Any VW camper owners local?
Discussion
Me and her are looking at getting a T5/T30 style camper in the next few months, but I was hoping to get some ideas on do's and dont's from someone with experience.
We're not 100% on what layout of van we're after at the moment, so if you've got one, what made you decide to get that set up? Is there anything you wished you got that you didn't, or even wouldn't bother getting if you got another one?
Chances are, we won't be converting a Transporter ourselves but would be buying an existing camper, so our choice might be made for us, but if we can be a little wise with the pennies for a bit, we may be in a position to convert it ourselves, which would be great.
Any advice would be appreciated!
We're not 100% on what layout of van we're after at the moment, so if you've got one, what made you decide to get that set up? Is there anything you wished you got that you didn't, or even wouldn't bother getting if you got another one?
Chances are, we won't be converting a Transporter ourselves but would be buying an existing camper, so our choice might be made for us, but if we can be a little wise with the pennies for a bit, we may be in a position to convert it ourselves, which would be great.
Any advice would be appreciated!
normalbloke said:
Jonboy_t said:
I never even knew that forum existed on here, I have only just seen that! Will have a look through, cheers.
It's not a PH forum! It's out there in the big scary outside world!I saw the camping/tents forum and thought you meant that!
Hello mate
I had a converted T5 camper for about a year and loved it. I would say the following are essentials
1 - Pop up roof, as even if you dont have a bed up there it is so much nicer to have the space especially when it is hot.
2 - Captains chairs up front, not a 3 seat bench. When your camping you will be able to spin them and it makes an awesome seating area. If you dont, you will have to share the rear seat and it gets annoying.
3 - Tailgate not barn doors on the rear. When your camping you will have all your gear in the back area of the van. With the tailgate it means that if it is raining, you can open it and rummage about without all your stuff getting soaked. You can also put a porta loo under the rear of the van and pull if out and use the tail gate as a cover (oviously only in descrete locations)!!
4 - Get the biggest engine option you can afford. I had the 1.9 which was chipped, but it still struggled with all the kit in there. We took ours to Italy and back and it was dying in the mountains.
5 - One thing I regret is the roof mine had. It was a German SCA roof and it gave no option to attach a roof rack or a roller awning. Other brands of pop up roofs allow both of these options and I regretted not having those.
6 - Check the vans you view to make sure the drive shafts are in order. Mine went and it was expensive to sort out. It is a common problem for them to go.
7 - Avoid white if you can. Mine faded in places and it gave me rage.
Apart from that, nothing much else comes to mind. You wont regret it. Let me know if I can be any further help.
Jim
I had a converted T5 camper for about a year and loved it. I would say the following are essentials
1 - Pop up roof, as even if you dont have a bed up there it is so much nicer to have the space especially when it is hot.
2 - Captains chairs up front, not a 3 seat bench. When your camping you will be able to spin them and it makes an awesome seating area. If you dont, you will have to share the rear seat and it gets annoying.
3 - Tailgate not barn doors on the rear. When your camping you will have all your gear in the back area of the van. With the tailgate it means that if it is raining, you can open it and rummage about without all your stuff getting soaked. You can also put a porta loo under the rear of the van and pull if out and use the tail gate as a cover (oviously only in descrete locations)!!
4 - Get the biggest engine option you can afford. I had the 1.9 which was chipped, but it still struggled with all the kit in there. We took ours to Italy and back and it was dying in the mountains.
5 - One thing I regret is the roof mine had. It was a German SCA roof and it gave no option to attach a roof rack or a roller awning. Other brands of pop up roofs allow both of these options and I regretted not having those.
6 - Check the vans you view to make sure the drive shafts are in order. Mine went and it was expensive to sort out. It is a common problem for them to go.
7 - Avoid white if you can. Mine faded in places and it gave me rage.
Apart from that, nothing much else comes to mind. You wont regret it. Let me know if I can be any further help.
Jim
Agree with what Jim said mostly.
A few additional comments re the driveshafts.
All of the shafts were assembled without grease between the splined joints, causing premature failure. Not as dramatic as it sounds (clunk, no drive). There are reputable companies offering the shafts for around £80 per side. It is around a 90 minute job for any half decent garage to fit.It is no longer an expensive job, unless you like the main stealers!
A few additional comments re the driveshafts.
All of the shafts were assembled without grease between the splined joints, causing premature failure. Not as dramatic as it sounds (clunk, no drive). There are reputable companies offering the shafts for around £80 per side. It is around a 90 minute job for any half decent garage to fit.It is no longer an expensive job, unless you like the main stealers!
One other thing that has sprung to mind is beware of cheap after market wheels on many vans. When I was looking to put alloys on mine I found it really hard to find ones suitable for the weight of the vehicle. If you just buy car wheels and they break and cause you an accident you may find your insurance co has a get out clause in there. There are plenty of van specific wheels so just check if your buying a van with them already on there.
That is all!!
That is all!!
Thejimreaper said:
One other thing that has sprung to mind is beware of cheap after market wheels on many vans. When I was looking to put alloys on mine I found it really hard to find ones suitable for the weight of the vehicle. If you just buy car wheels and they break and cause you an accident you may find your insurance co has a get out clause in there. There are plenty of van specific wheels so just check if your buying a van with them already on there.
That is all!!
+ the tyres...That is all!!
Thejimreaper said:
Hello mate
I had a converted T5 camper for about a year and loved it. I would say the following are essentials
1 - Pop up roof, as even if you dont have a bed up there it is so much nicer to have the space especially when it is hot.
