New Converter Questions

chris435

Hi All,

Myself and my partner have recently bought a van to do up as a camper. We are just looking to get some facts straight as there is a lot of information out there and some of it contradictory. So I was wondering does anyone have the answers or help to add to the below :

Is there a specific design that insurance companies need for self builds? I have been looking and they all seem to want different things but we were informed that our passenger double chair will need to be changed to a single swivel chair?

Also do you need to have anything specific for the CVR test?

Sorry if there were covered before but any help would be appreciated. Insurance and paperwork conversion is a minefield of information.

Front to back access is a prerequisit for many insurance companies and this is where you double chair is an issue. A single seat swivel solves this.

Many if not all insuranc e companies want you to have standing height in the back which is 1.8M by standard definition.

Most will want an engineers report to say the van meets the legal minimum standard so you will need to get this, if you install gas then your certifying engineer will want to see a gas installer certificate to prove that the install is safe and legally compliant. There is a way round this by using an alcohol spirit stove but these are a bit crap and expensive to run.

The Certification requirements are minimal - a bed, a cooker, a sink, a table (can be a camp table), some storage, seating in the back and a window in the back. The Suitably Qualified Person has to certify anything that meets these minimum EU standards.

Other people will strongly disagree with what I have said and claim there is some insurance company which wants none of these things - but they never tell you which one it is. However if you want an easy life and the flexability to move insurance company it would be well to consider these common requirements.

dory

I would agree with Shoog. You're making your life harder if you don't go with those requirements. I know some have kept the double chair in the front, but I don't know who they're insured with. I suspect some are just keeping them as commercial vans but this is expensive and I would not advise it. The best thing to do would be to ring insurers asking for a quote, saying you have what you plan on having and see what they say.

chris435

Thanks both. This is a great help. It can be hard to find good advice.

Any advice on where to buy things in Ireland? Ive found CosyCampers but that seems to be the only place soo far.

All the Irish suppliers are horribly expensive.

Things like electric's, lights, switches, cupboard gas struts and handles can be got for very reasonable prices direct from China using Aliexpress.I find that delivery can be as quick as two weeks and usually less than a month.

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118707063#Comment_118707063

I’ve priced a van load of stuff with Happiturf conversions in Limerick and they came in very reasonable on a lot of items and around the same as Cosy on other stuff. It’s certainly more expensive than it was 3 years ago.

Would echo Shoogs advice on ordering small items from China.

chris435

Thank you very much again.

Ill get a good look at things this evening.

If its a VW camper van then experience has shown me that the traditional Westphalia California layout is the most space efficient design for a conversion. Also a High-top roof is about half the price of a lift-top roof and there is a supplier of High Tops in Mallow.

chris435

Thanks Shoog. Its actually an old VW LT28 so the medium wheelbase and high roof. Should be plenty of space for us.

I know we have a hard road ahead but looking forward to it.

At the moment its just trying to get concrete info before we start to design and then trying to buy from places that aren't crazy prices. Yours and Colm-mcm advice has been helpful so far.

Thanks again

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118721032#Comment_118721032

Lovely, I hope it works out well.

mikelan

Best of luck with the conversion. I did one last year during lockdown. The conversion was the easiest and quickest part of it..

If you've a high roof then you'll have plenty options with insurance, I had a low roof which reduced mine. Getting the vrt and a sqi engineer report submitted took ages. The summer was gone by the time I was sorted with all that side of things and I made the submission in early June. You'll need to get the van weighed as well when you're done, I used a local factory but a quarry or even a recycling centre might oblige as well, just drive up and ask if they'd print off the weight from the weigh bridge. Cheap items from China are the way to go for bits and bobs. I've found Brexit a problem though for the finishing touches as some of the best camper shops are in the UK and they don't ship here anymore.

IBrows89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118693453#Comment_118693453

I agree with the Eng certs and the standing room but we recently converted a van with the bench seat in front and are currently insured with Richardsons. We did get turned down by Dolmen due to it but we were in discussions about them allowing it and sending a quote (never got to the quote stage though), so although you can get insured not having easy access to the front will limit you on the insurance companies so if it's an option/choice you should go with just two seats. I love the bench seats in the front and prefer that there's some separation, we have the high roof long wheel base so don't need the driving area space for anything apart from driving.

In terms of parts we went with cosy camper and amazon (Brexit did kill a lot of options though) for most of it. I had reached out to some camper build companies to do some of the work but none have any room, most are going with full builds so don't have the space to do odds and ends (Galway/Clare area) on other vans.

One piece of advice, make sure you have the right tools for it. When I started I just used what I had lying around and it was a nightmare and takes so much time to get things right and usually broke everything the first time😅, live and learn!