rb panel van conversion begins ! (1 Viewer)

[Mikeco]

I insulated mine in similar materials i.e. gun grade foam in the ribs, kingspan and sheeps wool and it works in both hot and cold weather. In Spain at the moment and it gets cold at night but can be warm during the day.
You may find that it will be easier to use carpet tiles as they are easier to change at a later date and you can fit them around the furniture as one of the last jobs.

Mike

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

We are going to put some Light weight, hard wearing vinyl ( Tarkett) on top Of the floor board throughout, right up to the van sides .Then have some drop in carpets made . We have those in our present MH. Easy to take out and clean.
If it's winter and were on a rally field we leave them at home. Just have the Lino. We never go in the van in shoes. But doggy paws .......

 

[John.]

Well what can I say ??? Ralph n Bev Awesome

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[Kool Kroozer]

Doing a great job there fella

 

[Irishrover]

Looking great! Cant wait to see the finished conversion...well done!

 

[signworks]

Looking good

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[Cal54]

Years ago I sold my MH privately with the intention of getting someone to do a conversion to my design. In the end I chickened out and bought a van, but wish I had had the patience and the confidence to stick it out.
I am enjoying this thread and look forward to the next instalment. What a talented group of guys there are on this forum, such skills I do envy.

 

[Terry]

Thanks for the pics and updates R&B Looking great --
what are you doing/thinking for waste tank? I assume fresh is going under bed or somewhere -always a problem to get shower to empty fast-sink has a head/gravity to make it flow--I have been toying with an idea of having a small external waste tank under shower fitted with a pump and pumping the waste back into a bigger tank inside -no idea if it would work(cannot see why not) or if I should do it once I find a van Just an idea at the moment I always put a U shape into all water outlet pipes(or a trap) to stop any smells getting back into van so this slows any flows from shower etc that is already low -Something for you to think about
Top tip Ralph, don't let waste pipes curl into bottom of tanks -simply cut them off just inside the top of tank I found that out on my very first conversion had to get back under and pull pipes out and cut them off -curled up worked good until tank got some water in then flow went to a trickle
terry

 

[mitzimad]

i put waste pipes into the top of the side of waste tanks for just that reason but we dont have a shower

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[Wissel]

Hey Ralph & Bev, looking good

I haven't been on this forum for months but had a quick look this morning, saw this thread and re-subscribed.

Rear windows look good - always the scariest part right, the first cuts? Easy from here on in

Insulation looks good as well.

Like the channel across the floor (sure I've seen that somewhere lol) and that you're aiming for an IH'esc finish. I'm looking forward to watching your build progress.

I've actually started work again on my van now. About a year ago I had to finish it quickly for insurance purposes and the idea was to go back and do jobs properly. Well that didn't happen. The van was usable so that's what we did. A lot. But now I am getting it up to the standard I want and enjoying working on it again.

Do you have a plan of you're layout? Love to see it if so (or have I missed it?).

Also, are you going to the show in a few weeks? I'm up there on the Thursday if you wanted a nose around another van. The reason I ask is you're using a kitchen fitter to fit the furniture, which is what I used to be, so I would imagine your furniture will be a similar construction?

Anyway, good luck with what looks like a great project

David

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Thanks for the pics and updates R&B Looking great --
what are you doing/thinking for waste tank? I assume fresh is going under bed or somewhere -always a problem to get shower to empty fast-sink has a head/gravity to make it flow--I have been toying with an idea of having a small external waste tank under shower fitted with a pump and pumping the waste back into a bigger tank inside -no idea if it would work(cannot see why not) or if I should do it once I find a van Just an idea at the moment I always put a U shape into all water outlet pipes(or a trap) to stop any smells getting back into van so this slows any flows from shower etc that is already low -Something for you to think about
Top tip Ralph, don't let waste pipes curl into bottom of tanks -simply cut them off just inside the top of tank I found that out on my very first conversion had to get back under and pull pipes out and cut them off -curled up worked good until tank got some water in then flow went to a trickle
terry

