Fridge Cabinet Build (& Dometic CRX65 Install) | Transit Van Conversion E27

We're installing the Dometic CRX65 12v compressor fridge into our campervan this time. We decided to build a custom DIY cabinet for it, with drawers above and below the fridge so we have some more space in our kitchen build.
It was tricky working around the curves and the pillar of the transit van walls (as usual!) so the fridge cabinet we ended up with is quite a custom fit!
We're really happy with the Dometic fridge, it's got a nice usable space and also has a little freezer compartment too, just big enough for a few peas and things! Hopefully it will suit us well for full-time van living. 🚐🙂
Thanks for watching! Any comments or questions? Let us know below!
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Products used in this video (includes affiliate links *):
↠ Dometic CRX65 Fridge (We have this one) - ebay.us/WoKr0R
↠ Dometic CRX50 (Slightly smaller version) - geni.us/slBQ (Amazon)
↠ Zinsser Bin Primer - geni.us/V3muSB2 (Amazon)
↠ Rustoleum Kitchen Cupboard Paint (pacific state) - geni.us/ZOF9 (Amazon)
↠ Rustoleum Kitchen Cupboard Paint (chalk white) - geni.us/bTh4t (Amazon)
↠ Drawer Runners - www.screwfix.c...
↠ Bosch Router - geni.us/zJj5jU8 (Amazon)
↠ Bosch Jigsaw - geni.us/4Lvq7 (Amazon)
↠ Automatic Wire Strippers - geni.us/9v1Bs (Amazon)
↠ Adhesive Lined Heat Shrink - ebay.us/Ap6huk
↠ Heat Shrink Crimp Terminals - ebay.us/dQYD0Q
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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Resources
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🚐 Follow Us
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↠ Follow us on Instagram: / selfbuiltstories
↠ See our full van conversion playlist: • Transit Van Conversion
Filmed with:
↠ Sony ZV1 - geni.us/LW73Jx (Amazon)
↠ GoPro Hero 8 - geni.us/PsIIH9 (Amazon)
↠ Zhiyun Crane M2 - geni.us/WhUBT7I (Amazon)
↠ Rode VideoMicro - geni.us/tzPbJ (Amazon)
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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All our videos are for entertainment and show our process of converting our campervan. They're not intended to be tutorials and we may make mistakes along the way, so always do your own research and if in doubt about anything then make sure to get advice from a suitable professional
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#vanconversion #campervanconversion #vanlifeuk

[@Macktheknife11]

Guys I've got to say, for two people who've never built a cabinet before, that is absolutely immaculate. Great job, I love it!

[@adventure_onthedaily9851]

Isn't it?! I know these guys are extremely good at anything they turn their hand to but it gives me hope that with enough planning and attention mine might turn out half as good 😅

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Wow, thanks so much! 😊We're really happy with how it turned out as it definitely ended up being a bit more involved than we were thinking at the start (as always!). We thought we'd make the fridge one first as it would be the simplest, but the rotation and angles of the van added an extra dimension! It's not perfect in places close up but considering we've never made one before we really like it 😀

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@adventure_onthedaily9851 Haha, thanks Erin! Don't worry, there is definitely a lot of planning and research that goes into it all! And of course lots of mistakes along the way, which hopefully we're showing in the videos too 😁

[@rhpmpp]

keep going!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks, we will!

[@bobnicholls]

I am currently binge-watching your van build series and love it. I am undecided whether to buy a factory built camper like Autosleeper, or build my own, but if it's the latter, I will defo use this series as my idiots-guide to van building (as I am currently at idiot-level when it comes to building vans). Your craftmanship and attention to detail is fantastic, as is your cheerful enthusiasm. Seeing Abi's face light up just when the fridge light came on put a smile on my face. Thank you both for this in-depth coverage of your build. Its fab.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're very welcome, thanks for the comment and glad you're enjoying all the videos 😊 Yeah that was definitely a nice moment! It's nice how just getting the little things working is so rewarding in the van, even though you live and take them for granted every day in the house 😊

[@abit2556]

Thank you guys!! It's only because of people like you that post such comprehensive wonderful information that the rest of us can even dream to do this!! thank you, thank you thank you!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Our pleasure! Happy that you're enjoying the videos and finding them useful 🙂

[@goingmouch3753]

When you slid the fridge into the cabinet I thought to myself… How satisfying!!! ….. nice job BTW

[@SelfBuiltStories]

It was incredibly satisfying! Even though it had been in and out a few times for test fits it was really cool to see it finally slide into place 😃 And thank you!

