Will my van start?!

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Good day. So, Raven is stranded as we know at Flowersbrook.

[00:00:05]Uh I do have a jump pack, but somebody else was borrowing it and it's fully discharged. So, that is now charging up.

[00:00:12]Just walking back to Raven. Thought I'd have a walk rather than drive flee up here just cuz uh get my step count going then. Got the uh the paint. This is the bodywork paint, which is a dark gray satiny type paint, which apparently when once it's thinned down should do the most of the van. We shall see, won't we? Not a priority.

[00:00:43]Just uh walking through Vent Park.

[00:00:46]There's a monument. Very nice.

[00:00:52]So yeah, um might need to order a new battery for the van cuz basically the previous owner had it standing not doing anything either for 3 months or 6 months. It might actually been 6 months.

[00:01:11]So very little mileage has gone onto it.

[00:01:13]And the battery obviously stood there, sat there for ages.

[00:01:19]And um then all I've done is uh started it up quite a lot and then just driven it very little, which is as bad as what the previous owner had done to the poor old Raven. So the battery's either knackered or just fully discharged.

[00:01:36]So I'm going to try get the jump starter thing to get it started later today once it's fully charged up. And then if that does manage to get the engine going, I'm just going to run the run raven backwards and forwards through town, sorry, through the undercliff initially just to make sure it will start again when I turn it off and restart and then up and down the midy road. Or what I might actually do, what might be a better idea is to oink out the battery, take it to Sophie's house where she's got a battery charger, get it fully charged up overnight tonight or something, and then uh try Raven again tomorrow.

[00:02:17]Anyway, we're almost there now. So, uh let's go and see how she is.

[00:02:24]Looks like somebody's parked their motor home. bit too close to the back which means or may mean I can't get into the garage area which will be a bit annoying. I might be able to get in there. I just want to get some sheets of ply out to see to size them. See if they'll fit. No, no, he has left enough room. He's left at least a meter. That's good. Nice motor home. Wouldn't be seen dead driving one of those, but it's a hired one. Yeah, he's left loads of room. Two meters. Excellent. Well done, Mr. motor home person. Anyway, there's good old Raven.

[00:02:59]I have to admit that owing to her humongous size, I was initially I initially thought I'd made a bad error getting Raven way too big. But she's grown on me fairly dramatically to be honest.

[00:03:15]Very dark in here. Let's open some uh curtains. It's not going to make a great deal of difference cuz all this flipping black.

[00:03:27]Um, yeah, she's grown on me massively.

[00:03:32]Uh, put this curtain up there. Get it out the way up into the this more humongous area of storage space. You can have too much storage space, which I certainly have got in this van. Let's go and open the back doors as we can. Just a little bit more lighting at the back.

[00:03:52]Now, there doesn't seem to be a clip.

[00:03:54]Oh, a functional sat that's coming off. Oh, hold on. Let me shift the curtains up into their normal spot living up there where they're out of the way.

[00:04:08]Do like these magnetic curtains. Just the right length.

[00:04:14]And just stick them in there. They should hide away.

[00:04:19]Right. What's it doing? Yeah, this doesn't seem to have a clip, a catch at the back. When it's there, I think it should just stay. And it doesn't, as you can see. So, I've had to use this bungee cord.

[00:04:36]That is metal on metal, so I shouldn't really be doing that, but it does the job for now. Right, let's go and open the back. Let a bit more light in.

[00:04:51]Takes about 10 minutes to walk the length of Raven. It's that big.

[00:05:02]All right. As apart from letting light in, as I said, I want to get some of the wood out that's now buried under the passenger seat to see if it's a useful size or not. So, let me just clip you, Mr. Camera.

[00:05:23]Uh, I turn you around. You should carry on recording, which you have. If I clip you there, you shouldn't fall off.

[00:05:33]All right, let's get the toilet out.

[00:05:35]Still undecided about whether to keep this, but I probably will.

[00:05:40]Uh, shall I put the external microphone on? Nah, it's in the it's in the back.

[00:05:53]So, the uh the passenger seat is on top.

[00:05:57]The plywood don't want it to drag out.

[00:05:59]Should still be able to get out.

[00:06:02]the muscles.

[00:06:04]Yeah, there she goes. Right, this is one bit fly.

[00:06:08]This is obviously what I salvaged or what I took off the back of the bed kind of area up here.

