confused about van to campervan conversion!!!

Neggie

i really hope somebody can help me here....
I own a commercial 03 transit LWB van from new. i have used it up until a month ago for my work. i have a newer transit for work now. i have held onto the 03 transit with the idea of converting it to a campervan. its a semi high roof. it does not have 1.8m internal height. my question is.......
(1) because i dont have the required 1.8m height, am i wasting my time???

(2)i do have approx 1.68m height, and plenty of room for everything thats required for conversion....( bar height)

(3) i dont want to start conversion and then run into confusing jargon and trouble


can anyone advise me on what steps i should take. i've read a lot of posts here and still none the wiser....HELP PLEASE...

defike

You can convert it the 1.8m height comes into play only if you want to insure it under the cheaper camper scheme.330e verses 600 approx.Revenue will want money off you aswell but the height doesn't mater for this they always want money.

spaceHopper

I'd approach Dolmen insurance brokers and see what they say.
Tell them exactly what you told us, it was your van from new. You've replaced it with a new van for work and want to convert it to a camper for summer use, surfing, mountain biking going to France... make it clear that you will never be using it for business. Ask them if they would have an issue with the hight and what would they expect to see in it. They must get no end of chancres wanting cheap road tax and insurance so you need to come across as genuine.

Do it by email so that you will have a record of it.

There are low top campers about but they may have got them through revenue in the time when the 1.8M rule was gone they didn't have anything covering being able to move about in it with out stooping...

Neggie

OK guys. Thanks for the replies. So nobody can see a problem with me starting the conversion..... So I go ahead and convert van. Window, sink,cooker,fridge combo unit, addition wiring etc,etc. Say I have it complete....what comes next. Is it an engineer report?? And once that's done, what comes next. Insurance, tax, doe...??? Sorry for all the questions but Im good with the hands for conversion, but the red tape I'm struggling... Thanks guys

spaceHopper

Is it insured now, can you doe it as it is then after conversion doe it when it's due.

Before you start check with the insurance and get it in writing
Also make sure what ever window you put it has some sort of safety stamp the DOE will check it.

Aidan_M_M

You'll need an engineers report. And has to be a fairly highly qualified engineer. All gas lines must be metal, you need to adhere to regs on ventilation. Re fridges, if I was building a conversion I'd use a compressor fridge.

I got an engineers report in a DoE centre back in the day.
+1 on compressor fridge but really they ought to come with a delegated 100W of solar PV too and minimum 200Ah batteries.

crabbypaddy

+3 on a compressor fridge, with 3 way fridge the gas severely limits location due to vents, exhaust, gas pipe, requires cutting bloody great holes in your van which you then have to cover in winter, to top it off they are grossly inefficient and can only cool to about 25degrees below ambient temperature which is pretty useless when your van is baking in the sunshine in france or spain for example.

crabbypaddy

crabbypaddy wrote: »

to top it off they are grossly inefficient and can only cool to about 25degrees below ambient temperature

...aboot 8 times less efficient