Our New Campervan... Only 600 days to go (hopefully).

[Stewby]

Hello.

Have been on the forum for a while, mainly just reading everything I can get my hands on about the new T6.

We currently have a Mazda Bongo (turned 20 this year) and feel it is time for a bit of a modernisation. Billy the the Bongo has served us well and despite his small size, we have lived quite comfortably.

So we have started looking around and settled on a VW Transporter. Originally started looking at T5 but then decided to go for a newish T6 (base van).
Went through a lot of different converters and have now settled on AJC.

Every day our list gets longer. It started with sensible things like a solar panel (we do a lot of wild camping and also do a music festival every year) and a raising roof. Now it has started to grow...

Currently looking at custom seats by the Dubfather (darn facebook page); a personalised number plate; mulit-coloured LED lights (for fun); little mats for inside the VW (thanks in advance rugs for bugs); flyscreens (as we live in Scotland and do a lot of travelling on the West Coast); new alloys; deflectors by dubflecta; a new pioneer stereo system with speakers in the doors; replacement door cards and lower dash (in the dark grey)... The list goes on and on.
Have already bought a wee leather binder (personalised for our VW) and am currently making card inserts for all the places we shall travel (Western Europe mainly).

If you guys could kindly stop picking out all these awesome things that we should get for our VeeDub, we might eventually be able to have saved enough for him. At this rate, we will still be saving in 2040!!

 

[Roadrunner]

Us I think you have been picking the tings we have and utting them on your list. SOunds like it will be a nice van get some pics upi when you get it and welcome along

 

[Pauly]

This is how it goes, better get used to it

 

[Stewby]

I'm not taking the blame for this roadrunner. I has no idea there were dark grey door cards out there or that we could get a stereo upgrade with speakers in them (found it on here cause of absolut5). Also had no idea that I would "need" the little mats for inside the door cards to make it look all pretty (thanks to rugs for bugs).

If the eyes on the sock monkeys didn't scare me so much, I would probably decide that I "need" one of those too.


By the way.... curious question. Where did they come up with the idea for grape yellow?? I have never seen a yellow grape. I am very jealous of your VW though. If we had the money, we would very much be going for a california.

Thanks pauly. I know people called it a money pit but I didn't think they would mean that we needed so many "essentials".

 

[Pauly]

And essential is exactly what they are lol

 

[Stewby]

So.... which order should I put these essentials in.

My first thought was to get the conversion done then start working on everything else.... however, if I can get my convertor to put in the dark grey door cards, should I get the new speakers put in first??
Or buy them and ask the convertor to install them whilst he is doing everything else??


We were in Halfords today and I am almost bought a Pioneer stereo system for the Bongo. Sadly, my partner managed to stop me. I did try to argue that it could be changed over into our veedub but it didn't work.
Did get a new kettle though.

 

[Wills]

Has anyone here used the Dubfather car trimmers in Dudley or can recommend trimmers in the N Wales / N West /
Midlands areas please?

 

[Stewby]

So... We are getting closer. We should have finished saving up by the end of the year. Plan is to buy either very late 2019 or very early 2020 then get it converted ready for a trip to Orkney in April (our second anniversary).

We went to the Scottish Caravan Show in Glasgow at the weekend and I was very almost convinced to try a different converter. There were some beautiful vans by Hillside Leisure and also a company called Jobl Design. We had a look at Rockin' Vans but my dad didn't like the quality as much.
However, they are a good £10k more than we were planning on spending so we have now upped our budget to £40k (which is why it is taking us longer to save up than originally planned).

We have discussed our conversion and have decided that we are planning on keeping our veedub for as long as possible (we have had our bongo in the family for about 15 years), so we should spend the money to make our dream conversion.
So.... we are now having a eberspacher D2 diesel heater; reversing camera; 150w solar panel; window pods (hopefully they will make ones with built-in flyscreens); a reimo roof; front and rear dashcams; seats in a lovely GTI (blue) fabric; caravelle doorcards and lots of other wee goodies (including colour-changing lights).
Every time I read the forum, I find something else to add on which cannot be good... however, I am very excited about all the planning stages and stuff. I am just getting a bit impatient and would like the van now.