[00:06:18]You don't work, do you? You might work.

[00:06:26]Why didn't I just leave that on?

[00:06:33]Not a fan of this design of lights.

[00:06:35]Right, I'm taking it off. It's going to have to stay off for now. Let's take this bit of plywood drown. See if it's in any way useful as a very short-term temporary thingy fix.

[00:06:52]Right.

[00:06:57]Don't think I've got the older head strap for the camera. In fact, I know I haven't. So, hence the hand holding the camera.

[00:07:08]What I'm hoping is ah that I'll be able to just lay that or screw that.

[00:07:20]Is that going to work on there? That'll do.

[00:07:23]screw this bit of ply so I don't have to go and buy some for what's just a very short-term temporary job going to fit over there I think that's the answer I mean it will look awful but it does fit kind of if I trim a bit off the bottom and Just screw it in. Just two screws will do for now. Like I say, it's just to hide the silver.

[00:08:00]Um, would it fit?

[00:08:04]Let's put you up there.

[00:08:07]Don't want the camera falling off.

[00:08:08]That's a trouble. Would it would it? Cuz I've got two of these bits. They wouldn't have a bit fit up the top. It wouldn't be too big.

[00:08:17]That's a shame. Again, I could saw it down now. Just look awful. But anyway, this bit can definitely go over here once I've reduce the size a bit of it.

[00:08:33]Um, yeah, that's just one thing I wanted to check. Got these uh experimental various different sorts of lights cuz it's so dark in here.

[00:08:49]And I've got these uh strip lights, LED strip lights. The ones that were a continuous Well, I thought they were a continuous strip. It actually turns out they're not, but they might still do the job. And this is good cuz it's a rechargeable one. One you don't need to plug in all the time.

[00:09:08]It's got lithiumion battery in there.

[00:09:11]That looks pretty good, actually. I think that's going to be nice and bright in here. So, I'm going to fit a few of these up. I'll get the strip version.

[00:09:21]Actually, this this works pretty well.

[00:09:23]The idea basically would be that this will be hidden under as a strip will be hidden under the paneling when it eventually goes in.

[00:09:33]So, that's good.

[00:09:36]I can remember how to turn it off.

[00:09:39]That's off. Let's read the instructions.

[00:09:46]Right. What he's going to do another little experiment. Oh, look what I found in the under the driver's seat.

[00:09:53]A black rubbish bag. That is well handy.

[00:10:00]Yeah, it's unbelievably dark.

[00:10:05]It's uncomfortably dark in here.

[00:10:09]This is really handy cuz now I can avoid turning Raven into a rubbish dump.

[00:10:19]There was a bin in here, but I gave that away.

[00:10:23]Too big for Raven. I will get a smaller kitchen bin type thing. Um, let's fit up the connect the camera. Uh, sort of the microphone might improve the sound quality a bit when I'm walking around.

[00:10:46]That should be connected now. Let me know in the comments section if that has improved the audio quality in any way at all. Well, I've got no phone reception here, so I've got to be careful. I'm not here for very long. Uh, in case there's any traffic warden alerts cuz I just remembered I forgot to pay for parking, which is really annoying. So, what I want to do is sweep this out.

[00:11:14]Put ah put the sheet of ply over the hole here for now.

[00:11:27]Where's the broom?

[00:11:30]The broom is up in the completely hopeless cupboard space above the main bed.

[00:11:37]Ah, kind of illustrates just how dysfunctional that cupboard space actually is.

[00:11:46]But it's a nice broom. I'm pleased with this. Just a Amazon basics broom.

[00:11:53]It's too high that camera. Where can I put you? So you're a bit lower. I'll put you on the other side.

[00:12:05]Could just sit you on there for now.

[00:12:09]Probably not much better.

[00:12:19]had a beep there. I don't know if that was for me. Could have been a viewer or a subscriber.

[00:12:25]You never know.

[00:12:34]These clips you get with clothes, they're actually quite handy, so I tend to keep them. This was actually already in the van. Just a bit of clothing was purchased with a clip on it. Waste not want handy for hanging something up right now. then put all me uh dubbins all over the floor over there. I've spoken to somebody about potentially building me a temporary cabinet stroke desk type setup for the front here. So, at least I'll have a table stroke desk to work on.

[00:13:29]There's loads of leaves coming in because of uh cuz I'm parked right next to loads of leaves that are coming in which is very annoying. Ah Jesus.

