Transit Conversion "Welded Sliding Door"

Brabazone

Hello all, I am currently looking to do a camper van conversion to a Ford Transit, high roof, LWB. I haven't purchased the van yet because I want to be sure I can fit in all the bits and pieces that make a good touring camper van.

What I am looking to fit into the van are as follows,

Shower room with vanity sink and porta potti.
Four single bunks or one double and three single bunks.
Seating for four adults and dinning table.
Two burner hob.
Kitchen Sink with HW.
60 liter LPG fridge.
LPG HW boiler.
Fresh water tank 70L, Grey water tank 70L.
After that its just the usual stuff like gas cylinder, water pump, storage etc,etc.

I was wondering if anyone has done this conversion. I have had a good look around the internet over the last few weeks and have come up well short on what i'm looking for. Most of the conversions I have looked at are two or three berth. From what I can see the main problem in maximizing the space inside the van is due to the sliding door. If the van were not to have the sliding door I could utilize the space more efficiently by using both sides of the van. I am only guessing, but if I were to weld up and seal the sliding door would this cause me problems when it comes to passing the van as a camper because there would be no direct access to the back of the van. What I mean would this be a safety issue for the testers. If so, if I were to remove the front passenger seat so as to give access to the habitable section of the van, would this be sufficient?.

The other problem I have is because of the weight restrictions of 3500kg. The transit weighs 2275kg but by the time the conversion is completed it will probably add up to somewhere in the region of 3000kg, then add in passengers and their bits and pieces and I would imagine it would be hitting 3500kg easily. I don't want to step up in licence category or finish driving a beast of a thing because this is really just a road trip camper for three or four day stints of which a lot of will be spent in city's. So my question here is has anyone done this conversion and brought it in under the specified weight, including the laden weight?.

So there it is, I know I have many questions but I want to do my best to get it right form the start so I don't finish up wasting money on a lemon. If anyone has done a similar conversion I would appreciate any advice you could give me.

Buford T Justice

What transit did you have in mind that weighs 2275KG.

In terms of transits and conversions, check out my one in my sig and see what you think

Surely the biggest would be 1900KG (190L) Unladen.

paddyp

Can't see any need to weld it up, just screw a flat bar across it if you really never want to open it again. The wilker ambulances were done by filling all around the door with closed cell expanding foam and then seal sealing the gap.

Buford T Justice

In fairness, the simplest thing is just to leave it closed. No need to make it permanent at all really.

Brabazone

Fingers McGee wrote: »

What transit did you have in mind that weighs 2275KG.

In terms of transits and conversions, check out my one in my sig and see what you think

Surely the biggest would be 1900KG (190L) Unladen.

Sorry about that, my mistake, you are correct 1900kg. I think I read somewhere there is one about 2075 or something like that, think it was the 350. Not to worry, thanks for putting me right, it will be a lot less of a headache with regards the weight.

I think what I will do with regards the door is just close it and seal around it, might remove the door handle and fill that too, just so as it will look ok. Do ye think it will pass given there will be no access to the rear area only from the front passenger door.

BTW, I got a van last night, its a 1996 ford transit, LWB hight roof, low mileage too considering it is a 96, only 109000, good body only a little bit of surface rust here and there, think it should do the job fine.

Might do a build thread as soon as I get around to striping it out so y'all can see how i'm doing.

Buford T Justice

Brabazone wrote: »

Sorry about that, my mistake, you are correct 1900kg. I think I read somewhere there is one about 2075 or something like that, think it was the 350. Not to worry, thanks for putting me right, it will be a lot less of a headache with regards the weight.

I think what I will do with regards the door is just close it and seal around it, might remove the door handle and fill that too, just so as it will look ok. Do ye think it will pass given there will be no access to the rear area only from the front passenger door.

BTW, I got a van last night, its a 1996 ford transit, LWB hight roof, low mileage too considering it is a 96, only 109000, good body only a little bit of surface rust here and there, think it should do the job fine.

Might do a build thread as soon as I get around to striping it out so y'all can see how i'm doing.

Sealing the door may be a pain for access yourself if you know what i mean. for your own sake I'd have either the back door or the sliding door as access for safety.

Can you post some pics of it as it is?

P.S. If you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for it?

Macy0161

Could you have presses and such going over part of the door, and leave it as a working door, with reduced access?

If you had presses for example half way across the door, you could have rear access to gas bottles, water containers etc without having to cut the van?

I've also seen on SBMCC people having a folding seat in that space (I actually think it was a safety passed one so was belted!)

Not sure of the dimensions of the transit, but one of my plans when we were looking at Renault Masters (and their opel and nissan cousins) was 2 or 3 bunks across the back. Hinged or lift out bases that would then give storage when travelling.

Again, not sure how it compares dimension wise, but a company in the UK called wildax do relay conversions that have bunks which might give you an idea on layouts.

Aidan_M_M

Macy0161 wrote: »

Could you have presses and such going over part of the door, and leave it as a working door, with reduced access?
.

Thats exactly what the factory conversions do , I see mostly Adria Van Twins , but we had a Dethleffs( IIRC) in during the week , van conversion , and they had the same idea . On a Transit .





One thing... a local guy called up a couple of weeks back looking for an engineers report , for getting insurance on his just-finished Merc Sprinter van conversion . I pointed out a few things that I felt needed doing , worn tires , hole in the exhaust etc... He came back the other day , and the Form he had this time was a totally new one , and you'd really want to have seen the build from day one to fill it out!