Our Old Van

After 65000 miles including five winter trips travelling to and around Morocco we are still as happy with our ‘new’ converted van as the day we collected it on a cold December day more than 6 years ago. Two nights at a nearby site gave us a good chance to test everything out before returning home. Having had an old VW camper for the last 10 years we were familiar with how most things worked but now had new technology to play with.

Our main conversion requirements were:

A compressor fridge, great, no contorted positions to see if the gas flame was lit and even better a Webasto heater fuelled directly from the diesel tank.

A small oven with grill and electronic ignition for it and the gas hob, no more fiddling with matches.

An extra wide and longer bed to accommodate us two six footers.

Decent leisure battery storage capacity to run everything without mains hook-up, we planned to have a solar panel fitted later.

A Sterling Battery to Battery charger to give a quick boost to the leisure batteries if it hadn't been sunny and we had used a lot of the battery power.

Cupboards with shelves not a wardrobe we wouldn't use.

Why we chose Middlesex Motorhomes (MML)

Because they were flexible in adapting their layouts to our requirements where possible, and for giving us good advice about what would or wouldn't work. Everyone has their own idea of the perfect camper, MML helped us to create ours.

Our vehicle.

A Toyota van would have been number one choice but they don’t make one big enough so it was to be another Transporter. A test drive at a VW dealer had us hooked, especially the comfort of the cab and the engine power. We hoped to get a pre registered panel van which gives a good saving on new but after a few weeks of MML and us looking there were none available to fit our requirements. We wanted a long wheel base and a factory fitted high roof but there were none available so we had to get a new one. At least this gave us the option of choosing the colour and only getting the optional extras we wanted.

Things we wanted/needed on the conversion.

Gill has very long legs and had a bad back and needed the seat a far back as it goes and then angled back. Trying other VW conversions she could never angle the seat back enough as the units usually start right behind the drivers seat. Most converters for obvious reasons build to a standard layout which would have been incompatible for us. Graham said he could the start the units further back, it probably helped that we were having the LWB as he had an extra 40cm to work with. We also wanted a bed wider than the usual rock and roll bed and Graham & Hillary made an excellent adaptation by reducing the cupboard/wardrobe depth. Also we didn't want the hob directly next to the drivers seat as it doesn't feel safe to us, or you have to have a flame protected side panel. We swapped the layout over so the sink is next to the drivers seat and this worked out fine except that the sink drainage had further to travel and a customized waste tank was required. We would have liked a larger matching sink and hob but it was impractical in this size of van. Most LWB Transporter conversion layouts are different to ours, they tend to have the kitchen/toilet facilities at the back with the beds being made up every night with a combination of the cab seats and the other seating usually involving juggling seat cushions and back rests then retrieving the bedding from storage. With our bed the rear seat flips down, the bedding, 2 double quilts one on top of the other, is already there and just needs rolling forward. Also with this layout we get so much extra storage, above the bed a big cupboard accessed from both ends and all the space underneath the bed.

Windows. We like as much natural light as possible and find the glazed plastic ones with the internal blinds and screen too small so we had standard VW van windows fitted. The only disadvantage is you don’t get the benefits of insulation and we do like to use the van all year round, thicker insulated curtains may help. We have the plastic ones in the roof sides and a mini heiki one in the roof which do a good job.

Things we would change or don’t like

When loaded the fridge door catch isn’t much good and sometimes comes open on bends but a home-made rubber wedge has solved the problem.

More insulation to the back doors and windows as we use our van all year round.

Mini Heiki is noisy when driving over 50mph, solved by shoving a thin cushion over it when on a long journey.

Bits we have had added

Drip rail to stop water from the high top roof, also doubles as an awning rail

130W Solar Panel, we never need an electric hook-up

Battery master to keep the vehicle battery topped up from the leisure batteries.

The bits we liked the best

The wide, very comfortable long bed

The two tables on swing arms which can be moved into so many handy positions.

Cupboards that stay shut, even on pot-holed roads!

Compressor fridge, gas free, run by the batteries & solar panel

Diesel blown air heating which we can even turn on whilst still in bed.

The conversion was started and finished on time and it worked out just as we had hoped.