wildebus
Full Member
- Posts
- 8,474
- Likes
- 13,622
well .... you probably won't be overweight for long
(you might have increased hair loss when you get to the frequently frustrating bits of the build though )Good luck with your project
To buy or to build?
- Thread starter Polar Bear
- Start date
(you might have increased hair loss when you get to the frequently frustrating bits of the build though )Good luck with your project
Millie Master
Free Member
- Posts
- 333
- Likes
- 591
At 72 your nothing but a spring chicken and as for being overweight, the build process in itself, let alone the total application of a different mind-set should see your weight go tumbling off which of course will be of enormous benefit to your arthritis.
There will be another very significant benefit and that is your medical team will also stop mumbling on about your weight as well !!!
Now before you start your build, have you actually sat down and totally finished your plan?
As I sit here right now, I too wish I was about to start another build.
Good luck
There will be another very significant benefit and that is your medical team will also stop mumbling on about your weight as well !!!
Now before you start your build, have you actually sat down and totally finished your plan?
As I sit here right now, I too wish I was about to start another build.
Good luck
motorwaycafe
Full Member
- Posts
- 36
- Likes
- 35
hope you have as much joy and sense of achievement as I had with my first build. FYI bought many parts from a crashed caravan at a recyclers.
Polar Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 4,381
- Likes
- 3,337
Do I have to have it all planned out now? Thought I'd give it a go.
Not sure yet about, gas heating/water or diesel heating/water or diesel heating and gas hot water.
Don't have much hair to lose so no problems there.
Would anyone be interested in photos? I think taking photos might give me time to think before moving on.
I have a Renault Master L3H2.
Herbenny
Full Member
- Posts
- 2,456
- Likes
- 4,170
That’s HUGE !!!
If we had the know how and skills we would definitely do a self build as it stands we are struggling just making a cupboard !!
After 6 vans the one we have is pretty much perfect but not quite. The fixed bed is a must for me but I do wish we had a bigger bathroom
trevskoda
Full Member
- Posts
- 42,687
- Likes
- 62,853
Draw up at least 3 plans before starting, take lots of measurements, on any wood you are cutting try and see how many bits you can get out of it saving money, I know you can do it, if you think you can then you are half way there, good luck and keep posting pictures and if you want to ask then do so, a few heads are better than one.
marchie
Full Member
- Posts
- 1,806
- Likes
- 4,807
That's what they said about the Hydra, Trev; and although some think that the Hydra stopped at 7 heads, others think it went for the deluxe version, and had 8.9 or even more, though these may have been restricted to the facelift models, post 600 BC. Schizophrenics are more efficient, managing with just 2 minds, thus avoiding the need to have shirt collars altered ...
Steve
mark61
Full Member
- Posts
- 9,355
- Likes
- 19,463
Pudsey Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 17,918
- Likes
- 27,379
I didn't plan more than just getting on with it as unless you have everything read to go in you can't plan.
Pudsey Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 17,918
- Likes
- 27,379
I'd love to see as you build pictures, I have pics of mine if needed just ask.
We do have a forum dedicated to self building which you are already a member of https://motorhomebuilder.com/
I never planned I just started with where the leisure batteries would have to live, I put two 110ah under the driver seat but mine was a L4 H2 Citroen relay.
When siting the bathroom etc be aware there are chassis rails along and across under the floor.
Pudsey Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 17,918
- Likes
- 27,379
Those thetford bench loos are not that big just over two feet I think.
Herbenny
Full Member
- Posts
- 2,456
- Likes
- 4,170
I saw recently someone who done his own self build. He pulled out one of the dinette chair next to his sliding door to reveal a shower with tray, walls, mixer taps the lot It was genius !!
I never seen anything like that before, but he admitted he genuinely didn’t do a plan he made it up as he went along !
I never seen anything like that before, but he admitted he genuinely didn’t do a plan he made it up as he went along !
Millie Master
Free Member
- Posts
- 333
- Likes
- 591
These are my plans, they worked for me as well as in excess of 70 self builders who have followed them since.
My No. 1. objective in my Master L3 H2 build was to ensure the greatest amount of storage space as well as the largest possible amount of day space.
The pull out bed takes us about 1 min. to make and is exceptionally comfortable.
Attachments
Polar Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 4,381
- Likes
- 3,337
Thanks for that.
Pudsey Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 17,918
- Likes
- 27,379
Interesting plan, We looked at L3s but we decided it wouldn't work for the level of stuff we wanted and the storage for long trips, even with the L4 we were still short of space.
gasgas
Full Member
- Posts
- 481
- Likes
- 763
I would say just one (or two) things to throw into the pot. Donkeys years ago (about 1975) a friend of mine wanted to build himself a small yacht from timber, about 8 metres long with accommodation. He bought the paper plans. First he had to extend his garage at his 3 bed semi house. Having done that he set about building the yacht but being in his 20's he had to have a full time job as well. Trouble was, he had to use only the absolute best of everything. Marine grade stainless steel screws weren't good enough, he had to use special expensive silicon bronze screws which he could only get from Canada. Best teak for the hull and decking. And so on. He had two children so he made two small beds and a large double. Full galley of course. He could only progress the yacht as finances allowed. Children grew, so he had to modify the accommodation. Another child came so he had to modify it again. Finally he got round - or didn't - to painting. Only the best two pack paint would do but before he could get round to it the use by date came and went so the paint went in the bin. Then he lost his job and had to relocate to the Isle of Lewis because that was the only place he could afford. He built a trailer to tow the yacht and had it galvanised. He took the not-finished yacht and carried on rubbing down this little bit that had lost its varnish, and wondering where to get a lot of lead for the keel. He built a boat shed at his new house, installed oil fired central heating (in the boat house to keep the yacht from shrinking). Children meanwhile have grown up and left home.
