Camper Van

Conversion
Mini bus to mini home :
A camper van conversion project.

Colin Grace
This book is dedicated to my family
and all camper van owners.

Camper Van Conversion – Paperback

© 2011 Colin Grace. All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-1-4475-1123-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Some words, product names and designations are trademarked and are the property of the trademark
holder. They have been used for identification purposes only and this is not an official publication.

The Content of this publication and all materials contained therein are provided on an "as is" basis.
The author and publisher do not make any guarantees or warranties of any kind, either express or
implied. All material contained in this publication is personal experience and thus used entirely at your
own risk. You attempt a camper van conversion project or camper van modification work at your own
risk and the author and publisher shall not be liable to the user or anyone else for any inaccuracy,
error or omission regardless of cause, or for any damages or injury resulting there from.

Whilst ever effort has been made to ensure accuracy of all material the author welcomes any
corrections or additional information.

Camper Van Conversion

www.campervanconversion.com
Contents
Preface.....................................................................................................................................................5
1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................6
2. Planning...............................................................................................................................................9
2.1 Van planning.............................................................................................................................9
2.2 Time & Money planning..........................................................................................................11
2.2.1 Electrics.....................................................................................................................12
2.2.2 Kitchen.......................................................................................................................12
2.3 Workshop planning.................................................................................................................13
3. Design & layout..................................................................................................................................14
4. Preparation........................................................................................................................................17
4.1 Tidy up and Inspection...........................................................................................................18
4.2 Design try out.........................................................................................................................22
4.3 Cable routing..........................................................................................................................23
4.4 Insulation................................................................................................................................24
4.5 Top Bed supports...................................................................................................................27
4.6 Carpet lining...........................................................................................................................34
5. Electrics.............................................................................................................................................41
5.1 Electrical installation planning................................................................................................41
5.2 Batteries, locating and securing.............................................................................................43
5.3 Cable Selection......................................................................................................................49
5.4 Leisure system explained.......................................................................................................51
5.5 Leisure Power System installation..........................................................................................55
5.5.1 Electrical component locations..................................................................................55
5.5.2 Solar Panel fitting.......................................................................................................57
5.5.3 Mains Hook up installation.........................................................................................64
5.5.4 Completing the B2B wiring.........................................................................................71
5.5.5 12v distribution and monitoring..................................................................................73
5.5.6 Completing the electrics.............................................................................................75
6. Partition wall installation....................................................................................................................80
7. Kitchen installation.............................................................................................................................95
7.1 Kitchen design layout and planning........................................................................................95
7.2 Kitchen preparation work........................................................................................................99
7.3 Gas locker construction and installation...............................................................................105
7.4 Sink and Hob installation......................................................................................................112
7.5 Sink and Hob connection......................................................................................................121
7.6 Fridge Installation and finishing off.......................................................................................125
8. Seats, table and lower sleeping accommodation............................................................................132
9 Top bed construction........................................................................................................................149
10 Finishing touches............................................................................................................................159
10.1 Upholstery coverings..........................................................................................................159
10.2 Black out blinds / pads........................................................................................................161
10.3 Seat box electrics...............................................................................................................164
10.4 Side door edging and remaining flooring............................................................................165
10.5 Additional fittings................................................................................................................166
11 The completed van.........................................................................................................................167
12. Time and money............................................................................................................................173
13. Legal paperwork, Insurance, MOT's and DVLA............................................................................175
13.1 Registration document V5C................................................................................................175
13.2 MOT....................................................................................................................................177
13.3 Insurance............................................................................................................................177
Appendix 1 - The right stuff..................................................................................................................179
Appendix 2 - The workshop & equipment............................................................................................180
 Appendix 2.1 - Workshop...........................................................................................................180
Appendix 2.2 - Equipment and tools...........................................................................................181
Appendix 3 - Build diary.......................................................................................................................185
Appendix 4 - Expenditure diary............................................................................................................188
Appendix 5 - World Wide Web ............................................................................................................191
Appendix 6 - Suppliers.........................................................................................................................194
Appendix 7 – Leisure electrics schema...............................................................................................196
Appendix 8 - How did we get here ?....................................................................................................197
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Preface
Hello and welcome to my book: an account of how I took the idea, "it would be nice to have a
camper van for the family" (instead of camping) through to buying a minibus and converting it
to a four berth, fully functional camper van.

I would by lying if I said its easy. It takes hard work, often in the dark and cold, especially if you
are doing a Winter conversion project as I did. It is a series of problems or challenges to be
overcome. However, I can assure you that the end result has been well worth the effort. We
now have a bespoke camper van designed to meet our family's individual needs. This was
achieved at a fraction of the cost of buying a commercial camper van. The 'Cost breakdown'
section shows the details.

I spent about 12 months thinking about my idea and getting it into a workable form before I
started the conversion. I researched all aspects of 'self build' camper van converting. It then
took about 7 months over the Autumn and Winter of 2009/10, working at nights and weekends
to complete the conversion. The 'Build Diary' section shows the exact time taken to complete
each job. I'm hoping that this publication will make it easier and quicker for you to plan, build
and convert your camper van.

This publication is part diary and part photo catalogue. It has my comments, ideas and
thoughts on my own conversion of a minibus into a camper van. Although I know that my
conversion may differ from what you intend yours to be, this publication aims to help you
through the process of turning your idea into a reality.

As well as documenting my experience, I've tried to answer the questions I had before I
started the project and offer solutions to the many challenges that presented themselves
during the conversion.

I have had help through out and I would like to thank all those who have provided moral
support as well as practical and professional advice. This includes friends (you know who you
are), who are experienced camper van converters, aspiring converters and owners.

All the companies who provided skills and advice are referenced in the book. Most of all I'd like
to thank my family for getting on with life whilst Dad was in the garage again, for another
Saturday or Sunday. The future holidays and adventures should make it all worth it.

I hope you enjoy reading it and that it is useful to you. This book has exactly the information
that I looked for whilst I was deciding whether to take on the challenge of a self build camper
van.

Don't hesitate to email me with any questions you have as you go through your project and
also if you have any thoughts on this book you can reach me at :-
Colin@campervanconversion.com

Regards and good luck,

Colin
www.campervanconversion.com

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 5 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Introduction
What does a camper van mean to you ? For me it means spending time away on ‘adventures’
with my family (2 adults + 2 kids), both family holidays (on a camp-site), but also ‘days out’ to
the coast or countryside, hopefully in nice weather.

However everyone I have spoken to has a different view and different requirements of what a
camper van means to them. An good example is a friend of mine who is converting a van
which is very different to mine, he needs to be able to carry two sets of windsurfing equipment
and wild camp for a few days often in bad weather (i.e. windy, usually stormy) and large
enough for him, his partner and their dog.

You might think that his camper van conversion is totally different from mine. However in
practice the projects are nearly identical, we may have purchased very different vehicles and
have different layouts / designs, but in practice we have followed the same process and used
probably 90% of the same materials and skills.

My point is this, no matter what type of camper van you would like to have (VW T4,T5,
Mercedes Sprinter etc.), this book can help you.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 6 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

So the first thing to do to convert your idea into reality, is to ask yourself “What will I use my
camper van for and what do I want in it”. This sounds easy but to be honest you won’t know all
the answers until you have been out in your finished camper van for a few times, but we can at
least try and determine your main requirements. Chapter 2 - Planning covers this in more
detail.

Once you have decided what your requirements are, you can then use these to help you
design your ideal camper van. As you’ll discover by reading this publication I found no
commercially available van builder who had what I considered to be my ideal van
configuration, so I took good points from other layouts and put them together to form my own
design to suit exactly what I needed.

This design is obviously linked to the space available and so the design goes hand in hand
with choosing which van to use. Chapter 3 – Design & layout covers these topics.

Well so far it sounds easy right ! It took me around 12 months to get to the point, where I had a
drawn up design and thus determined what size of van I would need. To be fair to myself
during this 12 months I was also establishing what skills, tools, equipment, suppliers, money
and time I would need. You won’t take this long as all that I learnt along the way is detailed in
this book.

I had not attempted anything like this before so was unsure of a lot of things. The biggest
unknown I had before embarking on the conversion was how long it would take in hours to
complete all the work. Having completed I now know this and I have devoted Chapter 12 –
Time & money and Appendix 3 & 4 to this subject.

The rest of the chapters in the book cover the conversion work : insulating, wiring, kitchen,
gas, water etc. Before embarking on your project I would read these, so as to understand the
types of work and jobs that you will need to complete or contract out.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 7 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the end of the book are a number of appendix’s which you can read or dip into when you
need some information in that area. These are :-

Number Name Description

Appendix 1 The right stuff The skills and attributes of a Camper van converter
Appendix 2 The workshop List of tools and equipment that you will use.
Appendix 3 Diary A diary of each completed job and how long it took.
Appendix 4 Expenditure diary A full list of expenditure on my project.
Appendix 5 World Wide Web A full list of internet sites that can assist you
Appendix 6 Suppliers A full list of companies I’ve used and found useful.
Appendix 7 Full electrical wiring diagram.
Appendix 8 Other useful publications A full list of commercially available camper vans etc

I hope you enjoy this book and good luck with your project.

Colin.
www.campervanconversion.com
Colin@campervanconversion.com

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 8 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Planning
2.1 Van planning
To be able to design your camper van (and choose your vehicle), the layout, the kitchen (gas
& electrics), the dining area and sleeping area you will need to decide a number of things :-

1. How many people you wish to accommodate whilst travelling ?

1.1. Do you require 3 point belts for all passengers ?
1.2. Do you require front facing passenger seats ?
1.3. Do you require TUV crash tested passenger seats ?

2. How many people do you wish to accommodate whilst sleeping ?

2.1. Will you all sleep in the van all the time ?
2.2. How long do the beds have to be ? (kids beds ?)
2.3. Do you need double or single beds ? (bunks ?)

3. How many people do you wish to accommodate sitting / dining in the van ?
3.1. Do you want one or more than one table ?
3.2. Should seats swivel around ?

4. Do you wish to stand up fully in the van (6ft roof height) ?

5. How do you wish to access the van, side door, rear doors, rear hatch ?
5.1. Will access be an issue ? (rear wheel drive vans, have higher floors usually)
5.2. Having two access points usually means less conversion space.

6. What type of trips do you intend to use the van for (and all the combinations) ?
6.1. Day trips
6.2. Weekend trips (sleeping in the van)
6.3. Holiday trips (two weeks away)
6.4. Extended long trip (e.g. touring Europe)

7. Where will your destinations be

7.1. Local trips only
7.2. UK trips / Europe trips ?
7.3. Camp site based ? (Hooked up to the mains ?)
7.4. Wild camping anywhere ? (Large battery capacity, lots of solar panels ?)

8. When will your trips be ?

8.1. Summer only
8.2. Three season trips
8.3. Winter trips

Now this list although quite long probably seems obvious to you, however I can't stress how
important it is to know the answers to these questions. As if you don't the van design and
vehicle selection process will be a lot more difficult and you could result in your camper van
not being very usable to you.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 9 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now if you already know what you want in your van and how you are going to use it, you can
skip the rest of this section and get on reading about the build process.

However if not, let me explain a bit about my planning, to explain to you why I arrived at my
finished van. In May 2008, my wife and I went to the Southern Motor Caravan show (at the
Newbury show ground) to look at all the commercially available camper vans. This allowed us
to see what was possible in a camper van (having no experience of them).

This also helped us get our requirements together and after many discussions we arrived at :-

 Panel van, small enough to be used for work / commuting and being able to get in to
supermarket car parks.
 Van to be large enough to stand up in (6ft height).
 Mainly be used as a day van and a 2-3 week holiday van.
 Seat minimum of 4 people forward facing with 3 point belts (2 adults, 2 kids under 10).
Hopefully seat 6, including grandparents ? ( Note : A lot of commercial vans only have side
facing passenger seats, or front facing seats set way back in the van, some only with lap belts).
 A decent size kitchen with a good sized workbench for food preparation. (Note: Most
commercial camper vans had very little kitchen worktop).
 Sleep 4 occasionally, 2 under 10's routinely (Use an awning for long trips for the adults)

So armed with your basic requirements you can now move on to the services and fittings you
will need in your camper van. I found the Haynes manual 'Build your own Motorcaravan' useful
reading to help with my planning.

To meet my requirements I needed the following :

1. Six passenger seats for travelling, TUV crash tested with 3 point belts.
2. 1 6ft long double bed, minimum 4ft 6 inches wide.
3. 1 smaller double bed for the kids to sleep in.
4. Kitchen with Hob, sink and fridge.
5. Leisure electrics system(mains hook up, 12v sockets, electric fridge ?)
6. Seating and dining area (table), sized for 4 comfortably and 6 at a squeeze
7. Storage for clothes, holiday equipment, awning, food, kitchen equipment
8. At lease two passenger windows, in the back of the van

This list can now be used to judge any suggested design and layouts. Please note that for
insurance and DVLA purposes there is a full list of what is required for a vehicle to be
classified as a 'Motor Caravan', this is covered more in Chapter 13. Legal paperwork,
Insurance, MOT's and DVLA.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 10 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.2 Time & Money planning

At this stage in my conversion (before I knew what I know now) I drafted up a list of all the
things that I would like in my van. I then researched suppliers and the costs of all the bits. This
was broken down into 3 main parts :

Electrics - Batteries, fridge, lights, mains hook up etc - £1350

Kitchen - Hob, sink, kitchen units and bench - £800
Every thing else - insulation and lining carpet, glue, timber etc - £850

This planning and research gave me an anticipated cost of about 3k for my conversion.
Chapter 12 – Time & Money details what my conversion cost in the end, but at this stage in
your project you just need to know if you can afford your conversion, whether it be £500 or
£5000. Appendix 4 lists all my expenditure and Appendix 6 lists all the suppliers I found
useful.
Remember to consider what extra tools or workshop items you will also have to buy, I did not
do this, but I did have a lot of tools from years of DIY.
Your base vehicle choice greatly affects how much your overall project will cost. I decided to
go for a generic type van (ie Ford, Vauxhall, Renault, Citroen) due to their relatively low cost, I
could therefore get a fairly new vehicle and thus a minimum of 5 years usage out of my
conversion. This I felt would make it worth all the time and money a conversion would take.
I considered vans of all shapes and sizes, small, medium, large and Jumbo variants, I settled
on a Long Wheel Base and a Hi roof vehicle, as I felt I could fit all my requirements in to a
vehicle this size. Also a van of this size can get into most car parks (ones without height
restrictions) and not be too big to use daily to work if required.
I purchased my van from the M4 minibus centre, at Swindon and I found them very helpful,
knowledgeable and their after sales care was excellent. I would not hesitate to buy from them
again.
Also at this point I decided with my wife that I would complete the project over the winter of
2009/2010, aiming to start in October and then have it completed by the next April. Chapter
12 – Time & Money / Appendix 3 details how long the conversion actually took. It did take
me longer than anticipated, but for good reason as unfortunately a close family member died
in Early 2010 and so the project stopped for a while.
Anyway for planning purposes, just give yourself a reasonable enough time to complete your
conversion. I would also say set yourself some goals and deadlines as this helps to keep you
going through the dark, cold nights and any set backs.
I planned to have my van uninsured on my drive for a few months, whilst working on it. Then
insured on a 3 or six month conversion policy (this acts as a good motivator) to finish off the
conversion. See Chapter 13 – Legal Paperwork, Insurance, MOT & DVLA for the details.
Once you have a idea of how much money and time you think your project will take you can
then start to consider choosing your base vehicle, this of course can't be completed until you
have a design and layout that you think will fit into your chosen van. Chapter 3 – Design &
Layout considers this.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 11 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.2.1 Electrics
My first draft proposed electrical system
MCB / RCD distribution

Car + Sterling Battery Sterling 6 10 RC External

am p am p van hookup
to Battery Battery D
Batter Charger
fuse fuse 230v

y - Charger
+ -
+ -

Mains
Socket

+ - + - Mains
Socket
12V Lead acid 12V Lead acid
110ah battery 110ah battery

+
12v 220ah battery pack
-
+ -
+ -
12v compressor fridge Note : May need
Waeco CR50 ZIG CP400 12v control panel other 12v fuses
40 watts, 1.7ah for extra
Lights Pum p Aux Batter
fuse / fuse / fuse / y lighting,
switch switch switch m eter invertor, gas
alarm

Lights Water 12v Socket

pump

Chapter 5 - Electrics covers the electrics in detail, however before deciding to do a

conversion I drafted this electrics plan and costed it. To purchase all this equipment I
estimated would be £1350.

2.2.2 Kitchen
My proposed kitchen layout, intending to use Smev appliances and Ikea cupboards.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 12 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.3 Workshop planning

So where will you convert your van ? Where will you store all those purchased items whilst
they await being fitted to your van ? Where will you store all your tools ?
You may already have a fully organised and kitted out workshop, which you may even be able
to drive your vehicle into ! I however had a normal drive and garage.
The van was parked on my drive and I cleared some space and racking in my garage (near to
the door), which I used to store all the parts and tools that I would need. As you are working on
your conversion you will find that you are back and forward to your tools many times, and
these are best kept near especially when its cold, dark or raining.
I found that I used every tool that I had collected over the previous 25 years and indeed I did
have to purchase a few additional ones, Appendix 2 lists all the tools and workshop items that
I had and used.
If like me, you are working out in the open then there will be days when you can't work on the
van, say because its raining too heavy and the job you need to do is underneath the van or
you need the van open. So plan your work with the weather in mind and take advantage of any
dry and sunny days to complete those outside jobs, say fitting your electric hook up socket on
the outside of the van. Do schedule outside jobs (fitting solar panels etc.) for as soon as
possible (September , October) before the winter sets in during December and January.
This last winter was bitterly cold, I often had to wear 3 or 4 layers with gloves and hat just to
keep warm enough. But that is fine and as long as you have light and heat (an electric heater
of some sort), then working in the van is no problem.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 13 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Design & layout

All the work you have completed up to this point is reading, thinking and considering, this is
where you have to define and commit all your thinking into a design and layout that will work
for you and your family.

I would therefore make sure you consider as many options as possible and chat to as many
people who have used camper vans previously before you commit to a design.

You should by now have worked out what you need in your van and how you will use it. You
now have to work out how to fit all of that into a confined space in the best possible ergonomic
way, which is what design is all about.

Make sure you inspect and copy ideas from the commercial manufacturers, as you may find a
layout that they have works perfectly for you.

I did not find this, mainly because of the passenger seating in most vans is either set to far
back from the front seats or it is side facing. These seats often use lap seat belts. Most
commercial vans use the passenger seats to convert in to a bed, as this is the best use of
space.

I investigated TUV crash tested seats that could convert into good double beds, they are
available from German and French manufacturers. However I found these to be too expensive
(1.5k to 2.5k fitted) for my conversion.

