Converting My Van - Questions And To Kitchen Or Not

[DubiousEngineering]

A lot of people say that cooking in the van is smelly and makes mess... I have a camping stove that i hope will fit into a custom kitchen unit soon... We can use this to make tea, then take it outside for big meals... i love the idea of the sliding seats, but alas i have a SWB with fixed RIB... We have yet to do a trip away with it... cant wait, and good luck with your build!!

 

[Dieseldonkey]

One advantage of a Shuttle is that they're twin sliders so you have the ability to open the offside door to let any smells out. To be honest, I've cooked several times now in the van and never noticed an lingering smells afterwards.

I use a side kitchen and diesel hob but a hot plate near a gas ring and a wee wood burning stove fan acts as an extractor. Generates electricity from heat alone. Near silent and very effective when you point it out the door.

 

[Stantman]

We are going through the same queries at the moment. We are 6'4" and 6' so decided a lwb combi was the way to go and s full width bed essential. Mrs was adamant a kitchen was required but we decided to try a make shift solution to see what works best before we commit. To this end I have built a deck that extends in the back to give a king size bed (IKEA full size memory foam mattress cut in half and double stacked during the day). We remove the rear seats when we go away (not an option with kids I know) the deck slides under itself to finish behind the combi seats when not in use (the seats can be refitted 5min job). We have front seat swivels, sound and thermal insulation leisure battery and mains hookil fitted. Having been away only once we have used a camping trangia on a heat mat on a table to brew up. The table is fixed to the b pillar so can be against the open window of the sliding door for the early morning brew, this worked really well and Mrs no longer interested in the kitchen pod as the dog fits between the bed and the drivers seat easily (he is an English pointer) and there is loads of room under the deck for crap. Eventually we will look at a full width r&r bed. The kitchen sinks are to small to use and on most camp sites everyone even the huge campers use a washing up bowl and use campsite wssjing up area. No toilet required as there is no privacy. And as said without a pop top there is no chance of cooking inside unless you kneel down

 

[Insert Coin]

Coleman Event Shelter, add 2 or 3 sides to it and there's your kitchen, no smelly cooking stuff in the van and somewhere to sleep if the wife can't put up with your snoring.

 

[col661]

I like the idea of getting the rear of my van under a Coleman event shelter. Anyone know if you can back up under it?

 

[Dellmassive]

They do 3 sizes.....

10,12,14ft I think...

The arch heights are slightly different.

 

[Insert Coin]

I like the idea of getting the rear of my van under a Coleman event shelter. Anyone know if you can back up under it?

I don't think you can, I've got the biggest version, I seem to remember it's around 1.9m in the arches and another 20 or 30 cm or so in the very middle.

 

[col661]

Bit of Googling and they do an XL.. 15ft x 15ft -

• 228cm headroom (centre), 190cm (sides) Might work! Time to get tape measure out. Be interested to see pics of anyone who actually uses this sort of setup.

 

[Littleblackflash]

I have taken inspiration from the Beach for my SWB panel van conversion: I have low level storage down the side, which also contains a fridge and inverter, and a California 2 seat bed alongside, that will give a full width bed by using the top of the storage. As I’m still waiting for the seat to be trimmed, I haven’t actually taken delivery yet (so a single mattress on the floor suffices for now), but I’m sure hoping its big enough for my 6 foot 1” frame.
View attachment 43390

That looks good. I need something like this so I can still transport my motorbikes about.
Can you post some more photos with the boxes open?