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Two years ago we bought a cheap Transit van which we converted to a campervan, the conversion was covered in this thread -
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/yet-another-van-conversion-thread/
Sadly after almost exactly two years and 96 nights away the van has developed so many issues we are going to have to write it off. I'm very sad about this as 'Roary' had become an important part of our lives and we had a lot of fun together.
So, the van is dead, long live the van!
We have bought a much newer and bigger Renault Master and using what we have learnt from our first attempt, we are going to do a second conversion.
We collected the van today and gave it a bit of a clean and took the bulkhead out. It is in much better condition than the Transit was when we got it.
Didn't get much done as the weather was too nice to not go out for a bike ride.
Oooooh
*pulls up a chair*
Ooo, I love a van conversion thread. It might just be the camera angle but that new van looks huuuuuuge inside.
I really like these threads. Bring on the pics!
*hopes Matt will let me sit next to him
Sits next to gnusmas. Anyone want a beer whilst we watch?
Anyone want a beer whilst we watch?
Yes please.
A cold Ossian already open here.
Have we started yet? Gnusmas and I have to tuck kids in bed shortly...
If i give the beer to the kids, will it make them sleep quicker?
Excellent, do love a van conversion thread!
Sorry we're in the pub. I wouldn't expect any updates for a bit.
Can there still be beer?
Although itll never happen for me I've now just spent 30 minutes looking at Renault Master vans on autotrader and the likes!
Book marked
Five pints down and I'm mourning Roary. I hope you don't mind if I post a few pics.
I love a van thread. Good luck with the new project. I'm slowly collating ideas for our "master plan" van conversion.
🍺 To Roary.
I have to echo that I love a van thread too!
To Roary, 🍺
Looking forward to this 👍🏻
Our van is currently for sale in eBay (silver vw crafter) because I've just bought a newer citroen relay l4h3 for a new conversion. Bought the biggest van I could in the hope it will be the one for at least 5 years! Bikes take up a lot of space so I'm always on the look out for clever storage methods.
Roary had a garage at the back. This time we are going to store bikes under the bed (this van is about a foot higher than Roary). We are hoping this arrangement will let us take 2x road bikes + 2x mountain bikes or 2x kayaks and one pair of bikes.
The Renault has a plastic roof so we can't get a roof rack for it. The boats will have to go inside. On the plus side, if we can make the layout work will massively reduce the kayak loading faff.
Where were the pics taken? Looks fab.
I’m going to watch this closely, I really want to do a van conversion, a decent van here in Canada is fairly pricey though
Where were the pics taken?
As best as I can remember..
The first one is the Alpage of Jorets campsite.
The second is just outside of Basingstoke.
The third is the Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) glacier fron the Italian side.
The forth is the Col Des Saises
The fifth is a campsite outside of La Clusaz ( I can't remember the name off the top of my head).
The sixth is Whitemead Forest Park just outside of Coleford.
Sniff
*tears*
He wasn't just a summer van...
In the winter he was warm.
In the rain he was dry.
In the Autumn he was, erm..
Contrasty.?
The new van has a much more cheerful expression, but I suppose that’s to be expected.
There is a van conversion in my future i hope
I want a van conversion not a campervan because I want a touch simple layout that won't mind a bit of dirt and hopefully less dosh
Is this still economically viable if I pay some one else to do the work. I mean if I buy a base Van used (£10k?) and then pay some one to it convert (£5k?) would that still be less than a similar age campervan? I would be looking for a fixed bed with space for a bike under it, a fixed 2 burner cooker, fridge, a couple of windows, lining, pop up roof some where to sit and some kind of heating
Obvious question, but why is Roary dead? Can't he be fixed?
Anyway, sitting comfortably waiting for the 1st instalment.
Obvious question, but why is Roary dead? Can’t he be fixed?
Maybe he's haunted? That could be hard to fix
While not technically a van, as such, I have an overwhelming desire to obtain one of these and convert the back for civilised use away...
The only thing standing in the way is the lack of appropriate funding.
^^^ that looks like something out of Thunderbirds. I want one too.
Looking forward to this 👌
It might not look like much happened today but trying to sort out a second-hand van can be very time consuming. The floor had been put in by someone who clearly was never planning to see it again. About a third of the screws had been rounded off which meant as we are going to reuse the floor we needed to drill them all out. There was a fair bit if rubbish under the floor but not too much rust. It was very hot inside so we chucked the robot Hoover in to clean the floor while we had an ice pop break.
Roary wasn't realistically repairable.