[@RooMonroe]

Good video

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks!

[@shelleyvickers481]

Are you on a farm? The amount of tools you have makes the job easier. love the show.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

More of a small-holding, chickens, few sheep and 2 cats 🐱🐱🐤🐑 🙂 Yeah we're fortunate to have a few tools, quite a few we've bought for the van build but will probably resell when we're done. Glad you're enjoying the videos!

[@PresidentBust]

Yayyyy!! another vid! Im loving these still. They've been soooo helpful to me. I just finished gutting, treating rust, and painting the interior of my van :D Really appreciate the quality of your work and vids. Really down to earth and helpful

[@RoaminRob]

I did this a few weeks back, are you not making your owt KZbin? 😁

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Happy that you're finding them helpful, and glad to hear your van is coming along! It was nice at that point to have the blank canvas ready to get cracking on the inside 🙂

[@petewarby7158]

I love your videos, half way through this one and find the content engaging and the sheep in the background HYSTERICAL lol

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha, yeah, they do have quite epic comic timing sometimes! 😃🐑 Glad you're enjoying the videos!

[@gucu]

You are always welcome to Lostwithiel. Enjoying catching up..

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you, we've only driven through but it looks lovely there 🙂👍

[@CoolMusicToMyEars]

Beans & Pasta plus fridge all kitted out 👍👏❤

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yep! Slowly finding out where all the essentials will live 😛

[@vwdiscovery]

I have gone with “French Chi” paint Expensive but worth every penny

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cool, thanks for sharing. Good to have more options! 👍

[@hansolijslagers5884]

Nice work through . We enjoy you. Greating from Holland.🇳🇱🌷👍

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂

[@vicki9929]

Yea! You're back! So glad!!!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Ah thanks, sorry it's been a while! 😊

[@gonefilming2020]

I really envy your creativity as I generally envy the creativity of almost every van builder in the UK. German van builds are always so clean - to a degree of cold sterility. You've done an amazing job thus far - the design, the selection of stains, paint - that's really inspring on one hand and on the other just hard to match. 😯 And Cornwall - our very favorite spot to visit. Gwithian Beach and Trevedra Farms - to name just two spots (where we stayed in 2018) - unforgettable. 🥰 We're slowly moving on with our Crafter, need to get back to Cornwall. 😊 Thanks for sharing and cheers from Germany - Volker & Claudia 🚐☁🍀

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks both of you! It is nice to have a piece of furniture finished so we can start to see how the rest of the van will come together and how the style will work :) We're going for a sort of rustic cottage theme, but trying to make it a practical one too, fingers crossed! We will add those two places to our list to check out when we're next exploring around Cornwall then! Yeah it's one of our favourite places (when the weather is playing ball!). Can't wait to take the van around there! Hope you're enjoying working on your Crafter 🙂🚐

[@kathyfann]

Hopefully that cabinet is super insulated that’ll help it run less to maintain temperature

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No issues at all running it so far even in the heatwave earlier this year. Pretty happy with it, and just about big enough 😛

[@isstuff]

So neat and tidy, such luck with the cans too. It’s nice when you have a happy accident. If you can spot a potential happy accident early you can also adjust to make sure it happens.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha yeah, that was so satisfying! We planned it to be tall enough to take a tin but never measured for the width or length. We just made the drawer to be exactly the maximum size we could to give us the most space, while keeping the cabinet footprint as small as it could be to not stick out any more than necessary into the van. It was a very nice happy accident! 😀

[@isstuff]

@@SelfBuiltStories at the moment I am tweaking things so I can fit the Lagun table under the bed if I steal 80mm from the shelves under the bed and use some of the spaces between supporting structures under the bed to make it the table and leg disappear. Only catch is now I need to make a thinner table top.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@isstuff Cool, yeah we need to figure out a good spot for a lagun mount too 😛

[@fionaridley5011]

