Vito bought.. Camper time

[Rocket88]

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

Not true........................angle grind body off, and fit a complete caravan on what's left

[stripped fred]

Nice project that. Will be interested how you get on. I have a shite caravan but it doesn't get used that much as it takes ages to get everything packed up and I have no room to keep it near the house. Much easier to shoot off for the weekend in a camper and less stressful than towing.

[Barry Cade]

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

When we were in Italy with the Saab, it was 39 degrees. We were drinking gallons of juice, and stopping all the time to buy from petrol stations was painful, coke is 3x the price of a decent wine in Italy, and more than beer. We couldn't buy salad and stuff for a picnic up the Alps so lived on crisps.  A stock up at Aldi would have saved enough for a very very nice meal with Beer and wine. This is also the reason aircon was a must. We'd have been dead or divorced if the Saab didn't puff out chilled air.We Scots can't handle 25+ degrees... I love Scotland in the wintertime, and may take up skiing again, so need heat. I can weld or paint easier and cheaper than I can retrofit aircon or buy and fit a night heater so this swayed me to this van.

 

Mrs Cade and I have discussed this for a few years. We even visited a shiny big motorhome dealer with lots of nice things and a ez payment scheme. Shiter in me said no. Done the caravan thing. We don't like caravan sites... love touring, Europe,covering 000's of miles in a short time so an old air cooled or a Bambi was out.I'm tall so any C15 based thing doesn't have enough room. VW tax pisses me off. I like Mercs, I've found the top rusts but the bottoms seem fine, where it matters, much like T25's

 

Electrical system is all in place, brand new 125 amp leisure battery with voltage sensing split charge system..lot of moneys worth there too.

[Guest Hooli]

Caravan breakers for the fridge etc then

[Barry Cade]

Caravan breakers for the fridge etc then

Absorbtion fridge is no real use on 12v, and not cutting for vents for gas. Not too fussed about 240 electrics so has to be a compressor fridge, which are £400+

[Des]

I spotted a rather attractive little Stella Artois beer cooler with the engraved glass door in a charity shop recently and momentarily wondered how well it might work out running off 12V via an inverter, I don't suppose any better than an absorbtion type. I've suffered with trying to remember to faff around with the poxy pilot light ritual every stop or start, gave up on that palaver and swapped over for a Weco, was disappointed to find they're now made in China, although it's been ok other than the icebox hinge breaking, your 500 sovs gets you something with similar build quality to a counter top one you'd see in Currys for about a Vanessa, but if you want solar powered viability the options are limited. If that van has room underneath it will pay you to fit a gas tank you fill from an LPG pump, again, I faffed around with those nasty little sod this for a game of kerplunk blue caravan cylinders, expensive and unavailable in Johnny foreignerland, hung a tank and never looked back.

I've pondered converting a modern van, something like that Merc with those fancy flush fitting side windows, if it's painted in a nice glossy black it may not be too apparent they're windows at all, then some signwriting along the lines of 'Jarvis Smallfinger - Dog Proctologist' to keep the norms at a distance, I do cherish my privacy.

I want to try rollering sometime, I've always roller painted things like bumpers as it gives a nice textured finish, I believe the way to do panels is with 2 rollers, one to apply and one to smooth, then of course hours of tortuous wet flatting and polishing, giving up in despair halfway and opting for a vinyl wrap in duct tape.

[fiatdaft]

Remember a compressor fridge will be noisy at night .

 

 

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[overrun]

Ace.

[mercrocker]

I run a Weco coolbox on 12v.      Runs off main van battery and gets turned off when we park.   Dunno about 125AH but 85AH leisure battery dies after about 6 hours of coolbox running.    I have no idea if solar power might improve this but not about to spend £100++ finding out....

 

 

 The way we handle this yawning gap is to only put things that HAVE to be chilled in the fridge (doesn't include beer but I hate cold Newcastle anyway) and pack those little blue freezer things in round them.   Another good tip is freeze plastic water bottles, use them to surround fridge food and they can be drunk when at optimum viscosity.   

