This is my current one…

I've had it just over a year now and I love it. i do a lot of dh racing so it gets used every weekend. It's a motocross race van originally hence the huge garage area, this limits the interior layout a bit but it works fine for me or a couple of people. I'm just starting to think about a switch to a chassis built one next year or the one after as I like it so much.

More pics here:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=894995017&ref=ts#!/album.php?aid=118159&id=633386530

BandySteve – Member
thekingofsweden,

(Swivel front seats – nice – always been tempted to fit those. Can they slide any closer to the front of the van? In the kombi the rear seat is fixed (albeit with decent leg room compared to most cars) and therefore you might end up knocking knees if they go where your picture above shows)

Yeah they slide miles back and even slid toward the rear of the van youll never 'Knock your knees'

It is also a Lwb so theres plenty of room

Why are the various iterations of VW Transporters so popular with camper conversions rather than Transits, Renaults, Fiats etc – is it because they're smaller and more car like?

Gerty. She's GGGRREAATTT…

Oooh, go on then…any excuse to show our pride and joy. She's a 95 T4 Westfalia called Rafi and she rocks.

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Why are the various iterations of VW Transporters so popular with camper conversions rather than Transits, Renaults, Fiats etc – is it because they're smaller and more car like?

The rear engined ones have a certain cult following, but for the later models they're really good to drive and don't rust much…. Some of the other vans may be more powerful but take a look at how many 10-15 year old VW vans you see compared to 10-15 year old Transits, Vitos etc. If you do see a 15 year old transit, it will probably be pretty manky.

Just done a 3750 mile round Europe, Scotland – Slovenia & back. Didn't miss a beat. Not ideal for the longer trips though, more suited to weekends away.

SprocketJockey's comment is kind of why these Bongos are popular – very car-like to drive, good nick for their age (as long as they've been waxoyled on import). They are a bit on the small side – but suits me since I'm a short arse!

Quite a few of these Bongos about- here's ours

dunslair – looks like somewhere in the Hebrides. Harris?

Not far off SJ….. Barra (airport, when you were able to pitch up there)

You can't any more? 😯

Thought it was somewhere that way – it was a biking trip up to the Hebrides that convinced us to buy a van, after seeing folk parked up on the machair in a spot just North of there. Always fancied returning with the van.

[waves] Hi Dunslair. [/waves]

Summer 2009 was the last time they allowed camping at the airport on Barra- it became unsustainable with folk turning up in massive motorhomes for a fortnight and damaging the machair, I think there were plans to open a slightly more formal site this summer.

Would that be the 'sectret wave' then Dave? 😉

Here's my Barra airport shot:

We were there in 2009 didn't see any particular signs of "folks turning up in massive motorhomes for a fortnight and damaging the machair".
Nearly everyone appeared to be doing what we did and moving every few days. I read that there were issues with people dumping waste etc. but didn't see any signs of that either. One advantage of the vans like mine is that their tanks are big enough to go several days without needed to dump waste, and there are facilities for that dotted about the western isles including at most of the ferry terminals. There is a place just along the road from the airport in fact (at the little harbour) but it's not that well signposted so I don't think everyone knew about it. There might have been issues with people without on-board facilities (as the toilet in the airport isn't accessible much of the time) having to use the shrubbery but again I didn't see anything like that myself.

There are limited camping spots on Barra other than at the airport so it seemed a little crowded (by Western Isles standards although probably not by anyone elses!) but once away from there it was still very quiet. Other than at the campsites in Lewis and on Benbecula I don't think we ever camped near anyone else.

Yep.. our experience of camping at the airport was much the same as yours epicsteve…. we were there early summer 2009. I can only assume it got much busier later in the summer. We noticed the articles about'massive motorhomes' around Jan this year in the Western Isles Press. (not sure the locals would be so happy to lose all the tourism, even if it could get a bit busy by Western isles standards)We had a laugh at the number of folk making the early morning dash to the public loo…. on their bikes or in their cars. Glad we took the portapoti. 😀

There's a definate VW theme running through my mates (and this thread). Islay for a stag do last month.

[IMG]http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc240/brycey1978/DSC01977.jpg[/IMG]url]

can't decide between a merc and a VW..? here's your solution..

Grey Ducato

Here's my new van.

We've spent about 35 nights in it since the beginning of May, and it's great. We had the shell converted to our spec for about the same as an off-the-shelf model.

It's effectively a bed-sit, with 5 separate areas, double bed up most of the time, kitchen, shower/bog , sitting area, driving area.

Inside