Feb 24, 20234 min read

Caravan renovation

Updated: Feb 26, 2023

Bahama Mama transforms a 1950 bondwood caravan

What's a better way to sell homewares, than from a tiny home. This started my hunt for the perfect caravan.

The hunt begins...

I knew I wanted a vintage caravan for the character, and I loved the rounder shapes. The hunt was long and I had past up a few. I went to check out yet another van, finding only disappointment again. After talking to the owners about my dream van they said they had another one 'around the back'. Crawling through a sheltered, old and dark timber shed, there she was! Dug into the dirt floor, it was rough. There was water damage, cracks, unusual smells but it had the bones and form I loved, plus extra points for a reasonably great chassis (very important when buying a van). The owners were going to use it as a chook shed, I negotiated with them to sell it to me, and the next weekend it was ours. It fell on Valentine's day too, so best gift ever. Thanks Lyn and Larry!

Picking up the van 14/2/14

Homebuilt

The van was homebuilt in 1950 and is made entirely of Bondwood, (aka marine ply). I was fortunate enough to grab a picture of it being built.

Picture of the very talented man who built our caravan

The hard yards

Underneath: It all started with the chassis. Lucky this van could literally be lifted off its base. So we were able to sandblast and paint the chassis easily enough, we did the wheels too. The axel and brakes were rusted so these were replaced and updated.

Exterior: The idea was to retain as much of the original design as possible. All the windows are original, the struts were damaged so we made up replicas. The door had wood rot so we re-created the dutch door and left it natural with a stain. The whole backside of the van was rotten and needed replacing. We also added a licence plate void. This van has quite a unique louvre vent system on the roof, which was still restorable but needed some replacement brackets. Everything was stripped down, sanded, sanded and sanded again. An extra bondwood layer was added to bottom of van, mostly for the visual.

Interior: The van inside had good bones. The general layout was kept and anything that could be restored stayed. A full electrical overhaul was done. Very tricky doing lights for a van that has a single skin as you can't drill too deep and need to be very discreet in running all the wires. In the dining area, the table got a refresh with new laminate in a neutral colour and traditional chrome trim. The legs were also renovated with polished chrome. Doors were added to cupboards at the front of van, cupboards were replaced with a shelf in the back. The fold out bed was restored so it can still function. All the other cupboards and dining seats remained as is. Being that this van would be solely for Markets we opted to remove the gas stove and sink. The fridge stayed because we always need a cold one. Again everything got stripped and sanded within an inch of its life. Lucky for me Hubbie doesn't mind sanding.

Some before shots of the caravan renovation

Home stretch

Next was repainting everything! I love this part because everything just transforms into a beautiful fresh space.

Painted in Taubmans: Ethereal

The details

All the hard work is done now and it's time for the really fun stuff. The interior styling! I wanted a fairly neutral base to showcase my homewares, but still have a tropical vibe. I chose natural fabric to make my cushion seats then sourced Tommy Bahama fabric for my curtains. I went with the original bungee cord system to hang them. We tiled the splash back with a pressed metal look and used recycled Australian hardwood for the bench top. I was able to replace all the door hinges with original design and the door knobs were changed. Had a crafty thing going on originally, thus the button door knobs. The vinyl flooring was replaced with a wood grain vinyl. I also had an awning custom made from the states.

The caravan was originally painted in a peachy colour along the bottom but that just wasn't working once my true aesthetic settled in. It soon got changed to Dulux: Bay Leaf and I love it even more now...

The little bondwood caravan gets a new lease on life

Thank you's

I mention 'we' a lot in the blog, and that's because I couldn't have done it alone. My husband poured a lot of energy into this project. So we is mostly him, let's be honest. I also had Retro Caravans Gold Coast restore the chassis, Marty Vasterink help with body work and Scotty gave the van it's first new lick of paint.