converting my Citroen Dispatch van into a campervan

Summary for those with a short attention span

2012-10-07T07:56:00.001-07:00

As promised, here's a visual recap with short sentences for those who can't be ar*ed to read the whole blog :)

had a Renault Trafic campervan, loved it but it was too big for daily use

took it to Glastonbury (twice)

didn't want one of these coz it's cheating! a house on wheels lol

would have LOVED one of these, but they're so damned expensive!

settled on this Citroen Dispatch from eBay

it was ply lined and had filled in back doors

bought replacement doors on eBay

got a load of free foam/cushions from the nice people at the doors place

got the dog to help with the carpentry. NOT. he is cute though eh?

built ply storage units/seats both sides

the wood bits in the middle lift out and store by the doors when not in use

also installed a black Ikea kitchen cabinet for storage and a sink on the top

had vinyl floor installed

painted units black

lined interior with carpet

painted/carpeted tops of units/bits of wood

covered foam cushions with velour

bed when made up

view from side when bed made up

view from side with table put in

the porta potti stores nicely behind the table

view from the back - finished!

Hope you've enjoyed the summary - by the way it's the first time I've ever done a van conversion, and I made up a lot of it as I went along, so if you want to pick my brains, I'm happy to answer any questions you have...

TTFN

Naomi

xxx

'Tis finished!!!

2012-10-07T07:33:00.004-07:00

It's been two months since I updated this blog - my bad. The van is now finished, and in fact has been for about, well, 2 months! We've even managed a couple of trips to the New Forest in it, which was great fun - there's nothing like rocking up to a campsite, knowing that once you're parked up, that's it, you're sorted. The only things you have pack are the food, drink and dogs :)

Suffice to say I LOVE my little van, and exactly as planned, I'm also using it everyday as my main vehicle. I can even reverse park it straight (on a good day). It's also dead handy for shopping, and for my car boot sale adventures (buying and selling).

Last time I updated this blog, the units were finished and the flooring had been put in. To finish the van, I did the following:

carpet-lined the interior - this wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be
covered the tops of the storage units/seating with carpet
covered my foam cushions with gorgeous grey leopard print velour
put up some lights (LED battery powered ones that stick to the walls with velcro)

In summary, and for those of you new to this blog, the van has running water, seats/table with loads of storage which convert into a lovely comfy bed (big enough for two adults and three dogs to sleep comfortably), and space to store a porta potti too. No leisure battery, no complicated electrics, no built in cooker. The more complicated something is, the more likely it is to break or go wrong I find...

So without further ado, here she is in all her glory:

above and below is the fold down flap that creates one end of the bed....

Just a final word about the nitty gritty - how much did it cost. Because I know you're all dead nosy! I am too if it's any consolation! Firstly here's a quick recap on the 'ingredients' for my conversion (in no particular order):

12mm/18mm plywood
some lengths of timber
kitchen unit from Ikea
vinyl flooring
hand pump tap
stainless steel dog bowl 'sink'
fablon to cover table
table leg and bracket
foam for cushions
fabric to cover foam
satin paint
carpet for lining & spray glue
porta potti
LED lights & batteries
lots of love and care from yours truly

As for cost, including all of the above (plus the cost of 1.5 days labour, excluding the porta potti, which was a present from my dad!), I'm pleased that I managed the whole conversion for around £600 (give or take the odd tenner).

So that's it! The van is finished, the blog is finished probably for this year (we're already planning to take her to Bestival next year though, so don't be surprised to see the odd update now and then).

Lastly, if you're reading this for the first time, please take a minute/hour/day to read the other posts from the beginning - it makes more sense, and is more entertaining (even if I say so myself) and informative to read it from the start.

For those of you who can't be ar*ed reading the whole blog, I'll be adding another post shortly, which will be a quick-fire recap/how-to with photos from start to finish...

Hasta la vista mis campervanconverting amigos

xxxx

Foam (and paint) Party

2012-08-08T04:36:00.000-07:00

LONG TIME NO SEE

Seems like ages since I've done a post here - in fact it is almost two weeks. I haven't been a lazy bum and done nothing to the van, but I've definitely been a lazy bum when it comes to updating the blog!

