Frame Building For Potential Tour Van

We just picked up an Ex Royal Mail LDV Convoy in good working condition in hope to convert it into a band wagon for our European tour. Our idea is to build a frame splitting the rear compartment in half leaving enough room for equiptment storage below and sleeping/sitting and chilling out above. We then hope to fit two extra seats in the crew cab and then board this off so the back section is accesable only from the rear doors and not visable from the front windows. Above the crew cab we also plan to have boarded so there is more space to sleep however not to sit up. We have quite a limmited budget and need help on the following: -if we have an area to fit two lying down above the crew cab how will we do this and will we need wooden supports by the drver and passanger seats bearig in mind the roof of the van is fibre glass. -if we are insulating/plylinning the rear sleeping section how is it best to fit and where can i find an air vent. -are there laws on how much head room you need above fixed seats? (will we be able to have a section above the crew cab?) None of us have any experience in Converting vans so any links, tips or help will be much appreiciated. Thanks Pete - The Extinguishers

Hey Pete,

Can't answer all your questions but some thoughts are:

As far as I know there are no legal requirements for head space although for safety and comfort you want a bit of clearance (min 2"?). Best thing is to pick the tallest person likely to be driving, get them to sit in the seat and use a bit of plywood to test the effect of having a board above them at varying heights. Hopefully you should find an optimum for head clearance vs. sleeping area space and can use this to estimate where sleeping area should go.

Given the roof is fibre glass and the cab needs to be strong enough for the weight of 2 folk, I think you will need to support it from the floor. There are possibly options for suspending something from the sides of the cab but this would need welding and drilling and good knowledge of the van structure so as not to compromise it - probably best left to a professional. If you can have a look at what others have done e.g. lorry cabs and the like that might help.

For insulation see the section Fitting Insulation in a Campervan. With plylining, my boyfriend put vertical battens onto the side of the van (screwed into the metal with self tapping screws) and then the panels and units are screwed to the wood battens. This is so units and panels can be removed easily while the battens can stay fixed (you only want to be screwing into metal once).

One thing is to think about the whole weight issue - you don't want to have to drive round Europe at 40mph! All the materials used in converting plus your kit will add up. Any bed bases or struts will need to be reasonable thick/strong to take weight so wherever else you can, use minimal or thinner and lighter wood (and use the old climbers trick and cut holes in things where it doesn't matter to help reduce weight). The bed base in our van is 18mm ply but this is because it has to span quite a big gap. You could get away with 15mm with decent support.

For an air vent, just type "campervan air vent" into google and there are loads of options. A well stocked camping site will probably have one if there are any local to you. They might even be able to advise on how best to fit one.

Be really interested to know how the conversion goes if you could post some photos that would be good.

I had a quick look at your myspace site - good luck with the tour, I reckon you'll go down a storm.