The Shed magazine April/May 2025 issue 120 on sale now
On the road again – new life for old caravans
The allure of a classic caravan can be strong, and many of these gems are being lovingly restored – in fact, Beach Hop even has a prize for the best retro caravan.
In this issue, we showcase three very different caravan restorations—one by a man who owns a company that has been building caravans commercially since the 1950s and is now a household name in caravans and Motorhomes.
The second is a lovingly restored 10-footer that started off a real basket case, and the third, well, friends christened it a turd emoji when they saw the project bought by Marty and Zoe.
Their caravan was destined for their annual pilgrimage to Beach Hop, where thousands gather to show off their super-primped or lovingly restored classic vehicles and caravans
Lights galore
If you are interested in adapting and using discarded bits and bobs to make something useful, then building lights, table lamps, and the like, offers an endless source of relatively inexpensive projects to amuse you. What’s more, they make unique gifts and nice conversation starters for visitors. Lamps are also a good way of supporting a decorating theme. Whether you are into an Art Deco, Arts and Crafts, modern or industrial look, it is nice to enhance your chosen theme by constructing a light from an object that is reminiscent of it.
Of course you are dealing with 240-volt electricity, which is potentially lethal, so it is essential that you use common sense and particular care when wiring up lights (see the safe wiring tip box). The advent of 12-volt downlights powered by small transformers has also made the construction of lights much safer. Lights can now be wired in such a way that the 240-volt transformer is remotely located or secured and independently earthed. There is no electrocution risk posed by the 12-volt wiring in the rest of the light.
Child’s play
When you are a carpenter by trade with an interest in cars and still young at heart, making wooden toys has to be the perfect retirement occupation—although many of Alan Gray’s “toys” are not the sort of playthings you would put in the hands of small children. His meticulously crafted vintage vehicles, fashioned mostly from native timbers, mahogany and macrocarpa, can take around 60 hours to make and are more collectors’ pieces.
To keep the real kids happy, he has a more robust range mostly made from pinus radiata— diggers, trucks, pull-along hippos and the like.
Alan, 71, and his wife, Lesley, have been living in Cromwell for the past six years. Originally from Dunedin, Alan trained as a carpenter but turned his hand to fishing after moving to Stewart Island. He then spent the best part of three decades skippering boats for the Department of Conservation.
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