Hi
I’ve an ex work can that I’m going to be converting into a camper as soon as I’ve stopped helping with the daughters house renovation
The Van is a LWB HR 60 plate transit
The plan so far is to turn it into an off grid camper capable of living in for short periods of time i.e. 1 or 2 weeks
Must haves so far ( unless advised otherwise ) are
Cooking facilities i.e. Burner ..No oven
Sink
Solar shower
Double bed
Tv
Pull out toilet
Capable of hooking up to power supplies i.e. Camp sites
Solar panel power supply

Absolutely any advice on does or don’ts will be appreciated
Any build threads out there
Any inspiring pics
Any websites I should know about
Show me yours
Electrical advice
Security advice
Any YouTube footage worth watching please pass on

Not planning to start till the new year so still very much in the planning stage
I’m keen to make this a self build but if there’s anything that I would be advised to get a “pro in” on please say so

The ultimate goal and has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember is to one year follow the Tour in the mountains whilst enjoying the odd ride out while the wife watchs reruns of Supervet lol

Thanks in advance for any advice or inspiring pics

Join the SBMCC, well worth every penny and will have the answer to all of your questions

There were 2 Transit conversion threads recently by timidwheeler and cozz. They’re worth reading

Fit an Eberspacher heater – I had one in my LWB Transit and it was brilliant.

MikeD’s:

Family-friendly bike-carrying camper build

I breifly looked at some stuff like this
http://www.convertyourvan.co.uk/fordtransitcamperconversion.html
not sure of quality but lots of ideas on layouts etc

RustyNissanPrairie – Member
Fit an Eberspacher heater – I had one in my LWB Transit and it was brilliant.

Very good advice and the priority IMO.

Having had a big campervan, my preference is now for a very spartan layout set up more as a day van than a bedroom. I’m currently vanless, but if I get another there will be no fixed bed and just a shelf for a portable cooker and a basin. No built in fridge, toilet or kitchen, ie go camping style instead of RV style unless the van is humungous.

Space is the most important virtue in a van – preserve as much of it as you can so you can sit out a shitty day in warmth and comfort.

Fridge is not on you list

Nobody ever says ‘oh, my battery has too much capacity’ so if I was doing again I would get 2 batteries and plenty of solar. If you can go eg 5+ days you don’t need hookup. This is good because the best campsites, or if not the best spots on campsites, do not have hookup. At least in the Uk, Europe not nearly so much. However, you should still get a charger and give your battery(s) a proper charge every so often.

Knocking up a bench that can convert to a bed is pretty easy with basic carpentry skills and minimal cash. Don’t do what I did and base the height of the bench on a regular chair, in a small van it needs to be lower or you will not be able to sit straight. If ‘HR’ is high roof, maybe not a problem.

Travelvolts for electrics. Fairly reasonably priced, but, more importantly, idiot proof. I knew **** all about vehicle electrics at the start and I managed. Plus you can get just the basics (e.g. Split charge and battery) and build on it later.

Jacksons leisure for other stuff

The only other advice: get as much done as possible in the winter. Don’t kid yourself that you will finish this or that over the summer. You won’t because you’ll be wanting to get away in it!

This book https://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Dream-Camper-£1000/dp/1845845242 is worth getting

Was parked next to a vw with an eber last week. That’s off my list of things I’d like unless you like sitting on a generator

We have a truma e2400 and it is silent in comparison.

Got 200 watts of solar on myroof and 230ah of leisure battery.

We just did 2 weeks around Scotland riding and swimming and didn’t want for more power….and that was fairly driech times. I imagine it will only be better in summer.

i had once converted, its an LWB twin wheel minibus, just looked back at my thread and photo bucket has blocked the photos

im in nottingham, if ya wanna come have a look

i went for solar on roof, 2×130 amp battery, hob, sink, fridge, blue ray 40″ LED TV, inverter , bike storage in the back etc

eber heater

i can watch a blu ray for 4 hours in eve and still have power in batteries, and run heater,and lights

Eber. Certainly couldn’t hear the one I had in my T5 from inside.
Try & put stuff in places that don’t involve lots of moving/assembling to do simple tasks.
Plenty of time screwing/glueing everything down tight & think about isolating any timber joints to avoid creaks & squeaks.
More lights than you think you need.
Maybe a wolf or American ‘first nation’ decal for the back? Or a ‘One life, Life it’ sticker. 😉

You weren’t at inners last week were you ? Could hear his from the other side of buzzards- inside my van . Thought It was the toilet pump truck.

