To buy or to build?

[Polar Bear]

To buy or to build?



I have taken a deposit on my villa in Spain, so at the end of next month will no longer have a base there.
I sold my Hymer b544 because I could not get it on the drive without much shunting.

I am now looking for a smaller van.

My dilemma is whether should I buy, or should I build a campervan. I am looking to have a compact or van conversion with a lounge that can be two singles, and a shower room/toilet, at 72, and having a wife that visits the loo many times each night the twin singles seem a good idea to me.

I can see the cost saving in self-building one, but does that also mean the conversion won’t hold the value you put into it?

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[molly 2]

Sounds like the perfect van , your going to have to build it yourself ,I have an coach built autosleeper nuevo 5.7 m , apart from end lounge would be perfect

 

[mark61]

How about looking at some of the smaller convertors. There are loads of them now. Get 100% input without the hassle of self build.

If you are in Spain, one of the top firms in Europe are based there, unfortunately fully booked till 2024.

 

[Polar Bear]

How about looking at some of the smaller convertors. There are loads of them now. Get 100% input without the hassle of self build.

If you are in Spain, one of the top firms in Europe are based there, unfortunately fully booked till 2024.

I am on the east coast in Lincolnshire.

 

[trevskoda]

Not saying you are oldish, but a big undertaking, I would not start one now at 65.
I would tend to look for a small ready built camper ready to use.

 

[1 Cup]

Yes. your right ! get on with it now the deposit is taken. As you said the other van was to big for parking. but your not parking there anymore.

Are you full time in in the new van ???? or just upto 90 days ie a base somewhere. What parkings there at your base .?..

If you build one, where would you do that build in a month ?

 

[Lenny24v]

We have a Autosleeper WXL with large bench seats at the back which allow us to use as single beds, with my wife been disabled it’s a great set up,as also has a separate shower cubicle, I am on the East Coast near Louth if you want a nosey at the van

 

[Polar Bear]

Yes. your right ! get on with it now the deposit is taken. As you said the other van was to big for parking. but your not parking there anymore.

Are you full time in in the new van ???? or just upto 90 days ie a base somewhere. What parkings there at your base .?..

If you build one, where would you do that build in a month ?

Not full-time. I have the space, the time, and the tools and ability to build one. The main thing is a home built a good plan?

 

[mistericeman]

Not full-time. I have the space, the time, and the tools and ability to build one. The main thing is a home built a good plan?

Home built is probably the ONLY way to end up with something that suits YOUR usage exactly ....
AND will be built to a standard YOU will be happy with .

 

[caledonia]

If you want it quickly and have the money buy one you can add to and modify or if you have the time and ability do it yourself and get the quality and layout you want. I wouldn’t be worried about pros and cons I would buy buying and enjoying time is ticking away. I will be looking for a new van this year and will be buying and enjoying what somebody else has converted.

 

[maingate]

There is no harm in looking at selfbuilds on ebay (other websites are available), you might just see something you like at a reasonable price.

 

[1 Cup]

Why not then ? . My van conversion is on going. Since jan 2020 the plan as no buget = spent on sprinter with add blue, so now save and build started build in june 2020 ? Now spent more, to put aluminium kichen and bed. In it. And will be ongoing lol.

Working for me, not wife.
save the world.prices also slowed build down.

I've never had hymer only been inside. They look good. And do single beds with wash room. For you. But you can buy ones with pop outs and then you could have double bed made for action wife could sleep on the kettle side and wash room close at hand, and its done.

She gets what she buys. I think is best now 2 years in. But only because of that medical thing.

 

[jagmanx]

As you seem to have the knowledge skills etc.
Provided time is not an issue...then self build but with selling ahead in mind.
My considerations are.
1 decent shower within bathroom.
2 spacious and airy ..
living area.
May not be easy with single beds.
But look around for a ready to go.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

To buy or to build?



I have taken a deposit on my villa in Spain, so at the end of next month will no longer have a base there.
I sold my Hymer b544 because I could not get it on the drive without much shunting.

I am now looking for a smaller van.

My dilemma is whether should I buy, or should I build a campervan. I am looking to have a compact or van conversion with a lounge that can be two singles, and a shower room/toilet, at 72, and having a wife that visits the loo many times each night the twin singles seem a good idea to me.

