SWB U shape in real life…

Hi, we have a SWB T6 Kombi converted to camper that gives us a U shaped seating area using the Ply Guys Torridon and Clachan units. We’ll be at the T6F summer if you’d like a sit in ours. We went last year to this camp ( our first with the Forum to look at how folks had fitted out their vans and hoping to see someone with a Ply Guys setup. Sadly there wasn’t anyone, but we had a fantastic weekend all the same sleeping in our pop top and doing the best we could living out of an unconverted van. Seeing what others had done with their vans and why they’d gone their route was really helpful in clearing our thinking about what we wanted in ours. It confirmed our desire for the style of setup we have now. We love it.

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davecdjt said:
Hi, we have a SWB T6 Kombi converted to camper that gives us a U shaped seating area using the Ply Guys Torridon and Clachan units. We’ll be at the T6F summer if you’d like a sit in ours. We went last year to this camp ( our first with the Forum to look at how folks had fitted out their vans and hoping to see someone with a Ply Guys setup. Sadly there wasn’t anyone, but we had a fantastic weekend all the same sleeping in our pop top and doing the best we could living out of an unconverted van. Seeing what others had done with their vans and why they’d gone their route was really helpful in clearing our thinking about what we wanted in ours. It confirmed our desire for the style of setup we have now. We love it.

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That looks great, thank you! We are the same currently sleeping in the pop top with absolute carnage ‘downstairs’ if it’s a rainy one!
 
Check the bed will be long enough in a swb, I know the Van furniture one is 1700mm long.
I’ve got this bed and have extended the rear seat base out to the tailgate, before there was empty space,so now bed is 1800 long.
Depending on your pop-top make, how tall you are and how thick your seating cushions are will make a difference to head clearance with the roof bed board down.
 
Those are good points to consider.
We chose deliberately to go for their regular height seating because we had no intention of using the Van as a camper with the Kombi seats in. My wife and I are 5’10/5’11” and we can sit comfortably in the van with the roof down. We also discussed with the Ply Guys them building a 400mm extension to the Torridon unit so that we could have a full 1800mm bed to sleep on. They designed it and built it and now you can buy it on their store. You can see it in the second photo with the cushion on top next to the kitchen Unit.
 
Hi @davecdjt
Looking at ply guys myself
When you say regular height are you referring to the 406mm height units ?
Do you find it gives you a lot more room rather than using the seats to form some of the bed ?
Thanks
 
Panch said:
Hi @davecdjt
Looking at ply guys myself
When you say regular height are you referring to the 406mm height units ?
Do you find it gives you a lot more room rather than using the seats to form some of the bed ?
Thanks
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Hi @Panch, our units are the ‘standard’ 406mm high. I was just trying to log onto their website to check what height the Kombi compatible units are, couldn’t open the page. Edit. Page opened now and the Kombi height is 480mm, we preferred that height above us rather than below. . We deliberately went for the lower standard height to give us the most headroom when seated. We didn’t want the option to use the back of the Kombi seats when folded. We have lots of room to move in this format as we can walk through the middle between the Torridon and clachan. There is plenty of width for moving and sitting. We have a bi fold roof board on our Skyline aurora pop top so can stand up straight in most of the van. I hope my photos above give some idea of the space. I’ve added a photo showing the interior when I had the one rear seat in. It’s not great but I hope it’ll help you imagine the difference.

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davecdjt said:
Hi @Panch, our units are the ‘standard’ 406mm high. I was just trying to log onto their website to check what height the Kombi compatible units are, couldn’t open the page. Edit. Page opened now and the Kombi height is 480mm, we preferred that height above us rather than below. . We deliberately went for the lower standard height to give us the most headroom when seated. We didn’t want the option to use the back of the Kombi seats when folded. We have lots of room to move in this format as we can walk through the middle between the Torridon and clachan. There is plenty of width for moving and sitting. We have a bi fold roof board on our Skyline aurora pop top so can stand up straight in most of the van. I hope my photos above give some idea of the space. I’ve added a photo showing the interior when I had the one rear seat in. It’s not great but I hope it’ll help you imagine the difference.

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Thanks for the reply @davecdjt , great information
 
@Bee_0022 and @Panch did you ever press the button on ordering a U shape?

I'm a bit late to this thread but we are in Cambs near the A1/A14 and have a ply guys set up very similar to @davecdjt in our SWB ex panel van. If you still need / want to have a look at one you're welcome if you're driving past to have look at ours.
 
TeeCeeJay said:
@Bee_0022 and @Panch did you ever press the button on ordering a U shape?

I'm a bit late to this thread but we are in Cambs near the A1/A14 and have a ply guys set up very similar to @davecdjt in our SWB ex panel van. If you still need / want to have a look at one you're welcome if you're driving past to have look at ours.
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Thank you for the offer :) we managed to see another members set up and loved it!
 
Any excuse to show off pics of our set up!

Definitely a more social set up. We didn't want to be knocking elbows as we tried to eat whilst sitting side by side on a 3/4 RnR. Or have a table in the middle that no-one can actually reach from sitting on the front swivel or the back seat!

Post in thread 'What Have You Done To Your Van Today?' What Have You Done To Your Van Today?
 
I'm looking at building a u-shaped configuration - I'm looking to build it from scratch so that I can completely customise it as I want to be able to take the middle end bit out when camping so that I can walk through the van and exit via the tailgate as I have a tailgate awning and would like to be able to switch the configuration so that I could have the 'U' facing out of the tailgate from time to time

My main issue is trying to work out how tall to make the unit so I have the best balance of storage underneath and headroom, while accommodating a decent mattress

Secondly - the gap between the benches that I've currently designed is 40cm, which a couple of cutouts in the bench either side to allow me to stretch my legs

What I can't work out is how comfortable this will be for sitting at the table or generally chilling out - anyone found they've made their seat too deep or narrow?
 
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