Updating your Trident interior

Hi all... We've just bought a 1992 Trident and have plans to update the interior by painting all the cupboards, recovering the seats, reaching the "wall" carpets etc etc...

Has anyone else updated their Trident or is it sacrilege? Would love to see some pics.

Julian,
Ours is a 1991 and the skylight had become dislodged for two years and water literally poured in.

After a massive professional steam clean by a company to take out the dry marks on all the upper cloth, it was the turn of what to do with the wood which was also badly stained.

Decided to go to Home Base, buy a pot of sample paint in the colour my wife preferred STORMY DAY
and two rolls of Fablon.

In the meantime she went on line and sent the old delapidated curtains off to a lady who copies what you send her and makes new ones in what ever cloth you want....cost £125.
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Heres the result so far......with an image of the roof before work started to bring her back on line.
I fitted a new skylight for £50 off Ebay hard work but very rewarding to keep the weather out after 2 years I can tell you. The guy that had it previously was very elderly and had no idea whilst it sat there.

Everything that was cloth at the eye level on and behind the electricity panel and water board is fabloned in the same sticky backed cloth looks and feels so fresh and new and everynook and cranny. Now the hard part removing ALL the old pull up blinds that are now not fit for purpose as they to got a 2 year soaking.....not good.Hope this all helps. It didn't take long honest. Any questions just ask.


The first image shows the staining before the steam job, but that is the new replacement skylight 400mm x 400mm make sure you order the right size as there were several made for the Trident some were 500mm diameter.
Also from Ebay, a 200 bag of plastic screw caps and covers as the whole van had all different colours covering screws so I decided to replace the lot with the same grey colour to match the curtains and my new decor. I also covered all "pelmets" above the sink area seen in one of the photos with all new fablon to cover up the sun soaked cloth. So new, vibrant and refreshing!!!

M7GGB wrote:Everything that was cloth at the eye level on and behind the electricity panel and water board is fabloned in the same sticky backed cloth looks and feels so fresh and new and everynook and cranny. Now the hard part removing ALL the old pull up blinds that are now not fit for purpose as they to got a 2 year soaking.....not good.Hope this all helps. It didn't take long honest. Any questions just ask.


The first image shows the staining before the steam job, but that is the new replacement skylight 400mm x 400mm make sure you order the right size as there were several made for the Trident some were 500mm diameter.
Also from Ebay, a 200 bag of plastic screw caps and covers as the whole van had all different colours covering screws so I decided to replace the lot with the same grey colour to match the curtains and my new decor. I also covered all "pelmets" above the sink area seen in one of the photos with all new fablon to cover up the sun soaked cloth. So new, vibrant and refreshing!!!

Thats a great job - from interest - have you the details of the lady who does the curtains??

Do it through Ebay initially: tigger1390 on Ebay then message her, she will be very helpful tell her we gave you her details.
£173 with tie backs and postage and cushions

M7GGB wrote:Do it through Ebay initially: tigger1390 on Ebay then message her, she will be very helpful tell her we gave you her details.
£173 with tie backs and postage and cushions

Nice one - thank you

Here are the after steam professional shots nearly there and back to what she would have looked like in 1991................

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Just some advice on the curtain replacement. Once your other half has decided what curtains she wants, our advice is to send Melanie your old ones labelled as to where they are from, and she will put all the poppers on as per the van wall studs and tie backs, and send you you them all back. If you want any slightly longer this is the time to ask for that. Cheap as chips and so so so professional and look and fit great......easy peasy!!

Chose Gingham grey squared finish with white lining as the overall replacement colours were grey!

That's a tidy finish - you must be v pleased!

Yes if you saw the interior after 2 years of sitting outside and the old chap not knowing the roof was open was dis heartening. As I said all done now and so pleased as you take off things you would normally steer clear of, but at the same time find how they were constructed in minute detail.
By the time I'm finished it will be a new van. Having new external stripes replaced next!!

