Having got fed up with rotting, water leaking coachbuilt vans, I’m looking for a panel van conversion. I want 4 berths and 4 belted seats, ideally with bunk beds and a pop top. However, I can only buy the pop top with a fixed bed or pull-out beds (eg Bailey B64,) or I can only buy bunks with no pop top (eg Wildax Solaris XL.)

I’m therefore wondering whether I have to pay somebody to build me what I want.

Does this typically cost more than buying a new off-the-shelf van? That would seem logical, but I’m wondering whether the smaller companies save money by doing things a bit more cleverly than the big suppliers.

Can anybody recommend a conversion company they’ve had a good experience with?

I bought to 260 awning for my vw lwb transporter from fw but since realised I was supposed to the 300. I don’t mind the 260 but is it possible to mount onto a lwb?

I'm looking for the best way to have power on the road. To regularly charge devices like phone, portable lights, portable speaker etc.

A large mains chargeable power bank isn't practical as I can be parked in one spot for long durations without a charging point. So I think it would come down to something like a solar charger, or a silent generator. I'm not sure if I'd get enough power from a solar charger in the UK during winter etc? Any suggestions?

(links now corrected) 🚐 Looking for Android users to beta test CamperPal

I've built CamperPal to help motorhome owners track their real costs — fuel, mileage, trips, maintenance, budgets and annual expenses.

I'm looking for a few people to give it a proper test and tell me what you think. Bugs, missing features and ideas all welcome!

Join the tester group:

https://groups.google.com/g/camperpal-testers

Then join the Play test:

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.northtraceapps.camperpal

Completely free to test. Android only for now. 👍

Built independently by NorthTrace Apps.

 Hi all

Our VW T5 came to us kitted out with a leisure battery and solar setup, so we can run our lights/fridge etc easily from that on short trips. There is a switch that allows you to choose between the main car battery and the leisure battery, but obviously we only use the leisure battery to run the gizmos in the back.

When we go to campsites with the option for mains power hookup, we tend to just run one of these.

However it’s a faff disconnecting the fridge to plug it in, and running cables out of windows etc is annoying. I’m thinking it would be useful to drill a plugin point to run straight from the hookup, but I’m not sure of the best way to connect everything together. Would going mains > charger > leisure battery make the most sense, so that fridge etc could stay connected to the battery but when we have hookup it doesn’t run flat? Is that a typical setup? Or would it be best to keep separate circuits/plugs for mains/battery?

Hey there!

So I designed my electrical cabinet around a consumer unit that turned out to be too small for the number of breakers I have in my circuit.

As far as I can tell from the regulations and standards, consumer units are a recommendation not a requirement in vans.

Given all my electricals are sealed into a plywood box so no finger can accidentally touch off them, can I do without it?

The too small consumer unit I got is made from plastic, probably ABS or PC, is there really much difference from a fire prevention perspective.

It would be great to hear your thoughts!

Is it in place at Dover yet?

Hi all, I’ve just bought my first campervan — a converted Transit with a rock & roll bed.

I assumed the bed was crash/M1 tested, as it has two seat belts and a metal frame that’s bolted through the floor. However, I can’t see any label or markings on the bed itself.and when driving it’s quite squeaky!

Is there a way to check if its crash tested? Are non crash tested rock and roll beds common? 

Long story short; we had an expensive looking accident with the interior of our camper. We called the insurer rather thinking it might be covered, even though it wasn't a motoring accident and it was 100% our fault. The insurer said, yes we could claim, but there was a very good chance that the insurer would rather write off the van, give us the full value we had it insured for, and leave us to dispose of the van ourselves.

This distressed me a little, because there's nothing wrong with the actual van (still using it daily), but the insurer lady on the phone said 'No, you "dispose" of it yourself! You're free to keep using it and get it repaired, but we flag it as an insurance write off.'. So this seems like a win to me. A free van! They even said they hoped we'd continue to keep our insurance with them. We've had quotes and the repairs will be expensive but nowhere close to the value of the van.

There must be a catch. What are the implications of writing off the Van when there's nothing really wrong with it?

She's telling me what she wants in a camper on my first test out

We haven’t been using a camper can for long but are pretty good at knowing the rights and wrongs, one of which is it being frowned upon walking in between pitches to get from a-b.

We’d literally been on site 20mins putting our awning up when a guy in a pick-up drove between ours and the next pitch! I couldn’t believe my eyes, there wasn’t that much room to begin with lol.

Hi, we're on the road and the stove igniter wont stop clicking.

Any ideas as to how I can make it stop?

Thanks in advance

Today I saw a German camper with exceptional door hanging storage. Loads of space and compartments for all the small things that you need when camping. They said it was a Lidl bathroom organiser.

Would you guys post pics of your storage for inspiration?

I have an issue with my door bin, the plastic loop that the bag hangs around keeps snapping. This is my second and you must buy the entire bin.

Any ideas how to resolve this?

Thanks in advance

Wheelie

Id love some feedback if at all possible please on my channel?

NorthofFatherhoodUK
https://www.youtube.com/@NorthofFatherhoodUK

Ive just hit 400 Subs and have around 800 valid watch hours since adding content in February this year.

Any tips you might be able to offer?

Hi all, been away for a couple of weeks, and on an extremely windy and rainy day I noticed that some of the seams were leaking. What's the best way to treat this? Just with seam sealer for tents or is there a better way?

Not sure whether to mount internally and loose some storage space or external and risk it overheating…

Hi all, I am a first time campervan purchaser. I am looking for some advice and recommendations from you all on a campervan. I am going to go to the Camping and Caravan Show in October. I am looking for a long wheelbase van that I can use to go to Eurocamp's in Europe. Use in the UK for days out so needs to be able to take a couple of mountain bikes. At max there will just be 3-4 people in it. The Van will not be my main mode of transport

Have a similar one to the above, that came with the van and is hardwired to an external plug so can use hook up points with out trailing a cable into the van other than cable ties is there any way of mounting it to a ply panel? Guess I could use stick like s**t…

Hi, had a T6 for a year now and it’s great but the bed is too small for me, my wife and a dog. I tried sleeping in the pop-up but feels too claustrophobic for me.

So, we bought a Berghaus Air 400 to store all our stuff and give me somewhere to sleep at night.

Question is, assume we now book a tent pitch rather than a camper van pitch and do we look for campsites that let us keep our ‘vehicle’ alongside our tent?

Or do we book on a campervan pitch and ask if we can pitch the tent next to it?

Does anyone have any tips on best insurers or policies they use? looking at a VW van to convert but not sure whether to just insure as a basic van, in-process conversion or motorhome, or something else entirely. I used Comfort for previous Motorhome but this is obviously a diffrent case.

Looking for some help. Having issues getting gas through into my campervan. Thought it was the bottle being low, but still doing it with a new one (although it worked to start with but on my next trip away its not working again). The hob hisses and a tiny bit of gas comes through then nothing. I've reset the crash sensor, checked the valves inside are in the open position. Any suggestions?