Designing a campervan. (1 Viewer)

[CazPaul]

Firstly where would you buy the van from.

I have found a firm to do the conversion, you can supply your own vehicle if you want and maybe save a few quid.

Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, XLWB 6.36 metres, L4 H2, MAXI/HEAVY chassis 150bhp, definitely not white in colour.

Are they exactly the same or any differences. Where would you buy it from, any special deals on.

Paul.

 

[mikebeaches]

Only the Fiat is available with the comfortmatic semi-automatic gearbox. Manual on Citroen and Peugeot.

 

[CazPaul]

Thanks Mike, definitely manual.

Don't know whether its best to go for a year old one on the 3 litre manual or not.

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[mikebeaches]

Thanks Mike, definitely manual.

Don't know whether its best to go for a year old one on the 3 litre manual or not.

I would think if you can find a decent one at the right price it might be a good buy, but not sure if there many around in the condition you'll want?

 

[canopus]

No option for a Merc chasis?

 

[CazPaul]

No option for a Merc chasis?

I like Merc, a bit long at 6.94 metres and the next one down, the MWB is 5.91.

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[CazPaul]

I would think if you can find a decent one at the right price it might be a good buy, but not sure if there many around in the condition you'll want?

Yes that's the problem Mike, finding a good one, a lot will have been hammered by trade drivers etc.

 

[TheBig1]

when i built our conversions i looked for ex short lease vans at specialist trade dealerships. only a couple of years old and well maintained, nothing marked or dirty inside. saved 35% on new price with under 40k on the clock. get them professionally valeted and the right van will look like new

 

[mitzimad]

i found a 2 year old ex rental with 27k on the clock from auction

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[Rutland Rover]

Loads of ex hire Peugeots for sale, with next to no mileage on the clock. Mine was registered at the end of May 2016, I bought it in Oct. 2016, (local garage) with less than 50 miles on the clock, half price.I then sent it off to a small firm who converted it exactly as I wanted it, I went to see them every week and we ironed out any problems as
they occurred. They would say...we can't do this because...and I would say...I'm not having that..but in the end it is just what I wanted.

It is serviced by the local Peugeot garage ...or it will be when I get enough miles on it and as yet it hasn't needed to go back to the folks who converted it, altho there is a slight modification I want doing, so will probably book it in, I guess they will do it while I wait.

It has been back to the Peugeot garage and had mudflaps and a nice new radio in the back, because I couldn't deal with the 20 minute cut off.

I am very happy with it all.

 

[CazPaul]

Is there any difference between Citroen Relay 2.0 and Fiat Ducato 2.3, is it the same unit just badged differently, different power outputs, Citroen uses adblue, Fiat didn't.
Are the gearboxes etc the same.
We have designed it, found a converter hopefully and waiting for a price. I may need to supply the van to save a few quid.

 

[34127]

I have looked on a self build forum and some have achieved discounts of 46% and more on new vans and the discount applies to any extras you want which will make the conversion easier.

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[Wissel]

Firstly where would you buy the van from.

I have found a firm to do the conversion, you can supply your own vehicle if you want and maybe save a few quid.

Citroen, Peugeot, Fiat, XLWB 6.36 metres, L4 H2, MAXI/HEAVY chassis 150bhp, definitely not white in colour.

Are they exactly the same or any differences. Where would you buy it from, any special deals on.

Paul.

I know the Peugeot 2.3 has the Ford engine which has no cam belt (at least in the ones a few years old)

If you have a dog it might be worth considering white as it's easier to keep the van cool in the summer. I designed ours with the dog in mind, so white with lots of insulation. Even on the hottest day, the van stays amazingly cool.

Going to share your design?

 

[CazPaul]

I know the Peugeot 2.3 has the Ford engine which has no cam belt (at least in the ones a few years old)

If you have a dog it might be worth considering white as it's easier to keep the van cool in the summer. I designed ours with the dog in mind, so white with lots of insulation. Even on the hottest day, the van stays amazingly cool.

Going to share your design?

Yes, but just off to work now, hopefully the firm should get back to me today, with a price.

 

[CazPaul]

I know the Peugeot 2.3 has the Ford engine which has no cam belt (at least in the ones a few years old)

If you have a dog it might be worth considering white as it's easier to keep the van cool in the summer. I designed ours with the dog in mind, so white with lots of insulation. Even on the hottest day, the van stays amazingly cool.

Going to share your design?

No cannot have white, 99% of them are white, ex builders vans etc.

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[CazPaul]

Winterising, any ideas before its built. This is what I have specified and they can do.

Insulation is the key, I think spray foam is considered the best, nice clunk when the back doors and sliding door shut too.

Thick thermal curtains to block off the cab totally, sliding door totally and back doors totally.

Toilet cassette compartment heated by the Truma.

Waste and fresh underslung but in heated twin skinned bespoke tanks and insulated. No exposed water pipes underneath, insulated water pipes throughout just in case especially where they exit the floor straight into external l tanks. Waste drain in a heated double pipe where the external pipe is attached to the outer skin of the heated waste tank.