I can see the cost saving in self-building one, but does that also mean the conversion won’t hold the value you put into it?

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

I would say get a H2 L4 Fiat Ducato with as few miles as possible, I say L4 as if you need two singles the L3 is really too short, unless you don't intend to have a wardrobe and kitchen, but you can work it out bed will need to be approx two meters you could go shorter but you mention re-sale, the bathroom will be approx 1 meter plus the wall thickness so you're already at 3 meters.

Resale if you do a good job will make a profit, but you do need to put decent appliances in them, don't have to be new, none of mine were strictly new.

My layout was such:-

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Not saying you are oldish, but a big undertaking, I would not start one now at 65.
I would tend to look for a small ready built camper ready to use.

63 when I did mine Trev

 

[wildebus]

To buy or to build?



I have taken a deposit on my villa in Spain, so at the end of next month will no longer have a base there.
I sold my Hymer b544 because I could not get it on the drive without much shunting.

I am now looking for a smaller van.

My dilemma is whether should I buy, or should I build a campervan. I am looking to have a compact or van conversion with a lounge that can be two singles, and a shower room/toilet, at 72, and having a wife that visits the loo many times each night the twin singles seem a good idea to me.

I can see the cost saving in self-building one, but does that also mean the conversion won’t hold the value you put into it?

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

I would say a van conversion with two single beds and a gap inbetween would be quite a tall order. I don't think you would have the physical width to allow that. I would say you would likely need a custom motorhome. You can still have the extra width in a short van

Doing a self-conversion or not is a different question. It takes more time than you might expect, especially if this would be your first one and if you are expecting to achieve a similar quality of finish you got in your Hymer.
If you want to keep yourself in a full-time job building one for the next year, then this is a good way to do it .
Is that something you want to get into at age 72? I don't think it would be for me to be perfectly frank.

Home built is probably the ONLY way to end up with something that suits YOUR usage exactly ....
AND will be built to a standard YOU will be happy with .

Not neccessarily. After 3 campervan builds, I went for a factory Motorhome.
Ended up with a near-perfect layout and the only thing I needed to change was the electrics to suit my own requirements, which could be done easily and with no change to the layout whatsoever. It would have been a LOT harder to create a van with the same build quality of furniture and space inside.

If you want it quickly and have the money buy one you can add to and modify .....

This is what I would (and did) do. Maybe that would be a good self-build. Maybe a conversion from a specialist converter? Or maybe a mainstream manufacturer?


Step one if I were in the OP's position .... head to the Motorhome show at the NEC next month and look at layouts to see what is possible in the size of vans that will fit on his driveway to set the initial picture and work from there.

 

[Fisherman]

There are plenty of European designed van conversions with the type of spec you are looking for with longitudinal single beds at the rear. here are three I looked at.
Adria 640 SLB, Dreamer D68, and Rapido V68. There are others from Burstner, Chausson, Malibu, and others. But if you are thinking of a new van you will have to wait at least a year, and that’s if you can even place an order. And second hand prices are scary right now.

You also asked about value, self builds are not selling for as much as the big manufacturers vans. But obviously your initial cost would be less.

Also as far as I know all van conversions with longitudinal rear beds are at least 6.3m long.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I had no issues with two single beds David, I used ex caravan seat cushions and backs but no reduction in the sizes, of not as spacious as a caravan I didn't measure the gap but certainly enough to walk between them 18 inches or more at a guess, but how much space do you need.

600mm between beds I knew I'd got a picture somewhere I think the cushion depth was 600mm too I need to check internal width as that makes approx 1800mm, Google says 2050 but that'll be to the skin which has reinforcing making the actual about 1800mm give or take.

 

[wildebus]

The key question ... how wide are the beds? so if the width is 1800mm, take off 400mm for the walkway and leaves 1400mm = 700mm per bed.
2 foot 4 inches per bed is ok I suppose but bit cramped IMO. And if you have a 600mm walkway you are down to a 2' bed. That is definately cramped.

Maybe that is fine, and when these motorhome manufacturers like to quote all the 4 foot beds as doubles, then maybe 2' 4" is considered even spacious? (but I don't regard their "doubles" as doubles personally).

 

[Fisherman]

The beds on the Rapido V68 are 800mm wide David.
The trick is to curve the bottom of the bed. It can also be a king bed with the infill cushion supplied, and the central section folded out.