Transit Camper Conversion
Discussion
So a Reader's Van, not a car but of interest to some hopefully.
The idea of a camper/race van came about because of two things, one is that my wife used to come to race meetings with me before we had our daughter, but there's very little for a 3 year old to do at circuits and nowhere to shelter from the elements so that all stopped when Emily arrived.
The second is that Emily has Cystic Fibrosis and over the last year has had 7 hospital admissions for chest infections, so planning and booking holidays is almost impossible, we've had to cancel two holidays in the last 18 months so having a camper means we can go on short-notice holidays when Emily is well rather than booking and hoping (although we are far more limited in destinations).
Anyway, we looked at everything from traditional aircooled VWs to full size motorhomes, but nothing seemed right, it was either too impractical (we need a fridge to keep Emily's medications in and a decent sized bed to keep my wife happy) or meant tying up £30k+ in a big white box on the drive.
So one day in April, on a whim I went out and bought a low-mileage, well looked after Transit - it's 8 years old, but has only 55k on the clock and was Local Authority owned, a call to the transport department of the council confirmed it's had oil services every 3 months and a full service every 6 months.
So I had the van, now what?
Thanks to a couple of threads on here (Tampon and Chicken Chaser, you were both a big inspiration to me starting this) and a few searches online I realised that quite a lot of people are self-building campers and there are quite a few websites and companies set up to cater for them.
I started in early May by insulating and adding a vapour barrier, the idea is that no part of the interior should be directly linked to the exterior allowing condensation to form, B&Q sell rolls of silver bubble wrap with acts as an insulator and barrier, so the van got a lining of that, then recycled plastic insulation and Celotex, followed by another layer of bubble wrap.
Next job (one that I'd been putting off) was to put in some windows, it's quite daunting chopping holes in your newly acquired van, but if we're going to see out....
Measure twice (actually, more like a dozen times)
Cut out with a combination of jigsaw and grinder
Then on with the mastic and hope it doesn't fall off.....
Then on with the ply lining, I used 9mm ply as the van has a weight limit of 3.5t so I'm not too worried about weight, there's no foolproof method I can see to doing this, just split into sections, measure, cut, offer it up and repeat until it fits or you produce another piece of oddly shaped ply for the "I'll use it later" pile.
One thing I did realise early on is that the ply needs to curve with the van, so I used rivnuts to secure it, they could be securely attached to the spars in the side of the van then the ply bolted down and bent using machine screws. This meant I could place the ply and draw round awkward bits in situ, then take it down and cut, something that would have been much harder to do with self-tappers.
I used blue lining carpet on the walls, it's really easy to use - spay adhesive on the back, ply on top. Just make sure you've (a) glued the right side of the carpet and (b) attached the carpet to the correct side of the ply.
Surprising how, at 10 in the evening you forget those simple rules and end up wasting an entire evening's work.
You can see the floor is down and the beginning of the 'boot' area for wheels, tools and jerry cans in this pic too, this will be both a race van and a camper, my daughter's bed will be above the boot area.
Next was the bed above the boot, more ply and carpet (I won't bore you with the pictures) and the means to keep the battery topped up to power the fridge, a 220w solar panel attached to the roof.
This will be more than sufficient to keep one 110Ah battery topped up while running a fridge 24x7 plus chargers, light etc. I'm not bothering with a 240v hook-up, we can run everything we need from one 12v battery including a laptop and phones, so it seems an unnecessary complication these days.
Next job was a skylight, this gives us ventilation at night which will help stop condensation and of course give ventilation and light during the day - the roof is ribbed so I made up little fillets to fill in the spaces between the ribs from UPVC window trim and used a whole tube of Sikaflex glue/sealant so the skylight sits flat and won't leak.
Having bought some excellent LED lights for the house from Guy at EcoLED (E36GUY on here) a while back, I gave him a call and he sent through some LED strips, diffusers and a dimmer. One runs down the centreline of the van, then I've recessed some more in the sides - they really set the van off I think.
Closeup of the strip before the diffuser is fitted
Lighting during the day...