Internal water pipes alongside heater pipes.

Upgrade to Truma combi 6 not 4.

Plenty of insulation in the floor. Partial double floor.

Only 1 roof window in the middle of the van and one small one in shower.

Batteries hab x2 internal.

Anything else, have I missed anything or anything you think will not work?

 

[Minxy]

Not sure why you want the Truma 6 instead of the 4, the 4 is more than sufficient to keep a PVC warm - the 6 is overkill IMV.

What layout are you going for?

 

[CazPaul]

want to ensure there is sufficient heat flow, there are tee offs for both the double skinned fresh and waste tanks and toilet cassette compartment.

2 rear sofas that form into a double bed at night, 6.36 metres, no dinette, table next to drivers seat against side wall, huge bathroom, big fridge freezer, full cooker.

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[Minxy]

If it was me I'd look to see if I could get the fresh water tank inside as that way you don't have to worry about it during winter and do away with a lot of work insulating it externally, the waste one isn't such a problem as you can just leave the dump tap open and let it drain into a bucket. Also don't skimp on the size of the fresh water tank - our previous PVC was 60L and only lasted a few days so we were constantly having to think about topping up, our current one is 100L so much less 'hassle'.

See if you can get a raised floor at the front where the driver's chair swings round too and below the 'table' there, we've found it a very useful storage space in ours. Also have a raised floor in your rear lounge/bed area - look at Autocruise Accent pictures as that's what they have in the rear although they do have a half dinette at the front too which I know you don't want. We used to get our 2 inflatable canoes etc under the central section of the raised rear lounge/bed area and when sitting down it meant we could also see out of the windows. Also in the Accent the storage under the sofas was very deep due to the raised floor which went right under them and had lift out panels so that the underneath part could be utilised for the leisure batteries, fuses box, charger etc along with 'hidden' storage/stuff not needing to be accessed much.

 

[Minxy]

These are some photos I took a good few years ago when I was looking to do my own diy camper and like the ideas that some manufacturers had used:

 

[CazPaul]

The fresh would be ideal indoors but with a rear lounge area you don't get as much storage as with rear transverse bed.

It should be fine with fresh underslung, the tank being double skinned with a pipe from the blown air system fed directly in the cavity, it will also be insulated, as long as we have gas should be fine.

Thanks for the other ideas, storage is very useful.

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[Theonlysue]

Have you read ralp and bevs thread re their self build? Very informstive.

 

[CazPaul]

Have you read ralp and bevs thread re their self build? Very informstive.

Yes, really good it is.

 

[chaser]

Have you read ralp and bevs thread re their self build? Very informstive.

Link?

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[Wissel]

My water tanks are under my van and not been an issue at all. I also fitted a gas tank under the floor to maximise internal storage:



The gas tank I painted with chip guarding stuff before fitting, which has worked well (built mine 4 years ago ish).

Again, to maximise space, I fitted my leisure batteries under the front seats (managed to fit 2 under each seat):

Heating wise, I went with a Truma Combi 4 - which tbh is overkill in my van as it's very well insulated. It is piped in to warm the whole van, with outlets under the rear U-shaped lounge/bed, the bathroom, beside the sliding door and into the cab area.

I've never had to have the heating anywhere near it's maximum settings.

Insulation wise, I used 25mm Kingspan type stuff everywhere. The floor, ceiling and wall. All of the beams of the vans structure were filled (carefully) with expanding foam, and once finished I covered all joints with insulating tape:

The channel between the two floor battens in the first image was to run the water pipes across the van internally. Figured this would give them better winter protection.

 

[Theonlysue]

https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/rb-panel-van-conversion-begins.100614/

Settle down with tea and biscuits.
Makes a good read

 

[DuxDeluxe]

No cannot have white, 99% of them are white, ex builders vans etc.

Not expensive to get it wrapped.......... all those beige German taxis that are hammered for years are actually black underneath

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[CazPaul]

Any other tips on what you would incorporate into a design, things that you wish you hadn't done, had one etc.

 

[Wissel]

Any other tips on what you would incorporate into a design, things that you wish you hadn't done, had one etc.

Do you have a plan that you can post?

How do you intend to use it? (Summer/all year, weekends/months at a time etc)

Edit: Any pets?

 

[CazPaul]

Do you have a plan that you can post?

How do you intend to use it? (Summer/all year, weekends/months at a time etc)

No plan that I can post, although I have drawn one.

its a rear u lounge that turns into a double, 6.36metres, trying to get some storage at the rear when you open the back doors, make windows at side rear a bit higher and the u lounge a bit higher to get storage, that's the main issue.

Shower/toilet room at front on one side and large fridge on other side, if you look at Shire motorhomes phoenix 2XL rear lounge it is similar to that one, with a few tweaks layout wise and lots of tweaks design wise.

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