About a year ago I got a text from his wife. Donald had fallen from a ladder, broke his neck and died. He never launched the yacht that he had taken over 30 years to build, because he always had to have unreachably expensive parts and he was far too much of a perfectionist.
My point is, you may be capable of doing a self build, but do it sufficiently quickly that you are still around when it comes to using it.
Secondly if you are thinking of resell value, DIY campervans are more difficult to sell, partly because buyers are wary of the quality, partly because you cannot re-classify it as a motorised caravan with the DVLA, partly it might be difficult to insure. Also there are far more rubbish conversions than good ones, and personally I have got fed up with scrolling through things with multicoloured flashing strips of LEDs, carpet on the roof and walls, rock and roll beds, and furniture which frankly looks like cut up pallets nailed together. There are a lot of youtubes where some american has cobbled a mobile office into a van, called it full time living and I think most of them are just click bait. They have no washing or toilet facilities, but they must have a fold down flap to use their computer on, a surf board on the roof and a mountain bike on the back. It discredits the whole ethos of going on holiday in a camper.
You might be able to resell it for more than the cost of the materials, but you can't include your labour at mimum labour rates. So reselling it for a 'profit' is a non starter so forget that. I was once a sort of 'rep' for a very high quality converter bloke - I took his vans to shows and sold them. He had a proper small factory workshop with all the right woodworking machinery and employing a couple of men. His fall down was that he regarded each customer as an individual and although he specialised in one brand of van he would always be making some modification for each new customer so he couldn't maintain a steady production line and he went bust.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put you off. If you can devote 6 days a week, 8 hours a day to it with 'unlimited' (by which I mean adequate - you can buy stuff whenever you need it) funds and skills and machinery, go for it and you will have something you can be proud of. It wouldn't be my choice, I think I know enough about motorhomes and the current crop of computerised vans to know that I couldn't do a job that would satisfy me so I personally will buy a ready made one. (A German one - I have had enough bad experiences of UK makes)
Only in my case, if I buy another one it will have to be on a Mercedes automatic base vehicle, and you can't find those in the used van market unless they have 350,000 miles at 90mph or coughing and spluttering round town grocery deliveries with clogged up engines.
........if it wasn't raining today I would be going to see a converter of BIG Mercedes and VW vans, in Corby. I like the look of his workmanship on youtube.
About a year ago I got a text from his wife. Donald had fallen from a ladder, broke his neck and died. He never launched the yacht that he had taken over 30 years to build, because he always had to have unreachably expensive parts and he was far too much of a perfectionist.
My point is, you may be capable of doing a self build, but do it sufficiently quickly that you are still around when it comes to using it.
Secondly if you are thinking of resell value, DIY campervans are more difficult to sell, partly because buyers are wary of the quality, partly because you cannot re-classify it as a motorised caravan with the DVLA, partly it might be difficult to insure. Also there are far more rubbish conversions than good ones, and personally I have got fed up with scrolling through things with multicoloured flashing strips of LEDs, carpet on the roof and walls, rock and roll beds, and furniture which frankly looks like cut up pallets nailed together. There are a lot of youtubes where some american has cobbled a mobile office into a van, called it full time living and I think most of them are just click bait. They have no washing or toilet facilities, but they must have a fold down flap to use their computer on, a surf board on the roof and a mountain bike on the back. It discredits the whole ethos of going on holiday in a camper.
You might be able to resell it for more than the cost of the materials, but you can't include your labour at mimum labour rates. So reselling it for a 'profit' is a non starter so forget that. I was once a sort of 'rep' for a very high quality converter bloke - I took his vans to shows and sold them. He had a proper small factory workshop with all the right woodworking machinery and employing a couple of men. His fall down was that he regarded each customer as an individual and although he specialised in one brand of van he would always be making some modification for each new customer so he couldn't maintain a steady production line and he went bust.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put you off. If you can devote 6 days a week, 8 hours a day to it with 'unlimited' (by which I mean adequate - you can buy stuff whenever you need it) funds and skills and machinery, go for it and you will have something you can be proud of. It wouldn't be my choice, I think I know enough about motorhomes and the current crop of computerised vans to know that I couldn't do a job that would satisfy me so I personally will buy a ready made one. (A German one - I have had enough bad experiences of UK makes)
Only in my case, if I buy another one it will have to be on a Mercedes automatic base vehicle, and you can't find those in the used van market unless they have 350,000 miles at 90mph or coughing and spluttering round town grocery deliveries with clogged up engines.
........if it wasn't raining today I would be going to see a converter of BIG Mercedes and VW vans, in Corby. I like the look of his workmanship on youtube.
Pudsey Bear
Full Member
- Posts
- 17,918
- Likes
- 27,379
I have to disagree, if you build a crap one yes it'll be worth less than the sum of its parts, and hard to sell but build a good one and people can see that and you get good money.
trevskoda
Full Member
- Posts
- 42,687
- Likes
- 62,853
I have had loads of folk dribling anf the mouth wanting my van, I could sell it all day long, yes it took years to get it to full speck, kids family building houses etc got in the way, it could easy be done in 3 mths if you had nothing else to do and the goods sitting there ready to go.