 

We also pack frozen food to use on campsite or en route as it defrosts, again it can go in the coolbox and keep that working better.   Following the above programme we can do 5 nights off grid mid-summer - you can freeze milk too.    The old camper tip of plastic boxes full of water underneath the van when parked up takes a few degrees off ambient too. 

 

When we don't even have a coolbox (i.e. out in Portafold) I have one of these -

 

 

 

 

WTF issit?   Little more than an opaque tupperware box lined with highly-toxic earth-killing styrofoam....You pour a small amount of water into the vented top, it soaks the foam and then atmospherically cools anything within.   You ain't gonna get a cold Bud out of it but it keeps milk and cheese a useful few degrees below ambient - especially on a windy day.    

 

[paulplom]

I have a 3 way camping fridge that I bought from go outdoors. I keep it in the spare room to chill my beers. If the thermostat is turned up full it will actually freeze the hobgoblin. It's a bit like a chest freezer idea. You could run it off 12v when travelling (cigarette thing on it). Run it off 240v or gas when you stop. You could keep it out side your camper when its on gas. I paid £250 about 5 or six years ago and has been ran just about continuously since. It's one of the handiest things I've ever bought. We do a lot of camping/caravanning. If it buggered up now I would buy another straight away.

[paulplom]

It's totally silent as well. It must be well insulated because with the lid open it takes a couple of days for everything to defrost.

[robthedonkey]

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.

They really can be that bad!!!

 

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[oldcars]

20170127_135127.jpg20170127_135138.jpg20170127_135145.jpgI have a 3 way camping fridge that I bought from go outdoors. I keep it in the spare room to chill my beers. If the thermostat is turned up full it will actually freeze the hobgoblin. It's a bit like a chest freezer idea. You could run it off 12v when travelling (cigarette thing on it). Run it off 240v or gas when you stop. You could keep it out side your camper when its on gas. I paid £250 about 5 or six years ago and has been ran just about continuously since. It's one of the handiest things I've ever bought. We do a lot of camping/caravanning. If it buggered up now I would buy another straight away.

My caravan fridge freezes everything, even at the middle setting. Wee lad thought the strawberry's were "different to the ones mummy gives me at home" They were as they were rock hard.

[andy18s]

Ideal donor?

[srad34]

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

 

I fitted a Merc V12 just for shits and giggles*  

 

 

 

 

*Not really, I race motorcikles y'see

[mat_the_cat]

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

 

I have, and did have a bit of thread on it on another forum - will dig out the link.

 

I've heard loads of folk say the caravan thing but I've never actually seen anyone do it .

 

I did!

http://autoshite.com/topic/18869-what-has-two-seats-a-mid-mounted-6-cylinder-engine-and-a-turbo/page-1

[mat_the_cat]

Here's a bit on the van painting, but it's mixed up with a lot of BX ramblings!

https://www.bxclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8409&start=1293

[Guest Hooli]

Absorbtion fridge is no real use on 12v, and not cutting for vents for gas. Not too fussed about 240 electrics so has to be a compressor fridge, which are £400+

 

We've got a three way fridge in our wreak of a caravan, even on 12v it works well. Could get one of them & just not rig up the gas etc?

[catsinthewelder]

I roller painted my camper in turquoise

 

 

It wasn't Rustoleum,  I used a brand of waterbased paint that was sold as being suitable for painting onto any surface and the time it took to fall off my flipflops and window seals is testament to that claim.  It was easy enough to do and worked well to cover the area and tidy up a very scruffy van.  I left most of it textured due to lazyness but areas that were rubbed smooth looked good.

 

I miss being able to dash away and sleep wherever I fancy but however you looked at it I couldn't do that with 5 people in the VW and I can do it a lot more discreetly in a work van if needs be.

[Barry Cade]

Smol. update. Van arrived= No kolleckshun fred as I got it dropped at my door. What's the world coming to...