He needed an EGR valve replacing, had a hole in the engine, the brake pipes were corroded, had a badly leaking cylinder head, copious amounts of rust, the engine management system kept going to limp mode, he needed new brake pads and disks, the instrument panel kept cutting out for no obvious reason and he needed a new offside, sidelight bulb.
We had already thrown quite a bit of money at him in the last couple of months to try and keep him going. There just comes a point that it isn't worth throwing money at a conversion which only cost us about £4000 including the van.
We must have spend at least half of that trying to keep him going.
A new bulb you say? Straw, camel, and back me thinks. Good luck with the conversion. I will watch with interest.
Watching with interest. I miss my old van. After the conversion was finished I said never again. Maybe one day, when the kids are older and I have a bit more time on my hands.
Keen to hear any comments on ampthill's query above regarding budgets. I am thinking of a similar 15k figure all in, and I would rather get someone else to do the work, although I will design it. Super simple layout with folding 3 section bed to the rear that turns into a forward facing sofa by day and simple cooking facilities to the front. All knocked up in timber, none of your fancy units.
On the subject of washing/ personal hygiene, I keep thinking of having a slightly raised wooden floor with a removable section that reveals a circular shower tray underneath. A circular shower curtain rail would be set into the ceiling above, theoretically allowing one to have a shower without using up any floor space. Will I die? Or I suppose you could find somewhere in the van to store a metal tray and just get it out when required...
The La Clusaz campsite in the 5th picture is called Le Plan du Fernuy.
I would be looking for a fixed bed with space for a bike under it, a fixed 2 burner cooker, fridge, a couple of windows, lining, pop up roof some where to sit and some kind of heating
not for 5k.
The final bill on my van the previous owner got for my van that i got given when i bought it was all that without the pop top and it still cost them 13k.
Both my conversions have cost £5-6k in parts alone, thats a fairly good quality conversion with double glazed windows, heating, insulation, pumped water, well equipped kitchen. They also took hundreds of hours, a pro converter would be much quicker but I suspect the labour rate would be well in excess of the parts, especially if you want a non-standard and fiddly layout eeking out all the space.
The popular vans such as T5s must be quite easy as you can buy pre-built units or flat packs that perfectly fit the van, which takes away countless days of scribing cardboard templates trying to make everything from a small shelf to a whole wall that will fit the wheelarch, curved floor, sloping roof and the next bit of furniture and that water fill point you put in without realising it would get in the way, without any huge gaps, or tight spots that squeak when you drive!
not for 5k.
Cheers trail-rat
Was that van "nice". Is painted ply and a fixed bed actually not much of a saving?
Painted ply save you about 1k over vohsprunger.the wood work is the cheap part
You can go cheaper on the components but they generally don't last or work very well.
Fridge , sink/hob /pump / proper isolation box , leisure battery and charger , lighting , switches roof lights and functional windows ,, heater all add up
I've used normal ply and a fixed bed in my conversions...as trailrat says, its the parts that add up.
Its not hard to sink close to a grand into windows, rooflights and sealant. If you want an oven, compressor fridge, custom space saving tanks and refillable LPG, another grand please. A 2nd hand single passenger seat and a couple of swivels, £500.
And then there are all the little bits, plumbing connectors, crimps, heavy duty battery cables, fuse boxes, interior lighting. The costs keep on coming!
At the same time you can do it for less by using cheaper single glazed or caravan windows, 2 way fridges etc but generally (not always) it will show on the outside, and may compromise the layout/storage due to things like the huge vents needed for caravan fridges, or needing jerrycans stored under the sink unit etc.
trail rat - Your post at the end of page 1 contains the most complex sentence I have ever seen on STW.
You can save a fair bit by not having a cooker, fridge and sink. Use the money saved to eat out and interact with the locals.
Is it finished yet?
Not finished but we have insulated the floor and now have a window
And a sky window.
We cheated and paid a professional to fit them.
I'll raise a glass to Roary. After 8 years of faithful service and many adventures our Transit is also on the way out. I'm hoping to get this summer out of it but it'll be touch and go.
Best of luck Spin.
We are trying to decide what to call this van. Between René or Roary 2. Or something else, maybe Robbie. He isn't as roaring as Roary.
Call it Renard (Fox) the Renault
I must be they only one who thinks that Renard is a great name.....
I'm about a week behind you OP, stripping out the ply lining to see what's what, so following this with interest, and looking for ideas to nick. Plenty of detail please (especially a 'how to' guide with the electrics)
Its not hard to sink close to a grand into windows, rooflights and sealant.
