Here's a bit (well quite a lot) of an intro .....

We are UK based, have a few carsand amongst them was a 2000 Grand Voyager 3.3 LE which We bought a couple of years ago as the 'sensible family vehicle' whilst I ran about mainly in my Alfa GTV V6.

Times and circumstances changed and my other half (due to her health) felt that she could no longer drive the Voyager safely and that she wanted a smaller car. I (reluctantly) sold the Alfa with the intention of buying a VW camper for the summer (I already own a VW Beetle which I'm currently restoring) so we bought her another car and whilst I was emptying two years of her stuff out of the Voyager and preparing that for sale I had one of those 'lightbulb moments' - it's like a barn in here with the seats out, rather than sell it, we could convert it to a weekend camper van.

The seed was sown, now all we needed was a plan

I set about it with a tape measure, and a sketch pad this is what happened...

centre seats removed but stock back seat still in place - laid flat for dog transport (we have three of them, a greyhound, an Afghan Hound and a Bedlington whippet)

As you all know, the interior looks a lot like this.




Anything I did would have to be in my spare time and the van would need to be fully use-able as my car and for ferrying the dogs around every day during the build - no pressure there then

I've not detailed the entire build in photos, but hopefully enough to give you an idea of what went on...



First stop was to decide on the location for the leisure battery - behind the passenger seat was the favourite as it would be on the opposite side to the kitchen/storage and between the axles to keep weight distribution about right. As an aside, the weight of the units we built (including the ply bed base and full gas/water bottles) are only about 5kg heavier than the standard seats we have removed. The battery obviously adds to this weight but doesn't have any noticeable affect on the van's 'rather interesting' handling



A quick rough template was made for the kitchen area to work out mounting points and door opening - the water tanks are going to be located under the sing and only accessible through the sliding door



Using 1/4" ply and some thin pine battening the kitchen unit and main electrical fittings were added. An RCB to use on caravan/camping sites with access to mains electricity was of prime importance as the van will also double as a mobile office for me.



side panels measured and fitted using the old speaker mount as a fixing point for the new woodwork.



same for the other end - making the template to match the unit into the car's trim - attached to the bodywork here by an existing trim mount


tbc.....

 

cont'd....



rear half of the bed already made and mounted, work started on the seat base




Quite a lot has happened by this pic which was really a trial fitting of the bed ...The side units are carpeted and trimmed witha plastic edging (temporarily as I intend to replace that with an aluminium extrusion in the near future and to fit a door over the electrics cupboard. the sink is in place and plumbed in - we have on board (10l) waste and fresh water tanks. Later external water fittings will be added if we find that we need them. All the added 12v electrics are complete with the leisure battery charging via a split charge relay.




Finished enough to take it out for a weekend - we are rather pleased with the outcome

Not photographed

Changing the standard hi-fi for a JVC DVD deck and ripping out/replacing the original speakers - a complete pain in the **** job due to the original install.

Fitting external 240v hook-up connection, drilling gas drops

I've still got a few jobs to do and a few bits to tidy up but everything worked as expected and we have a nice weekend van that hasn't cost us a fortune.

other notes....

2 of the original rear aircon vents now exit into the area under the sink - that keeps our fresh water nice and cool if we have the tank full whilst driving

The entire process only needed (so far) five holes drilling into the van - two to secure the battery box, one for the battery vent, one for the gas drop and one to secure the kitchen unit to the floor - everything else uses existing fittings which have been adapted.

The original centre seat can still be used if we need to carry a rear seat passenger and the bed/rear seat can be removed in a couple of minutes - allowing us to add another seat if required as I've left the seat belt mountings untouched on the passenger side of the car.

Total cost?

A Voyager that cost us £300 as Annie's (my long suffering other half) parents gave us the money for it as a present - we had paid a deposit on the £3k forcourt price and were going back to pick it up a few days later. Her Dad gave us an envelope full of cash to (in his words) 'save us going overdrawn'

DVD player/hi-fi about £200 as we got an ex demo JVC head unit (£80) and trade prices on the speakers/wiring/adaptor plate fascia etc

Leisure battery - £90

Cooker, sink, pump, water tanks etc £60

Wiring, chargers, 12v lighting £75

Timber, screws, glue etc just short of £100

carpet, curtains and other materials (including for the bed base) £50

other bits and bobs - probably about £100.


We've still got to buy the foam for the bed (we used the cushions from our four seater sofa at the weekend) get the sliding door windows tinted and finish a few bits off.

My original budget for the project was set at £1000 so we are still within that limit and very happy that we've given the Voyager a new lease of life

 

What a great idea. Looks great. Well done.

 

cheers Ste, it certainly makes for a practical weekend van

 

Sure does. Very tempted to do something like that myself once I get my engine sorted.

 

I thought I'd resurrect this thread with a bit of an update. We bought a drive away awning for the van which really completes the job

 

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