Hi Terry, Thanks for the comments and tips always appreciated .
Our tanks are going to be under-slung and purpose built by this company www.tank.me/campervan
I will be insulating the fresh water tank and fitting a manual heating element. I also intend to have a tee off the pump picking up a smaller temporary on board fresh water tank for harsh winter conditions.I do have a planned layout but intend to finish the inside and then fit my water tanks after. For now i have the external water fill point and feeder pipe to run through the voids. The van being an extra long wheelbase has loads of space underneath. Also underneath will be the diesel heating and a new type of external water heater www.propexheatsource.co.uk/heaters/expanse. This way both bed boxes will have more usable storage space

 

[busby]

Hi Terry, Thanks for the comments and tips always appreciated .
Our tanks are going to be under-slung and purpose built by this company www.tank.me/campervan
I will be insulating the fresh water tank and fitting a manual heating element. I also intend to have a tee off the pump picking up a smaller temporary on board fresh water tank for harsh winter conditions.I do have a planned layout but intend to finish the inside and then fit my water tanks after. For now i have the external water fill point and feeder pipe to run through the voids. The van being an extra long wheelbase has loads of space underneath. Also underneath will be the diesel heating and a new type of external water heater www.propexheatsource.co.uk/heaters/expanse. This way both bed boxes will have more usable storage space

MMM are looking for people who are doing van conversions and will pay for blogs and photographs...dip your bread. BUSBY.

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[Ralph-n-Bev]

Hey Ralph & Bev, looking good

I haven't been on this forum for months but had a quick look this morning, saw this thread and re-subscribed.

Rear windows look good - always the scariest part right, the first cuts? Easy from here on in

Insulation looks good as well.

Like the channel across the floor (sure I've seen that somewhere lol) and that you're aiming for an IH'esc finish. I'm looking forward to watching your build progress.

I've actually started work again on my van now. About a year ago I had to finish it quickly for insurance purposes and the idea was to go back and do jobs properly. Well that didn't happen. The van was usable so that's what we did. A lot. But now I am getting it up to the standard I want and enjoying working on it again.

Do you have a plan of you're layout? Love to see it if so (or have I missed it?).

Also, are you going to the show in a few weeks? I'm up there on the Thursday if you wanted a nose around another van. The reason I ask is you're using a kitchen fitter to fit the furniture, which is what I used to be, so I would imagine your furniture will be a similar construction?

Anyway, good luck with what looks like a great project

David

Hi Dave and welcome back to the forum.
Thanks for you comments and hope you keep watching. I only have the weekends to do the conversion so will try and post when i get time.
I also am restricted by the insurance i think i have three months. The guy doing my units actually builds kitchens from scratch his work is fantastic . Using light weight kitchen board , not his usual solid oak. As far as shows go i wont have the time i'm afraid. I am full on preparing the van ready for the interior fit out. I also run my own business and usually do my paperwork at the weekends, its building up fast i can tell you
The layout we like is more or less like the IH 630 RL Broken Link Removed
We will be tweaking here and there to suit our requirements For eg, we will be having 2 single beds. Wider than usual. The bench across the back won't be one full piece. Just the centre bit. So we have a proper full length bed in one piece. The centre bit will have a cushion on one side bedside table on the other.

 

[dave newell]

Looking great Ralph, well done. I'm not keen on channels in the floor carrying wiring/pipes, its too easy for a future owner to put a screw through something important at a later date. Other than that its looking great.

D.

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Looking great Ralph, well done. I'm not keen on channels in the floor carrying wiring/pipes, its too easy for a future owner to put a screw through something important at a later date. Other than that its looking great.

D.

We are building it for us. Keeping it indefinately. Till we are old and grey. so that won't be a problem. There's only one Chanel. Plus there's only the middle bit between the bench seats that you could get to. Watch this space. It's for one of my tweeks !

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[Mikeco]

Looks and sounds like you are building a quality van but there is something about the IH designs that have always bothered me and that's storage. It depends how you are going to use it but where will you keep things like external chairs, table, levelling blocks, barbeque, awning mat, awning handle and so on.

Mike

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Looks and sounds like you are building a quality van but there is something about the IH designs that have always bothered me and that's storage. It depends how you are going to use it but where will you keep things like external chairs, table, levelling blocks, barbeque, awning mat, awning handle and so on.

Mike

The majority of builders use the bed bases for large water heaters and ( in our case Webasto )heating systems. As ours will all be underslung that will free up all that space. .
If you look the Ih pic , with the back doors open on the link I put on the link you can see all the space for benches and ramps, B&Q. Awning pole clips on the rear back rest. Plus we don't carry lots of tat. Never did even with the big MH.
Broken Link Removed 12th picture.

