Camping conversions!

Decided to recess the bolt heads and put hatches into the floor so I can get to the items under the floor.
It makes the insulation more fiddly but means I can keep an eye on the floor and if I do change the rear shocks it will be easy.



Arrow show areas of interest, top-right are slots that will allow access to the side-to-side oval wiring ducts, there are two slots on the other side too.
The bits of wood are glued and screwed on so will hopefully be reasonably strong. Each hatch frame is the same 9mm ply so will need 2 layers of the green insulation cut away underneath it.

On a different note: I'm wondering if it's worth spraying the inside of the sills while I have it open. I've heard a few stories of Waxoyl making things worse so was wondering about some bike chain lube as it's sticky, any ideas?

Would you be able to share the measurements of where you cut the holes to access the top of the suspension? Maybe using the front edge (closest to the driver) of the wheel well for reference? I recently put in a floor and bolted it down...then put vinyl flooring on top...and didn't think to cut holes to get to the suspension!! I have 1/2" of foam insulation under the 1/2" plywood floor so I'm thinking I can cut out those areas with a dremel to create access points for the suspension. Problem is I don't know where they are now!

No probs.

The centre of the hole: from the front of the wheel well is 47cm back, from the side of the wheel well is 20cm in.
The holes need to be 18cm wide (side to side on the van) and 12cm tall (front to back on the van).

Good luck!

Don't worry too much about the fuel tank sender access as the tank can be removed to get to that.

I'm guessing a small circular saw with the depth set to 1/2" may do, a dremel may just create smoke. If you can get a drill mostly covered with a pipe to drill the corners to limited depth first - perhaps to 10mm.

Some more updates:



I've been using van lining carpet and spray glue to tidy up the metal areas, with some 5mm super foam insulation under the rear pillars for warmth as it's difficult to insulate near the light units.

You can see the 10mm ply (Hardwood WBSP - i.e. indestructible) strips that give a slot between the windows and cupboards to slot curtains in. The lower ply is 4mm and looks particularly good, although it will be the back of the cupboard. Behind the 4mm ply is also a slab of 5mm superfoam too just because.

I traced and used existing screw holes so you can see the heights vary a little, I'm switching to a different method for the other side. I'll drill 2.5mm holes and use 8mm bright posidrive woodscrews straight into the metal, avoiding any cables behind as required.

Nothing is varnished, I'm not convinced it's needed with the quality of wood being used. The cutout is for the bulge caused by the fuel filler on that side, the carpet covers that all quite neatly.

More progress that shows the intention on the long side of the Hiace here.
The wooden 4mm ply panels are 4' long and capped with 100mm strips of 10mm ply level with the windows to create a slot to tuck in curtains. The 10mm ply will also form the back of the cupboards (i.e. most of this will be invisible).



Screws are #8 in 1.25" on top in dished washers and shorter 15mm black roundhead ones for the bottom, screwed into 2.5mm holes drilled into the steel. Care is taken on the lower ones not to drill and/or screw into any cable looms heading to the back lights!

The electrical recess shows the mains distribution box on the RHS above the vent (extractor) pipe, to the left is the large Victron 500/24 inverter charger screwed to the well mounted 10mm ply backing. All ply is hardwood but this bit really needs to be! The Victron is installed upside down so instead of grovelling on the floor to see the settings, connect the wires, read the labels and use the switch I can just access it all from the top. I contacted Victron and they said it was fine, It's passive cooled anyway so the airflow will still do the job. There's a little cutout at the top to make cable access easier. The battery fuses will be mounted next to the batteries in case the wires short out. The main wires will probably be jump lead wire as it's super cheap and available, I'll see how it goes.

On the laft of the electrical bay is the Toyota door controller just moved to an accessible position and at the base below that is an earthing block earthed to the van as there's an M6 earthing bolt Toyota uses just there. Also next to the door box are two Toyota wires that used to control the rear heater fan so they are just kept handy. The 'rear heat' switch at the front is still connected and may be useful if I can think what to use it for.

To go into the space will be the split charge relay and controller, the DC-DC step-down converter for keeping the van battery at 13.8V (to power all 12V stuff including the diesel heater) and the DC-DC step-up converter to charge the 24V pack from the van (to a 13.8 x 2 = 27.6V float).

Also there I'll put the current sensor for the 24V batteries and then work out where to put the 8way fused switch that will control all the 24V and 12V items (4 switches for each).

Hey that's great progress. Your expertise with woodwork greatly surpasses mine for sure!

AgathaAlice wrote:

Hey that's great progress. Your expertise with woodwork greatly surpasses mine for sure!

Cheers, I'm hoping stuff ends up in the right place but so far the van is dictating the layout!

