LFGSS Camper Van owners?

Thanks for the fridge tip. I'm buying a new fridge too so I'll take this into consideration when I'm looking.
Mine's on a pop top too, so I was presuming flexible or semi-flexible was the way to go.

Mine's on a pop top too

which van? I've a bolt-on kit which I bought from here http://www.solarcampersolutions.co.uk/

Looking to get a Toyota Hiace having spent 6 months travelling around in NZ in one. Seems they are popular in Scotland, can't find any here in London Town.

Mine's an old T25 conversion.
Thanks for the link, they're not far from me. Could visit and combine it with a Quantocks trip :)

So 6v then? ;)

Sometimes no-v.
Sometimes no-go.

Hiace motorhome is not LEZ compliant.

depending on the state of the wiring you might want to rewire the entire leisure circuit at the same time.

I was only kidding, the wiring's fine. Everything works as it should, apart from one speaker which I've promised to fix when I get round to buying a new stereo.

Look at the shine on that

News this week:

Tuesday my 15 plate Peugeot Boxer H2L3 big white van was delivered. 70k miles, £9500 inc vat minus unexpected partex. Trim level is "Professional", so it has rear parking sensors (very glad), a touchscreen system with built in TomTom (less relevant nowadays since it lacks traffic info) and DAB radio (which doesn't seem to be working for me).

Just ordered a Kreg R3 jig so I can build the interior properly.

First big trip tomorrow night, driving to Swanage for Sunday's Dorset Gravel Dash 100, but I've booked the week off, so might go exploring down south a bit.

All that info and no pics?

http://www.instagram.com/p/BjE2PbuHtMN/

My Gemini "phone" only has a "selfie" camera (external camera module not yet available).

Congrats! Definitely a good idea to use it before converting it - you'll figure out how you want to use the van and also make sure you've got a good base vehicle. Likely the DAB is just a loose / broken aerial. Lots of how-to's and examples on youtube for inspiration for your conversion.

In other news I cleaned the interior of my van! It looks amazing again. This month it was time for the annual weekend of fiddling around with little fixes and improvements as the bus failed its MOT (non functioning fog light and intermittent rear number plate lights). Both common faults with relatively easy (but not obvious) fixes. I've added a second set of brake/reversing lights where the bumper reflectors were, replaced a failed rear view camera and added an inline booster for the FM radio aerial.

Can't wait to get out in it now the sun is shining.

Happy travels everyone

Boxer findings:

1. Fuel economy brim-to-brim: Old knackered van did 40-45mpg, best run was 53mpg diagonally from Carmarthen to Bolton in the dark, mostly A-roads. Best so far for the Boxer about 37mpg, mostly motorways and dual carriageways. This will get worse as I add weight, better as I learn not to use its 130bhp up hills, make do with truck speed.
   
2. The sliding door's interior handle only releases the "fully open" catch, it isn't a proper door handle. Need to fit a proper handle so we can exit when parked up against something, or someone's been a twat.
   
3. The roof sheetmetal looks like it has the pressing for a factory sunroof above where a second row of seats would be. I'd like to fit an insulated sunroof here, if one exists. I'm not keen on typical vent/skylights fitted to campers as they're tiny and stick up, interfering with airflow and reducing stealth.
   
4. The double passenger seat is too upright and doesn't seem to be adjustable. When the bulkhead's gone I'd like the bench and driver's seat to spin so I might need to hunt out adjustable bench seats. Don't want to fit a normal single seat since I may want to use the van for polo trips (team of three) and plan to keep the van beyond when there's a third human in the household.
   
5. No driver's side cupholders. Passenger side cupholder is too small for the containers we've tried to use so far. Same for the cupholders in the back of the bench's flip-down section.
   
6. Rear parking sensors are great, but there's no integration into the dash's touchscreen, which is disappointing. Rear camera would be useful when reversing towards greenery.
   
7. Front bumper has space for foglights. Want.
   
8. Went shopping at sunset. The unusual lighting revealed where the van used to have "VAN HIRE" written in 6 inch letters on the side, up above head height. Not visible in bright daylight. Slightly disappointed my van's not been a one-company lease, rather it's had 3 years of drivers who may have been reckless or van-novices or both.
   
9. Gear change can feel a little notchy/rough. Related to 8?
   
   

Definitely a good idea to use it before converting it

I spent some time on interior layout last year when I started looking for a replacement for the old van. This week has highlighted the importance of having space to pull out containers to rummage in them, and the usefulness of not having to dismantle bikes to load them after a ride.