You may ask why I was so concerned about this, well it all comes down to safety and
practicality. The main users of the van are my family and having two small children I needed to
reach them from the front seats whilst travelling and also I wanted them as safe as I would be,
in case of any accident (i.e. full 3 point seat belts, in crash tested seats).

This sticking point took me a few weeks to over come and it was linked to my other
requirements. I wanted a decent sized kitchen and also if possible somewhere to sit whilst the
kids may be sleeping in the van. This was when the idea of a partition wall occurred.

A partition wall would allow me to divide up the van into different areas and also give me an
extra wall to add items on to / hide electrics within.

Also At this time I spoke to friends who were also converting vans, about their designs. One
friend had just had his van fitted with windows and roof lights / vents by a professional
installation company. Unfortunately they leaked and he ended up going back to the company
twice before they were totally water tight. Now this I'm sure is not usual, however it can occur.

I worked out that to get the windows and seats fitted that I required, would cost me about £2k.
At this time I was investigating second hand vehicle costs and I noticed that mini buses, with
factory fitted seats and windows were about £2k more than second hand panel vans.

This started me considering a mini bus, they have crash tested seats with 3 point belts and
factory fitted (bonded) windows that do not leak, they are also partially carpeted inside and
have a wood floor already fitted.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 14 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After inspecting and measuring up 15 and 17 seat mini buses from all manufactures. I found
that I could fit the following design into a Ford Transit 15 seater Long Wheel Base Hi-Roof line
and it met all my requirements (See scale plan on the next page).

The benefits of this design are :

1. I could carry 6 people safely whilst travelling.
2. I could remove and sell 9 seats to recoup some money.
3. The kitchen would be larger than most commercial vans with good storage
4. Side and rear door access
5. The van was split into two distinct areas
6. The bench seats and table area could become a bed, 5ft10inch * 4ft6inch (kids bed)
7. The electrics and batteries could be housed behind and under the passenger seats.

The challenges of this design were :

1. Where and how would I fit a high / roof 6ft bed ?
2. How would I build the partition wall.

I settled on finding a Ford Transit 15 seat mini bus for around £9k year 2005 /2006. These
vehicles come in 90ps, 115ps and 135ps variants. After driving a few I preferred the 115ps or
bigger. And in the end I got a 2006 115ps T350 Hi-roof LWB 2.4diesel minibus (for £10k) and
a big bonus was that it was not white !

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 15 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Layout scale drawing:

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 16 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Preparation
In September 2009 I collected the mini bus and drove it home to my drive. This is it :

It was of course full of seats and partially lined.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 17 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.1 Tidy up and Inspection

Once I got the van home and the project was starting for real, I sat down and ordered most of
the equipment that I would be fitting : hob, sink, fridge, electric cable, electric fittings etc. Lead
in times for some of these items can be long and I did not want the project held up.

First job on the van was to remove all the commercial and safety stickers and hand rails on the
van.

Next was the removal of the 9 additional seats that I did not require. I subsequently sold these
on Ebay for approx £300.(Ironically to other van converters mainly).

Removal of the seats involved a lot of underneath work as they were bolted through the floor
with thick top and underneath metal plates (lots of releasing oil required) :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 18 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I then had a lovely empty van, except the six seats that I'd left in :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 19 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The van electrics were inspected next, passenger roof lights had been fitted in the rear of the
van, cables had to be traced and disconnected from the vans electric system.

These lights would be connected to the leisure electrics system and the fluorescent T5 tubes
would be replaced with LED tubes, which only use a fraction of the same power, are brighter
and a nicer light.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 20 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

By the side door and on one back door, LED lights had already been fitted to illuminate the
van entrance / exits. After inspection these came on when ever a door was opened but only
stayed on for a maximum 30 minutes, I therefore left them as they were.

I also removed the safety hand rails and the door trim / edgings.

Note nothing was thrown away, Aluminium trims can be quite pricey and so I would reuse
them later on where possible. The safety hand rails were removed and one was reused after
being spray painted black.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 21 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.2 Design try out

Before I insulated the van or routed any cables I wanted to ensure that the design that worked
on paper, worked in the real space. So using a roll of masking tape I outlined my design on the
van floor / walls. This proved to be very useful. I was able to do a walk test, by walking around
in the van and ensuring that there was enough space. It also showed me that between the
back of the passenger seats and the partition wall was enough space to house all of the
leisure electrics, apart from the two batteries.

However batteries could be located under the double passenger seat, as long as they were in
a strong box and strapped in securely. Note : In the picture above, the wooden base of the
new battery box is under the double passenger seat.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 22 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.3 Cable routing

Based on my layout and design I began routing cables. Note: I had by now mainly finished the
electrical schema diagram (in Appendix 7) so I knew what size (amp) cable to run to each
point in the van.
This involved removing a number of panels and feeding cables around the van, note where
possible the cable was secured and rubber grommets were used (to stop chafing) if cables
went through tight holes or against bear metal.

This is a time consuming job, but running all the cable now is much easier than when the
cavities are all filled with insulation. Of course you will have had to determined where all your
electrical appliances are going to be. I did run some spare cables into the overhead locker in
case I needed to add any extra appliances later on. You should consider running a couple of
spare cables before you insulate. Don't underestimate how much cable you will need, I used
100metres of 8.75 amp cable.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 23 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.4 Insulation
All camper vans need to be insulated, for noise, heat / cold and to help to prevent
condensation. There are various techniques and materials that can be used. There are two
main types of insulation, flexible and rigid.
Rigid materials are brands like Celotex and Kingspan which are available from building
material suppliers or DIY shops. These are cut to shape and glued into cavities, expanding
foam can be used to fill any gaps.
Flexible materials are glass wool (i.e. loft insulation) and insulation blanket type materials (i.e.
ThinsulateTM). My van already had a ply lined floor, ceiling and a lined metal panel fitted along
each side at the top.

I used 'encapsulated glass mineral wool loft insulation' which is known as a space blanket.
This is glass fibre wrapped in a metal foil one side and a plastic covering the other. This 'space
blanket' was pushed in to every cavity in the van, this of course involved removing panels
where they had already been fitted. In total I used 7 rolls of this, which adds up to nearly
10.5m2

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 24 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

All cavities where possible in the van should be filled and all exposed metal should be covered
(lined) with auto trim carpet. This is to try and prevent the 'Cold Bridge' where cold from
outside is passed into the van (through the metal) and water vapour in the air condenses on it.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 25 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Insulating a van is not an enjoyable task, but it is worth getting right, the difference it makes
can be felt and heard immediately, the van is warmer and quieter. You may have to insulate
your floor and ceiling before ply lining your van, this was already completed on my mini bus
and saved me a lot of time.
On my van an above cab storage locker was already fitted, however the inside of this was
exposed metal. I glued thermal insulation foil to this before I carpet lined it (see next section).

When installing insulation whether rigid or flexible, it should be glued in the cavity, this is to
ensure that rigid insulation does not squeak and so that flexible insulation does not fall down
and compress in the bottom of the cavity (over time).
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 26 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.5 Top Bed supports

One of the key parts of my design was to have a top bed (6ft long) in the hi-roof space, this
plus the lower bed could be used for us all to sleep in the van, for stop overs without having to
put up an awning. However I did not want this to restrict head height when using the van for
days out.

The problem to overcome was, to be able to attach something to the sides of the van that
would be strong enough to be able to support two adults safely. I discussed this with an
automotive engineer friend who had an idea for a solution.

My van being a minibus was part lined, behind the charcoal carpet (In the picture) is an
aluminium sheet that was riveted to the body of the van (in the factory) and then carpeted. I
had already pulled back the carpet and drilled out the rivets (4.8mm diameter) so that I could
insulate the cavities behind the aluminium sheet.

Factory trimmed side of the van, aluminium plate, riveted to the van then carpeted.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 27 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Carpet pulled back and edging trim rivets drilled out (3.6mm rivets)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 28 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The idea was to buy 6ft lengths of 3mm thick aluminium angle (“L” shaped) and then insert this
in between the van and the aluminium sheet. This would be glued using an automotive
adhesive and then we could reuse the existing rivet holes, drill matching ones in the aluminium
angle and rivet it all back together.

This would provide a 25mm deep horizontal ledge running for 6ft along both sides of the van. I
still had no idea how I would make this into a bed spanning the 5ft 10inch gap across the van.
That did not matter at this point, what did was to fit these ledges so that I could then carpet the
van around the windows. Here is the gap that one side of the aluminium angle will fit into
before being glued and riveted.

Now that all sounds simple enough, however I had no idea where to source Aluminium angle
or automotive adhesive and I had never used a riveter before. So I found a supplier for the
aluminium for which I was overcharged, which is a good lesson, always find at least two
suppliers to compare prices. I later on in the build researched aluminium suppliers a lot and
found some excellent companies (see Appendix 6).

Here is my two pieces of aluminium angle drilled with holes to match the existing ones, note I
also drilled additional ones, in total each side would have about 25 to 30 rivets holding it to the
van structure. (note resting on the aluminium angle is the existing trim, which provided a neat
edge for the carpet to sit in, I would refit this)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 29 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I purchased a hand riveter and rivets from Screwfix and practised on some bits of aluminium. It
is not complex to use (although does require quite a lot of effort). You firstly drill a hole through
the two metal plates to the exact diameter of the rivet you intend using. Then push the rivet
into the hole so that the long thin tail is pointing outwards, the riveting gun then pushes on to
this tail. Then as you squeeze the handles, the gun pulls the tail thus crushing the rivet behind
the metal plates. Once the pressure of this action reaches a predetermined point, the tail of the
rivet snaps away.

I ended up using the riveter quite a lot. It is great for attaching anything metal (brackets etc.) to
the vans structure, where using a bolt would be impossible as you don't have access into the
cavity.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 30 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The adhesive problem was quickly overcome by reading a few posts on the forums of the Self
Build Motor Caravanners Club (SBMCC) website. Without fail all self builders and most
commercial builders use Sikaflex products. Sikaflex produce a range of adhesives and
sealants. One product they produce is Sikaflex 512 which is a sealant and adhesive all in one.

I have found it excellent to use and work with and I've used many tubes on the conversion, for
all sorts of jobs, from sealing and attaching the solar panel, to bonding wooden battens to
metal.
I used 10 tubes of this in total at an average cost of around £8 per tube. Beware when
purchasing it, ensure that it has a long enough shelf left on it, the manufacturer does stamp a
'best before' date on each tube. I did receive some that was past its best before date.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 31 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sikaflex 512 was applied to both sides of the aluminium angle, thus bonding it to the van and
also to the aluminium sheet. Before the Sikaflex started curing, I quickly as possible riveted all
the holes. Here it is before it had all cured (about 24 hours) and before I'd re glued the carpet.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 32 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

And here it is once the carpet was glued. It looks like it has always been there as part of the
van.

How to actually construct the bed base will have to be solved later on in the conversion !

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 33 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.6 Carpet lining

One of the most time consuming tasks you will do throughout your build is lining your van. My
van was partially lined with auto trim carpet, so I continued with this and lined all exposed
metal, battery and seat boxes.

Carpet lining is a skill, and it is a one you can learn. You have to be patient and methodical,
the auto trim carpet is a good material to work with. You will need some good quality carpet
scissors and a very good quality knife with lots and lots of spare blades. Always remember the
basics of using a knife, NEVER have your fingers in front of the blade. I made this mistake
once and it slipped and I paid for it with a very nasty cut.... ouch.

Do keep your carpet off cuts as you can use them on non visible areas like wheel arches etc.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 34 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

In essence lining is straight forward, you glue the carpet onto the exposed metal. In practice
some preparation is required. Firstly you should degrease (using a degreaser spay, available
in auto shops) the metal and then scour the paint surface to provide a better key for the glue.
Cutting and fitting carpet around curves and bends does take a bit of practice.

Glue is very important to carpet lining. It needs to be a contact adhesive, I.e. you spray or
brush glue onto both surfaces, leave it for a little while until it is tacky then press the carpet on
to the metal, thus forming a strong bond.

But the most important point about the glue is that it needs to be temperature resistant up to
90 degrees. This is important as vehicles can get very hot in the summer months and normal
contact adhesive will melt and your carpet will start to come away.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 35 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Despite knowing this before I started, I still used a few tins of glue where I could not determine
its temperature rating and I have had some carpet come loose. So my point is, don't skimp on
the glue, yes it is not cheap, about £7 or £8 a spay tin, but it is false economy to use
anything else.

The best spray adhesive I used was from www.UpholsteryShop.co.uk which was £7.50
including VAT for 500ml. Overall I would budget £200 - £300 for glue, which seems a lot but
you will use it. Another glue I used which has “good temperature resistance” is Evo-Stik 528
industrial contact adhesive, this does need to be spread or brushed on. Also available is
“Sticks Like Sh*t” from Evo-Stick, which I have not used / tried, but it is +100 degrees rated.
Consider buying the glue in bulk at the start of your project, you may be able to get a discount.
Other high temperature glues are available and I have listed some websites where they are
available in Appendix 5.

Preparation and patience are the key to good trimming, cover any small holes with tape, I used
gaffer tape. Degrease and scuff the surface, spay an even amount of glue on both surfaces.
Be careful as spray glue can drift in the wind, so ensure you have all glass and surfaces
masked and covered before commencing.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 36 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
One draw back of purchasing a mini bus is that there are 8 windows in the back of the van to
carpet around. I additionally had all 8 windows tinted to 5% (limousine tint) for privacy, at a
cost £300.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 37 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here is a finished window, note there are triangles of carpet cut and inserted at each corner,
which are invisible if cut and glued precisely.

The back and side doors are the trickiest to carpet as they have locks, catches and windows to
shape carpet around. Each of my back doors took 7 hours to carpet.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 38 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Carpeting the sliding side door was time consuming, but worth the effort. Carpeting this door
did make it slightly harder to close for a few weeks until the carpet was flattened where it
butted up to the door frame rubber seal.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 39 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Electrics
5.1 Electrical installation planning

WARNING : Electricity is dangerous. If you don't

feel confident working with it then get a professional electrician or
automotive electrician to do the work for you. All work you
attempt is at your own risk !

The leisure electric system that you design and fit to your your van is, in my opinion, the most
important part of the conversion process. Without power a camper van is fairly useless, no
lights, fridge or water pump !

I believe the vehicles battery and the leisure system should be separate so that no mater how
you use your leisure electrics system your vehicle will always be able to start. The other
reason for keeping them separate is that you will probably use a different type of battery, as its
usage is totally different. This is covered more in section 5.2.

You may recall from Chapter 2 that I required my van for days out (no mains electric hookup)
and family holidays (Mains hooked up all the time). Lets take the first scenario and work out
how much power we think we will use, we can then use this to determine the battery bank
capacity and thus its physical size. The second scenario, i.e. being on mains hookup, is easier
as long as we calculate the correct sized battery charger we will need.

I planned to have the following electrical appliances in my van :

• 12v Compressor fridge (40 watts)
• Water pump (10 watts)
• Lights (LED) (15 watts)
• Battery monitor (0.4 watts)
• Gas alarm (0.4 watts)
• Laptop (12v charger) (80 watts)

I obviously would not be using all of these all day, so we need to calculate what the average
daily consumption of power will be. In power systems we calculate the total amount of energy
consumed over a certain period in Amp hours (Ahr). E.g. .one amp consumed for 5 hours has
used a total of 5 Ahr of power.

To be able to calculate our Ahr's we need to be able to convert between the common
measures of power i.e. Amps, Watts and Volts.

Volts: Electrical force of pressure behind the electrons in a circuit. Analogous to water
pressure or PSI, it tells us the system voltage (12, 24).

Amps: The number of electrons flowing past in a second. Like litres per second in a pipe, it
defines the electrical current in a wire.

Watts: Total amount of electrical energy, per second.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 40 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The conversion formulas are:

• Watts = Volts times Amps

• Volts = Watts divided by Amps
• Amps = Watts divided by Volts

Therefore 40 Watts (Fridge) divided by 12 Volts equals 3.33 Amps. Take this 3.33 Amps and
multiply it by the number of hours it will be consuming power (estimated to be 16hrs for each
24 hour period) equals 54 Ahrs (Max of 80 Ahr, if running continuous for 24 hrs.).
I therefore calculated my average 24 hour period power usage as follows :-

• 12v Compressor fridge (40 watts / 12v = 3.33 Amps) * 16 hours = 54AHr
• Water pump (10 watts / 12v = 0.84 Amps) * 1 hours = 1Ahr
• Lights (LED) (15 watts / 12v = 1.25 Amps)* 3 hours = 3.75Ahr
• Battery monitor (0.4 watts /12v = 0.03 Amps) * 24 hours = 0.75AHr
• Gas alarm (0.4 watts /12v = 0.03 Amps) * 24 hours = 0.75AHr
• Laptop (12v charger) (80 watts / 12v = 6.66 Amps) “ 2 hours = 13.5AHr

This totals 74 Amp Hours of power, the standard rule of thumb, is to then add on 25% to allow
for battery deterioration, poor charging etc. My total was 92.5 Ahr.

Battery / Electrical Precautions

• If battery acid contacts skin or clothing, wash immediately with soap and water. If acid
enters the eye(s), immediately flood eye(s) with running cold water for at least 20
minutes and seek medical attention immediately.

• Never smoke or allow a spark or a flame in the vicinity of a battery or an engine.

• Be extra cautious not to drop a metal tool onto a battery. It may spark or short-circuit
the battery or other electrical parts that may cause an explosion.

• Remove all personal metal items such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, watches and
jewellery when working near a battery. A battery can produce a short circuit powerful
enough to weld a ring or any metal, causing serious burns.

• Make sure the area around the charger has been well ventilated before you connect
the charger.

• Do not charge the batteries at least 4 hours prior to the installation to avoid the
formation of explosive battery gases.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 41 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.2 Batteries, locating and securing

For a leisure electrics system we need 'deep cycle ' leisure use, i.e. we need the battery to
provide steady (low) amps over a sustained period and then the battery to be able to be
recharged to full capacity (i.e. a cycle). Leisure batteries are usually capable of 200 to 300 full
charging cycles.

A standard car battery could be used, but it would not last very long as its designed to provide
a high amp capacity for a short period (i.e. starting a car) and will typically only last 15 to 20
full charging cycles..

There are three main types of batteries :-

Flooded: These are so called wet batteries, filled with sulphuric acid. They are manufactured
with lead plates which are designed to handle high starting capacity for automotive use, or
plates designed for deep cycle leisure use, but Not both. Even leisure types can be easily
damaged by deep discharge.

Carbon Fibre: The Elecsol range are a type of flooded battery with carbon fibre reinforced
lead plates. This gives more power for less weight and better cycling performance. Unlike
normal leisure batteries, they offer dual purpose, both deep cycle for leisure use and high
starting capacity for automotive use.