 

[dave newell]

"We are building it for us. Keeping it indefinately." Yeah yeah, that's what they all say .

D.

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[Mikeco]

I'm sure that Ralph has thought quite a bit about his layout and he is building what he wants at this time and to a high standard.
It's certainly not a layout that would suit us as a fixed traverse bed was a priority as was two additional travel seats and underslung gas tank.
In Spain at the moment for five months hence the need for the fixed bed. I still believe that storage will be a problem as the I H design and finish is more posh than practical.

Mike

 

[UK Pete]

Hi Ralph & Bev, i just picked up on your build thread, and am loving it , i bought my van conversion from a guy who designed it himself , and got a MH builder to fit it out , i just love it, but have always got the urge to build one myself just like you are, seems like you have done your research and know exactly what you want , i will be watching your progress with great interest, BTW what sort of diesel heater are you fitting, mine has the diesel webasto thermo top c, which does water and blown air
pete

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

I'm sure that Ralph has thought quite a bit about his layout and he is building what he wants at this time and to a high standard.
It's certainly not a layout that would suit us as a fixed traverse bed was a priority as was two additional travel seats and undertaking gas tank.
In Spain at the moment for five months hence the need for the fixed bed. I still believe that storage will be a problem as the I H design and finish is more posh than practical.

Mike

We are having fixed single beds. So there will be no making up.
We are also having an underslung gas tank. Giving more internal storage space.
Our style of camping is different. We Like to move place to place . A panel van will suit our style of camping. If we intended doing winters abroad , I'd want a bigger Motorhome, personally.
I believe you can have the " posh " style that's also practical.
We aren't totally copying IH. But like their furnishings finishing touches.
We certainly wouldn't be putting Webasto , and a high end victron 12/240 v inverter charger system throughout including the solar . If we were thinking of selling it.
Pug is going to be with us for a long long time.

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[Ralph-n-Bev]

Hi Ralph & Bev, i just picked up on your build thread, and am loving it , i bought my van conversion from a guy who designed it himself , and got a MH builder to fit it out , i just love it, but have always got the urge to build one myself just like you are, seems like you have done your research and know exactly what you want , i will be watching your progress with great interest, BTW what sort of diesel heater are you fitting, mine has the diesel webasto thermo top c, which does water and blown air
pete

Thankyou.
We are going for the Webasto too. We have it now and it's fantastic.

 

[lorger]

Keep up the good work Ralph very impressed so far, I'd love to do this myself but the van would be worthless when I'd finished

 

[cruiser]

green with envy. a great job.

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[Wissel]

Hi Dave and welcome back to the forum.
Thanks for you comments and hope you keep watching. I only have the weekends to do the conversion so will try and post when i get time.
I also am restricted by the insurance i think i have three months. The guy doing my units actually builds kitchens from scratch his work is fantastic . Using light weight kitchen board , not his usual solid oak. As far as shows go i wont have the time i'm afraid. I am full on preparing the van ready for the interior fit out. I also run my own business and usually do my paperwork at the weekends, its building up fast i can tell you
The layout we like is more or less like the IH 630 RL Broken Link Removed
We will be tweaking here and there to suit our requirements For eg, we will be having 2 single beds. Wider than usual. The bench across the back won't be one full piece. Just the centre bit. So we have a proper full length bed in one piece. The centre bit will have a cushion on one side bedside table on the other.

Cheers and I'll definitely be watching

I had a look at your kitchen guy’s site – looks good and I think your finish will be a higher standard than the IH

Looks like you’ve gone for the (almost) same layout as I did. Having lived with it for over a year I can honestly say I wouldn’t change my layout at all. I also made the side benches wider to use as single beds, are you going to make one side pull out as well in case you want a huge double?

I used the same tanks as you as well. Very well built IMO. Just a small thing, I went with the smaller diameter waste pipe connections. The flow isn’t great so I’m changing the fittings to the larger diameter versions. Shaun offers both sizes, I would recommend getting the larger if not ordered yet. I see you have a water fill point? Shaun also offers this tap set up that fit under the side of your van:

I liked this as it’s less cutting through the van walls (and works really well).