...and at night (you can also see the hatch for Emily's bed, she's very excited about having a ladder to her bed just like Peppa Pig's).
So that's progress since May, I've hardly seen the family or any friends as all the weekends have been taken up doing the van but it's nice to see progress and something livable coming out of the chaos.
I have a deadline of the Tour de France Weekend as we're booked on a campsite on the route so I have about 3 weeks to finish it or at least get to a stage where we can sleep in it, I still have the solar to hook up and all the wiring to tidy, fridge to fit, beds to build and sink/cooker plus gas and water to install. I'll try and keep the thread updated as I go.
Wish me luck.....
The idea of a camper/race van came about because of two things, one is that my wife used to come to race meetings with me before we had our daughter, but there's very little for a 3 year old to do at circuits and nowhere to shelter from the elements so that all stopped when Emily arrived.
The second is that Emily has Cystic Fibrosis and over the last year has had 7 hospital admissions for chest infections, so planning and booking holidays is almost impossible, we've had to cancel two holidays in the last 18 months so having a camper means we can go on short-notice holidays when Emily is well rather than booking and hoping (although we are far more limited in destinations).
Anyway, we looked at everything from traditional aircooled VWs to full size motorhomes, but nothing seemed right, it was either too impractical (we need a fridge to keep Emily's medications in and a decent sized bed to keep my wife happy) or meant tying up £30k+ in a big white box on the drive.
So one day in April, on a whim I went out and bought a low-mileage, well looked after Transit - it's 8 years old, but has only 55k on the clock and was Local Authority owned, a call to the transport department of the council confirmed it's had oil services every 3 months and a full service every 6 months.
So I had the van, now what?
Thanks to a couple of threads on here (Tampon and Chicken Chaser, you were both a big inspiration to me starting this) and a few searches online I realised that quite a lot of people are self-building campers and there are quite a few websites and companies set up to cater for them.
I started in early May by insulating and adding a vapour barrier, the idea is that no part of the interior should be directly linked to the exterior allowing condensation to form, B&Q sell rolls of silver bubble wrap with acts as an insulator and barrier, so the van got a lining of that, then recycled plastic insulation and Celotex, followed by another layer of bubble wrap.
Next job (one that I'd been putting off) was to put in some windows, it's quite daunting chopping holes in your newly acquired van, but if we're going to see out....
Measure twice (actually, more like a dozen times)
Cut out with a combination of jigsaw and grinder
Then on with the mastic and hope it doesn't fall off.....
Then on with the ply lining, I used 9mm ply as the van has a weight limit of 3.5t so I'm not too worried about weight, there's no foolproof method I can see to doing this, just split into sections, measure, cut, offer it up and repeat until it fits or you produce another piece of oddly shaped ply for the "I'll use it later" pile.
One thing I did realise early on is that the ply needs to curve with the van, so I used rivnuts to secure it, they could be securely attached to the spars in the side of the van then the ply bolted down and bent using machine screws. This meant I could place the ply and draw round awkward bits in situ, then take it down and cut, something that would have been much harder to do with self-tappers.
I used blue lining carpet on the walls, it's really easy to use - spay adhesive on the back, ply on top. Just make sure you've (a) glued the right side of the carpet and (b) attached the carpet to the correct side of the ply.
Surprising how, at 10 in the evening you forget those simple rules and end up wasting an entire evening's work.
You can see the floor is down and the beginning of the 'boot' area for wheels, tools and jerry cans in this pic too, this will be both a race van and a camper, my daughter's bed will be above the boot area.
Next was the bed above the boot, more ply and carpet (I won't bore you with the pictures) and the means to keep the battery topped up to power the fridge, a 220w solar panel attached to the roof.
This will be more than sufficient to keep one 110Ah battery topped up while running a fridge 24x7 plus chargers, light etc. I'm not bothering with a 240v hook-up, we can run everything we need from one 12v battery including a laptop and phones, so it seems an unnecessary complication these days.
Next job was a skylight, this gives us ventilation at night which will help stop condensation and of course give ventilation and light during the day - the roof is ribbed so I made up little fillets to fill in the spaces between the ribs from UPVC window trim and used a whole tube of Sikaflex glue/sealant so the skylight sits flat and won't leak.
