Fiat Ducato camper build

Water fill gone in.

Bad timing weather wise.

Started work on trimming the rear boxes.


Very fiddly but oddly satisfying too



Still have another compartment on it to finish but at least that’s one side done.
Need to sort the door now.

Sort of test fitting it here. Floor is kinda in now too but not stuck down.

Alkers wrote: »

Which stretch-fit trim did you use? Is it easy to pick up? I'd love to do my van but I'm pretty useless at that kind of stuff

Came from the Uk, it’s not the most popular one - Veltrim, it’s a cheaper one, from a company called Vandalised - which is just what we need for this area.
Found it exactly the same to work with, not as stretchy as Veltrim but not as likely to overstretch at the same time.

Don’t worry about not being good at it, the material is quite forgiving and you get the hang of it very quickly. If it goes wrong you can just peel it off again.

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-DgMYB6L0c

This is same type van, pretty unique

Absolutely. Every van is a product of a wish list. She obviously wanted a cosy home and workspace.

This will be completely different!

The black box on the left is a Truma gas boiler. It heats 10l of water for shower/sink. It can be ran on gas or electricity, or both at the same time to heat up faster.

(Not sure if you can run the gas off the electricity and the electricity off the gas and save 200 pounds per year as per Father Purcel, but sure we might try)



The leisure batteries are in position. These will be charged up by the van alternator when the engine is running, and also by the mains charger (bottom right in the picture) when electric hook up is connected.

The batteries are held in with blocks of teak (there are lugs at the bottom of the battery for this kind of setup) at the moment which is doing the job perfectly well, but we might opt for a more elaborate setup if we think of one.

This is a Heat Source gas air heater, it will blow hot air out 3 different ducts (one in bathroom, one behind seats pointing backwards, and one pointing towards the kitchen)


There will be a false floor build around this, flush with the front cabin floor.

The brown pipe is the air ducting, the big blue pipe is the water fill, and the small blue pipe is a breather pipe for the tank so it’ll fill easier. They’ve to both be connected to the water filler (top right in the picture) yet.

More fun stuff today. Made the frame for the raised floor, which contains the heating unit, ducting etc, and is also the support for the bottom of the wall.

Marking out the raised curved section with an improvised compass stick thing


Cutting out the shape with the router and more improvised bits of timber (don’t do this!)




Finishing off with the track saw



Amazingly it all fitted first time, with no swearing.




Still need to do an access door to the heater, and to face off the curved step.

Did a bit more tidying today, made the hatch in the floor for the heater, but more work on routing cables, and air inlet/outlet and stuff. Floor is permanently fixed down now, wall is done and seat is back in (for now)



Table is in too!

PM Sent

listermint wrote: »

Single or double rear bench seat ?

It’s a narrow enough double but will be used as a single. We haven’t fitted a second belt and aren’t likely to. I think you can still use lap belts so may fit one if they’re allowed and have 4 belts in total.

Because of the positioning of the seat relative to the pillar, and where the bathroom will be, we can’t put a 3 point conventionally. Because the seat wasn’t designed to take 2 3 points attached to the seat itself, we aren’t taking that risk (it’s been done by some)

The trusty templates came out again



This time it was for the unit that will take the fridge and some drawers.






Really starting to feel like an actual camper now.


Next big job is to upholster the ceiling. Stay tuned

There’s a lot nicer stuff being built! Bigger budgets and different ideas. There’s nothing revolutionary here - it just fits what we wanted a van to be.

Fridge in


Except it’s the wrong way round..

Did a bit of trimming last night and today

Jacks hatch in

CharlieCroker wrote: »

Colm, have you a link to any sort of a build plan? Myself And my brother in law were saying we'd love to try something like this and between the 2 of us, would have most of the skillset. Just have no idea where to start

I’d start by discussing what the van would be used for, then whether you need a shower/toilet/hot water.
Next whether you need boot space, how many passengers you’d need to carry and how many beds you need.

At that stage it should be clear whether you need a small van like a Trafic, a big van like a Ducato/Sprinter, or an extra large one with extra long wheelbase, extra high roof etc.

In terms of layout, we looked at what the likes of Westfalia and Swift were offering, we also visited a big motorhome dealer in Wales and saw how the smaller uk manufacturers finished their vans, and took notes on various measurements like how wide you’d need a doorway to be, what height they do worktops at etc.
Next is making the layout fit your various parts. That’s the trickiest bit. Luckily there are lots of good Facebook groups where you can get ideas from. There’s a lot of just drawing out plans and covering your walls and floor in tape and marker.