Insulation!

 

As you can see, just poking out over the mahogany paneling, is a wee bit of the pink stuff. It was a tought choice as to how to go about insulating the van. The spray-in foam certainly seems like the best choice, 100% water proof, no squeaks, and good thermal characteristics. It is however, sadly, like many of the top shelf things that I'm drawn to, expensive. We also dont have windows in yet, and I think cutting through foam, metal, and wood would be a pain. Foam also expands more in warmer weather, so once we purchase and install windows later in the summer we will do a spray foam job too. The pink stuff, although purported to encourage rust, was $20 at The Depot, and I am all too experienced at stuffing it in. (As a side note it did bring back fond memories of working with convicts at Bressler Insulation in Idaho and their many AMAZING stories of the big house.)
This pick also shows the new foam bed folded out into a bed - well, maybe bed is an understatement, at 2 x 1.3 meters this is a Saudi Princess' version of a bed. After several long soaks in the hot springs of Pemberton, the first night testing the bed setup, we slept like the dead.

 
After a bit more work on the van, and a lot of contemplation as to how things need to fit together, we finally have a place to lie down on. Well, if you're short at least:) This is the lower section of the bed that will slide out providing the front half of the bed. This needed to be light, and stiff. The oak boards that it runs on span 136cm across necisitating something light. I orginally thought some composites would be the way to go, but was unable to find any locally. Then I turned to a product called light ply, it has was seems to be balsa layers sandwiched with a harder wood, possibly mahogany. No one at the lumber yard could tell me the exact make up of this stuff, but I can lift a 4x8 sheet with one hand pretty easily. This was then laminated with 1x4 pine boards with an oak face plate making it a very stiff built up bed that easily hold both of us with only a couple cm's of flex.

The next step is to run 1/8in aluminum angle down each side to affix the rear, unmoveable section.

There has also been much discussion about heating options: air, hydronic, propane or diesel. I think we've settled on a solution that will not only keep us warm, but add amazing atmosphere when lit. It's the Newport Propane Fireplace from Dickinson. Its a stainless steel fireplace and should use about 30lbs of propane per month. We're still thinking about diesel fired though, for its simple fueling requirements.