Anyway exciting news - the van is very nearly completed (yayyyy), but I still have a heap of pictures to take of it in its current state.

SORRY

Before I update you on the progress, I should first apologise for the ridiculous non-Summer weather we've been having. It must be my fault, because since I bought the van and decided to spend the rest of the summer camping at weekends, it feels like it's done nothing but rain here in the usually sunny Southampton.

Still, the forecast looks better for the next few days, so hopefully we can christen the van soon! I still need a name for him/her, but I don't have any ideas at the moment - perhaps if any of you do, then you could let me know...

THERE WERE THREE IN THE BED AND THE LITTLE ONE SAID...

I just realised I haven't properly shown yet how the bed works, so here it is. Here's the table before being fixed to the floor:

The left hand unit as you see it above has a flap out bit that extends and rests on the wood that's behind the front seats. The back middle is the table that will come off its leg and sit between the two units, resting on battens attached to the units. There's one last piece of wood that makes up the far middle, this has been cut to fit around the kitchen unit (and will be stored at the back of the van when not in use).

The bed is practically king size at the back of the van (the head end), and almost double at the feet end. We've got to fit 3 dogs in too, so it will definitely be cosy to say the least! Oh and you can still use the sink/water at night...

FOAM PARTY

Here's the foam pieces once I had decided exactly how the jigsaw puzzle would fit together - basically two rectangular seats, two backs, and a few extra bits to fill the gaps. Bearing in mind that I got all the foam free, it's worked out nicely thank you. Not exactly a party I know, but I liked the title!

I'll show you my gorgeous covered cushions in a forthcoming post.

Oh and here's the sink* with hand pump tap fitted:

*sinks are SO expensive (tiny boat/caravanny ones are pricier than full sized kitchen ones?!), so since we knew that we were hardly going to use it, we decided to go for the cheapest thing we could think of - I have to thank hubby for this idea (okay so there's no waste outlet or pipe, but we don't need it) - it's a stainless steel dog bowl and it cost £3!!!

PAINTING MY WAGON

Lastly as you can probably see from the previous pictures, I filled all of the screw holes with filler, sanded them down, then painted the ply black. It took 2 good coats plus a few touch ups and I used satin paint which has given a lovely finish. It's also wipe clean, which will come in handy when we've been for muddy walks with the hounds...

In the next post, I'll show you the carpeting of the inside of the van - and what a transformation it's made.

Until then, my smallmotorhomingcampervanning friends

N
x

The flooring is in!

2012-07-27T08:54:00.003-07:00

I love it when a plan comes together! I organised for my nephew Tony (http://www.tonybakerflooring.co.uk) to visit in order to measure up the van for flooring (I told him it was a 'little job' and in he came, armed with carpet samples - only to be told it wasn't carpet and wasn't for in the house).

Anyway I led him to the van, told him what I wanted, and guess what, he already had some vinyl in the van, in exactly the colour/style that I would have chosen anyway. Love it!

20 minutes later and voilà - I have a great quality, hardwearing, thick vinyl floor glued down, with sealant around the edges, and a lovely silver trim at the back (he's nothing if not a perfectionist).

Here are the pics!

Having also had a visit today from bro-in-law, I am now the proud owner of a table in the middle of the units (I just need to buy another table leg connector as they only had one in stock), and another piece of ply cut to fit the end of the bed (where my feet will go - I have already decided hubby will sleep on the left).

Talking of hubby, it's about time I introduced him - his name is Steve, and here he is driving the van with his 'I'm concentrating' face on:

Many more pics to come of us both, as I intend to blog not only the conversion but also our future camping adventures!

Anyway back to the van - my tap is in and working too! I'm storing the water container under one of the units, which gives me use of the Ikea cupboard/unit purely for kitchen stuff, and also means that I can access the water container from outside the van, once the side door is open. More pics to follow of this set-up.

Like I said, I love it when a plan comes together...

Almost forgot, I also ordered my stretch carpet from eBay today, and it'll be arriving next Tuesday, so I'll have a fun time installing it (that's going to be the biggest challenge methinks). The people I bought it from were very helpful, and instead of the listed 5m length, I managed to get just what I needed from them (4m length plus glue) for a great price (they have a shop here selling all sorts of foam supplies). Colour-wise I went for silver, as the front of the van is already lined in that (or near to that) colour.

