Although we had occasional lighthearted chats about doing another camper conversion sometime in the distant future, we were totally unprepared when the decision was forced upon us by the untimely demise of our faithful "Miss Tinkey". There were many years and many thousands of miles left in the 'old gal' and I must say that the idea of starting again from scratch so prematurely seemed daunting to say the least.

Retracing our all too well remembered steps, we first checked out campervan showrooms to see if things had changed over the years and we could actually find a campervan with the right internal layout and, equally important, the right price tag. We found that the internal design of 'panel van' campers had changed little and this also proved to be the case with their price tags.

After the trials and tribulations of completing a campervan conversion ourselves and a better insight into the work and costs involved, we were a tad less jaundiced about the price tags but were still somewhat dissatisfied with the internal designs and use of available space.

Having said that, the cost of a decent second hand camper was still well over our budget and the cost of a new one was lurking somewhere over the distant horizon. Had the National Lottery been kinder to us over the years we could have possibly considered some of these options, but as we find it a rare treat to get even two numbers in the draw, we had to go back to the drawing board and look more realistically at another self build.

Remembering the many weeks and many miles spent fruitlessly hunting down our first van (worthy of a web page in itself!), we narrowed our search area to within a 30 mile radius of home. After viewing the many vans that must have been the direct descendants of the hastily re-sprayed wrecks we encountered first time round, we were immediately smitten by an Iveco 35S11 standing on the forecourt of the Cotswold Van Centre. ^[1]

The internal layout of our original van had worked perfectly for us over the years and quick run round with a tape measure showed that the Iveco would readily accommodate our previous layout and give us a few extra millimeters in width to play with and an extra 450mm or so in length.

With the decision made, the van is now at home, and the fun is about to start...........

Clearing the decks

The somewhat chunky spare wheel of the Iveco is mounted inside the van on a bracket behind a rear wheel arch and takes up quite a lot of useful internal space. A quick phone call to the really helpful guys at our local Iveco spares department at Bristol Street Ford in Gloucester showed that the Iveco's excellent chassis configuration is shared by both the van and the pickup or flatbed versions. The spare wheel for the flatbed model is hung on a cradle under the rear of the vehicle and I chose one of the two versions available and quickly and easily fitted it which increased the valuable internal space by quite a surprising amount. ^[2]

As with many commercial vehicles, the interior walls and floor in the rear of the van had been lined with plywood. The plywood on the walls was removed and set aside for later use and the 9mm plywood on the floor was temporarily lifted to check for any potential rust spots. Any suspicious areas on the metal floor were treated for rust and left to dry before laying sheets of the thin underlay used under domestic flooring panels. This should reduce the risk of future wood to metal abrasion and hopefully eliminate any potential 'squeaks'. As no wiring or pipe work would go under the ply floor, the original 9mm panelling was then screwed back in its original position.

With the decks cleared, the interior could be measured to create a survey drawing. ^[3] This information was then transferred to my CAD program ready for jiggling scaled drawings of our proposed fixtures and fittings around on screen ready for the design and feasibility stage.

Design considerations

Although my design may be ideal for us, it is unlikely to suit everyone and my van conversion pages are intended to be an account of our own experiences and should not be viewed or interpreted as a 'how to do it' manual.

One of the joys of self-building is to create a campervan or motorhome which is perfect in every detail for the end user but what constitutes 'the ideal campervan' is very much a matter of personal preference.

Having said that, the final design may well be heavily influenced by others i.e. insurance companies. Although the DVLA may be happy with a simple notification of 'change of body type' on the vehicle's Registration Certificate, insurance companies will probably be a lot more specific about what they consider to be an acceptable change from 'Panel Van' to 'Motor Caravan'.
The permanent installation of a bed, sink, cooker, water tank, hanging wardrobe and extra windows in both sides of the van are just some of items that an insurance company may require before it gives cover and it is obviously worth checking the details of an individual insurance company's requirements before going too far into the project.
The Self Build Motorcaravanners Club (SBMCC) list several insurance companies happy to deal sympathetically with self build projects. ^[4]


With a blank canvas in front of us, discussions on what we would or wouldn't need in our new van began in earnest but having experienced several years of trouble free and incredibly enjoyable campervanning in our 'Miss Tinkey', it soon became clear that we were more than happy to use the same internal layout which had worked so well for us in the past.^[5]

Apart from a few minor changes, the new van would be very much a carbon copy of our previous camper and is now affectionately known as 'Tinkey 2'.


Letting in the light

The complex pressings and support struts in the metal side panels of the Iveco somewhat limit the size, shape and type of windows that can be readily fitted. In order to ensure maximum window size and eliminate any possible measuring errors we drove to Corby and sought advice from the experts at Leisure Vehicle Windows. ^[6]
We finally decided on the window style and ordered glass with a very slight tint which matched the van's existing windows.