[00:13:46]Right.

[00:13:48]Old staples can go in there.

[00:13:56]Loads of old screws.

[00:14:01]You can go in the cup holder for now.

[00:14:04]Fits in there perfectly.

[00:14:08]Old oat milk. That's no good anymore.

[00:14:30]Right, right, right.

[00:14:44]The oat milk is fine.

[00:15:04]I literally cannot see a thing in this vehicle.

[00:15:09]It is so damned horribly dark.

[00:15:14]Let's put you over there for a minute.

[00:15:19]continue recording.

[00:15:22]Don't want the camera falling off. Let's just have the camera on its own.

[00:15:46]There are small staples that just uh built up in this hole that's in the floor which will become rust points if uh I don't remove them all.

[00:16:00]We definitely don't want any rust spots developing.

[00:16:07]in advertently.

[00:16:39]Move this all out the way.

[00:16:58]So, I'm putting you a bit lower, but still where you can still see what I'm doing. That might work.

[00:17:07]Move the broom out the way. So, for now, just to experiment with the size, going to put the bit of ply over the hole. Lift these up.

[00:17:26]I don't know if you can see the hole in the cameras.

[00:17:29]So, you can see the dilemma I have. This was intended for something and I don't know what.

[00:17:35]So, I just need to cut a bit of wood to fit in this hole for now and fill it in.

[00:17:40]Sure, it did have a purpose in the the mind's eye of whoever started this van build.

[00:17:48]might even end up having a purpose for me. You never know. Can never have too many holes in the grounds, can you? So, a thin bit of ply over here over the hole for now.

[00:18:12]Obviously, I don't want to walk on the hole because it'll Well, actually, that'll do. Uh, get these wires out of the way.

[00:18:23]The all important wiring Shift all these goubbins out of the way.

[00:18:54]I buried the rug. The rug is what I'm looking for.

[00:19:08]That's handy. I've got this camera mount. I forgot that.

[00:19:15]Where can I put you?

[00:19:20]Uh, this is a small rig camera mount. If I put you That's metal work.

[00:19:33]Can't see what I'm doing, but I'm just sticking on a bit of metal work.

[00:19:39]Now I have a more sensible camera mount, so I can mount the camera. Oh, that's odd. It comes off very easily.

[00:20:03]doesn't stay on at all. Probably cuz the metal work isn't clean. There's not a complete tight connection.

[00:20:15]Okay. So, we won't use that for now.

[00:20:18]Just leave the camera where it is.

[00:20:20]Anyway, we've got the bit of ply down.

[00:20:23]Now, let's try and get access to the all important rug.

[00:20:40]This is just a cheap and nasty rug I bought off Amazon. Amazon basics, which is kind of the bohemium color. I think I might go for well I'm going going for a log log cabin look in the van.

[00:20:59]This is kind of the kind of what I mean by that in terms of carpeting.

[00:21:04]Don't think I'll have actual fabric carpets in the end.

[00:21:11]I might go for polished wood. More more of the log cabin look. But log cabins have rugs on, don't they? Rugs on the floor.

[00:21:24]Uh, there's no room to maneuver in it.

[00:21:34]Oh, the irony of it. No room to maneuver in this beast, having lived in a Citroen C1 for so long.

[00:21:45]The irony.

[00:22:11]It's basically utterly hopeless this rug. It's too light. I could glue it down onto the mats that the previous owner put down, I suppose, but for now, I just want it kind of roughly square.

[00:22:36]It's just going to shift Remind me not to offer to lay anybody's carpets at home.

[00:23:03]I was about to say this fabric might be better on the walls cuz it's so light, but then I just remembered I don't like the idea of fabric within camper vans because of moisture.

[00:23:21]Right.

[00:23:31]Try and get a fold in there that's just about the right length or the right uh dimension.

[00:23:43]Just lay it in there. That's about right. That'll do. Right.

[00:23:49]One very imperfectly laid rug.

[00:24:01]Velcro may be the way to attach this down so it doesn't slide all over the place.

[00:24:07]Um, top tip, get a heavier rug unless you're planning on gluing it down or using Velcro or something to fasten it down. I've got loads of really good Velcro at home.

[00:24:20]One temporary rug.

[00:24:27]So, when this is done properly, you'll have a nice colorful floor, which will probably be polished wood with a rug on it.

[00:24:38]then cladding kind of um again timber.

