Materials/Spend:
TOTAL: £117
Ladder time! I wanted to fit a ladder to the rear right door of my van so that I can easily get onto the roof when required. I bought my ladder from VanDemon and it comes with everything you need to fit it, except for the tools of course.
It’s a fairly simple process fitting the ladder but nevertheless, I was still really uncomfortable drilling holes into the exterior of the van.
Assembly
The first step is to apply the two sticky rubber strips to both of the two brackets. Once everything’s screwed into place, these will wedge themselves in between the bracket and the door of the van.
Next, you need to assemble the ladder by fixing the brackets to the ladder using the nuts, bolts and washers that come with the kit. The ladder has holes down the entire length, so you can fit the brackets wherever they fit best. I held the ladder up against the inside of the rear door and fitted the brackets where the alcoves in the door were. This meant that I’d only be drilling through one layer of metal.
I also only tightened the nuts and bolts with my hand to give them room to move slightly as I positioned the ladder.
Drilling Holes
Holding the ladder up against the inside of the van, I used a sharpie to mark some spots where I planned to drill the holes. As I mentioned above, it's easier using the inside of the van because you can easily see where the big gaps in the door are. I had to briefly ask for some sisterly help to hold the ladder in place whilst I marked the top two holes as I was struggling on my own.
Next you’ll need to drill the holes themselves. I used a 4mm drill-bit to make the initial holes, and then worked my way up to 8.5mm, as per the instructions.
For fear of rust in the future, I then applied a little bit of white metal paint to the new holes and had a coffee whilst it dried.
Fitting Ladder
Once the paint had dried, the last step was to fit the ladder! Again, it’s simply a case of using the nuts, bolts and washers provided. There are two metal panels to fit on the inside of the van so you’re not tightening the bolts directly to the interior of the van door.
Once the ladder was fastened into place, I just checked all of the nuts and bolts to make sure they were fully tightened.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to ping me an email or drop me a message on Instagram!
