4 Berth Camper Conversion - Best Van

We had a Ducato Maxi before the Transit and it was wider but lower roof height. I move items that are 1,315mm wide so need the wheel arch space.

This is a sheet that I keep in the van as a ready reckoner for what we can get in. I will check the dims behind the wood panels as that's where I would place the bed so that it utilises the skin of the van with some insulation and carpeting to get max size available. As I said other option is fiberglass pods and they are common in the US. They are regularly used on Sprinters to get the width.

The weight here is with ply lining, tow bar and maybe half a tank of fuel. A Ducato etc might give you an extra 100kg. Looking at vans on Donedeal and some of the very long ones I think they are very borderline on being legally usable loaded with family and gear.

I reckon a built out van needs at least 500kg capacity when full with fuel and water. Also many of the smaller vans like Transit custom, Traffic, Transporter etc can be plated as low as 2,900kg so anyone building using one of them as a base should make sure they buy the one with the max plated capacity.

Can't comment on the specifics of your measurements but I think it would be worth searching for any commercially manufactured conversions of that version of the Transit - e.g. Globecar - and see if they were offering it with transverse beds.

There are a number of suggestions available online as to how to maximise the width including avoiding windows at that height (as the frame protrudes a little into the van) or even using GRP "pods" to bulge the walls out

I would be very slow to skimp on the insulation in that area to maximise the width. Some make very bold claims as to the effectiveness of very thin insulation materials - a miserable winter weekend isn't the time to find out those claims were absolute BS.

The US seem to covert a lot of Transits and those side pods are quite common. Swift has just lauched teh Trekker in the UK in a 5.6m and 6.0m or somthing - basically the medium and long wheelbase. I'd like to see one in the flesh and I think they are an interesting build for a couple.

The pods are pretty common, particularly in Sprinter conversions. There's a couple that have a whole youtube series (self built stories) converting a transit, and they had a slide out extension (for him) on the bed to get the extra length iirc.

I'm really on the fence on a traverse bed - I really can't see it working on a small/ 4ft double for us anyway. Albeit I always seem to have the same room no matter what bed we're in!

yes panel to panel not much difference .. the promaster/boxer/relay just edge it I think again

This guys does commercial conversions and might give @memaul some ideas on the pro's and cons of each form factor

Definitely the most off the shelf stuff for Boxer/ Ducato/ Relay from my own research.

Even down to small bits and pieces on Ali!