 

Fack me, the thing was packed to the rafters, 2 sliding doors in VGC, 2 front doors in VGC, 2 brand new full sills, rear arches and front doglegs.new driveshaft,new rear bumper,30 litres of genuine Merc oil and a full service kit, and various other odds and ends, every MOT, all the books and everything. Guy was brilliant, talked me through everything and gave a demo of the Ebersparkler ,the rest heating,the auxilliary heating, the cooker,sink...everything.Reciept 4000 miles ago for clutch and DMF- £1188... injector seals also.. Genuime Merc battery £152! It runs sweet, sounds good and was originally bought and owned by Fife council- it was wheelchair adapted, and has now been de adapted and a van floor rewelded in at the rear, very well I might add. 72 thousand genuwhine miles. Plans are afoot. We have visited Ikea, brake parts on route from Berlin. Paint on route from Engerland. LED's on route from China.

 

So, obviously,the very minute he leaves I start to tear it all out.

 

Now the back is completely empty, and I'm knackred..someone built that unit to last!

 

[Tickman]

Excellent stuff, you should be able to get a few quid back for the rear seats and runners on ebay if you can be bothered. 

Looking forward to your usual quick turn around on this, especially dodging rain while welding and painting!

[barefoot]

I did read where you said you didn't want to cut holes, but just a few words in favour of a gas fridge. 

Superb, a gas bottle lasts a season or more, that's for the fridge & the cooker. Fridge is on for a week or more at a time when we're away.

I don't piss about turning it on & off when I drive, I just light it up at home & go. If it blows out anywhere it will cut off it's own gas supply.

We pack a CO alarm as a precaution. But milk/cheese/meat/butter etc is all there. And all good. I can presumably make ice if the wife wanted, but I've not mentioned it to her. Original lasted about 15 years, never made a sound and has just been replaced with a second hand ebay model for £45.

[cort16]

Are keeping the kitchenette or is it all coming out?

[Barry Cade]

Are keeping the kitchenette or is it all coming out?

It's lying in bits all over the drive, along with that passengers door. All the rust started from the clips that Merc use to hold them on..

 

 

 

 

[Barry Cade]

Some progress.. Replacement door fitted to the n/s- had to change the locks and glass as it was tinted originally and van ones weren't. New leather gearlever gaiter fitted, replacement drivers door stripped and check painted ready to fit. New secondhand passengers wing on its way as I poked a hole in it. Rear sliding doors will repair thankfully as my other sliders have no windows. Tailgate looks bad but will repair as it withstood the MOT testers poke. Wooden rock and roll bed ordered and ply there to sort out the floor, which has been a headache. The rails on the floor were for a wheelchair, and are bolted through with hardened allen bolts, and the rails are embedded in the 18mm ply.,. which is bolted to the floor also.I've decided to leave this in place, but have the problem of getting the floor flat, so have opted to put 4mm ply batons between the rails, then put 4mm exterior grade ply over that. I expected to just rip the floor out and re lay 12mm ply over some batons.

 

Sussed out the heater booster and the "rest" heater which,along with the night heater means that insulation won't be as in depth as I'd planned. Money saved there will hopefully be going into a 150w solar charging set up. Quite a pleasure to use good old fashioned "solid" paint after mucking about with clear over base for so long, it covers in 1 coat of aerosol!

 

[purplebargeken]

That is really taking shape 

[Tickman]

I would be interested in your solar install as I am thinking of adding that to my van.

[Barry Cade]

The Vito project has been progressing steadily. Rock and roll bed, units,cooker/sink and Waeco fridge are all in various Sprinter vans heading towards my hoose. Rust free offside door now all fitted. Crappy Merc central locking system has been ripped oot and adapted as remote locking. cupholder light has been installed, side and rear doors insulated and panels carpeted, floor nearly finished and carpet tiles ready to go down- bit worried about this as I have previous withEvilStick, but hey- Some rust ground down,treated and primed, but still too cold for aerosols.  A quality 90's remote Panasonic CD player on it's way too. Got all the rear end brake parts and ABS sensors from Berlin- half the price I could get them here,even trade. All quality stuff too. A lot done, loads and loads still to do..

 

 

 

[Cheezey]

Sounds like you are cracking on and will be ready for the decent weather coming.

 

Is it staying the same colour?

[Barry Cade]

Sounds like you are cracking on and will be ready for the decent weather coming.

 

Is it staying the same colour?

Yup, Turqouise is the new white doncha know. Ikea is a sea of it. I like it anyway, reminds me of a Datsun 120Y.