The Van.

And so began the search for the van.

We had loads things to take into consideration, firstly the number of vehicles we own. Kerry needs her car for her work, and I need transport if for nothing else than to get the kids around to football and stuff. I had a Land Rover which was useful for work and I also have a motorbike. If we were going to get a campervan, I was going to have to sell the car and use the van as my main means of transport with the kids after our trip. For day to day nipping around I could use the bike so economy didn't really matter too much (and anyway, I was already running an old 2.5 ltr diesel Discovery which are not renound for their economy, so a similar sized beast wouldn't be too much of a shock).

So it had to be small enough to use reguarly, but spacious enough to accommodate us comfortably when we went away. As we were planning lots of time on the road, we were adamant that the rear seating had proper seatbelts for the kids. Lots of motorhomes and conversions have bench seating in the rear with lap belts at best and we dont think they are safe enough for our precious cargo. There were plenty of motorhomes on the market, but all seemed to big and ungainly for what we wanted. To suit our needs we decided that a van conversion would be best for us.

However the van conversions available at the time were either converted to suit motorcross and had done hundreds of thousands of miles, or had been converted for retired couples and were only set up to house two people comfortably. So then we looked at converting a van ourselves, the advantage being that we could build it exactly to our required spec.

But this was going to take time and money and I have never done anything like that before. Undeterred by this and in order to satisfy our need for proper seating in the rear, we had just about settled on converting an old minibus. We could remove some of the rear seats and leave the number we needed and convert the new space into whatever configuration we wanted. It was a good plan, but we still needed to find a suitable base vehicle. We also toyed with loads of designs for the van, how the beds should be made up, electric supply, how it was heated, cooking needs and what cupboards and storage space we needed..

In the end it was Kerry who had by far the best idea for a layout. It was exactly what we needed, but was basic and so would be easier to construct. We didnt want to give up valuable space for a toilet or shower, something that would be used rarely if ever. And anyway, most of the places we plan to stay at have facilities we can use. So with the design in mind we both trawled Ebay in the hope of finding the right van to convert. We found a couple of possibles, low 'ish' mileage minibusses for sale in the North East at a price that would allow some budget left over to complete the conversion. I quickly phoned both of the owners to arrange viewings, hoping that we had not been beaten to them. But unfortunately both owners were away at the time and viewings could not be made until a couple of days later. We were disappointed, but this delay was to prove to be to our advantage.

While waiting to view the vans, I still looked through the long list of vans and campers on Ebay, just browsing really, perhaps looking for good design ideas that we could use on our van. And then all of a sudden there she was. Right in front of me on the pages of Ebay. An already self build converted ex-police riot van in almost the exact design that Kerry had thought of. Low mileage (70,000 which is nothing for a Mercedes which still fetch £12,000 with 250,000 on the clock). Forward facing seating with 3 point belts for 5 (and spare seats to make an eight seater if required). Medium wheel base, night heater, fixed upper bunk beds for the kids, a removeable main double bed, cooker and kitchen unit, fridge freezer and loads of storage compartments for our mountain of kit we take away with us. As well as the sales page, there was also a link to a video of the van posted on YouTube. It was brilliant and we fell in love with her there and then. As it was an ex-Police vehicle, it also had a very extensive service history, even down to when bulbs were changed!


It was exactly what we were after and meant we wouldn't need to spend time and money trying to do a conversion ourselves. The only problem, as far as I could see, was that the van was listed for sale in Dover, not exactly local! As there was no contact number, I quickly emailed the seller and as it was just what we wanted and needed (and us being us) we made an offer based on what we had seen on the internet (subject to the van being as described upon collection of course, we're not THAT stupid).

Fairly quickly, Gavin the owner got back to me and after some too-ing and fro-ing accepted our offer. Great news, unfortunately that was only half of the news.

