commercial to camper

pongo69

is there any where i can look at a spec sheet for what i have to do if a buy a commercial van and change it in to a camper from start

pongo69

any help please

Benbecul97

Not familiar with this but to help you get started, from a quick Google with this text string "requirements to convert a commercial van to a camper van ireland" some of the links returned included.

Vehicle Conversions
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/vehicle-conversions.html

Your Motorhome / Conversion, VRT and You. - boards.ie
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056286278

Obviously you will need to research it a lot more than this quick search.

Beenlost123

Talk to your local tax office guy who has encountered this before and also to your insurance company to see what they like to hopefully reduce your eventual premium. I am in the process of doing this so dont take my word as gospel but the basic requirements are 2 hob cooker, sink, seating area, sleeping area and table which may be moved. Theres loads of information out there and a few companies in ireland with experience of doing van conversions. You may consult with them. Insurance companies like a 1.8 height in the van it seems.

Did your purchase the commercial van in ireland? Any tips on finding decent commercials here? I have been looking abroad as they seem expensive here especially if theyve proper service history which I want in a base vehicle. Ive been told to stay away from trannies too due to rush issues. I am hoping to get a renault master MWB < 100k miles with full service and parts history. Any else I should add you think? I also look for what it was used for and rather long distance drives than stop start jobs.

crabbypaddy

Beenlost123 wrote: »

Talk to your local tax office guy who has encountered this before and also to your insurance company to see what they like to hopefully reduce your eventual premium.

Local tax office hasn't dealt with camper conversions since 2007 2011 is all goes through rosslare. All the camper policies I know of are group schemes the price is fixed.

Beenlost123

crabbypaddy wrote: »

Local tax office hasn't dealt with camper conversions since 2007 is all goes through rosslare. All the camper policies I know of are group schemes the price is fixed.

My bad.. Ive been going on what i have read. Apologies all

crabbypaddy

Beenlost123 wrote: »

My bad.. Ive been going on what i have read. Apologies all

No worries, theres a dearth of accurate information to be read.

This is about the only place thats been updated:
http://bluetdi.blogspot.ie/2011/06/irish-camper-van-status.html

crabbypaddy

I meant 2011 re tax, there was a period of uncertaintly where quite a few people got their campers done in the local office vrt free during the changeover. I paid €750 vrt while someone we know in tralee only paid for their tax disc and got a logbook in the post a couple of weeks later. The bluetdi guy was lucky.

pongo69

if i got a van that is camper on the log book can i change the inside to how i went or do i have to got the reassets

crabbypaddy

pongo69 wrote: »

if i got a van that is camper on the log book can i change the inside to how i went or do i have to got the reassets

Once its vrts a camper you can do what you like with it, make the changes before insuring it as insurers will usually look for an engineers report, if theres a change in the number of seats or windows it should be recorded ion the logbook but 90% of camper logbooks in ireland are full of blanks zeros or incorrect information.

Moomat

Beenlost123 wrote: »

Any else I should add you think? I also look for what it was used for and rather long distance drives than stop start jobs.

I found Iveco Dailys from '04 up to be very good. Go for a 2.3 for the best fuel economy.

Beenlost123

Moomat wrote: »

I found Iveco Dailys from '04 up to be very good. Go for a 2.3 for the best fuel economy.

Ive been looking at the dailys alright. Would there be a problem with sourcing parts for it if anything went wrong in ireland? There doesnt seem to be many about.

crabbypaddy

Beenlost123 wrote: »

Ive been looking at the dailys alright. Would there be a problem with sourcing parts for it if anything went wrong in ireland? There doesnt seem to be many about.

Traynors, bridgevan in the north would have parts, theres loads of them about as delivery vans. New parts are about half to two thirds the price of fiat, even the shared parts. They are nice and wide so you can sleep a 6ft person accross the van. The only disadvantage from camper point of view is the floor height is about 700mm before any insulation or flooring so you'll really want a fold out step for swmbo, kids, nana etc or if you're short.

