Aye no saying it can’t be done….. If you seen where I park it at my house you would understand I can drive it.my point is it’s entirely different to a regular length vehicle. Hell even the turn off to my house I can only approach from one direction or I’ll take the fuel tank off…. 270 degree turn back on your self onto a steep down hill with a stupid sharp camber.

My VW T4 Caravelle has a poptop roof, sliding doors on both sides and sleeps 4 but has no cupboards/sink/fridge etc. So both beds are full width and because the rear seat/bed is on sliding rails, 2 can sleep up top with (at least) 2 bikes securely stored downstairs. It’s big enough that 4 of us comfortably drove from the south east to Scotland with bikes and all the gubbins (inside the van) and powerful enough (2.5 TDi) that it took no longer than driving a car. Point is – it’s super versatile. And, ahem, it’s for sale 🙂

Thought about a pop top too, tempting & practical but does put a sizeable hole in the budget!

Going back to the Bongo, most of the older vans have a motorised pop roof. We kipped in ours when the van was loaded while touring in mainland Europe; with the roof up there was enough room to access the fridge, sink and hob in the van, and then with the roof floor down we’d climb up into the roof and lay down a thin mattress. It’s incredibly useful as it turns the van into a genuinely usable space for living in.

However it is just a glorified tent. It ain’t warm in winter. So, it depends on your specifications when you want to ‘sleep in a camper van’.

This was my effort based on a LWB high top vivaro. Slept 2 with 2 bikes under bed platform. Rear seats were on QR’s so could take them out to get the bikes in.

Vivaro mini camper / bike van

matt007, your Vivaro is pretty close to what I’m thinking of. Where did you get the bed platform from/ who did the conversion? I’m also on Derbyshire so will be looking for reputable companies to help out eventually .

Going back to PJ’s comment about the pop top. We have a thermal wrap for our Reimo roof on the T5 and it changes it from basically a tent on the roof of the van to a genuinely warm extension to it. Also keeps it noticeably cooler in summer AND acts as a blackout (= kids don’t wake up at sunrise!).