Like the heaters, and using an underslung gas tank – makes sense freeing up internal room. I see your going for the Victron chargers and inverter. Out of interest, which models? And how much battery power will you have?

Like yourselves I like to be able to move areas with minimal fuss, are you usually on EHU or relying on self-power? Last question, which type of fridge are you thinking?

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the furniture building stage of your build. Please take lots of photos

Good luck,

David

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Cheers and I'll definitely be watching

I had a look at your kitchen guy’s site – looks good and I think your finish will be a higher standard than the IH

Looks like you’ve gone for the (almost) same layout as I did. Having lived with it for over a year I can honestly say I wouldn’t change my layout at all. I also made the side benches wider to use as single beds, are you going to make one side pull out as well in case you want a huge double?

I used the same tanks as you as well. Very well built IMO. Just a small thing, I went with the smaller diameter waste pipe connections. The flow isn’t great so I’m changing the fittings to the larger diameter versions. Shaun offers both sizes, I would recommend getting the larger if not ordered yet. I see you have a water fill point? Shaun also offers this tap set up that fit under the side of your van:

I liked this as it’s less cutting through the van walls (and works really well).

Like the heaters, and using an underslung gas tank – makes sense freeing up internal room. I see your going for the Victron chargers and inverter. Out of interest, which models? And how much battery power will you have?

Like yourselves I like to be able to move areas with minimal fuss, are you usually on EHU or relying on self-power? Last question, which type of fridge are you thinking?

I’m very much looking forward to seeing the furniture building stage of your build. Please take lots of photos

Good luck,

David

Hi Dave i think i PM'D you back when i was at the research stage, the pictures of your tanks have jogged my memory. Your blog is probably where i saw the floor void idea

The Kitchen builder is very good i often pop down to his workshop for a chat. He always has one on the go to look at. A lot of kitchens these days have curved doors and panels he builds his own in layers glued and formed to the desired curvature. Mind you they don't come cheap they start at 25K hope mine is no where near that

Thanks for the info on the larger bore waste outlet. My water inlet is the lift up flap type that locks. Not sure i like the hose lock type down at road level. I will look into this a bit more when the time comes.
The Victron unit is the Multiplus Link Removed
I really like the Victron gear its not cheap but is made to last and very reliable. I intend to use it throughout from my van battery to the solar and charge regulator. I will cover it in more detail when i get to that stage.We hardly ever plug in so need a good off grid setup Victron gives you that.This is why i wanted to build my own van because you can spend thousands on a big name brand MH and the charging side of things are crap.
Still looking at battery's always been a big fan of Traction battery's like Trojan, we had 225A of T105S and always managed even with Diesel heating. I think i may go down the deep cycle AGM route as it may be difficult to vent Traction's in a panel van.
The fridge we chose is from Vitrifrigo supplied by Penguin as you know its a 12v DC compressor fridge. I will be fitting this with a through the floor vent and outlet above to help airflow.

Thanks again for your input.....Ralph

 

[Terry]

Save the link to the Victron unit Ralph I will be asking for it when we (well Paul ) do mine I have it all still connected up onto the units but unplugged/not to power and that diagram looks like it's used for so much more than the ministry van had coupled it up for
terry

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[Wissel]

Hi Dave i think i PM'D you back when i was at the research stage, the pictures of your tanks have jogged my memory. Your blog is probably where i saw the floor void idea

The Kitchen builder is very good i often pop down to his workshop for a chat. He always has one on the go to look at. A lot of kitchens these days have curved doors and panels he builds his own in layers glued and formed to the desired curvature. Mind you they don't come cheap they start at 25K hope mine is no where near that

Thanks for the info on the larger bore waste outlet. My water inlet is the lift up flap type that locks. Not sure i like the hose lock type down at road level. I will look into this a bit more when the time comes.
The Victron unit is the Multiplus Link Removed
I really like the Victron gear its not cheap but is made to last and very reliable. I intend to use it throughout from my van battery to the solar and charge regulator. I will cover it in more detail when i get to that stage.We hardly ever plug in so need a good off grid setup Victron gives you that.This is why i wanted to build my own van because you can spend thousands on a big name brand MH and the charging side of things are crap.
Still looking at battery's always been a big fan of Traction battery's like Trojan, we had 225A of T105S and always managed even with Diesel heating. I think i may go down the deep cycle AGM route as it may be difficult to vent Traction's in a panel van.
The fridge we chose is from Vitrifrigo supplied by Penguin as you know its a 12v DC compressor fridge. I will be fitting this with a through the floor vent and outlet above to help airflow.

