whitevanwoman
Guest
I've been a whitevanwoman for about 10 years now, with a Peugeot Partner which I bought in 2002 at 12 months from Peugeot Dealer. I traded in a Vauxhall Astravan to buy the Partner - the reason for driving a van was because I had 3 collie sized dogs, and did alot of outdoor activities such as hillwalking, backpacking, climbing etc and so I needed something with plenty of space and but where kit wasn't on display, and which was cooler and bigger for the dogs in cage(s) for their safety in event of an accident.
Getting the Partner so new, with only 13k on the clock, and still smelling new was a joy, the newest vehicle I've ever owned and it's been money well spent. All finance is paid off so it belongs to me 100% and it's never really let me down. There has been the odd thing such as a disintegrated oil filter on the way home but that was my fault as it had never been changed in 7 years. Lesson learned. And apart from leaving the light on and flattening the battery last week, the only other time it's not started was down to glow plugs - again lesson learned, if it doesn't start first time every time then the glow plugs need changing - approx every 2 years. And even after having been completely flat, the 10 year old battery seems fine, although I'm ordering a new one just to be on the safe side.
I don't do huge mileage in it, about 12k a year but it has to cope with standing in the full force of the weather from across the valley off the fell tops halfway up a fellside in Cumbria, driving in some wild weather over Shap on the M6 and Stainmore on the A66, and with bumping along dirt tracks, farm tracks, fields etc and as a mobile kennel for the dog (just one dog now but he's a big 'un) all year round, and for camping in and out of.
It's got a full bulkhead although the top half is grille so I can see into back through mirror and have some vision through rear windows (blackened) if not fully loaded with dog and kit .
I've slept in it on a few occasions, sometimes for a few days at a time. From the bottom of the bulk head to the ply inside the rear doors is approx 5ft 4 inches, and I'm 5 ft 3 so it's a tight fit but ok for me next to the dogs kennel. Anyone bigger would have to sleep diagonal which would mean taking the cage out. It's ok camping like this if weather is good and can cook outside but it's a nightmare in wet weather. With the back door open, I use a groundsheet with eyelets, and bungees to give some extra shelter from rain or privacy. Basha making skills learned long ago in the army.
I have a one man mountain tent which I used on a 2 week camping adventure in Northumberland in summer 2010 - that was just big enough to sleep in but not to cook, and I used the back of the van to sit in, change in, prepare food in, cook in etc. That worked well, especially with the groundsheet up but I was lucky to only have 1 rainy day in 2 weeks.
But after that camping trip which reawakened a definite desire to start getting away and exploring again more often, I realised that I needed something bigger than the Partner for camping. I'd had a little caravan but sold it as although I loved it, I wasn't using it as it was such hard work for one person, who's not brilliant at trailer reversing, particularly cos of where I live, with parking being very tight. And being a solitary kind of person, never bored in my own company, and not bothered about roughing it outdoors, a caravan was just a bit to "suburban" for me.
So I've been thinking about a campervan for a while and had seen a Romahome which I thought would be perfect but there wasn't anything I could afford. But the more I thought about it and where I would put the dog and cage, and possibly a second dog, I realised that a "ready made" campervan wasn't going to meet my needs.
So I took the plunge a couple of months ago and invested my redundancy pay in the Tranny, which I want to gradually convert to being pretty comfortable for a week or two away but designed around my needs, and not legally a motorhome, so that it's easy to strip it back to a van if I want to sell it etc.
Photos of Tranny when I first bought it& a couple of pics at Ribblehead on New Years Eve
I haven't really got a budget for conversion and am relying on doing a bit here and there when I can afford it, or when I am able to recycle something. I'm ok at DIY such as putting up shelves, (proper ones with homemade support batons etc, giving all measurements to sawmill to cut etc - not just IKEA packet with metal brackets), and have all sorts of "things which might come in handy some day", such as old sofa cushions, odd bits of kitchen units, old shelves, old hinges, handles etc which I will be able to reuse.
