My DIY conversion progress

Questions & answers about kitchen units, stoves, fridges, heaters, water tanks, seats, mattresses etc etc.

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callum
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My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:20 am

Hi folks,
I've been posting on a different thread about my van and the conversion i am building. But it's a bit muddled up with other things and i think it belongs more in the camper conversion section as it is turning into one.


We bought the van from my in laws, looking like this:

Image

Image

Ideally it would have been great to have kept thw conversion, but with one 18 month old child and one on the way, the rear facing seats would have been a no go. It is our only car, i use a Suzuki B120 for commuting, so it needed to be practical as a "car" whilst also being a camper for wee holidays.

I quickly went about stripping out the conversion as i needed the funds from it's sale to start building the new conversion and also to get the proper seats in. So...here it is with the floor boarded up, new carpet and the gull seats installed.
Image

I went with the gull seats for a couple of reasons
1. I liked the idea of still being able to load stuff in thw van
2. It is what was factory fitted
3. It has a fixed boot area

To make a conversion around gull seats is a bit tricky in my opinion as they don't move back and forth, obviously. So the gap between conversion and seats can't be "taken up" when in bed configuration. So on a slider seat you can roll the seat to meet your mid conversion, whereas on mine i have to leave leg room between unit and seat. So although not completed yet, my idea involves a removable panel that fits between the legs of the rear seats when not in use.

Our idea was to try and make the most comfortable bed we could, whilst also retaining a hob. We have slept in an aunts bongo on the seats and it just was not comfortable, so we knew this wasn't for us. Also lugging around all the extra bits to make it comfortable went against our plan of having a van that we could go away for a weekend at short notice with minimal fuss. We have no garage, car port, shed or storage space in our house, so storage for camping stuff is in the attic. So we are building it around long weekend trips, if going for a weeks holiday, we will take the awning and do a more homely "proper" camp.
If it's difficult to assemble for a weekender, we just won't go away in it, hence needing to make it easy foe ourselves.

Build currently looks like this
Image

Image

Image

As you can see, it isn't a conventional mid conversion. We did this purely for the bed. We wanted as much bed space as possible, it allows for almost for full width and for a "normal" height couple to sleep below comfortably.
The table will go from the bench to the rear seats and another small box seat (along with the panel under rear seat) will take up the space in front of the kitchen unit, forming an L shape conversion.

That's it at the mo, any input on the build is appreciated as i know not many have been done like this!
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mikeonb4c
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by mikeonb4c » Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:32 am

I like your thinking on all this. Look forward to reading further progress reports. Will the unit behind drivers seat be easily moveable as that would allow drivers seat to be tipped back when you need to open engine cover. Alternative is unbolting drivers seat and removing it, which I would find tedious.
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Dr Fingers
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by Dr Fingers » Thu Dec 31, 2015 6:38 pm

So will you sleep on the gullwing seats (we do)? What will make up the rest of the bed? We use collapsible plastic crates that just happen to be the same height as the seat bases.

http://www.plastor.co.uk/catalog/euro-s ... containers

We put the folding table across the two crates and then memory foam mattress, gives full width bed

I like the way your kitchen unit is molded to the contours of the side panel, very neat.


Derek
callum
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Thu Dec 31, 2015 7:02 pm

Mike,
Although i took it into consideration, i hadn't actually checked. So i just went out and checked!
Image

It gives plenty of access for checks (and changing thw air filter as i just did, i can't explain how full of crap the old one was!), but if doing any major work, it would be prudent to remove the seat yes. Passenger seat tilts ok though.

Hi Derek,
Yes, the gullwing seats form part of the bed.
The bench has been made to take a 2 inch foam mattress. Between this and the gull seats will be a board which will be used as both that and the table. This will be stored vertically behind the kitchen unit along with the matress for this.
There will be a small box seat in front of the attached to the kitchen unit which will house the gas bottle. This will have a top which hinges over to attach to the table piece. Then the removable panel which stores under the the gull seats makes up the last of the bed.
It sounds more complicated than it will be. It's all in the execution!
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by ELZE » Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:52 pm

I was just wondering about the rear heating vent? has that been re-sited or blanked off!


