Getting started

Hurray the weekend arrived and we've finally got our lease and keys for the workshop.

Now the fun begins and we've loaded up the van with tools and equipment to get us started.  The workshop was a bit dusty so our first task was to clean it out.  Stevie started sweeping the workshop while Bunchie nipped off to B&Q to get another pressure washer as the one we brought from home didn't have a lance with it.

While Bunchie was away Stevie started washing the van as he'd finished sweeping.  The van had been left under some trees and was covered in moss from that.  Using the hose he went over the van first giving it a good scrub.  When Bunchie returned she was amazed to see a clean roof on the van and helped finish that off.

Stevie also removed the panel off the sliding door runner and ventilators off the back.

Once the van was finished, we put the power washer together and we started power washing the workshop.  We even washed the walls down, it was amazing the dirt that came off the workshop.

With that finished we left the workshop to dry out and went over the van with the power washer.  As we power washed the van we were amazed to see that it not only removed the dirt but also some of the rust and flakey paint.  It also proved effective at removing the stickers from the back.

Doing this did however leave the glue on the paintwork ;)

After a well deserved cuppa (yes we did remember the kettle, tea bags and milk) while everything dried out we worked out what we were gonna do next.  Let's take the side door off Stevie suggested, up for a challenge Bunchie agreed.

Stevie then got in the van to reverse into the workshop.  Slight problem as he'd removed the wing mirrors while Bunchie was away.  Guess who had to guide him into the workshop without causing any damage to the van.

So onto the task of removing the side door.  Well that was not as easy as we'd thought.  We removed the catch then the bottom runner and thought that getting it off the runner would be easy, there must be a gap for the runner to get out.  Well that was wrong.  Add to it that the door was heavy, we were getting tired and that we could not just figure it out.

We tried unscrewing the bolt that held the roller but that did not work.  Bunchie wondered if we could get it off the far end so we tried that and failed.  A lot of head scratching and thinking took place, eventually we worked out that it could come off the start of the runner with a bit of manipulation.  Finally we got the door off.

We put it on some cardboard against the wall and left for the evening.