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Mav's New 23 Window Samba
"The Interior"
Once the Samba was home, we started work on the interior. The original interior was built by the first owner back in 1957 and even though it had stood the test of time well, it was starting to look a little worn. So I brought in a mate of mine, Jason Rew who runs his own carpenter company 'Valient Property Services' to help make me an interior. I had certain requirements which meant that we were never aiming to copy a Devon interior but we did use it as inspriation. It took us 10 days solid to make the interior which is made out of Canadian Maple.
We started by making the sub box which lives above the engine bay. I have two 12" Infinity Kappa subwoofers I wanted to fit, so to begin with I spent many hours playing with Bass Box design programs (there are some very good freeware ones on the web). After finding a nice compromise between performance and size, we started building. Rather than build the bass box as a seperate unit, we decided to incorporate it into the rest of the interior, so that it all flows nicely. As well designing the bass box, we also built in little storage areas for the wiring, power supply splitters, fuses and cross overs. We placed two of the amps on the back of the bass box, facing out behind the rear cargo hatch and the third amp, under the rear bench seat.
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The bass box was made out of ultrlightweight MDF and then covered in the Canadian Maple veneer. The bass box then comes forward into two more speaker boxes to hold the Infinity Kappa 4" mids and tweeters and then finally into the rear bench seat and corner cupboard. The rear bench seat has little cupboards behind the cushions and a massive storage area underneath the seats.
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When designing the bass box, we had to make allowances so the bass box could
breathe, ie: getting air to the port. During one of many slightly drunken conversations
in the garage over the Samba, a mate suggested a coffee cup holder. So we took
that idea and made a hinged area of the back part of the bench seat, which has
two coffee cup holdes and also lets full air flow to the bass box port, if I
really want to play my music loud!
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Under the rear bench we also located the Optima battery which we use to power the amps and any other additional leisure items. The Optima battery is recharged using a relay when the van's engine is running and when it is not, I have a small solar panel to charge it. In the rear bench seat there are two Infinity Kappa 6x9s.
We now started on the front bench, we wanted to include another cupboard in a similar style to the wardrobe you have in a Devon interior but rather than hang clothes we wanted somewhere to store the JD and Vodka. So this in effect became a mini bar. The mini bar opens and becomes a table to place your glasses. As with the rear bench seat, we created numerous small cupboards behind for storing stuff and placed another two Infinity Kappa 6x9s in the base of the seat and the CD changer. On the top of the front bench seat we also made a little shelf and placed a tweeter at each end angled towards the cabin area.
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We built a table which has an extending tray, which doubles as the support for the bed, yes we do sleep in it and I fit perfectly, as long as I open the bottom cupboard for my feet!
Once the interior had been made, all of the ultralightweight MDF was covered in Candian Maple veneer and all of the edges were completed in real Maple. The veneer and bare wood was then treated to several coats of Danish wood oil, as we wanted a more matt effect inside, it's shiney enough on the outside!
Next job was the cushioning, I brought the foam from a local company and then spent a day with my girlfriend trawling the material shops looking for the right material and in true fashion we ended up going back to the first shop we went to, for the first material we saw. We are really happy with the material and as it is proper upholstery material in theory should be flame and stain proof. I gave the foam and measurements to my mum some 3 weeks before Volksworld 2002, not realising the magnitude of the job, something my mum put me striaght about right away. Those at Volksworld may have noticed the lack of curtains, there was only so much my mum could do, but we have them now. Rather than put a curtain rail around the inside of the bus, we used poppers in each corner and straps to secure the curtains when driving. My mum has done a brilliant job and even though she completely fails to understand my addiction to cars and bikes, I am very pleased she joined in.