Today's 'still to do' list:

paint the ply units now that the furniture part is all finished - I think I'll keep everything sleek in black
line the walls (once the carpet arrives)
buy the fabric to cover my foam cushions
buy bits and bobs like new stove, portapotti etc (without going too mad)

Til we next meet...

Naomi

P.S.

Off topic, but I can't hold it in any longer - we're going to have a new addition to our family. Not a small person, but even better (in my humble opinion) - another dog! We're adopting him from a friend of ours, his name's Rory, and he's a Shih Tzu, the same breed as Stewie (who supervised installation of the van units and generally follows me everywhere).

Here are a few pics:

The units are in!

2012-07-25T02:08:00.002-07:00

Hi all

Here's an update of the progress so far on the van. New windowed back doors are on, and incidentally the people at the breakers yard also gave me a free rear view mirror, which helps! I can park with more confidence now, and windows let in loads more light.

I've decided on 2 seating units facing each other, with the table in the middle converting into the middle of the bed, and a small unit behind the driver's seat for the sink/cooker. So a couple of sheets of 12mm ply and some 2 by 1 later, we (I say we, but I was just watching of course) started building the units (with Stewie on hand for advice):

The units have their own storage, with lids that have little holes in (there's probably a technical term for those) so that you can lift the top. It's all nice and flush too, and you can sand the edges of ply for a lovely finish (I'm sounding like I know what I'm talking about now).

Here's the kitchen unit, which I proudly built myself (assembled actually, Ikea make it dead simple). It's actually a kitchen wall cabinet, so its depth fits in just nice with the other units. Once installed in the van, we put some ply on top which extends to the door (NB the door still opens, so when we're cooking it's nice and airy).

We've also put some ply behind the front seats; this now has batten on half way up, which the ends of the bed will rest on. I've been rubbish and forgot to take enough pictures, but will take some more soon showing the full effect. The base unit on the left has a hinged fold out section, which makes up half of the bed end, and there'll be a table in the middle on an island leg, and another piece of ply for the remaining part of the bed.

All of this work took just 1 day, and the change is amazing! The van weirdly seems more spacious in the back now, even with more in it.

Still left to do:

install the tap (a hand pump one I bought from Towsure)
line the walls (I've discovered just the ticket on eBay - stretch carpet)
make the cushion covers (I am going for leopard after all, but probably black/grey instead of brown)
get some flooring in (nephew coming after work today to measure up for vinyl)

Doesn't sound like much, but as with all jobs, things always take longer than you think! I'm still on track to have the van 'campable' within the next few days...but I don't want to rush it.

Hopefully I can get the table/bed middle and tap fitting in the next couple of days, and the vinyl soon as poss too, then it's away with the tradesmen and down to me to do the finishing touches.

I can't wait!

For now, au revoir

The doors are on!

2012-07-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Stewie the dog and I had our first adventure adventure last Thursday to go and get the van doors. Here's us in the van ready to head off:

Poor little Stewie has never travelled well (he's more than happy jumping in, but his tummy doesn't like the motion), and he had a small 'incident', in Salisbury, but was fine on the way back, so I think in general he approves of our new van :-)

Anyway, vomiting aside, and 1.5 hours later, we found ourselves at the breakers' yard, ready to collect our doors. It was to be a 'five minute job' to switch the doors over, I was assured on the phone, but it actually took over an hour. So HUGE thanks to Rob and the other lovely chaps at Whitefield Car Parts (they have an eBay shop incidentally, here's a link: Whitefield Car Parts).

While I was waiting for the van doors, curiosity got the better of me and I found myself having a serious mooch round. I'm a massive fan of scavenging/upcycling, whatever you want to call it, so along with two new windowed doors, I came back from the yard with a load of cushions and a sink (at a cost of NOTHING)! Here are the cushions.

I'm quite handy with the sewing machine so this little lot is going to save me a fortune! Just need a nice fabric to cover them with, but I'm still deciding between my fave leopard, or boring wipe-clean vinyl...but I'll let you know later this week what I've decided.

I'll leave you waiting with bated breath on the fabric decision, and sign off for now. The van's taking great shape, and I'm hoping to have in finished in the next week or so, so more updates to come soon

Back soon xxx

Let there be light...

