FFS - That’s it I’m done!

Vat is a fact of life Neil. Part of death and taxes unfortunately.
 
trevskoda said:
Mines shorter and man/ box and 30mpg at 6.3 ton is not to bad,i have been in a 27ft one converted to camper and what a job it was.
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Couple of mates of mine have identical ones to advert converted to race car transporters (bare boned out carrying a sub 1000kg dragster)
And don't get much more than 20 to the gallon on a run.....
Doesn't bother them too much when the race car consumes 4 gallons of methanol per 1/4 mile run....

But I'd find it painful.... Even getting only 11 mpg from the 24v landrover.
 
A further thought...
A panel van is clearly narrower than your Hymer.
Suggest new Van is at least the same length as your hymer so you have a similar usable indoor space.

We have a coachbuilt and as we use it all summer (ie when it rains) interior comfort/space is very important to us.
Maybe not as important to you.
Yes with a coachbuilt at 7m long some carparks are tricky others simply nogo...It is all about compromises
 
Millie Master said:
Rae;

This is always why I suggest to one and all over on Motorhome Builder and all the other forums and groups that I am on to only ever go for vans that have fully galvanised body shells, or rather Renault Master/Vaux. Movano/Nissan thingie from 2004 onwards and Sevel built vans (Fiat/Citroen/Peugeot) from 2007 onwards. I also suggest that they should always avoid Rustits (Transits because they can dissolve in front of your eyes) and of course the mechanically superb Merc. Sprinters that can dissolve even faster than a Transit!

But despite being a Renault Master man, the easiest by far to convert are the Sevil vans as their standard panel van bodies are so very square.

Phil
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Thanks for the pointers Millie Master. I am leaning towards a Peugeot Boxer, although of course, I will have to see what we can find when we're actually in the market (need to top up the piggy bank a little bit first). One of the challenges for us is that living where we do it's not see easy to get to view prospective vans so one needs to be pretty sure it's a goer before even making plans to view it.
 
jagmanx said:
A further thought...
A panel van is clearly narrower than your Hymer.
Suggest new Van is at least the same length as your hymer so you have a similar usable indoor space.

We have a coachbuilt and as we use it all summer (ie when it rains) interior comfort/space is very important to us.
Maybe not as important to you.
Yes with a coachbuilt at 7m long some carparks are tricky others simply nogo...It is all about compromises
Click to expand...
Yes, it will be narrower, which I think we can live with, but I will want it to be at least as long of not a tad longer than the Hymer as we want a twin single bed arrangement (time of life when there are occasional night-time visit to the loo) which is one of our gripes with the Hymer as it is a double bed.

I'm playing around in Sketchup at the moment working with the dimensions of a LWB Hi-Top Boxer and think I have a layout that will work. I'll no doubt offer this up for critique on motorhomebuilder once it is finished.
 
I am currently doing some work on a customers Peugeot Boxer hi roof L4H3 an ex ambulance with 540,000 miles on the clock, link below,she paid about £2500 for it including vat, cosmetically it’s a bit (well very actually) rough but mechanically it is sound there is one similar on eBay at the moment, an auto with only 200,000 on the clock for £4995 + vat, the trader bought it at Brightwells last month for £2600 + fees so approx £2000 markup. They can be very cheap to buy if you are willing to take a risk.

my own sprinter has done 340,000 and was serviced ever 10-12 weeks!

www.youtube.com

Project 'Peter Kelly'

Project Peter Kelly is a Peugeot Boxer, an ex UK East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), A&E Ambulance. that will be converted into a Motor Caravan.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
linkshouse said:
I'm playing around in Sketchup at the moment working with the dimensions of a LWB Hi-Top Boxer and think I have a layout that will work. I'll no doubt offer this up for critique on motorhomebuilder once it is finished.
Click to expand...

See if your piggy bank can stretch to an L4 Boxer as the extra length will make your conversion plans one hell of a lot easier, but why do you need a a H3 version unless you are related to a giraffe?

The reason why I ask this is because there are far more H2's around than the H3 versions of the vans.

Phil
 
Millie Master said:
See if your piggy bank can stretch to an L4 Boxer as the extra length will make your conversion plans one hell of a lot easier, but why do you need a a H3 version unless you are related to a giraffe?

The reason why I ask this is because there are far more H2's around than the H3 versions of the vans.

Phil
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Oops, meant H2. Yes L4 is worth looking for.
 
CriftinsCampers said:
I am currently doing some work on a customers Peugeot Boxer hi roof L4H3 an ex ambulance with 540,000 miles on the clock, link below,she paid about £2500 for it including vat, cosmetically it’s a bit (well very actually) rough but mechanically it is sound there is one similar on eBay at the moment, an auto with only 200,000 on the clock for £4995 + vat, the trader bought it at Brightwells last month for £2600 + fees so approx £2000 markup. They can be very cheap to buy if you are willing to take a risk.

my own sprinter has done 340,000 and was serviced ever 10-12 weeks!

www.youtube.com

Project 'Peter Kelly'

Project Peter Kelly is a Peugeot Boxer, an ex UK East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), A&E Ambulance. that will be converted into a Motor Caravan.
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
Click to expand...
As thread 57, Wandering Womble gives a vehicle by vehicle live feed on Brightwells auction. Why give a trader £2k when you could do it yourself?
 
