New van conversion

del88

well looked at a vw crafter today...was very impressed...think i'll make an offer on monday....all very exciting

Buford T Justice

best of luck dell, its a nice van, but I'd rekon its not that cheap tho....

del88

Had a look at the crafter and wasn't happy with it...did some research on them and they don't have a good rep...
So am thinking about going back to the original plan of a ducato/boxer/relay....smaller van and might suit better then a sprinter or an iveco daily.
Off to look at one tomorrow......

Buford T Justice

del88 wrote: »

Had a look at the crafter and wasn't happy with it...did some research on them and they don't have a good rep...
So am thinking about going back to the original plan of a ducato/boxer/relay....smaller van and might suit better then a sprinter or an iveco daily.
Off to look at one tomorrow......

Best of Luck. Sprinters are reliable wagons.... Transits are good too. parts everywhere but finding a Hi Cube in good shape isn't the easiest. I had a bit of a job to get mine.

ipod

hi i have a vw crafter its a 06.realy happy with this van.no trouble with this one.

Buford T Justice

Shazam MO FO!

Managed to get my hands on a donor for my conversion. has most things that I need. Sink, Shower, Casette Toilet, Water Heater, charger Fridge skylights etc......

Interestingly, it has an odd sort of a zig unit built into it.
Even more oddly, none of the switches seem to work on it. There is currently no battery in it, and when I had it hooked up to the car nothing on the interior worked on it. Plugged it into the mains and all worked fine. Am I missing something or does there need to be a battery in the wagon for the 240/van/car switch to work?

I've not spent that much time looking at it yet but I want to check that everything's in pwo before I start stripping.

Any Ideas where I can get documentation on anything in it, like the water heater etc...?

Any help is appreciated.

paddyp

del88 wrote: »

Had a look at the crafter and wasn't happy with it...did some research on them and they don't have a good rep...
So am thinking about going back to the original plan of a ducato/boxer/relay....smaller van and might suit better then a sprinter or an iveco daily.
Off to look at one tomorrow......

I have a ducato and a relay. A commercial mechanic my father knows says the iveco engine is great and the rest of the van is a ball of s*ite. I have to agree with him on a lot of points. Look at the crash test for a sprinter vs ducato ouch. I went with the ducato for three reasons .. it was shorter than the sprinter (at the expense of safety) which made it better for town, the gear shift on the dash plays nicely with our swiveling seats, the corrosion protection on the facelift model is very good.

In terms of conversion the side panel shape is crap for installing windows, bonded windows if you can get them sit proud of the bodywork not recessed like other vans, and the curvature of the panel limits rubber fit, seitz etc window height to about 500 - 550mm.

The key issue for me is parts, there are about 4 plus times as many transits about ireland and about 8 plus times in the uk the scrap yards are full of them and spurious parts are plentiful and cheap. When you look at the scrap yards there are almost no ducatos they just get crushed after a short time whereas there are always a couple of transits haning around.

Now try ringing around the scrap yards for ducato parts. I called and emailed about 50 in ireland and the uk looking for injection parts for my ducato and ended up having to ordering from Hungary. Next time I'll buy a transit.

kittyj

Hi folks,
Just started a campervan conversion, bought a peugeot boxer, have so far planned the insulation, goin for rockwool and alububble then plywood,
Just fitted another window today so will have four in total ,
Im looking ahead to the furnishings so was just wondering if any other Boards.ie people had done a campervan conversion as any tips would be great,
On a budget so was thinking of trying to find a breakers yard in dublin and look for caravan furniture,
has anyone had sucess with this?
Mostly looking for the cupboards and kitchen unit,
The van came with a cooker/sink and a spare oven hob so goin to decide which one to put in,
Has anyone had dealings with the Dolmen Insurance crowd and the engineers report jazz ?
Any advice welcome
Thanks Kitty j Dublin

Buford T Justice

You could always buy a donor caravan like I did, and it has everything that I needed. Just dumped it yesterday.

Could well be cheaper than buying the furniture separately, and the hassle of trying to find it.

anronmor

Nearly finished my own conversion - high roof T5 transporter. Will be changing tax status next month so fingers crossed the open market price is reflective of the actual market.

Biggest piece of advice I have is that everything you put in there is going to add to the weight of the conversion and the amount of diesel you'll have to use to go anywhere in it.
If you think about it you don't need everything a factory built conversion has to enjoy using your camper

Buford T Justice

anronmor wrote: »

Nearly finished my own conversion - high roof T5 transporter. Will be changing tax status next month so fingers crossed the open market price is reflective of the actual market.

Biggest piece of advice I have is that everything you put in there is going to add to the weight of the conversion and the amount of diesel you'll have to use to go anywhere in it.
If you think about it you don't need everything a factory built conversion has to enjoy using your camper

Any pics of it?

Aidan_M_M

paddyp wrote: »

I have a ducato and a relay. A commercial mechanic my father knows says the iveco engine is great and the rest of the van is a ball of s*ite. I have to agree with him on a lot of points. Look at the crash test for a sprinter vs ducato ouch. I went with the ducato for three reasons .. it was shorter than the sprinter (at the expense of safety) which made it better for town, the gear shift on the dash plays nicely with our swiveling seats, the corrosion protection on the facelift model is very good.

In terms of conversion the side panel shape is crap for installing windows, bonded windows if you can get them sit proud of the bodywork not recessed like other vans, and the curvature of the panel limits rubber fit, seitz etc window height to about 500 - 550mm.

The key issue for me is parts, there are about 4 plus times as many transits about ireland and about 8 plus times in the uk the scrap yards are full of them and spurious parts are plentiful and cheap. When you look at the scrap yards there are almost no ducatos they just get crushed after a short time whereas there are always a couple of transits haning around.

Now try ringing around the scrap yards for ducato parts. I called and emailed about 50 in ireland and the uk looking for injection parts for my ducato and ended up having to ordering from Hungary. Next time I'll buy a transit.

jeez Paddy , I dunno , I'd still have a Ducato... IMo they're nicer to drive than a Tranny . And I've barely ever had to get anything from Fiat . Maybe they're just more popular in Munster.. especially in the Pug/Citroen (dis)guise.