[00:24:46]Uh log cabin style.

[00:24:53]There may just be a small coffee table here.

[00:24:56]Swivel seat.

[00:24:59]Main kitchen area. Stroke working desk in the lounge in the porch.

[00:25:05]Um then I don't know about this space at the back yet got number of options and I will outline those options in a video maybe even on this video.

[00:25:26]Of course I got to I forgot to film it but uh little jump pack for the Citroen C1. Got it started.

[00:25:37]Plenty of uh white smoke coming out there.

[00:25:55]I just use this little car hen 4,500 amps output 5 vol 2 amps output two 2 amps 9 vol 2 amps all that it's done the job I just need to drive it around a little bit That's a relief that uh Raven is back up and running. Or at least the engine's running.

[00:26:34]Let's uh take her for a few sprints along Undercliff Drive. Initially, I might take her a little bit further a field this evening. Little celebratory drive.

[00:26:51]Don't know how much you can see out the window of this vehicle, but uh let's let's go anyway.

[00:27:01]Good to have you back on the road, Raven.

[00:27:04]>> That's a little bit annoying. Those jump pack things, the battery powered jump batteries were out. I must jump. You need another car for a sec. So, they told me to get it. Get it. Get Raven.

[00:27:17]Get some revs going to properly charge.

[00:27:18]Get the alternator.

[00:27:20]going obviously there's a speed limit so I'm sticking with the speed limit.

[00:27:27]So somebody this got frustrated like I always did and came this way cuz the lights are very clear or at least long delay. There's a long delay but the lights changing potential for a collision coming on here.

[00:27:40]Another set of irritating some water lights here. Let's see if these change.

[00:27:42]Yeah, they changed properly. Some lights are working others are not.

[00:27:54]the bike on the right. Now we can get a bit of speed up.

[00:28:04]Right, I'm at Brook.

[00:28:06]No, I'm not. Yes, I am. I don't know where I am. I'm near freshwater at this car park. Paranoia dictates I'm not going to turn the engine off.

[00:28:19]I am going to do those get a thumbnail or two thumbnail photograph that is what a stunning evening.

[00:29:12]Isn't that beautiful?

[00:29:14]Right. Lots of time.

[00:29:17]7:30. I'm going to go back. That'll do for a run.

[00:29:22]Give her a nice uh nice trip.

[00:29:27]Well done, Raven. You've done well.

[00:29:29]Let's get you back to Ventner. Maybe down to the seafront.

[00:29:34]Or maybe not. I don't know yet. Maybe.

[00:29:38]Maybe not.

[00:29:43]Right, let's get a decent angle.

[00:29:58]Oh, it's fun learning to get to know a completely new vehicle.

[00:30:10]There's little foy balls and nicities. Oh, comes a car.

[00:30:37]So, yes.

[00:30:39]What have we got here? Got some rollers.

[00:30:42]They arrived today. Only small ones.

[00:30:45]Might have to get some slightly bigger ones. And the paint which also arrived today. This is for inside. This is a chalk based paint. Going to use basically on the walls here as a kind of a temporary coating. It's a light gray, I think. What color actually is it? Soft torpe torque t o u p e s satin.

[00:31:17]Whatever that all amounts to. It looked nice on Amazon that came from Amazon.

[00:31:27]And this is the uh paint to go on the outside, which is a dark much darker gray. It's not all going to be gray the van, rest assured.

[00:31:38]Uh, it's all going to be a log cabin style on the inside. But for now, I just want to sort out this ugly silver foil stuff, which I think is probably going to stay in place for the foreseeable.

[00:31:54]Just need to check under these panels.

[00:31:55]I'm going to remove these lot tomorrow.

[00:31:58]Check under check under this metallic stuff here to make sure the um insulation is put in kind of adequately. I don't know why this light's on.

[00:32:15]Is that going to be just be draining the battery? Doesn't seem to want to go off.

[00:32:21]To look into that.

[00:32:24]Um, yeah.

[00:32:27]So, what I might do, okay, so your this curtain thing I think can go all all the way to this end cuz it's a bit annoying.

[00:32:38]Might have to get rid of this cuz I can't see what earthly use I'm going to have for it.

[00:32:46]Uh, what we got here? Um, so that's a solar thingy for these fairy lights which will be coming down tomorrow.

[00:32:57]What I'm going to do going to keep you handy cuz you're the controller for that. But these goubbins that are in here is hang up storage thingy.

