Vito bought.. Camper time

[Barry Cade]

This plan has been on the back burner for a while, but I've made the first step and bought a slightly rusty Vito Traveliner to make a camper for our Euro hauls and Scottish sightseeing. I want to do it right so will be purchasing furniture etc but doing all the donkey work myself.

 

This is he.

 

It looks a bit shonky, but low miles, 1 owner, working Eberspathingy for heat and Air con for cold. Budget is 3k all in for a tidy 2 berth camper with cooker,sink,fridge furniture,curtains etc. I'm looking forward to getting tore in! Stupidly I'm going to have to get a recovery company to pick it up for me even though I have one outside...

 

[mrbenn]

Excellent, will look forward to this.

[DVee8]

Do you have a time scale for the work?

[DVee8]

Hope you are going to do a build thread.

[cobblers]

Fuck, that's grim. Top stuff!

[320touring]

Looks like your 20yrs of North Sea Oil Rig welding will come in handy;)

 

An interesting project best of luck and I look forward to seeing it develop

[Bren]

It reminds me of a handrail on rhyl promenade.

[Jim Bell]

Has it been on the back burner or has it in fact been in a pond?

 

Either way, it looks ace.

 

Hotrible colour.

[barefoot]

There is nothing horrible about that colour,

 

Once you've colour matched the mirrors and a handful of other arbitrary oddments, added a bit more 'patina' and some 22 inch rims...

It'll put yer average T5 to shame & look Boss - innit.

 

In all seriousness, if you want me to send you a comp copy of VW Bus T4/5 for 'inspiration', just pm me an address.

[Jim Bell]

There is nothing horrible about that colour.

I think youll find I said hotrible.

[Tickman]

You really do enjoy a challenge don't you!

[Dave_Q]

XXX rust pics pls, these are on my list of potential Berlingo replacements and I'm trying to convince myself they can't be that bad.

[purplebargeken]

Whoohoo. Bloody brilliant. This is what I am aiming to do as well.

 

Settles back in comfy chair, obtains large bottle of diet beverage, XXL cone of salty popcorn and watches with interest.

 

Welcome to the world of solar panels, inverters and stealth camping.

 

I was hoping to go caravan interior but will see....

[Cavcraft]

Absolutely awful, look forward to hearing more. I suspect £2,995 of your budget will be for some Forth rail bridge rustproofing, but God speed.

[320touring]

^^RAIL bridge;)

[83C]

Thread duly noted. The Transit if it doesn't sell will be getting a removable camper conversion.

 

Speaking from past experience of AS-specification campers, having the Eberspacher already fitted is a massive bonus.

[twosmoke300]

Absolutely awful, look forward to hearing more. I suspect £2,995 of your budget will be for some MIG wire , sheet steel and tetra Shultz, but God speed.

Ftfy

[3VOM]

 http://sbmcc.co.uk/

[srad34]

I have an 02 Vito for trackdays, yours makes mine look really clean lol ,

Mercedes must have farmed mine out for rustproofing!

[Barry Cade]

Finished the last 2 jobs on the 75 today, xenon light self leveller bracket made and fitted, then the unobtanium undertray went on, most of last week was spent fitting combined satnav/DVD/wireless/internet.Mgf is up to mot standard, drives great looks ok and will stay like this..My daily smoker.Decks have been swept, tools all assembled into one pile, many websites visited on Diy campers and window shopping for stuff has begun. £500 bloody quids for a fridge tho..Ouch.

 

It's going to be westfalia style, kitchen/wardrobe down one side, rock and roll bed, insulated and boarded and curtains added.My work Vito did 265,000 hard miles and still drove well, so this one should do ok with only 72k.. European westfalia style campers always seem to be interesting colours, so this one will look fine when finished I think, not a fan of the yellowing white stained things that 3 or 4 grand get you here. Pop up roof may be added at a later date. Not doing "scene" no alloys,colour coding, checked bonnets,pineapples nor anything involving banded, slammed or dubbed. It will be a van kitted out for camping in, one night at a time off grid.

[Barry Cade]

I have an 02 Vito for trackdays, yours makes mine look really clean lol ,

Mercedes must have farmed mine out for rustproofing!

You do track days in a Vito? Is it an amg?

[barefoot]

Five hundred quid fridge, took mine to 'Big Mouse, Little Mouse' for repair and he found me a good second hand for £45.

[cort16]

The true shitters option is to gut a caravan and fit the interior.

[Barry Cade]

The true shitters option is to gut a caravan and fit the interior.

True.

 Sometimes in life though you just want something nice. Something bespoke, like a pair of shoes that weren't handed down to you. I've done trips where I've slept on benches, in cars and in tents. Now I'd like things to be where I decide and in colours I want. Have I just turned into a snob? See pic of Vito at the top. I work bloody hard and do stupid hours so days off and hols are precious. I want my beer to be cold and my feet warm!! But all for just above a shiters budget.

 

Oh, and Rustoleum roller painting. Anyone on here done it?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Isn't the English translation for 'Vito' something along the lines of, 'if the body panels don't all drop off with galloping rot, the injectors will lunch proceedings instead?'

Great to see Benz have brought back BL turquoise from the early '70's.

On the flipside, I'd quite like a 'let's fuck off in the van for a while' van, so am automatically jealous.

[explosive-cabbage]

Good work, but isn't the necessity for a fridge and the fact you will be doing one night stops mutually exclusive?

[cort16]

I've heard loads of folk say the caravan thing but I've never actually seen anyone do it . One of my friends built one out of an old Citroen mini bus and his biggest expense was the electrical system . I don't think he spent a fortune in it but it came out pretty nice.

[For Fiats Sake]

I've been away precisely once since I bought the drive ornament caravan.

 

Got plenty of stuff planned for this year though.

 

Good luck with the conversion, heat and aircon sounds not very AS to me though!

[anonymous user]

Good work, but isn't the necessity for a fridge and the fact you will be doing one night stops mutually exclusive?

How else will you keep your vodka chilled for breakfast?

[mercrocker]

Fridge = domestic harmony.    No looking/scrounging/walking to get milk.   I gave the stuff up when I was in digs aged 19, however Mrs R. is insistent.    

 

Even a day out benefits from somewhere to keep the dairy goods chilled, steel vans can get like an oven once they're lined out.   Look forward to seeing progress - there is fella round the corner from me with a Vito that colour - he has weatherboarded his bungalow and painted it the same hue!   He has fitted his van out but also tows an Eriba with it - looks nice.