Renault Trafic Van Camper Conversion

Hellooo! Its been a while! Since coming back from our first proper trip, we both rather got way laid with work. Kat has now started a new job and I was finishing the summer back at work. Despite not doing any trips, I have been using the van lots. Turns out its quite good on fuel, and the full tank (£90) I put in before our trip to the Isle of Wight is still going! Im only just down to quarter of a tank now. I have however made some improvements and additions, namely in some more tongue and groove wood to hide the metals parts of the van, and some lights. Here's a brief time-lapse of some of the improvements, with another VLOG in the making currently of all the little bits and bobs I ordered for the van whilst on holiday this month. Some more additions are my fruitful exhibits from the Southampton Boat Show, a Dryrobe car seat cover. Totally awesome and worth it for £22!! Current further plans include but are not limited to: An insulated curtain - to cut the l...

Just got back from the Isle of Wight, which was our first proper trip away with the van, being totally reliant on it. It was great, it worked like a dream, no breakdowns or any problems actually. Everything worked as it should, and the EGR blanking plate seems to have done the trick. She even coped well in a muddy field, and we did a considerable amount of driving around the island too. I won't bore you with the details on here as below is the video log of the trip, which will be much better than reading me ramble on here. We went to the Garlic Farm twice, as it rained, and we discovered our tent/awning was rubbish, as it broke, and it wasn't waterproof. We all took the thing down early in preparation for some ridiculous weather!

Since buying the van in January, there has been a wobble in the steering wheel when going around corners. After taking the van to Kwikfit (for convenience as there is one near my work), I was informed that I needed new CV Joints and tracking rod ends. I caved and let them install, for an outrageous £271!! The steering wobble got much better, but didn't totally go away, and I spent 6 months ignoring it whilst I fitted out the van, sorted the EGR valve, got it through and MOT, fixed the driveshaft seal, broke down in a McDonalds drive through, and much more. Starting to get expensive, but as I have started to use it more in preparation for our trips, I decided to get it looked at. My suspicion is the tracking needs doing, which my mobile mechanic has confirmed, but it also turned out some of my wheels are basically 50p shaped, definitely not round! To counteract that I have swapped the 50p shaped wheels with straighter ones, as I won't feel the rough edges on the back parti...

After my last post, I realised again we required more!! So I have made a basic shelf to go underneath the boxing in the corner of the roof that houses the electrics and the reverse camera wiring. Im holding it in place currently, but this is the rough gist. I will also be covering it in a remaining piece of tongue and groove wood that I have floating about so it matches the rest of the van. I have painted the inside with a product called Plastikote (also known as Plasti-dip elsewhere except note is cheaper on eBay and just as good). Its a spray on vinyl wrap, and has worked well elsewhere covering parts of the plastic trim in the van. The beauty is if you don't like it or want a change of colour, it simply peels off. I've sprayed the inside of the shelf as its a rough kind of wood, which although I have sanded down, there were still a few loose bits that may cause splintering, so by covering it with the Plastikote, it keeps it relatively smooth, and besides, you won...

Having decided to start driving the van a bit more day to day to ensure its smooth running, I noticed a lot of stuff moving around in the back from where its just been left. I also then realised that I'm lacking majorly in storage... Theres only so much stuff that can be held in one place with bungee cords! I decided that I needed a place to store the little things, such as cups, glasses, cutlery etc. Having a look around pinterest gave me a few good ideas, such as: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/333618284887007447/ So this is what I set out to do. Turns out from where I made the table, there was already a platform built in to provide support for a shelf, I cut 2 pieces of wood, screwed them in shortly after, and was left with this: It is very basic, I know, but it will do the job for our Isle of Wight trip coming up. Maybe in winter I will remove the table and apply some more carpet, but for now, it will do. I have ordered more of those tiny net holders too as they ...

Our first trip is coming up, that being the Isle of Wight for Cowes Week (sailing event) and to visit some other places whilst there. We have booked a spot at Comforts Farm in Cowes (http://www.comfortsfarm.co.uk) for a few days, and now for quick tip! It generally costs around £60 each way to take the Wight Link ferry from Portsmouth to Fishbourne in the Isle of Wight. The trick to making that cheaper is to travel at anti social hours. I have booked the outward ferry over at 3am, and the return journey at 1 am! It cost us £27 each way, so all in all no more the £60 for the whole trip! Just going one way during the day would cost the same if not slightly more normally. I have already started loading the van up with stuff we need, food, pots, pans, utensils, disposable cutlery and plates and bowls etc. This is because we haven't got a sink or waste and fresh water tanks built in yet, I figured the van is a little small for that and we don't have the space. So everything gets...

So the van is at last mostly complete! We have had our first few nights out, and she is very comfortable. We will deffinetly be buying a drive away awning though to enlarge our space and to ensure we don't get too stuffy inside in the summer.. We have some rough edges to tidy up such as the side of the table obviously, and some other holes in the chassis, the rear doors are still uncovered (might just be painted), and it needs a little more storage. We've got a load more of those little net compartments that are great for holding phones and nick backs, phone charger cables, battery isolator keys, etc etc. The table was made from a piece of kitchen work surface I found onsite where I work, and then a small wooden frame made with quite cheap wood from B&Q, as I didn't want anything too heavy. It has been screwed in so it doesn't move, but is easily removed to use the van as a van. Sadly I still haven't put enough into the van to be able to ta...