LFGSS Camper Van owners?

@Pifko

Picked up a 2.4D T4 yesterday. Soon realised that the fuel gauge, temperature and speedo* were all not working properly. I have no idea what I'm doing, but the kids love it.

*over-reading speed - due to the larger 2nd hand wheels?

Lovely, congrats! The wheels / tyres will definitely be the cause of the harsh ride. Likely also the cause of the over-reading speedo, it doesn't take much.

Check when the cambelt and water pump were last done. Gauge problems are likely to be fuel tank and thermostat sensors but I would get them checked out sooner rather than later ;)

Camper owners/converters...

I'm working on a project with a friend to produce a pull out bed for campers. The idea is that the customer will be able to specify the length/width/height of the bed and we will CNC a kit of parts for home assembly. The bed will be free-standing and be able to be used in or out of the van (I currently have my prototype setup as my guest bed at home).

Any comments or specific things you'd like from a bed that we may not have thought of? Would love some comments or questions to get us thinking about more details

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What thickness of ply is that? Looks quite heavy, weight can be a real consideration for conversions as they have to stay below 3.5 tonnes.

Is it possible to make one that has a longer slide mechanism so that it can slide out lengthways along the inside of the van and create a 6'1" bed along the slats?

This proto was made from 18mm as the construction is glued/screwed butt joints but with our switch over to CNC we can reduce to 15mm with jointed corners and no stripwood. I can lift the prototype in/out of my van on my own - I'd say it's maybe 35 or 40 kilos, and I would see the real production proto being lighter.

I can't see a reason why it couldn't be pulled out lengthways - generally it's approx 60% of it's full width when stowed. Could be a consideration as you'd end up with this weird 3ft deep platform in the van. Is this a specific request for the layout you have in mind?

Looks like it might be good for canal boaters. Camper vans are tricky as there’s such little space so you’re competing with a rock-and-roll bed which obviously doubles as a car seat. Perhaps you could team up with the guys that make slidepods for a complete conversion package?

Would have been ideal for our box room / home office, too. Nice.

Not a specific layout, but basically what Freddo said. Often the smaller vans like T4s have a sideways sofa the becomes a bed, but I'm not sure that's optimal if you have the option of a rock and roll.

My MWB van has a semi-fixed bed at the rear and extra sections that pop in to extend. A slide mechanism like this could be a much neater system for taking a bed that fills the rear of the bed out to full length for night time.

We had a rudimentary version of that in our Hiace. It was a total pain but probably due to being hacked together and with no easy way to access the storage space underneath

Anyone have experience with dual fuel conversions? Petrol is $$$ here, gas is cheap. There's a reasonably priced L300, dual fuel conversion, insulated and kitted out fairly simply that we're going to take a look at on Sunday.

Lots of guys on the caddy2k forum use something very similar to make their caddys into MTB day vans/mini campers..... They work well in this guise and you can utilise the space under them easily...

Thanks for all the questions so far!

When I was converting my van I did look into rock and roll beds but they tend not to suit the smaller conversions too well. This does also double up as a seat - just a long bench seat down one side of the van. This also allows me access to a full length section of the loading area of the van which means I can still pop 2 bikes in there with the bed in (something I wouldn't be able to do with a rock and roll)

With a transporter conversion ideally I’d be looking to be able to transport 4 people, so presumably you mean something like a caddy conversion for MTB weekends. That makes a lot more sense :)

Ah sure. Yep! Really it pulls out into a double bed so that kinda limits your sleeping numbers. My van seats three up front for bikey trips and sleeps 2 comfortably for camping trips

Posted about this in the DIY thread, but I'm planning to have pumped cold water, a waste tank and a fridge by week Friday. Stressed.

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Not sure if it's already been posted, but thought this was quite cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wksm1xI1Ms0

This arrived today. Made the unit to house it last night.

Dometic/Waeco CRX80.

Looking at it in the kitchen, with our home fridge freezer looming over it, I wonder how the CR50/CRX50 got so popular, with 2/3rds the capacity of this one.

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Big Sur!

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Both Wickes and B&Q lack the barb fitting I need for the 10mm ID flexible pipe that fits my water pump. Also the tap came with a braided flexi pipe with a 1/2" BSP tap end and 3/8" supply end. Said big shops don't have anything with a 3/8" BSP thread, not even adapters, only 1/2" and 3/4".

The fridge's meant to be screwed from the inside. The blanking caps are a bastard to get off without using something sharp and pointy and behind the blankets they don't have a pre-cut hole for your "appropriate screws", not even a centering divot...

OH spent her Monday painting the kitchen unit: outside orange using a can of Dulux Endurance we bought last year but didn't get round to using, inside white using some expensive medium-VOC tough paint. Tuesday she dropped by Abakhan, our local fabric emporium, and got some rubbery dotty material.

The far side of the fridge cabinet sticks out slightly further because it will be one side of the ladder which will fill the gap to the kitchen unit.

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Looks great. Keep an eye on your gross laden weight, this stuff quickly adds up.

Nice! Gutted I haven’t managed a trip away yet this year

Thanks! I love that van, it's racked up 35k miles with us now and still a trooper.

Anyone on here installed their own solar panel kit? It's on my to do list but I don't know what to buy.
My leisure battery is 12V 80Ah 780MCA, plus the 12V battery for the engine.
I've seen kits that send 90% to the leisure battery and 10% to trickle-charge the engine battery, which seems sensible.
I don't know how many Watts I need. It's just to run the fridge, play music and lights. How do I work it out?

Actually I just found this comparison chart and it looks like 100W will be plenty for what I need.

I'm happy for any advice you guys have got though before I spend money and start drilling holes in my van.

Is it a compressor fridge? How many amps does it use?

Your leisure battery is quite small, and obviously once it’s fully charged there’s nothing a bigger solar panel can do about that.

100 Watts should be absolutely plenty, but it’s worth doing a quick calculation of how much your battery will be drained by 24 hours of the fridge being on.

Anyone here live full time in a van? Rent at 7k per year over 3 years = 21k to spend on a van, which in 3 years time is essentially free.