Two Panels Down

Before stripping the whole van, I wanted to know what removing panels actually takes. Today was about finding out.

The van is lined with grey factory panels, and all of them have to come out eventually. But before I commit whole weekends to stripping, I wanted to know what I’m in for. So today was a test run: take off a couple of panels, learn how the rivets behave, and get a feel for the pace.

Two panels came off, plus a few of the tracks that were mounted on them. The technique is simple on paper: drill the head off each rivet and the panel comes free. Most rivets cooperated. Some didn’t. A few started spinning in their hole instead of letting the drill bite, and then a ten second job turns into a five minute fight. By the end I knew the rhythm, and the floor was covered in metal shavings.

That was the real goal of the day. Two panels is enough to know what the rest will cost in time, and now I can plan the stripping properly instead of guessing.

In between I built a quick plywood step. Nothing fancy, but when you climb in and out of a van every two minutes, it earns its place fast.

I also grabbed a roll of tape and drew the layout straight onto the van. Lines on the floor and walls where the bed, the kitchen and the storage should end up. It costs nothing and it answers questions a sketch can’t: can you actually stand here, walk past there, open that door? It made the day feel less like demolition and more like the start of a plan.

Lessons learned: let the drill do the work instead of leaning on it. When a rivet starts spinning, stop and change your angle before you polish the head into a mirror. And tape your layout before you buy a single sheet of plywood. Walking through the plan at full size beats any drawing.

Next up: the rest of the panels, now that I know what they cost in time.