Luton camper coffin

[purplebargeken]

Abroad height limits in car parks are 2m, the bog standard T4 just about squeaks under.

[cobblers]

Took the back frame parts to a local place for welding, expecting them to suck their teeth and make me wait 9 weeks.

"Are you waiting around while we do it?"

Hell yes!

£50 cash. Thankyou please!

 

 

I got the bed sides off now which was a bit of a mare, actually. The first seized fasteners I've had on this van!! the hinge pins have a circlip on one end and should just push out, but I had to heat 4 of them up and air hammer them out!

The door turned up from China, It's pretty good! better than I expected. During shipping it copped for some damage on a corner - I could straighten it out but I asked the seller if they could just send me another outer frame bit. I got no response, and if they don't respond in another 90 minutes I get my money back for the whole thing. I feel bad, really.

 

[mat_the_cat]

2 hours ago, cobblers said:

Took the back frame parts to a local place for welding, expecting them to suck their teeth and make me wait 9 weeks.

"

This is not their first rodeo...nicely done!

[Matty]

28 minutes ago, mat_the_cat said:

This is not their first rodeo...nicely done!

I'd love to be able to weld ally. I've tried in the past but never achieved anything like that.

[yes oui si]

Good job there, local welders seem like good folk to know. 

[cobblers]

Been a while since an update.

The fancy welding? Well - I fucked up. My mitre saw cut all the 45 angles very very slightly off. But since I cut all the mitres in the saw the same way round (because the extrusion was so deep it fouled the saw motor, all the 0.5-1 degree inaccuracies stacked up, and they stacked up opposite, leaveing one side of the back end 15mm high, and the other 15mm low.

You can just make out the issue here, but it was way worse in person - the upper rear panel would need to be 30mm taller on the right hand side!!

I was a bit gutted really. I procrastinated for a while, then bit the bullet and cut through all the welds and properly clamped all the frame together on pieces of OSB and took them back to get re-welded (with my tail between my legs!!)

Again, they did it while I waited and didn't even give me that much grief about it. Frame is now 100% cock on, perfect to within a couple of millimeters, so I could finally make a start panelling it up.

And finally, a proper productive day! Got all the panels dry fitted, windows and door dry fitted too. Very pleased. Just need to sort out the floor, then it's all coming apart again to paint the frame and panels - They're a 26mm XPS foam core between 1.3mm aluminium sheets. Very well insulated and quite strong too. The sides and roof are matt grey, and the roof and rear are gloss white. They're offcuts from another job.
Part of me wants to paint them all VW Medium blue to match the van (best t25 colour by far) but I might just paint the back grey to match the sides. The frame will be black in any case.

Still undecided on what I'll do with the interior walls - I was going to cover them in a thin, light coloured plywood/veneer, but I'm considering just painting them or even a good quality vinyl wrap. I want to keep it light and avoid the feeling that I'm stuck in a freezer van!

Unsure on the exact weight, I calculated it to be about 150kg in what you see here, I'd probably believe that - I'm able to stand it up on end and turn it over unaided, and (sans floor!) I can crouch inside and move the thing about pretty easily. Planned floor (18mm water resistant OSB) is 25kg, plus trimmings / wiring/ solar panel. It'll be double the roof tent, but not suspended 10" above my head.
 

[meshking]

This is all kinds of awesome, inspiring work as ever. 

[Mally]

Slightly* above my capabilities.

[High Jetter]

Top fabrication, superb.

[rusty_vw_man]

This is awesome, I love the idea. I also love the fact that you have the skills just to knock it up and it look like something you’d buy off a top end converter rather than a wild lash up. 

[mercedade]

8 minutes ago, rusty_vw_man said:

This is awesome, I love the idea. I also love the fact that you have the skills just to knock it up and it look like something you’d buy off a top end converter rather than a wild lash up. 

Agreed - can't believe how slick that looks to my hillbilly eyes

[cobblers]

Thanks for the positive comments! to be honest, I don't think the real skill is in the fabrication - I've just cut some extrusions and panels out, it's quite forgiving  but I did spend a hell of a long time researching the type of construction that would most flatter my abilities  😅

I've seen people make similar things with just plain 90degree aly angles for the corners, or even a timber frame underneath - It would have been a lot quicker, easier (and cheaper!) to do it that way, but in my eyes it would always have looked a bit home made, I'm glad I stuck to my guns and sourced the hex shaped extrusion to get it to look like I wanted - I think the "design language" will match the van itself pretty well.

