My Ultimate MTB van (Caravelle) build…

Thought some of you might be interested in what I’m doing with my fairly recently accuired VW Caravelle – I’ve got a full thread going over on the T6 forum but here’s the short version:

It’s got a diesel parking heater and leisure battery, plus hookup and awning, and swivelling passenger seat – so it’s only missing a solar panel for the full camping set up.

It’s a Caravelle which means it came with 7 seats (3 + 2 + 2). I sold the 3 seater bench and in the past few weeks have been building stage one of the van out.

Everything I’ve built/will be building is fully removable and is clamped down to the Caravelle rails in the floor. My requirements meant that I occasionally need to carry 2 or 3 people and use the van as my only car – so I needed 2 rear seats as well as the front 2 seats. I also need to be able to carry 2 bikes inside the van, and sleep in it at the same time (just me). Then I also want a kitchen area – so, fridge, sink and a couple of gas burners.

Stage one is now complete, with a drawer for the bikes, a storage bit too the right of the bikes and uprights ready to take a fold out bed platform. The bed will be between 26″ and 28″ wide which is fine for me, I’ve had good night’s of sleep in smaller spaces!

Pics:

The fork mounts are on sliding rails mounted to unwin rails so they’re hugely adjustable which means I can fit almost any combination of bikes.

Next step will be to make the fold out bed platform, then it’ll be the kitchen pod. That’ll be going behind the driver’s seat, it’s going to be L shaped to make use of the space alongside the bike drawer next to the door. With this layout I’ll be able to fit a 50l fridge, sink and gas hobs.

That looks brilliant. I love that slide out rack.

Long wheel base variant (do they even do one)?

Cheers!

Long wheel base variant (do they even do one)?

No, just the std SWB.. They did technically do a LWB Caravelle but only in SE spec, which are like rocking unicorn poo. Tbh it wouldn’t have changed my layout anyway, would just have meant more room for a kitchen pod.

Very nice, all of it.

Why do you have a travel indicator rings on both stanchions?

Why do you have a travel indicator rings on both stanchions?

Ha, for when ones breaks. Also useful for seeing the travel usage for different runs/descents and the overall days usage.

Nice, I might steal the unwin rail idea for fork mounts.

Do the Caravelle rear seat backrests fold flat to be part of the bed?

Nice, I might steal the unwin rail idea for fork mounts.

Do the Caravelle rear seat backrests fold flat to be part of the bed?

Yep, the bed base will sit on them but will also be supported by a couple of vertical sections which I’ll fit into the rails on the floor.

And yeah the unwin rail is great, it’s a shame you can’t mount many/any fork mounts directly to it but then I wouldn’t have the side to side adjustment I have – the Rockymounts droptop fork mounts can slide in the T track. It also gives me the option of putting something in if I want to be able to carry other things on the drawer, or a bike with both wheels on – I’m going to see if I need that as tbh whipping off the front wheel is barely a 30 second job so not really an issue.

I can also strap other stuff the rail worthy the right mounts, I may do that for the wheels.

For privacy and security of the bikes I’m going to be adding rear window bags which will block out the rearmost side windows, then curtains on the rear window and sliding door windows. Then an external windscreen and door cover for the front.

Love the forks mounts. Have you made all the parts that fit into the Unwin rail or is it available as a kit?

If anyone needs any Unwin rail I have some that I removed from our Sprinter minibus before our build.

That looks awesome!

Is the leisure battery from the factory? One really annoying thing is that if it’s not, all the useful 12v points in the back that you’d like to use for camping are run off the engine battery. The interior lights aren’t run off it either way and so time out after 15 mins.

Have  you looked at the piles of stuff available for VW Multivans in Germany?

Nice.
have you got a link to those fork mounts? And a link to your overall build on the T6 forum. Thanks

Fit the bed direct to that slidy bit and you can have tall friends to stay with you. Forget the width, feel the length!

Fork mounts are the Rockymounts droptop

RockyMounts DropTop

Which sit in alloy T track

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284952349402

With m6 slider nuts (and 14mm caphead screws)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284952349402

Which then attach to the unwin rail with these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/37331515268

I drilled out the t track holes to 10mm and then used 2 of the m8 thumbscrews that came with the rail mounts. You can see it a bit closer here

Looks great, have you considered some kind of ground anchor so you can chain the bikes(s) up when you are not with them?

Forget the width, feel the length!

I’ve used that line before.

Van looks great @ta11pau1. That’s a lot to fit into a SWB so I’m interested to see how it all turns out.

Is the leisure battery from the factory? One really annoying thing is that if it’s not, all the useful 12v points in the back that you’d like to use for camping are run off the engine battery. The interior lights aren’t run off it either way and so time out after 15 mins.

Have you looked at the piles of stuff available for VW Multivans in Germany?

Yep it’s a factory specced leisure battery under the passenger seat, it was specced with the auxiliary heater. I haven’t worked out yet which sockets in the rear win of the battery, but it’s also had backboards added under the seats with USB/12v/3pin sockets

What bits are they? Got a link to any? I’ll be buying the Vanessa window bags

https://www.campervantastic.com/product/storage-solutions/vw-t6-1-t6-t5-california/van-essa-vw-t6-1-t6-t5-vw-california-beach-storage-bags-for-the-rear-windows/

Here’s the T6 forum link for anyone who wants a long read.

https://www.t6forum.com/threads/tallpauls-caravelle-mtb-wagon.43548/

Van looks great @ta11pau1. That’s a lot to fit into a SWB so I’m interested to see how it all turns out.

