So this is how my floor currently looks, and now that all the messy parts of my
build are out of the way, namely carpeting the van, I can get started on improving it.
When I bought the van there was a functional
but very well worn sheet of plywood covering the floor.
I soon removed this and used it as a template to cut out the new floor.
Before refitting it I glued wooden strips between the floor ribs,
to use his fixing points, and then insulated underneath it.
I undertook all this work about a year ago, long before I started making these videos,
and so this is the point at which my van floor video starts,
however I will go through my installation process later on.
Despite the plywood looking in bad shape, I was confident with a bit
of effort I could get it back to a good condition before I covered it with vinyl.
The plywood was secured in place by four small screws,
which go through the wood strips I mentioned earlier.
At the back doors of the van, I have added some extra strips supporting the edge of the ply.
Speaking of the back, one of the main challenges I had to plan for was the
awkward-shaped edge at the rear of the van, which would eventually require covering.
I started work on the floor by removing the screws holding it down.
Although they've been effective, I will not be replacing these when I'm finished.
This is because I want to keep the floor removable and not permanently fixed to the floor.
The van the fuel pump for the NV200.
I decided that given the weight sitting on the floor from the bed and other bits I carry around
on a daily basis, the screws wouldn't be missed, but I didn't want the floor to slide around.
After some thinking, I decided to use wooden dowels as locator
pins so the ply wouldn't shift from its position.
Using a 6mm drill bit with a collar tightened onto it, I could ensure that I would go through
the plywood and part way into the strip's below without hitting the metal at the bottom.
I drilled out all of the previous screw holes in
this way and then inserted a dowel to check the fit.
I spread wood glue across the centre of the dowel and used a twisting motion to insert
the dowels into their holes, so as to make sure that glue made its way into the hole,
and then hammered it in for a tight fit.
Having glued the dowels in I could saw the tops of them so
they were flush with the top of the plywood.
I would be sanding the floor later so I wasn't worried about the cuts being perfect.
The next step was to mark out any areas that I wanted to trim off the plywood.
When the plywood was originally cut, there was no insulation or carpet,
so the sides, particularly at the wheel arches had become very tight.
Add a layer of vinyl to these edges and it would have been impossible to remove the floor.
I marked up about 10mm on each side and made some adjustments to the edge by the rear door.
As it turned out, the floor was already very tightly wedged in between the wheel
arches and the only way I could remove it was by sliding it out.
Luckily this didn't damage my new dowels, however it did tear some of the insulation,
but this was easily repairable and gave me the chance to inspect the floor,
since it had been a year since it was insulated over.
As you can see, the floor is in very good condition which
means that there isn't any pooling of condensation or dirt getting in.
The strips of wood was stuck directly to the metal with No More Nails, and then once
I had made a note of their location I insulated over it with Thermawrap bubble wrap insulation.
Although this is a very simple way to insulate a floor, I'm pleased to see that it is working well.
I did however find a hole in the floor leftover from the original plywood, but it hadn't trusted
so I was able to prime it, and fill it with epoxy, before taping the insulation back up.
The edge of the rear doors has always been quite messy,
with insulation as group wood showing so this would be a key area to get tidied up.
Having removed the floor I set about cleaning the back of the van.
A lot of dirt and sawdust had crept onto the insulation over the last year I don't
wanted to clear this before replacing the floor.
I was also able to remove the side and rear door trims and get underneath these two.
With the van clean, I started trimming the plywood with a jigsaw using the marks I'd made earlier.
I would be covering the edges with vinyl, so they didn't have to be cut particularly neat,
but sanding them after cutting got rid of any splinters of wood.
I then sanded the entire face of the plywood,
filling any holes or dents with wood filler as I went.
Although it would eventually be covered, I wanted to get rid of any dirt grime and
carpet glue that might hinder the vinyl adhesive I would be using.
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where you can find the rest of my camper van conversion video series.
With the floor prepped, I could reinstall it and check the fit.
The dowel locator pins worked really well in keeping the floor in place.
Before laying the vinyl on the ply, I wanted to address the edges of the
back doors and the sides which were looking messy.
Starting at the back, I pulled the seals away, took off the trim, and started carpeting from
the metal edge of the van up over the bits of strip wood, so that it was all neatly covered.
I would be adding a rubber lip over this in any case,
but thought the carpeting underneath would be a nice finish.
I worked my way along until there was no more metal visible and replaced the seal and trim.
I was really pleased to see just how much
neater it looked with a bit of carpet and some clean edges.
My next step was to temporarily place and mark where these two pieces of plywood sits.
It is easy to remove the floor without them permanently attached but I would be covering
them with vinyl too, so I wanted to get an accurate location for them.