Having bought some excellent LED lights for the house from Guy at EcoLED (E36GUY on here) a while back, I gave him a call and he sent through some LED strips, diffusers and a dimmer. One runs down the centreline of the van, then I've recessed some more in the sides - they really set the van off I think.
Closeup of the strip before the diffuser is fitted
Lighting during the day...
...and at night (you can also see the hatch for Emily's bed, she's very excited about having a ladder to her bed just like Peppa Pig's).
So that's progress since May, I've hardly seen the family or any friends as all the weekends have been taken up doing the van but it's nice to see progress and something livable coming out of the chaos.
I have a deadline of the Tour de France Weekend as we're booked on a campsite on the route so I have about 3 weeks to finish it or at least get to a stage where we can sleep in it, I still have the solar to hook up and all the wiring to tidy, fridge to fit, beds to build and sink/cooker plus gas and water to install. I'll try and keep the thread updated as I go.
Wish me luck.....
Edited by Mark Benson on Wednesday 11th June 13:13
Looks a great job! Good on you!
Are you planning on having a sink in the van, as I didnt see any drainage? Also what about a gas stove? If so, you might need ventilation for the storage tanks etc, which you might need to prep before you panel and cover the lot.
Looking forward to seeing this progress.
Any outside modifications/updates planned ?
Are you planning on having a sink in the van, as I didnt see any drainage? Also what about a gas stove? If so, you might need ventilation for the storage tanks etc, which you might need to prep before you panel and cover the lot.
Looking forward to seeing this progress.
Any outside modifications/updates planned ?
Sink and hob on the way - the gas and water tanks will go in the boot area when we're camping, then I can take them out for race weekends (as there are facilities at the circuits).
There's a hole for a gas dropout in the floor under where the hob will be, and I've left the boot area bare of flooring deliberately until I get the gas so I can see where to put a dropout with the bottle in situ. There are holes in the panel between the living area and the boot for the pipework and cable in a conduit under the floor for the submersible pump. I think I've thought of everything - I don't know how I'd have done all this pre-internet though (truth is I probably wouldn't and we'd have a shiny commercially built motorhome on the drive by now).
So far no problems with Sikaflex but the solar panel and the skylight have been secured by bolts and spreader plates in the case of the panel, and the built-in frame in the case of the skylight, so I'm not just relying on the Sikaflex on it's own.
There's a hole for a gas dropout in the floor under where the hob will be, and I've left the boot area bare of flooring deliberately until I get the gas so I can see where to put a dropout with the bottle in situ. There are holes in the panel between the living area and the boot for the pipework and cable in a conduit under the floor for the submersible pump. I think I've thought of everything - I don't know how I'd have done all this pre-internet though (truth is I probably wouldn't and we'd have a shiny commercially built motorhome on the drive by now).
So far no problems with Sikaflex but the solar panel and the skylight have been secured by bolts and spreader plates in the case of the panel, and the built-in frame in the case of the skylight, so I'm not just relying on the Sikaflex on it's own.
Not a bad weekend's progress, even though it was Le Mans weekend so it demanded Eurosport Player and Radio Le Mans in the garage, which slowed progress slightly...
Finished the insulation for Emily's bedroom and tidied the boot area ready for the gas and water cannisters.
Got the seats/bed in, the one behind the driver's seat hinges for storage and contains the battery (in a battery box) and master cut off switch, the seat below the window hinges for storage and pulls out to make a double bed, 130cm wide. You have no idea how long it took to come up with a way to make a hinged, pull out seat that could support the weight of an adult, but I eventually did it.
Bed stowed
Bed open
Under the seat went the electrics. Having wired up various automotive projects, wiring doesn't really worry me, in my experience the trick is to be methodical and label everything at both ends. Tidy as you go (cable tie everything together, frequently) and get a good crimping tool.
The box on the right in the picture below is the solar controller, the panel feeds it when it's making power and the controller charges the battery whenever it senses it needs to.
