hello happy campers!
i will try and keep this post short so you guys dont look away and not help a inspired young man!!
Im in the process of thinking about buying a mini bus and trying to convert it, and hope that you guys online can help. im thinkng of buying a transit mini bus, i av seen many ones on ebay. my price would be up to £1000, will this be enough to get me a nice running van? and is ebay a good sorce? if not is there any good places that sell second hand vans? are there any other mini buses that i should be looking at?
ok, hope ur still with me, lots of questions i know, but any anwser from someone with experience is soooooo apericated, as i dont know anyone how has converted a van.(spelling, sorry but not the best in the world!!)
im hoping to make this as cheap as possible, but not hold out on anything that is nessacery and worth it. is isulating the van/minibus a must? are materials expensive? and are they hard to fit. now, im a practical man, but with no real experience with tools, will it be hard to fit the insulation or are the professionals needed? i do have experienced mates an family, will that do? blind leading the blind comes to mine!
i think that is it and would love at least one reply from you lovely people of the campervan world. im sure i will be writting afew more posts... lol!
take it easy, peace be with all!
laurie husband from somerset
L,
Can't answer all your questions but glad to hear you are giving the conversion route a shot. Some thoughts tho' for what it's worth.....
£1,000 isn't a lot to spend. If you are going to do all the conversion work it is worth getting a good runner so I'd have thought at least double that. Although for parts and ease of fixing transits are hard to beat. No idea about Ebay, reckon it is the same as taking your chances with AutoTrader or an Auction - you could pick up a real bargain or a turkey. Unless you can test drive it and know what you're looking for I'd be tempted by the garage route. There must be somewhere near you that do secondhand vans, although minibuses might be specialist (you could try the local council). At least an ex-council minibus should have been reasonably well serviced....
As for insulation, not too hard to do or expensive (there are some other posts on this question). Whether you need it or not depends if you are planning on sleeping in the van overnight, somewhere coldish. If it is just for summer trips you could probably get away with it as well as keeping the rest of the conversion simple i.e. no heater.
Don't be put off tho' give it a go.
R
www.preloved.com is not too bad, but the search facilities are a bit pants!