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Main Boards => General Walking Discussion => Topic started by: Ronin83 on 12:17:17, 10/05/19

Title: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Ronin83 on 12:17:17, 10/05/19
I need a new car and I'm thinking about getting either a van to convert into a camper or finding one that's already a camper van.


It will double as my every day vehicle/ commuter vehicle too, so don't want anything too big and needs to be reliable.


On the fence what to go for. Proper campers are more professional than what I could do and saves me the time and effort, but seem to be very expensive for what u get(age and mileage).


My eyes are on the Nissan nv200. It's small, but big enough and has reverse cameras. They come fairly cheap, but would require a lot of work and it's hard to find my ideal ... with removable/fold flat seats and windows.


Any experience with these things here?
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: gunwharfman on 13:20:39, 10/05/19
When my wife and I were younger and did silly things with our money, we decided to buy a 6 berth overhead bed motor caravan. Although we could often enjoy up to12 weeks holiday a year (the benefits of time off in lieu) we could still never use it enough to match the money outlay. When at work it was just a dead lump because we couldn't use it for anything else.

So we sold it and bought a Ford Transit sized motor caravan, which could be used as a 'car' if we needed too. That worked out much, much better. We no longer motor caravan, but if we did think of doing it again we would settle for a towing caravan. The downside of any motor caravan (as we experienced it) was that if you are on a site, want to stay there a few days and also want a vehicle to explore the area as well, it can become a 'tortoise' on wheels, you have to take everything with you when you go out. In a caravan, you just leave it where it is and can use your car as normal. We did this as well and then found out that the best thing was to leave it on a site for perhaps a season, or a couple of months or so and use the car to go back and forth to it. So many variations to consider!

We still know a bloke who used his own Ford Transit van as a Courier. He had windows fitted, did the floor and van walls and could turn his empty van into a motor caravan in a couple of hours. He bought a free-standing bed, a free standing kitchen, wardrobe, carpet, etc and when not in use he kept these items in his garage, He would then just bung them in his van and secure them to the van walls to ensure they never moved about and bingo, instant holiday mode! A clever man, his vehicle had two uses, saved him I'm sure loads of money.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: rural roamer on 14:53:42, 10/05/19
No personal experience, but my son-in-law bought a VW T5 van and converted it. He did a lot of it himself, but got professionals to do the things he couldn’t manage, not sure exactly what that was but it did include fitting the windows. He put in electrics, cupboards, a popup top. He uses it as his main car for work etc.  He’s not a walker but snowboards and wakeboards. They’ve used it for several holidays. He has a blog but that’s mainly about experiences in it with their baby/now toddler, but there maybe a few useful tips. https://babiesandcampers.wordpress.com/ (https://babiesandcampers.wordpress.com/)
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: jimbob on 16:22:48, 10/05/19
Loads of van converters on youtube.Rickvanman would be a good place to start.I share the dream with you.  Sometimes dreams are best left as that, as their fulfillment may lead to dissapointment. I am always put off by GWMs tortoise analogy.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 16:54:39, 10/05/19
Before I retired we bought a Winnebago with the intention of spending a few years touring before buying a house and settling down.  It didn't work out that way - we bought a house in France instead and the Winnie had to go because it is next to impossible to get French plates on an American RV.   However, we had a great few years weekending in UK and holidaying in Europe with it.  We overcame the usual mobility snag by towing a Ford Fiesta on a rigid coupling behind us.  This gave us a home from home and a runabout for trips.
The thing that always put me off small campers or van conversions was the cramped living.  Playing cushion jigsaws to build the bed each night and undoing it again in the morning, inadequate storage, condensation, the lack of adequate heating and cooling, the crude cooking arrangements and the toilet arrangements are all too unpleasant to contemplate! 
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Mel on 17:07:36, 10/05/19
This is something I've fancied doing (convert a van to a camper)... either that or win the lottery and get a classic VW camper.


The UK Campsite message forums have a section on campervans with info on conversions from folks that have done it and folks like you that want to do it.  One thing I do recall from reading advice on there is if you go down the conversion route there may be some VOSA and DVLA hoops you might have to jump through. 


Careful if you go down the already / part converted van route though... some have been stolen and modified to "hide" their true identity.  Make sure you buy from a reputable dealer and not off fleabay or the bloke down the pub!  Do your research  O0






 
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Ronin83 on 17:17:29, 10/05/19
Hmm, some things to think about.