@Emyr when do you start converting?

the longer we live in our van the less I think that stealth matters that much, but I wish we hadn't bigger and better vents for light when's the door needs to be closed.

Imminently.

I want to do a "test-fit" interior before I insulate so I can put in pipes and wiring to the right places. This should make the space a bit more usable as we'll be sleeping in it at the Bristol Polo tourney in 2.5 weeks.

We'll have 2 weeks in Spain at the end of August inc 2 days driving each way, so 4 nights without a tent. Not sure how much I want to get done by then since the last 3 years we've basically had a double bed in an uninsulated Transit Connect Hi-LWB, with bikes under the bed...

Insulated and final carpentry by Christmas probably, so we can go MTBing in Scotland around new year. Probably won't have all the electrics and wiring done, but there'll be something minimal.

Thoughts on insulation:

Aerogel e.g Proctor Spacetherm:
Conductivity: 0.014 W/(m.K) about as good as it gets.
Relatively stable.
Available as a plain blanket (polyester infused with aerogel "sand"), good for wrapping around stuff and bunching into gaps, or bonded to a rigid sheet (plasterboard, ply or Magnesium Oxide). MagOx is nicely fire resistant but I don't know how it handles (bendier or stiffer than thin ply?). Would need to consider how to incorporate it without cold-bridging since the blanket part isn't strong. Spacetherm multi has a 6mm MgOx sheet and the "floor" version of Multi has the blanket encapsulated in metalised plastic, which should help keep the aerogel in the blanket.

PIR (e.g Celotex) Foil-faced foam sheets.
Conductivity: 0.022 W/(m.K) Almost as good as Aerogel, but 10 times cheaper.
The gas used to blow the foam can leach out over time, which is unpleasant and reduces its performance.
Can be cut using a craft knife, which is useful since it's too rigid to match the curve of some van ceilings.
Cut edges can crumble if they move relative to the adjacent structures. The dust is an irritant, so you want it outside your vapour barrier.
Performs better when warm, so you'd want it nearer the inner face of your insulated wall.
For awkward spaces, can use expanding foam to hold smaller pieces in place and fill gaps.

XPS:Extruded Polystyrene
(e.g Styrofoam)
Conductivity: 0.026-0.035 W/(m.K), less insulating than PIR but Better loadbearing and lower vapour permissivity
Traditionally blown using HFCs, but recent versions are air-blown (hence Styrofoam's blue-> grey transition) yet have almost identical performance.
Panel Systems in Sheffield do CNC hotwire-cut Styrofoam, which might be useful for corrugated panels.

EPS:Expanded polystyrene
Conductuctivity: 0.038 W/(m.K)
Same and bike helmets and packaging.
Cheap but lower strength than XPS.

Fibrous insulation:
Glass (0.034 W/m.K), mineral, sheep, recycled plastics...
Porous, so less insulating for each unit thickness
Porous, so humid air can pass through it and condensate on the first surface on the cold side, potentially trapping moisture against your sheetmetal.
Tends to sag over time, leaving poor insulation at the top where the hottest air is.

Current plan:

Floor: Styrofoam (with CNC'd underside, or strips to smooth corrugations),vapour barrier, 9mm marine ply
Walls: foiled bubblewrap in the non-window concaves, PIR, vapour barrier, 3-4mm ply, cupboards
Ceiling: PIR, vapour barrier, then concave thin ply? Maybe CNC'd styrofoam to present a smooth face to the PIR sheets.

From what I've seen so far, the £/R-value of PIR is under £6 per m²K/W, whereas Aerogel is over £70 per m²K/W, albeit 33% thinner. Don't think I'm that short on space.

Any tips?

I don't know what I'm doing.

A '91 VW T4 - It's got a petrol engine with 110k on it. Risky?

Depends how much they're asking for it. I'd say go for it though if the price is right for you. They go on for ages and parts are readily available.

Most vans I've driven have had gear boxes made of gravel.

Economy wise have found latest diesels (euro 5 and 6) are quote a lot worse than older version, figured you get more power and with diesel power = fuel, and emissions stuff sucks up the rest, use more fuel to burn hotter = more complete combustion so less nasty stuff.
Also no van ever has a long enough top gear, always very revvy.
Got any pics, sounds like a spacious beast

I would be happy with a diesel with that mileage but less so with petrol. How it’s gathered those miles is what counts. City miles? Delivery van? Probably the best value you’ll get is a t4 Caravelle that’s been a family van.

Also in all honesty if I was buying something with serious miles on it I’d be prepared to do work to repair and maintain it, in which case I’d buy a t3