Already have a t5 camper but our family is growing and probably need to get a proper seat to house the extra baby, the basic rock and roll was fine for oldest as he rode up front in the 3 front seats. It’s mileage is also creeping up along with its 2008 age and it could probably do with a respray soon.
We obviously know how we use our current van, we use the hob but have never used the fridge (it was broken when we bought it and realised it was too small and akward to be useful so stuck with a basic large fabric coolbag - this is much more effective for storage as you put things in and out from the top), and we’ve never used the sink because who in there right mind would wash up inside a tiny van, always taken out with a wash up bowl and kettle of water. We do a lot of wild camping with this basic set up, up to 10 days on the go and are happy to go without power, as no heater or solar panels as what’s the point if the fridge is too small to be useful, not even sure the leisure battery holds a charge but never needed it really.
Problem is husband is 6’6”, and we are thinking maybe 6 seater day van with full width bed rib bed is a better option given how we use it, just buy a stove for the table. We have never used the pop top for sleeping as it’s too much like camping and noisy/light. So the full width bed would allow 3 fortunately very skinny people on the bed and a front bunk for the youngest.
Does this sound like a crazy idea to convert ideally a LWB T6 to a 6 seater with blinds and pop top, insulation and flooring, maybe some lighter points for charger in back. We had been looking for maybe fridge and stove cupboard unit without sink that could go in the front and I guess opt for a drawer fridge but it seems they all have the pointless sink, if I ever wanted to drain something I always just poured it out through the sliding window.
As husband is so tall we have always needed the pop top when not sleeping and then we close it up for our quiet night, you obviously can’t sit up and eat without a pop top at that height.
What would be the best base vehicle spec to do this with and is it wasting money?! Air con is a requirement, we could be flexible with SWB/LWB, and in an ideal world we’d have a rear tailgate. They’re just so expensive to purchase that I don’t want to feel like we are literally wasting money, but overall we feel like a VW van is a really great multi purpose everything vehicle (for a few years it was our only vehicle) and we don’t want to lose the flexibility of not having one. The 4k to change to a rib bed on our existing battered aging thing does not sound sensible given for the right people it’s a perfectly great conversion and was done professionally albeit a number of years ago now when people worried less about child safety haha.
We obviously do love the appeal of a battered van, I mean it’s not dented or anything but it’s so great not to worry about the odd scratch and when you are wild camping in Scotland vehicles squeeze into tight spots.
We obviously know how we use our current van, we use the hob but have never used the fridge (it was broken when we bought it and realised it was too small and akward to be useful so stuck with a basic large fabric coolbag - this is much more effective for storage as you put things in and out from the top), and we’ve never used the sink because who in there right mind would wash up inside a tiny van, always taken out with a wash up bowl and kettle of water. We do a lot of wild camping with this basic set up, up to 10 days on the go and are happy to go without power, as no heater or solar panels as what’s the point if the fridge is too small to be useful, not even sure the leisure battery holds a charge but never needed it really.
Problem is husband is 6’6”, and we are thinking maybe 6 seater day van with full width bed rib bed is a better option given how we use it, just buy a stove for the table. We have never used the pop top for sleeping as it’s too much like camping and noisy/light. So the full width bed would allow 3 fortunately very skinny people on the bed and a front bunk for the youngest.
Does this sound like a crazy idea to convert ideally a LWB T6 to a 6 seater with blinds and pop top, insulation and flooring, maybe some lighter points for charger in back. We had been looking for maybe fridge and stove cupboard unit without sink that could go in the front and I guess opt for a drawer fridge but it seems they all have the pointless sink, if I ever wanted to drain something I always just poured it out through the sliding window.
As husband is so tall we have always needed the pop top when not sleeping and then we close it up for our quiet night, you obviously can’t sit up and eat without a pop top at that height.
What would be the best base vehicle spec to do this with and is it wasting money?! Air con is a requirement, we could be flexible with SWB/LWB, and in an ideal world we’d have a rear tailgate. They’re just so expensive to purchase that I don’t want to feel like we are literally wasting money, but overall we feel like a VW van is a really great multi purpose everything vehicle (for a few years it was our only vehicle) and we don’t want to lose the flexibility of not having one. The 4k to change to a rib bed on our existing battered aging thing does not sound sensible given for the right people it’s a perfectly great conversion and was done professionally albeit a number of years ago now when people worried less about child safety haha.
We obviously do love the appeal of a battered van, I mean it’s not dented or anything but it’s so great not to worry about the odd scratch and when you are wild camping in Scotland vehicles squeeze into tight spots.
