Mains Electrics

Most motorhomes will use a garage type combined MCB RCB unit, which is rather bulky.
I decided that a fused RCB spur, Timeguard RCD Spurt TFP10WL would do exactly the same job.
They are rate at a maximum of 13A - which is lower than the usual 16A, however the likelyhood of ever being able to use 16A is remote. The trip current is 30mA.
In addition I bought a plugin mains tester from Aldi, and wired it permanently sio that I can see if the incoming supply is live, and if there is something wrong with the wiring.

Electric connector fitted

Plastic conduit to carry the 2.5mm heat resistant cable

Cable entry into main units

 

Personally I'm not entirely happy with connecting the body of van to someone else's installation.  There are pros and cons, but that's what I've done.

 

Plumbing

Update 15th May 2016

Well the Whale GP1002 pump lasted 2 years, until it blew the fuse and refused to start again. These are sealed units, so I had no choice but to buy a new one. When
I smashed the old one up, and I could see that water had been leaking into the motor wired connections - in fact the wires were corroded right to the other end of the cable. It was probably due to the crack that I had caused and repaired when installing - must have been a hairline crack in the casing as well.
Anyway it was an opportunity to review the superseal connectors.

The reason for using these was because I wanted the ability to move the water container outside, which in turn would release some more room, to allow the passenger seat to rotate. In reality, we did not really need to turn both seats, so the water container stayed indoors. They are good connectors, but not really designed for easy connect/disconnect.
Since I use XLR for 12V elsewhere in the van, I chose the locking mini XLR for the job. It was a bit of a squeeze to get the cable into the strain relief, but the overall result feels more robust.

 

- end
 
 Plumbing

We have previously owned a folding camper, which had a whale watermaster connect like this

It was horrible to use. The connector was difficult to attach and detach without scraping you knuckles, and the electrical connection was somewhat unreliable.
To make the connections as simple as possible, I permanently keep the pump in the water container, and use standard garden 15mm quick connect fittings. For the 12v supply I use Superseal waterproof  connectors.

Note the male 15mm connector - these are not standard, but are used in irrigation systems. Search for Antelco Snap On Joiner x 13mm Barb

Water inlet and waste - inside

My plan was to be able to store the water inside or outside the van when parked up.  So there is a water inlet connector under the van, beside the waste outlet

 

Water tank in position. In practice since we don't turn the passenger seat, the water tank usually stays inside.

 

Kitchen

The worktop, is made from Bushboard splashback (£20 on eBay) - which is also used for the sliding table. Since the splashback is only 9mm, some 6mm ply is glued to the back to be able to use the knock in trim. The slot for the trim had to be made oversize so that the trim could be glued in rather than knocked in. I can see some scratches already, so I'm not sure that the right choice was made here - but it's done. The microswitch tap is DLT540C and the sink is a Smev 930 both from Caktanks.

Worktop fitted

The usual choice for mains sockets and switches for motorhomes, is Italian firm CBE. After spending a few days looking at the options (surround, mounting plates, backbox), I just ended up with a headache. There were some many bits and pieces need to configure, that the costs really start to mount. Maybe its not so expensive for the professional fitters. Anyway I chose some very nice black flush fitting screwless switches and sockets from Seeswitches. These are full size but I think that the flush fit makes them look the the part, and they you can use the standard backbox.

Since the van is small, I was not comfortable using gas to cook with, and since we mainly intended to stay in camp sites, I decided to use electric as the main cooking source. So I bought Tefal toaster oven on eBay and an induction hob from Aldi.
This can be adjusted for power in 10 steps from marked 200 to 2000W
The power settings  work at three levels 1200W, 1400W, and 1800W. Below the 800W setting the unit cycles on and off every few seconds, using 1200W pulses, above this it the cycles are much shorter.

The table stows in the underfloor area that was originally part of the wheelchair ramp.

 

Table erected

When the front seats are rotated, there's plenty of room for 2 people. I practice we only ever turn the drives seat.

 Waeco coolbox and Tefal toaster oven