Panel van advice sought (1 Viewer)

[vwalan]

dont know them. we were at tantan for the dakar jan07. i,m sure you have seen so many . ask detour he would know for sure. had a phone call from agadir earlier surprise its red hot there. by the way the photo next door is between dades n todra 3800mtr high. got altitude sick not nice.

 

[tjay]

self build

Hi Jim,been away from motorhomes for a while since by battle with Autotrail to get my cash back for the useless lump of an Arapaho that I bought new Jan last year.Nuff said, I got my cash back.Went back to a caravan and a 4x4 had a good year but the hankering for another van was still there,just not so big this time.
With this in mind wife and I looked at several panel van conversions,nice but, oh so expensive,carried on looking at mags and fleabay,some nice conversions.
Anyway end result is we have bought a Mk6 2005 ford transit lwb hitop van in good condition,fsh and high mileage 132000,started collecting the bits we wanted fitted,used google sketchup to draw my plans up.
I sent the plans via email to a couple of guys in Blackburn who,s work i saw on ebay and in some magazines,He gave us what we thought was a very good price/time scale for the conversion,last month I took the van down to him and on Sunday we go down to collect it. Spec is as follows,2006 ford transit 2.4 td lwb hitop
Items fitted,Waeco compressor fridge
four burner stoves cooker
Thetford cassette toilet (elec and ceramic bowl)
shower tray and sink
80 litre Fiama fresh water tank
Fiama 12v pump
Seitz windows (3) c/w blinds and flyscreens
" skylights (2) " " "
145 watt roof mounted solar panel
Solar sun charge regulator c/w battery indicator
two 120 amp Elcosol batteries
1800 watt Ring Inverter cw remote start
12V electric slide out step
All internal led strip lights (450mm)
Two led spot/reading lights
One led awning light (600mm)
2x 6kg propane gas cylinders
240v/gas water heater
Two replacement rear doors c/w ford black glass in them

Still to be fitted after collection is a heavy duty rear step/towbar c/w 8" chequer plate top and for the winter a Eberspacher heater.
All of the above done and dusted to meet our requirement to "wild camp" any place any time for a budget of less than 30% of the new swift panel van conversion.Lots of trips away on the cash saved.I will never buy a new van again.
Happy hols to all,watch out for a nice shiney metallic silver panel van c/w some nice graphics on it and two very happy people and a small yorkie inside,keep them wheels turning.cheers, tom,Jen and Jake the dog :thumb:

 

[6pm Cowboy]

Jim, is there a specific reason you want to change from something as 'blatent' as your 5ver to <quote> I want drab, ...... ,...... , inconspicuous </quote>?
Just wondering if anything happened

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[Terry]

Yes three.. why is it more work , do you mean stripping out ? and what are the benefits ?
blues and twos

Morning Jim, yes striping out is a major job as is cutting out the cab to rear area.You then look at re-sheeting the roof because the sky lights are in the wrong place, sheeting over the back doors and windows (to fit your own)or you can leave them all in place and work around them--- and the worst job getting rid of the bloody stickers 2 days to remove them then another 2 to remove the glue All the ambulance stuff is separate to the normal van which is a blessing if (like my mate) you know about leccy stuff.
plus side
Cost of base van 2,000 to 4,000 very reliable and capable of megga mileage-they do not spend 60,000 plus on doggy vans
chances are it will be high mileage but they are maintained regardless :thumb: a typical thing being if thy replace the clutch they throw on a new gearbox :thumb:
You have a van that is 6 ft 6 ins wide inside, :thumb: this lets you have a lot more possibility's
Insulation is second to none being made up of 1.5 mm ali (nomal vans are under 1 mm - usually .5 mm ) bonded to 4 / 5 mm ply bonded to 45 mm Styrofoam bonded to 1.5 mm ali :thumb: then you will (I assume) stick 3 mm ply to the inside Oh nearly forgot there is a extra 4/5 mm ply to the floor just for good measure-- you can also hold a ballroom dance on the roof if that floats your boat
4.5 ton ish -- when ours is fully( inc fuel water wife and the dog) laden it weighs 3.5 ton giving us plenty of payload for things that you buy on your travels
Rear air suspension :thumb::thumb::thumb: that also lowers etc,and after learning about it is very simple to repair etc, although when you do not know about it sounds v/expensive/frightening.
Chances are it will come with a diesel night heater and a couple of very good/expensive rear seat swivels (£350 each :thumb that can be put in the front.
You can cut stick or screw virtually any where in the van confident it will not fall off :thumb:
Plenty of room for under slung tanks:thumb: where the ramps were :thumb:
The rear is 12 ft by 6 ft 6 ins internal and virtually sq :thumb:which you can fill with cupboards :thumb:
Have a look on here at - terry's self build project--- to get more ideas
terry

tjay some pics of your van would be nice when you pick it up,also (if it is not too nosey) cost of conversion,--sounds very nice.

 

[scotjimland]

Jim, is there a specific reason you want to change from something as 'blatent' as your 5ver to <quote> I want drab, ...... ,...... , inconspicuous </quote>?
Just wondering if anything happened

Hi Graham

NO .. nothing happened .. except a change of lifestyle .. it makes sense to have an inconspicuous van if you want to be a bit more adventurous .. a van shouting out I'm worth 50k will potentially draw a lot of unwelcome attention in poorer parts of Europe .. a potential target for the unsavoury types.. It's also better for wild camping .. wherever you are.

During our travels in George we often have people come around for a nosey .. a large RV draws a lot of attention..

One funny example..

Parked overnight beside a Spanish road site cafe I heard a noise outside, this was about 1am.. looking out and saw a large crowd gathered along the side of George. for a moment I panicked then realised they were all dressed up for a wedding, bride , groom and guests had decanted from the cafe to pose for pictures beside our RV ..

I could relate many other times when total strangers came around and asked for a look around .. we used to oblige then realised they may not be so innocent..

Paranoid ? no, we have never had any real problems but keeping a low profile makes sense to me..

safe travels

jim