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| View of back side of fan with 2x2 and 1x2 firing |
Our weekend was a busy one. We were ready to do some visible finish work after last weekend's prep work for the ceiling installation. After talking with Ian the Van Guy, I decided to abandon the hardboard ceiling panel around the vent and installed a couple of nailer strips on the fore and aft of the fan. I cut two lengths of 2x2 and used the 3M Window Weld Adhesive to secure them to the ceiling (rather than making more holes in the ceiling). A word of advice to anyone endeavoring to
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| Front of fan with 2x2 firing strip |
install a fan, trim it out when you do the install, it will make your life easier in the long run!
Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the result. The adhesive had 4 days to set before I began stapling into the nailers. I was really worried about this approach but a you can see from these photos, it really turned out ok.
You can see the nailers in these photos. I did have to add a second strip of 1x2 to the rear nailer to take up some additional space and give me a place to attache the four short strips of paneling between the back of the van and the back of the fan.
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| Finished ceiling with strips of leftover panelling ripped down to be used to cover staples |
We pulled several sections of rope through 1 7/8" holes drilled in the ceiling panels which we will run wires out of for the lighting. We pulled the rope sections through once we had several rows of panelling installed beyond the row where the lights will be installed to give the ceiling enough strength
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| 1 7/8" holes I drilled to pull wire through for surface mount LED puck lighting |
to drill through. The tongue and groove pine is very light and flexible, which is great for the van because it can flex as the chassis moves around, but its not great for drilling into.
The paneling was relatively easy to install once we worked around the fan. We had to cut notches for the panels that would adjoin the fan shroud. We choose to use a pneumatic staple gun to attache the panels to rib nailers, which turned out great. The stapler was more than adequate and the staples were easy to remove when we screwed up, which happened a few times. To make sure the panels stuck to the ribs, we applied a layer of liquid nails to the ribs as we attached the panels.
Once all the panels were installed, I ripped the tongue and groove edges off a few leftover pieces to use as a finishing board to cover the staples in the rib sections, here are a few photos:
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| Front passenger corner |
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| Front drivers side corner |
All in all we are very happy with the result. I has a slightly rustic cabin feel which suits our aesthetic just fine.
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| Finished view looking towards the back of the van |
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| View of the ropes we pulled through so we can pull wire for lighting. |
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