LA VÍCTOR

 THURSDAY 29TH JUNE This is what the floor looks like after being insulated with 2cm-thick Kaiflex in between the samba batons. As you can see the walls are almost fully insulated as well. The very lowest section has been insulated with 2cm-thick Kaiflex and the sections above it have been insulated with 3cm-thick Kaiflex.

 THURSDAY 29th JUNE After fully insulating the walls with 3cm-thick Kaiflex in the two upper sections and 2cm-thick Kaiflex in the lowest section I decided to also fully insulate the floor. This is something I had originally not intended to do. My original plan was to just insulate the dents that are in the floor, similar to the dents in the roof, and then replace the floor to later fully insulate the floor. I decided to do the floor in this moment because I had already removed everything from inside the van - which was a lot of work in itself but also having the space to do it is something that is also not easy to come across. I have insulate the spaces in between the raised parts of the van with 1cm-thick Kaiflex and then I bought 3cm x 2cm samba batons. I treated the batons with a double-coat of exterior varnish to protect from rot. In between the batons I insulated with 2cm thick Kaiflex and then replaced the flooring that was in the van when we bought it to protect the metalwo...

WEDNESDAY 28TH JUNE  Whilst also working on insulating the roof (you can just make out the 3cm thick Kaiflex installed in the roof) I began insulating the walls with this Kilmat acoustic insulation. This is a 2,5mm thick rubber sheet with an aluminium exterior. It is a heavy and expensive material - 3.2kgs per m2 and 27 euros per m2. It is, however, a very pleasant material to work with - similar to the Kaiflex it as one sticky side and you just remove a piece of paper and stick it on. I decided to only insulate the walls and the doors with this material, the ceiling and the floor have not been insulated acoustically - they have only been insulated with Kaiflex. Most people just put a few of these panels on the surfaces they want to insulate and don´t bother covering the whole surface like I´ve done. I chose to do it like this because I want to minimise noise from the outside of our van. Something positive about this material that I didn´t take in to acount when I began this job is...

WEDNESDAY 28TH JUNE After cleaning the dust and then cleaning the metalwork with alcohol I painted any small spots of bare metal to protect them. I used an anti-rust primer. After leaving the paintwork to dry I cleaned the surfaces and began to insulate the interior of the van. In this photo I am insulating with 1cm-thick Kaiflex. This is a foam-like material that is typically used to insulate air-conditioning units but has become famous in the camper world. It has a self-adhesive side which makes it very easy to work with. The roof of our van has these drainage-lines which are so that water does not build up on the roof, I suppose. Most people probably just stick the Kaiflex directly on the roof without insulating these dents but I decided to do it like this to make the insulation that I will put on after this more uniform.

MONDAY 26TH JUNE This is what Víctor looks like after being emptied and having all of the plywood-protectors removed. I drove 320kms from our house in Madrid to Zaragoza to stay with our friend Toño at Cirteani (short for circo, teatro y animación). Today I emptied the van, we are circus artists and have a show and so I had a lot of gear to take out. Some of the things we had in the van were: a bed (base and mattress), an aluminium aerial structure that weighs 80kgs and consists of 12 aluminium tubes of 1m (approx.) each, two speakers and stands, 6 LED lights and cables, sound and electrical cables for the speakers, 5-6 large suitcases, silks and ropes for aerials and hair suspension, etc., etc. The things all had to be stored in Toño´s warehouse neatly to avoid later being lost. First we had to create space for my things and then I set to work emptying the van by myself. Apart from emptying the van this day I didn´t do much else apart from sweep up all the dust that was left over from...