling. The liquid nail glue that I thought would hold the panel up – didn’t work. After completing that, I decided to put styrofoam on top of the reflective in the sides and doors. I bought some panel board and used it to cover the door holes. I have a couple of extra boards because I thought that I would use them to cover the sides, but I changed my mind. I wanted to see the van side holes so that I could attach storage plastic crates to the sides.
I asked the local big-box home-improvement store for information about primer paint. I put 2 coats of primer on everything – including the floor. (If some liquid were spilled on the floor, the primer would help prevent it from being absorbed into the wood.) I found some white paint and painted the interior. (The paint was ‘old’ and intended for a house-paint project many years ago. A little was used out of the gallon can. Over-the-years, the paint color had changed from white to a muted ivory. I really didn’t care about the color – I just wanted to hide the writing on the styrofoam and try to make the interior a little prettier.)
I made many trips to the local big-box home-improvement store and looked for nails, buttons, or whatever. I would get Great Stuff Foam on many trips and counted about 35 total cans used. One day, I put the foam in the bottom back and by the next morning, a ‘foam-blob’ had almost expanded around the tire jack.
I found an old orange crate and painted it during the period that I was painting the interior. I had put the stainless sink in the crate top while working on painting. I put the blue, water-jug under the sink and decided to use this set-up for the final grey-water collection.
I made a wooden box out of 2×4 boards and nailed a 4-foot kitchen countertop to the box. I’ve decided to put the kitchen countertop at the side-doors because it I will use the driver-side door as front entrance and the back double-doors as an exit.
The work began in early April – so I will post some pictures of the current status.

(Note: The exact dates of the work are not given. The dates are approximate.)

“Vanna White” Sub Floor – blue foam to fill in space with ridge

2011-03-17_GA,Atlanta(VannaWhite),-SubFloor2(Reflective

2011-04-01_GAAtlanta(VannaWhite),-VanCeiling(StyrofoamPanelFellOvernight)

2011-04-02_GAAtlanta,(VannaWhite)-Van(CeilingStyrofoamHeldByWedge&Button)

2011-04-02_GAAtlanta,(VannaWhite)-Van(GreatStuffExpandedOverTireJack-overnight)

2011-04-02_GAAtlanta,(VannaWhite)-Van(StyrofoamOnTopOfReflectixInTheSide)

2011-04-04_GAAtlanta,(VannaWhite)-Van(BackDoorPanel)

2011-04-04_GAAtlanta,(VannaWhite)-Van(KitchenCountertop-Legs)

2011-04-15_GAAtlanta(VannaWhite)-Van(KitchenCountertop)

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((My Dad has a nickname for me and it is “Puddin”. He started calling me that when I was very young. I named my van, “Vanna White”. When I decided to start a blog, I wanted a unique name for my travels and the names “Puddin” and “Vanna White” came to mind.))

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