Welcome

WELCOME

Welcome to the blog for our campervan build

This project began in May 2020 during the 'lockdown' in the UK due to COVID-19. We were supposed to be touring Europe in our existing camper conversion 'Movano The Van Hoe' but this obviously wasn't going to be possible... So after finishing a pretty ambitious Hot Tub Trailer build (see the blog here) we decided we needed another project to keep us occupied during however many weeks left of lockdown.

We put Movano The Van Hoe up for sale and bought a Renault Master which we will convert over the coming weeks/months.

We are fortunate in that Elliot has a fully equipped workshop with tools and space to work, and we're also fortunate in that this is Elliot's second camper conversion, so we're not totally winging it!

This is a blog of the full build and I make no apologies that it is very photo heavy. The primary purpose of the blog is to document this build both for our own records, and for anyone else who's interested.

We plan on touring around Scotland with our Trailer Hot Tub when travel restrictions are relaxed enough to allow this.

Disclaimer: This is NOT meant as a tutorial. Do not try this at home. Always seek professional expert advice.

Monday 18 May 2020

Water tanks

We've opted for custom made underslung water tanks from Barratt tanks. We will have a 100L fresh water tank and a 45L waste tank. These are more expensive than just standard in-van tanks, but they save so much space inside. A whole other cupboard for snacks.

We plan to still have a small tank inside the van for drinking water, as when we're travelling we can't always guarantee the quality of water we will fill up with.

Heating and water decisions

Another decision is what kind of heating and water heating options to use. The previous van conversion used a Carver air heater and a Carver Cascade 2 water heater.

We considered using a combination air/water heater such as the Truma Combi 4E as it's so slick and modern looking and saves space by being combination. However it is expensive (£1500 installed), uses quite a bit of electricity, and may or may not be noisy (it's impossible to find a video of this thing running!)

We have sort of decided on the Carver 1800 Caravelle 4 heater and the Malaga 5 water heater. The Carver heater is silent in operation, and uses no electricity. We plan on retro-fitting a new more modern controller unit to replace the awful 80's beige plastic one.