Gavin, it turned out was a wealthy American businessman who owned and chartered out his own luxury catamaran yacht to other wealthy Americans. He took them on tours of the worlds oceans doing adventure sports, mainly parasurfing and paragliding, in unusual, far flung and exotic locations. After 13 years doing this, he and his partner had tired of the lifestyle somewhat and wanted to tour Europe, find a land base and set up a proper photography studio. Gavin's partner had started to make a name for herself globally in the adventure sports photography community, but was limited to what she could do while at sea. 

While in India, Gavin had enlisted the help of his friend, to take over as captain of the catamaran. He and his partner then flew to Glasgow where they bought the recently converted camper and embarked on a 5000 mile tour around Europe. Eventually they found the place they wanted to live, and bought a house. The trouble for us was that this was in Marbella (Spain) and the van was parked in his driveway! That was certainly a bit further to collect than Dover!

This was all part of Gavin's plan though. He had listed the van as in Dover as because the van was registered as a UK vehicle, it was far easier for him to drive to the UK and sell it rather than import it to spain and try to sell a right hand drive vehicle to a local.

The plan changed slightly to make Gavin's trip easier. He drove to Santander and got the ferry to Portsmouth. He needed a day or two in England to get some jobs done on the van. A few small niggles needed sorting and he also wanted to get the van taxed and tested and then it was ready for me to collect.

I chose to fly from Newcastle to Southampton as it was £30 cheaper than the train and about 5 hours faster and Gavin kindly met me at the airport. I have to say I was nervous waiting for him to arrive. We had spent a lot of time finding the van, sorting insurance quotes and spending money on travel. I just hoped the van wasnt a complete duffer when he arrived so it was with utter relief when he appeared around the corner in what appeared to be the van in very good order.


We had a test drive and found a car park where Gavin showed me all the bits and bobs. The deal was sealed as the van had lived up to and even exceeded all expectations. Hard cash was handed over, the V5 signed and paperwork completed and that was that. I dropped Gavin back at the station and then had an enjoyable drive back to Newcastle in our new van. 


I'm glad to say the family were all as happy as I was with the van when I got home, thankfully. So here she is:

View of the kitchen from the bed

 Dining area

Kitchen

 View from rear showing bed and upper bunks

One of the expected views on holiday!!

So that's how we got the van. Since owning it and in preparation for our trip I have had it fully serviced and replaced all oils and lubricants. I have also had a full brake strip down check, and all the tyre's scrutinised by the garage to make sure they are A1. I also noticed a bit of a squeak from the back wheel, so had the bearings checked and the drive axle's resealed. At the same time the rear diff oil was also replaced, just to be sure.


We added a commercial roof-rack, so that we can safely carry the kayaks on our trip, and also a roof box, for storage of dirty/wet kit. This is how it looks now:

I also jumped through hoops with DVLA to change the van as it was registered as a "Private HGV". I wanted it registered as a "Motor Caravan" to enable me to get cheaper insurance, drive faster on dual carriageways and get it MOT'd the same as a car. This meant sending off an amended V5 with a covering letter, a full 'tech spec' of the van (including details about bed sizes, cooker fixings and water storing capability to name a few) and approx 20 large glossy colour photos of the van inside and out with descriptions. This was so an engineer could assess the van and decide if it fell within the bracket for classification as a "Motor Caravan". After a tense 5 weeks, the V5 came back fully amended as we wanted. Happy days.


So she's good to go. We have taken her up the Northumbrian costal route and back. We have also taken her camping in the Lake District for a weekend and I have also been to Pwllheli camping for 3 nights whilst working down there, so she has had a few decent runs out. She drives like a dream, is comfy as heck for driver and passengers and also is quite good on fuel economy (doesn't say much for my old Discovery that I am happy with the fuel consumption of a 2.7 ltr twin rear wheel van!!)


Next week she's getting the full treatment with the hoover and the soapy sponge, and will be packed up with all the kit ready to go for departing one week on Tuesday.


The next blog in a few days will give more details on our itinary. I know these first few blogs have been quite long winded, I promise the ones on the road will be short and sweet, hopefully with some good pics as we go (fingers crossed for wireless in some of the holiday locations or we're buggered!)


Until next time. Oh and remember - Never stop exploring!


Chris