Building a rugged campervan
 

so the last couple of months i've been saving to purchase a vehicle to convert into a go anywhere campervan and with a nice tax refund i should be able to buy the base vehicle in about a months time, not a huge budget, looking at a max of $10000 on the vehicle then up to 5k to kit it out doing all the work myself (have abit of experience doing fitouts :))

Anyone want to help me with any tips or recommendations they might have, be good if anyones done the same kind of thing?

Vehicle wise am looking at the 4wd delica van as my first choice, but am getting tempted by patrols, landcruisers and holden jackaroos.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cl_6wXH3Ae...amp+set+up.JPG

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_8sh0-Mrr-...per+inside.JPG

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c9uYZUnVT6...er+van+bed.JPG

this is the kind of end result i want, hey a man can dream lol

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

Looks cool :thumbup:

We're on the hunt for a camper trailer. We've looked at some of the older ones and were thinking of restoring one but in the end figured it would be too much hassle and expense so have decided to look for a more modern one instead. Our ideal is a Jayco Swan Outback (like this) but the price for anything good is around $20k. Incredible really - apparently in the US a similar aged one costs a quarter of that.

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

feel your pain! was first off looking at caravans and camper trailers but they are shockingly expensive! i guess though once you make that initial investment you shouldn't lose much if you sell it... same thing struck me looking at campervans, even 1980s campers are going for 5k plus for a good one (not including dodgy backpacker vans) best value seemed to be buy something and do a good job converting it, won't lose no money if you do a good job.. going to get a tow bar motorbike carrier as well for a dirtbike :)

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

will you be using it to cook meth?

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

lol, you bring the methylamine and i'll bring the safety glasses

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

And the caravans are really badly laid out here. Most of them seem to be former grey nomad vans (sleeps only two) and don't have bathrooms which is a must if I'm going to take my wife off the beaten track. Motor homes seem to have the edge over caravans in that regard. I like the idea of a towbar motorbike carrier. A few weeks back I saw a late middle aged couple in a large motor home, towing behind them something like a smart car on a trailer and with a tinny on the trailer rack above the car. Add a motorbike and perhaps a couple of mountain bikes to that rig and it'll be just perfect! :thumbsup:

But in the meantime, I think it's a bit of a waiting game to get the right camper or caravan. The best value will probably an oldie that has been sitting unused and forgotten in a barn since almost new. Occasionally they come up on ebay/gumtree. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

That actually looks better than anything I've seen, in that kind of range, and I've been looking for a long while. Agree with Pauly re the Jayco Swans being the closest off the shelf towable compromise. I wonder if you can import the equiv from the US and get past all the red tape crap ? BTW Pauly 2 berth suits us fine... especially if it comes with more living area.

Pity it's not closer to my time to take off. Where do you live Bello ?

BTW heres a tip for cheap effective low wattage heating, I've been scouring the net for a while now looking for the best things to take along.... Batteries, solar, generators... that kind of thing.

http://negergy.com.au/products/energ...mer-mat-heater

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

Lots of hoops to jump through, but it looks doable. Not sure how the costs involved would be but how about kicking off your retirement with a European road trip in a motorhome for a year? After that you can bring it home to Australia as a personal import and then continue your travels here.

It's surprising the difference just keeping your feet warm makes. In Australia, we've rediscovered the joys of wearing slippers - not felt since my pre-central heating days in 1970s Britain. :lol:

Tip to new immigrants to Australia: Bring pairs of slippers ;)

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

Thats something worth thinking about Paulry. Thanks for the idea.

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

i'm in cobram victoria at the moment (scraping the ice off the car each morning at the moment haha) think paulry has the right idea for you ozzieeagle if you can do a year round europe, could even finish your trip off with a trip to asia by road and get a good cheaper deal shipping your camper to darwin, i reckon the money you'd save would net you a quarter of the cost of the year out in europe.

Been doing loads of research on solar for the camper at the moment, definately the way to go :)

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

Cobram looks like a great place to do some canoeing. :thumbup:

I'm in Canberra and we also have to scrape ice from the widescreens every morning. Expected to be -5 tonight. Looking back a few years, when our container arrived and we unpacked our stuff to find that the shipping people had packed our old ice scrapers, it was like "haha, what're we going to do with these then?" :rolleyes: We soon enough found out :o

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

Can't go off road, but you might be interested in my website when I drop round Australia for 9 months last year - in a 22 year old Toyota Hiace www.travelsroundoz.com | A Lap of the Map

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

How did you handle the ablutions. I've been looking at this side of things and worked out you can save a hell of a lot of money by forgetting having an inside toilet and shower. I always like to look at things like this as a possible bonus in asmuch as you maybe could do better spacewise and even comfort wise. Best I've come up with so far is a coleman hotwater pump/shower, runs on its own gas cylinder and two D size batteries, sitting in a large container that you stand in. Probably have a couple of those black solar shower affairs as well. The Toilet seat is just a collapsable disabled comode type affair, with a large type launtry bucket and lid underneath and maybe some crystal kitty litter, again utilsing the water container as holding the whole lot in. All of this contained in a collapsable decent sized ensuite tent.

At least you wont have to anticipate emptying out a whole heap of blue smelly chemicals at some far off unknown distant spot this way, and everything is dealt with there and then.

I think I'm going to have to use a Ute as a tug though with this method, just in case I can't dispose of the bucket there and then. Still thats not a huge sacrifice..... still not worked out motor home, camper van, or pop up/caravan yet. Depends on when we go and how much disposable at the time I guess.

The wife is a bucket and shovel girl from way back, being a bush Aussie and all... might try and refine her a bit.

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

We stayed mostly at caravan sites. We decided that if we changed the Hiace that we had already had for 6 years for something with toilet and shower, it was going to cost $40,000+ You can stay at a hell of a lot of $30 caravan sites before you start seeing any pay back on the $40K.

We did however carry a pop-up toilet tent and a small chemical toilet from Big W that we used very occasionally. The camper itself has 50 litre water tank and cold shower that pump out at the back. Other think is to get one of the camp showers that run off the 12volt in your car and a collapsible bucket. Fill these from streams and rivers for your shower, rather than using the clean tank drinking water.

Re: Building a rugged campervan
 

Great tip re the rivers and streams re shower water :thumbup:


Would you contemplate doing the trip again. ?