VW T5.1 4x4 Off-grid Camper Conversion - Eastern Europe Road Trip Content

[task]

Encouraged by @TheDean thread I thought I would post up my journey in converting a Vw Kombi van into a campervan. I will apologise in advance for the lack of photos, my phone camera died just before the conversion started and I was waiting to buy a new one after Xmas.

Firstly, a bit of background;

We've been camping/caravanning/travelling for many years, trailer tents and various caravans have been the majority of this along with road trips that involve staying in hotels. My favourite being down to the Black Sea in Romania and back in the CSK I restored several years ago.

A few years ago we visited Ireland and toured all round the coast, towing a caravan with a different Range Rover Classic I've been restoring. This was a great holiday but very tedious dragging the caravan that distance and being tied to campsites. We tend to favour cheap sites with no facilities and I've always wanted to wild camp which isn't something really possible with a Caravan. We had also been exploring the possibility of a Eastern Europe road trip again and would be keen to wild camp where possible to keep costs down.

I'd always discounted campervans after watching them struggle driving on wet grass, I was aware you could get a 4motion T5/6 but thought these would be too small, I did look at and test drive a MWB 4x4 Transit (awful) and a LWB 4x4 Sprinter (expensive and rotten). After further investigation I decided we could probably make a VW camper work, but it would need to be LWB and 4x4. It wasn't until last June when displaying the MGB at Derby County Show I got chatting to one of the sales guys from VW Commercial and explained what I was looking for. He suggested I come down and check out a van they had just taken in PX. We took the plunge and I drove away with a van and some doubt that I was doing the right thing!

The van shortly after collection, spec was;

LWB 140 6 speed 4Motion Highline Kombi 29k miles
Twin Slider
Front and Rear parking sensors
Full MFD Dash
Bluetooth
Factory tow kit
Cruise
Air Con

Being a Kombi it already had side and rear glass in the doors. I used it like this for a couple of months to get a feel for the vehicle, I also had a "last" caravan holiday before selling it to fund the conversion.

 

[sovietspybob]

I was hoping you'd post a thread about this, always love these.

I've been thinking about doing a conversion for ages myself so always interested to see how others approach it.

 

[task]

Whilst on holiday we spent a week in Bristol visting friends, Bristol has a great campsite which is a short walk up the river to the centre. There were a couple of conversion companies around that I lined up visits with to get an idea of how they do things and to choose a roof, probably the hardest decision of the whole build was picking a poptop.

One stop on our converter tour was "Majestic Wood Design", a cabinet maker I had seen on facebook and reached out to see if we could visit and check out his work, Pete welcomed us down and offered us a coffee. A quick 5 min turned into around 3 hours of lengthy conversion discussion, some invaluable advice and some time taken to pick cabinets. Pete showed us all the colours under the sun and advised on colour combo, he then tailored the cabs to our needs. I wanted them slightly shorter so I could move my seat all the way back, we needed to allow for the twin slider and add a back to the cabinets along the door. We added an extra table and some more shelves. Pete then agreed a collection date of around 3 months time.

With cabinets agreed we decided on an Austops roof, after several recommendations and checking them out at a different converter, I booked in at their HQ in Selby to get the roof fitted for 4 weeks time. Things were coming together!

Now the actual van-work could start. Kombi seats and flooring was stripped out and sold and a new floor was laid;

This was done with plywood batons stuck down using sika adhesive followed by a aluminium bubble wrap membrane and a 3 piece ply floor screwed down to the batons, keeping the joints for the floor under the cabinet run/bed area.

An extra window was added on the N/S/R and a fake window to the O/S/R

The van was then sound proofed with a layer of silentcoat over all surfaces followed by a layer of closed-cell foam aluminium backed insulation, topped up with recycled bottle insulation and then sealed with a membrane of foil bubble wrap. All holes and edges were taped up using foil tape before being covered in a light stretch carpet.

In hindsight this would have been better left to after poptop fitting but hasn't made a massive difference, we left extra carpet at the top to take the poptop into account.

Before the poptop fitting date I decided to lower the van whilst the conversion was going on so it would fit inside the workshop and onto the ramp when the roof was on, I used some sportline springs from VW which dropped it around 30mm, just enough if you also air down the tyres!

 

[task]

I was hoping you'd post a thread about this, always love these.

I've been thinking about doing a conversion for ages myself so always interested to see how others approach it.

Thanks, hopefully this will be entertaining

It's been a fun project to complete, a bit novel to not spend 60% of the project welding and 30% covered in old oil, although there is some of that later!

 

[task]

After a week with Austops up in Selby I collected the van and had a play with our new roof;

We the laid the obligatory Altro flooring.

I then got a message from Pete at Majestic Wood Design to say our cabinets were ready, I also ordered a CRX-50 Waeco 12v fridge and a hob/sink unit with the cabinets.

The cabinets are a slim design chosen to work with a 130CM wide bed rather than the normal narrow bed, one of the criteria we decided on was not compromising on sleeping space and the 130 RIB gives a good sized bed and keeps some storage.