Thanks again for your input.....Ralph

Hi Ralph, yeah I think you did contact me last year about a couple of bits.

I agree with what you say about the normal MH charging and electrical systems. This is one of the main reasons I built my van myself as I needed a lot of reliable power. I went with 3 x CTEK chargers (D250s Dual, Smartpass & MXS25) to solve the issue in my van. I wanted multi-stage from the solar as well as driving and didn't want the chargers conflicting. Plus I wanted the engine battery charged from solar and EHU as well. I haven't read everything on the Victron units but I assume they do the same job. I know someone who put a very similar Victron system into their van with 4 x LB's and really likes it. He's powering the usual compressor fridge plus Webesto and a microwave purely from battery power which is quite impressive. I know in his build he had the batteries in the back of the van and needed 40mm cable to connect . Mine was all nice and close so 25mm was fine.

I can't comment to much on batteries. I'd already bought and fitted 4 x cheap Numax 100Ah LB's before deciding to go bigger on the charging side. Now my head says I should change these over to traction's but to be honest they are still perfect after 18 months of hard use. I think it must be to do with the quality charging. Having said this, as soon as Lithium LB's are at sensible prices I will be fitting them.

I went with the Vitrifrigo 90ltr myself and really like it. I was speaking with them just the other week as I want to re-fit mine with better vents and make it as silent as possible (one of the jobs I rushed to get the van usable). They recommend 120mm inlet and outlet for air, and can supply a resistor that slows the fan to make it quieter. I'm going to do a video on fitting this soon (with more ventilation) to compare how much power is being used.

Keep the photos coming

David

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

I went with the Vitrifrigo 90ltr myself and really like it. I was speaking with them just the other week as I want to re-fit mine with better vents and make it as silent as possible (one of the jobs I rushed to get the van usable). They recommend 120mm inlet and outlet for air, and can supply a resistor that slows the fan to make it quieter. I'm going to do a video on fitting this soon (with more ventilation) to compare how much power is being used.
Keep the photos coming
David


Hi Dave,
Did you push your fridge right back against the van walls or is there a void up the back ?
I would be very interested in the fridge mod video.
BTW how did you fix yours in ? you can buy an outer fitting frame for the front but it Makes the fridge opening wider.
Just wondered if it can be screwed through the sidewall somewhere obviously avoiding any elements.
I'm on the lookout now for a 120mm through floor vent preferably with a shut off for the winter

Back at it this weekend if its fine im on windows if not its wall paneling and maybe some veltrim here and there

 

[Wissel]

Hi Dave,
Did you push your fridge right back against the van walls or is there a void up the back ?
I would be very interested in the fridge mod video.
BTW how did you fix yours in ? you can buy an outer fitting frame for the front but it Makes the fridge opening wider.
Just wondered if it can be screwed through the sidewall somewhere obviously avoiding any elements.
I'm on the lookout now for a 120mm through floor vent preferably with a shut off for the winter

Back at it this weekend if its fine im on windows if not its wall paneling and maybe some veltrim here and there

Hi Ralph,

I was going to push my fridge right back, but then I thought it might be better in-line with my bathroom which also gave me a deeper wardrobe above it. I have a bulkhead in my van and the ventilation is from the front of the van (but needs to be bigger). I didn't want to vent through the floor as it's quite close to the vehicle exhaust and also filth from the road getting in could be an issue. My intention now is to make the front vent bigger, add a 120mm fan to the front vent for summer use (switched) , and vent out into my bathroom.

As I mentioned before, I fitted the fridge in a hurry so it's not as well fitted as I want it. I screwed through the bracket at the bottom of the fridge into it's housing. My idea now is to fix an aluminium strip down the sides of the fridge that can then screw to the side of the housing.

I also fitted my fridge behind a door like in a house kitchen. This can be seen in this video (fridge is 1 min 30 secs in):


I'm hoping to get the time to re-fit the fridge and produce a video on it over the next couple of weeks. I'm interested to see if the fan makes much difference.

Good luck with your windows at the weekend,
David

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