Well at last i got a van and here it is

1998 VOLKSWAGEN TRANSPORTER 800 Special Van Diesel
195,000 miles,
White with grey cloth,
Side opener,
Tail gate,
Ply lined, good tyres,
MOT till March 2007,
Full main dealer service history and drives 100%,
Was priced to sell at Ã,£1795 ....  so i paid Ã,£1200 and gave him my Mondeo

So far i have found nothing wrong and it drives like a car. I even forgot in Tesco today that it was a van and had to apply a bit of my swift advanced motoring to get out
Im off to the Alps for a few weeks in it next as soon as i feel it will make it over.

Thats wicked! get yourself some of that matting stuff that schools have for doing roly-polys on and youre sorted

going gypo are ye?

Quote from: Binary Shadowgoing gypo are ye?

Well seeing as i spend all my spare time in tents, i decided it was time to get some wheels for those tents. No more getting up in a random field somewhere in North Wales to be greeted by a full force winter. Ill save money by not making a run to the nearest cafe too.

The idea is to put a futon type bed at half hight, so i can get my boats underneath.

looks good

and remember the extra battery and little elecy heater for those cold nights

edit: and an air vent too, or itll get very steamy in the back

see if you can get your hands on a night heater - that uses fuel from the tank.

Nice one but the ones from the sixties especially the deluxe with small windows at the top all the way around.

Quote from: BXGTi16Vsee if you can get your hands on a night heater - that uses fuel from the tank.

Hmm they look pretty handy for winter heating cheers for the tip.

So far i have decided to take all the ply wood linning back out and stuff rock wool behind it for insulation. I will probably do this when i get back now tho. I will also remove the wood partition behind the cab to half height level and replace with curtains.

Once all the ply wood is back ill be linning the roof, walls and floor with carpet. I may decide to put some waterproof linning down on the floor and a bit up the walls first to stop my wet boats rusting the floor.

My main aim is to get a raised bed in the back area. So far the idea being to set it at half height and i can get my boats under it. Im looking to design a futon type of bed that can also be used as a chair. I will either get the hinges off an old sofa bed to use MDF or source something like THIS:  

I will also be looking to get a leisure battery in the back area, but have just discovered this may need a bit of ventilation as it produces hydrogen! Im not sure how to route the wires just yet or where to source them.

Going to soon need a roof vent too (the ones that spin) but not sure how to fix this with a carpet roof just yet.

There is also the cooker location to think about and i might get a side window if i need one but its looking costly atm.

Once all the above is done ill start thinking about storage areas.


Any other tips / thoughts

youre going to want a heavy duty inverter in there too....

Quote from: BXGTi16Vyoure going to want a heavy duty inverter in there too....

yeah thats not the bit that worries me.

Its how i am going to ensure i can:
a> charge the leisure battery safely and cut off power to it when its full and
b> ensure it only starts on the engine battery.
~All whilst being as cost effective as possible.

you could trickle charge with a solar briefcase also !

Ã,£100 or so

Now you mention it i was thinking about a wind turbine as they produce alot more than a solar one All future ideas for now tho as they are too expensive.

Quote from: bearNice one but the ones from the sixties especially the deluxe with small windows at the top all the way around.

Such nostalgia will wear off immediately on the first attempt at actually climbing up a mountain in such a vehicle.

"PUSH!!"

Quote from: maximusotter

Quote from: bearNice one but the ones from the sixties especially the deluxe with small windows at the top all the way around.

Such nostalgia will wear off immediately on the first attempt at actually climbing up a mountain in such a vehicle.

"PUSH!!"

One does not necessarely need to use the original engine

charging the leasure battery is pretty easy tbh.... go to somewhere like maplins and pick up a big relay - 110amp is about Ã,£20 iirc... tis about as big as they go for reasonable money....

then you connect it up so that its between your main battery and leasure battery, connect a -va to it, then take a +ve from something that is only live when the engine is on... like the small wire on the back of the alternator  (the small wire on the alternator is -ve with the engine off, then when you start up it goes +ve)

is there no room under the bonnet for the 2nd battery ?.... it doesent really need to be that big... a normal van battery will be about 600ah.... which means you can pull 30 amp from it for 20 hours.... which is quite a bit

(tho if you repetadly discharge it all the way it will start to loose its charge capacity
tho most inverters will auto-turn off once your battery gets too low