Which Tools

Here’s a list of some of the tools I commonly used and what I found most useful.

Jigsaw
It would have been very hard work to do the van without a jigsaw. I purchase a Bosch PST-700e and a selection of jigsaw blades. I had only used a jigsaw once before and it must have been a crap one as the Bosch was loads better. It was really easy to control and made a really good cut. I used all of the different blades in the pack, the aluminium ones worked really well against the fiberglass & plywood body of the van.

Drill
I had a corded drill before I started the project and I used this throughout. I did consider buying a cordless drill a few times and in hindsight it would have been really useful to have purchased one. I found myself constantly switching drill bits and as I was using the drill to drive the screws I was switching to the driver bits often too. A cordless drill would have been handy for working outside the van and in awkward places too.

Mole Grips / Locking Pliers
I bought a pair of Irwin Vicegrip locking pliers and a regular pair. I found that they came in handy for lots of jobs. The vicegrip pliers are particularly good for loosening stuck nuts and crimping terminals. I used them in combination plenty of times to hold bits in place so I could cut, drill, fix it, etc

Rotary Multi Tool
I purchased one made by Rhyas but it doesn’t seem to be for sale anymore. This one is very similar however. I wouldn’t say this tool is necessary but it helped me out of plenty of situations that would have been much more time consuming without it. The most useful tools are the sanding drums and the cutting discs.

Multimeter
You’ll want to have a multimeter handy when wiring in your electricals. I already had a couple of cheap multimeters kicking around but I wanted one with a DC current clamp. with this type of meter you just put the clamp around the cable and it shows you how many amps of current are passing through. Really helpful for troubleshooting. This is the one I have