And so the Van

Our current VW Transporter T5 van is getting a little long in the tooth so we have recently bought a 2014 model that we are converting.

 The old van

 Seating arrangements

 The hob and sink

 Loads of storage

 One of the beds

The old one has served us well as a weekender / day van. Based on 2.5 tdi 130 bhp it would cruise at 70mph at 2000 revs and deliver around 33mpg. With cruise control it was effortless to drive. We've done over 100,000 miles in it with trips to the Alps and Scotland every year.

When we converted it we put in hob, sink, auxiliary diesel heater, cupboards, rear single passenger sits that convert to beds, front swivels, leisure battery etc. The configuration meant hat we could still carry 8x4 sheets of plasterboard and 3.6m lengths of timber down the middle. The base of the rear seats were steel lockers that could be padlocked to make two large secure stores for those remote spots when you leave the van for 2-3 days trip to the mountains. 

The new van will have all these plus fridge and pop-top. The pop-top will have a bed so in effect it will be 4 berth. The fridge will run from 12v leisure battery backed up with solar charger - we'll also put in an electrical hookup with battery charger and 300w inverter.

The new base van is a VW  Transporter T5 2.0 tdi 140 bhp highline bluemotion (common rail engine). It comes with colour coded bumpers, tailgate, cruise control, air con, sat nav, bluetooth etc.