 

[Fish]

Sounds great @Stewby look forward to your pics and continued excitement.

 

[Stewby]

Beginning to think that with wanting to get a comfort style dash and the dark grey door cards and plastics for the cab then we might be better off looking at a caravelle.

If we ended up with a T5, would the forum allow me to stay or we would we be chucked out on to the other forum.... Can't really use a forum as a reason for getting a T6, can I??

 

[Stewby]

So.... not long to go until we get our veedub (either late this year or early next) which means the planning has gone into full swing.

Currently going for AJC conversions. Have been to see them and they looked to do good work. They seem very friendly and communicative in emails so that is very promising. We went to the Glasgow Caravan Show and the Hillside Birchover was stunning but also £7k over our price range and we are already punching above our weight (aiming for a £40k van in total which is half our mortgage so it is a lot of money to us).

I know what we are wanting van-wise. Plan is for an indium grey T30 or T32. DSG, probably 150bhp. Short wheel base. If I can find a reasonable priced caravelle then we would go for that as I prefer the interior colours more.
My husband would like cruise control and I would like a heated windscreen.

Have been noseying around online and have found a nice company (swellshades) that do blinds for veedubs which have flyscreens built in. They look lovely (my husband was worried about them letting in light but they don't appear to) and they have wide range of colours (though I think we are going for black).
Again, I have been in touch by both facebook and email and they have been really responsive and friendly.

I am always quite worried about contacting people because we don't have the van yet but most of the companies I have contacted, have been great.
Lots of planning still to go but it is great fun creating our van. I only wish I had more patience as I really want it now.

 

[Grainfoot]

So... We are getting closer. We should have finished saving up by the end of the year. Plan is to buy either very late 2019 or very early 2020 then get it converted ready for a trip to Orkney in April (our second anniversary).

We went to the Scottish Caravan Show in Glasgow at the weekend and I was very almost convinced to try a different converter. There were some beautiful vans by Hillside Leisure and also a company called Jobl Design. We had a look at Rockin' Vans but my dad didn't like the quality as much.
However, they are a good £10k more than we were planning on spending so we have now upped our budget to £40k (which is why it is taking us longer to save up than originally planned).

We have discussed our conversion and have decided that we are planning on keeping our veedub for as long as possible (we have had our bongo in the family for about 15 years), so we should spend the money to make our dream conversion.
So.... we are now having a eberspacher D2 diesel heater; reversing camera; 150w solar panel; window pods (hopefully they will make ones with built-in flyscreens); a reimo roof; front and rear dashcams; seats in a lovely GTI (blue) fabric; caravelle doorcards and lots of other wee goodies (including colour-changing lights).
Every time I read the forum, I find something else to add on which cannot be good... however, I am very excited about all the planning stages and stuff. I am just getting a bit impatient and would like the van now.

We also had a bongo for 11 year(brilliant vehicle). We also initially looked at getting a van and having a conversion done. Looked at prices and then bought a new converted t6 Birchover from hillside, that was just over a year ago.
We went for manual 150 swb and so far we are extremely happy with it. It has everything we wanted, we had as extra solar panel on roof, fiamma awning and bike rack. Some of the things I thought we may not use like the hot water tank and activity shower are actually very good and get a lot of use. The diesel heater is one of the best luxuries we didn’t have on bongo, that is brilliant.

 

[Stewby]

We love our bongo but he is 23 years old now and beginning to show his age (very very very very very little bubbling at the arches) so we are planning on swapping out for a veedub.
How did you find the change from an auto to a manual??

We are definitely going for a diesel heater as we are hoping to camp all year round (our bongo stays on our driveway over winter). We go a bit crazy over winter as we can't go away for weekends, we really miss it.