The fuse box on the left has a common ground attached to the van's earthing point, making it simple to run both pairs together until just before the fusebox meaning fewer complications when fault finding.
You can also see the bed hinged up for access.
I also wired in a 12v CO detector,
And mounted the electric panel, left to right - 2xUSB sockets for charging phones etc, 3x12v sockets, the switch for the main van lights and the dimmer control, all on a piece of 3mm perspex.
This then mounts into the panel that forms the shelving for the fridge and the end of the seating. The map is of Chanti, where we spent our honeymoon (awww...).
My wife is now busy making curtains and the foam has come to make the bed, still got the fridge to install and the sink and hob to fit, but we're getting there.
Finished the insulation for Emily's bedroom and tidied the boot area ready for the gas and water cannisters.
Got the seats/bed in, the one behind the driver's seat hinges for storage and contains the battery (in a battery box) and master cut off switch, the seat below the window hinges for storage and pulls out to make a double bed, 130cm wide. You have no idea how long it took to come up with a way to make a hinged, pull out seat that could support the weight of an adult, but I eventually did it.
Bed stowed
Bed open
Under the seat went the electrics. Having wired up various automotive projects, wiring doesn't really worry me, in my experience the trick is to be methodical and label everything at both ends. Tidy as you go (cable tie everything together, frequently) and get a good crimping tool.
The box on the right in the picture below is the solar controller, the panel feeds it when it's making power and the controller charges the battery whenever it senses it needs to.
The fuse box on the left has a common ground attached to the van's earthing point, making it simple to run both pairs together until just before the fusebox meaning fewer complications when fault finding.
You can also see the bed hinged up for access.
I also wired in a 12v CO detector,
And mounted the electric panel, left to right - 2xUSB sockets for charging phones etc, 3x12v sockets, the switch for the main van lights and the dimmer control, all on a piece of 3mm perspex.
This then mounts into the panel that forms the shelving for the fridge and the end of the seating. The map is of Chanti, where we spent our honeymoon (awww...).
My wife is now busy making curtains and the foam has come to make the bed, still got the fridge to install and the sink and hob to fit, but we're getting there.
More progress over the last couple of weeks, I can see an end in sight (which is a good job, because the deadline is a week today).
Sink and hob installed, gas dropouts in the floor underneath hob and bottle and a leak tester in the boot where the rubber hose from the bottle joins the copper piping. When we turn the gas on at the bottle, we can check for leaks further down the pipe.
Also wired in a pump so we have running water (only cold though).
More maps for the cupboard doors, this one is of La Sarthe, just in case I get lost on the way to Le Mans next year
The recessed lights are ideal for lighting up the unit at night, I just hope the carpet on the wall stands up to the heat of the gas hob (will test this before we go away).
There wasn't really room for a ladder to get to Emily's bed, so we came up with the idea of a mini climbing wall, she loves it although she can't quite manage it yet.
Not much more to do now, a few tidying jobs and some testing.
My wife has finished the curtains and is about to start on all the cushions and mattresses, we've bought a memory foam mattress and my job tonight is to hack it to pieces to make the cushions with will go on the benches and be rearranged to make our bed.
Nearly there.....
Sink and hob installed, gas dropouts in the floor underneath hob and bottle and a leak tester in the boot where the rubber hose from the bottle joins the copper piping. When we turn the gas on at the bottle, we can check for leaks further down the pipe.
Also wired in a pump so we have running water (only cold though).
More maps for the cupboard doors, this one is of La Sarthe, just in case I get lost on the way to Le Mans next year
The recessed lights are ideal for lighting up the unit at night, I just hope the carpet on the wall stands up to the heat of the gas hob (will test this before we go away).
There wasn't really room for a ladder to get to Emily's bed, so we came up with the idea of a mini climbing wall, she loves it although she can't quite manage it yet.
Not much more to do now, a few tidying jobs and some testing.
My wife has finished the curtains and is about to start on all the cushions and mattresses, we've bought a memory foam mattress and my job tonight is to hack it to pieces to make the cushions with will go on the benches and be rearranged to make our bed.
Nearly there.....
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