Here's some more electrics fitted:


I may have to move the Victron up a few mm as I realised the position cuts of most of the airflow from the bottom (which was the top and only has a 1" slot) - Doh!
The black thing is a current sense for a gauge set I bought, the two gadgets at the top are the step-up (for float charging the 24V battery from the 12V van electrics when driving) and the step-down (for float charging the van battery from the 24V leisure system when off-grid).

I.e. the way I'm getting my 12V power in the Van is to use the van battery but to keep it float charged from the leisure batteries, so I can pull any current I need but the starting battery stays charged.

So the hookup will arrive on the left hand side into the campervan dual pole RCD + MCB box, then straight into the Victon which acts like a giant UPS for the whole van.

Those open-frame switchmode converters are a diabolical source of radio frequency interference. Make sure you have a way of shutting them down if you want to use any radio equipment. As a radio tech that is always something that is very close to my mind and is unfortunately very far from the minds of the manufacturers of such equipment.

AgathaAlice wrote:

Those open-frame switchmode converters are a diabolical source of radio frequency interference. Make sure you have a way of shutting them down if you want to use any radio equipment. As a radio tech that is always something that is very close to my mind and is unfortunately very far from the minds of the manufacturers of such equipment.

Hi! I've a radio-ham next door and he regularly helps me check stuff for RF, previously I've find step-down converters quite quiet, haven't tried a step-up yet. In fact only tonight I fitted a new LED driver for the house after he checked it out.

I did have a major RF generator in the house though - it's a BIG problem for radio everywhere - want to guess what the culprit was? Nope, it was cheap 12V LED spotlamps!! With 6 of those on we got an 80dB signal increase that totally swamped all ham bands and DAB with broad spectrum noise - apparently some radio hams have tried to get away from the noise in camping sites but some of these bulbs have found their way into campers too!

We connected one bulb to 12V, you could hear it being on-air on a handheld radio with direction finding aerial!

Thanks for the reminder to check them though, I want to listen to the radio when driving and when stopped!

Yes it is a terrible problem now as switchmodes have taken over just about every power conversion task. Yes they're efficient, but that wide spectrum noise just kills everything as your ham neighbour has shown you. I have a shortwave communications receiver here that I used to be able to use for bringing in overseas news broadcasts whenever I had cause to doubt whether the local media were giving us accurate information, however I now can't use it at all as the strength meter is full-scale with interference. I've eliminated as much switchmode as I can from my house but I can't do anything about what the surrounding neighbours have. By allowing this to happen, effectively governments have imposed censorship without any public awareness.
All those new lights have switchmode converters built-in, even the 12 volt ones and most do not have any RFI filtering included as it makes them more expensive to manufacture. Our local ambulance service got a batch of very noisy LED lamps fitted to their ambulances a few years ago and wondered why their R/T's became useless; they ended up having to splash out some more money for 'radio friendly' units which are only available from a very few manufacturers and hence command a rather large price-tag.

Yes the 12V MR16 spots seem to be the worst, the wide angle one seem fine as I think they have enough LEDs to only require the odd resistor - same with the LED strips.

We looked at Philips etc (good but pricey) and settled on LAP from Screwfix here in the UK, price doesn't seem to track RF noise though, the LAP ones we got were on sale at £3.99 for a box of 5 and they are fine, lots of components inside to keep them quiet and they measure well.

I'll use strips in the van if I add lighting. The real solution for home is to go solar with some NiFe or salt battery banks and then use Halogen, much nicer light then too

Just a few pics of our SC new layout.

A few more pics of our SC

A few more

Further to explain were the £3000 whent

Dometic 100ltr 3 way fridge £900
Sink and 2 burner hob £300
Lightweight furniture board and ply £600
Bed foam 125mm upholstery and cushions £500
Water tank + filler + pump and pipework £190
Floor covering £70
Worktop £80
Wireless bed head lifter £45
Lighting x 4 £35
Table £60

Not everything included but just an idea for others how costs escalate.

Wow that looks nice!

Looks really good, I was at the NEC campervan show yesterday and nothing looked any better than the finish you have there, very nice!

Thanks GPW but I bet my electrics are crude compared to yours.

JT69 wrote:

Thanks GPW but I bet my electrics are crude compared to yours.

Haha - we'll see if mine works at all when it's wired up, currently it's just random bits screwed into some wood LOL

@JT69 I assume you're not attempting to obtain 'self-containment' certification (do you even have that in your country?).
Our van complies currently with the NZ requirements and has certification, but may not when the next inspection is due in about three and a half years time as they're considering adding ablution facilities to the requirement list and there's simply no way we can fit a shower into our layout. We do comply with the recently changed requirement for the toilet to be able to be used while the beds are made up (some portable toilets have been stored under the beds in the past but that will now fail at the next inspection).

