RWD3M
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I doubt anyone stuck behind you is enjoying it as much!
- Thread starter charlysays
- Start date
PhillipM
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Haven't seen a single commercial motorhome that hasn't had dodgy decisions, cut corners and outright bodges, and I'm including quarter of a million quid machines in that, and that's having worked on at least 500-600 of the things lately.
Homebuild one. Or put some extra money to one side after buying one for upgrading and fixing shoddy design decisions.
Homebuild one. Or put some extra money to one side after buying one for upgrading and fixing shoddy design decisions.
Barking Mat
Cuddler of hedgehogs.
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What are they ?
Bobtail4x4
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- Yorkshire
some kind of FIAT
Wildefalcon
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- Gloucestershire, England
I'm converting my Landrover at the moment. All mod cons.
Here your can see the frame for the canvas roof.
I'll also fit a frame to put a mattress on. From plywood.
Here your can see the frame for the canvas roof.
I'll also fit a frame to put a mattress on. From plywood.
RWD3M
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So you carry telegraph poles on your camper van?
gaz1
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the height restriction gets most vans nowadays ours fitted under the block bars
we had the commer van an adaption was done to it
childrens sleeping quarters above the driver and passenger seats
behind those seats was 2 seats either side during the day at night the table changed to a bed a quick hob and small sink was needed for the morning brews and when needed
otherwise we ate out
we had the commer van an adaption was done to it
childrens sleeping quarters above the driver and passenger seats
behind those seats was 2 seats either side during the day at night the table changed to a bed a quick hob and small sink was needed for the morning brews and when needed
otherwise we ate out
The other side of the coin is that Caravans are generally more of a PITA to get into places, reverse & turn around etc. & a liability on single track country lanes. You also stick out like a sore thumb if you pull over to sleep anywhere other than a camp site, plus you have to get out if the tow vehicle in whatever weather to get in/out of the caravan (which will also wallow about when you are inside it without its stabiliserJack's wound down. If you want to carry bikes then have to left exposed & vulnerable on the car.
Given that you're generally taking a campervan into the countryside, then the height barrier thing is less of an issue, and the benefits of a hitop for high-level storage lockers & headroom etc outweigh the disadvantages IMO.
Mine is a LWB hitop just shy of 6M long, with a layout to suit what we wanted from a camper. It's a good compromise between size & space - I can use supermarket car parks, & narrow lanes present no problems, & to drive any distance with the elevated position & comfort - its a nicer place to be than either of our other vehicles. Bikes are secured out of sight in the garage under the fixed raised bed, and no full bulkhead means the cab becomes part of the living space, & gives you a walk-through from drivers seat.
On top of all that, have you seen the crazy prices of even "nothing special" Caravans
? My van & conversion materials cost came to less than a good used example of a modern-ish caravan (considerably less when you add the need to have a suitably rated & sized tow vehicle, a towbar & electrics etc as well).
Cobbler
Codger bodger
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When GPO/BT used them, I remember one or two going over. Downhill, on a bend & touch the brakes & gone! The one I drove, the brakes grabbed so badly it would lift the back wheels a foot in the air. The mechanics had never seen one do it before. 9 to the gallon I got from a fully loaded van, you had to drive it foot to the floor.
It used to be a thing (and still is probably...) that caravans are more easily stolen if you leave them unattended even with ball locks etc. And not just the usual suspects.
When I used to do onsite work, one of the others when drunk one evening told us about how when he moved site and his caravan was getting a bit ruined, he'd find one in a car part hitched up and have it away, kids toys the lot, and just woosh them all into a skip onroute.
Ive seen motorhomes broken into, especially at some more dodgy tourist car parking spots, but usually its still there afterwards with all the expensive easy to carry gear gone.
My motorhome is a 32 year old fiat ducato coachbuilt by LMC, the people who made the huge caravans that are beloved of the travelling community. With a alarm that pings my phone via 4g, immobilizer and deadlocks on all the doors and a little safe big enough for keys and passports etc bolted the chassis. You could still force the side door open with a spade by deforming the wooden coachbuild structure, but then that applies to almost all coachbuilt's I've come across. It has central heating and double glazing and insulation factory, which isnt important, until you go ski'ing or up in the mountains. Pretty nice spec, but the motor is asthmatic and it cant get out of its own way, although its taken the family on holidays up the french alps and places, just have to be patient. It optomistically has a box hitch towbar receiver but I've only ever used it once in desparation and it was as terrible as I was expecting. It has air bags on the rear as well as springs, so I can mess around with bag pressures to reduce sway and make it less terrible to drive when laden.
