new hiace owner in Rutland UK

Hello fellow owners.
Living next to Rutland water in the beautiful surroundings of Rutland, i only thought it right to purchase a cool van to convert into a camper to explore the local area. I looked at VWs, Bongos and everything else you can name. Saw the Hiace and although it may need a little work i bought it. 2 months later, it is MOT'd Taxed, insured and ready to go. Just got to build the camper part now. I am often found in and around Rutland as it is my commute to work during the week, and mostly on the shores of Rutland Water on weekends. Happy to meet other members who are in the area and also happy to lend a hand to any members visiting Rutland Water as i live next to it.

Paul

Excellent, don't forget to post to the campervan conversion thread!!

https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t3479-camping-conversions

We have reconfigured our camper we bought it 3 years back it was a 7 seater with folding seats in the middle rear kitchen Japanese conversion loads of dark wood rather dated really. So we ripped it all out including the new Wieco compressor fridge (£500) the only reason these are so popular is they are so easy to fitt no vents required, they are supposed to be quiet not so and will disturb your sleep. we sold the interior for £319 on Ebay and the fridge for £470. We fitted a conventional 3 way fridge 100ltr , we also moved kitchen to the front and put conventional benches at the back used 125mm foam for cushions the priority being a comfortable bed and as a touch of luxury added a electric bed head raiser.
Water tank is now 70ltr a bit OTT but we  use a stand alone shower for wild camping, everything is set up for wild camping hence the large fridge and solar panel on the roof plus sat TV.
 Must add we spent best part of £3000 even though it was all DIY hate to think how much a professional job would have cost.

I have also ripped out the dark wood and the red velvet looking interior with the chandelier. I have insulated the interior and my next steps are to add reclaimed wood for the units and bed. I am going for a single bed that pulls out into a double. Maybe some wood flooring (TBC).

I am not going full camper conversion with leisure battery, hook up and water pump as i am only planning to have it as a weekend van for festivals or days away.

Although i am sure i could be tempted to get a full conversion done at a later date if i need one. £3000 does sound expensive for a DIY fit. A few years ago i was thinking about getting a bongo and having it professionally done and that was around the £4000 mark for the conversion.

any ideas on the best place for the foam for my mattress/cushions? I will add my own material as the van will be personalised and Tiki themed with bamboo and palm tree design.

The cost of a conversion need not be that great, typically I'm spending currently:

£350 Victron inverter charger
£160 Batteries
£130 diesel heater
£150 Misc electrical (hookup, DC converters, sockets)
£75 Fiamma 30cm Bipot
£100 10mm hardwood ply
£60 insulation
£60 carpet + glue
£80 Fridge (table-top A++ rated)

which is around £1200. I'll comfortable reach £1500 but stay within £2000.
My water system is going to be pretty basic possibly from a garden pressure sprayer into a house tap with a cheap sink or bowl, a £20 single ring portable cooker and that's pretty much it.

Congrats on the new wagon. Looks like a slightly more chilled out looking manga van version, and it looks good for it.

If you were to convert it to an official camper with bed, sink, and gas cooker you could get the van re-registered to a camper and you'll expect to see you're insurance go right down. I'm around £220 fully comp on my camper version. just throwing it out there.

Converting the camper with reclaimed wood sounds great, just bear in mind that the extra weight will mean your full consumption, acceleration and braking will be reduced. You can easily get prefabbed side units and then vinyl sticker so you have the effect of reclaimed wood. A great place for camper conversation materials is https://magnummotorhomes.co.uk/ it's eye opening some of the things you can get.

ps. I don't blame you for getting rid of the chandelier ;o)

I plan to re-register mine as a camper too, my insurance guy told me just going from 7 or 8 seats to 2 would push the insurance down too!

I have tried reclaimed wood, it's good if it's good but pallet wood is a real pain to split and best just burned in my experience. Weight is very important, the wooden panels for the sides (back of the cupboards) are 4mm ply for me, interestingly it's got some of the nicest wood grains I've ever seen LOL.

I'll buy bed slats for all bedding and seating areas as it's cheap, light and breaths. I'm not quite sure how it'll all work out but it's interesting to build LOL. I'm still insulating and sticking stretch carpet on the exposed painted surfaces currently, it's a bit fiddly but getting there.

Thanks for the tip of the weight, i never really took it into consideration so i will strip back as much as i can and use it sparingly. My real dilemma is, although i planned a pull out bed along the side of the van, i am actually considering having a permanent bed going across the back but not sure if i could be comfortable in a bed that is short (the width of the van) i have seen a few conversions that way with a raised bed and storage underneath. The advantages are it would be a lot less hassle to build, always be ready without the need to move things around to make the bed. Has anybody else done the bed that way? I have stripped out all rear seats so i do have a decent length to play with so having the bed fixed would not restrict space for the units.

dogsoldier96 wrote:

Thanks for the tip of the weight, i never really took it into consideration so i will strip back as much as i can and use it sparingly. My real dilemma is, although i planned a pull out bed along the side of the van, i am actually considering having a permanent bed going across the back but not sure if i could be comfortable in a bed that is short (the width of the van) i have seen a few conversions that way with a raised bed and storage underneath. The advantages are it would be a lot less hassle to build, always be ready without the need to move things around to make the bed. Has anybody else done the bed that way? I have stripped out all rear seats so i do have a decent length to play with so having the bed fixed would not restrict space for the units.

Checkout out the thread here:
https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t3479-camping-conversions
to see my plan (for my van)  further down the page.

I wanted both a permanent bed, permanent seating and room to sleep 2 all in a van rather too small for that, especially as we can't swivel the ftont seats. However we can tilt the seats forward so my plan is to have the fridge and the chest of drawers (the £15 plastic set from Wilkos) pivot/slide into the gaps to make more space in the interior. The idea is to use wooden 'legs' on pivots so the items can be 'slid' over to the spaces left by the seats.

So my layout has a single fixed bed running longways: head at the tailgate. I did consider a diagonal bed (tallest person on the outside) but didn't end up using that idea.
So between the single fixed bed there will be a roll of slats to make the space into a double bed (120cm wide). Then I have a travelling headboard to use as a seat back. The sink is now going to be at the end of the big cupboard by the sliding door, flared out a bit to hold 25L containers - subject to review. Then the long side has a narrow cupboard with electrics and heater.

As for making the bed, the idea is that I simply roll half the bedding out of the way toward the back when using the van in the day for seating in the front L shaped seating area, and roll it forward at night - very quick to do. I'm going to leave 32-35mm under the bed to fit in the Fiamma loo and room for big plastic storage containers that everywhere sell for storage.

sounds good. Im looking at going to quirky camper festival this year as it is not far from me and hopefully get some DIY ideas and learn a bit more about electrics etc..

dogsoldier96 wrote:

sounds good. Im looking at going to quirky camper festival this year as it is not far from me and hopefully get some DIY ideas and learn a bit more about electrics etc..

Thanks, it's evolving slowly! Any questions you have about camper electrics post in the campervan conversion thread.
The electrics vary depending upon your requirements, I wanted mains electricity, a cheap fridge and a hookup point + a diesel heater so mine's a bit custom, but essentially they are relatively straightforward once you work it out.