Sadly after almost exactly two years and 96 nights away the van has developed so many issues we are going to have to write it off. I’m very sad about this as ‘Roary’ had become an important part of our lives and we had a lot of fun together.
So, the van is dead, long live the van!
We have bought a much newer and bigger Renault Master and using what we have learnt from our first attempt, we are going to do a second conversion.
Our van is currently for sale in eBay (silver vw crafter) because I’ve just bought a newer citroen relay l4h3 for a new conversion. Bought the biggest van I could in the hope it will be the one for at least 5 years! Bikes take up a lot of space so I’m always on the look out for clever storage methods.
Roary had a garage at the back. This time we are going to store bikes under the bed (this van is about a foot higher than Roary). We are hoping this arrangement will let us take 2x road bikes + 2x mountain bikes or 2x kayaks and one pair of bikes.
The Renault has a plastic roof so we can’t get a roof rack for it. The boats will have to go inside. On the plus side, if we can make the layout work will massively reduce the kayak loading faff.
I want a van conversion not a campervan because I want a touch simple layout that won’t mind a bit of dirt and hopefully less dosh
Is this still economically viable if I pay some one else to do the work. I mean if I buy a base Van used (£10k?) and then pay some one to it convert (£5k?) would that still be less than a similar age campervan? I would be looking for a fixed bed with space for a bike under it, a fixed 2 burner cooker, fridge, a couple of windows, lining, pop up roof some where to sit and some kind of heating
It might not look like much happened today but trying to sort out a second-hand van can be very time consuming. The floor had been put in by someone who clearly was never planning to see it again. About a third of the screws had been rounded off which meant as we are going to reuse the floor we needed to drill them all out. There was a fair bit if rubbish under the floor but not too much rust. It was very hot inside so we chucked the robot Hoover in to clean the floor while we had an ice pop break.
Roary wasn’t realistically repairable.
He needed an EGR valve replacing, had a hole in the engine, the brake pipes were corroded, had a badly leaking cylinder head, copious amounts of rust, the engine management system kept going to limp mode, he needed new brake pads and disks, the instrument panel kept cutting out for no obvious reason and he needed a new offside, sidelight bulb.
We had already thrown quite a bit of money at him in the last couple of months to try and keep him going. There just comes a point that it isn’t worth throwing money at a conversion which only cost us about £4000 including the van.
We must have spend at least half of that trying to keep him going.
Watching with interest. I miss my old van. After the conversion was finished I said never again. Maybe one day, when the kids are older and I have a bit more time on my hands.
Keen to hear any comments on ampthill’s query above regarding budgets. I am thinking of a similar 15k figure all in, and I would rather get someone else to do the work, although I will design it. Super simple layout with folding 3 section bed to the rear that turns into a forward facing sofa by day and simple cooking facilities to the front. All knocked up in timber, none of your fancy units.
On the subject of washing/ personal hygiene, I keep thinking of having a slightly raised wooden floor with a removable section that reveals a circular shower tray underneath. A circular shower curtain rail would be set into the ceiling above, theoretically allowing one to have a shower without using up any floor space. Will I die? Or I suppose you could find somewhere in the van to store a metal tray and just get it out when required…
I would be looking for a fixed bed with space for a bike under it, a fixed 2 burner cooker, fridge, a couple of windows, lining, pop up roof some where to sit and some kind of heating
not for 5k.
The final bill on my van the previous owner got for my van that i got given when i bought it was all that without the pop top and it still cost them 13k.