2 - Captains chairs up front, not a 3 seat bench. When your camping you will be able to spin them and it makes an awesome seating area. If you dont, you will have to share the rear seat and it gets annoying.
3 - Tailgate not barn doors on the rear. When your camping you will have all your gear in the back area of the van. With the tailgate it means that if it is raining, you can open it and rummage about without all your stuff getting soaked. You can also put a porta loo under the rear of the van and pull if out and use the tail gate as a cover (oviously only in descrete locations)!!
4 - Get the biggest engine option you can afford. I had the 1.9 which was chipped, but it still struggled with all the kit in there. We took ours to Italy and back and it was dying in the mountains.
5 - One thing I regret is the roof mine had. It was a German SCA roof and it gave no option to attach a roof rack or a roller awning. Other brands of pop up roofs allow both of these options and I regretted not having those.
6 - Check the vans you view to make sure the drive shafts are in order. Mine went and it was expensive to sort out. It is a common problem for them to go.
7 - Avoid white if you can. Mine faded in places and it gave me rage.
Jim
i disagree with most of that... lolI had a converted T5 camper for about a year and loved it. I would say the following are essentials
1 - Pop up roof, as even if you dont have a bed up there it is so much nicer to have the space especially when it is hot.
2 - Captains chairs up front, not a 3 seat bench. When your camping you will be able to spin them and it makes an awesome seating area. If you dont, you will have to share the rear seat and it gets annoying.
3 - Tailgate not barn doors on the rear. When your camping you will have all your gear in the back area of the van. With the tailgate it means that if it is raining, you can open it and rummage about without all your stuff getting soaked. You can also put a porta loo under the rear of the van and pull if out and use the tail gate as a cover (oviously only in descrete locations)!!
4 - Get the biggest engine option you can afford. I had the 1.9 which was chipped, but it still struggled with all the kit in there. We took ours to Italy and back and it was dying in the mountains.
5 - One thing I regret is the roof mine had. It was a German SCA roof and it gave no option to attach a roof rack or a roller awning. Other brands of pop up roofs allow both of these options and I regretted not having those.
6 - Check the vans you view to make sure the drive shafts are in order. Mine went and it was expensive to sort out. It is a common problem for them to go.
7 - Avoid white if you can. Mine faded in places and it gave me rage.
Jim
vwt4forum is the way ahead.
i'm new forest based and have a 55-plate t5 t28 1.9 converted camper with pendle remap to 135hp, crash-tested rock'n'roll bed/seat combo (£3k's worth!), double bench seat swivel (a brand new invention and fantastic) plus stacks of other stuff.
- 1.9's are generally less hassle than 2.5's and can all be remapped to 135hp (so don't pay more for a higher output 1.9 as the pendle remap is only £250). you do lose the 6th gear though.
- barn doors or tailgate is up to you. i have barn doors and like the fact that i can open one side which allows me to pack more stuff in the back (with a tailgate it will all fall out as soon as you open it).
- white is fine. i have fully colour-coded mine and have black alloys etc. white will stay cooler for camping purposes.
- if you can get one with a good pop-up roof already done, that would be a bonus as they are bloody expensive to retrofit.
- if you are planning to carry kids in the back, do be aware that the difference in price between a basic rock'n'roll bed and a ncap crash-tested one is massive (£300 to £3000!!!). i have a crash-tested one and wouldn't consider putting my kids in anything else.
- captain's chairs are good, but with the new double bench swivel for kiravans, you can retain the three seats up front and the massive stowage space between the seats and when camping, you have a bench seat facing inwards to the van.
- £400 or thereabouts buys you an all-singing-all-dancing khyam motordome awning tent which you can put up singlehanded in about 5 minutes (mine has carpeting and everything). an awning makes all the difference to living space etc.
- it is not as easy as it used to be to reclassify a transporter to a motor caravan. this might not seem important to you, but unless you reclassify, you will be bound by the lower speed limits associated with vans (50mph on nsl roads, 60mph on nsl dual carriageways and 70mph on motorways). insurance can also be a problem depending on who you go to.
- you will see reference to t28, t30, t32 vans. this relates to their total carring capacity. a camper conversion can add lots of weight. a t30 is the ideal compromise (t32's need a different type of mot test and there is less choice if you want to start playing with the suspension as most owners do)
- lwb vans will have more space inside but the swb versions drive more like a standard car. they fit in a normal parking space and the back wheels follow the fronts round corners (with a lwb, you do need to compensate for the extra wheelbase)
Apart from that, nothing much else comes to mind. You wont regret it. Let me know if I can be any further help.
- as has already been said one here, be wary about aftermarket alloys. ensure that the van has load-rated alloys and tyres. these are not necessarily expensive.
- as you will see from the pics below, my van doesn't have a conventional set of units down one side. this works great for us, as we have a more versatile packing space. i can go biking with mates and fit two bikes behind the back seats and one down the side. this is personal choice of course, but for this reason alone, i am sold on the galley cube concept!
in august, there will be a massive t4/t5 camper festival at beaulieu. go there and farm as much knowledge as possible.
in terms of prices... my van is probably worth somewhere just north of £15k. it has low mileage (sub 55k) and everything is newly done. with a brand new california costing anything up to £55k, converted t5's make sense!
i leave for 10 days in the south of france with the van in about 1hr... can't wait!
Edited by village idiot on Thursday 21st June 16:28
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