The Building of
Van Rouge
Our new Camper Van
Our previous VW T3 Camper Van was 20 years old and after a few breakdowns in France a long way from home we decided it was time for a new van. We looked around at Motor Caravan sales but could not see anything that suited our needs and price. We wanted a Camping Van not a pretend Motor home and it had to be very practical. We needed a pop up top to keep the height low, a bed, cooker, fridge and plenty of storage space. We did not need a sink or toilet/shower unit, these are already provided on the camp sites we stay at. Our preferred internal layout was that of our previous van, a Richard Holdsworth Villa which we had installed from a kit. There were no conversions like this around so we decided to buy a minibus type van and build furniture inside to a similar design as before. So we found a one year old VW T5 shuttle bus, took the rear seats out and filled it with our units. We wanted a 'Rock'n'Roll' bed so a I welded together a frame to support this and used the mechanism supplied by 'Just Kampers'.
We had already booked our ferry crossing to France in January when we had the old van so now in April we only had two months in which to complete the job. We were going to go anyway even if we had to sleep on the floor! A major job was to get a lifting roof fitted and for this we took the van to 'Leisure Drive' in Salford where they made an excellant job of cutting the van roof and installing their custom made Top.
.jpg)
Bed support frame Plywood over bed Foam bed
Side Unit Rock'n'Roll seat Rear cupboard unit
We bought special bed foam from a supplier in Colwyn Bay and material to
cover the seats and make curtains from fabric supplier along the N. Wales coast.
I fitted a swivel seat base to the passenger seat which can be turned to face inside the
van. I made a ply shelf which rested across the arms of this seat and it made a handy
place to stand a Microwave. The Microwave proved a boon to cook everything from potatoes
and veg to curries and stews.It certainly saved a lot of gas and cooking steam inside the
van.
The area under the rear seat provided storage for our BBQ and 'Porta Potti' toilet
With a bit of modification we fitted a 'Caravanstore' pull out sunshade to the side of the roof and a Fiamma Bike rack on the rear.
The van was finished on time and our first night was spent in France. Everything worked well and we were very pleased with the result. All the storage spaces worked and we soon had a place for everything. Especially good was the cavernous area and the bed which easily held plastic storage boxes for food, wine etc.
We are now in our forth season camping with the van and have been to Scotland, the Lake District, Cotswolds and Yorkshire in the U.K. and each year to France and Spain for six weeks.