GEL: The Exide GEL range are absolutely maintenance free, clean and environmentally
friendly with no release of acid vapours. Extremely low gassing for use in closed
compartments. Constant cold cranking performance over the entire service life. Minimal self
discharge. Extremely high cycling capability. 100% leak proof. Deep discharge proof. Unlike
normal leisure batteries, they offer dual purpose, both deep cycle for leisure use and high
starting capacity for automotive use.

They all of course differ in price, performance and how they should be charged, but it is
generally accepted that 'flooded leisure batteries' are the best value for the standard camper
van. Most professional manufactures fit this type of battery.

However please note that even 'deep cycle' batteries can be damaged if they are discharged
more than 50% of their capacity. Batteries are rated in Amp hours (as per our previous
calculation).
Therefore take your calculation and double it, this will then be the total capacity you will require
in your battery bank, i.e. 184 Ahr in my case.

Leisure batteries are supplied in capacities of 65 Ahr to 120 Ahr. The main manufacturers of
12 Volt leisure batteries are Elecsol, Numax, Exide, Lucas and Varta.

However there are many manufactures and as long as they are sold by a reputable company
they should be fine. After exhaustive price matching on the internet I found that my local
Automotive discount centre could match the best price for Lucas, Numax and Varta products.
This was because they could buy direct from the UK distributor (www.manbat.co.uk) at trade
price.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 42 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I decided to purchase them locally for a few reasons, but the most important one being that I
could pick the batteries up myself. If batteries are transported badly the acid can leak out of
them, which did happen to a friend of mine. I bought two Numax LV26MF's, which are 95Ahr
each, giving me a total battery bank (when connected in parallel) of 190Ahr. You can connect
many batteries together and they effectively just become one big battery bank. How you
connect them together is important. Two methods are available :

Parallel : Connect the positive terminal to the positive terminal and the negative terminal to
the negative terminal. This maintains the voltage at 12V but doubles the current (i.e. 180 amp
hours)

Series : Connect one positive to one negative and using the other two terminals as the supply.
This doubles the voltage, i.e. 24 Volts and maintain the amps i.e. 95Ahr.

Your batteries will last longer if they are looked after :-

• Always keep you battery fully charged, even when not in use
• Coat terminals with petroleum jelly
• Keep in a frost free location
• If battery is not sealed, check electrolyte levels regularly. If required, top up with deionised
water.

The first point above can easily be addressed by installing a solar panel. This is discussed
later on, but its worth noting that a Solar installation will provide a continuous trickle charge.
This can considerably extend the life of your leisure battery and save you from having to 'hook
up' your van whilst at home.

On my van I installed a digital battery monitor, which is usually fitted to yachts. This allows me
to see at a glance what current is going in or out of the battery bank and also the current
battery bank voltage and charge. Battery voltage indicates its current charge state :-

Note This is accurate 4 hours after any charging has taken place.
• 12.7 Volts or more = 100% charged
• 12.5 Volts = 75%
• 12.4 Volts = 50%
• 12.2 Volts = 25%
• 12 Volts or less = Discharged

Locating where you should put your battery bank is important as you need to minimise cable
runs, it has to be ventilated, accessible but most importantly it has to be securely fastened to
the van thus safe. Batteries are very heavy and do contain sulphuric acid.

They therefore need to be housed securely either in the vehicles engine bay or within its
interior. In my van the logical position for my battery bank was under the double passenger
seat. This was because the area was accessible, it was close to the vehicles main battery
(under the drivers seat in a transit van), it was close to the electric components, i.e. chargers,
fuse box etc. and it could be secured to the seat frame using 5 ton ratchet retaining straps.
Some batteries that are not sealed (mainly flooded types), can give off explosive gasses and
often come with some tubing to vent them to the outside of the vehicle.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 43 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note : See the gap under the double seat in the picture below.

For me to use this space I would have to construct a custom made battery box to house my
two batteries :

This was constructed out of 34mm batons and 6mm ply board, bonded together with wood
glue, Sikaflex 512 and wood screws.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 44 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please ensure that you leave some spare space in the box, as your next set of batteries are
unlikely to be exactly the same size as your current ones. I tried my batteries in for size and
screwed some additional wooden bars into the box so that they would not be able to move
around.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 45 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The batteries are connected in parallel using 170amp battery starter cable. You can also see
here the battery monitor (BM1) connected. This is connected via a 'Shunt' that is installed in
the middle of the batteries, all charging and load for the battery bank on the negative side has
to be connected to and thus pass through this shunt.

This battery box would be securely strapped to the seat frame using two 5 ton ratchet straps, I
confirmed this with an automotive crash test engineer, who informed me that one strap would
have been adequate. This box is designed to be able to slide out from under the seat and then
slide along to the side door of the van to allow easy access to the batteries if required. This
meant I would need an 'Umbilical' cord of cables to attach it to the electric components.

Battery box secured under the seat.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 46 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Battery box and umbilical (seat removed) and battery box slid out

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 47 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.3 Cable Selection
To wire up all your appliances you will need to calculate what size cable to use. You may think
this is not very important as our leisure system is at a low 12 volts. However in practice, as its
low voltage this means we need a higher current (Amps) to pass along the cable to the
appliance than if it was a mains voltage system.

This means that we need thicker cable to handle the increased current. Let me illustrate this
point : At 220 volts: 40 Watts divided by 220 = 0.18 Amps : At 12 volts: 40 Watts divided by 12
Volts = 3.33 Amps

So the cable we need to use for this appliance has to be at least rated at 4amps. This is
important as if the cable can't handle the current then it could melt and cause a fire. Another
important factor is 'voltage drop'. A current running through a cable encounters resistance and
so the longer the cable the more resistance, this can cause the voltage to drop over the length
of the cable.
To fix this you use a thicker cable (i.e. a thicker pipe to carry the current). Fortunately you don't
need to calculate this you can use a reference table.. You can also use on line calculators, like
this one :http://www.solar-wind.co.uk/cable-sizing-DC-cables.html

12 Volt Direct Current (DC) wire selection table

Circuit Length of cable run
Amps Watts 3' 5' 7' 10' 15' 20' 25'
0–5 30 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8
6 36 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1
7 42 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1
8 48 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1
10 60 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 16 / 1
11 66 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 14 / 2
12 72 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 14 / 2
15 90 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 14 / 2 14 / 2 12 / 3
18 108 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 14 / 2 14 / 2 12 / 3
20 120 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 14 / 2 12 / 3 10 / 5
22 132 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 12 / 3 12 / 3 10 / 5
24 144 18 / 0.8 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 12 / 3 12 / 3 10 / 5
30 180 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 16 / 1 14 / 2 10 / 5 10 / 5 10 / 5
40 240 18 / 0.8 16 / 1 14 / 2 12 / 3 10 / 5 10 / 5 8/8
50 300 16 / 1 14 / 2 12 / 3 12 / 3 10 / 5 10 / 5 8/8
100 600 12 / 3 12 / 3 10 / 5 10 / 5 6 / 13 6 / 13 4 / 19
150 900 10 / 5 10 / 5 8/8 8/8 4 / 19 4 / 19 2 / 32
200 1200 10 / 5 8/8 8/8 6 / 13 4 / 19 4 / 19 2/ 32

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 48 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use this cable selection table by selecting the amp / wattage of your appliance then look up
the length of you cable run and where the two rows meet is the AWG size and the metric size
in mm of the cable you require.

In my van I only used three sizes of cable :-

• Twin core flat PVC cable 2* 1mm thick (8.75 amp rated)
• Twin Core flat PVC cable 2* 3mm thick (27.5 amp rated)
• Battery starter cable 25mm2 (170 amp rated)

I used the 170 amp cable to connect the batteries together and to connect the leisure batteries
to the vehicles battery via a Battery to Battery charger (explained later).

I used the 27.5amp cable to connect the leisure battery bank to the fuse box / distribution
panel.

The 8.75amp cable was used to connect up all appliances to the distribution panel. If required
I ran two cables (2 * 8.75 = 17.5 amps capacity) to ensure it could handle the appropriate
current / voltage drop, i.e. to the fridge.

You will use a lot of cable, I used nearly 100 metres of the 8.75 amp cable, so order it in as
you don't want to hold up the job waiting for cable.

One other point on cable selection is make sure you use automotive multi stranded cable, I
have read of some people using domestic (solid core) mains twin and earth cable. This would
work but in a vehicle with vibrations it does tend to work loose from connections or snap.

Here are the 8.75 amp, 27.5 amp and 170 amp cables :-

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 49 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
5.4 Leisure system explained
In appendix 7 there is a full diagram of the electrical system I installed. Let me explain why I
arrived at this system, as you may wish to have a less complicated or cheaper system in your
conversion. We have already covered the batteries and the cabling. The other main
components of my installation are :-

1) BM1 – Battery Monitor.

2) Sterling B2B charger
3) Switched fused distribution panel
4) Waeco CR50 compressor fridge
5) Solar Panel and controller
6) Whale submersible water pump
7) LED lighting
8) Gas leak alarm
9) 12v Aux sockets
10) Mains electrical system, RCD distribution, sockets and main battery charger.
.
BM1 – Battery Monitor

I felt it was important to be able to monitor my battery usage. The BM1 battery monitor from
Nasa Marine Instruments (http://www.nasamarine.com/) continuously monitors voltage, current
(charge or discharge), number of amp/hours (charge or discharge), the batteries state of
charge and the time to charge or discharge. They do produce a BM1 compact also. The BM1
can be attached to battery banks up to 650 amp hours. The product is £100 or so and there
are cheaper monitors on the market.

Sterling Battery to Battery (B2B) charger

My van is designed for use as a day van, wild camping for 24 to 30 hours or long holiday
(mostly hooked up to mains). So this shaped my thinking on which battery charging
mechanisms to use. The normal vehicle battery is trickle charged from the alternator when the
engine is running, there are three charging methods that can split that charge from the
alternator to charge a second battery bank.
• Split charge relay system
• Split charge diode block
• Alternator to battery charger (from sterling)

I decided against using these methods for the following reasons :-

• Cabling to the alternator required.
• More cabling than for a B2B.
• They split the charge, so your car battery is not always getting the charge it needs.
• Charging speed is slow.
• Just one step charging method, i.e. trickle charging

The Sterling B2B charger (BB121250 – 12volts to 12 volts 50 amps) from Sterling Power
Products (http://www.sterling-power.com) appears to me to be the best solution. It works by
constantly monitoring the engine start battery. When the starter battery voltage exceeds about
13 volts (which is usually the case when it is being charged) the B2B charger will activate
itself. It will then start its charging operation during which the starter battery voltage will be
pulled down to no less than 13 volts.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 50 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

This enables the engine battery to still receive sufficient charge and ensures that the alternator
works at its full potential The unit takes the 13 volts from the starter battery into the control box
and boosts it up to a maximum of 14.8 volts (depending on what battery type has been
selected) at the output.

This will charge the secondary bank of batteries fast (probably 5 times faster than an
alternator) and up to their full capacity. The charger then automatically calculates the optimum
absorption time and keeps the voltage at absorption level until the batteries are fully charged.
After that the system will maintain the batteries at a lower float voltage, while always ensuring
that the engine battery has priority.

The benefits of this are that when you are driving you are charging your leisure battery bank
very fast and efficiently using a 4 step charging pattern. This will not only ensure you have
power but will prolong the life of your deep cycle leisure batteries.

What I liked about this is that I did not have to change the car alternator cabling at all. Also as
the vehicle battery on the Ford Transit is under the drivers seat the cable runs between the
two batteries were very short. However the most important point in my opinion is that the
vehicle battery (for starting) will always be fully charged.

The B2B unit also comes with temperature sensors which are easily fitted to the leisure
batteries and the vehicles alternator. The B2B unit shuts down if either start to overheat for
any reason. This I considered to be a nice safety feature, especially given that my leisure
batteries would be under the seat my children would be using. This unit does not come cheap
though, I paid £205 for mine.

Also it took me a long time to find reasonably priced fuses for this installation. As the B2B unit
is rated at 50amps, you need to fit 100amp auto fuses. Some companies were asking about
£30 per fuse and the holders were extra. I managed to source them for approx £12 delivered
to my door from http://www.thetoolboxshop.com/.

Switched fused distribution panel

In an leisure electrics system (like a vehicles electric system) we need to protect all circuits by
installing fuses. Fuses are designed to interrupt the flow of power to a circuit when the current
exceeds safe levels, thus preventing the cable melting or the appliance being damaged. Fuses
are rated in amps.

We therefore have to ensure that each fuse for each circuit is rated less than the cable
capacity (to stop the cable melting before the fuse disintegrates) but that it is also rated higher
than the maximum load that the appliance requires (or the fuse would blow every time you
used the appliance). Initially I planned using a standard automotive blade fuse box fixed in my
battery box. However I also felt it important to be able to isolate (switch on & off) each circuit
so I planned to install a switch panel of some description.

However after searching through the internet I found that yachts often used switch panels that
also have resettable fuses built in to them. This appealed a lot as if I did have a short circuit for
any reason and a fuse tripped, I would not have to carry physical replacement blade fuses. I
could fix the problem and then just reset the fuse.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 51 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Waeco CR50 compressor fridge

As I have explained my leisure electrics system was designed to incorporate a 12 Volt

compressor fridge, this was because they operate a small compressor motor and so they are
relatively quiet. But more importantly they don't require a flue or ventilators to be cut in the side
of the van. This makes their installation a lot simpler. They can also be left to run all night with
no concerns about gas or flames, as you have with absorption fridges.

Waeco from Germany are probably the best known manufacturer of Motor Caravan fridges
and their products are installed into a lot of commercially available vans. They are imported
into the UK by Dometic Ltd http://www.dometic.com/enuk/Europe/United-Kingdom/Start/, but
are available from a lot of Chandlers and caravan equipment suppliers.

Solar Panel and controller

Initially I had not planned to install Solar on to my camper van. However after speaking to a
friend who had installed over 100 watts of panels and found that he could run his compressor
fridge for about 5 -7 days with no mains hookup. I was convinced that I should consider this.

Solar panels are not cheap items, however having one would ensure that my batteries would
always be in prime condition and should prolong the batteries life. There are four main types of
Solar panels :-

1) Single Crystal Silicon (Mono-crystalline)

The cells are sliced from a pure crystalline ingot. This type of panel is the most
commercially available efficient type, giving 15% - 20% conversion efficiency.

2) CIS (Copper Indium Diselenide)

this is a thin flexible film technology giving 11% - 14% conversion efficiency.

3) Poly-crystaline silicon
Molten silicon is poured into a mould and then sliced in to cells. Gives 13% - 15%
conversion efficiency.

4) Amorphous silicon
This thin film silicon is used in toys and calculators. It gives 8% conversion efficiency.

This is all very well but how do you choose ? Unusually I found that the most efficient type is
also the best value for money once you get above 50 watts. So the decision was easily made,
mono-crystalline it would be. The draw back to this type of panel is that they are rigid and
therefore have to be fitted in a frame, this raises the height of your vehicle more than a flexible
panel. As I have a high roof line vehicle another 10 centimetres in height did not concern me.

Solar panels are measured in watts. An easy way to calculate the maximum amps that a panel
will generate is to divide the wattage by 17. e.g. 100 watt panel, in very sunny conditions will
generate 5.8 amps. As you have already read my fridge would consume 3.33 amps when
running. Given the budget pressure I decided to buy a 65 watt panel, thus giving me a
maximum of 3.8amps power during the sunniest summer days. Enough to run the fridge !

My solar installation, solar panel, 10A charge controller (needed if the panel is over 20 watts),
fixing kit, VAT and delivery came to £322. It was supplied by www.sunshinesolar.co.uk.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 52 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Whale submersible water pump

As you will read further on I decided on a submersible water pump as opposed to a fixed piped
solution. Whale are regarded as the best manufacturer of motor home submersible pumps.

LED lighting
All ready fitted in the minibus were two fluorescent ceiling lights, with each light containing two
8 watts 12” tubes. So in total these lights would consume 2.66 amps per hour of power. This
was too much and I researched replacing the fluorescent T5 tubes with LED tubes. The
problem I encountered was that T5 LED tubes were just starting to be manufactured in China,
but the suppliers here did not yet stock them.

LED lights need a little driver unit for them to work, this driver unit is incorporated into the
casing, which is why the early LED bulbs were so bulky. Manufacturers have easily
incorporated this driver into large strip light fluorescent tubes but only a couple of
manufactures have managed to incorporate them in to T5 i.e. 12 inch tubes.

To cut a long story short, after 6 months I took delivery of 5 12volt DC, 3.5watt , 3500k –
4500k T5 tubes. These were warm white light tubes (that's the 3500 to 4500k rating), in total
they take 1.2 amps per hour, they are brighter that the old fluorescent tubes and they give a
lovely warm white light. These tubes cost me £10 each, but I know they are now (July 2010)
about £20 each due to the pound devaluing and the upward trend in raw material costs. If you
need some similar tubes then contact me and I might be able to get some for you.

Gas leak alarm

One safety feature I wanted to fit, was a gas (butane, propane) alarm, as it happened I noticed
my local Lidl was selling them for £6, so I bought one and wired it in next to the gas cylinder.

12v Aux sockets

I planned to install 3 auxiliary 12 volt sockets, one for an awning light, near the sliding door,
one on the kitchen for a 12v kettle or small AA battery charger, if required and one near the
table to run a laptop. You can buy 12 volt laptop power supplies cheaply from Ebay. Do ensure
these auxiliary sockets have the appropriate amp rated cable and fuse for their intended uses.

Mains electrical system, RCD distribution, sockets, mains charger and plinth heater.
You can buy mains hook up kits that include fitting instructions and although I found them a
little bit expensive, they are very good for someone less confident of the kit and wiring
required. I have had experience of fitting mains electrical equipment so I purchased my own
bits and fitted them . If you are unsure at all about fitting this equipment then please get an
experienced / qualified electrician to do it for you.

I purchased the mains battery charger from my local motorist discount centre, as they price
matched the internet. The manufacturer is CTEK (http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk), I found
these to be the best value, intelligent 4 stage charges, (cheaper than Sterling ones) that would
also act as a power supply when hooked up. They are designed to run permanently so there
are no problems when you are hooked up for a long period. They continuously check the
battery charge and then use a 4 stage charging curve to charge the batteries back to full
capacity, the charger then reverts to supply mode and responds to demand placed on the
batteries. I installed the 7amp model, XS7000. One additional item I fitted was a 1.8kw (7.5
amps) mains electric fan heater which fits in the plinth under the kitchen.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 53 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.5 Leisure Power System installation

To install a leisure electrics system you have to decide where to put the batteries (under the
seat in my case) and where to put the electric equipment. The electric equipment needs to be
in a well ventilated area and should be close to your main appliances, to minimise cable runs

5.5.1 Electrical component locations

As you have read in section 5.2 Batteries, locating and securing, my batteries are stored
under the double passenger seat and the cables (umbilical cord) then come out of the box at
the back. The reason for this is that, my design has a partition wall running along the back of
the passenger seats (the is covered in the next section) and this creates a space behind the
seats where the electrical components could be located.