Yep, it’s all very, very tight and changing one thing by a few cm then affects about 4 other things!!

For instance you’d think raising the bikes up on the drawer and adding storage under the bikes would be a good idea. But if you do that, the rear wheels would then be at a height well above the kitchen pod worktop which means you’re reaching over muddy wheels to do anything in the kitchen. At the current height I should be able to have a kitchen table “extension” which will either mount between the passenger seat and first rear seat to give a table area, or in the gap of the “L”, over the bike wheels, giving extra worktop area for the kitchen.

That looks brilliant.

Awesome job.

That looks awesome, as a new owner of a converted T5 I’m slowly becoming the cliche STW (not working in IT yet).

Quick question (you seem to know your onions more than me) I’m thinking of using a Victron IP22 charger to allow the lesuire battery to charge whilst on EHU? Any reason why that wouldn’t work?

I’m worried about charging and still having the fridge drawing 12v power from battery at the same time.

Keep us updated with the build. Love the slide kit.

An IP 22 smart charger is exactly what I have under my driver’s seat! It only works when on EHU – the 3 pin plug is only live when on hookup, and the leisure battery would be getting charge from the hookup at the same time.

The fridge I’ll be buying has an optional inverter which has both 3 pin (240v) and 12v inputs, then switches automatically, with 240v being the priority. So, whenever I’ve got the van connected to hookup the fridge will be running directly off that. Then when not on hookup it’ll run off 12v and the leisure battery. I’ll be getting solar fitted, probably over winter ready for next summer.

Fridge

https://www.jacksonsleisure.com/alpicool/50/litre/12v/24v/campervan/marine/fridge/

Adapter/inverter

https://www.jacksonsleisure.com/dometic/waeco/mps35/mains/adaptor/

I would be tempted not to run the fridge 12v when stationary and try to maximise cooling before leaving home, on site EHU and whilst travelling and use ice packs to help.

I would be tempted not to run the fridge 12v when stationary and try to maximise cooling before leaving home, on site EHU and whilst travelling and use ice packs to help.

Yeah I’ll get it down to temperature on hookup before I leave the house, then it’ll just be any campsites without hookup I need to worry about. I think a day or 2 so long as it’s not 30 degrees should be doable. Long term, solar will be the way forward .

Thanks for fork mount info, great idea.

Thank you @Ta11pau1

Excellent work. I’m looking at doing something similar with my Vito next year so I’ll bookmark this post.

I’ve a couple of similar compressor fridges. I can run both of the leisure battery for 2-3 days. I reckon if I fitted a lithium unit they’d run for a week, but I’m a little scared about how clever the factory split charge system is(n’t).

There’s a few companies. These guys used to make bike stands, wheel chocks and tie downs for the rail system. But their website seems to suggest they’re shutting down which is a shame.

Then there’s bikeinside who make dropout mounts and sliding stuff for the rails.

Reimo make their kitchenpod for the SLD opening.

I also found these which look pretty cool.

Basically if you look for Caravelle you won’t find anything as a vell in Europe is a basic shuttle here, but search for “t5 multivan” and there’s piles of goodies.

Have you seen the california tailgate mounted chairs and SLD mounted tables?

I’m watching this with interest. We have the LWB Caravelle which I generally run with just the bench seats in, meaning we can just chuck all our bikes in the back with the wheels on… it’s nice to see what we could do with it one day if the fancy takes us. :)

Got a Cali Beach (you know like a Caravelle but with an upstairs 🤪), so I’d be able to do some of this. Good stuff.

is there no “nice” solution to keep bikes in a van without taking wheels off? faffing around with QRs doesn’t fit my definition of an “ultimate” solution. There are plenty of bike racks that hold a bike securely by the wheels but it seems like no-one does a solution for inside

is there no “nice” solution to keep bikes in a van without taking wheels off? faffing around with QRs doesn’t fit my definition of an “ultimate” solution. There are plenty of bike racks that hold a bike securely by the wheels but it seems like no-one does a solution for inside

Yeah there is, but it leaves zero room for anything else.

Bikestow is one:

So, in mine I can technically fit one bike with both wheels on – I can’t have it mounted with the bars turned by much as the bars hit the roof, but it will go in with the bars straight.

It’s something I can fairly easily add at a later date if I want – tbh removing the front wheel takes all of about 30 seconds so not exactly a huge amount of faff.

Got a Cali Beach (you know like a Caravelle but with an upstairs 🤪), so I’d be able to do some of this. Good stuff.

I did consider a Cali until I saw the prices, and that they’re a bit more basic than the caravelle.

Ultimate, ultimate set up would be a pop top on be the velle, these are hard to do though due to the roof vents. That would allow 2 people sleeping upstairs and a single bed downstairs, along with the bikes!

@5lab we just stick our bikes in diagonally, pillow between each bike and bungee. Takes seconds and still lots of room, but that is LWB…

we just stick our bikes in diagonally, pillow between each bike and bungee. Takes seconds and still lots of room, but that is LWB…

Yeah LWB with the bench all the way forward there’s room, but not on a SWB. There’s around 175cm room with one row of rear seats in, and the shortest my biggest bike will go is 190cm with the bars turned.

Once I start building the kitchen pod it’ll show just how tight things are for space!