I will add...
We do go on weekends away in UK and want to do more, eg bank hols, with possible road trip to Europe somewhere.


Cooking is fine, we can do a decent meal with our camping stove or a fire. It's part of the fun, like camping but with a comfier bed.
The toilet situation is a concern. On campsites it's fine, but if moving around and kind of stealth(ish) parking you're kind of stuck.
Also what to do for a shower if you're going for a week? I don't mind a few days, but...


Neverless, having a small van would be handy for us anyway for camping gear, climbing gear(plan to get into that) and whatever else.
It could get expensive, but sometimes I think, "if not now then when?" And is it good to always be sensible?
The 'sensible' choice is scrap the whole idea and get a normal car
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Mel on 17:38:37, 10/05/19
Toilet ... get a "Bog in a Bucket" (google it)


Showers ... boil some water and have a strip wash and/or use truck stop showers in service stations en route.


Not all campsites allow a "normal" van without a tent (not an issue if you're stealth camping mindst).  A workaround for that would be to buy any old cheapy pop-up tent and put it up next to your van or a tarp and poles as a dry space to cook under.


If it was me, I'd get a small van and have a decent fold-out framed camp bed to put up in the back and a rack of those plastic storage drawers for bits and bobs/clothes/kitchen stuff, a bucket, a fold out table/chairs bin liners and wood pellet cat litter for a loo, a tarp for dry outdoor space.  I'd just add a cheap tent "for show" if I was going to a campsite.


Anyway, I'll shurrup now  ;D







Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: gunwharfman on 17:59:22, 10/05/19
I agree with Ninthace, small vans do have obvious drawbacks but we were young then and didn't mind. A bit like buying a one-man tent to a two-man maybe?

Two of our friends wanted a Winnebago but he didn't realise he needed a special licence in the UK and in a rush to solve his problem he bought a 5th-wheeler caravan and a 'Bruce Willis' type truck to tow it. They wanted to 'tour' Europe but this 'slab of a thing' proved to be so unwieldy he just towed it to a Spanish site, parked it and its never been moved since. That was about seven years ago. They now spend the winter in Spain and the summer in the UK. They seem to like it but it would drive me to madness!

I carry a Lifeventure showerhead (£10) in my rucksack, a really neat little thing, just pushes into any water bottle, just it from a branch and have a shower.

I don't know if they are still made but there used to be a Scottish firm which made a tent extension that fitted any vehicle with rear opening doors. The extension could be then used as a dining area, etc and you could leave it permanently erected to keep your spot if you drove off for the day.

One of my neighbours, he works outside (to do with electricity pylons) and has his accommodation (a folding tent) on the roof of his Land Rover. It secures to his roof bars and folds down flat when not in use. Its an Italian make and to get into it the company supplies an aluminium ladder.

Before I forget, if you buy a Ford Transit type van make sure you get one with a side opening door, makes a huge difference in terms of comfort and ease of use.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 18:20:19, 10/05/19
Two of our friends wanted a Winnebago but he didn't realise he needed a special licence in the UK


I didn't.  I got my licence in 1968. My licence entitles me to drive and tow things that the younger folk can't drive without an extension to a basic car licence.  My Winnie was placarded at 7 tons so I could drive it on my car licence.  The towing of a car on all 4 wheels with a rigid coupling was a greyer area but the view was while on tow it was not a Fiesta - it was a multi axle braked trailer.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Gadabout Bounder on 19:23:47, 10/05/19
I've had a Merc Sprinter that was converted badly, then converted a Transit & Vauxhall Movano.


Currently got a Luton box van with a self made 'sleeper' over works equipment & a horse trailer (Lambourn) from the 60's that is just about to go into a garage for a full brakes, lights, hitch replacement, some welding and then a build off the chassis to a kingsized bed conversion with a 5 foot fibreglass slide-out.


Solar power is a piece of cake, electrics are pretty straightforward, 12 v & 240 volt (get them checked over if you aren't qualified), running pumped water is easy & a strip wash never killed anyone.


Fitting a van out is a great experience, a frustrating learning curve but if you get it half right it is well worth the effort.