Beenlost123

crabbypaddy wrote: »

Traynors, bridgevan in the north would have parts, theres loads of them about as delivery vans. New parts are about half to two thirds the price of fiat, even the shared parts. They are nice and wide so you can sleep a 6ft person accross the van. The only disadvantage from camper point of view is the floor height is about 700mm before any insulation or flooring so you'll really want a fold out step for swmbo, kids, nana etc or if you're short.

I see. Would I have any problems with garage men down here unfamiliar with ivecos? I rarely see them about down here but I am sure they shouldnt have too much trouble. It would be great to have a bed across the van instead of lengthways.

Moomat

Beenlost123 wrote: »

I see. Would I have any problems with garage men down here unfamiliar with ivecos? I rarely see them about down here but I am sure they shouldnt have too much trouble. It would be great to have a bed across the van instead of lengthways.

No, you shouldn't have any problems. If anything they are quite mechanically and electrical basic compared to other vans of that era. I had a good few of them in a transport business doing massive miles and rarely encountered problems. Some common things to watch are:
-the diff/back axle on twin wheel models; it should be dry and no whining
-there's a unit that goes all the way from the slave cylinder on the gearbox to the clutch pedal. When this acts up the clutch pedal will rise higher than it should. It's quite common but an easy and cheap fix if you don't mind rolling up your sleeves. You just buy the unit whole and stick it in
-I have heard of the fuel pump giving issue but it never happened to me. In fairness, most of the vans affected had been given serious abuse and rarely serviced.

Parts wise, I only ever needed 1 turbo and this was actually cheapest from Iveco. I think, and we're talking nearly 10 years ago, that it was around €300+vat inc a discount. I remember being shocked because Iveco had been my last port of call as I thought it would be mad money. It was actually cheaper than I was being quoted for reconditioned units.

There's 3 engine sizes,weights, turbos, axle configuration and wheelbases in this range.
Based on my experience of them, if I was building a camper I'd go for the 3.5ton long wheel base, single wheel axle 2.3 HPI engine.

Beenlost123

Moomat wrote: »

No, you shouldn't have any problems. If anything they are quite mechanically and electrical basic compared to other vans of that era. I had a good few of them in a transport business doing massive miles and rarely encountered problems. Some common things to watch are:
-the diff/back axle on twin wheel models; it should be dry and no whining
-there's a unit that goes all the way from the slave cylinder on the gearbox to the clutch pedal. When this acts up the clutch pedal will rise higher than it should. It's quite common but an easy and cheap fix if you don't mind rolling up your sleeves. You just buy the unit whole and stick it in
-I have heard of the fuel pump giving issue but it never happened to me. In fairness, most of the vans affected had been given serious abuse and rarely serviced.

Parts wise, I only ever needed 1 turbo and this was actually cheapest from Iveco. I think, and we're talking nearly 10 years ago, that it was around €300+vat inc a discount. I remember being shocked because Iveco had been my last port of call as I thought it would be mad money. It was actually cheaper than I was being quoted for reconditioned units.

There's 3 engine sizes,weights, turbos, axle configuration and wheelbases in this range.
Based on my experience of them, if I was building a camper I'd go for the 3.5ton long wheel base, single wheel axle 2.3 HPI engine.

Your amazing. Thank you ever so much for your experience. I am only 28 and I do not have much experience with commercials coming from a software background so I appreciate the experience from you!! Ive printed out what you said and will keep it in mind.

Moomat

Beenlost123 wrote: »

Your amazing. Thank you ever so much for your experience. I am only 28 and I do not have much experience with commercials coming from a software background so I appreciate the experience from you!! Ive printed out what you said and will keep it in mind.

No bother, you're welcome!

Don't worry, you'll have loads of experience by the time your conversion is done. Home conversions are never ending stories