We’ve decided that we’re going to get a camper towards the end of this year/early next year.

I’ve looked at some of the threads on here and have seen that quite a few people have them but I have a few specific questions…

I’m not entirely convinced that a T5 would give us enough usable space and would be enough of an upgrade from camping with EHU to warrant the outlay so am steering more towards a LWB high roof panel van or similar. As a day to day driver, it’s probably more limiting but still flexible enough to use often and park on the road in a normal parking bay (one of my neighbours has a van so I’ve seen parking isn’t too much of an issue).

I think we’ll probably go the route of an aftermarket conversion and buy a nearly new van. Likely to be a Transit or Peugeot Boxer.

I’d like to hear people’s experiences if you’ve done similar.
Which base van did you opt for and why?
Who did you use for the conversion and how good were they? (I’ve seen the long DIY thread but DIY isn’t my thing so I’ll be sending it off somewhere).
How much did it cost?
How did you decide on your layout?
Obviously, pictures are always great!

There are 4 of us (2 adults, 14yo, 8yo) so I’m interested to hear about the sleeping arrangements you decided on. We’re at the point where the 14yo probably won’t want to come on many more trips so flexible beds/bunks that could be removed would be good. A table would be good, along with leisure battery and fridge. Not fussed on a sink or cooking facilities as we’ll probably use a portable gas stove.

Anyone gone for the really budget option of just insulating the van, lining it and using camping mats like a tent?

I’m about to do the same, although I’ll be doing a full diy job.
I’ve done a DIY conversion on a T4 SWB transporter in the past so have learnt a good few things on the way.

My original choice of getting a swb / normal roof T4 was the access of parking etc. What I found that parking isn’t that much of an issue with a LWB hightop as its only the extra length you need to worry about. The T4 was great fun but you had to be methodical about how things were stored and a lot of the time things had to be moved about to access / use things. The LWB will be a lot better.

I’m 6’2″ so the hightop is a must. The standard heights look better if you wanna be cool but no way as near as practical. I ended up with roof racks on the T4 to transport bikes so you were just as restricted to low bridges / car parks etc. The new build will allow a small garage / workshop based from the rear doors for carrying bikes and gear.

I’m looking at a Mk7 Ford Transit this time. The VW tax is a huge price to pay and I can get so much more for my money.

I’ll be looking at 4 berth. General rock and roll for two people and a pull out bunk starting above the cab. Beauty of the high top. It will all stow away above the cab when not in use and allow full standing height and when in use the bottom of the bunk will be the same as a standard roof height so still totally usable when deployed.

I used a mwb hi top relay for two years daily (same ban as a boxer) and it was fine. Ocational issue with parking but not very often. LWB would be a little more difficult as spaces in carpark are short but with planning its not much of an issue.

Cheers both.

@gravitysucks – sounds like your experiences are similar to the reservations I have about a low roof camper.

The bunk sounds good. Did you come up with it yourself or find an example online? It’s a bit hard to visualise how it will come out.

Ducato/Relay will open up the options for a sideways rear bed. Good for chucking spare bedding/clothes during the day and its nice to have two lounging areas. Loads of storage underneath too.

6 metres total length is about the limit without making things difficult at supermarkets etc.

A high bed at the front that consists of panels on a rail system (and a removable rail to bridge the sliding door) means you can have decent belted seats in the rear as the bed will go straight over the top, and also over any kitchen unit etc. Rare to see though, saw it done in a Sprinter a while back.

Make sure you get a 3.5t version of whatever van you get.

Ducato / relay will only open up the possbility of a sidways bed if you are short! I bought a relay becasue I read this infomation of a 6′ bed was possible side ways but that is fitting the bed at one set height, and between the strutual pillars, i.e onely the 0.8 or 1.2 mm skin between your feet / head and the cold outside!

I didn’t think it was that tight Brick…I’ve got an Iveco and its narrower, but still got a 6′ bed between the ribs and room for some thin insulation.

I’ve not gone ahead and done it, but for a similar family (my boys are younger) I like the look of side kitchen + side bunks arrangement. We got as far as hiring a Wildax Solaris a few weekends ago to test the idea, and it seems to work. Although if getting a conversion done I’d drop some of the fancier features, and tweek the bunk design a bit to improve load carrying.

Video of Solaris layout

I’m 6ft tall and found the cross-wise bed ok, if not massively roomy.

My next camper will be hightop lwb but whilst I use the van as my ‘car’ as well it’s staying as a t4. Self lining and insulation is easy if you have any common sense which it sounds like you do. Not much help but go big if you can.

PhilO (your profile email is out of date so posting here)
Have you got any further with your Wildax Solaris idea?
I think it’s our favourite layout, but finding it difficult to source a single bed that functions like theirs 🙁

Watching their videos and Mike-D’s thread, it’s easy to see why campers
cost so much – so much work ahead of us!

Cheers
Alex