 

 

 

[Dave_Q]

I think when you're out and about in this you're going to have to get leaflets or business cards printed out with an FAQ for all the people that ask you about it:

• Yes, I made it myself
• Aluminium struts and ally/insulation sandwich panels
• No, I will not make one for you, your friend or your dog

etc, etc

[warninglight]

I'm quietly glad that even a chap of your abilities still measures once and cuts twice now and again.

Reminds me of when I was fitting overdrive into my Amazon, I got the propshaft shortened and balanced. Then got it shortened and balanced again when I realised it was still 20mm too long.

Inspired stuff!

Out of interest, what size is the flatbed on that?

[cobblers]

3 minutes ago, warninglight said:

Out of interest, what size is the flatbed on that?

It's 1680mm wide, 1850mm long, a lot bigger than the bed on any modern double cab!

[cobblers]

Right, so I'd got the majority of the "big" work done, but all the detail stuff still needed to be done -  it was all held together with temporary m5 fixings so they all needed to come out and the holes drilled "in place" for M8 etc, then properly decide how to mount it on the truck and how to make it not leak, then paint the frame blah blah blah.

Got a mate with a press brake to bend me two bits of aly to cover the bottom back corners:

Even with it all built up like this I can still quite easily tip it onto it's side and move it about on my own.

Once awkward thing to deal with was the corner castings I used were designed to expect a thin translucent fibreglass roof to be bonded on the top of them rather than to sit over an insulated panel like I have, and also I don't think that they really were designed to be entirely sealed.

I sanded the platform thing off to make them "smooth"
 

then knocked up some aly covers to bond on that will finish it all off neatly:

I've got to say working with soft 2mm aly is very forgiving - these started off as some scrap offcuts of plate from the lower corner bits and within 20 minutes I was mostly there on the first corner.

Blast, etch prime and paint (the same as I've got to do to the whole frame) they look spot on:

A couple more brackets made up for the back end - These are overkill really.  Slightly aware that there's 9 million bolts holding this lot together, but I think once the frame is painted black and I use the final hardware they won't stand out at all.

 

 

It stood like this for a week or so, then I took the top half of the frame off and painted it, then built it back up

Red fibre washers are just temporary, the paint was still a bit soft.

Flipped it upside down and took the bottom half off to fit the mounting/lifting bars:

then back apart again to paint:

You can see the mounting system here:

The bars sit above the dropside hinges and I'll make up some brackets to hold it down to the hinge points, ideally with a little bit of compliance somewhere. I'm gonna get some stiff rubber/ polyurethane buffers to under the frame for it to sit on.

Back on it's feet with the plastic peeled off:

 

Ran out of time this weekend, Next step is final fitting of the floor (it slots in from underneath) and then all the panels need a bead of PU sealant and all the windows and doors can go back in and I can make a start on the interior, which will be pretty basic - just small bed that lifts up to get at some storage underneath and a little unit along the back end with a basin in. 

 

[Erebus]

 

I really like the finish of the black paint you've used on the aluminium extrusion.  Is it Raptor or something like that?

[cobblers]

11 minutes ago, Erebus said:

 

I really like the finish of the black paint you've used on the aluminium extrusion.  Is it Raptor or something like that?

Correct! it's black Raptor, two coats sprayed at ~60cm distance from a Shultz gun set at 55psi. Thinned 3%. The texture can be made more coarse by spraying it at lower pressure from closer, this is about as fine as you can get it from a Shultz gun which sucks straight from the bottle. You can spray it from a normal gun, thinned down a bit more and get a finish like a car bumper. It also comes in aerosols but I've never used one - With it being 2K you have to use the whole can in one go, so we just buy bottles of it.

We use it on all the test jigs and stuff at work, it's really hard wearing and resistant to solvents/oils and it's very forgiving, you can blow a few bits in to make a repair and it'll be invisible.

 

[barefoot]

On 22/04/2025 at 09:08, cobblers said:

 Slightly aware that there's 9 million bolts holding this lot together

Just like a traditional Dormobile roof

[MrBig]

I think it looks fantastic, no-one is going to know that's not a factory-built camping pod.

[Zelandeth]

Brilliant looking work.

If you do end up painting the whole thing I'd probably go for white/a similarly light colour just to reflect the heat from sunlight. Last thing you want is it to turn into an oven on a sunny day.  Also conversely it would help reduce the rate at which it radiates heat too in the evenings.

I was staggered how much difference colour made in the summer the first time I owned a black car.

[bezzabsa]

tis noice that !!

[cobblers]

Got all the panels and the floor bonded and sealed in now. It's not coming apart again without a fight!
Put 3 or 4 really long bolts on all the panels, dropped them back a few inches and ran a nice thick bead of PU adhesive

Then pulled them back into place and tooled up the "splurge" to make a neat edge. Horrible messy job that I would do differently if I was to do it again, but it turned out well in the end.