A quick jaunt from Derby to Bristol one evening after work where Pete was kind enough to wait for us and the cabinets were home, fitting could begin. Bit low on photos at this point but the bed and cabinets were installed.

The next stage we decided to tackle was the water system. There were two main sticking points with this, we wanted to a good size water tank for fresh and we also wanted hot water for showers (more on this later). The usual method for fresh tanks on a T5 are either;

• Infront of spare wheel - can't do as there's a diff in the way
• Over the rear wheel arch - Can't do with slimine cabs
• Inside the O/S wall - Can't fit with a twin slider
• Under the van benath drivers seat - this area was earmarked for a diesel heater
• Under the van in the sill - this would only give 20L

We ended up choosing to install a 60L fresh water tank inside the van underneath the bed, this was a compromise of storage space but gave us enough water to last a good while off grid and then fitted the smaller tank for grey waste under the van in the sill. We chose to put the tank filler in the rear of the cabinets rather than cut holes in the side of the van, which was another criteria "no holes for services in side of van".

The tank was wrapped in insulation to prevent condensation and inlet/exit/overflow spigots added. Inlet was plumbed to the filler in the rear of the cabs.

 

[task]

The tank was secured front and back with metal straps and then secured with a strap in the centre

There was enough space behind the tank to mount the sureflo pump so I made a frame and attached the pump.

The kickboards for the seat/bed are attached using magnets which makes this easily accessible when required.

With the water system underway the next difficult decision needed to be taken, how to get hot water. As one of the criteria was "off grid" we discounted the mains voltage systems. I didn't like the idea of the calorifier systems that heat up from the vehicle cooling system as these require a further large tank and also to run the engine to produce hot water. Gas systems would require a much larger gas tank than we had planned, a flue and also water storage.

We ended up using a Webasto Thermotop C300 system, often fitted as heaters in yachts and narrow boats. This has a small pump that circulates water through a plate heat exchanger and then through a radiator/blower box giving hot water ~60degC and up to 5KW of heat, should we ever need that much. The blower box is controlled by a thermostat which will switch off the fans when the set temperature is reached.

The heater burner was fitted underneath the vehicle in the factory standard location and plumbing brought into the cavity below the drivers seat base, here we mounted the plate heat exchanger and the blower box. Blower box was the piped to outlets facing into the cabin, these can be turned to face either the interior, the roof bed or the cab depending on requirements. There is also a small header tank required for the heater which is mounted behind the drivers seat and insulated.

The first two photos show the early installation of the setup, it was later refined by moving the fridge vent and adding insulation along with a cover.

We are currently trying a different outlet type which should offer less restriction than the black webasto ones. Ideally we may later move one of the vent to exit at the rear of the vehicle or add a second radiator, however, on a recent trip of around -1 overnight in high wind/snow the van kept a constant 19deg by the bed overnight so it may not be required.

The rest of the plumbing was installed using push-fit connectors. An external shower point was added behind the O/S sliding door, hot and cold added to the sink and provision was added to drain the system down should frost be expected and we are not camping.

The other outlet is an external gas point and there is also a 12v outlet fitted but not shown. In the summer I plan to set up an "external" kitchen on the O/S of the vehicle when camping to keep heat/smell out of the living area.

 

[Thekwango]

love it......i really wish i had the skills, time and money to do such a conversion. good luck.

 

[Amp34]

Looks nice.

But I have a question... you bought an AWD van and then lowered it?! Just for getting it into the workshop and lifting it later?

 

[MrKnifey]

Why didnt you just run the diesel supply from the vans tank? Id never ever have a aux tank inside of the van! Diesel is the enemy lol

 

[task]

Looks nice.

But I have a question... you bought an AWD van and then lowered it?! Just for getting it into the workshop and lifting it later?

Yes, it wouldn't go in with the standard suspension and the roof fitted, It's back on standard springs now. I'll post more progress shortly

Why didnt you just run the diesel supply from the vans tank? Id never ever have a aux tank inside of the van! Diesel is the enemy lol

It does pull from the vehicle diesel tank with a pipe slightly shorter than the vehicle pickup so it always leaves around 1/4 of a tank of diesel. That's a header tank for the heating/hot water system in the photos, helps remove air, stops burner hunting and allows for instant hot water, looks pink because it contains anti-freeze.

 

[task]

We wanted the van to primarily be used off-grid but with the option to take a hookup if it was available, solar to charge the battery when parked up for several days and the ability to charge from the vehicle alternator when driving.

I managed to fit a 110AH battery under the passenger seat along with a DC-DC split charge system, sadly I couldn't fit the second 110AH battery under the seat so this is placed under the bed. Not ideal having a long cable run but doesn't seem to have given any issue.

A passenger seat swivel was added and I installed a 3-stage heated seat kit to the front seats, one thing sadly missing from the original specification.

12V system control is handled by a CBE PC100 which switches all 12v devices except the fridge (wired straight to battery to mitigate voltage drop). This also provides internal/external temp, battery voltage and water tank levels for fresh and waste.