Good luck



Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: sussamb on 19:47:42, 10/05/19
- we bought a house in France instead and the Winnie had to go

We bought ours a couple of years ago intending to spend more time there once daughter leaves college next July.  Whereabouts are you, we're near Chinon.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Owen on 20:26:05, 10/05/19

  The towing of a car on all 4 wheels with a rigid coupling was a greyer area but the view was while on tow it was not a Fiesta - it was a multi axle braked trailer.


Not anymore, it would now be classed as an arctic for which you need a C+E licence. That's what was an HGV. Not sure whether you'd also need a CPC but their around £300 per module, you need five modules every five years.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 20:27:49, 10/05/19
We bought ours a couple of years ago intending to spend more time there once daughter leaves college next July.  Whereabouts are you, we're near Chinon.
Were were in a village in the foothills of the Pyrenees between St Gaudens and Bagneres de Luchon.  After five and half years our daughter started to breed so grandma insisted we sold up and returned to the UK.  We had a great time - skiing in the winter, hiking in the summer, snowshoeing in the close season.  We fed ourselves out of the garden all the year round too.  The ground was that good I had to put the broom away at night so it did not sprout overnight.
The good news was that house prices in our area boomed and the exchange rate went in our favour so we could afford a house up north in Cumbria.  While I really miss it and, although we had qualified for residency, I'm  not sure I would want it to be my sole residence in the face of the B word,  It would have been a stressful 3 years.
I tried really hard to get the Winnebago over there but the French bureaucracy is impossible.  I even rang up the maker in the USA to see how they managed to export their campers to France - they said they couldn't do it either.  :(
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 20:29:39, 10/05/19

Not anymore, it would now be classed as an arctic for which you need a C+E licence. That's what was an HGV. Not sure whether you'd also need a CPC but their around £300 per module, you need five modules every five years.
  I think you are thinking of a fifth wheeler - ours was A Class camper.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Owen on 20:51:32, 10/05/19
  I think you are thinking of a fifth wheeler - ours was A Class camper.


No, it's articulated needs a C+E now. New rules caught a few people out.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: richardh1905 on 21:28:45, 10/05/19
Owned an elderly HiAce camper van for a few years, a Japanese import. Turned out to be an absolute disaster - coolant loss and severe overheating on the M74 led to one garage bill after another, but all to no avail. Sold it at a big loss just to be shot of it.

..but we did have some good times in it. Rather claustrophobic with more than 2 though, and the bed was a cushion jigsaw. I have to say I do prefer our large tunnel tent though, a Coleman Mosedale 5, much more space for family camping, and cost only £265.

If I were doing it again, and we might when our youngest grows up, I would buy a low mileage 9 seater minibus and do a VERY simple conversion myself. Just rip the back seats out, add curtains and bench seats that double as beds in the back - no cooker, shower, cupboards, toilet etc - job done.  And it could be used as a van! No way would I buy an elderly camper van again - ridiculously expensive for what you get, and nothing but trouble.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 21:30:16, 10/05/19

No, it's articulated needs a C+E now. New rules caught a few people out.
One of these
http://www.rvimports.com/Winnebago_Brave_id106/ (http://www.rvimports.com/Winnebago_Brave_id106/)
Not mine by the way!
My licence is old enough to include C1+E
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 21:37:46, 10/05/19
Here is the challenge to the self builders - the Winnie had: a double bedroom in the back with TV, fridge/freezer, (gas or electric power); aircon; microwave; 4 burner stove + oven; 5 gallons of hot water available for a shower; separate shower and toilet; 5kVa generator under floor; TV above cab; storage bins under floor; hydraulic levelling jacks ...
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Owen on 22:02:59, 10/05/19
One of these
http://www.rvimports.com/Winnebago_Brave_id106/ (http://www.rvimports.com/Winnebago_Brave_id106/)
Not mine by the way!
My licence is old enough to include C+E


Yes put a trailer, any type of trailer on that and it becomes an articulated vehicle. Didn't used to be the case but it does now. Basically there have been cases of people driving HGV's with no training and very little idea. The DVLA and VOSA are tightening the rules to get them off the road. I don't know about grandfather rights but I'd check before you try towing a car behind a winibago again.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: richardh1905 on 22:09:56, 10/05/19
How do you reverse a giant motor home that is towing a car? Sounds like a nightmare.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 22:24:19, 10/05/19
How do you reverse a giant motor home that is towing a car? Sounds like a nightmare.
  The problem is that the front wheels do not caster.  Easy solution is to unhitch - reverse the car - reverse the camper - hitch up again.  That is why it is a grey area - you should be able to reverse a trailer.  It can be done with practice http://www.caratow.com/faq.php (http://www.caratow.com/faq.php)