 

[Grainfoot]

Auto in bongo was very nice to drive. Price was a big thing for our choice this time but the 6 speed gearbox on the 150 is very good. Like you said earlier it's a massive spending for a vehicle but us like yourselves will be keeping fir a very long time.
The only regret I have with this vehicle is not getting one with the better brighter led headlights, our H4 ones are rubbish. Everything else is just about perfect for us.
Don't know if your bongo was 4wd but we do miss that a bit too.

 

[Stewby]

Nah, no 4WD for our bongo. We are quite used to our bongo candles so anything better than that would be an improvement.
OH would like 4motion but I am not convinced. Without jinx-ing ourselves but we have never gotten stuck in anywhere with our 2WD bongo so I don't see why we need 4 wheel drive.

Price is a very scary factor for us but we have been saving hard and, like yourself, plan on keeping it for a lot of years.
Our bongo has given us so many years of great memories and I will miss him tons. If bongos were still being built then I totally have another one (probably the wrong thing to say on a veedub forum but oh well).

 

[Stewby]

So.... update time!!

Not much to update except my dad has finally won me round to a different company. I emailed all 3 companies that I was interested in to see their reactions to different requests (additional costs to putting on solar panels, dashcams, etc) and D+R camper conversions appear to be the best in relation to what we are looking for (and they can source a van for us). They are closer to us as well which is pretty good. One of the main bonuses is that they are the only company who have said that the roof bed can sleep two adults providing it is thicker, everyone else has said only kids or one adult.


So... questions... have people had any dealings with the following: Austops roofs; D+R campers in Elgin; Evomotion Design?? I am going to have a search but thought I would ask at the same time.

 

[Stewby]

So... brand new update and great huge excitement.

We may have our very own VW T5 (sorry). It is everything we want: SWB, Euro 5, DSG; cruise control, grey, low mileage. Just perfect.
I am hoping that you will still let me hang out on this forum as I really like it and it is a 15 plate so not that far off the T6 range.


The only downside on the van is that it is barn doors but people seem to be converting them to tailgates so we will maybe do that if we can get used to the barn door style.
I am so excited for words, it is unbelievable. We have been saving for ages and now we are going to have our very own Harvey the RV. So awesome!!


Next up.... conversion!!

 

[Stewby]

So.... someone else bought the van before we had a chance. Apparently it was very much in demand when I emailed the company.


Anyways, we have had a long chat and the plan is to now get D+R Camper Conversions to source us a van and convert it for us. We are going to see them on Saturday.


We are currently trying to figure out what we want in our dream van so looking for help as the bongo came ready made. So far we have:
VW transporter.
Euro 5 engine, no ad-blue (my dad prefers this engine).
DSG gearbox.
Tailgate.
Cruise Control.
Heated Windscreen.
Short Wheelbase.
Highline model.

D+R also have a paint shop so they can respray the van so we are not too worried about colour.
My first question is: anything vital we have missed??
Second question is: Do you see how people have been replacing their door cards and lower dash for the darker colours, would that be something a resprayer can do with our actual bits and pieces?? (I have very little knowledge in these things).

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Stewby]

Well, we are on the road to VW ownership!!


We (my dad and I as my husband was working) went up north to D+R Camper Conversions. Our maximum budget is £35k which is a bit low for a van and conversion but they seemed really quite positive.

The aim is for a VW T6 plus conversion. They use Evo Design units so we have picked the one that we are hoping they will be able to fit. They showed us one that they are currently converting which looked really good.
Everything I was hoping for seems achievable (hopefully). The only downside is that I have seen even more things that I would like but they are just too far out of our price range just now (gorgeous GTE tartan and leather seats).
Just have to wait for them to email me with a price. Fingers crossed.

 

[Stewby]

NEWS FLASH!!

We are hopefully putting a deposit down on our dream van tomorrow.

We will still need a conversion and we have overspent on our base van so will need to save more in order to get our dream conversion but oh my god. It's awesome.

We have everything we wanted... It is indium grey; DSG; 140bhp; Tailgate; Highline spec; Air Con; Heated windscreen; SAT NAV; cruise control; reversing sensors... it is just perfect.


However, it is a T5 so I am maybe the black sheep of the forum.