If I was buying one I would go for the H3 admitedly though it looks a bit uglier than the standard Ducato from the front,
the extra head height offers the ability to do some interesting things.

E.g. a Murphy or an electric drop down bed, and/or a full length raised floor can be installed so solving the cab step problem.
A raised floor can be used for storage, plumbing electrics, a safe, and even underfloor heating etc.

the wilker ambulance conversion has some neat little high level windows as well
 
Trotter said:
As thread 57, Wandering Womble gives a vehicle by vehicle live feed on Brightwells auction. Why give a trader £2k when you could do it yourself?
Click to expand...
It’s a bit of a contentious issue especially on the FB ambulance converter page where there are lots of disguised traders. Ambulances can be bought so cheaply there is clearly lots of profit in them and I tend to get a bit of a slagging when I say I paid way too much to traders for my two ambulances!

If I were to buy another it would be direct although perhaps not from brightwells or Merthyr, because the cowboys they use to decom them cause lots of damage especially to the paint that the customer effectively pays for!

wombles channel is brilliant though to get an idea of prices though which might as a result be on the increase!
some of the ex St Johns vans have very low mileage on them
 
CriftinsCampers said:
If I was buying one I would go for the H3 admitedly though it looks a bit uglier than the standard Ducato from the front,
the extra head height offers the ability to do some interesting things.
Click to expand...

My experience over tens of 00000's of miles throughout the UK and Europe suggests that owning an H3 can be a right royal PITA because of height barriers etc.

Before I even contemplated rolling up my sleeves and undertaking the first of my conversions and as the then owner of 2 caravan sites in France, I had the opportunity of talking to an enormous number of MoHo owners of which (excluding travelling rediculously long lardy coach builts) every single one of them complained about the lack of storage space which resulted in so many of them either towing trailers or mounting ugly roof or back door mounted storage boxes.
As this was the case, from day one I designed into my L3 H2 Renault Master as much storage space as I could possibly could, bearing in mind that my conversions had to cater for the needs of us both plus our small pack of 3 Spaniels.

In all honesty using the best construction techniques and facing materials it is amazing how much you can squeeeeze into such a small space.

Phil
 
Height of Van v Height Barriers.

Just my opinion being 6Ft tall
Go for the extra height in the vehicle..Even if you are not tall it will improve the overall feel.
Especially when cooking if it is wet and cold outside.
I suspect height barriers are a problem for you now !
Extra height in the Van gives you comfort on a daily basis.
Height barriers cause a problem maybe once a month.
Yes height barriers are a real PITA but that's touring ! AND another thread
 
CriftinsCampers said:
It’s a bit of a contentious issue especially on the FB ambulance converter page where there are lots of disguised traders. Ambulances can be bought so cheaply there is clearly lots of profit in them and I tend to get a bit of a slagging when I say I paid way too much to traders for my two ambulances!

If I were to buy another it would be direct although perhaps not from brightwells or Merthyr, because the cowboys they use to decom them cause lots of damage especially to the paint that the customer effectively pays for!

wombles channel is brilliant though to get an idea of prices though which might as a result be on the increase!
some of the ex St Johns vans have very low mileage on them
[/QUOTE
My only experience of the Brightwell auction is that of Womble’s videos.
Although speaking to a guy with an ex ambulance in the Peak District, I was amazed how much he had paid the dealer. From memory over £6k. These go for around £3.5k. To my mind , taking the risk of attending an auction, if only for the craic, is worthwhile. If nothing else, ‘Tis a day out.
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My Son bought a 2009 Peugeot Boxer diesel LWB with 130000 on the clock for £4 000. It was a guys motorcycle race van, and fairly bare inside. He spent 5k or so on converting it into a really nice Campervan, inc top end full size cooker, Ebersbacher heater, hot showers, proper toilet, fixed bed at the right height etc. I can fit two of my bicycles under the bed. He re-did all the electrics from scratch, etc etc. So it is a proper Conversion, including windows, and its certified by DVLA. He went round Europe for 6 months in it with his girlfriend, and covered a lot of miles, going as far north as the Lafoten isles in N Norway and as far south as S Spain. I bought it from him for £11000 (as he spent a lot of hours on the conversion). Its a really nice van, has lots of torque and drives really well. I get 37-38 MPG on long runs, not just on motor ways either. I use it as my day to day vehicle, inc shopping. In all this time and around 25k miles it has been totally reliable. It is really well built and should last a long time. Cant recommend it highly enough!
 
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