I’m so impressed with the documentation of your build, we made our fridge cabinet in an almost identical way a year ago. We have a minibus electric step and set the fridge further forward with fridge at bottom and two drawers above for cutlery and crockery. The fridge has nothing underneath as it hangs over the step for ventilation. We used chrome full width handles so there is an option to hang tea towels/dry washing etc As for keeping the darned things closed in transit the marine press knobs were hard to install and didn’t work so unfortunately we’ve had to just put on simple hooks and eyes. Still not remade the drawer fronts as they have holes from the defective press close knobs. We’ve had all the cutlery on the floor several times. It’s great to shop and just sit on the step to load the fridge in supermarket car park. Easy to access from outside for beer and from swivelled passenger seat/at table. Your build is so smart! Looking forward to seeing how it pans out, we didn’t do a full shower room though.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers Fiona, yeah we like having it near the door so it's easy to load after doing the shopping and for those outside beers 🙂 Sounds like your van is working out well for you, guess there's always a few small niggles that need fixing down the road. Hook and eyes work well at least so you can carry on the adventures without clearing up cutlery 😁

[@siajnesdunk]

Thanks for the inspiration.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

You're welcome!

[@pau1phi11ips]

Nice work on the cabinet. I made my first one a couple of weeks ago for Dometic CRX50 and the sink. I think it would be good to add some more ventilation holes. Ours has a lot more and the compressor and radiator still get pretty hot.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cool, how are you finding the fridge? And thanks 🙂 Yeah we might add another hole at the back but waiting till we know exactly where the bench seats will be so we don't cut it in the wrong place 😜

[@justinheathfield215]

Yes, I agree. I Had one of these in a T5 and on a hot day it struggled to keep cool until I added extra ventilation to the fridge cabinet. Great video content by the way. A great channel and great people! keep up the good work!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@justinheathfield215 Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the videos 🙂

[@diezmon]

This is great timing. My crx65 shipped today 😀

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cool, good choice! 😉

[@Twink_Twins_]

Hey guys love the build just one thing to let you know magnets DO NOT WORK I did my whole kitchen before I realised there just not strong enough sadly so please don’t waste your time time like I did haha 🤣❤️

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! 🙂 And yeah we're still deciding what method we're going to use to secure them. At the moment we think we might use some double ball catches for some of the ones with less weighty things inside, but might look at some hook and eye catches for others. What did you settle on using in the end?

[@simonparker9265]

I’ve seen drawer sliders that lock in place. You push the drawer in slightly to unlock it and it locks into place when you close the drawer. It would mean replacing your slides but at least you don’t need to add any other catches onto your lovely cabinet & face frames that way.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@simonparker9265 Hmm interesting, we've just had a look though and all of the ones we can see look to have a tab that sticks out the front to press and depress for the locking mechanism, that wouldn't work with the face frames we have. If you've seen any that work differently though that could be something to explore 🙂

[@simonparker9265]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2mwg4BvoLqFaJo 4 mins in… knew I’d seen them somewhere. That said, probably don’t work with your face frames sadly as they need to push in to unlock.

[@Quickblood1]

Magnets work really well, if they're not strong enough you can double up or buy stronger.

[@ianstjohn4506]

Another great video and its great to see what actually went into designing and making your cabinet, especially as you are having to take into account wonky van walls etc. Love the colour which matches the fridge interior! Who knew there were so many drawer runner types. Looking forward to the next video, which I suspect is going to be a hot challenge again. Good luck

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! We definitely went down the rabbit hole a bit on drawer runners... 😅

[@KikisVideoService]

Whoo, first bit of furniture! It looks soooo good! Great colour, I love Rustoleum paint. I've upcycled a few bits of furniture with it 😁. I love the pretty little drawer handle too 👌🏼

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! 😊 Yeah we're really happy with the colour and how it turned out!

[@vicki9929]

Missing your videos! Come back soon, please?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Sorry! Will be back making some soon...ish 🙂

[@owenparker6651]

Great job. Interesting to see y'all sort things as you move along. Thanks for sharing!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem, our pleasure! And thanks! 🙂

[@adventure_onthedaily9851]

I am blown away! You've made such a professional looking cabinet and it looks so functional too, you should be super proud of yourselves! I love the colour you chose and the knobs are so pretty :) I framed out the floor and around the step this past weekend in my van and I must have watched your video on that part about 50 times 😂 Thanks as always for the detail and the guest appearances from the lambs and the kitty cats 😁

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you so much! We are really proud of it 🙂 It was really nice seeing it all come together once it was painted and the drawers were in, as for a long time we were just playing around with random scraps of wood and it didn't seem like it was going to work! Those knobs were a charity shop find that Abi has been waiting to put in somewhere for a long time! It's nice to have a bit of the finishing touches. Glad you like the colour, it took a while to decide! Mostly because we liked pretty much all of them that we tried, but we figured that one was nice and bright and should go well with the (thin) oak worktops we're thinking of adding, hopefully! And yep Jackson was pretty curious this time! Aiko is a bit less adventurous during the day but still made it in too 😁🐱🐱 Glad to know your build is coming along too, haha yeah, that step was a mind bender!

