Race transporter/camper Daily

[James132]

Hi all, fairly new to the forum so still finding my way about the place, Iv had a good couple of nights looking through progress threads trying to find some inspiration but nothing seems to be what im needing.

Recently I purchased my first van, a 2005 swb low roof transit with 61k on the clock.
The van is used as a daily driver for work, but its main use is for racing at the weekends. I race pitbike supermoto in the national championship and have got to the point where I have too much kit and am fed up of the hassle of towing/storing a trailer, cramming the car full of kit and having to leave stuff behind because it wont fit.. that and the sleeping in a cold wet tent!

Everything is being done on a stupidly tight budget, being on apprentice wages and racing bikes as a hobby dont go well together and leaves me with virtually nothing to spend come the end of the month.

Quick update of what I have done so far:

When I got the van my first task was to give it a damm good clean as the cab was rotten and the paint was faded:









Next was having a go at insulating it a bit to make it bearable to sleep in. Iv probably gone about it the wrong way and will get some abuse, but its been done cheap and can only be better than nothing. First I put a layer of double sided foil bubble wrap stuff from b&q and secured in place with foil tape.
Over this went some recycled plastic insulation.. awesome stuff as it dont even make you itchy!
The sides are already lined with this flexy plastic, so only have to line the roof and doors with ply.. having not done this before I was quite pleased with the roof (doors to be done this weekend with a bit of luck!)







So I now want to build/fit some sort of double bed (off the floor) to sleep on.. and this is where I need some help with what the options are..

In an ideal world it would be removable if needed.. but not essential. I want to build/fit it into the rear half of the van from where the sliding door finishes to the rear doors. I dont know if I am able to utilize the racking along the sides maybe..?



Something that folds up into a sofa kind of thing would be awesome, however I expect this may be getting expensive..

Any help/advice/photos etc would be much appreciated, im fairly handy when it comes to fabrication but my imagination is terrible!

Oh and for anyone interested, heres the bike I race and an action shot





Cheers for looking!

[binge]

Nice thread James. Nice to see you've finally got yourself a decent motor.

I'm doing a similar conversion with my Mk6. Are you wanting to re-register it? If you get it changed on the V5 to a 'motor caravan' it'll drop your insurance a lot, and you'll save money on quite a few other things. You'll also get a better speed limit on NSL roads.


If you are, then have a look here:

http://www.caravanwise.co.uk/motor/diycamper.html


My biggest issue is getting a 6ft bed in there, but leaving enough space to actually use it as a camper.
I've got an idea of a fold away bed, but whether the bed can be 6ft and also secure is another thing.

Are you seating it up in the rear? Or keeping it as a 3 seater?

[James132]

Fancy seeing you here!

I didn't even know you could do such a thing, I will have a read of that shortly.

I plan on keeping it a 3 seater, I rarely need any more seats, and if I do I have the misses car to use.

Iv looked at a couple of ideas so far but unsure on what to go for so wanted to see if anyone had 'tried&tested' ideas on here.

-Build a frame (wood) in the back half at the height of the racking running along the side and put an air bed on it (got a decent retro red/blue rubber/fabric one).
-Buy a footon and modify if necessary to fit
-Build a similar idea to a footon from metal and use a footon topper on it..

[binge]

You can make the 'pull out' beds really easily with timber and a box of screws.






The other option is a rock&roll bed, these double up as rear passenger seats, but can be expensive.


The set up I'm building consists of 3 fold-down seats in the rear. And then a big parcel shelf type thing, behind the seats, up to the rear door.
The shelf will be 3ft deep x 3/4 width of van (So about 3ftx5ft), and it will be double lined, with some meaty hinges on it.
This will be at the level of the backs of the seats, when they are folded down.

Then the shelf will open up 180 degrees, and lay flat against the backs of the seats, to create a 6ftx4ft platform)

In reality, it may not work at all. Haha!


This is where I'm up to:

[James132]

Not a huge update, but got the rear doors done the other evening, just the sliding door to do now... As you can tell, woodwork is not my forte





I was thinking of pulling the headlining out of the cab to put some of the silver stuff under it.. will this help keep some of the heat out now its summer? Its like getting in a sauna! Never remember any of my cars getting so hot

[binge]

They do get hot. My van is hot when parked outside. Beauty of the 1/4 light windows at the front, you can go balls out on the motorway with the door windows down, and not have your face blown off.

Try one of those widow shades firsts, might need to buy a big one for a van. May as well just buy the camper ones though, which are molded for the Transit, you'll be able to use them when sleeping it in then too.

[binge]

Any updates on this James?
I managed to get a bed in mine across the back (above rear arches). There is just enough room there.
Requirement is 1800mm. I've managed to get it to about 1765mm, which I think will be close enough.

[James132]

Not as yet mate..
Stuck some led lights to the roof last week.

I have a couple of designs for the bed to choose from, but I recently bought tyre warmers and some fresh rubber ready for Stretton at the end of the month so have no more money to spend on it.

Next month il service it and look at getting the material to build a bed.. airbed on the floor will suffice for the time being.

[binge]

Any updates dude?