Well you know, best laid plans and all that…..
…..2020 hasn’t been a great year so far. As usual, we had a plan for the year involving backpacking and cycling trips as well as some campervannig trips in our trusty NV200. Usual stuff, all exciting, and planning to start Van#2 project much later in the year
But the coronavirus hitting China and Asia has forced the cancellation of the backpacking trip as we were flying into Shanghai – and so that puts an end to backpacking in Asia in 2020….
And Mel has an ongoing foot injury which has ruled out any biking or other expedition type trips for the year, and even preventing lots of UK “few days away” trips. Could be worse, but is a pain in the arse foot.
So to keep us busy, and to give us more “lounging type” campervan trips, rather than “activity type” the NV is so good at, we’ve brought forward our Van#2 campervan build and have just ordered a new van to convert
Its a MY20 Fiat Ducato Sportivo “special edition”, which is a 3.5T MH2 (L2H2) MWB 160ps ducato with lots of standard toys (cruise/AC/leather wheel; plush headrests; camera; etc). We’ve added heated seats; folding mirrors; seat boxes; shelf; airbags and mud & snow tyres along with a few other things, and the MY20 sees some other updated features (7″ screen and media upgrade etc)
No idea when its due as it had to go in as a special order (on paper rather than Fiat “system”), but now its in process means when sitting around we can hit google/ebay and get even more stuff ordered ready for the build
The special edition is black and red, so The A Team springs to mind! Or, as its black and little and will live amongst lots of white compatriots – it’ll be like the little black sheep! Quite apt…
Anyway, the CAD plans are pretty much complete, and as we always say…. How hard can it be…?!
Just discovered your site after much web searching and looking at camper vans, and it’s very helpful. I plan to build a van based on an MWB ducato. Good compromise between living space and parking in the UK.
Your design is the best I’ve seen in addressing the sitting/sleeping vs storage space for bikes etc. I believe that a garage and shower room are essential but most commercial designs combine this with a fixed bed which limits living space and means you have to sit in the driving seats rather than ‘lounge’ on long seats.
I would go with your design but unfortunately I will need to access the van from the rear. My car port is covered on three sides, so difficult to access through the side door when parked.
Have been thinking about a design where the seats/ bed are in the rear and can be repositioned to form a garage (or not) as needed. Also wondering whether to go with the traditional toilet and shower room, or a narrow shower with removable porter potty to save space.
Could I ask what CAD package you used for the design?
Good luck with the build. I will be following with great interest.
Hi. CAD is Sketchup – 2017 version so laptop based not web. Still available on their site. the van was an existing model I imported (dimensionally correct). Porta poti can work well – our loo in this is a c200s which is actually quite small. But is expensive in comparison. If you are not on it, look at sbmcc forum. Its a paid forum but guests allowed 10 posts – more good ideas there than any other site. You could do what you say and have rear lounge and fold up the ends of the seats for a garage. Bear in mind the wheel arches take a lot of space…. All vans a compromise and everyone is unique! No right answer.
We’ve 90%+ of the parts already – but the van is delayed – was due to be built last week but the SEVEL factory has been closed due to the virus, so probably 2m late, so may not get it till July/Aug…. Who knows!