We also had to import it as a self built, so all the specs and go the weighbridge for tickets etc, and there's not much overhead left on 3.5t when you have fuel and water and 2 passengers. I'm pretty sure most the 3.5t van's heading out on family holidays are very very over the weight limit.
We stopped once overnight in some toll booth parking on the Paris periphique in desperation because every services and aire d'parking was jammed completely full of trucks because of some traffic issue where they'd all ran out of drivers hours and we'd gone a race event in a little circuit on the outskirts of Paris, that advertised camping for the whole weekend but didnt open the gates until race day. Ladies of the night were bussed in and worked the vans nearby and someone rattled our doors a few times. And we were in sight of the manned toll booth...
When I used to do onsite work, one of the others when drunk one evening told us about how when he moved site and his caravan was getting a bit ruined, he'd find one in a car part hitched up and have it away, kids toys the lot, and just woosh them all into a skip onroute.
Ive seen motorhomes broken into, especially at some more dodgy tourist car parking spots, but usually its still there afterwards with all the expensive easy to carry gear gone.
My motorhome is a 32 year old fiat ducato coachbuilt by LMC, the people who made the huge caravans that are beloved of the travelling community. With a alarm that pings my phone via 4g, immobilizer and deadlocks on all the doors and a little safe big enough for keys and passports etc bolted the chassis. You could still force the side door open with a spade by deforming the wooden coachbuild structure, but then that applies to almost all coachbuilt's I've come across. It has central heating and double glazing and insulation factory, which isnt important, until you go ski'ing or up in the mountains. Pretty nice spec, but the motor is asthmatic and it cant get out of its own way, although its taken the family on holidays up the french alps and places, just have to be patient. It optomistically has a box hitch towbar receiver but I've only ever used it once in desparation and it was as terrible as I was expecting. It has air bags on the rear as well as springs, so I can mess around with bag pressures to reduce sway and make it less terrible to drive when laden.
We also had to import it as a self built, so all the specs and go the weighbridge for tickets etc, and there's not much overhead left on 3.5t when you have fuel and water and 2 passengers. I'm pretty sure most the 3.5t van's heading out on family holidays are very very over the weight limit.
We stopped once overnight in some toll booth parking on the Paris periphique in desperation because every services and aire d'parking was jammed completely full of trucks because of some traffic issue where they'd all ran out of drivers hours and we'd gone a race event in a little circuit on the outskirts of Paris, that advertised camping for the whole weekend but didnt open the gates until race day. Ladies of the night were bussed in and worked the vans nearby and someone rattled our doors a few times. And we were in sight of the manned toll booth...
That roof on the commer is a Sheldon high top, I bought one new and fitted it to our Bedford CF one and a half. Made a swb van into a 4 berth. 2.3 slant engine, beautiful camper and tow van for my racecar.
gaz1
Member
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from reading up the heights used to be 2.1 m high at one time so theyve been lowered
my father bought a van and did his own adaptions to it including the roof height so wasnt full of windows that cooked you in summer but it was warm anyway
he used a hand nibberler to cut the roof off at a certain point and refitted the roof part high enough at the front to have a bed area above the can whilst the rest was basic
my father bought a van and did his own adaptions to it including the roof height so wasnt full of windows that cooked you in summer but it was warm anyway
he used a hand nibberler to cut the roof off at a certain point and refitted the roof part high enough at the front to have a bed area above the can whilst the rest was basic
Bobupndown
What could possibly go wrong?
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Can just imagine how warm that must have been to drive in summer with the engine basically beside you.
gaz1
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- westyorkshire
the commer van adaption is just about on memory from what i can remember
we used to drive from leeds area right down to great yarmouth park up in middle of the rd and camp there
it was straight out of the van across the other side of the rd and onto the beach and we was close enough to the fair at night was better than the caravan site and closer than the caravan site until they bought the land closer to the fair
it went often to morcambe and southport but that m62 hill was a killer for any vehicle
and that was before seat belts came into force 2 adults and 2 kids
we used to drive from leeds area right down to great yarmouth park up in middle of the rd and camp there
it was straight out of the van across the other side of the rd and onto the beach and we was close enough to the fair at night was better than the caravan site and closer than the caravan site until they bought the land closer to the fair
it went often to morcambe and southport but that m62 hill was a killer for any vehicle
and that was before seat belts came into force 2 adults and 2 kids