 

 

All the fasteners are still temporary, I will swap them for the final ones when I run the trim round the inside corners.

 

Decided I might as well put the windows and door in, I kept nearly nocking them over! they're much safer bolted onto the pod.

I'm really pleased with how it's turning out.

Used some scrap bits of 4040 to mock up an idea i had for a ladder that stows vertically inside the pod, then folds out of the door and will rest on the tyre. I think it will work, and it'll solve a few problems including the fragile and uncomfortable sharp bottom "lip" on the door:

Just a basic mockup to see where I need to aim for with the pivot points etc. We use this extrustion for test jigs at work so we've got plenty of offcuts and stuff. the 4040 is way overkill - I've ordered some 20x40 and 20x60 for the next jig we're making and it'll allow me to have a feel of it, see if it's strong enough. I think it'll be more than fine.

 

[cobblers]

Had planned to just lift it on, but we just used the forklift instead.

I'd measured everything and test fitted 900 times but I was still a bit nervous that I'd made some massive obvious cockup (like the time I applied, and got accepted to go to university in Bristol before realising there's two universities in Bristol and I was 3 weeks days away from starting at the rubbish one)

 

 

No dramas, it slotted right into place no bother.
 

 

 

 

did anyone know the engine hatch is offset a couple of inches to one side on a Doka? I didn't, and assumed it was in the middle, so my engine floor hatch doesn't line up. Hey ho. Luckily it's offset to the convenient side, to it'll be absolutely fine, I'm not going to change anything.
Now I can get on with the insides. and fit the skylight

[Dan302]

That's absolutely bloody spectacular!!

[cobblers]

Done about 100 miles or so with the camper pod on the back - off road, on road, emergency stops etc, pleased to say it doesn't creak or rattle or shuffle about. Caught out in a downpour and it doesn't leak, either. I knew it wouldn't but I'd rather have tested it with a hosepipe.

Got the finished floor in - Three layers of 5mm XPS insulation spray glued to the OSB. First layer sits on the wood to make up the gap where the aluminium box section stood 6.35mm proud, then two more layers above. They soaked up the 1.35mm discrepancy OK. Some standard B&Q "Luxury Vinyl Tile" plastic laminate flooring on top. I'm not in love with it, but it wasn't expensive, should wear OK, it's comfy and warm underfoot and it's OK with underfloor heating. And since I have a 300AH battery to go under the back seat, I though it'd be worth a try (and we had some surplus 24v heating film at work - We needed to keep a load of PCBs at 70c for weeks at a time without worrying about burning the place down and underfloor heating film was 1/100th of the price of any other solution)

There's about 250w worth laid in two strips just where my feet will go. I might not use it, but it was probably going in the bin anyway. 
250W of heat (plus the 100w that the human body emits at rest) will raise the internal temp in the pod by 5-8c above ambient. I'm hoping that will be enough to take the chill off and save firing up a diesel/petrol heater for much of the year. 

 

 

 

Engine hatch access is sorted, too. OE decklid is left off, and the whole engine area of the underside of the pod is metal clad. on top there's an aly frame all sealed into the floor. At the moment a sheet of aly clad xps board plugs the hole, but since there's a 15 inch drop down to the engine I'm considering hanging something off the bottom of the decklid, maybe the webasto heater. Or just fabbing up a hatch with recessed box in it to use for storage of tools and other stuff that is OK getting a bit warm.

 

 

 

 

[cobblers]

I was keen to get some proper lighting in this, using my shoddy worklights was irritating. That meant making a start on the electrics, and deciding where I'm going to fit all the stuff. I needed a space that was accessible but would otherwise be wasted. Much deliberating and I chose to put it on the back of the box, under the end of the bed.

All very temporary at the moment, I just wanted to get the solar panels tested and give me somewhere to use as a "base" for routing cables. 
The saying is "cobblers kids shoes", I spend all week dealing with vehicle electronics, so my personal vehicle electrical work ends up being quite complex, but aesthetically not fantastic. So, I used some conduit. It'll neaten things up and makes modifications and expansion easy.

First lot of the lights are in. This is a warm white LED strip set into an extrusion that goes round the perimeter of the van. In the past I have always built campers with dark walls, in the idea that it would make them cosy. But realistically it made lighting them in a comfortable way impossible - the dark surroundings soak up the ambient light, which accentuates the glare from any light sources. I'm really sensitive to harsh lighting so I've spent a fair bit of time working things out - 3000K warm white projecting upwards for relaxing, and 4000K "day white" projecting downwards for general lighting. 
Luckily we can get decent quality LED strip and controllers from china for next to nothing nowadays - Total spend on 15m of LED strip and a really good controller is about £45.

