So as a few of you have perhaps seen, I have bought an old 2005 Vivaro van with the idea of making myself a simple camping truck. I must really be old. Back in the day I would have thought of this as my shagging wagon. Paradise lost! Anyhow picked this one out of the many available due to the rather rare side door. I've never seen nor heard of a Vivaro which could open up quite like this one. One look a the pic on a FB Marketplace forsale ad and I immediately called the seller to arrange a viewing. But really I knew that provided it ran, I would buy it and take care of any repairs. I love quirky vehicles and this is certainly one. It also was cheap, and 135K miles, plus the inside carpeted. After a quick ride around the block I struck a deal with the fellow who only came down £300 despite my best efforts. He also said that his phone was blowing up with people asking about it. This was true as whilst we signed papers and I hand over the readies, the phone rang several times. I was pleased to find a diesel heater, solar panel & leisure battery, side bars, double gas burner & gaz bottle and a loud stereo which weren't mentioned in the original ad. There was also a pretty tired & poorly made bed and cooking unit which are now removed. Plus a filthy floor and an unkempt air... The first job was removing all the crap. This week I have made a myself a bed which reduces down to a small sofa. Today's job was to sort out the floor. I peeled back the disgusting lino to reveal a ply floor. Unfortunately as the door seals were not in place & a tie down bracket had been removed without filling the hole, some of this was stinking and rotten due to water ingress. I swear the van shivered with delight as I removed all this mess. Its simple enough to sort out and with a jig saw didn't take too long. I then went to the flooring store and picked up something brighter and clean. I paid half price for cash and left pleased. I've never put a floor down of this type, but it was fairly easy with a Stanley knife and lashings of spray glue. I added the check plate strips to make a good durable access and clean look. Incidentally any glue over spray is simply cleaned off using white spirit with zero effort. Feeling good and making progress, so very happy.
awesome side door. get those drive away awning strip kits and boom. but i've got to admit tho jez, the first thing i thought when seeing it was Art Grippledick, and his big bag of sweeties.
Good point. There is some insulation, but certainly not on the scale that many home grown campervans have. I'm not too focused on this right now as the carpet lining is already in place and I'm an adherent to the if its not broke don't fix it philosophy. My plan is to test out the van in sunny climes and see how hot it gets which will be a good indicator of what is under the carpet without tearing it all out... The other reason is I am a van insulation denier -to a degree. Simply put I don't believe at all in the vapor barrier idea. Its an impossible dream in a van. All the single pane glass which is 30% of the van is going to have condensation and heat loss regardless of how much R19 I stuff into the panels. With this in mind I think a proactive solution to the cold is a really powerful diesel heater which can presumably overcome any fears of the colder weather and its already installed. That said Arctic Adventures in a Vivaro are not planned as an installment in this thread (though that could change). I see this position as open to change based on actual experiences of using the van. All and any comments & advice welcome, especially personal, anecdotal ones.
Whilst waiting for the rain to stop, I've searched the tinterweb and it seems these vans were originally made for Benjys Sandwich chain based around London & the south east. Anyone ever seen one back in the day? The company sold out to an asset stripping hedge fund who collapsed it into massive debt and bankrupted (as a dry run for owning a water company?) it after purchasing for £40million. Press reports of the time say that 100 vans were ordered with a further 400 planned. No idea how many were actually produced though.
FB market place is a real gem sometimes. Picked up a matching passenger seat for £30 and a rotating/ swivel base for another £30. Busily finishing the cooker stand today. Its interesting that provided you have: A permanent cooker with 2 burners or more At least two windows in the living area on one side excluding the cab A permanent awning installation A separate door to access the living area A storage area Motor caravan style graphics on the exterior (both sides) You can apply to have the van re rated as a motor camper van and use the higher speed limits as a car rather than a goods van! Worth doing as anything that helps avoiding speed cam tickets is always a good thing.
And maybe use it to do tip runs if your local council considers it suitable. I’ve yet to find this out, the council website is pretty vague as to what they consider each type of vehicle is acceptable
Dropped the van off at the mechanics for full service, and a thorough check over -plus new MOT. Its good to have a day off from wood work!
There's a lot of jobs that need to be done and the MOT is dependent on many of them being done first. Plus my mate -who is doing the work- always has a few vehicles on the go simultaneously, so I don't expect to get the van back for a while yet. Fingers crossed that it will come back with a clean bill of health. I'll let you know as soon as I do!
Called by my mechanic's house -where all the magic happens- and was very happy to see things taking shape. I now have the auxiliary lighting gantry on the bow. Also the vaguely cloudy headlamps have disappeared and some nice clear (preloved) ones have taken their place. A similar transference happened to the old bonnet which has now taken involuntary redundancy (much cheaper than a respray). The electrickery spaghetti mound has been reduced to a format that should be both serviceable and reliable. The solar panel on the roof is churning out the volts even on a dull and grey day here in the north. And so many more projects in motion! This guy really knows his stuff and has a good eye for what is practical and genuinely useful. Paying the bill for this will be a genuine pleasure, as it always is when the work exceeds your requirements and was done willingly with innovation added from a font of knowledge. He worked all weekend FFS! Lots more to come.
Yes, great bedding is an luxuriant pleasure. (@Ducbird) The diesel heater (thats being installed as we speak) also comes highly recommended -any experience of them?
No, only that they were fitted to trucks with sleeper cabs. To stop drivers leaving their engine running during the night.
Good to know. What would you consider a safe amount of time to use one, powered by a strong battery? To say I am clueless is an understatement; I never knew these even existed until two weeks ago!