With this in mind I first constructed a back plate made out of a sheet of aluminium and ply
wood that I could fix all the electrical components on to. This plate would then be fixed to the
back of the partition wall once constructed.

I first fixed the Sterling B2B charger and the two required 100amp fuses to the board. I used
the 170amp battery starter cable, which I had crimped (using a vice) screw terminal lugs on to.
I later on soldered these connections also, to ensure that they would never work loose and to
provide a better connection than just crimping alone. The connections on the B2B charger and
the mega fuses had M8 connections, which means holes to fit 8mm diameter threaded posts.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 54 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mega fuse holders, with the 100amp mega fuses fitted, note this is with out the fuse holder
covers fitted.

Before fitting any more components I removed the B2B unit and painted the ply board black. A
tin or two of spray paint from the local motorist discount centre came in very useful on this
conversion. I then fitted the CTEK charger and Mains RCD fuse box. I also worked out where
the Solar panel regulator would be fixed .

This was then left whilst I fitted the solar panel and the Mains hookup circuits.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 55 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.5.2 Solar Panel fitting

Once I had decided to fit a solar panel I had to determine where and how to fix it to the roof.
Now as you can imagine I was a bit nervous about cutting the ply lined internal roof and drilling
holes in the metal roof. The solar panel came with an aluminium fixing kit which was to be
bolted through the roof at 4 places.

The partition wall construction (covered in the next section, Section 6) needed an aluminium
angle fixing to the inside of the roof, so I decided that I would combine all of these into one fix.
I would bolt through the internal aluminium angle, the roof and then the front two fixing points
on the solar panel. The back two fixing feet on the solar panel would then be bonded to the
roof with Sikaflex 512. Incidentally I have read of people using Sikaflex 512 only to attach their
solar panels to their roofs, which I'm sure would be secure enough, but you would still have to
drill a hole for the cable..

I checked the weather forecast and on a dry and sunny day I fitted the Solar panel. Here is the
60 watt (front and back) solar panel.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 56 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: The back two mounting brackets are loosely attached to the panel on the below photo.

All the holes and bolts would be sealed with Sikaflex 512 to prevent any water leaks. The
cable entry point would also be fitted with a waterproof cable entry box :-

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 57 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After measuring and measuring again, I drilled the aluminium angle that would be fitted inside
the roof to match the holes on the solar panel brackets. Here is the panel upside down with the
fixing brackets and aluminium angle lined up.

I next measured, marked, cleaned and degreased the roof, where I would be using Sikaflex
512. I then drilled the first pilot hole, using a 2.5mm drill.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 58 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I then drilled the final 6mm hole, masked up the area and then sprayed on anti rust paint, to
ensure the metal never oxidised.

(Available at motorist shops)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 59 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The same process was repeated for all four fixing holes and then the cable entry point :

Where Sikaflex 512 would be used to bond and seal, I scoured the paint surface to provide a
better key and then I degreased again.

With all the preparation complete, I assembled it all up dry to ensure it all fitted. I also made up
some small spacer plates out of Aluminium so as to make the panel level when fitted on the
roof. This was because the Transit roof is ridged and my holes were on the high and low parts
of the profile.

Once it all fitted I removed it all and then applied the Sikaflex 512 to all the parts as required
and bolted the panel, roof and aluminium angle together, ensuring that plenty of Sikaflex was
in and around the holes to prevent any water leaks. Here is the completed installation :
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 60 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

To test the installation, the cable from the panel was attached to the solar regulator and then
attached to the batteries, free electricity then flowed !

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 61 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I now installed the solar regulator on to the electrics back plate and connected the output from
it to the BM1 Battery monitor shunt / batteries, this then showed the amp charge the solar
panel generated.

Here is the BM1 shunt again, the four coloured thin cables are the BM1's power (red and
black) and the yellow and white cables are how the monitor measures the current that goes
through the shunt (either way, i.e. in or out of the batteries).

Here is the BM1 monitor attached to the batteries. Note the solar regulator restricts supply to
the batteries when they are fully charged. So even on a sunny day the charge can read zero if
the batteries are already fully charged..

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 62 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.5.3 Mains Hook up installation

I next wanted to install the mains hook up so that I had mains sockets in the van so that I
could use an oil filled radiator to keep me warm and use a fluorescent inspection lamp for light.
I wanted the battery charging system all complete and working before I installed any
appliances (via the fused switch panel) that would drain any power from the batteries. This
involved :
• Drilling and cutting a hole in the vehicle body to fit an external hook up point.
• Wiring it to the mains RCD box
• Wiring the mains charger to the RCD & batteries
• Wiring the mains sockets to the RCD

Note the equipment used should be for a motor home and comply with the relevant
British Standards. Do not undertake mains installation unless you are totally sure
of what you are doing. Vehicles are metal boxes and can be electrified if the
installation is not completed correctly. Before using the electrics ensure they are
inspected by a NICEIC qualified electrician.

Note The Build your own Motorcaravan book written by John Wickersham and published by
Haynes has a good section about electrics.

After inspecting the van externally, I found a section of the van free next to the drivers door,
this was used on the other side of the van for the Diesel filler point. This section had a empty
box construction behind it and was of an ideal size for a hookup socket.

The area was cleaned and degreased then measured and marked up, masking tape was
applied to protect the paint work. A pilot hole was drilled and then using a jigsaw the hole was
cut. The edges were filed smooth and the socket pushed in to ensure a correct fit. Next the
area was masked more and anti rust paint applied.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 63 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Be careful not to get spray onto other parts of your van.

The area was cleaned and degreased again, the socket was then wired up (with the cable
pushed through the hole from the inside !). Pilot holes were drilled for the self tapping screws.
The unit was inserted into the hole and screwed to the vehicle. Note I did not use Sikaflex 512
to bond it, as I felt that if the unit broke or got damaged I would have to replace it. Sikaflex 512
is a very strong bond and would be very difficult to remove. I sealed around the unit using
black silicone.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 64 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

A hole was drilled through the floor near to where the Mains RCD box would be located. The
cable was cut to the required length and a cable shield was pushed along the length of the
cable. Holes were then drilled through the supporting struts so that the cable could be routed
from the socket to the RCD. Note after any drilling anti rust paint was used.

Once the cable was routed, Sikaflex 512 was used at each hole to ensure the cable was
secured and to prevent chafing. The cable was also secured using 'P' clips and self tapping
screws.
Rear of the mains hook up socket

Secured cable (with cable shield fitted) under the van.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 65 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the finished installed socket :-

The cable from the socket was wired into the RCD fuse box, The fuse box did require an earth
and so a connection to the van body was made near to the unit. This would also be used as a
negative connection for the Sterling B2B unit. The paint was removed (to ensure a good
connection) and a M6 bolt used to secure it.

The wiring up of the fuse box was completed as per the instructions, copy below. The mains
cables for the sockets were cut to approximate length and sockets and back boxes attached.
These would be fixed to the partition wall and the seat box when I had completed building
them.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 66 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

A mains tester was used to test the sockets. NOTE its worth have one of these to test polarity
of hook up posts on the continent.

The 'Mains Fuse Box' contains a RCD, residual current device. This is designed to prevent
electric shock and other accidents due to faulty electrical appliances or wiring. The RCD can
detect changes in the proper flow of electric current (when a flex is damaged, or an appliance
malfunctions). Within milliseconds of this happening, the RCD automatically cuts the power
supply before anyone can be electrocuted or further damage can be done.

The mains fuse box also contains a MCB Miniature Circuit Breaker, which is in essence a
resettable 10 amp fuse. This protects against the circuits (sockets) being overloaded

After the installation was checked and tested the battery charger (CTEK XS7000) was
connected and tested. Note to test this, I connected a 12v bulb to the leisure batteries to
consume some power, I then connected up the mains hook up via a hook up adapter (see
below) and I monitored the charge given to the batteries via the BM1 battery monitor, which I
had temporally connected

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 67 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mains tester Hook up adapter

The mains 'kick plate' heater was also wired up, although it could not be installed in to the
kitchen yet, it did keep me nice and warm through the build from this point onwards.

At this point the electrics housing board was stood to one side for the installation of the
partition wall to commence. Once the basic frame of the partition wall was built (see next
section) the electrics board was bolted to the partition wall frame. This allowed the vehicle to
be driven. The cabling would in time have to be tided up and secured properly..

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 68 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 69 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.5.4 Completing the B2B wiring

With the electrics panel secured, I completed wiring up the B2B charger. The two live cables
(170 amp cable) that were fused with 100amp fuses were wired to the leisure batteries and the
vehicle car battery. The negative supply to the unit was via the vehicles body, the same
connection as the earth for the RCD fuse box.
In addition temperature sensors were installed on the leisure batteries and the vehicles
alternator. These are provided with the B2B unit, for the cable run to the alternator I did have
to extend the cable and protect it with shielding, the temperature sensor bolts onto the
alternator negative post, see photo below.

Note: In the next diagram, it shows that any extra power source, alternator and solar panel
should be connected to the engine battery. Now this is true of the alternator. However I
connected my solar panel direct to my leisure battery pack. This is to ensure that the leisure
batteries are kept in top condition. The vehicle battery will be fully charged by the existing
vehicle electrics.
This has all worked with no problems as the Solar regulator only gives a charge when one is
required and so does the B2B charger.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 70 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The B2B wiring schema is :-

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 71 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.5.5 12v distribution and monitoring

With the basic partition frame built I next decided where the 12 volt fused distribution panel
and battery monitor would be located. The 12v switched fused (resettable) distribution panel
was purchased from a Chandler, its usually for yacht installations. However it matched what I
needed and it had the added advantage of having resettable fuses and the ability to switch
(i.e. isolate) each circuit.

I would obviously have to change the labelling on it, and it came with sticky labels to do so.
This was temporally screwed to the partition wall frame to allow me to run the supply cable to it
(27amp) and also run cables to each of the appliances.

The BM1 battery monitor was also temporally attached and wired up to the leisure batteries :-

I then ran cables of the approximate length for each circuit, from the 12v distribution panel
through the frame and out at the bottom of the frame, behind where the kitchen units would be
going. All cables were labelled, as they would be attached to each circuit as each appliance
was installed. The first circuit to be connected was the fluorescent ceiling lights which were
already part of the vehicle, which I intended to re-use with LED tubes.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 72 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

All the cable joints were soldered to ensure a good electrical connection and a durable
physical connection.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 73 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.5.6 Completing the electrics.

Near the end of the conversion, when I was laying the flooring I removed the 2nd row of seats
and completed the electrics housing, by tiding up the cables and boxing around it. This was to
ensure that the electrics had suitable ventilation, were safe from things being dropped on them
but still allowed me access to see them if required.
One seat removed, batteries strapped under seat.

All 3 2nd row seats removed.

Note: The 'umbilical cord' connecting the electrics to the batteries was an old washing
machine waste water pipe.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 74 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 75 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Completed housing, with removable side panel (with handle).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 76 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the completed installation, with seats.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 77 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the completed installation of the battery monitor and distribution panel.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 78 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Partition wall installation

The partition wall was key to the overall design of the van, as it 'created space' for the 'L'
shape kitchen and the electrics housing. It also provided a useful place to hang a wall unit for
extra storage as well as being a great place to put the 12v distribution panel and battery
monitor (as you have already seen).

Constructing it so that it would be safe and secure was paramount in my mind, if for any
reason the van was involved in a crash the partition wall had to be secure.. I spoke to an
engineer friend (who luckily for me crashes cars to assess their NCAP rating for a living) and
he advised, that I would need metal supports at the top and the bottom of the wall frame
(bolted through the roof and the floor) to ensure the wall would be sturdy enough.

The rational for this was simple 'Metal deforms in a crash but wood splits and splinters'. As you
saw in the Solar panel fitting section I fitted a 3mm thick aluminium angle to the roof, its
external dimensions were 33mm * 33mm.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 79 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The first job was to mark out on the floor and the ceiling where the wall should be. For this I
used a straight piece of baton, masking tape and marker.

I had to ensure that the partition wall was close to but not touching the back of the 2nd row of
seats. The partition wall was to be constructed of 34mm timber batons, faced with 6mm ply
either side i.e. 46mm total width (not including the coverings, carpet / leatherette).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 80 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the marked out partition wall :-

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 81 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The marked floor covering was cut away, this was because it is a rubberised material with
glass bits embedded in it. A very hard wearing floor covering but it would be difficult to bond to.

Holes (8mm, for M8 bolts) were then drilled through the wooden floor and the floor of the van,
anti rust paint was applied after de-burring the holes. Note : Its much easier to drill a pilot hole
with a smaller drill bit then re drill with the larger bit, than it is to drill the hole with the larger bit
on its own.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 82 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The wooden baton and the aluminium angle were drilled to match the holes in the floor, they
were then bolted to the floor with a good covering of Sikaflex 512 on each surface to bond
them together.

While this was setting I cut the carpet and the ply board from the ceiling where the top baton
would have to be fixed.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 83 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

This was then trimmed to fit the angle and baton.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 84 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Aluminium angle was then measured and drilled to fit the solar panel :

Long bolts and big washers were then used to bolt the solar panel, roof and angle together,
bonded also with Sikaflex 512 on each surface.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 85 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After a few days of drying the installation was water tested successfully (using a hose pipe).
The timber was then bonded and bolted on to the aluminium angle. Side pieces were bonded
and screwed to the top and bottom supports, to make the basic box frame.

To this basic frame, cross members were added to give the frame more rigidity.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 86 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Further supports were added to this basic box frame to attach it to the side of the vehicle.

The supports on the side of the van were bonded and screwed to the van and also attached
to brackets that had been riveted and bonded to the metal body of the van. This added greatly
to the rigidity of the frame. Note all carpet was cut away so that the timber could be bonded
directly to other timber or metal.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 87 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 88 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Once the frame had been completed, I then started work on cutting the 6mm ply board sheets
for the front side of the frame. Two sheets of ply were measured and marked and cut to shape.

These were then joined together with 6mm ply squares which were bonded and screwed to
the panels.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 89 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The panel was the tried again against the frame to ensure a good and neat fit, especially
where the frame butts up against the window. Once I was happy with the panel I laid it out flat
ready to glue on the covering. For the covering I had decided to use a leatherette, as I had
seen it in a friends van and it looked great. The leatherette is a fake leather, not that you can
easily tell and is used by professional auto trimmers (I ended up having my seat cushions
covered in it also).

It was supplied by www.Automobiletrim.com and cost £8 per square metre. I spoke to them
and they advised that it was usual to glue 6mm upholstery foam to the boards first then glue
the 'leathercloth' to the foam. This then gives a smooth finish with the leather being lovely and
tactile.

Upholstery foam was £8 per sq metre also, and so with 2 tins of high temp spray glue, Vat and
delivery it all came to £60.

Upholstery 6mm foam heavy grain leatherette

The foam was glued and then cut to ensure a 1cm overlap around the edge of the frame,
speaker holes, distribution panel hole and battery monitor hole were also cut. Once the glue
was dry the leatherette was glued on to the foam and a generous overlap left to attach it to the
back of the panel. Glue and staples were used to ensure a tight and neat wrap around finish to
the edges.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 90 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The completed panel before attaching to the frame :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 91 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The panel was then secured to the frame using Sikaflex 512 and brackets and screws.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 92 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

One job left to do was to carpet a thin strip of wood to attach to the end of the wall, 44mm
wide, depth of 4mm. You can see this in later photo's when the van is completed. The other
side of the wall would be completed as part of the kitchen installation.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 93 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Kitchen installation
7.1 Kitchen design layout and planning
The layout of the kitchen was planned to be 'L' shaped, to be able to fit in a sink, cooker, fridge
and then have a good sized bench for food preparation and cupboards for storage. As you
have seen on page 14 & 15 (Layout scale drawings) it looked like it would all fit in the van.
Now that I had the van with the partition wall built, I re-measured and drew a scale design of
my proposed kitchen.

For the kitchen I intended to use Ikea kitchen wall cabinets as the base units. After examining
the Ikea catalogue I decided on their Abstrakt kitchen (high gloss grey) and Pragel (black
marble effect) worktop. The kitchen units and bench came to £372. The following units were
bought :-

Item Part No Qty Total cost

Horizontal wall cabinet (70mm*40mm) 901.323.79 1 £41.00
High gloss grey door for wall cabinet 601.533.92 1 £31.00
Wall Cabinet (60mm * 70mm) 941.798.10 2 £36.00
High gloss grey door for cabinet 701.534.00 2 £72.00
Integral hinge 701.323.75 3 £9.00
Shelf for cabinet 178.719.10 2 £10.00
High gloss grey side panel (60mm * 1950) 701.534.38 1 £56.00
Pragel worktop (126mm *62mm) 001.240.86 1 £20.00
Pragel worktop (186mm *62mm) 401.240.89 1 £30.00
Wall cabinet (40mm * 70mm) 341.796.10 1 £13.00
High gloss grey door for cabinet 601.533.92 1 £50.00
Shelf for cabinet 578.717.10 1 £4.00

This provided me with 3 units for the base L shape kitchen and one wall unit to fix on the
partition wall. As you may notice from my plan I was unsure of what height to have the bench
and also how I would fit in the fridge, gas locker, water tanks, sink and hob into these units.
Note all the kitchen units were 37mm deep.

These design issues were resolved by assembling the unit carcasses (using lots of PVA wood
glue for rigidity) and having at hand all the equipment that would have to fit in them. Many
combinations were tried by moving the units around and slotting in the equipment. I used cut
out templates of the sink and hob so that I could easily place them and see the effect.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 94 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note : Wiring is complete in the partition wall.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 95 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 96 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Other kitchen planning considerations are :

• What type of gas to carry

• How much gas to carry
• How much water to carry

The type of gas you carry mainly depends on when you are going to use your van. If like me
you only intend to use the van for 3 seasons then Butane will be fine. However if you intend
using your van in the winter then propane will be better as it does not become as sluggish or
freeze as quickly as Butane.

How much gas to carry does also depend on how you are going to use your van and how
often you will have to refill / change cylinders. I have been camping with my family many times
and I have always managed a two week holiday on 3kg of gas. Space is a added
consideration and so is the availability of refills or replacement cylinders.

I decided to build a gas locker (metal cabinet vented to the exterior) to house a 4.5kg butane
cylinder (Calor gas bottle) which would give me plenty of gas. With Calor gas bottles you can't
tell how full they are and they are not readily available on the continent. So as I would be
travelling on the continent and I never wanted to run out of gas, I decided to carry a spare
smaller butane gas bottle (2.75 kg). This would not be a Calor gas bottle but a Campingaz 907
cylinder which are readily available in Europe.