A quick trick for anyone with a decent MPPT solar charge controller - they're very versatile and you don't have to feed them with a solar panel. With a diode, you can send almost any power source into them, and they'll automatically make the most of it and safely charge your batteries.
USB C, for example is 19v:

I've just got a little 8AH battery in there at the moment, so I need to keep it topped up. Any decent USB charger works as a trickle charger now. Less of an issue once I get the main battery fitted and connected, particularly with the solar.

I decided to go with an under bed fridge (Alpicool D30, £200) because I couldn't find another layout that worked, I only really need a little coolbox but they're all top opening and I'm short on square footage. An underbed fridge is 25cm tall, so I'd have to compromise and lift the bed up a bit (I wanted it to be more like 18-20cm).
This has the knock on effect of giving me the potential of storing the spare wheel under the bed. Not sure if it'll be the final place, but if it's under there it keeps the COG down and I don't have to try and lift it on and off the roof rack,

With that decision made I finished the frame off, slotted the 5.5mm plywood in and tried the mattress on.

 

 

I neglected to take any pictures of this, but the whole bed folds up 90 degrees to allow access to the storage underneath and through the decklid etc.

All in all I'm pleased with it. Quite lightweight - the frame works out at just under 4.5kg (ignoring a few dozen M8x40 machine screws) plywood panels less than 2kg. However I didn't compromise and chose a traditional, domestic sprung ikea mattress which is 11kg. A foam one would be half the thickness and a third of the weight, but I'm not 25 anymore. 

 

 

[Matty]

Wow. Properly impressive. Add me to the list when you start knocking them out commercially.

[warninglight]

On 26/02/2025 at 20:49, cobblers said:

It's 1680mm wide, 1850mm long, a lot bigger than the bed on any modern double cab!

Very close to Laplander width then, albeit my flatbed will be roughly 3000mm long. Really keen to make something similar which won't sit far above the cab, with a rack to take the Canadian canoe on top, and the basics for a weekend camp with the dog, in places that the Crafter won't go.

Sorry I didn't see the dimensions sooner!

[cobblers]

Also made a start on the cupboard / loo hideaway unit:

T25 handbrake ratchet doing T25 handbrake ratchet things, I managed to crash it into my house. I was sat just the other side of that window and kept hearing a weird creak, then a crunch 😂. I can laugh, because thankfully the hardest part of the camper pod managed to directly contact the softest part of my house. There's not a mark on the pod and a couple of days in the hot sun and the guttering has settled back in to shape as well. Could have ended a lot worse!

 

 

First time out camping in it on Friday. I had planned to not use it until it was "finished" because once I start using something, I become blind to all the little snagging jobs and never get round to finishing it.
But I had some decisions to make about the layout so I thought it best to spend a night or two in there to get a feel for it before making any mistakes.

 

It was a hot muggy day with heavy rain forecast overnight. I was down next to the river and immediately as I pulled up I was surrounded by flies and midges etc.
In the T6 it would have been a miserable night choosing between opening windows and letting the flies and rain in, or being way too hot. But in the camper pod I could open all the windows wide to make the most of what little breeze there was, but keep the rain and flies out.

Apologies for the crotch shot!

I had a bit of OSB wedged in the corner temporarily for a bit of a worktop to put me on. Overall very very pleased with it. It's a nice, comfortable and pleasant place to be. Lighting and overall colour scheme work well to limit glare and prevent the "porthole in a dark cave" feeling a lot of campers with dark walls give. 
It's also really easy to hop out through the skylight using the bed as a step and sit on the roof.

I slept like a log. Woke up refreshed in the morning to an incredibly hot floor that I could barely stand on (and my packet of fun size kitkats melted to a gloop!) The chinese wifi controller I'd used for the underfloor heating had switched itself on at 1AM for some reason. Fuse pulled for now, I'll revisit that later.

Lessons learned, I popped in to work and got the worktops cut:

 

It's Bamboo ply, I have the same in my T6 - it's lightweight and works well. Worktops are always a compromise but these can be sanded and refinished if I damage them. 
Routed a 3mm radius on all the exposed edges and ran some 240 grit sandpaper over them, then the first coat of oil. 

Really brings out the colour, very satisfying to wipe it on! buff off any excess after about 30 mins, then the next day I gently go over it with 320 grit to knock down any grain that the oil has lifted, and add another coat. I'm not a carpenter but this seems to work well. Two coats is enough. Being in a hot vehicle interior does seem to dry the oil out so they do need redoing after a year, but it's just a case of nibbing them down with 320 grit, wiping over with oil then buffing it off. Half an hours work, tops (pun intended).