Researching our first van!

[La Geneste]

Hi everyone, after our wonderful first motor home holiday here in France in July we decided to look for a camper van of our own. We’re pretty clear about our basic requirements, a 5.4m van, preferably automatic, with a permanent transverse bed, toilet and shower, fridge and hob. However, while my partner Sylvie is a petite 160cm, I am 196cm or just under six feet six, so finding a transverse bed long enough to ensure my dainty size 14 feet stay nice and cosy inside the van rather than out the window is proving to be a challenge. We’ve discounted pop ups and VW camper style vans and from the research we have done so far there are three main contenders with long transverse beds;

La Strada Avanti M 540 - 197cms
Burstner Campeo C540 - 197cms
Westfalia Amundsen 540 D - 197cms

We went to a motor home exhibition here in France in Oct but none of the above were on display and the big exhibition in Bordeaux this month which we hoped to go to has unfortunately been cancelled, so our research via the internet is continuing for the moment.

Are there any other very tall people out there who have already gone through this search and can recommend any other vans?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and thanks for such an informative and fun forum.

Mike and Sylvie

 

[mitzimad]

the ducatto/relay vans are the widest pvc when i built my self build the most i could get in was 180cm the profesionals go into the window recesses to gain the extra 17cm so unless you find a van with pods that is going to be the absolute max my son has a la strada with a drop down bed in the roof which is huge but im not sure if they make that option now it also gives you the problem of using ladders

 

[David and Sally]

 

[Guigsy]

We had a 5.4m Ducato (post conversion) with a transverse bed, kitchen and bathroom. We spent months going around Europe in it in 2019. The size means you can squeeze it into many parking spaces, so we could drive it pretty much anywhere you'd take a car (except multi-storey car parks). The space under the bed meant we could carry a lot of stuff. We were generally off-grid 6 days a week, only going to campsites when we needed to do cloths washing.

The Ducato/Boxer/Relay base is significantly wider than VW, Mercedes and Renault vans, so a transverse bed is possible. There are quite a few 5.4m vans about from various convertors. However, I think you might struggle with your Sasquatch frame! You might have to go up to the 6m just to get a longitudinal bed... which then also opens up Merc and VW options.