As I understand it, if you passed your test before 1 January 1997, you are generally allowed to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8.25 tonnes.
To drive a motorhome with a MAM of between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes, you need a category C1 licence.
My licence, granted in 1968 and last reissued in 2016 includes C1 and C1E until 2020
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Islandplodder on 09:34:56, 11/05/19

I had a tiny camper van for a while, and when it died we put the cooker, sink and mattresses into a transit van and used that as the main vehicle.  The next transit van we just used as a tent substitute, with the advantage that you didn't have to go out in the rain and midges to put it up and cook a meal.
Now I just make sure that any car I buy I can sleep in the back of, at a pinch.   But recently we were admiring something called a Boot Jump.  It fits into the back of a Citroen Berlingo car, (or similar cars of the same shape) and turns it into a basic mini camper.  Then when you want your car back you fold it up and put it into the shed.  They aren't all that expensive, compared to a fitted out camper, about 2,500k or thereabouts new, but the one we were looking at was second hand.  The makers are called Amdro, and I remember we watched a video online showing how they worked.  We didn't buy it in the end, but it is tucked into the back of my mind for the future.  It would be worth a look.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: gunwharfman on 09:59:55, 11/05/19
In the days when I used to commute to London, I knew a bloke who bought a Romahome (a small two-berth on a Citroen diesel base, he travelled in from Leicester) and he stayed and slept in that for one, two or three nights a week, rather than driving home every day. He organised a number of places to park overnight, friends, work colleagues, etc. I'm sure I would have done the same eventually but I'd had enough of it all and changed my employment to the south coast. If I was commuting again I'm sure this is the solution I would go for. But of course people are different and I'm always 'impressed' at the staying power of our neighbour, she gets the 5.30am train to London, four or five days a week and gets home about 7ish in the evening. That routine would destroy me!

Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Owen on 16:11:52, 11/05/19
  The problem is that the front wheels do not caster.  Easy solution is to unhitch - reverse the car - reverse the camper - hitch up again.  That is why it is a grey area - you should be able to reverse a trailer. 


As I said "No training and no idea".
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 17:27:49, 11/05/19

As I said "No training and no idea".
  Not sure what point you are trying to make.  My understanding is that a "proper" trailer should be able to be driven froward and backwards.  Have you tried reversing a camper/car combination?  If not I can explain why it is more difficult than a conventional trailer.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: Owen on 18:29:56, 11/05/19
The point I was trying to make is that the DVLA, VOSA, MOT et al  are right it tightening the rules. If you can't reverse your trailer you shouldn't be driving it.


And yes I can reverse a trailer, a drawbar trailer, a steering front axle trailer and an arctic. That's what I do for a living.
Title: Re: Campervan - DIY?
Post by: ninthace on 19:13:58, 11/05/19
The point I was trying to make is that the DVLA, VOSA, MOT et al  are right it tightening the rules. If you can't reverse your trailer you shouldn't be driving it.


And yes I can reverse a trailer, a drawbar trailer, a steering front axle trailer and an arctic. That's what I do for a living.
So  you haven't tried this combination.  As a professional driver you should understand steering geometry.  What you need to understand is in this case the geometry of the trailer tries to stop you reversing it. The front wheels of the car caster going forwards so it follows the towing vehicle - the reverse is true going backwards.  The steering wheels are now at the rear so they will try to turn through 180 degrees and in so doing they turn the steering to full lock.  You should also appreciate that short trailers are more twitchy that long trailers so this can happen quickly.  Now throw in the trailer is narrower than towing vehicle and on a short A frame so it cannot be seen from the cab except through the camera.  That is the point I was making about the combination being a legal grey area as it fights you going backwards.  I am an not incompetent driver.
To give you an understanding - get in your vehicle, put it in reverse, set the steering off slightly.  Now take your hands of the steering wheel and push the loud pedal and see what happens.  I drove the combination for 5 years so I know whereof I speak too.  I would point out  I have no trouble reversing normal trailers either Owen, including many of the types you describe which were ground equipment on airfields.  I can throw in single and twin axle caravans and glider trailers.
Now can we get back to walking and self builds?