2012-07-17T05:38:00.001-07:00

As I said before, I need windows in my rear doors (in fact that's the least I want - I'd prefer windows all round but that will be much more expensive). I actually wonder why I didn't hang on a bit and buy a van with windows in the first place, but hey we live and learn.

Anyway, windows in the rear doors will give much needed extra light in the van, plus of course I'll be able to park it easier, since I'm SO not used to parking using just my wing mirrors...

So after another lengthy research period (approx 1 day), I had pinged off a few emails/online forms asking for windows quote. Some didn't come back at all (what a surprise), some were very helpful (www.vanbitz.co.uk) in particular, with a fair quote of £120 delivered for 2 rubber mounted windows plus fitting kits.

I was happy to pay this, and last night I successfully cajoled my builder brother-in-law into helping me with the entire project, cutting of window panels included...but more about that later!

Then this morning I had a brainwave - how about buying some doors with the windows already in. Doh!!! A quick look on eBay later, and hey presto, found my doors, a snip at £70 for the pair. And not too far away either, about 60 miles away in Wiltshire.

So on Thursday I'm off to Wiltshire to pick up my lovely new doors, and having had a quick chat with the seller, it might even be possible for him to quickly switch them over for me. Result! I'll sell the original doors on eBay and recoup some of the cost, so with any luck it'll only have cost me about £40 in total.

Here are the little beauties - please note they are the same size as each other in real life ;-)

Talking of bro-in-law, he said I have to draw up a rough plan of how I want the layout, so that's next on my to-do list, hopefully tomorrow.

Oh and lastly I had a text from my brother too (he who works for a builders' merchant), who said he loved my blog (I'd posted it on Facebook) - and to make sure to give him a list of supplies that I need, so that he can get the best price for me (I didn't even have to ask him)...don't you just love family!

He'll hate me for this, but here he is (with his pride and joy Vespa scooter - note the seat and backrest, covered by yours truly):

More later this week - thank you for reading!

Insurance...

2012-07-17T01:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie - been on to various insurers to get my van insured, and it's shocking what van insurance costs, even if you're only using it for social/pleasure purposes!

Anyway decided in the end to contact Adrian Flux who insured our last converted campervan (www.adrianflux.co.uk), and they can insure my van 'as is' for now, then convert the insurance over to campervan insurance once the work is done (NB the van must have storage, a bed, seating, a gas cooker, and running water).

Amazingly, once the van is converted, the insurance drops from £770 per year to just £270!!!! The money saved will almost pay for the conversion!!!

This gives me an incentive to get the work done ASAP. So I can't hang about here, I've got plans to draw up :)

The Beginning...

2012-07-15T09:45:00.003-07:00

I've been obsessed with campervans for what seems like an age. I can't even remember why or how it started, except that I always felt a pang of envy when I went (tent) camping and saw how the other half lives...and this is long before the word 'glamping' was even thought of...

Now I don't mean those flash luxurious motorhomes - the ones with more square footage than my house, pristine white bodywork, ensuite bedrooms, jacuzzis and helipads ;-)

I mean the cute, small, scruffy (battered in some cases) campers, with their pop-top rooves, dinky curtains, 'bijou' interiors, patches of rust and of course the fun people that reside in them, at least temporarily during the summer...I'm talking Bedford Bambis, Suzukis, and of course the ubiquitous VWs.

OUR FIRST CAMPERVAN

My husband Steve and I took our first steps into the campervan world a few years ago, with a converted 1994 Renault Traffic ex-minibus, non-power steering, 2 berth beauty, bought from eBay, and after a few personal touches (most notably covering all of the interior cushions in leopard print!), we were good to go...

We had a few trips away, including 2 Glastonbury Festivals, Swanage (where, incidentally, we stumbled across a major folk festival!), and various stays in the gorgeous New Forest, and I fell in love with non-tented camping, especially once we'd invested in a porta-potti and toilet tent...

ALL GOOD THINGS...

After many fun times, and about two years later, the cost of running two cars and a campervan was getting too much, and so we put her in storage and shortly after, sold her to a lovely young lady who fell in love with her, and who was planning on having some adventures in the van with her dog Zelda. We've since heard that she's been to Scotland and the South of France (so far), so we know she's still going strong and being taken care of.