[@adventure_onthedaily9851]

@@SelfBuiltStories seriously, well done though. It looks amazing. Can't believe those knobs are from a charity shop! They'd be 5 bucks each at least online. Well done Abi 👏

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@adventure_onthedaily9851 Yeah it was a great find! £16 for two boxes! Think we have about 30 of them, some are better than others but there are a good selection of nice ones 🙂

[@robertcraven4729]

Great vid guys. Just remember the fridge needs securing in the cabinet too. Dont want that coming out under heavy braking.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks! And yep don't worry, we briefly mentioned towards the end but we didn't have the right length screws at the time. Will be nicely secured through the 4 fixing points 🙂

[@tonymcintyre7701]

@@SelfBuiltStories did you have to drill holes through the fridge what length screws did you use ?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@tonymcintyre7701 yes we did, through the two fixing points on each side. It took a bit of trial and error to get the right size as they sit slightly recessed in the fridge, then there's a small air gap, then only 12mm of plywood 'wall'. Cant remember exactly the size now but probably the best thing to do is experiment as depending on how you have it you might want larger or smaller ones

[@nigelwatkinson2179]

Excellent, as usual. Nice colour

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! We're pleased with the colour too, which is good we took a long time deciding 😃

[@libby3213]

Ah! Missed you guys! Another great video 💚 thanks so much. Your quality of workmanship is what I'm striving for 🤞🤞 looks awesome 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Ah thanks a lot, yeah it's been a while! We've been busy but it's nice to have been able to release another one finally 🙂 Glad you like how it turned out! 😊

[@normm.7265]

Jackson!! And sheep and Crocs - a veritable menagerie! Love the Cornwall coastal cruise. Beautiful. Did you see Doc Martin there? 🤣 Good choice on the lighter blue color as opposed to a darker one. This will keep things bright and cheerful. This is your best one yet I will paste a link to your video on my social media and hope more will follow you. We thoroughly enjoy your videos. Thanks for sharing your life with us. And, did you say, “Groovy”?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah, he seemed to want to be heavily involved for this one! 🐱 Always checking up to see how we were doing 😊 As always thanks for the kind words, and yes we really enjoyed our trip to Cornwall and were so lucky with the weather too. It was really nice to take a break and come back to the project fresh, we forget to do that some times. And yes, Abi most definitely did say groovy! Hope you're keeping well, and no worries we enjoy making them (even if they do make the progress a lot slower...! 😏)

[@iangunning2041]

Very impressed .

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers!

[@simonparker9265]

Looking great. Well done. Great attention to detail 👌

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thanks a lot!

[@tommotomlinson3370]

Looking fabulous guys, that fridge looks plenty big enough, I'm looking for a replacement for my old 3-way...I'll take a look at one of those 🤔......immaculate work as always 👌

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! Yeah it's deceiving from the outside but can actually fit quite a bit if you use the space carefully. It does feel just like a domestic fridge only a lot smaller. They make the smaller 50 and larger variants like the 80 too 👍

[@vovachkanikolsky3092]

Another great build!!!!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you!

