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Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

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Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Sat Jan 20, 2018 2:31 pm

Thought I'd start a build thread on our camper conversion, currently we're building the interior. This is our progress so far!
We acquired the van in April 2017. It had 2 weeks MOT left and absolutely no chance of passing it! There was nothing that could be considered structural left of the rear outriggers & leaf spring mounts, the driverside step consisted mostly of rust, the front end panels not faring much better... Initially we estimated about 4-6 weeks of work, but things escalated and that ended up being almost 5 months of evenings and weekends spent cutting, welding & fabricating bits of van.

The first thing we did was remove all the ply lining and chop the rear section of floor out. The chassis rails had rusted through above the bump stops and we wanted to be sure the rest was ok. This also made it much easier to cut out the old & weld in the new out riggers & leaf spring hangers that we'd made.

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With that work complete we moved onto the offside rear door...the bottom of the outer had pretty much rusted away, but thankfully the inner was in really good condition. This was definitely one of the more satisfying jobs to complete on the van!

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With the rear end done and back together complete with new leaf springs we started on the front. We did the driver side first as this required the most amount of work. New step (this was a nightmare because the inner sill was actually welded on in the wrong place, so that was cut off and welded back on in the right place...which only took a whole day!!) new inner arche & inner wing, as well as new outers. We also fabricated a new front outrigger but didn't take any pictures.

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The passenger side was in much better condition and the step was repairable. But it still had new inner arch, inner wing & outers.

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The van passed it's MOT in September, and the following Saturday we chucked a blow up bed in the back and headed to santa pod for transitmania for our first night in the van!

Before heading to Santa Pod

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Between then and December we insulated it, got the flooring down, made a good start on the wooden cladding and installed a mini log burner!

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Our first proper trip in the van was to the Brecon Beacons for our anniversary before Christmas. At this stage it was fully insulated, about half the van was cladded and the log burner installed and working.

A few shots from around Wales

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we passed through Herefordshire on the way home, this was taken on the journey back. Looking rather grubby! (yes, I painted the rear door in the wrong shade of white!)

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Absolutely stunning place and if you haven't been I would definitely recommend it! We're hoping to do another trip.

For anyone who has instagram, you can see a few more pictures: @moose_in_transit

https://www.instagram.com/moose_in_transit/?hl=en

The aim of this is just a little bit of fun, weekends away and doing something a little different. So far we love it!

I'll get a few more pictures and keep this updated with the build progress :)
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby Beaker » Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:01 pm

Great to see you guys getting on with the van. I've often wondered how far you have got with it since talking to you at Transitmania.

You really weren't joking about the amount of welding needed were you!

Keep posting, we want to see photos.

I've got box of left over bits that you can have if you want - water tube, electrical flex conduit, trim clips etc. Give me a shout if you would like it.

All the best,

Mark and Kath.
2011 SWB medium roof 2.2l Mk7 115 T300 in Frozen White. Stealth Camper converted.

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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Sun Jan 21, 2018 9:48 pm

Beaker wrote:Great to see you guys getting on with the van. I've often wondered how far you have got with it since talking to you at Transitmania.

You really weren't joking about the amount of welding needed were you!

Keep posting, we want to see photos.

I've got box of left over bits that you can have if you want - water tube, electrical flex conduit, trim clips etc. Give me a shout if you would like it.

All the best,

Mark and Kath.


It was really good to speak to you both at Santa pod, you gave us a lot of inspiration and some useful tips & places to buy bits and pieces from.
we've been meaning to get a post up for ages, but progress has been slow! Hoping to get more done so we can use it in summer!
We'll definitely get some more pictures up soon, we've taken quite a lot of everything we've done.
It sure was a lot of welding, but metal work and messing around with cars is one of my hobbies...its amazing what people do for fun! :roll: :lol:

thank you thats a very kind offer. We're in the process of planning exactly where things are going to go at the moment, we may well take you up on that :D

Tom & Chloe
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby BootsBoots » Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:45 pm

Nice work, all the best with the job.

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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby ceurieusneus » Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:08 am

Great job
Now, just putting inside some more furniture and than ENJOY... :D :D :D
BTW Great assistent you have. :wink:
Cheers
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:49 pm

Thanks Boots

That's the plan! We don't get to spend as much time as we'd like on it, but it's good fun when we do. We finished building the bed frame at the weekend and the foam arrived today.
Haha she's the boss!