[00:33:11]Little mini hooks.

[00:33:14]Quite handy. Handy those little mini hooks potentially something. Not sure what yet, but eventually they will be.

[00:33:20]If I empty this hanging bag thing that was on the passenger seat, which is no longer a thing.

[00:33:33]Yeah. So, if I empty this, I'm sure I'll find a use for this somewhere at some point.

[00:33:43]Just empty all the pockets.

[00:33:47]staples, which the previous owner used to staple the fairy lights up. Lots and lots of lights. Don't like these battery powered ones unless I can stick rechargeable lights in. I don't want to buy be buying millions of lead acid batteries that just die in no time.

[00:34:11]Yet, another USB A to USB C charger.

[00:34:15]Another controller, some screws, glasses, a fan, which may come in handy.

[00:34:26]What's this?

[00:34:30]Sticky pads for the lighting.

[00:34:37]It's my little fairy lights, which I quite like.

[00:34:43]Okay. So, you're clear now of stuff.

[00:34:50]Down there for now.

[00:34:56]This is the new light that I purchased.

[00:34:59]That will be going up soon.

[00:35:02]Leave it there for now.

[00:35:08]There's the uh the strip that goes with it. Let's actually put this back in its bag so it all stays in one piece. Got so many controllers for so many different lights in this van. I need to rationalize it all. Donate any that still work and that I don't want to the RSPCA charity shop. It's my little fairy lights. They work quite well at night, believe it or not. This one, I think, has run out of power. Let's have a look.

[00:35:39]Oh no, it's still going.

[00:35:42]Good. Decided it's come back to life again. Another fairy light thing here which has come down from the top.

[00:35:53]You live up there really. Let's turn you on. I like these cuz they're rechargeable. There's a little battery in this end. USBA.

[00:36:03]Just a rechargeable little string of fairy lights which light things up quite nicely.

[00:36:10]Quite versatile.

[00:36:13]There's the controller. Where can you live? It's a shame it's not magnetic.

[00:36:18]That's controller for that light. Must remember that. Live there for a minute.

[00:36:23]Got this little lantern.

[00:36:26]That's handy.

[00:36:34]Right, there's me big sleeping bag.

[00:36:48]Right, I think you big sleeping bag are going to go to one side for tonight so I can drag you out if it gets too cold. I need to buy a proper duvet. All I've got at the moment are sleeping bags, but I prefer just a duvet rather than to be wrapped in a cocoon.

[00:37:06]Somebody's commented that I need to get rid of the coffin look, and I couldn't agree more, especially this black coffin look. That is a high priority.

[00:37:19]So, I still can't quite uh get over this cavernous space that's been created.

[00:37:28]quite what I'm going to do with it all.

[00:37:32]Seem to have managed to fill the garage up.

[00:37:36]God knows how I managed that. Stick this sleeping bag.

[00:37:42]Very kindly donated by Jim. Thank you very much, Jim. You're a star.

[00:37:48]It's actually now my favorite sleeping bag cuz it's a really nice one. Um, so curtains Nicely blacked out on that side. This curtain over here.

[00:38:08]I need magnets. Got magnets in flea so I can uh attach the ends of this to the metal work and keep it properly sealed. Not that I like it pitch dark in here overnight or at dawn I like the sun to flow in. But then the old skylights over there do exactly that. The the air air vent thingies.

[00:38:34]I tell you, a lot of the features of of this van couldn't be better really.

[00:38:42]I think I purchased the ideal van in the end, surprisingly enough.

[00:38:50]one that I never thought I would acquire something quite this big, but in the event it's proving to be just a ticket.

[00:39:03]Right, a quick interlude. I really hope you're enjoying my channel and um I get quite a lot of questions. How did you end up living in a car? How do you live in a car? And what are your plans going forward? Well, I've written a book on that subject, Breaking Free by Cornish Vanweller, funnily enough. You can find a link to where to purchase that in the description below this video and where you'll also find links to my other books such as this one, oddly enough, which is how to write a book on a smartphone. And this book was actually written on my iPhone mini 13 using voice to text dictation. And you'll also find this book, bird watching around Bentner.

[00:39:41]Link to that in the description below this video. And this one as well, wildlife watching around Bentner. I've written about 10 books, all of which are linked in the uh description below this video. Right, let's get back to watching my videos.