Two different cars and a couple of summers later, I realised I was missing the freedom of being able to jump in a campervan on a whim and head off for the weekend, so again I started scouring the internet, looking for another campervan (with no real money to spend!). The one thing I did know was that I wanted a campervan that I could also use as an everyday vehicle, so a big and bulky van would be out of the question.

VWs were out of the question - I'm rubbish at fixing anything and I couldn't afford the heavy garage bills that I knew I would incur if I bought a 'project' vehicle. On my travels I did stumble across this bad boy, but being £43k short of £44k was probably the clincher:

In any case, what's the fun in buying something brand new that's ready to rock? That's just cheating ;-)

So, after just a couple of weeks research, I decided I wanted a smallish van and that I would convert it myself. My budget would be the value of my car plus a few hundred quid...at most!

Apparently there's a new breed of compact vans, which are almost like a car to drive. They're small enough to drive as an everyday vehicle, yet large enough to fit a standard camper side conversion. BINGO!

(text plagiarised from http://www.convertyourvan.co.uk/citroendispatchcamperconversion.html), who supply/fit some cracking conversion kits -which I would jump to buy if I had the readies).

UMMMM, I'VE WON A VAN

Having decided on a compact van, I found a Dispatch on eBay, on a classified ad with best offer - so I put a cheeky offer in, thinking no more of it. The next morning (Saturday 14th), I was checking my email on my phone whilst having my first cup of tea and ciggy, when lo and behold, I received an invoice from eBay, asking me to pay for my purchase of the Citroen Dispatch. Holy moly, the seller only went and accepted my offer, without so much as a by-your-leave!

When hubby got up, I broke the news...."Umm.......you know eBay? Well I've won a van". Much amazement/bemusement/chuckles ensued, and when it sunk in I called the seller there and then, and made arrangements to collect said vehicle. Hubby naturally thinks I'm mad, but all the same he knows that when I put my mind to something, I usually achieve it.

One small stumbling block - I still had a car, and the whole point of a small campervan was to do away with running two vehicles...hmmmm...

So the very same day, I chucked my car on Gumtree, Preloved, and Adtrader, and lo and behold, 1.5 hours later I had a call from a dealer, offering to buy it! So that afternoon (yesterday in fact), the guy came to see it and bought it on the spot. And what's more, I got the same for the car as I paid for the van. Result! So within 24 hours I'd bought a van, collected it, and sold my car. I like to think it's fate, or at least jolly good luck.

THE VAN IN ITS RAW STATE

So here she is, in all her unconverted glory:

She's a 1.9 turbo diesel Citroen Dispatch, with 3 front seats and twin side loading doors. There are only 59k miles on the clock, and she has nice tidy bodywork and is ply lined. Best of all, she has power steering, and happily does 70mph on the motorway (our old van got to about 60 before grumbling).

THE PLAN FOR ME AND MY VAN

In her current state, it would be easy to sling in our airbed and camping stove and head off...but owing to the atrocious summer we're having, I will most likely be able to get a few bits done before christening her properly :-)

The plan is:

install u-shaped units with foam cushions (covered in leopard print of course)
create a dismountable table that converts into the middle of the bed
some sort of unit with stove and sink
space underneath for porta-potti
put windows in rear doors (I'm a girl, I need more vision for parking!)
sort out interior roof to cover metal
have floor covering put in

I have a brother-in-law who's a builder, and although he doesn't know it yet, he's going to have the pleasure of helping me with this conversion! In my naive mind, I figure a load of wood and brackets, and we're practically there...although I know that nothing is ever as simple as it looks.

I have a brother who works for a builders' merchants, and although he doesn't know it yet, he's going to help me source my raw materials...

I also have a nephew who's a carpet fitter, and although he doesn't know it yet either, I'm going to put him in charge of floor/wall coverings.

In light of these revelations, I'd best be getting off, as I have a bit of schmoozing to do to in order to achieve aforementioned plan.

I will be updating this blog with my progress over the next few weeks/months, along with pictures, and if I'm feeling techy enough, videos too. I hope you've enjoyed reading thus far...

Until the next time

Naomi