I've budgeted about a hundred and twenty quid...
Got a skylight here https://magnummotorhomes.co.uk/shop/rooflights-ventilation/mpk-vision-star-pro-rooflight/ Also two tubes of silkoflex and some steel jigsaw blades. That's the budget gone. Side window? On my previous van I bought a sliding side door from an old minibus for, IIRC about £100 and then sold my old windlowless one for about £150, just swapped the doors over, much easier than cutting holes and factory-fit seals. Currently keeping an eye on the ebay and the like for a suitable replacement door.
Actually OP, now I'm on a proper computer and can actually see your pictures, where are you based and if you are local to Edinburgh would you like to sell me Roary's side door? Can px for a windowless one if you want to keeo him watertight.
We're in Buckinghamshire so not really local to Edinburgh. Sorry mate, best of luck though.
That roof light looks lots better than the one I’ve had fitted which is in effect a sunroof which has a leak again. I’ll see how my mot goes and may get one like that instead. The medium yellow van is 16 years old now so fingers crossed.
Back to names:
Raimond
Renoir
Reve
Remi
René
Rochelle
Roland
Rose
Roxanne
Roux
We are trying to decide what to call this van.
Probably something in this you can use
On my previous van I bought a sliding side door from an old minibus
That is a great bit of lateral thinking 👍
Probably something in this you can use.. .
Urm thanks...
But seriously, and thank all of you for your input, but I think we're going to go with Roger T Renault.
Andrew, Mr TW does the electrics and will post all the info as we get it done.
I do hope you will use the French pronunciation a la Roger's Profanisaurus
I’ve budgeted about a hundred and twenty quid…
Got a skylight here https://magnummotorhomes.co.uk/shop/rooflights-ventilation/mpk-vision-star-pro-rooflight/ Also two tubes of silkoflex and some steel jigsaw blades. That’s the budget gone. Side window? On my previous van I bought a sliding side door from an old minibus for, IIRC about £100 and then sold my old windlowless one for about £150, just swapped the doors over, much easier than cutting holes and factory-fit seals. Currently keeping an eye on the ebay and the like for a suitable replacement door.
That's all very well if you just want a window. Spooky was referring to double glazed fully opening camper window with built in thermal builds and mesh fly screens.
Not all windows are equal
You enjoy that heki timid wheeler. I had an mpk fitted in mine originally it went brittle and opaque in the sun and broke in short order. Made the hole slightly bigger and went with a fiamma crystal 40 the second time. Still couldn't stomach the cost of a second heki. Got a heki over the bed , can't beat having it fully open on a starry night looking straight out from the bed
It's been slow progress (mostly due to spending too much time riding bikes and going to the pub). However we have managed to get the wiring in and have pressed on with insulating the walls and ceiling.
How you getting on Andrew?
We got a few bits done today. We have been painstakingly adding insulation. The old van was really well insulated and it made such a difference.
Different types of insulation work better in different places.
So far this build has the following:
Celotex 50mm
Kingspan 25mm and 50mm
Closed cell foam mat
Open cell foam mat
Recycled polyester
Damper mat
And silver foil bubble wrap.
None of which is photogenic. So here is a picture of the hook up. It was a fiddly cut and I ended up drilling 20 odd guide holes. It fits perfectly and I have no doubt will be completely watertight.
Mr TW has planned out all the electrics as below. We just need to cut holes for the sockets and remove the batteries from the old van.
The 1.5 cable to the double socket what type of 1.5 cable is it ?, what breaker is backing it up in the DB ?
Assuming it’s a 16A or 20A mcb and the cable is in the fabric of the vehicle for the installation reference method you’re gonna struggle to get the circuit to comply for overload protection, stick 2.5mm in. 😁
I'm a bit more concerned by the 2.5mm from the input socket to the D.B!
As couchy and giant_scum suggest...
Unless you're using mineral insulated cables you almost certainly need to upsize the radials on the mains side, mainly because of the high-spec insulation
Upsize that input cable as well. Lots 🙂
You haven't specified the earth on the drawing so have a look at that too, and clip the cables down more frequently than you would in a bricks and mortar house
You could consider midi or maxi fuses for the high current items such as inverter and main battery feed. It looks like your inverter will backfeed and make the input socket on the van live, use a dedicated socket just for the inverter, or you can get a changeover relay that goes into the distribution board so everything thats 230v is switched between hookup and inverter in the board.