CBE provide a modular 240-12v battery charger which we used to charge from 240v, the hookup point was installed under the bonnet to keep with the theme of not cutting holes in the body and a consumer unit installed under the seat.

Dimmable LED spots were added, recessed LED lights under the kitchen shelving and flexible LED reading lights in the rear. A selection of 12/240/USB sockets were added around the van.

A 150W rear-exit semi flexible solar panel was mounted on the poptop roof, cable brought down through the rear of the vehicle to a MPPT controller mounted in a rear cupboard. This keeps the cable hidden when the poptop is down and doesn't add much to the overall height.

 

[task]

I noticed the van spinning front wheels when pulling out of wet junctions, something it hadn't done before and something that shouldn't happen with the haldex system. I plugged the van in and got a typical haldex pump failure error. Typically the vehicle warranty had expired 2 weeks ago!

I popped the van up on the ramps, used VCDS to turn the haldex pump on and listened. Nothing. Gave the pump a quick whack with the thick end of a screwdriver and it sprung to life. Ordered a new pump, filter and oil and fitted them, error codes cleared and back to normal.

The pump gauze was choked with sludge as was the filter, which VW don't actually list a serviceable part but Land Rover/Ford/Volvo do.

With the "underneath jobs" hopefully complete I decided to refit the original springs. I had previously fed the build code into a online decoder and worked out the van had come from factory with springs uprated for a higher weight capacity. I had been looking at lift springs but decided to try and keep the height down for the moment.

With the original springs fitted I could then invest in some new rubber, I went with an oversize tyre to give around 1.5cm of extra ground clearance, another reason for not choosing a lift kit just yet.

The General Grabber AT3 tyres give good road manners and seem pretty good offroad, it snowed the day of fitting so I got a chance to test them out in the white stuff. They're also much quieter than the goodyear tyres that came off.

 

[Rroff]

The workmanship on those cabinets looks really good as far as can be seen in the photos.

 

[task]

VanX blackout curtains were added to the windows and the two tables mounted on the inside of the rear doors

a multi-rail was added to the passenger side and then an ARB awning mounted

And that brings the build roughly up-to-date

After several shakedown runs, the second of which saw gale force winds followed by minus temperature and snow, several tweaks have been made with more in the pipeline. There are two further trips planned before we set off for a month through Hungary/Romania/Croatia so hopefully we can get it all sorted by then!

 

[task]

The workmanship on those cabinets looks really good as far as can be seen in the photos.

The cabinets are fantastic. They were cut and made by "Majestic Wood Design" https://www.facebook.com/MajesticWoodDesign/

The time Pete took to talk to us both about options, colours and designs was invaluable at the start of the build and the build of the cabinets was tailored to our requirements and equipment so there was no need to modify or compromise when fitting hob/fridge/sink or getting it to fit with the twin slider. He even assembled the cabinets for no extra charge so all we needed to do was collect and fit in place. If I do another conversion then I won't hesitate to use Pete for the cabinets again.

 

[TheBrooder]

Superb job!

We're looking into getting a transit this year and converting it I'm thinking about a LWB with a high roof as I'm 6ft5. After seeng your T5 though, I'm quite tempted.

Keep us updated on your trips year, lots of photos!

 

[TheDean]

The cabinets are fantastic. They were cut and made by "Majestic Wood Design" https://www.facebook.com/MajesticWoodDesign/

The time Pete took to talk to us both about options, colours and designs was invaluable at the start of the build and the build of the cabinets was tailored to our requirements and equipment so there was no need to modify or compromise when fitting hob/fridge/sink or getting it to fit with the twin slider. He even assembled the cabinets for no extra charge so all we needed to do was collect and fit in place. If I do another conversion then I won't hesitate to use Pete for the cabinets again.

The cabinets look great.

I'm now wondering if I'd be better getting individual companies to do sections of the van, rather than handing it over to a 'one stop shop' like Vanworx?

 

[task]

Superb job!

We're looking into getting a transit this year and converting it I'm thinking about a LWB with a high roof as I'm 6ft5. After seeng your T5 though, I'm quite tempted.

Keep us updated on your trips year, lots of photos!

Thanks The Transit-connect is a great van, had I not wanted 4x4 I probably would have gone for one.

Ferry booked this evening so it's happening, I'll be sure to bang up photos

 

[task]

The cabinets look great.

I'm now wondering if I'd be better getting individual companies to do sections of the van, rather than handing it over to a 'one stop shop' like Vanworx?

Depends what you're after and how much you want to faff about. Some companies will only do the full conversion whilst others might be happy to just do the insulation and lining/roof or windows. You could also specify that the company uses a roof, cabinets or other items you want. Some may refuse but some will be happy to facilitate, no harm in asking!

 

[MrKnifey]

My bad, looked like a red diesel tank!

I use Pete as well when we do the odd occasional camper conversion. We try not to do them often though as they are time consuming!