[@aleistermartin1]

Nice cabinet. Weight is crucial. Strength where required. I used 3mm and some 1.5mm ply and added battens where required for strength. I used best quality marine ply. Less weight in the build = more payload. Look at aircraft construction for ideas.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, yeah we've built them getting lighter as we've progressed through the build and got more proficient at it. For this one we made the drawers with 12mm ply, the later ones we used 7/8mm and the wardrobes are mostly 3mm. We didn't want to use battens in the kitchen cabinets though as we wanted the drawers to sit flush against the walls to maximise the space inside. Weight is always on your mind for sure, we've weighed the van 3 times now 😛

[@kevingalloway9338]

Looks great guys. Love the color

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! It was a tough choice! 😀

[@normm.7265]

I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days. And then I realized -- I need a Self Built Stories fix!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Oh no! Hope you feel a bit better soon! And sorry about that, we haven't had much time lately to work on it but more will definitely be coming when things quieten down 🙂

[@pilgrimpaul7798]

Hey guys. Just found your channel and have watched all of your build. You have done an amazing job. That cabinet is fantastic. I am local to you and am planning to hopefully start a van build in the near future.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey, thanks for watching! And that's great, what type of van are you going for? 🙂

[@pilgrimpaul7798]

@@SelfBuiltStories either a Boxer or a Relay 🤞

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@pilgrimpaul7798 Cool, good luck with the search!

[@diezmon]

New vid! Woo hoo!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

😀

[@byrne8525]

hi, just found your channel and watched the one where you had it weighed, you did not mention fuel etc so please remeber you must allow for your own body weight and full tank of fuel as 3500 is absolute max, hope all goes well with the van, great job so far

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, and yeah we filled up the tank completely on the way to the weigh station 🙂 Need to get it weighed again now that we've done a bit more to it, will be doing that soon to check we're still on target 👍

[@aureltanasan1413]

Just make sure the upper back of the fridge has some ventilation, the heat needs to escape out of the cupboard. Otherwise it will run forever to cool and use more juice out of the battery.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, yeah there's a fair amount of space behind the fridge and holes that go out to the wall and up to the top drawer, and the space specced by Dometic around the sides and top. But yeah we might add another hole at the back too where it would vent out into the bench seat, but will wait till that part is built so we don't end up with a hole in the wrong place 😬

[@judyweber9855]

Regarding the ventilation, consider a tiny computer fan to aid air circulation in your spaces around the refrigerator.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah that's something we could look at adding if we need it, but so far we haven't had any problems with it getting too hot even during the heatwave in the Summer. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the worktop is on though, as that will restrict the air flow a little from the back of the fridge and up into the drawer area

[@rijnberge]

Nice build so far. Please make a lock in the drawer under the fridge, with those heavy tins the drawer will open if you hit the brakes during travel. Bye .

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Thank you! 🙂 Yeah don't worry we're going to secure it for travel, still just deciding on the best way to do it. We don't want it to be something we can forget to do, or something that's a pain to do. We think we might use some double ball catches but we have to experiment with how strong they are. Otherwise maybe we'll use something like a hook and eye lock 🤔

[@nickscarboni7008]

12 V refrigerators are only used in Australia !

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Pretty common in the UK too 🙃

[@Hogsters.Travels]

Hi, really enjoying your build and as I am part way through a transit mk8 build myself I am finding the way you are doing things very helpful, and thank you for sharing your skills and attention to detail. I have watched your maxxair fan installation many times to pluck up the courage to cut that hole in my roof, which I have done today! I too found fixing the actual fan into the flange really awkward and had to have several goes at it. Quick question, does your fan lid rattle when you are driving? Have not connected the 12v to it yet, a job for tomorrow, so not sure if the motor closes the lid firmer than the manual. The transit seems a challenging van to convert but it drives so well. Thanks for inspiring me and no doubt many others.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cool, glad to hear it was helpful and that you got your fan installed! 😊 That's an interesting question, we actually had the noticed the same after we installed ours and so took it on a drive on a bumpy road to see how much it did it. And yes it does rattle a little when its bumpy. It did make us question it at the beginning, but having driven quite a bit with it now we think it's normal and we've got used to it and don't really notice it any more. We also had the wires from the solar tapping on the roof sometimes at first, so went back and secured those better too. HTH! And good luck with. the rest of the conversion 🙂

[@politikopinoysaamerica]

This is what I am going to build except my fridge is Isotherm 130, little bigger. what is the height with countertop? Wifey is such a cool vibes 🙂

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha thanks 🙂 And we've built it to be 90cm high for the frame plus the countertop which will be 22mm, so 92.2cm from van floor to the top in total

[@laurenwoodhouse-mf3qq]

Hello, ive just come across your video so helpful ! I'm about to wire my fridge in and want to do what you did with using your own wire straight into the fridge, but my red wire and the red wire underneath it are attached together by the spade connectors... was yours like this ? How do I do this? Thankyou so much