Ours was already registered as a camper-van just put in a new layout so covered for livening in, our laws are completely different to yours apparently, our portapoty can be used any time and lasts about three/four days without emptying at an approved dump. The van is all set up for free camping portable shower grey waste tank solar panel three way fridge 100ltr so we never need to plug in refillable fixed gas bottle 70ltr water tank diesel parking heater plus 12v TV and satellite receiver.

AgathaAlice wrote:

there's simply no way we can fit a shower into our layout.

It's possible that the legal requirement doesn't mandate the shower must be inside the van, a sun heated portable shower used under the tailgate may be enough - even if you have to use a washing up bowl or storage container as a tray - worth checking the exact regs.

I think the more draconian requirements in NZ and Aus is to preempt people sleeping in cars without toilet facilities, have seen enough free camps in Aus with a disgusting mess behind every bush, if you sleep in a vehicle without facilities near many towns like Darwin (Aus) you will be rudely awakened in the early hours by a  policeman and a council official and fined on the spot $100. Must add have seen many places in Spain France and the UK just as bad, time we caught up.

All the comments above are correct. Sorry @JT69 I couldn't see the potty in your pics (sounds like you have it all set up really well)!

We have had many incidents here where so-called 'freedom campers' have left what should be pristine nature spots in a disgusting mess and even just in the last few days there was an incident where another camper saw a person from a van go and squat behind something so they took a photo which got posted in our newspapers. The excuse apparently was that the other people in the van were still sleeping so the toilet couldn't be used (didn't comply with the current rule obviously, may be at the very end of its certification term). In some of the more popular spots what you describe for Darwin also applies here; there are patrols at any random time and I think the fine is somewhat bigger too.

@GPW yes that will possibly work, the requirement is as yet still under discussion but it seems very likely it will have been settled on by the time our recertification is due. The thrust of it all is to leave any area visited effectively untouched, that even includes not emptying any water onto the ground so as you suggest some sort of tray would be needed to collect the water from the shower and return it to the grey water tank in the vehicle which may be a little difficult for a lone woman to do, however we'll cross that bridge when we get to it as the saying goes.

Many of the rules are actually attempts by the rich elite who have the $200k and above mobile homes to push out the less well financially endowed by making it too difficult to obtain certification; there is somewhat of a backlash but those wealthy folks are a strong lobby group and tend to get most of their way eventually.

Ok, a little update on the slow but steady van progress in the electrical system.

Firstly I connected up the split charge sensor and bought two 40A relays with sockets+wires and LEDs in them, not just to look cool but to see when they were on.

I then drove Relay1 from the charge sensor for the 12V side, and Relay2 from Relay1 (so as not to load the sensor with 2 relays). This forms a double switch so the 'engine running' detection flicks in the 12V to 24V booster and removed the 24V to 12V float charger. This worked fin except for one item - the Buck down regulator doesn't isolate it's output when not powered up, so leaving the 12V output connected without any 24V around still powered up the regulator - Doh. So I then stuck a Shottky diode on the output so it only output stuff!!

I also connected up the 24V current and voltage monitor I'd bought. Then I could test it by charging up the van battery, when it reached about 13.8V the charge sensor flicks the relay and then both relays and the 24V monitor switch on.

So I'm at the stage now of needing to buy batteries, something I'd been putting off for ages. I wanted AGM as you can use 80% of the energy (rather than 50%) and they don't vent, but where to find them and how big?
So eventually I found that for £125 I could buy two 50Ah AGM Mobility scooter batteries which are nice and small - perfect for the job!! So I now have the equivalent of a 100Ah AGM leisure battery but in 24V /50Ah format, they only weigh 15kg each, have useful screw terminals and are 198mm x 166mm x 170mm in size.

Because I now had the same capacity as a bigger camper (but wanted a bit more) I also bought an 80W solar panel (flexible, 80cm x 54cm that should fit in the moonroof sunshade) and a basic MPT-7210A MPPT controller that will charge the 24V batteries directly.

The only addition I'll do now is to use a voltage comparator circuit (£4 with relay) to detect a low 24V bank condition which will disable the 24V to 12V float charger.

I've also added a bracket (flat piece of aluminium) bolted behind the rear bumper in the middle with the EHU (hookup) socket bolted on it, just tucked out of sight near the spare. I just need to wire this up and then when the batteries arrive I'll have the basic electrical stuff done.

For those who'd like a simply life I'd suggest just buying a marine battery for the van and keeping a portable jumpstart unit handy LOL