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Converting a Campervan / Camper conversion
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Bought from Scraptoft's Garagre in Leicester |
The view from the back door at home. Day one. |
Formerly a glaziers van, all the racking
must come out |
Body work was in really good nick under
all the crap |
Bulkhead was angle grinded out with ease, but to the
chagrin of the neighbours! |
Cleaning up the jagged edges |
Fitting the caravan windows in the rear |
Fitting the water tanks under the drivers side front |
Awe getting her windows fitted at Dave's in Eastbourne |
The donor van |
Richard Tickles van in Eastbourne |
The interior structure starts to take shape |
Good space for a workshop! |
Lino down and fridge vents in |
Fridge in, cooker waiting |
Dreaded rockwool and wiring |
A mix of 18 and 12mm ply |
Testing cut ply for fitting |
As much ply is carbonded to ribs where
possible |
Water and gas prep. This is the shower room space |
Mini Heki is great for light and ventilation |
Our lovely SMEV cooker waiting for a home |
Impromptu wine rack idea! Wiring and plumbing looming! |
Sink/gas cabinet and access way |
Cooker and sink into IKEA worktop |
Lovely grain in the triple varnished 18mm ply |
Flush set doors are a fiddle, but look great |
PMS unit mounted, carpeting begun, lockers ready |
The proud owner!
(I'm sure that roofrack will be good for something!) |
Feb 2005
A lot has happened since July - notably the early arrival of our little Archie. Plans got changed and we are yet to get away in AWE. After a cracking start on the conversion a more sedate progress is now to be had, mainly just at weekends.
...and you can click on the following for bigger images...
Evening seating |
Evening dining |
Bed laid |
View out the rear |
all pipework now water tight
and waiting to be concealed
behind a false wall |
I thought I'd measured up the
outlet for the shower tray but
this task was not without it's problems
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proof that an Elegance mixer tap will fit into a Contessa tip up sink
(there's one last photo to come of the completed installation) |
adjustments to the front of the
kitchen to allow for undersink storage |
May 2005
First bank holiday weekend and our first proper trip out in AWE. First night me made it 9 miles from home to a farm campsite and promptly got stuck in the mud before being towed out by a Landie! Second night we made it to a nice campsite near Bosham and Chichester, and guess what - we got stuck in the mud again! (we're buying grip track the next time we see it!)
Second bank holiday was more adventurous. We made it as far as Portchester after work on Friday night, just inland from Portsmouth and with a good view of the Spinnacre Tower through the trees. Lovely spot. Second night was supposed to be in the New Forest but it was full! We drove on bravely to Swanage and stayed on a newish site for £15 a night for 2 nights only to find we were just a few miles away from being able to camp for free at Studland near Poole. Bummer.
June 2005
...full story and piccies from our French trip in our self build VW LT campervan here... 1500 glorious miles touring France! No problems with the van, but we were stupid enough to run out of diesel!!
July 2005
The shower room had a makeover to get rid of most of the nasty vinyl walling, with new replacement faced 3mm ply from O'Leary's.
We're now ready to do what we wanted to do last year... and in fact the reason why we decided to buy the van in the first place...
IT'S OFF TO THE BIG CHILL FESTIVAL!! YIPPEE!!
  
... more to come! |
| 1994 - JJ the Hanomag Henshel / Mercedes 600d campervan |
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JJ was formerly a motorcross van. I completed the conversion by knocking through into the garage at the rear, installing a shower room and a double bed - all done in my parents drive! With 230,000 miles on her clock she lasted us a 4000 mile journey around Europe for 4 months following the cost down through France, due south to Madrid, West to Portugal's coast, south to the Algarve and all the way back round throug the Sierra Nevada and up past Barcelona, along the Cote D'Azur, around the riviera and all the way down Italy's spine to cross from Brindisi to Patras for a month touring the Greek Peloponese, with even a visit to central Athens to visit my brother and pick up 7 friends to join us on their summer holidays! Five months have never been so good!!
click on thumbnails below for a bigger view
then there was DRU our Toyota HJ60 4x4 honeymoon wagon. We had 6 weeks around Europe in the back of her... even the rickety bed survived!
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