fridge van conversion

blabley

For my next newbie question, has anybody done a conversion from a fridge van to a camper?

I'm guessing there would be a lot of work in taking out the gas, or could some of that be used for camping? Aswell as the insulation, this will all need to come out and scrap plastic doesn't fetch much of a price does it...

Cheers again,

blabley

So after a good night 'googling' and using the term 'refrigerated van' (me and my bad English) found that the biggest issue seems to be rust, or more importantly hidden rust. Due to the fact that most fridge / freezer vans are fitted after-market it really will depend how these were fitted and what they put in place for drainage as most of the water runs would be hidden it wouldn't be until you remove any insulation, which isn't suggest, that you would see any rust...

So think i'm going to leave that then, which is a shame as the Mrs sent me this one with the statement "I love the colour"

Salt runoff could well compound the problem, especially for something transporting meat.

moodrater

Just being a sprinter is enough to compound the rust problem without salt :-p

'Shouldn't need anything for the DOE' .. but they're not prepared to spend the hundred quid to find out.

moodrater

moodrater wrote: »

Just being a sprinter is enough to compound the rust problem without salt :-p

Body panelling on those is made of recycled rust these days.

That Merc. stone-chip is seriously good stuff though.

moodrater

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Body panelling on those is made of recycled rust these days.

That Merc. stone-chip is seriously good stuff though.

Nah if it was recycled rust there would be more chrome, nickle and manganese in it I reckon its bean tins. I really don't know how they've got away with it so long.

A lot of their clients want disposable fleet vehicles that get major mileage in a short time. Also rust isn't as big a problem in drier climates. We're a small market.

The Crafters tend to fair much better.

New Transits look like Sprinters too. Funny how every one copies the same commercial blueprints. Merc copied the original Transit. LDV copied the previous gen. Merc on at the time current Transit drive. Transit copied the the VW LT and the Sprinter who copied each other, etc..

moodrater

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

The Crafters tend to fair much better.

New Transits look like Sprinters too. Funny how every one copies the same commercial blueprints. Merc copied the original Transit. LDV copied the previous gen. Merc on at the time current Transit drive. Transit copied the the VW LT and the Sprinter who copied each other, etc..

And iveco copied a rubbish lorry / old barge :pac:

Nekarsulm

Will you have any problems making an opening from the cab to the rear?

*Kol*

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Will you have any problems making an opening from the cab to the rear?

Not if you have an angle grinder!! I don't know if that bulkhead would affect rigidity of the structure if it was mostly removed? You would have to change out the bench seat for a single seat in the cab to give space to walk through. Doable though without too much hassle though.

blabley

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Will you have any problems making an opening from the cab to the rear?

Also for my layout i wouldn't really need a opening in the rear tbh as still need ample of storage space.

An opening rear gives you more storage space. You can open drawers from the rear outside the doors.