Cooker

Gas differs from country to country, and gas cylinders are bulky, requiring outside venting/siting. Therefore a single fuel vehicle was the design criteria. Wallas Marin manufacture a diesel cooker which is relatively very expensive, but beautifully engineered. The diesel steplessly heats a two-pan ceramic hob, and vents the fumes to the outside of the vehicle via an insulated stainless duct. The cooker is also fitted with a blower lid which closes over the hob. The main purpose of this is to convert the cooker into a space heater by blowing air over the ceramic hob when the cooker is on with the lid in the closed position. The secondary function of the lid is to afford physical protection to the ceramic hob when not in use.

The cooker takes some time to reach temperature, and is understandably not as controllable as a gas unit. However, once up to temperature, it boils water, etc, extremely fast.

This cooker is an engineering art form, and I would recommend it to anybody converting a travel van.

Audio system

A high quality Alpine audio system has been installed. It drives two speakers in the cab and two speakers in the rear cabin, the latter being built into cupboards.

The system has a remote control which is invaluable in allowing the system to be operated from the rear cabin area. Luxury is being in bed at night, and being able turn off the lights and stereo without having to leave the sleeping bag!

To allow the Worldspace and short-wave radios to be played through the vehicle's hifi system, an FM Modulator has been installed in the aerial input to the stereo's head unit. The FM Modulator converts the signal from the Worldspace's (etc) headphone socket into an FM signal, which is then fed into the FC101's stereo head unit via it's aerial. This removes the requirement of using the substandard traditional method of connecting auxiliary sound sources to the vehicle's stereo system by means of a cassette adaptor.