As with our first van, I shied away from cutting large holes in the sides and rear doors of the van so we had the windows professionally fitted by Five Valley Windscreens. ^[7]

I did, however, summon up the courage to fit 500mm and 280mm square Fiamma skylight/vents in the roof of the van which brightened up the rear of the van no end and the new windows give much greater all round driver visibility.


The build begins?

Ideally, the build would have started with the most complex section i.e. the kitchen area, which would house a cooker, 3 way fridge, sink, waste water tank, drinking water tank, gas bottle storage, Propex blown air heater and storage for food, pots, pans, crockery and all the odd shaped twiddley bits and pieces my lady finds essential for boiling an egg.

As I have an historic distrust of the dimensions published in manufacture's brochures and as I wanted to be millimetre perfect before I ordered the timber to create the kitchen carcasses, I waited until I had all the appliances and fittings to hand before starting.

This seemed quite a reasonable approach at the outset but things soon started to go awry.

Unfortunately, all UK stocks of our chosen cooker had run out and another consignment was not due into the country for two months. After many phone calls, and pure happenstance, we located a bargain priced two month old Spinflo at a nearby motorcaravan showroom.

Again, unfortunately, I patiently waited a week for the drinking water tank to arrive before ringing the supplier only to receive a limp "Sorry, we forgot to send it".      Mmmm…....

We missed the delivery of one important item and the courier left a card to say that they would try to deliver the parcel next day. As we planned to go to a motorhome show that day, I immediately rang the courier and it was agreed that we would collect the parcel from their depot en route. Finding the couriers office in the aircraft hanger like depot was no mean achievement and I eventually stood at the desk and handed over their delivery reference card and my personal I.D. After a few deft taps on a computer keyboard I was informed, in a matter of fact and somewhat dismissive fashion, that the parcel had been sent out for delivery again.
I think I said something like 'Gosh....that's unfortunate', before recounting the phone call of the previous day. As the now apologetic desk guardian explained that the parcel would be delivered immediately with the waving of the requirement for a signature, I glimpsed a limp shouldered body in the far corner of the office slowly sink into its chair trying to look very small behind a computer monitor!

I don't recall this type of annoying set back with our first van conversion but they seemed to persist right up to the end of the project when the specially shaped Fiamma F65 awning duly arrived but the necessary fixing brackets for the new shape Iveco were still hiding somewhere Italy.

Lets hope that Murphy and Sod get bored with us and find someone else to annoy......

When everything did eventually arrive, accurate measurements could be made and a cutting order was handed to Severnply, a specialist timber supplier who stock a wide range of sheet materials. ^[8]
We decided upon 15mm thick Eurodekor melamine faced chipboard for all carcasses and doors and a matching 30mm thick roll fronted vanity work top for the kitchen work surface.
Their excellent cutting service worked to a high degree of accuracy and ensured clean, chip free edges to the cut panels. The exposed chipboard edges would later be covered with matching iron on edging.

While awaiting the arrival of the timber order, I rang several local scrap yards and eventually located two very comfortable and tidy swivel seats from a sad looking Renault Espace. The double passenger seat was removed from the front cab and replaced with a very sturdy purpose made steel box which was designed to be the base for my lady's swivel seat and to house two 75ah leisure batteries.

As batteries give off a small amount of the potentially explosive gas hydrogen while being charged, I chose the type with small tubes which would vent any gasses outside the vehicle. The image of my lady's chair suddenly going off like an ejector seat seemed quite amusing at the time but I wouldn't want to be within earshot when she came back down to earth!

The driver seat was also removed and the seat and runners were parted from the original metal cage which bolted to the floor. The cage was returned to its original position and a steel plate bolted on top to take the runners for the second swivel seat.

The leisure batteries would be charged by the Iveco's alternator while on the move and a special battery charger when hook-up on site.
One of my main concerns was waking one morning to find a flat engine battery as I didn't much fancy the idea of trying to push an extremely heavy van across a damp field in the vain hope of bump starting it.
To prevent the chances of this nightmare occurring I obtained an 'intelligent' charging relay from Merlin Equipment. ^[9] This clever little gadget was very easy to fit and ensures that the engine battery is fully charged before allowing any current to pass on to charge the leisure batteries. It also isolates the engine and leisure batteries when the engine is not running thereby preventing any likely hood of the engine battery being drained while camping.