After this I marked a couple of other places that needed trimming or adjusting,
as this would be my final opportunity before I covered the ply with vinyl.
I then made these cuts, widened the load ring holes near the back door, and sanded the lot.
I taped the side pieces in place and then began laying
a thin strip of masking tape over the bottom edge.
This was to prevent the vinyl adhesive from covering where
I would be sticking the rubber edge later on.
Getting the vinyl out I rolled it onto the plywood and centered it.
I ordered the two by two and a half meter piece of dark,
wood effect vinyl, which was much more than I needed I wanted to be
sure I didn't come up short and I was leaving myself for sufficient overlap.
I began spraying the vinyl adhesive on both the wood and the vinyl, as per the instructions.
I could then roll the vinyl over the glued wood and apply pressure.
I was disappointed to find that this vinyl adhesive was not particularly sticky at all,
despite the fact that it was specifically meant for sticking vinyl to wood.
After covering half the floor I decided to trim the vinyl to size,
leaving a 10cm gap on each side and then put the floor back in the van until I had better adhesive.
Although it looks messy, it will all be retrimmed eventually,
so I wasn't worried about how it looked at this stage.
When I next came back to work on the floor,
my first task was to peel off the vinyl from the wood and to sand the old adhesive off the wood.
As it worked so well when I was making the door pockets,
I thought I would give Everbuild Stick2 contact adhesive a go with the vinyl.
It turned out to be the right decision and immediately gave
a strong bond which I was very pleased with.
Working in sections, I made my way along the ply using
plenty of adhesive and applying lots of pressure.
Towards the end the vinyl developed a couple of air bubbles, but these were soon worked out.
With the vinyl successfully stuck down, I turned the floor over and first stuck the
two edge pieces in place then trimmed the margins I had left around the edge to their
final depth roughly - 5 to 10cm - and began gluing the edges to the back of the plywood.
If I encountered a curve in the ply which would cause a twist or bump in the vinyl,
I would cut the section out, so as to enable the vinyl to sit flat once glued.
When it came to difficult sections, such as the load ring holes at both ends,
I cut out from the centre of the holes and created triangular sections.
This meant that I would get a nice finish on the topside without seeing any cut marks.
Whilst the underside does look quite messy,
it will never be seen and tucking the vinyl under has meant that the edge is really neat.
I could then return the floor to the van to see what the fit was like.
Overall the floor fits really well.
As expected, I had to remove one of the two rear vents to get the side pieces to fit,
but once replaced it's a great fit.
I could finally see how this flooring looks in the van and I have to say I'm really impressed.
The dark wood vinyl has a warmth which looks really good.
At this point I still had a few adjustments to make,
as well as sorting out the rubber trim that would cover the edge along the back,
so I removed the floor again and started by gluing down the flaps of carpet by the wheel arches.
I had left these after carpeting the van,
as I knew I would have better access to stick them down with the floor removed.
I then cut away any excess and made sure the carpet was sitting flat at the two side doors.
I laid a strip of carpet running from the top load ring down to the wheel arch.
I wanted to cover any of the white metal floor which was still visible
in gaps between the black door trim and the floor.
I had some leftover carpet that I was able to use here.
As you can see it gives a really nice clean look to both side door trims.
Moving back to the back door edge, off-camera I neatly trimmed the vinyl
to the edge of the plywood and used velcro to help the end of the plywood stay flat,
whilst enabling the floor to be removed easily if necessary.
After this I replaced the floor and used my own weight to get the velcro to stick to the plywood.
Finally, I was able to complete the back door edge of the floor.
I'm using lengths of rubber L-section to finish my edge off, which isn't the most
common of materials, however I wanted something flexible to work with the curves on the back edge.
I then abraded the inside of the rubber to help adhesion.
I used BondIt medium viscosity cyanoacrylate glue,
which was specifically meant for EPDM rubber such as this.
I set about taping the rubber to the vinyl so I could cut a border out of the vinyl,
glue the rubber in place and end up with a level edge between the rubber and the vinyl.
Being a doorway, I wanted to ensure that the rubber didn't get kicked
or knocked off and this seemed the best way to achieve this.
I worked my way along the backdoor edge until it was all covered with rubber and,
with that, the floor was complete.
If I'm being honest the rubber edge didn't turn out as neatly as I had hoped,
despite my best efforts, however it is at the very
least functional and I can always look at it again in the future.
Despite that, I'm really happy with how the floor has turned out.
It looks really neat, is very nice to walk on and looks great.
I hope you've enjoyed this video.
Next, I'll be showing the van bed I've built,
so please subscribe to keep up-to-date with my upcoming videos.
Thanks for watching!