Very true - I've no real experience of taking vans apart. No engineer locally and got let down a few times. A bit of YouTube and this excellent forum - Ive now taken out my fridge, hot water heater and air blown heater. Had to send the air heater off but fairly pleased to have done the rest, as you say its nice knowing how your van works and makes fixing things easier. After getting the bodywork done this winter I will update the inside. Cheers

Be nice to see it when you have done yours..............all the best.

Thanks so much for your replies. That looks superb, and the other half is well pleased with the curtain info and contact!

We begin in earnest when back from holiday (bad signal here hence the late reply) and will defo keep you updated.

We're tidying up our Duetto bit by bit, we've fitted new carpets throughout which gave the interior a big lift, the curtains were done by my wife who's a dab hand with the sewing machine, A/S have the original heading tape and curtain runners which was a big help, she says the price for your curtains was very good knowing what's involved.
Very impressed with the steam cleaning of the roof areas, we have some staining which has defeated us so far, not as bad as yours was but just as annoying, will need to see if there's anyone in our area that can work the same magic on ours.
Keep up the good work.
Graham

Most carpet and soft furnishing companies do this deep cleaning where stains like those come out very easily. Definately worth doing to enhance the interior.

M7GGB wrote:Most carpet and soft furnishing companies do this deep cleaning where stains like those come out very easily. Definately worth doing to enhance the interior.

Thanks, I'll have a check around locally and see what I can find, like I said not as bad as in the pictures but still annoying.
Graham

Great to see someone tackling this kid of work M7GGB. Slowly doing bits to our van, carpeting all of the floor and panels is one of the jobs intended, so seeing this has given me some well needed inspiration 

Been very enjoyable, bits and pieces in slow time, especially repainting the tired wood trim, and fabloning the panels in my wifes choice to match new curtains.............thanks to B&Q who supplied the fablon and the Match pots of paint enough to do all the wood.
I have to say now I have re done the stripes and signs and given the old girl a polish.........it does look nearly new.
Picture below of the new preferred stripes and written auto sleeper badges [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]stripe work. Took all the crusty old blinds out to, had too many jams to be effective. Sorry but although the image loaded the right way round it wouldn't allow me to level it off.

M7GGB wrote:Been very enjoyable, bits and pieces in slow time, especially repainting the tired wood trim, and fabloning the panels in my wifes choice to match new curtains.............thanks to B&Q who supplied the fablon and the Match pots of paint enough to do all the wood.
I have to say now I have re done the stripes and signs and given the old girl a polish.........it does look nearly new.
Picture below of the new preferred stripes and written auto sleeper badges [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]stripe work. Took all the crusty old blinds out to, had too many jams to be effective. Sorry but although the image loaded the right way round it wouldn't allow me to level it off.

Where did you get your new stripes? My hightop graphics are the most faded especially at the front, van itself not too bad. I was thinking of ordering some plain or patterned black vinyl and just cutting them myself.

I went to a vehicle sign writer because I attempted it myself at the rear initially, and found just how hard it is to get it securely fixed as they have special spatulars etc and heat guns to turn corners.At least that way, you can choose what you want colour/stripes etc.
Worth every bit of the £125. I bought a pair of spare Auto Sleeper stickers for the front and back which I have put on this site if anybody's interested.
Taking the old stuff off initially the van looked so clean and tidy we did consider having no signs on it at all!!

M7GGB wrote:Do it through Ebay initially: tigger1390 on Ebay then message her, she will be very helpful tell her we gave you her details.
£173 with tie backs and postage and cushions

I'm looking to do the same so this is really useful info. I can't figure out how to contact a user direct on ebay? Any advise on that would be gratefully recieved!

Jamie,
Her name is Melanie Burton, she can be contacted on 07977412031 she gave permission for this number to be made available to those wanting T4 curtains. If you say Theo gave you her details who had grey gingham curtains made for her.
Good luck and glad to have been helpful

Thank you very much