This would give me good flexibility, as I could carry 2.75kg, 4.5kg or 7.25kg of gas depending
on how long my trip was going to be. A friend of mine decided that he did not want to have to
worry about how much gas he had left and changing cylinders so he installed a large refillable
tank under his van. He can see how much gas is left in it and he fills it up once or twice a year.
This solution does cost more but does give him more space in his van. However the bottle
solution lends itself more to DIY installation. See the Gas installation section for photos of the
cylinders.

How much water is also dependant on space and how you intend to use your van, as you
know I intended to use the van for days away and family holidays where we would be mainly
on a camp-site. Because of this I calculated that we could manage with two 10 litre tanks (one
for fresh water and one for waste water), these would be installed inside the van.

This should be enough for a day out, drinking water and washing up. When on a family holiday
the tanks could be easily refilled and the washing up could be completed using the camp-site
facilities if required.

With my kitchen design I could not store any more water than 10 litres with out compromising
storage space. I therefore would install the tanks and see how it all worked out during the year.
If I discovered that 10 litres was not enough water, I could later on install larger tanks under
the van.

Note After a 2.5 week family holiday touring in France and many day trips out, two 10L water
tanks are sufficient.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 97 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.2 Kitchen preparation work

The kitchen would be fitted to batons, attached to the walls, just as you would in your home.
To do this I had to firstly complete the back of the partition wall using 6mm ply board.

I cut templates to fit the wall and these were screwed and bonded to the frame using Sikaflex
512, the wall would be solid and would never come apart easily. Because of this I first ran
additional spare cables through the wall to the distribution panel. A removable ply panel was
fitted behind the distribution panel so that I could access the cabling if required.

Also before I fixed the ply board on to the frame I photographed the wall with IKEA paper tape
measures attached to it. This was so that I could work out where the batons and cables were
inside the wall after the panel had been fixed.

NOTE : I had also fitted the 12v axillary socket and one of the mains sockets to the partition
wall.
I did not fully ply board the partition wall, where the electrics housing was I did not need to as
this would be behind the kitchen and seats. However to ensure no possibility of liquids
escaping from the kitchen and getting onto the electrics I fitted a thick plastic waterproof sheet
on to the rear of the partition wall.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 98 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next I altered the kitchen wall cabinet carcass so that it did not stick out as much, then I
secured a baton (screwed and bonded) to the partition wall.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 99 of 198
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The wall unit back was altered and fitted and the whole unit was then screwed and bonded to
the baton and partition wall.

What height to fit the kitchen bench at, was the next issue, the units I had bought were 70cm
tall. A usual home kitchen bench is at 91.5cm, so that an average adult does not have to stoop
to use it. I decided to raise the kitchen units by 10cm (the perfect gap for the electric plinth
heater) to 80cm and then by adding the bench (4cm thick) the working height of the kitchen
bench would be 84cm.

A baton was fitted to the partition wall at 80cm high. The height of the kitchen on the right hand
side would be higher than the windows, I therefore had to build a frame that was fixed
(screwed and bonded using Sikaflex 512) to the floor and the side of the van. A strip of carpet
was removed from the side of the van so that the bonding could be wood on wood.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 100 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The kitchen units would have to be heightened by 10cm, usual kitchen legs could not be used
as the units had to be secured to the floor. The usual plastic legs were too flimsy and did not
have any way of attaching them to the floor. After much searching around on the internet I
found that for a few pounds I could buy threaded feet (used to fit on baths) and some Tee nuts
(used in furniture manufacture). These could be attached to a baton secured to the carcass
and screwed to the floor.

The two outer units were fitted with these legs. The corner unit would not be raised, this was
so that there was space for the hob (that would be fitted into the bench above it) and the unit
would therefore not have to be cut.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 101 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The kitchen units and appliances were tried in place and the final kitchen design decisions
were made. For example :

1. If I put the gas locker in the corner then I would have to cut away some of the side of
the left hand unit to allow access. Here is the work completed.

2. For the fridge to be flush with the front of the kitchen the carcass it was in would have
to be installed away from the wall.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 102 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. It looked like the water containers would fit next to the fridge (just) but they would have
to be on their side, which ironically is the best use of the space.

4. The plinth heater would fit nicely under the left hand kitchen unit.

5. Where the kitchen backed on to the windows, blanking plates would have to be fitted to
prevent things falling down the back of the kitchen. Here is one fitted.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 103 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
7.3 Gas locker construction and installation

WARNING : Gas is dangerous. If you don't feel confident

working with it then get a professional gas installer to
do the work for you. All work you attempt is at your own
risk !

I had decided that the cooker hob would be in the corner of the 'L' shaped kitchen as this was
below a slider window (good for ventilation when cooking). It would also be away from the
seating area good for safety (away from the children). This meant that the cupboard beneath
the corner would house the gas, I measured and checked that the gas cylinders would fit.

This unit was moved into place checked it was level and then batons marked and fixed so that
it could be screwed and bonded to the floor and the wall.

It was then removed and the vent hole drilled and prepared. To ensure an air tight fit and that
water could not splash up into the hole from underneath, a piece of plastic waste pipe was
used, this protruded underneath the van floor slightly and was bonded in the hole with Sikaflex
512. This was also used to seal the pipe to the underneath of the van. Note a mesh would be
installed over the pipe to ensure no vermin or creepy crawlies could use it as a van entrance.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 104 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I also drilled an additional vent hole further along that would vent underneath and behind the
unit where the fridge was to be installed.

The unit was then installed and left to dry for 24 hours.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 105 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The gas locker was the next problem to solve, for safety reasons it is advisable to keep your
gas cylinder in a metal air tight locker that is vented to the outside of the van. So in the event
of a gas leak the gas can escape (Butane is heavier than air) out through the vent, thus
dramatically reducing the risk of an explosion. The research I did showed that a gas locker
should be made from a minimum 20swg mild steel or aluminium (0.914mm thick). I searched
on the internet to source a gas locker but had no success.

I contacted a couple of fabrication companies and got quotes to build a locker, but these were
in my opinion too expensive, around £200. In the end a friend of mine kindly gave me two
aluminium LP record cases that he had owned for years, so I decided to try and make a
custom gas locker. Daft as that sounds, these boxes were a possible good solution, they were
4mm ply board covered in 2mm aluminium and reinforced at the seams, nice and light and
strong.

These boxes would not house a 4.5kg gas cylinder when upright but it looked like they might if
they were turned on their sides and joined together. They were riveted together, so after some
drilling :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 106 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The cylinder diameter fitted but it was too tall.

I'd have to use them both and join them together !

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 107 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Unfortunately this was too tall to fit into the cupboard carcass. I decided to make a top for the
locker by using bits from one box. Bits were cut, drilled and riveted back together to get :

At this point I tried the box in the cupboard and found that I was unable to open the box door
as it would snag on the cupboard next to it. So I changed from using it at the top to using it as
the bottom of the locker, to over come this problem.

It was sealed air tight with Sikaflex 512 and then riveted onto the other box.

A hole was cut in the bottom of the box to align with the vent hole through the floor. And a gas
cylinder retaining strap installed.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 108 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

For gas safety, flexible pipe can be used inside a gas locker but external to the locker fixed
copper pipe must be used (this is a DVLA requirement also). I therefore had to install a
bulkhead valve and attach the flexible pipe and the gas bottle regulator. Note the regulator for
a 4.5kg gas cylinder is not the same connection as for a Campingaz 907 cylinder, however
you can buy a screw on converter. This would mean that I would not have to alter pipe work or
regulators when changing gas cylinders.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 109 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The gas locker was screwed and bonded in to place in the carcass and using the wiring I had
already installed I connected up the Gas Alarm detector (Butane / Propane / Methane alarm).
Note the additional Campingaz 907 cylinder could be stored on top of the locker for long trips.

All this work did take time, however I ended up with a bespoke locker that fitted exactly where I
needed it to.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 110 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.4 Sink and Hob installation

The two other kitchen cabinet carcasses were screwed and bonded to the floor, wall and
neighbouring carcasses, to ensure a solid kitchen base. I next measured out the first piece of
kitchen workbench. The kitchen worktops were all of a custom depth, with the one on the
fridge side being 50cm deep and the one on the partition wall side being 44.5 cm deep. Here
is the first cut top with the hob and sink templates on top.

The worktop was cut using a hand held 1400 watt circular saw and the edge was cut smooth
using a 2100 watt ½ inch router. The second worktop was measured, I intended joining the
worktops together with an 'invisible join' and I had purchased a kitchen worktop jig and router
for this. But as my kitchen was all bespoke I had to read how to do it and measure it several
times before I made any cuts.

I won't explain in this book how to do 'invisible joins', there are many good sites on the internet
that explain how to do it. Just make sure you take your time, any mistakes could be costly in
wasted worktop. Here is my second worktop cut to size :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 111 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I next cut a small bar to go at the back of the hob and sink worktop, this was to prevent fluids
or anything else running off the back of the bench. Note any cut edges were sealed with
varnish to ensure no water ingress. With the worktops laid on the carcasses and the templates
on top I could measure where the sink and hob could go.

With these measurements the appliances could be laid on the bench and marked up ready for
cutting. The outline of each appliance was marked on the worktop, ensuring that they were
correctly lined up etc.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 112 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

With the external outline of the appliance drawn an internal outline of the appliance (i.e. the cut
line) could be drawn.

NOTE: On the corners the inner line is truncated across, this is because Smev appliances use
swivel plastic feet to keep the appliance in the worktop. This is covered more later on.

The inner line was cut around using a hand held jigsaw. Most jigsaw blades cut when the
blade moves up, i.e. the blades teeth are pointing up, this mean that if you cut the worktop
from underneath you will get a nice clean cut. Do a test cut first if you are unsure. The sink
was then laid in the hole.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 113 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the sink from the underneath, a nice fit.

Here is a close look at the swivel plastic feet Note My worktop was too thick so the feet could
not swivel properly, this will have to be altered.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 114 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I next cut out the holes for the brackets and bolts that join the two parts of the bench together.

I then cut out the hole for the hob, which resulted in a worktop as follows :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 115 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

This was then used to mark and cut out holes needed in the carcases.

Here is it all tried for size before anything was fixed.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 116 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I then used my small 850 watt router to cut shallow cuts for the swivel feet on the appliances.
These feet are spring loaded and are very good, they hold the appliance tightly in place.

Here they are working :

I did not fix the appliances yet, as its much easier to move the worktop around with out them
fitted. I next joined the worktop together with PVA wood glue and worktop jointing bolts :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 117 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the join as it was setting (it was left overnight to dry) :

The hob and sink were fixed into the worktop, I used a small bead of black silicone around the
edge to ensure a water tight seal.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 118 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The thin plinth bar was fitted (screwed and bonded) along the back of the worktop behind the
sink and hob and sealed in with black silicone. This finished worktop was then screwed and
bonded to the kitchen wooden batons and the kitchen carcases.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 119 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.5 Sink and Hob connection

The water system in my van was to be two 10 litre plastic containers, with one being the clean
water supply, pumped by a Whale submersible pump and the other one being the dirty waste
water tank. The clean water pipework is 12.7mm in diameter (1/2”) and the waste pipework is
19mm.

Here is one of the containers and the Whale pump with the clean water pipe attached:

Note a Whale plastic non-return valve was inserted into the pipe, as near to the tap as
possible. This is to ensure the pump does not have to run too much when being used. Whale
recommend not to run the pump more than 15 seconds in one go. The non-return valve is a
very tight fit and is held in the pipe by the retaining clip.

This system would be a cold water system only, so the clean water pipe was connected to the
cold input on the Smev tap and retained with a clip. Another piece of pipe with a sealed end
was attached to the hot input on the tap. This is to prevent leakage when the system is used.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 120 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The whale pump was wired to the electrics system and to the micro switch installed in the
Smev tap. Here is the installation :

The fridge would be installed next to these containers. To stop them moving around I installed
a couple of clip points and then used a bungee to retain them. See the fridge installation
picture for the final installation.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 121 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

To connect the Smev hob to the gas you use 8mm copper pipe and compression fittings.

WARNING : Gas is dangerous. If you don't feel

confident working with it then get a
professional gas installer to do the work for
you. All work you attempt is at your own risk !

The hob has a solid 8mm pipe to connect to :

The gas locker already has the compression fitting ready for connection. 8 mm copper pipe is
soft and can be bent using your hands. However it often kinks and this will restrict gas flow. I
would recommend a small pipe bender especially for 90 degree bends. The pipe is best
secured every 10 to 15 cm. I used standard 'P' clips to do this, however to stop chafing or
vibration, I cut small pieces of rubber pipe that were placed around the gas pipe for the 'P' clip
to secure. I also installed a cut off value, here is the job in progress :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 122 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Here is the completed pipe work :

Note On 8mm pipe it is very easy to over tighten the compression fittings, I nipped mine up
slightly then tested the system, on one joint I had a small leak and a further fraction of a turn
stopped this.

I tested the gas system with the gas alarm turned on and my nose clear (you can smell butane
very easily as it contains a smelly additive) I also had a container with a water and washing up
liquid mixture in it. With the gas turned on at the cylinder I applied the liquid to each
compression joint, if you see bubbles being generated then the joint is not sealed. I monitored
the system for a couple of weeks by turning the gas off at nights, but back on (and the gas
detector) when I was working on the van. After a couple of weeks when I knew the system was
ok, I sealed the joints with Sikaflex 512 as an added security measure.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 123 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

7.6 Fridge Installation and finishing off

The installation of the fridge is not complex from a wiring point of view, once it is connected up
to the 12v DC system it will run. However it did have to fit into a tight space so some precision
in the cutting and fixing of its surround would be needed.

I had purchased the standard fixing frame for the fridge, which bolts on to the sides and top of
the fridge and then screwed to the cupboard door / frame.

I therefore had to cut a blanking plate from the kitchen cupboard door, that would go along the
top and right hand side of the fridge. This was attached to the carcass with brackets. The
fridge was then pushed into position and then screwed to this panel.

Note I have also installed the left hand cupboard door, although it still has it protective plastic
covering on it.

The outstanding issues were how to latch the left hand cupboard door and how to access the
water containers via a removable panel or door. Here are the water containers in place.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 124 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I decided to latch the cupboard doors using caravan push to open, push to lock catches, after
some careful measuring I fitted the first of these to the wall cupboard :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 125 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I measured and ordered the bespoke stainless steel splash back for the partition wall. This
was then bonded on to a 4mm ply board sheet and the partition wall. A small gap was left all
around it so that the carpet could be tucked in behind the splash back. This was sealed to the
worktop with silicone.

I next cut and fixed in a blanking plate next to the left hand cupboard door, this doors catch
could lock against the back of the blanking plate.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 126 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
End plates were then cut and fixed on to the wall cabinet and the base units :

Note. I had bought in a sale a set of 12V DC LED decking lights, that I decided to add to the
bottom of the wall unit as down lighters. Here are the base cabinet side panels fitted :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 127 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the completed Wall unit with additional down lighters fitted :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 128 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

A panel was cut to cover the water access area. It was held in place with push on catches and
then secured using a caravan latch.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 129 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Kick plates were cut and added to the bottom of the units. The kick plate under the fridge unit
was made removable, as this space would be used to store the electric hook up cable.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 130 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Seats, table and lower sleeping accommodation

The seating table and lower bed sleeping area was 177cm long (across the van) and 126cm
wide.
Before starting construction I drafted up some designs of how the seat boxes and bed would
be constructed. I established that a comfortable seat would be approx 50cm high and 50cm
deep and this formed the basis of the designs.

This box would be built from 34mm timber batons, constructed using brackets and PVA glue,
the frame was designed to be stable and to transmit weight directly to the floor. Each box
would have two hinged lids (using piano hinges) to allow access to the storage area
underneath :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 131 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The seat boxes would need to have cushions that could then be reused to make a flat bed, the
original aim was to use industry standard 4 inch foam, as it happened I ended up with 5 inch
foam, discussed later on, here is the cushions / bed design.

Frame front and sides were made separately and then bolted together (and glued) :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 132 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The frame was tried for size before any more work :

The boxes were to be faced with 6mm ply board, which would be glued and screwed to the
frame. This makes a really strong box.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 133 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The PVA glue was left to dry overnight, although it was so cold on a couple of evenings I had
to take the boxes in to the house to dry.

The lids were constructed and attached to the box using piano hinges, handle holes were cut
into the lids with a jigsaw. NOTE I left a ½ cm gap at the front of the box, this was for the
bridge panels to rest upon,. The bridge panels would be used to bridge the gap between the
two seat boxes thus making a flat bed surface.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 134 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
The corners of the box were cut off and sanded to prevent peoples legs catching on them.

The second box was made and tried for size, the bridge panels could then be cut. Four bridge
panels would be made and then stored in the seat box. These would need to be two layers of
6mm ply board bonded and screwed together and then carpeted.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 135 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

To fit in with the van décor each seat box was carpeted inside and outside.

The lids were sprayed black and anti slip matting was glued to the top.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 136 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The boxes were then screwed and bonded to the floor of the van and carpeted inside. This is
an expense and quite time consuming, however I felt the finished look was worth it.

The cables for the 12v supply and the 2 nd mains socket would have to be fixed / fitted into the
R/H seat box.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 137 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

With the measurements for the foam, a local upholstery supply company quoted for 4inch
foam. Their quote was £150, after placing the order they offered my 5 inch foam at no extra
cost due a supply problem on 4 inch foam. A week later I picked up my cushions :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 138 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The table leg support would next have to be installed in the floor, however I wanted to install
this in conjunction with the flooring, after investigation I decided to use Vinyl self adhesive tiles
from a DIY shop. These would be glued to the floor using contact adhesive (Evostick 528). To
do this I would need a trim to fit at the back of the van. The old aluminium trip was cleaned up
using a wire brush, cut and drilled so that it could be fixed to the floor and the tiles could then
butt up against it.

This was fixed to the back end of the floor and the first few floor tile installed. A hole was then
cut through the floor (with a jigsaw) for the table support. This was screwed and bonded with
Sikaflex 512. Plenty of Sikaflex 512 was applied underneath the van to seal in the table
support.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 139 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the progress to date :

The bed bridge panels had to be completed, these would be carpeted also :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 140 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 141 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I was hoping to be able to buy a lightweight table from a supplier, however after searching I
could not find one that fitted my size requirements and finish so unfortunately I had to make
the table. I did have 1 metre of kitchen worktop left over so I decided to use that.

The final size of the table was worked out by using a piece of hardboard as a template. This
was then cut down until an appropriate and working size was determined. The size of the table
ended up being 105cm long by 57.5cm wide, although I did have to cut off the corners to allow
easier access to the seats.

