It's a Gas!

When we bought the Lady Eleanor (aka The Star) the gas cylinder was located inside the van on a shelf under the sink connected to the appliances by flexible pipes one of which needed replacing by 1989! In addition there were remnants of gas piping underneath indicating its original location was outside.
Now I know that gas inside is not unusual in caravans of this era but I am not comfortable sleeping in a van next to a gas cylinder powering a fridge when "off grid", indeed one the requirements for the Puck we bought was that it should be a model with the outside gas cylinder.
So the gas needed to go outside. Additionally Eleanor had  a hideous contemporary but not original storage box on the front that needed to go, picture below

So a plan was hatched . First the old box was removed along with the rotten wooden battens that held it in place.
Sourcing a suitable replacement was more problematical. Gone are the days where aftermarket caravan boxes are available so moving onto "white Boxes" in general a motor cycle top box came to mind but few were big enough. I found one made  a guy called Keith Gold (www.keithgold.co.uk)who kindly tried various gas bottles inside in varying orientations before selling it to me. Below is how it arrived with me

The space into which it had to fit was made tighter with the fact that the handbrake comes up pretty vertical. So it was pretty clear it would not fit lid up as on a bike, which was what I suspected before I bought it so it had to sit on its back and needed raising of the fairing to allow the lid to open.
So I made a frame out of stainless steel cut to size courtesy of my daughters fiance. The box was then fixed on top and bolted in place

Inside I cut two drop vents and used the mounting frame from inside along with a fixing strap. Meantime a local caravan service engineer moved to gas point to a suitale point outside.
Overall I am pretty pleased with the result.