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey glad to hear it :) And yep ours was like that too, the top spade was the negative, one lower the positive, and that one had a piggyback connector with another positive wire on it. We attached our negative and positive to the first and second spades, and then the extra wire that was originally on the piggyback on the 2nd spade we moved down one and attached to the 3rd spade (which also had a piggyback connector on it but with nothing connected). We tested for continuity with a multimeter and at least for us with the CRX65 the 2nd and 3rd spades were joined, so didn't make a difference whether we attached that extra wire on the 2nd or 3rd. HTH :)

[@Val-lz6ts]

Hi guys, How are you? Hope u doing well. Quick question At min 22:41 u are holding 2 wired with u left hand and i was wondering shouldn't they be connected? Best regards P.s I’m waiting for u inverter install video😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hiya, all good thank you! 🙂 And those two wires are the positive and negative wires that come with the fridge. So those are normally plugged in to it when you buy it, and the other end of them is just bare wire for connecting up to your own system. But what we decided to do is just not use those two wires and instead add some spade connectors onto our wires and plug those straight in in place of those ones. We could have joined our wires with a butt connector onto the ends of the ones that were already on the fridge, but we figured it was better to have less wire length, so less voltage drop. So the ones on the fridge already were redundant, we just left them there as they're clipped on to the back of the unit. HTH! And yeah hopefully the inverter install isn't too far off now 😛

[@RoaminRob]

Solar panels for me this week, can't seem to finish one job before starting another though 😂

[@marcusmee445]

Brilliant stuff ! Inspirational! So pleased it's going well

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cool, good luck! How many watts are you going for? We have the opposite problem, we like to finish something completely before starting the next one so we have lots of bits of kit waiting to be used, had fridge and oven for ages taking up space in our room 😀

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@marcusmee445 Thank you! 🙂

[@RoaminRob]

@@SelfBuiltStories haha I bought 3 x 120w so 360 total. Looking for batteries still no joy as I am not too flush 😂

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@RoaminRob Cool, should be a decent setup :) And yeah the batteries are one of the dearer bits of kits!

[@alisterleith]

Great video, as ever, did you install the water drain pipe and if so, did you just drop it out a hole in the floor?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Glad you enjoyed it! Nah we didn't install the drain pipe in the end, we just wipe away the condensate when it builds up

[@trevorhowells3770]

Hi love your videos can you tell please me the size of roof canopy and where to purchase one from thanks trevor.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Hey Trevor, if you mean the awning It's the Wild Earth Delux, 2.4 x 3m, and there's a link in the description of the video where we installed it, here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZTCYXd8mJKeis0. And glad you're enjoying the videos!

[@steviehunt]

Great video guys, Can I just ask a quick question ? I am thinking of putting a CRX65 in my van conversion with a similar set up to yours, However, I will also have a bench seat running along the back of the front seats which will also be housing all my electrics underneath, I just wanted to know the fridge door opening radius to see if I will have enough space to open the fridge door (if that makes sense?)

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers! And sure, have just measured it for you. The door is around 44.5cm wide and the hinge point is right on the edge, so it sticks out around 44.5cm right in front when you open it to 90 degrees. The door can swing all the way around to 180 degrees if you have enough clearance for it, ours will open around 160 degrees before it gets stopped by the fridge cabinet wall. If we moved the fridge forward a bit, it would allow us to open it further but we wanted the front to sit more flush in the frame. And you can swap the door around to open on the other side too. HTH! 👍

[@steviehunt]

@@SelfBuiltStories Thanks for that, now to get the tape measure out again 😊

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@steviehunt No problem! We always have several on the go and can still never find one 😛

[@lanahorton1003]

How will you keep your refrigerator from popping out when driving? BTW - I really enjoy your videos.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

The fridge has 4 points where you secure it into the cabinet wall using some screws from the inside. You just have to remove some plastic white caps, screw through the frame, then put the cap back on. We've done this now and taken it on an 8 hour round trip with no issues 👍 Glad you're enjoying the videos 🙂

[@melgrant7404]

Let's face it everyone needs to live in a van with the cost of living rising

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Ha yeah, it is pretty crazy that we are more worried about leaving the lights and things on in the house than we are in the van these days! It's quite satisfying to have the solar on the roof quietly keeping the batteries topped up 🙂