The kitchen worktop was then cut to this size using a circular saw. The worktop was too thick
at 4cm so I routed the whole table surface down to a thickness of 19mm (that was fun ! And
very messy).

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 142 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

As I had used 5 inch foam instead of 4inch, I had to raise the table, I used an off cut of kitchen
cupboard door :

This was screwed and bonded to the table, the table leg attachment was then fixed to it.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 143 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

I sourced some black table 'T' edging from an arcade game machine spares supplier. So using
the small router a groove was cut all around the edge of the table

Into this the edging was glued :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 144 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

This was left to dry overnight :

Here is the completed table ;

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 145 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The best place to store that table was on one of the back doors. After removing a door trim I
found a metal supporting strut that I could bolt through. A timber baton was bolted to this strut.
Further batons were added to the top of it, with the final one having a groove cut in it for the
table end to rest in. This was carpeted to blend in.

The door already had two small holes in the metal either side of the window. They were used
as hook points for the restraining bungee cords.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 146 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The remaining floor tiles were glued down, a time consuming exercise. They were then sealed
around the edges using black silicone. This would mean they could be washed as required.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 147 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 Top bed construction

Working out how to design the top bed platform took a lot of time, what I needed to end up
with was a 6ft long bed that was the width of the whole van, i.e. to rest on the aluminium
angles I had already installed. This platform would have to take the weight of two full sized
adults and subsequently be stored when not in use.

After some careful thought, measuring and lots of chats with friends, it was decided the
solution would be four 9mm ply board platforms with aluminium 'U' profiles fixed onto each
side of the ply board for strength, these would be hinged and fold-able if possible.

These would be bolted in place (through the aluminium angles) whilst travelling and then
removed and used in the awning as a solid bed base when set up on a campsite.

As the van sides taper in to the roof, the panels would have to be slid in to place along the
aluminium angle, as the kitchen was underneath one side of the angle the maximum width the
panels could be was 40cm. I ordered some 3mm thick aluminium profiles and purchased four
9mm ply board sheets, these were varnished, measured and cut

The profiles were then cut to the correct length and bonded onto the ply board. Once dry this
panel was tested for strength by sliding it onto the aluminium angles in the van and me lying
across it in the centre. It proved strong and very stable with only a little bit of flexing, some
4cm or so.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 148 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

A second platform was constructed in the same manner. I decided to connect these two
platforms together (using 3 hinges) to give them more strength. Hinges were bonded to the
aluminium using Sikaflex 512 and riveted using 4.8mm rivets:
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 149 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 150 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The platform would then be slid on to the runners with the hinges facing downwards.

Two more panels were made in the same way and then joined in the same way. Unfortunately
the panels were too heavy to be able to join all four together. One other additional 20cm wide
panel was made to bring the total platform length up to 1.8m i.e. 6ft long.

They were tested in place with two adults, they flexed very little, although your hip rested at
the point where the two platforms met (which were not connected) and so a 1cm gap could
occur. I would have to design some removable joining method to make the whole bed, one
solid platform.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 151 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 152 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The panels were then painted black on top and carpeted underneath (to stop people banging
their heads badly).

While working on these panels I was thinking and discussing with friends where I would store
the top bed foam mattress (from Ikea). A friend of mine had a good idea, which was to put one
panel on top of the other one and bolt them down whilst travelling. This meant the kitchen
could still be used and if I added in a cargo net it could be used for storing the mattress (if cut
down) and the bedding. I managed to buy an Audi A6 estate cargo net for a few pounds off
Ebay, and some stainless steel fixing loops from screwfix :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 153 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The panels and nets were bolted down as follows :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 154 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Cargo net connectors are bathroom sink plug & chain bolts and rats tails.

Platform retaining bolts are normal M6 bolts with wing nuts.

To secure the two platforms together a metal bar and standard M6 bolts were used :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 155 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is the completed top bed, laid out and stored, and I have to say its very comfortable and
worth all the effort. We have used it for one night stop overs where we did not want to put up
the awning, with all four of us sleeping in the van.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 156 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 157 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 Finishing touches
The van is 'nearly' complete, although there are always a few more jobs that seem to take
ages to complete. if you have made it this far in the book well done we are nearly there !

A few jobs were left outstanding,

• Upholstery covering
• How to make the van private at night.
• Electrics in the seat box
• Side door edging and remaining flooring
• Additional fitting & remaining electrics
• How to pimp my van

10.1 Upholstery coverings

I considered covering my cushions, however having never used a sewing machine I did
wonder if I was capable of doing them. I read up on how to do this and had a try with some
spare Leatherette. I was hopeless, so I asked around locally to find a good upholsterer. My
local garage (Millers) recommended to me a local chap called Phil.

I met with Phil (contact details in the Supplier section) and he was just the man. He had been
upholstering camper vans, classic cars and performance cars for 40 years, he agreed to take
on my job, although he was very busy.

We discussed the design (stitching and piping) that I required and we selected a nice blue
leatherette to match the van's colour. A few weeks later on I received my completed seats and
they looked great !

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 158 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here they are with the bridge panels and then the lower bed set up. Note The piping and
stitching is only on one side so when you turn them over you get a lovely smooth bed to lie on.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 159 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

10.2 Black out blinds / pads

Fortunately for me this problem proved relatively straight forward to solve. I had used Ikea
black out blinds before and knew they were cheap and good. I measured up and when I was
at Ikea buying the foam mattress for the top bed I also bought 4 blinds.

These were dismantled and altered to suit the small drop required and then fixed to the
underside of the aluminium angle using self tapping screws :

A blind was fixed to each back door also :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 160 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Some Velcro strips were glued to the bottom of the blind and the top, the blind could then be
pushed into the window recess to ensure full privacy.

This just left the other windows, i.e. the sliding door (not enough space to fit a blind on it) and
the window that was split in two by the partition wall. I had an idea here, I could use the spare
black out blind material (that I had cut off when altering the blinds) and the spare 6mm
upholstery foam I had left over from the partition wall lining. Then by gluing them together
create a window privacy pad that could be attached by Velcro to the window surround. I
measured up and had a try, which worked well :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 161 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

These privacy pads, can be folder up and stored in the over cab locker.

I also purchased a set of internal silver screen blinds. These work really well at keeping the
heat and light out of the van.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 162 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

10.3 Seat box electrics

The 12v auxiliary socket and the mains socket in the R/H seat box had to be completed. The
12v socket was mounted externally as it had a cover on it. I decided to mount the mains
socket inside the seat box as it was near to the back door and I did not want to risk it being
exposed to water, say if it was raining.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 163 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

10.4 Side door edging and remaining flooring

The remaining flooring and side step edging needed to be fitted. The existing aluminium
edging was cut and drilled the same as the back door edge trim. The step was covered in vinyl
tiles with the back of the step being carpeted.

The 2nd row of three seats were removed and the rest of the floor tiles glued down. Once it was
all dry the seats were refitted and the battery box was secured.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 164 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

10.5 Additional fittings

The only electrics left to complete were the installation of two LED spot lights for use at bed
time. One was for the lower bed and one for the upper bed.

Note I was still awaiting a dry and warm enough day to carpet the last door !

I also fitted a couple of spring loaded handles on to the end of the set boxes, these could the
be attached to each other with bungees or ratchet straps. This created a good place to store
our luggage whilst travelling and prevented it from slipping forward and hitting the kitchen.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 165 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

11 The completed van.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 166 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 167 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 168 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 169 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 170 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lets not forget why I started this project, our first trip out !

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 171 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

12. Time and money

How long did it take and how much did it cost are the first two questions people who know me
ask, when they see the finished camper van. When I started the conversion I had an idea
(budget) of how much but I had no idea of how long it would take, I do now !

How Long
The total time taken doing actual conversion jobs took 299 hours. I know this as I kept a build
diary (See Appendix 3). What I did not include in the build diary is the thinking, research and
sourcing parts time. The time I spent working on the conversion splits up into these build
categories :

• Preparation 11 hours
• Insulation 8.5 hours
• Carpeting & Lining 44 hours
• Electrics 58 hours
• Partition wall 22 hours
• Seats and beds 59.5 hours
• Other 45.5 hours
• Kitchen 50.5 hours

As you can see I spent a long time carpeting the van. Now I don't think this is because I'm
particularly slow at carpet lining, but more to do with the décor choices I made. As you have
seen I carpeted the seat boxes inside and out and I also carpeted (and used leatherette on)
the partition wall. If I had decided to finish these with other materials this time would have been
reduced. In your van design you may not have seat boxes or a partition wall. And in fact you
may not buy a minibus as a base vehicle, they do have a lot of windows to carpet around !

The kitchen took a lot of time to complete, the bulk of the kitchen and appliances were
installed in 25 hours, however I had to build a gas locker and I choose to make my own table,
these took time to construct. Your van and project will be different so please have a look at the
build diary to work out what tasks you will need to do and how long they will take.

299 hours is a large commitment to make, the number of hours I was able to achieve each
month was :-

• September 24.5
• October 31
• November 38
• December 22
• January 62.5
• February 37
• March 39
• April 41
• May 4

I worked on my van on the evenings and at the weekends, but I always made sure I had some
time away from it also.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 172 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

How Much
The total cost for my camper van was £16,537.14. This was the van cost of 10k and the
conversion cost including the luxuries was 6537.14. You're probably now thinking, that's a lot
for a conversion. Lets look at the category break down :

• Glue and fixings £296.77

• Sikaflex £81.42
• Carpet £213.57
• Electrics, appliances + solar £1,687.32
• timber £292.07
• Other £294.96
• Kitchen (units, water & gas) £1,164.28
• Luxuries £1,810.83
• Tools £191.91
• Insulation £100.89
• Seats and beds £403.12

The biggest costs are the 'luxuries', these are things that I consider as optional on the
conversion, ie Vehicle tracker, Awning, Tow bar, window tinting etc. With out these the
conversion would have cost about £4700.

This is more than I had originally budgeted (about 3k), however this did not include a Solar
panel installation or contracting out the upholstery (approx £600), I had also totally
underestimated the cost of seating / bedding foam.

The approach I took on this conversion was to fit the best equipment as is fitted in a £40k+
professional camper vans. This does come at a cost, and so if you are on a budget read
through the full expenditure diary in Appendix 4 and determine what items you can miss out
and what items you can source cheaper.

On the sourcing of items I tried where possible to buy direct from a wholesaler in the business
that I needed the part for. What I mean is, take stainless steel splash backs as an example, in
a DIY shop they are 3 or 4 times more expensive than going to an engineering company and
getting them to custom cut a size of stainless steel.

In Appendix 6 I list all the suppliers I used (and are happy to recommend to you) and what I
bought from them so use this as a starting point for pricing of parts. Look out for great deals by
searching on the internet. I managed to pick up full gas cylinders very cheaply this way.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 173 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

13. Legal paperwork, Insurance, MOT's and DVLA

13.1 Registration document V5C

Your vehicle when you buy it will be classified on the V5C as a commercial van or in my case
a mini bus. This classification affects, the type of MOT inspection (and its cost) your vehicle
will have to have, how much you will have to pay for insurance and probably the most
important thing what speed you can drive at on the road.

Commercial vans and mini buses have lower legal speeds limits on dual carriage ways than
cars or 'Motor Caravans'. 'Motor Caravan' is the official DVLA classification (that appears on
the V5C registration document) for a camper van.

The DVLA allow vehicles to change classifications and indeed my vehicle is now reclassified
as a 'Motor Caravan' on its V5C. To do this you have to demonstrate to them that the vehicle
has been properly converted into a 'Motor Caravan'. The DVLA has a series of criteria that
your vehicle must meet to qualify as a 'Motor Caravan', the following permanent fixtures must
be present:

1. Sleeping Accommodation
• There must be a bed with a minimum length of 6ft or 180cms
• The bed must be an integral part of the vehicle living accommodation area
• The bed must be permanent or converted from seats (the bed can fold away
during the day)
• The bed fixtures must be secured directly to the vehicle floor and/or side walls,
unless it is over the drivers cab compartment.

2. Access
• There must be a horizontal sliding door or an outward opening rear or side door.

3. Seats and Tables

• There must be a seating area for diners to sit around
• The table can be fixed or detachable
• The table must mount directly to the vehicle floor or side walls
• The table mounting must be secured as a permanent feature, either bolted
screwed or welded. The table itself can be detachable.
• Seats must be secured directly to the vehicle floor and/or side walls
• The seats must be secured as a permanent fixture, either bolted, riveted,
screwed or welded
• Permanently secured seating must be available for use at a table

4. Water Container
• The vehicle must have an on-board or external (e,g, under the chassis) water
container
• Note: Some insurers state a minimum amount.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 174 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Storage
• The vehicle must have at least one cupboard, locker or wardrobe
• The cupboard must be an integral part of the living accommodation area
• The cupboard must be a permanent feature, either bolted, riveted, screwed or
welded
• The cupboard must be secured directly to the vehicle floor and / or side walls

6. Cooking
• The vehicle must have cooking facilities powered by fixed gas, electric hob or
microwave oven
• The cooking facilities must be secured directly to the vehicle floor or side wall
• The cooking facilities must be a permanent feature, either bolted, riveted,
screwed or welded
• Gas and electric hobs must have a minimum or 2 cooking rings. Microwave
ovens must have a power source (don't just fit one that can't be used)
• Gas cooking facilities with remote fuel supplies must have the gas supply pipe
permanently secured to the vehicle structure
• Gas cooking facilities with remote fuel supplies should have the gas bottle, fuel
reservoir secured to the vehicle structure

7. Windows
• The vehicle must have at least one side window

When I had completed my conversion I wrote to the DVLA requesting that my vehicle V5C be
amended to 'Motor Caravan'. I enclosed my existing V5C (send recorded delivery) and also
numbered photographs to show / demonstrate each of the above points. Note also ensure that
as many photos as possible contain your number plate.

Three weeks later on I received my new V5C. If the DVLA are not satisfied with your
conversion or if you are selected at random, then you may have to present your vehicle at the
local VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) station. They will inspect your vehicle
based on the above criteria.

This is nothing to worry about, the DVLA are just trying to ensure that you have completed a
permanent conversion that fits the criteria. It will make selling the vehicle on easier also.

One point on minibuses that I did not know is that 9 – 17 seat minibuses have to be legally
restricted to no faster than 60mph. My Ford transit had a computer software limiter installed,
some garages were not sure if their minibuses were mechanically speed limited or speed
limited by software. Apparently Ford have used both methods before, so do check if you buy a
minibus.

To get my minibus unrestricted (by Ford) I had to remove the required number of seats and
ensure the holes had been filled in and that the seats could not be refitted. Ford charged me
£100 or so to update the engine management software to remove this speed restriction. One
possible consequence of having a speed limiter fitted is that people drive at the maximum
limited speed, this can over time damage the synchromesh in the gearbox. My vehicle had had
the gearbox reconditioned.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 175 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

13.2 MOT
My vehicle needed an MOT during my conversion ( on the 12/4/10). I took it to my local garage
(Millers) who informed me that as it was classified as a 'Goods vehicles (over 3,000 kg up to
3,500 kg DGW) ' it would need a Class 7 MOT.

( See http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Mot/DG_4022514)

A class 7 MOT is £58.60 as opposed to a class 4 MOT (for cars and Motor Caravans) which is
£54.85. Therefore by getting my vehicle reclassified it is cheaper to MOT in the future.
Consider where your MOT falls in your conversion work, you may be able to save your self
some money.

13.3 Insurance
Insurance for commercial vehicles is more expensive than for Motor Caravans. Its therefore
worth getting you vehicle conversion complete and reclassified as soon as you can. When you
are converting your van into a camper van you can insure it on a 'Conversion' insurance
policy. This type of policy gives you a set time (3 or 6 months) to complete your conversion to
a specified level, much like the DVLA motor caravan criteria. This type of policy is provided by
camper van and specialist insurers and it is typically cheaper than normal van insurance. This
type of policy insures the equipment you are installing during your conversion so is very well
worth having.

I planned to have my vehicle on my drive uninsured for 3 months and then insured on a 3
month conversion policy until it was complete. However it did not work out like this. I quickly
realised that to get some jobs completed i.e. Window, tinting and engine de-restricting, I would
need to drive the vehicle.

I got quotes from camper van insurers (list below) and took out insurance with Campton
Insurance Brokers (£270). A lot of camper van policies are restricted mileage policies, this is
no good for me as I Intended using the van for commuting to work as well as holidays etc. The
Campton conversion policy was for 3 month's, it commenced on 1 st November 2009. I would
need to provide an 'Independent Engineers report' to Campton soon after the 1st March 2010.

Campton provide the engineers report form and it is the same 'Motor Caravan' criteria as used
by the DVLA. My conversion would have qualified but unfortunately due to a family tragedy my
conversion project was delayed. I had to pay an additional £70 to insure my vehicle as a
commercial van. On the 22 of March 2010 I provided Campton with the Engineers report and I
was refunded £30 and my vehicle was insured as a camper van.

When the vehicle was modified i.e. a Tracker was fitted, tow bar fitted and when it was
reclassified to a 'Motor Caravan' I informed Campton. It will be interesting to see what the
insurance premiums are going forward year by year. One other thing I came across was that a
couple of the insurers would not insure a minibus on a conversion policy, as they had had
instances where people had removed the seats then refitted them and used the vehicle as a
commercial minibus.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 176 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Camper Van Insurance Companies :

Insurance company Website address Telephone number
Campton Insurance Brokers www.campton.co.uk/ 01883742 460
(UK) ltd
Adrian Flux www.adrianflux.co.uk/ 0800 369 8590
Insurance Choice www.insurancechoice.co.uk/ 0845 55 77 676
SafeGuard Insurance www.safeguarduk.co.uk/ 0800 9775953
OnlineCampervanInsurance www.onlinecampervaninsurance.co.uk/ n/a
Frank Pickles Insurance www.frankpickles.co.uk/ 01943 850999
The Caravan Club www.caravanclub.co.uk/insurance-and- 0800 0284809
finance/
CaravanWise insurance www.caravanwise.co.uk/motor- 0800 3282084
quote/diy-camper-van.html
Footman James www.footmanjames.co.uk/Other_servic 0843 357 1069
es.aspx
Comfort Insurance www.comfort-insurance.co.uk/ 0800 0304206
Staveley Head Insurance www.staveleyhead.co.uk/motorhome/ 0800 023 7208
Saga www.saga.co.uk/insurance/motorhome- 0800 096 4553
insurance/
Sureterm direct www.sureterm.com/camper-van- 0800 999 2030
insurance/
Shield Total Insurance www.shieldtotalinsurance.co.uk/motorh 0844 8474 474
ome-insurance
Autonet Insurance group www.autonetinsurance.co.uk/motor- 0800 021 7333
home-insurance/?affn=SE05
Caravan Guard www.caravanguard.co.uk/ 08452 77 70 70
Crusader Leisure Vehicle www.crusaderinsurance.co.uk/ n/a
Insurance
Insure Motor Home .com www.insuremotorhome.com/ 0800 050 1170
Life Sure Group www.lifesure.co.uk/motorhome- 01480 402 460
insurance.php

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 177 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 1 - The right stuff

I wanted to mention in this book somewhere what it personally takes to complete a conversion
project like this. Sitting in the summer writing this book it is all to easy for me to forget how
difficult it was to put on 4 layers of clothes, hat and gloves and head out in to the cold and dark
to work.

