Would an Ex-Ambulance make a good camper ?
Discussion
As a potential conversion they are useless.
Big, heavy and custom built.
Maintained on a public budget, one careful owner and a thousand careless drivers.
Just no, on every single level.
Also, they’ve had dead people in them.
And drunk people.
And homeless people.
And druggies.
And drunk homeless people on drugs.
All of the above smell really bad.
It lingers.
On a marginally more serious note.
The interiors are designed for pure functionality. Bright LED strip lights, boxy white Formica cupboards, heavy duty Lino floor, utilitarian grab handles everywhere....it’ll be like camping in a dentists surgery.
You’ll never, ever hide it’s origins unless you totally strip it out in which case you might as well get a VW T5 van which is already bare.
Outside, you’ll hide it’s origins even less and a lot of the bodywork is cheap nasty composite material or aluminium to keep the weight down but they just aren’t resilient and have dinks, knocks and scrapes all over.
Unless it’s genuinely surplus (from a private/event/film medical company) it’ll be being disposed of because it’s reached the end of its useful life, which generally means it’s reached the end of its life overall.
Forget any ideas of “selling off the bits from inside” as suggested in the admittedly old OP.
All the desirable medical stuff is removed long before the trucks are set free.
Big, heavy and custom built.
Maintained on a public budget, one careful owner and a thousand careless drivers.
Just no, on every single level.
Also, they’ve had dead people in them.
And drunk people.
And homeless people.
And druggies.
And drunk homeless people on drugs.
All of the above smell really bad.
It lingers.
On a marginally more serious note.
The interiors are designed for pure functionality. Bright LED strip lights, boxy white Formica cupboards, heavy duty Lino floor, utilitarian grab handles everywhere....it’ll be like camping in a dentists surgery.
You’ll never, ever hide it’s origins unless you totally strip it out in which case you might as well get a VW T5 van which is already bare.
Outside, you’ll hide it’s origins even less and a lot of the bodywork is cheap nasty composite material or aluminium to keep the weight down but they just aren’t resilient and have dinks, knocks and scrapes all over.
Unless it’s genuinely surplus (from a private/event/film medical company) it’ll be being disposed of because it’s reached the end of its useful life, which generally means it’s reached the end of its life overall.
Forget any ideas of “selling off the bits from inside” as suggested in the admittedly old OP.
All the desirable medical stuff is removed long before the trucks are set free.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 30th September 12:08
Rewe said:
I bet one would make a really interesting project.
However, serious question, how well would you sleep if you started thinking about how many people had died in there with you?
For a start, no people have died in there with him. Also, why would anyone give a split second's thought to such rubbish?However, serious question, how well would you sleep if you started thinking about how many people had died in there with you?
Crossflow Kid said:
...they’ve had dead people in them.
That's enough to put me off on its own!Surely better to buy a Sprinter or Crafter van (or a T5 if you don't need so much space) and convert that. Things like windows, split charge systems, heaters etc are readily available, then it's 'just' a case of insulating, lining, and adding furniture. All relatively easy if your reasonable at DIY.
LeighW said:
Crossflow Kid said:
...they’ve had dead people in them.
That's enough to put me off on its own!Surely better to buy a Sprinter or Crafter van (or a T5 if you don't need so much space) and convert that. Things like windows, split charge systems, heaters etc are readily available, then it's 'just' a case of insulating, lining, and adding furniture. All relatively easy if your reasonable at DIY.
Most popular camper van base models have readily available conversion kits.
With an ex-ambulance, you’ll spend a fair bit of time, effort and possibly cash reverse engineering it to the point where the camper van build can begin.
bobtail4x4 said:
we converted ours 4 years ago
4x4 base means we camp in well out of the way places,
a lot more chance of dead people being ex military, but they have not bothered us so far,
I’d say less chance of dead people given that not many military ambulances actually deploy any more as it’s all done by air.4x4 base means we camp in well out of the way places,
a lot more chance of dead people being ex military, but they have not bothered us so far,
A Land Rover Pulse is about the best option for ambulance>>>motor home.
The body isn’t very ambulancy at all and is, basically, a simple hi-capacity box body.
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