Fellow SBMCC member Kampenwagen has several pages of extremely useful advice on installing 12v systems. ^[10]

Furniture Construction

With the arrival of the neatly cut Eurodekor panels, the build could begin in earnest.
The timber furniture items i.e. kitchen units, wardrobe, wc cubicle etc etc are structurally similar to the simple, self assembly, flat pack system. ^[11]

These units consist of side panels cut to suit the curvature of the van and fixed to the the ply floor and the van's metal wall struts with small metal angle brackets. Taller panels were also screwed to softwood timber battens glued to the metal roof with Gripfill. All doors are hung on piano hinges which are inexpensive, easy to line up while fitting and will readily cope with the loading of a wardrobe or wc door.

With the carcasses installed, all the 12 and 240v wiring was taped to the walls and ceiling and fed back to a point where the 240v consumer unit and 12v bank of fuses would be installed in one of the high level cupboards above the seating area. To help organise this spaghetti of wiring explanatory labels were taped to the cables as an essential aid for later connection.

The undersink cupboard houses a 10 litre waste water holding tank, a flip top waste bin fixed to the cupboard door and a sealed storage box for two 4.5kg Calor gas bottles.

A 45 litre drinking water tank fits snugly under the Dometic 3 way fridge. As future access to the tank would be somewhat awkward without removing the fridge, it was filled and checked for leaks on a road test before the fridge was fitted.

The space below the cooker was ideal for locating the Propex heater but the exhaust and inlet pipes could not go directly through the van floor at this point as one of the large 'C' sections of the chassis was in the way.
The helpful technical department at Propex in Southampton informed me that the unit could be raised on a mounting block and the two flexible pipes bent to one side before going through the floor thereby missing the chassis section.

With these holes plus the gas dropout holes cut into the van floor for the cooker, fridge, Propex heater and gas bottle box, I can guarantee that the van would sink like a stone if we ever tried to launch it!

Next to the cooker is a four drawer 'larder' unit which holds cooking utensils, saucepans, food tins and jars plus an extra deep drawer for fresh fruit and veg. Below this is a boxed cavity covering the hot air duct and outlet for the Propex heater.

Above the worktop is a high level 4 door cupboard fixed to the roof and wall holding many essentials like plates, cutlery, teapot, kettle and mugs etc.

On the opposite site of the van is a spacious cubicle for a Thetford cassette wc, a good size hanging wardrobe and a seating area with demountable table. At night, the table is stowed away and the combination of seats turn into a double bed.

As with the Transit, there is a spacious area above the driver's cab in the Iveco which makes perfect storage for bulky items like pillows and bedding.

Finishing Touches

The jumble of wiring which had been dangling limply in the electrics cupboard for some time was tidied up by connecting the ends to the 12v fuse block or the 240v consumer unit.
Luckily my hastily written labels hadn't fallen off and the somewhat dusty spidery scrawl still seemed to make some sort of sense.

With all the wiring connections made the electric and gas appliances could be properly tested which happily turned out to be a pleasingly uneventful exercise. 75mm thick insulation could then be fixed to the exposed metal walls and ceilings prior to screwing the decorative carpet covered ply panels to softwood battens.
Though there was still a little way to go, the decorative ply panels plus carpet on the floor, gave us the feeling that we were actually 'getting there' after what seemed an age of stumbling from one problem to the next.

The seat and sofa bases were made from 15mm MDF and have valuable storage underneath. These were covered in the same decorative carpet used on the floor and walls and convert to a double bed at night.
The foam cushions which form the comfy bits were neatly upholstered by my lady who spent several hours sweating (or should that be swearing!) over her aged sewing machine.
A table was made from 18mm Eurodekor and has a demountable rail fixed to the van wall at one end and a fold down leg at the other. This takes seconds to mount or take down and is stowed behind the Thetford cubicle when not needed.

To obscure the windows at night we bought an insulated fold down cover for the windscreen and cab windows from Taylor Made which increases the feeling of internal space no end when compared to a simple curtain across the cab area. The side and rear windows in the living area of the van have roller blinds with carpet covered pelmets.

Maiden Voyage

We took the van on its first jaunt to a superb Caravan Club CL outside Axbridge on a hot weekend in June. As we had used the same layout as our first van, there was a pleasant and comforting familiarity as we went about our usual camping routines and everything worked impeccably from the gas and electrical appliances to the sofa / bed conversion.
Perhaps its the extra 300mm in vehicle length or the straighter van wall sides but for some strange reason we find the new van to be much more spacious.


Our faithful 'Miss Tinkey' had given us six excellent years of camping joy before her untimely demise. After a hectic 4 months of evening and weekend head scratching, 'Miss Tinkey' lives on in our new 'Tinkey 2' and another page has opened and is about to be written in our book of adventures...............