Campervan conversions

rach82

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Hi All ,

Hope everybody is ok? Not been on in a long time, busy with work etc! although just been to Orgiva in Spain for a 2 week holiday! (in a cortijo!)

We have never had a MH or CV but used to camp in the back of our Peugeot expert van for short breaks in the Lakes.

We are looking to buy a van to convert this year so hopefully we can go away next year with the dogs (we are thinking a tour of France?) for a few weeks and hopefully get out as much as we can elsewhere.

As we are new to all this, any advice (on anything!) would be much appreciated! We are looking at something quite small as there is just the two of us (and the dogs), a turbo diesel but we have a small budget!

Any advice on a van, conversions or locations would be great!

Rachel x
 
we went to a lot of of big dealers (motorhome) and crawled all over the vans of different shape, size and makes, to see what each layout had to offer and what it would be like in each van, with each layout. this gave us an idea of what van we wanted and what we could possibly fit into the van once bought, then we bought a van and changed the build plans a dozen times.......:lol-053:
 
Hi Rach82,

Depends on your budget..I have a vw transporter T4 that ive part converted,which is a little bigger than the peugeot expert,but dont think i,d want to spend any lenth of time in it if i had a couple of dogs too.
Was thinking recently of getting a Medium wheel base Renault master(medium or high top)..about 10ft x 5ft 9inch floor space behind the front seats,supposed to be quite good on fuel too.Think you would be able to pick up a reasonable one from £1,500 ish,then allow a few hundred to do a basic conversion if youre doing it yourself..

There are a few ex welfare vans/minibuses with low mileage and service history around,tho they tend to be LWB..would they be longer than you,d want?
 
hi ,. after being at orgiva . thought you might be looking for a on old bus or merc 508 . or have you got a teepee?
know a few that spend time up the river bed there. bet it was a bit chilly or as it warmed up there now.
 
I have a MWB Renault Master (Movano). It's very good on fuel, very quick if you want, and you can squeeze a 6' 2" transverse bed across. I would budget on a little more for the base vehicle if possible and pay £5-6k for a 3 year old one about 60,000 miles. Also nice high driving position you can see over everything (disadvantage - step to cab floor)

Or maybe a Fiat/Peugeot/Citroen. Nice and wide and many advantages of the Renault.

Other than that, maybe a Transit. Good spairs and parts availability and a level floor but not quite such good engines and performance as the Renaults and Fiats.

Vans I wouldn't get (personally) - VW T4/T5 etc - overpriced and lack of headroom. Sprinter - too narrow (otherwise nice). LDV - outdated and not made anymore though late Maxus maybe worth a look.
 
hi. to be honest i think if i was going for a van i would go for the renault mascot . i nearly had one as my tow unit a few years ago . rear wheel drive .very common on the continent. look like a master but arent.
 
That's interesting. The latest Renault Master/Movano is made with either a choice of front wheel drive or rear wheel drive when new.

Though having driven in this winter's snow and recently up a 1 in 6 hairpin wet mud and gravel access road, front wheel drive has got me up slopes I would probably not have made with rear wheel drive.
 
That's a difficult question and depends entirely on your own preferences....I would suspect you are on your own in researching this as I was. One point....an aquaintance said he was sorry he didn't go for a van conversion rather than buy a second hand used MH. He said the number of second hand vehicles with damp or leak problems that he saw was very high and that even the one he bought he has now found a small leak somewhere.

With a van conversion unless you are opening the roof you should be relatively safe from leaks.

I have a small van type conversion from Wellhouse Leisure with a pop up roof....however it is a Reimo roof and I have not got any leaks.
 
We really wanted a van conversion on a ducato base and really i still do. However, I really like the feeling of space in the coachbuilts, we never feel cramped.

We were not able to do a conversion ourselves and to pay someone was going to cost a lot more (on a used van too)or the same as a good second hand coach built. Hopefully we may get a nice van conversion one day when we don't need as much space.

Good luck
 
vwalan said:
hi ,. after being at orgiva . thought you might be looking for a on old bus or merc 508 . or have you got a teepee?
know a few that spend time up the river bed there. bet it was a bit chilly or as it warmed up there now.
Click to expand...

It was quite warm most days but there were a few really windy days that were quite chilly!!
 
hi, think its been a good year all over there this last winter . one of my mates just got back reckons best winter for years . .the wind cab blew really strong there . but some nice views and nice folk up there. used to go there on the way to the dragon festival a few years ago.
 
Thanks everyone - all the info is great, just looking at vans at the moment to see what we can get with our money. We hope to have a budget of around £3000 for the van and £1000 for the conversion but as we don't know much about it not sure if were on track with this??

Seen a few vans we like the size/style of......
Renault Master
Vauxhall Movano
Nissan Primastar
Fiat Ducato
Mazda Bongo

Any thoughts on these vans would be much appreciated!
 
the figures are about right if you do the conversion yourself and don't buy new appliances.ducatos are roomy,and wide
 
I would advise you to look at disabled access vehicles too...I dont mean ex-ambulances or ex-patient transfer vehicles...more the ex-motability type that are usually well looked after, low mileage and one owner vehicles. Most of them already come insulated, upholstered and carpeted. IMO they are a good base vehicle to start off with.
 
Thanks again everyone... really like the Renualt Trafic - any comments on this one?
 
I'd be looking for the cleanest, best maintained vans, rather then looking for specific models.
If you do a van search on autotrader, just select minimum price £2000 and max price £3000. Don't select make, model etc. That will give you a good idea of what you can get.
 
are you on restricted driving licences as there are alot of nice iveco ex prison cell vans around they make really good campers .
 
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