DIY - Welding new step into T25 Camper van

Today we had our welding appointment at the RANS household, arranged with Vodqueen and Al to fix where the step on the drivers side has rusted away (rather badly, as you can see, so badly, in fact that we have spent all the time up until now clambering in and out of the van by the passenger door) -

- lacking tools (as well as the skills and knowledge) we yielded to Al's expert assistance, who used a hammer to remove all the rusty bits, then clipped some plate to the perfect shape -

- which I helped to hold in place (as/when necessary) -

- while Al welded it into place (took just over an hour in the end, including filling the little holes)-

- had a few little fires in the coating of the underside as we went along, but they weren't anywhere near the fuel lines/tank, so we just blew them out once the metal cooled down (bit scary though!) -

- and here we see the weld finished -

- then just a lick of white Hammerite and the mat went back into place, perfect!

You might also notice the pink patch just below the throttle pedal, this was another little hole, but just below it was the speedo cable, so we couldn't weld anywhere near it, so the pink stuff was a glass fibre mixture which plugged that perfectly (after brushing vigorously with a wire brush to clean it up... ;)