Looks fab :D
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callum
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Sat Jan 02, 2016 1:05 am

Hi,
In the last picture of the conversion you can see the vent through the door. Half of it is still on the outside so i think it'll be ok. We will see of course!
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ELZE
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by ELZE » Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:04 pm

callum wrote:Hi,
In the last picture of the conversion you can see the vent through the door. Half of it is still on the outside so i think it'll be ok. We will see of course!
Thanks for the reply
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by vanvliet » Sun Jan 03, 2016 4:19 pm

Very well thought through. Retaining the flip up seats is a good idea .
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by philpdr » Sun Jan 03, 2016 6:13 pm

vanvliet wrote:Very well thought through. Retaining the flip up seats is a good idea .
One of the best features in older Bongo's,makes them so much more versatile than with a bench seat.
callum
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:49 am

Thanks folks, yes, we really wanted to give it a go with the seats as we have a pram stowed in the boot most of the time, so pushing sliding seats back would've meant storing the pram in the main area, which would've been naff.
I've spent months thinking through the best ways to make it work for ourselves. It is certainly not a conversion to suit everyone though.
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by cmm303 » Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:57 am

Great ideas. Looks very smart. When we bought we went for full length runners thinking it provided more flexibility with a single bench seat but your set up is making me think twice! Drat.

How do you fix the unit to keep it in place?
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callum
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:14 pm

Hi,
As i said, i think it'll work for us, but i do like the runners!

The units are screwed inro the wood floor via L brackets. But i'm going to assess that as the build continues to see whether i am happy with it. I may look at some batons for extra rigidity, but it is pretty solid at the mo and doesn't creak, so it may just be a case of over engineering!
It looka like i may get a few hours this weekend coming ro have a go at the wiring. I bought a switch over loom for thw blinds etc, plua the 240 hookup and the zig to wire in. Once that's done, i can get on with the build, which i'm looking forward to.
callum
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Sun Jan 17, 2016 9:51 pm

Hi folks,
I ended up working last weekend, so i wasn't able to do any van work unfortunately.
But i did some today, hoorah.
Unfortunately it was a boring and long day of wiring and no fun wood work, but no point continuing with the build as i needed to remove the unit to get behind the door cards.
So today i did the following:

*Fitted a leisure battery
*Fitted a loom swap for the blinds and interior lights
*Rewired the elec hookup to rcd unit
*Wired on the zig unit
*Routed a wire for a 12v light from the zig to redundant seat belt point

I once again did not have my meter reader with me, so i can't tell whether the leisure battery is being charged, but the light which is hooked up to the zig works and blinds and interior lights now all work as they should off the LB. I did have the stereo wire on it at well, but my wife wasn't kwen on remembering to switch it off, so i removed it from the LB. It does mean the 12v sockets are still on the starter battery, but hey ho. I am going to fit a spare one into the kitchen unit so that i can charge a phone etc without a hassle and wire it to the zig. Nice and easy then.

I took it upon myself to fit the hob unit too, so that it felt like i'd done something productive (even though what i had done was productive!), i hooked up the gas and fired up the smev, which was nice!

Last week i also fitted a double din, satnav stereo. I blinking love it!
So yes, anyway, all the main boring bits of the conversion are done, so in a couple of weeks i'll get on and do the rest of the downstairs conversion, i would hope to have most of that done within a day, but i won't rush it!
callum
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by callum » Sun Jan 31, 2016 6:41 pm

Hi folks,
Well, today i did some fitting of bits.
I have fitted the push buttons and hinges to the 2 doors in the kitchen unit. One is a bit of a tight fit, but still works well.
I also fitted the top to the box seat, piano hinge and gas strut as i thought it would be a nice touch.

Image

Image

Oh, and i also fitted a beading trim edge to the unit to try and tidy up the edging, it looks much nicer now!

Image

Next step will be to build the small box unit that holds the gas bottle, then it will be a case of making the table, and the bed will be complete.
Small progress!
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Re: My DIY conversion progress

Post by Bongoplod » Mon Feb 01, 2016 1:15 am

Looking good =D> =D> =D>

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