To make things a bit easier try and get good long blocks of time, some jobs are best
completed in one go. Some jobs like carpeting is difficult to do under artificial light. So plan out
what you intend to do. Take advantage of warm dry days to do the exterior jobs as you might
find the next 6 weeks are cold and wet (as I did).

Getting lights and heat in the van makes the evenings work easier, I often worked one day of
the weekend, sometimes two. But beware that this sort of a project is a marathon and not a
sprint so you do have to pace yourself.

The physical aspects are one thing the mental aspects are another. A camper van conversion
is a series of problems to overcome, thinking them through is important, if you don't want to
make mistakes. Re working something can be very demoralising.

I found a bit of moral support helped a lot, and this was often provided by my kids coming and
chatting and 'helping' Dad on the 'family camper van'.

Try and be patient in your approach and if you find you are having a bad day (we all have
them) then put the kettle on or down tools for the day. Many a problem was sorted out by
sleeping on it !

Perseverance is important to, I don't like carpentry, so for me building the seat boxes and
partition wall was no fun at all. I had to try really hard not to rush them but also to keep going
until they were complete.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 178 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Appendix 2 - The workshop & equipment
Appendix 2.1 - Workshop
Its a great help when working on the van if you have quick and easy access to your tools and
work area. This can save a lot of time going back and forward to your van. This is assuming of
course that you don't have a workshop you can drive your van into.

I however don't have a workshop, but I do have a drive and a garage. The van was converted
on the drive and I created space at the front of my garage for a work area and racking for
tools, fixings and parts. This saved me time and allowed me to leave jobs half completed to be
worked on the next day.

I was driving my van often and so I did not leave my tools in there, this would also have been a
security / insurance risk. In your workshop the most crucial equipment is the stove and kettle,
this last winter was very cold and I often found a tea break was just what I needed to keep me
going in the cold and dark !

The other important item in the workshop is a bench or work mate that you can use to hold /
rest things on whilst working on them. Your workshop should be well lit and hopefully have
power sockets that you can use to provide light and heat to your van and use for power tools
etc.

I used two sets of racking, one for my tools and one for the supplies I would need for the van,
i.e. cable, carpet, glue etc. I also cleared an area where I could store timber, the van kitchen,
van appliances etc. If possible a good solid workbench with a vice comes in very handy too.

Some jobs make a lot of mess (saw dust or paint spray etc.) so if possible ensure you can
cover the floor and items that you want to keep clean.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 179 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 2.2 - Equipment and tools

So what equipment and tools are you going to need for your conversion project. Well probably
the most important things are the items that will protect you and keep you warm. Ensure you
have a good set of warm work clothing, hats, work gloves, coats etc. During a conversion you
will spend a lot of time on your knees so invest in a good set of knee pads this will be the best
£10 you ever spend !

Also ensure you have a pair of safety goggles and ear defenders for when you are working
with power tools.

So what equipment and tools do you need ? Here is what I used during my conversion :-

Power tools

• 18v battery drill and screwdriver

• 850watt ¼ inch router
• 2100watt ½ inch router
• 720 watt Jigsaw
• 4 ½ inch angle grinder
• 710watt 2mm electric planer
• 3 inch belt sander
• ½ inch sheet sander
• 1400 watt circular saw (64mm cut depth)
• workshop vacuum
• 40 watt soldering iron and solder

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 180 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pictures of a few of the power tools are here :

½ inch router & kitchen router bits

Cordless drill and spare batteries 850 watt router and router bits

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 181 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hand tools

• Socket sets (¼ inch and ½ inch)

• Torque wrench
• Spanner set
• Micro pipe bender
• Pipe cutter
• Stanley knife and blades
• Carpet scissors
• Metal files, round, semi circular and flat
• Tape measure
• Pencils, pens, indelible markers
• Try square
• Metal ruler
• Spirit levels (small, medium and large)
• Clamps
• Chisel set
• Twister Riveter and rivets
• Staple gun
• Plumb line
• Hammer
• Wood saws
• Hacksaws (junior and 12”)
• Pliers (combination and long nose)
• Wire strippers
• Wire cutters
• Crimping set
• Grips
• Allen key set
• Screwdriver set
• Drill and bit set
• Worktop cutting jig

Crimping Set

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 182 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Drill bit set Socket and spanner set

Other Items
There are some consumables and fixings that you will need for your project, I used :

• White spirit
• Releasing oil
• Grease
• Degreaser
• Spray paint (automotive and anti rust)
• Glue (contact and PVA)
• Large selection of screws
• Bolts
• Brackets
• 'P' clips
• Sand paper
• Gaffer or 'Duck' tape
• Electricians tape
• Silicone sealant
• Sikaflex 512 caravan (lots !)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 183 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 3 - Build diary

Note this diary does not contain the time for researching, finding suppliers and parts.

Date Hr Task / Job Category

s
16/09/09 3 Remove 2 bolts on double seat & spare tyre, hadrail, spare seat Preparation
17/09/09 1.5 Remove 5 bolts and 1 double seat Preparation
18/09/09 1.5 Removed remaining seats Preparation
21/09/09 4 Measured up the empty van and mark up with tape Preparation
23/09/09 4 Removing panels and start insulating Insulation
27/09/09 3 Tracing existing roof lights cables and running new ones Electrics
28/09/09 3.5 Start building battery box base, feed main lights cable Electrics
28/09/09 0.5 Remove & refit lock on overhead cab locker after establishing manufacturer Other
29/09/09 3.5 Build battery box Electrics
03/10/09 3 Finished battery box & lid, connected two batteries together and charged Electrics
them
04/10/09 1 Complete battery supports and wire in Battery monitor shunt, test BM1 Electrics
05/10/09 1 Spray paint the removed yellow hand rail to black Preparation
09/10/09 2 Drilled out rivets along the sides of the van, for top bed supports Seats & Beds
09/10/09 0.5 Cut roof lining for partition wall Partition wall
12/10/09 2 Insulated behind top side panels Insulation
12/10/09 2.5 Ran cable for main lights switch and some spares into over head cab box Electrics
13/10/09 1 Fixed 170amp negative / earth point to van floor Electrics
14/10/09 1 Routed 170 positive cable from van battery to B2B battery charger unit Electrics
17/10/09 5 Fitted Solar panel including partition wall top aluminium angle Electrics
19/10/09 1 Fitted partition wall bottom aluminium angle Partition wall
19/10/09 1 Fitted 12v socket for awning light Electrics
19/10/09 1 Building electrics mounting plate Electrics
20/10/09 1 Fitting B2B on to plate and wiring in mega fuses Electrics
22/10/09 1 Drilled 1 aluminium angle for bed support and degreased it + van side Seats & Bed
24/10/09 5 Bonded and riveted one aluminium angle bed support to van. Drilled Seats & Bed
prepared and bonded and riveted 2nd aluminium angle bed support
26/10/09 2 Build square timber frame for partition wall, fitted 1 support for meters and Partition wall
distribution panel to fit to
03/11/09 1 Cut and fitted two timber partition wall batons Partition wall
07/11/09 1 Partition wall stud work Partition wall
9/11 – 0 Van in at AMJ to get the windows tinited to 5%
11/11
16/11/09 0 Van speed 60mph (Minibus law) restriction removed by FORD
16/11/09 3 Carpeted 2/3 of one side of the van Carpeting
17/11/09 3 Wired in extra phone charger and two additional speakers for partition wall Electrics
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 184 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
18/11/09 2.5 Carpeting remain 1/3 of one side of the van (next to sliding door) Carpeting
19/11/09 3 Carpeting other side around windows Carpeting
20/11/09 3 Completing carpeting other side around windows Carpeting
21/11/09 2.5 Fixing batons on partition wall Partition wall
21/11/09 4 Wiring in the mains supply to the electrics board Electrics
23/11/09 4 Cut hole in van for the electric hook up socket and fitted it Electrics
24/11/09 4 Carpet sliding door Carpeting
25/11/09 2 Cut partition wall panels (for the front) Partition wall
26/11/09 1 Finish making partition wall panel (for the front) Partition wall
27/11/09 1 Secure some cables around the electrics board Electrics
29/11/09 2 Glue on the foam and leatherette to the partition wall front panel Partition wall
30/11/09 1 Build and glue 3 kitchen carcases Kitchen
06/12/09 4 Complete partition wall front panel and fix to partition wall Partition wall
12/12/09 2 Wire up electric hookup socket, secure cable under the van Electrics
12/12/09 1 Carpet back posts near back doors Carpeting
13/12/09 7 Carpet first back door Carpeting
19/12/09 3 Cut partition wall panels for back of wall, including socket holes Partition wall
19/12/09 3 Wired supply for distribution panel, soldered distribution panel connections Electrics
and wired up and tested fridge
20/12/09 2 Routed more appliance cables through the partition wall to the distribution Electrics
panel
02/01/10 2 Wired in partition wall 12v and mains sockets Electrics
03/01/10 2 Fitted kitchen baton frame (bench supports) Kitchen
03/01/10 2 Fitted partition wall panel (on back) and end panel Partition wall
03/01/10 0.5 Carpeted battery box Carpeting
03/01/10 1.5 Insulated and lined over cab cupboard Insulation
06/01/10 2 Fitted feet on to kitchen cupboards Kitchen
07/01/10 4 Altered big blinds and started fitting Other
07/01/10 1 Fitted kitchen wall cupboard Kitchen
11/01/10 1.5 Fitted kitchen wall cupboard door (& catch) Kitchen
11/01/10 2.5 Fitted big blinds Other
18/01/10 2.5 Made privacy blind pads Other
19/01/10 2 Made back of kitchen boards and fitted Other
22/01/10 5.5 Built gas locker, drilled and fitted floor vents, cut side out of last carcass for Kitchen
access.
23/01/10 7 Fitted 2 kitchen units, fitted gas locker Kitchen
23/01/10 1 Fitted gas alarm Electrics
st
25/01/10 4 Cut 1 kitchen bench and fridge door frame Kitchen
nd
27/01/10 9 Cut 2 kitchen bench, routed bench joint. Cut out holes for sink and hob in Kitchen
worktop. Routed worktop joint bolts holes, routed smev appliance fitting tabs,
glued and bolted worktop together. Cut holes in the carcasses for sink and
hob access (cleaned up a lot of sawdust)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 185 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
28/01/10 9 Fitted last carcass. Fitted sink and hob to the worktops. Cut back of worktop Kitchen
bar and fitted it to worktop. Fitted water non return value, fitted pipes to
water container lids. Fitted worktops to kitchen. Fitted gas pipe and tested it.
31/01/10 3.5 Fitted fridge, wired up water pump, fitted sink pipework and tested. Fitted Kitchen
restraining strap for water containers
04/02/10 2 Fitted kitchen splash back Kitchen
05/02/10 4 Carpeted partition wall (back side) Carpeting
06/02/10 2 Built first seat box frame Seats & beds
06/02/10 1 Filled in existing bolt holes in the floor Other
06/02/10 3 Cut and fitted 4 Kitchen end panels Kitchen
07/02/10 3 Cut and glued side panels on to first seat box Seats & beds
08/02/10 1 Fitted kitchen door catches Kitchen
nd nd
08/02/10 5 Cut timber for the 2 seat box frame, built 2 seat box Seats & beds
20/02/10 9 Cut and fitted folding lids to seat boxes, cut off and sanded corners, trimmed Seats & beds
so they were square in van, cut bed bridge panels
27/02/10 3 Ran cables for spotlights Electrics
27/02/10 1 Varnished seat boxes Seats & beds
28/02/10 2 Carpeted outside of seat boxes Carpeting
28/02/10 1 Spray painted seat box lids Seats & beds
06/03/10 3 Fitted seat boxes to van. Glued anti slip mat on to box lids, cut hole in floor Seats & beds
for table leg support.
06/03/10 1 Carpeted inside one seat box Carpeting
07/03/10 3 Fitted 6 floor tiles and table leg support. Altered and fitted back of van floor Other
trim
08/03/10 4 Fitted 12 floor tiles and cut kick plates for kitchen Other
16/03/10 2 Cut table shape and rout the thickness down to 19mm (from 40mm) Seats & beds
17/03/10 4 Build up table base and attach table leg holder. Seats & beds
17/03/10 1 Wire in 4 LED 12” tubes to replace the fluorescent tubes Electrics
20/03/10 3 Routed table edge and fitted plastic trim Seats & beds
20/03/10 4 Fitted 6 floor tiles, fitted kick plate heater, altered sliding door step trim Other
20/03/10 2 Completed sliding door step, tiles, trim, carpeting Other
21/03/10 3 Laid 4 floor tiles, put cloth backing on the table, fitted kick plate removable Other
door
29/03/10 6 Build table storage holder on back door Other
29/03/10 1 Wired up last mains socket and 12v aux supply in seat box Electrics
29/03/10 1 Carpeted last seat box inside. Carpeting
nd
30/03/10 1 Completed carpeting 2 seat box inside Carpeting
nd
04/04/10 1.5 Remove 2 row of seats Other
04/04/10 7 Carpet last back door Carpeting
04/04/10 1.5 Ran cable from B2B unit for temperature sensor on leisure batteries Electrics
17/04/10 3 Run temperature sensor cable to vehicle alternator from B2B Electrics
18/04/10 4 Construct 2 top bed panels Seats & beds

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 186 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
24/04/10 1.5 Box around electrics Other
24/04/10 6.5 Construct last 2 top bed panels and connect 1st two panels together with Seats & beds
hinges
25/04/10 4 Lay remaining floor tiles Other
25/04/10 4 Hinge last two top bed panels together Seats & beds
26/04/10 4 Carpet top bed panels Carpeting
31/4/10 4 Paint top bed panels Other
08/05/10 4 Drill holes for securing to bed panels. Fit brackets and cargo net. Cut Seats & beds
mattress

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 187 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 4 - Expenditure diary

Date Item Supplier Cost Category
May-09 Hookup plugs, for converter leads At Newbury show £10.00 Electrics
Jun-09 Gas Leak Detector (mains / 12v) Lidl £7.00 Electrics
Jun-09 Multi band radio (3vdc or battery) Lidl £6.00 Electrics
07/09/09 10 LED light kit B&Q £20.00 Electrics
14/09/09 Ford Transit 15 seat minibus 2006 M4 Van Centre £10k Vehicle
15/09/09 Sterling B2B charger JGTech £205.00 Electrics
15/09/09 glue, screws, tape, ties, gloves etc. Screwfix £49.88 Glue &
fixings
15/09/09 Battery connectors (battery posts), fuel can Motorist Discount Centres £9.50 Electrics
(Newbury)
15/09/09 8.75amp cable and Battery starter cable Chandlery World Ltd £55.28 Electrics
16/09/09 Transit Haynes Manual Haynes £22.68 Other
16/09/09 Staple gun Lidl £4.49 Tools
16/09/09 Wayoyl under seal Halfords £5.99 Other
18/09/09 100amp fuses and holders (3) and 25mm ADR Components UK £36.39 Electrics
M8 battery cable terminals
21/09/09 Touch up paint and under seal spray Automotive paint supplies £20.57 Other
21/09/09 4 * 6mm ply board sheets, 1 9mm sheet, 4 * B&Q £72.24 Timber
34mm batons (4) and 25mm" baton
21/09/09 Waeco CR50 fridge / freezer MPS Trading ltd £443.66 Electrics
22/09/09 Sikaflex 512 (*3) Marinestore £27.92 Sikaflex
25/09/09 Spray on glue and screw driver Screwfix £30.14 Glue &
fixings
25/09/09 Space blanket insulation (8 rolls) B&Q £92.00 Insulation
26/09/09 Solar panel + controller + fixing kit Sunshine Solar £322.65 Electrics
26/09/09 Mains hook up RCD and inlet Van-ellis outdoors £55.73 Electrics
26/09/09 Lining Carpet / sink /hob and water pump Rainbow Conversions limited £340.94 Kitchen
26/09/09 Lining Carpet Rainbow Conversions ltd £32.97 Carpet
29/09/09 4 2 ton ratchet straps the ratchet shop £25.28 Other
29/09/09 Batteries and ctek charger + switch & Motorist Discount Centres £258.20 Electrics
connectors' (Newbury)
30/09/09 Waterproof cable entry cover Ebay £13.99 Electrics
01/10/09 Kitchen cupboards and bench Ikea £300.00 Kitchen
05/10/09 170amp positive cable and blade fuse Chandlery World Ltd £22.60 Electrics
boxes
11/10/09 Riveter tool and rivets Screwfix £24.75 Tools
09/10/09 washers+ mains sockets + boxes wickes £12.13 Electrics
09/10/09 Timber spars B&Q £7.44 Timber
07/10/09 bolts and brackets Screwfix £18.60 Glue &

