Susie, our tent on wheels

[vampirequeen]

Over the years we've camped in tents, a Reliant Rialto that we converted into a sort of teardrop and a four berth touring caravan. Each method of camping had it good and bad bits. Putting up a tent in the rain is no fun; the Reliant was a bit claustrophobic; not only is the caravan a hassle to store, tow etc it also has a lot of space taken by stuff we never use. All of these methods were also very tying as we had to stay on campsites. We looked at campervans but decided that, like the caravans, we were going to pay for stuff we didn't use and they were so expensive. After much thought we decided we actually need a tent on wheels. As these don't exist we've bought a LWB high roof Transit which we're going to convert to suit our needs and requirements.

We collected her last Sunday. First she has to have an extra seat fitted. We're paying a garage to do it because tbh we know our limitations and as one of our children will be strapped into it we want to make sure it's as safe as possible. We're also paying to have a window installed in the sliding door and possibly a sliding vent put in at the back.

She looks like she's been a welfare vehicle. She's already ply lined and has some form of insulation although we are going to check this and change/top up if necessary.

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[vampirequeen]

OMG we totally misjudged how long these things take to do. Our first job...my first job...was to paint the van. It's taken forever but now she's got three coats of Hammerite at the front and two coats everywhere else plus new door seals. The extra belted seat has also been installed.

The next job is the insulation. We've got the silver bubble stuff and contact adhesive. Is it best to start from the top and work down or doesn't it matter?

[vampirequeen]

The painting is finished and we've insulated the roof and put the panel back. Not taking the side panels off because there is some sort of insulation that that looks like glass fibre and we figure it's better to leave well alone. So now just the floor to insulate and re-lay the panel then the fun part can start.

[fraudtransit]

Looking forward to how you get on with this.

Have you seen the self build motor caravan forum? Lots of useful advice/people on there.

[vampirequeen]

I've been looking at that forum. Done so much research my head is spinning

On May 22nd I posted that the insulation was nearly finished. How wrong I was. As with everything up to now I've totally misjudged how long things take to do. Finally finished the insulation today

Now, in theory, the fun can start. Unfortunately we've had to change our layout plans as the extra seated belt was welded further back than we'd intended but the guy said it was a much safer place. It's a seat for our children so better to be safe than sorry.

The next probably complicated job is replacing the solenoid in the passenger door. It opens and closes but won't lock. I was all for a hasp but my husband is all for tinkering. We got the part from a scrapyard and the guy said he'll give us a hand if we get stuck. We'll probably visit him

[transitandy]

Good thread and nice work

[bigjohnthomas]

Susie the flusie

https://youtu.be/yYPexdK5tWE

[vampirequeen]

I'm scared of jinxing our conversion but I think we're getting there.

[GuyT]

Can you elaborate on "a much safer place" for the rear seats. I'm guessing you were given some reasoning so Id be interested to know what was said.

I'm drawing up designs (Im on about the 4th completely new design) for a dayvan / overnighter but I dont need or want cookers and water etc. One of the key issues is placement of the rear seats. I'll be going for a mwb and ideally want the rear seats to be a 'rails' so that I can slide them all the way from almost the rear wheel arch upto the bulkhead ideally, this is the ideal scenario but........

Please post more pictures too, I know Im not the only one who loves to see what people do as it provides both ideas and inspiration, good luck and enjoy the project

[mistericeman]

Google 'Unwin' rails.... it's the commercial stuff that, is, used on a lot of stuff to allow multiple seat positions (you can, also get cargo points for it too)

[vampirequeen]

The seat is further back than we ideally wanted but the mechanic had the advantage of being able to look underneath the van .....something to do with the stronger bits....sorry I'm not very good on the technical stuff. But basically the seat is just in front of the rear wheel arch with one of the supports actually attached to the wheel arch. I know he welded an extra piece underneath the van where the seat is fitted.

[vampirequeen]

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[vampirequeen]

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[vampirequeen]

Well she's finished. Been renamed Violet and today we received the new logbook so she's officially a motor caravan. We've been out in her a few times....wild camping. Each time was brilliant. She takes two adults comfortably and two adults and two children with a squeeze. That said we went away for 8 days in her and didn't kill each other or the children lol although we do need to be organised and keep things tidy.

After the first couple of trips we realised we needed to change the sofa/bed. We'd make it a sort of flip over contraption which worked really well (or so we thought) but it was a pain sort out every night. So we split it into two sofas which with a bit added to the middle convert into a bed. We've also changed the storage a bit. Adding some extra storage so the bags and roll you see in the picture aren't loose anymore.

The kitchen/bathroom works well. There is a curtain. If it's open then it's the kitchen and if it's closed it's the bathroom lol. The children were a bit confused at first. We come from the olden days (their words) before bathrooms were the norm in every house. They couldn't imagine life without a specific room to wash in lol.

Violet doesn't have EHU electricity but she has a leisure battery, an invertor and a small solar panel. Neither does she have a water tank or hot water. We were a bit worried about this but Sainsbury's sell 2 litres of bottle water for 20p so that's not turned out to be an issue. We simply buy 8 litres when required and warm up what we need in the kettle.

When we started to build her we said we wanted a tent on wheels and that's more or less what we've got and we love her.

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