Hi guys
Many thanks for the comments keep them coming all advice or experiences shared are welcome
I.e. The fridge comment , it’s made me wonder if I really need one , I’d dismissed the thought of one based on a few you tube vids
Joining SMBCC asap
Eberspacher are they noisy or was the noisy one experience a one off ?
Was going for 300 watts of solar power again based on you tube vids , To much ?

Cozz
Many thanks for the invite I’m not that far away I may take you up on that before I start on mine

You can never have too much solar. I’ve got 2 x 100w panels and 2 x 110ah batteries. They’ll last me 4 days ish running the compressor fridge, lights and chargers. DVD players eat juice so I use my laptop. Get a good solar controller though, they’ll eek a bit more out of the panels.

I also have a Sterling B2B charger which whacks a good few amps back into the system with a fairly short drive or engine run. For hook up I use a good quality 3 stage charger/PSU at 25a.

I have an Eber too, I can hear it but not offensively so. I chose it as I’ll always have a big tank of relatively cheap fuel on board, compared to gas. I might have now however bought a Truma combi unit for heating and water, as I have a GasIt refillable underslug gas LPG tank, but at the time they were suffering reliability issues.

Ebersbacher heater in our van (4Kw). It sounds like a jet engine for the first few minutes then calms down to a low rumble. Can’t hear it then with music on.
The heat is amazing, they’re great!!

This is sort of what I’m looking at doing
Didn’t want to go for anything to elaborate has first attempt

Elshalimo
How’s the Dales this morning ?

I should point out Nate follows up with further vids after living in his van for a while
He adds heating and makes other changes
Also obviously I’ve got to tweetk it slightly to allow for at least one bike
My initial thought is to raise the bed allowing storage via the back doors

The Ebers ideally need the (optional) intake silencer and the exhaust otherwise they are a bit noisy. I fitted both to mine and it made a big difference.

The fuel pump needs fitting well so the ‘clicking’ isn’t intrusive.

@snap – ’tis proper grim.
Grey, wet, windy and cold; normal autumn weather I suppose.

Lots of Facebook groups for self build campers etc. Just search for your van make and model. Bimblesolar get recommended as helpful on quite a few sites.

Someone’s already plugged my van thread, so I won’t again 🙂 We went for a Propex heater to save mucking around with the fuel tank in the van. And it’s a bit cheaper.

Another vote for Propex, quieter and I suspect less power hungry, especially when cycling on and off (the eber has a glow plug that operates for several minutes each time it starts) I’ve used both, the eber didn’t have the silencer and sounded like a small jet engine.

Re: SBMCC, I was a member for a long time, however its a funny cliquey forum and a lot of the regulars moved to diymotorhome.co.uk after the moderation got a bit OTT. diymotorhome is free, friendly and has some nice features such as the showcase pages. I don’t miss the discounts either, I always managed to find stuff cheaper than the discounted member rate anyway.

I think I missed all that 🙂 Still a member, didn’t go in there for months though.

Yeh it got a bit weird, some of the long termers revolted as the moderation was heavy handed with no answers. I posted something (nothing untoward but perhaps not agreeing with the mods) and then found I was not invited to part with £15 (plus the paypal fee) to retain membership! They normally send you several reminders so I suspect I was blacklisted!

I also had a bit of an issue that I’d been paying up for about 10 years, and most of my posts were answering and helping others…I was paying to help others and have a chit chat. And as soon as you stop paying, you lose all access to the entire archive and current forums apart from the welcome one!

Slightly different to everyone else but we went with a small oil-filled radiator as if it’s that cold we will go to a camp site with hook up. So far the van has been well enough insulated we have barely needed it.
It’s easy to take in and out, takes up very little space, was very cheap and didn’t need any fitting. It also works really well and is almost silent (You may get a couple of oil crackles when you first turn it on).

We have a Webasto heater. It’s audible both inside and out but not exceedingly so.

While strictly speaking heaters not needed in summer or the shoulder seasons to a point.

In winter it’s necessary for comfort reasons and it’s nice not to be getting up in the morning into an icebox – my last van didn’t have a heater fitted.

It’s also great when you have been for an early morning swim in loch Maree in October to keep the van warm for your return (on thermostat)

Heater lives under the bottom of the far seat base. Thermostat just about visible behind table leg. Output is in the front corner where the 2 seats meet. The water tank /pump and batteries are all under the seats as well.

I’d say a heater is an essential, even in summer.

Damp clothes can go on a rack right next to it.

Does anyone do a storage heater? If you had the exhaust pipe running through some of those thermal bricks, it would not take long to heat up (obviously need some safeguards!).

There is less space in there than you think Brian. Will be a Hella small rack

Wet clothes go on a rack under the awning in summer 🙂