I'm not in any rush to start major work as I want to wait until I've got a definite idea of layout and then want to get a leisure battery wired in and a hook up point. So at the moment I've got an airbed on the floor which is ok. But roof insulation is a priority cos of condensation.
I've just started a blog so will record further improvements there as I go along.
edit : photos sorted I think
Getting the Partner so new, with only 13k on the clock, and still smelling new was a joy, the newest vehicle I've ever owned and it's been money well spent. All finance is paid off so it belongs to me 100% and it's never really let me down. There has been the odd thing such as a disintegrated oil filter on the way home but that was my fault as it had never been changed in 7 years. Lesson learned. And apart from leaving the light on and flattening the battery last week, the only other time it's not started was down to glow plugs - again lesson learned, if it doesn't start first time every time then the glow plugs need changing - approx every 2 years. And even after having been completely flat, the 10 year old battery seems fine, although I'm ordering a new one just to be on the safe side.
I don't do huge mileage in it, about 12k a year but it has to cope with standing in the full force of the weather from across the valley off the fell tops halfway up a fellside in Cumbria, driving in some wild weather over Shap on the M6 and Stainmore on the A66, and with bumping along dirt tracks, farm tracks, fields etc and as a mobile kennel for the dog (just one dog now but he's a big 'un) all year round, and for camping in and out of.
It's got a full bulkhead although the top half is grille so I can see into back through mirror and have some vision through rear windows (blackened) if not fully loaded with dog and kit .
I've slept in it on a few occasions, sometimes for a few days at a time. From the bottom of the bulk head to the ply inside the rear doors is approx 5ft 4 inches, and I'm 5 ft 3 so it's a tight fit but ok for me next to the dogs kennel. Anyone bigger would have to sleep diagonal which would mean taking the cage out. It's ok camping like this if weather is good and can cook outside but it's a nightmare in wet weather. With the back door open, I use a groundsheet with eyelets, and bungees to give some extra shelter from rain or privacy. Basha making skills learned long ago in the army.
I have a one man mountain tent which I used on a 2 week camping adventure in Northumberland in summer 2010 - that was just big enough to sleep in but not to cook, and I used the back of the van to sit in, change in, prepare food in, cook in etc. That worked well, especially with the groundsheet up but I was lucky to only have 1 rainy day in 2 weeks.
But after that camping trip which reawakened a definite desire to start getting away and exploring again more often, I realised that I needed something bigger than the Partner for camping. I'd had a little caravan but sold it as although I loved it, I wasn't using it as it was such hard work for one person, who's not brilliant at trailer reversing, particularly cos of where I live, with parking being very tight. And being a solitary kind of person, never bored in my own company, and not bothered about roughing it outdoors, a caravan was just a bit to "suburban" for me.
So I've been thinking about a campervan for a while and had seen a Romahome which I thought would be perfect but there wasn't anything I could afford. But the more I thought about it and where I would put the dog and cage, and possibly a second dog, I realised that a "ready made" campervan wasn't going to meet my needs.
So I took the plunge a couple of months ago and invested my redundancy pay in the Tranny, which I want to gradually convert to being pretty comfortable for a week or two away but designed around my needs, and not legally a motorhome, so that it's easy to strip it back to a van if I want to sell it etc.
Photos of Tranny when I first bought it& a couple of pics at Ribblehead on New Years Eve
I haven't really got a budget for conversion and am relying on doing a bit here and there when I can afford it, or when I am able to recycle something. I'm ok at DIY such as putting up shelves, (proper ones with homemade support batons etc, giving all measurements to sawmill to cut etc - not just IKEA packet with metal brackets), and have all sorts of "things which might come in handy some day", such as old sofa cushions, odd bits of kitchen units, old shelves, old hinges, handles etc which I will be able to reuse.
I'm not in any rush to start major work as I want to wait until I've got a definite idea of layout and then want to get a leisure battery wired in and a hook up point. So at the moment I've got an airbed on the floor which is ok. But roof insulation is a priority cos of condensation.
I've just started a blog so will record further improvements there as I go along.
edit : photos sorted I think
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