[@bildotunechi]

Just got mine and been wondering how to go about this. Some fantastic ideas! Can I ask what you did to secure it in the end? Was it just screws in the side blanks? If so, which size did you go for? I don't seem to have any with mine!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Cheers, we were pretty pleased how it turned out :) And yes we secured it using screws through the four points inside the fridge through to the cabinet wall. It took a bit of time to figure out what screws to use as the wood we're using is quite thin so not much room for error before it would stick out the other side. Can't remember exactly what length we used now, but the best thing to do is take out one of the fridge plugs and screw through and see how much extra length you need for your construction, and taking into account there's also a small air gap between the fridge and cabinet too. We're finding we need different screws for pretty much everything we do, and no matter how many we get, we never seem to have exactly the right size we need. Tolerances in the van are so small 😛

[@bildotunechi]

@@SelfBuiltStories haha, I can definitely relate regarding the screw sizes! 😅 I'm assuming you used wood screws?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@bildotunechi Yeah wood screws, and we used ones with a pan head (not countersunk) so they seat properly on the fridge side.The fridge plastic is fairly tough to drill through as well we found

[@bildotunechi]

@@SelfBuiltStories that's great advice, thank you! Really appreciate your quick and helpful responses. It means a lot.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

No problem at all, hope the install goes well 🙂

[@demus8757]

I do have one question: how does the fridge loose the heat it is producing outside its cabinet? Did you think about that, if so hate and where is outlet? It can become hot in a closed compartment which is nog good for the wood.

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Yeah we did keep that in mind, so there's a large space at the back of the cabinet and a hole at the side and the top that comes out in the drawer area. There's also some air gaps at the side and top around the fridge too, but we still might add a bit more ventilation as well. Behind the fridge will be a bench seat so we might cut a nice air hole that vents out into there, or possibly a few more in the top that go through into the drawer area. More ventilation can never be a bad thing (saves a tiny bit of weight too cutting out a piece 😅)

[@CLATYRhe]

I can't really understand how you do it

[@SelfBuiltStories]

🙏

[@JonMadsen70]

:)

[@SelfBuiltStories]

😁

[@goingmouch3753]

Guys…where are man?

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Have taken a bit of a break after our wedding 😀 We will be back finishing the van after that 😊

[@goingmouch3753]

@@SelfBuiltStories Congratulations

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@Going Mouch Thank you! 😊

[@alisterleith]

@@SelfBuiltStories Many congratulations you ate such a lovely couple. Really missing your build videos - they are so well thought out and presented , many thanks

[@SelfBuiltStories]

@@alisterleith Thank you for the kind words, glad you're enjoying the videos :)

[@matthewmann7713]

I keep commenting saying "you should have done this"... I promise im not picking holes in your work!!! You have done great but there are ways you could have saved yourself a lot of time and got better results, so im only saying these things for others reading and you guys if you do this again.... Paint guns! You can rent them as they are expensive to buy, even the battery powered ones. A good paint gun and a bit of practice on a test sheet and you can paint the whole kitchen in an hour, have a coffee, then second coat it. You are left with no brush lines or roller marks and if you play with the pressure settings and get your technique down, you can paint flat panels like those with near zero orange peel in the finish. Most guns can do water based and oil based paint so its the quickest way to paint things, especially outside where you dont have to take time to mask anything up and you end up with a kitchen that looks as good as one made by a supplier (or better tbh!). Anyway! For diy'ers i cant knock your work guys!

[@SelfBuiltStories]

Haha no problem we enjoy seeing all the comments. We used a paint gun for some of the later projects and it works great for faces around furniture and on flat things like the cupboard doors. Gives a really nice finish with that for sure. But not without its downsides, particularly trying to use a paint sprayer in the UK winter is not fun at all when you have to do everything outside. You don't have to mask things up as much which is true, but a lot of times we chose not to use it as it was either so cold that the paint would quickly start to block up the sprayer, or so windy that it was going everywhere, and half of the leaves in the garden landing on the fresh paint too 😅 For a lot of jobs we found just using a roller or brush is quicker, wastes less paint, and is a lot less faff to clear up. Where we did really enjoy having it was for all the kitchen cabinets, it worked out great for that and given how much we had to paint for that project it was worth it for sure (and we were lucky enough to have decent weather for it too!) 👍