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 188 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
fixings
09/10/09 16mm drill bit hss Unit 42 (Bracknell) £19.09 Tools
16/10/09 5m 3mmx38x38 aluminium angle Unit 42 (Bracknell) £36.00 Seats &
beds
13/10/09 Rivets multi size pack Screwfix £12.37 Tools
13/10/09 Battery cable (8,75 amp) and ties. 35A Chandlery World Ltd £31.80 Electrics
fuses
14/10/09 6way 12v fused/switch distribution panel maine scene £24.98 Electrics
21/10/09 paint and battery connectors Motorist Discount Centres £5.55 Other
(Newbury)
29/10/09 M6 washers Wickes £3.50 Other
02/11/09 27amp cable and connectors Chandlery World Ltd £10.10 Electrics
09/11/09 8 windows tinted, 5% tint AJM Auto Services £300.00 Luxuries
10/11/09 Calor 4.5kg and Camping gaz 907 cylinders Endeavour chandlery £9.98 Kitchen
(both full)'
12/11/09 LPG regulator, 907 convertor, hose and B.E.S. £21.03 Kitchen
clips'
12/11/09 Steering wheel cover and screws' Halfords £9.97 Luxuries
13/11/09 8mm Gas pipe and fittings hamiltons gas products ltd £33.00 Kitchen
16/11/09 Speed restriction removal Gowrings Ford Newbury £91.94 Other
17/11/09 Carpet scissors Screwfix £2.56 Tools
19/11/09 Contact adhesive 'Screwfix' £13.39 Glue &
Fixings
23/11/09 Contact adhesive & copper lugs Screwfix £12.28 Glue &
Fixings
23/11/09 34mm timber & 6mm ply + white spirit' B&Q £34.38 Timber
27/11/09 8.75amp Cable Chandlery World Ltd £36.97 Electrics
27/11/09 Table leg and ends Chandlery World Ltd £20.70 Other
27/11/09 Leather, foam and glue' The Automobile Trimmings £59.98 Carpet
company
05/12/09 Water containers, pipe bender, contact Toolmix £38.89 Kitchen
adhesive'
11/12/09 Push fasteners Screwfix £6.48 Glue &
fixings
11/12/09 30mm router bush designtech solutions ltd £6.20 Tools
11/12/09 titan screwdriver refund Screwfix -£19.97 Tools
11/12/09 m8 bars / feet for cupboards banbury plastic fittings ltd £10.50 Kitchen
15/12/09 contact glue (*10 @ £2.78)' toolmix £31.81 Glue &
fixings
15/12/09 Book of camper van aires in France vicarious books £14.99 Luxuries
17/12/09 Stanley knife blades and window cleaner screwfix £6.12 Tools
21/12/09 3cm splashback (wrong size ordered !) alco £25.63 Kitchen
21/12/09 2kw plinth heater Ebay £47.99 Luxuries
21/12/09 Rac 12v vacuum' Ebay £5.99 Luxuries
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 189 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
19/12/09 100 - M8 T Tee Nuts Self Colour' Ebay £11.00 Kitchen
03/01/10 junction box & strip wood (wall edging)' B&Q £7.06 Tiimber
03/01/10 Silver foil insulation (above cab) screwfix £8.89 Insulation
04/01/10 Wall cupboard for kitchen' Ikea £72.00 Kitchen
04/01/10 Blackout blinds for van windows' Ikea £68.94 Kitchen
04/01/10 M10 tee nuts (banbury plastic sent wrong Fix8 £15.00 Kitchen
size feet)'
06/01/10 Non return water valve' the caravan accessory shop £9.32 Kitchen
06/01/10 Van lining carpet and door catches Rainbow Conversions limited £53.73 Carpet
07/01/10 Sikaflex 512 (*3) 12 Volt £24.98 Sikaflex
19/01/10 Khyam Ridgi Motordome tourer awning Somerset camping £294.99 Luxuries
19/01/10 Khyam Pole and clamp kit' Khyam ltd £32.50 Luxuries
28/01/10 30cm Stainless Steel Splashback Alco engineering £43.57 Kitchen
26/01/10 Screws and Kitchen Router bits Screwfix £33.63 Tools
26/10/10 Erbauer 1/2” Router 2100w Screwfix £89.90 Tools
31/01/10 LPG regulator, 907 90 degree converter, caravan accessory shop £14.48 Kitchen
and spanner, LPG stickers'
01/02/10 Brackets Screwfix £3.78 Other
01/02/10 Timber spars 34mm B&Q £10.05 Timber
05/02/10 Corner brackets for seating, battery tester Screwfix £12.77 Tools
08/02/10 Timber for seat / bed box + hinges' B&Q £79.28 Timber
01/03/10 Foam for seats Roberts upholstery, Thatcham, £150.00 Kitchen
01635869176
02/03/10 Floor tiles, varnish, spray paint B&Q £26.92 Other
01/03/10 Screws Screwfix £3.49 Other
01/03/10 Spray paint' B&Q £12.00 Other
08/03/10 Vinyl floor tiles B&Q £41.86 Other
08/03/10 Contact glue (*9 @ £4.73)' Toolmix £46.54 Glue &
fixings
16/03/10 LED spot lights Ledbulbs4u £38.97 Electrics
16/03/10 Carpet Rainbow Conversions limited £66.89 Carpet
17/03/10 Spray contact glue (*9) Toolmix £46.54 Glue &
fixings
16/03/10 LED t5 1ft tubes (x5) The Light Projection Company £61.88 Electrics
29/03/10 Black silicone The facia place ltd (Nebwury) £2.35 Other
21/03/10 Blind chain connectors Fix my blinds £2.85 Other
22/03/10 Sikaflex (*3 @7.84) the12volt shop £28.52 Sikaflex
07/04/10 Aluminium U''s for top bed (*8 lengths)' Aluminium Wharehouse £48.12 Seats &
beds
10/04/10 12mm Ply sheet, spray paint and evo-grip B&Q £27.00 Timber
21/04/10 3* 12mm ply sheets + hacksaw blade B&Q £54.62 Timber
10/05/10 glue bolts and fixings Screwfix £19.61 Glue &

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 190 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fixings
10/05/10 Leatherette upholstery Phil Silk (Newbury) £250.00 Seats &
Beds
05/05/10 Top bed foam mattress ikea £69.00 Seats &
Beds
05/05/10 Smoke alarm Ikea £9.99 Electrics
20/05/10 Porta potti (Campingaz toliet) (+chemicals outdoor world direct £64.41 Luxuries
and bio loo roll)'
20/05/10 High temp glue (two spray tins), folding bbq The Upholstery Shop £41.50 Glue &
fixings
30/05/10 6000 btu mains air conditioner Robert Dyas £99.99 Luxuries
01/06/10 Vehicle tracker', AMJ £600.00 Luxuries
01/06/10 Tow bar and bike carrier AMJ £320.00 Luxuries

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 191 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 5 - World Wide Web

Here is a list of websites I found useful, the next section lists the companies and websites that
I actually used.
www.sterling-power.com/products-battbatt-info.htm
www.camper-van-conversion.co.uk
www.mycampervanconversion.com
www.mycampervanconversion.co.uk
www.sbmcc.co.uk
www.camperinterior.webfotos.co.uk/html/camper_interi
or_-_carthago.html
www.campervanlife.com/self-builds/darrens-mercedes-
sprinter
www.maunmotors.co.uk
www.121-vans.co.uk
www.anchorvans.co.uk
www.tomgallaghervancentre.co.uk
www.thevanshop.com
www.fordtransit.org
www.ericboyce.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
www.olearymotorhomes.co.uk
http://campervanaccessories.co.uk
www.wentworthmc.co.uk/index.htm
www.kustominteriors.co.uk/Shop.html
www.thecampershak.co.uk
www.campershop.co.uk
www.wisebuyers.co.uk/motoring/van-prices/
www.youngconversions.com/banner_1.html
www.berniehibiscus.co.uk/links.htm
www.vwt4forum.co.uk/
www.reimo.com/de/startseite/startseite.html
www.scopema.com/anglais/accueil.htm
www.swcampers.co.uk
www.calypsocampers.co.uk/salisbury.htm
www.vwbooks.co.uk/new_camper/auxillary_battery.htm DIY conversion
www.waveridervans.co.uk
www.c-m-c.org.uk
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Campers-and-Caravans-Parts-
online
Battery-to-Battery Charger Information
About this book
Other great camper van conversions
See my van in colour
Self Build Motor Caravanners Club
A gallery of Volkswagen camper van interior photos.
An example DIY conversion
Maun Motors Commercial Vehicle Sales (inc vans)
Vans - New and used vans for sale.
Used Vans - Anchor Vans
The Tom Gallagher Van Centre
The Van Shop GB.
Ford Transit Forum
Volkswagen T4 Panel Van into a Campervan
Motorhome Self Build, Parts, Spares and Accessories
Out door leisure shop
Commercial converter
Camper Interiors Shop
The Camper Shak - Hand Crafted VW Camper Interiors
Drive Away Tent Awning Parts and Accessories
Guides - Van prices
Commercial Camper van converter
VW camper curtains & furnishings
VWT4 Forum
Reimo – Conversion part supplier
Scopema, motorhome seats,
South West Camper Conversions
Calypso Campers UK - Salisbury UK Campervans
Commercial convertor
CMC - Cheshire Motor Caravans – Home
eBay UK Shop - Campers and Caravans Parts online

www.thevanwebsite.co.uk/vans-for-sale.asp Vans For Sale

www.fordtransitdirect.co.uk/usedsales Used vans for sale with Jennings

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 192 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
www.cars2bid4.com/ Car Auctions - Southampton Motor Auction
http://www.efoam.co.uk/products.html eFoam, all sorts of foam: foam cut to size
www.freewebs.com/12voltsdc/zigmanuals.htm Zig manuals
www.campervanlife.com Campervan Life
www.autogas.co.uk/motorhometanks.htm Motor Home Tanks :: Autogas 2000
https://secure.calor.co.uk/ordercalorcylinders/default.as Calor Gas Shop - Calor Butane Cylinders
p
www.campingaz.com/ Campingaz
www.hafele.com/uk/products/79.asp Furniture fittings from Hafele UK Ltd
www.hodgsonsealants.com Sealants for construction and industry
www.uk-motorcaravans.co.uk/index.php Van Conversions and Mobile Home Conversions from
Leisuredrive FG Ltd
www.leisureplus.co.uk/ Leisure Plus - Wholesale Caravan Accessories
www.whalepumps.com/ Whale Pumps
www.silverscreens.co.uk/index.html Silver Screens for van windows
www.leisurespares.co.uk/index.php Leisure Spares Ltd
www.waeco.co.uk/ WAECO mobile solutions
www.zig-electronics.co.uk/index1.htm Zig Electronics Ltd
www.batteryuniversity.com/index.htm Battery University
www.heatbusters.com/cooling/product-types/portable-
ac
www.toolstation.com tools
www.rawcomponents.co.uk/ Raw Components Ltd - Auto electrical Supplies
www.yachtbits.com Marine Chandler
www.marinescene.co.uk Discount Marine Chandler
http://www.busyoutdoors.com/shop/ Outdoor shop
www.autocraft-motorcaravans.com Autocraft Motor Caravans Ltd.
www.cobbq.com Home of the Cobb Premier Portable Grill
www.ukcampsite.co.uk Camp-site review website
www.motorcaravanning.co.uk Caravan accessories supplier
www.smev.com/products.html SMEV website
www.sloughvans.co.uk Vans at Slough Vans
www.sykesvansales.com/sitemap.htm Sykes Van Sales Stock Located in Oxfordshire
www.vanmonster.com Van Monster
www.auctioneers.co.uk Merthyr Motor Auctions
Www.marinestore.co.uk Marinestore Chandlers
www.iem-services.co.uk Marine & Auto electrical suppliers
www.eurocarparts.co.uk/ecp/p/Car-Parts Car Parts Retailer
www.wrp-poole.co.uk/products.php?cat=111 Straps
www.waudbys.co.uk/products/details/18431.html Waudbys Caravan and Camping Accessories
www.electricfence-online.co.uk/shopscr578.html Elecsol 10amp Battery Charger

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 193 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
www.ellishorseboxes.co.uk/mains-installation-kit-22- Mains Installation Kit - Van-Ellis Outdoors
p.asp
www.duncanyacht.co.uk Duncan - Yacht Chandlers
www.rubbermattinguk.co.uk Rubber Matting
www.a- Gas safety
tconsulting.co.uk/caravan_tech/gas_matters.html
www.gasure.co.uk Commercial convertor
http://www.noisekiller.co.uk Noise Killer - Soundproofing products and solutions
www.sdproducts.co.uk/collar_on_square_base_plate_bl Welcome to SD Products, clips & fastners
ind.html
www.justplasticsuk.co.uk/asp/measuring.asp Decorative hygienic cladding and plastic wall panels.
www.dcgpanels.co.uk DCG Panel products
www.goodingalum.com/aluminium-profiles Gooding Aluminium - Suppliers of Aluminium Profiles
www.mcmmetals.com/products.asp Supplier of Extruded Products | Aluminium | Profiles |
www.capalex.co.uk/standards/H_sections.html Standard Profile Aluminium Extrusions
www.mpdhookandloop.com/index.asp VELCRO Products UK
www.thecampershak.co.uk/category.php Camper van interiors
www.cbscc.co.uk/index.html Caravan & boat upholstery
www.regalfurnishings.co.uk Caravan Upholstery | Motor home Upholstery
www.motorcaravanning.com/vehicles/electrics.htm Motor home Electrics
www.visionleisureupholstery.co.uk Vision Leisure Upholstery :
www.stock-plastic-profiles.com/products/flexible- Flexible pvc edgings from stock to knock in, cap over or
edgings.html stick on
www.npautoparts.co.uk auto parts
www.kimptonflooring.co.uk Accessories and Adhesives
www.abbey-carpets.co.uk/product.php/533/karndean- Karndean High Temperature Adhesive : Abbey Carpets
high-temperature-adhesive
www.thegluepeople.co.uk/index.php Contact Adhesives : The Glue People
www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/books/motorho Motor home Electrics
me_electrics_caravans_too.htm
www.megavanmats.com Mega Van Mats
www.practicalmotorhome.com Motor home magazine.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/ MOT Test fees
Mot/DG_4022514

http://www.caravanclub.co.uk/ Caravan Club UK

http://www.towsure.com/ Camping & caravan retailer
http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/?sc_lang=en DVLA
http://www.dft.gov.uk/VOSA/SCRIPTS/texis.exe/webina VOSA, motor home search
tor/search/?query=motor+caravans&pr=DFT&x=0&y=0

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 194 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 6 - Suppliers
The list below is of all the suppliers I used on this conversion. They all provided a good service
and good quality products and I would use them all again if required.

Company Name Website / contact details What did I buy from them
Lidl www.lidl.co.uk Supermarket, cheap general hardware
Zygology www.zygology.com Automotive lock and catches
B&Q www.diy.com/diy Timber etc
M4 Van Centre www.m4vancentre.co.uk The Van
JG Technologies Ltd www.jgtech.com B2B Charger
Screwfix www.screwfix.com Fixings etc
Motorist discount Newbury Tel 0163542015 Batteries and CTEK charger
Chandlery World www.chandleryworld.co.uk Cable
Haynes www.haynes.co.uk Technical manuals
Halfords www.halfords.com A few screws
The Tool Box Shop www.thetoolboxshop.com Mega fuses and battery connectors
Automotive Paint supplies www.automotivepaintsupplies.co.uk Touch up paint and underseal
MPS Waeco www.mps-waeco.co.uk Waeco Fridge / freezer
Marinestore www.marinestore.co.uk Sikaflex 512
Sunshine Solar www.sunshinesolar.co.uk Solar panel and regulator
Van Ellis Outdoors www.ellishorseboxes.co.uk Mains RCD box
Rainbow Conversions www.rainbowconversions.co.uk/ Lining carpet etc
The Ratchet Shop www.theratchetshop.co.uk 2 ton restraining straps
Ikea www.ikea.co.uk Kitchen, mattress and blinds
Marine Scene www.marinescene.co.uk 12v distribution panel
Wickes ltd www.wickes.co.uk Electric socket plates
Chandlery World www.chandleryworld.co.uk Cable and electrical bits
AMJ Autoservices www.amjautoservices.co.uk/ Tinting, tow-bar and tracker
BES ltd www.bes.ltd.uk Plumbing & gas bits
Hamiltons gas products www.gasproducts.co.uk 8mm pipe
Automobile Trim www.automobiletrim.com Leatherette & upholstery foam
Toolmix www.toolmix.com Water containers and tools
Design Tech Solutions www.designtechsolutions.co.uk Router bits
Banbury Plastic Fittings www.bpfittings.co.uk Kitchen cupboard feet
Vicarious books www.vicarious-shop.com Book
Alco Engineering www.alcoeng.co.uk Stainless Steel Splashback
Fix8 www.fix8.co.uk Nuts etc
The 12 Volt shop www.the12voltshop.co.uk Sikaflex 512
Somerset Camping www.somersetcamping.co.uk/ Khyam Awning

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 195 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Khyam ltd
Campercare products
Light Projection company
Fix my blinds
Aluminium Wharehouse
Outdoor world direct
Upholstery shop
Gremlin Solutions
Cak Tanks Ltd
Phil Silk
www.khyam.co.uk/
www.ledbulbs4u.co.uk
www.tlpc-ltd.co.uk
www.fixmyblinds.co.uk
www.aluminiumwharehouse.com
www.outdoorworlddirect.co.uk
www.upholsteryshop.co.uk
www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk
www.caktanks.co.uk
Specialist Vehicle Upholster
Khyam Awning pole set
LED spotlights
LED tubes
Blind pull jointers
Aluminium profiles
Portapotti
Glue
T edging for table
Silver screen for van windows
Tel 01635 30094

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 196 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 7 – Leisure electrics schema

Note. To receive a free electronic copy of this diagram or to purchase an A3 laminated copy please visit
www.campervanconversion.com.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 197 of 198

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Appendix 8 - How did we get here ?

Hi I hope you enjoyed reading my book and if your eyes are not too tired read on and I'll tell
you a bit about myself and how I came to build my own camper van.

Professionally I'm not an author (I hope it does not show too much), I've spent the last 24
years working in information technology (IT) in various industries : manufacturing, distribution,
airline, insurance, retail and banking. All this time working in offices did not give me the 'hands
on' skills needed for a camper van conversion, it did however give me the skills to plan,
prepare, document and solve problems. The 'hands on' skills I have are from the numerous
DIY, building and house renovation projects I have undertaken over the years..

The camper van conversion project all started with my wife saying 'I'd like a camper van'. I
don't recall if this was after a cold night camping or just a normal day out, but it started a long
chain of events. This acorn of an idea grew and grew, coincidently around this time I caught up
with an old friend of mine who had converted a van many (14) years ago. We got talking about
it and he was planning to get a new camper van as his conversion quite old now. So we both
started looking at camper vans and swapping information.

We pretty quickly came to the conclusion that buying a camper van was impractical for us as
they were quite expensive and more importantly they did not provide what we needed.

So there it was, if I wanted a camper van the only other option was to build it !

The next 12 months was spent looking into the costs, layouts, vehicles, electrics, gas and
designing and costing my camper van. Interestingly the only information I could not really find
out was : how long it would take, how much it would cost and a good leisure electrics diagram.
This was the main reason why I wrote this book.

Once I had a workable design and rough costs, we as a family all sat down and discussed
whether we should undertake a camper van conversion project. We could all easily picture
ourselves using it and having great holidays and days out. What was harder to picture was the
impact and extra work all of us would have to do, with me being in the garage weekend after
weekend. We all agreed we wanted to do it and the project commenced. As you have now
hopefully read, this book tells how the project progressed until completion some 7 months later
on.

Having used the van many times now for holidays and days out, all that hard work, in the
freezing cold and dark is all but forgotten. It has most definitely been worth it, we all love our
camper van or 'Big Blue' as its sometimes called.

I hope this book has shown you that nearly anyone can convert a van into a camper van and I
hope it's inspired you a bit to take on your own project.

Regards,
Colin.

PS Seeing other peoples conversions can help a lot, have a look at

www.mycampervanconversion.com
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 198 of 198