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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby Kirsty.B » Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:57 am

Hello there :) I've nearly finished my conversion, and i was looking through your post and noticed you have the same wood burner as me! Could you tell me please how it's working for you? Also could you tell me what you used to set it on and to protect the surrounds? I can't really tell from the photograph. Thank you in advance.
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Sun Feb 04, 2018 8:01 pm

It's been fantastic! We just bought a pack of slate from Wickes and used that for the base. Considering continuing it up the wall further.
The flue is a bit of 60mm exhaust tubing which I cut and welded together and also welded into the burner so it definitely won't leak! On the roof is a high temperature Dektite roof flashing. Yet to make the chimney cowl, however an aerosol cap fits nicely over the top for when it's parked up and not in use!

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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Mon Feb 19, 2018 10:07 pm

This is what the van looks like currently on the inside:
We have a bench which slides into a bed, 4 LED downlighters, a 600w inverter, 2 USB charging sockets and a log burner. As you can see the roof paneling hasn't been completed, it will become clear why in the next post :D

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Don't often have the need to work with wood, but making the bed was something i thoroughly enjoyed. Routing all the corners off was extremely satisfying!

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The blue towel at the back is just used as a curtain, until Chloe can work her magic on some blinds!

Chloe has a bit of time off uni over Easter, so we're hoping to crack on both with the build and getting out and using the van!

As for why the wooden paneling isn't complete, I'll leave this here and you can work the rest out :wink:

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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby BaileyBoys » Thu Feb 22, 2018 10:54 pm

Hello, it's my first post as we leave the VW world behind and pick up our new (to us) Transit minibus to convert tomorrow. I've been browsing here and your post caught my eye with the Welsh scenery! I agree it's a beautiful part of the world (we recently moved here). Can you settle a debate between me and hubby? Are those photos on the A470 between Brecon and Merthyr? I've wagered a lie-in that I recognise the laybies! :lol:

Seriously, the van looks great, looking forward to seeing your progress.
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:33 pm

Small update:

Something we consider to be an important feature of this conversion is for it to not feel claustrophobic. We don't want it to be tightly packed and have no where to move... in order to overcome this it was decided that we'd have a roof rack. The roof rack will hold our bikes and roof box which we can fill with items we don't need all the time (few hand tools, spare coats etc) as well as anything else we think of. Searching ebay revealed a few that were for sale, but they were all a long way away...so we decided to build one. I already had most of the metal so it turned out to be very cheap to build! The roof rack is 3000mm long x 1430mm wide.

First step was to make the plates which bolt through the roof to support the rack, made from 2mm steel sheet:

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a liberal coating of sikaflex was applied and 4 8mm stainless socket caps holding on each bracket.

The main framework is made from 40x40x3 angle

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That's the framework complete, next task is to find a roofbox and put in the necessary brackets in to support it. Then chuck the bikes up there and see where they fit best :D
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Sun Mar 11, 2018 7:35 pm

BaileyBoys wrote:Hello, it's my first post as we leave the VW world behind and pick up our new (to us) Transit minibus to convert tomorrow. I've been browsing here and your post caught my eye with the Welsh scenery! I agree it's a beautiful part of the world (we recently moved here). Can you settle a debate between me and hubby? Are those photos on the A470 between Brecon and Merthyr? I've wagered a lie-in that I recognise the laybies! :lol:

Seriously, the van looks great, looking forward to seeing your progress.



So sorry for not replying sooner, I didn't spot your post!
Best of luck with your conversion, we've thoroughly enjoyed it so far! Although lack of time on both our parts hasn't seen much progress lately.

Spot on! Those are indeed the layby's on the A470! :D
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby TPM961 » Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:32 pm

little update

Not a great deal done on it over the summer, we were both busy working but still managed a few good trips.

The only updates on the inside are an access hatch cut so we can reach through into the front and get phone charger leads and anything we've left in the front that we want in the back. And we got the interior painted.

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The biggest job we did over the summer was paint the outside. The hardest part of this was deciding on a colour! After much discussion between Chloe wanting to paint it purple and me wanting to paint it blue, we compromised and painted it purple...

Unfortunately the colour we were sent was nothing like the sample "we'd" chosen! At the end of day 1 it was looking decidedly pink...

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Fortunately the second coat covered much better and it got darker as it cured. We also threw some black paint at the wheels which really transformed it. At the end of the second day it looked like this.

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It could do with a third coat but we ran out of time, a job for the summer!

A few more pictures from our most recent trip round Dartmoor in September.

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Once Chloe graduates from uni we want to finish off the interior (kitchen area next) and do a 14 day trip round Scotland in the summer :D
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby Luke » Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:50 pm

neat work on the roof rack 8)
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Re: Tom & Chloe's mk5 LWB camper conversion

Postby ned » Sun Dec 16, 2018 11:04 pm

What did you paint it with, mini roller? Its got a nice shine, 1 more coat and you'll have the desired colour 8)
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