Thinking of building a mtb specific racetruck style motorhome any tips?

My car is just a mobile bike shed so my proposed motorhome will be a glorified bike shed with sleeping, showering and bike servicing built in.
I’ve seen the motocross and karting racetruck motorhomes on ebay and am not impressed. I think I can build the ideal mtb racetruck.

Proposed vehicle: Iveco Daily 3950 wheelbase with H2 roof. Anybody know of this vehicle? Any specific year to buy? Comments?

I’m planning on having a full sized shower in the rear corner, a 4ft wide bed with bike garage below.

I want it to look like a normal ‘white van’ with no outward signs of obvious valuables within. The bike garage will have a separate locking mesh door inside, just in case thieves get through the rear doors.

Can you build two please 😕

Bear in mind a shower in a van is a whole lot more of a PITA than a shower in a house.

1) Needs a calorifier fitted to the engine/exhaust ££££. Also means you only have hot water on days you drive somewhere, and a few hours after you stop (i.e. useless for all day epics, any trip that involves parking for more than da day and 24h races).
2) Need’s pumps, these respond to drops in pressure and switch on to maintain it. If the system springs a leak it will keep pumping/leaking untill the tanks is dry and all that water will end up inside the van (they never seem to leak somewhere convenient like under the van).
3) Tanks, you’ll need enough water to wash you and any mates, and enough tanks again to store it. You then have to pay somewhere to empty the tank unless you can dicreetly park next to a drain (dumping a load of soapy water into a river isn’t exactly environmentaly friendly).

It’s a lot of money/hastle to avoid paying 50p to use the chaning rooms at a trail center with half decent showers, or jumping into a cold lake on a ‘camping’ trip. If I was planning a van, showers and toilets would be the very bottom of the list,

Inspirational thread here!!

Family-friendly bike-carrying camper build

1) Needs a calorifier fitted to the engine/exhaust ££££. Also means you only have hot water on days you drive somewhere, and a few hours after you stop (i.e. useless for all day epics, any trip that involves parking for more than da day and 24h races).

look at Caravan systems – ours had an electric/gas water heater with a tank for the hot water (the cold was an external tank for ease of filling and the hot tank filled from that) pumps etc were all part of the system. It would run either off 240v if you had a hookup/generator or gas if you didn’t.

points 1 and 2 are moot , there are other ways of doing it.

our van was parked at the puffer for 2 days in sub zero – then i showered with nice hot water before driving home.

2 – we had to turn the pumps on before showering , you dont just leave the system pressurised for no reason.

I have an Eberspacher 5kw diesel water heater, I plan to plumb it in and heat either the engine block on cold mornings, the hot water header tank or heat the rear living space.

A shower is a must for those nights spent out in remote Scottish areas with no campsites.

Any comments on the choice of vehicle? I chose this one because it has a large overhang behind the rear wheels so I can get the shower in without running up against wheelarches.

My random thoughts on the Iveco (having owned and converted a MWB camper for 7 years): The LWB is a big van and drives like a big van / small truck. They are not particularly refined. I found the drivers seat very comfortable for long journeys. Above about 65mph the mpg will drop off dramatically, and the noise level will increase similarly. The LWB is a bugger to park, but turning circle is surprising good for the size of van. The electrics are, how shall I put this, ‘Itallian’. Due to the chassis construction and high floor there’s lots of room underneath for water tanks etc. Like a lot of commercial vans the paint seems poor/thin. Condider the payload if it’s a 3.5T van and you’re converting/adding water tanks/etc as the base van is quite heavy. May need to look at the 4.5T version.

You could save alot of money and buy my old one:

http://www.usedcarsni.com/2001-Mercedes-Sprinter-311-CDI-LWB-RACE-VAN-125267080?grtkey=1400066932_befab0cfca9420afbecd3ac0b4d0b8dd

Perfect for mountain biking, take 4 bikes in the back securely, has a proper shower and toilet and a kitchen.

Are there any online 3d modelling sites?

Download Sketchup 🙂

i looked at that crispyrice but its not very stealth , its also got 250000 miles on the clock and is very expensive.

its very nice. But rebuilt engine or not its still very expensive for a yolk with quarter of a million miles on the clock.(even more so when all i want out of a weekend vehicle is a bed and secure bike storage)