How much mains stuff do you expect to run? I've had a single inverter in both my vans and they've hardly been used, laptop charging before I bought a laptop car charger off ebay, electric toothbrush (killed a couple before realising it was my modified sine wave inverter that broke them) and some old fashioned bike lights.
Everything is USB now so you may find there is very little mains stuff, so you could go mains charger straight to the batteries, and the 12v everything.
Unless you’re using mineral insulated cables you almost certainly need to upsize the radials on the mains side
Mineral insulated cables? In a camper van?
The supply to the whole thing will be from a 16A mcb via 25m of (if you’re lucky) 2.5mm^2 three core arctic flex.
Internal wiring is also very likely to be done in the same stuff. I would have thought that a 1.5mm^2 spur was ok on a 10A breaker, but not a nellyctrishun.
Earth wire from the CU to the chassis needs to be 4mm^2 AFAIK.
Am also concerned about the proposed inverter wiring. Leave it on a dedicated socket. Only certain types of inverter (expensive ones) can be correctly earthed for switching over to an rcd protected distribution system.
Nice work though, and keep the updates coming! 🙂
Thanks for all the input.
Mr TW says...
couchy, the consumer unit is a standard caravan one with double pole breakers at 6A and 10A. 1.5mm is good up to 14A Method A according to the onsite guide and this conduit isn't burried in the insulation.
giant_scum, it's a campervan, not a steelworks. The supply will be at most 16A over 2.5mm flex. 2.5mm is in line with the regs - see Table 721 page 310.
spooky, there are maxi fuses in the battery supply that aren't shown on the diagram, as well as the circuit breaker that is. That thing you think is an inverter is a battery charger.
There are some concerns arount reversed live-neutral in the supply and the sockets only having single-pole switches and fuses. The consumer unit will complain about this and we intend to use a reversing adapter in the supply cable to fix. The other unresolved issues are around the solar controller being common-positive, which might lead to a small rejig of the -ve 12v side, and the best way to charge from a smart alternator.
Fair point from Mr TW, I'm not up to speed with the current regs.
I was going to say that about the supply cable after my comment.
Nice project keep the updates coming, would you consider a name change to Jean Renault?
2.5mm is in line with the regs – see Table 721 page 310
You've clearly thought about it, and so I don't suppose that you'd be caught out with 25m of coiled hook up cable to span a short distance to the supply. I'd be belt and braces with a short internal supply cable and upsize, it's a lot easier to replace just the hook up cable and the braces come at minimal cost 🙂
If you’re happy with 1.5 according to the on-site guide then fill yer boots,there’s more factors to it than just the reference method though. As a designer I don’t use the on site guide I prefer to use the regs as they hold more info and you do need that info. I wouldn’t use 1.5 😀
We spent a bit of time working out our layout. The van needs to be able to carry any two of the following in any combination: 2x mountain bikes, 2x road bikes, 2x large kayaks. Lots of time was spent experimenting to make sure we got the best use of space.
Whilst this was time well spent we did faff around a bit. We are off to the Alps next week and staying in the van for a fortnight. We really need to get a move on.
So we got the electrics and solar panel fitted.
And got the basic frame in for the bed. We basically built around a kayak and the fridge so we know it will fit. The batteries and wiring are all in but just need tidying up
Wonderful stuff, please keep the updates coming!
Just before leaving for our fortnight trip to the alps we got the rear bulkhead/headboard in and finished the bed. The mattress is a proper king size "Casper" mattress. I have a bad back so having a proper comfortable bed is one of the main reasons for doing a self conversions. There aren't many options that have a real king size bed and room inside for bikes and kayaks.
We then packed tons of stuff in to the van which we had nowhere to store. At the last minute I realised that I was going to need some form of step to get on and off the bed. Almost as we were leaving the house I cable-tied our old set of decorating steps to the front of the fridge and off we went. I appreciate that the décor is a little bit unfinished 🙂 but we just didn't have time to do any more.
We did manage to get the bikes all screwed down. This is a temporary solution. Ultimately the bike mounts will be easily removable so that we can pack the kayaks.
It's looking really good!
Cheers, but lets be honest it is still very unfinished.
One thing that we did do before leaving was to make a fly screen for the sliding door and one for the passenger window. There was no way I was going to the alps without a fly screen. I used ultra thin midge net and magnetic strip. It worked fairly well although I am going to add a few extra magnets in to strengthen the connection. It only took a gust of wind to pull the magnetic strip away.
And a view of the door net rolled up and secured with a magnet. You can see all the insulation and the remote control for the light switch.
