Pre birth of a camper - No laughing!
- Thread starter ianc
- Start date
charlieaarons
Explorer
Is the VRT a one time deal with change of ownership or annual/biannual? 13% of assessed value is incredible!
Where I live if they did an inspection 50% of all vehicles over ~8 years of age would be off the road due to windscreens, headlights, turn/brake indicators, suspensions, etc.
VRT is once off.
Mind you if you want to hear about crazy high road tax...... annual road tax on a 2008 or older vehicle of 3litres or more is about €1900. Some newer gas guzzlers (and yes a 3L car qualifies here as a guzzler) can be north of 3K PA.
The camper annual road tax is very small at around €75.
Mind you if you want to hear about crazy high road tax...... annual road tax on a 2008 or older vehicle of 3litres or more is about €1900. Some newer gas guzzlers (and yes a 3L car qualifies here as a guzzler) can be north of 3K PA.
The camper annual road tax is very small at around €75.
Ian asked me at some point to post pictures of our esb truck as it gets transformed, it took a while as we could not get
the dvla here in the UK to register it (long story) but decided not to wait for them and move on it anyway,
it may need an inspection at some point, I hope there is enough truck at that point to inspect.
We decided to keep the ramsey 5.5 ton winch as these are the best winches of their kind and as all the hydraulics where on board
already and the pto of course seemed a shame to lose.
looking to attach it to the front bumper meant rearranging quite a lot, and than I got a phone call from someone who
told me of a similar size truck ripping the front spring mount (only possible place to attach anything at the front really) by some heavy winching so decided to make it a belly winch instead, it so happens that the old esb bumper when cut makes a perfect Chassis insert (12 cm that sits perfectly into the VARIO 13cm 5mm c channel), hope it would serve some purpose at some point.
So here it is, Thank you Ian for your help and the advice about the chassis mount springs, the only ones I found in the UK are 8 cm long, but
maybe instead of putting one per mount, one can have that for most roads, and if you think you are going overkill at some point, you just carry a longer bolt and another spring that sits on top of the bracket (combined with the bottom one)so you have twice the play, seems like it would work to me anyhow, I would not change your mounting springs to longer ones, they seem the longest already.
Nitsan
I have the DoE items addressed (I think).
I replaced the steering drag arm and the roll bar bushes. A number of people advised me that the brakes just needed a good run and so I took a drive over Sally Gap (local very hilly and crappy road). I hope this sorts them. It gets retested tomorrow.
I also got the Revenue VRT bill today - just under €2,200. On the higher end of what I expected.
I'm continuing to have a small roof leak and the fibreglass edge trim has split on a joint with the heat of the Sun again (yes - Sun in Ireland!!). Very annoying. I'm now looking to see if there are PVC or other more flexible alternatives. Suggestions welcomed.
On a good news note - They weighed the van when they were doing the DoE. 3300Kg on the back and 2500Kg at the front. The van is plated at 5500Kg and 2800Kg. So well under the limits and plenty of load capacity over the rear wheels.
I replaced the steering drag arm and the roll bar bushes. A number of people advised me that the brakes just needed a good run and so I took a drive over Sally Gap (local very hilly and crappy road). I hope this sorts them. It gets retested tomorrow.
I also got the Revenue VRT bill today - just under €2,200. On the higher end of what I expected.
I'm continuing to have a small roof leak and the fibreglass edge trim has split on a joint with the heat of the Sun again (yes - Sun in Ireland!!). Very annoying. I'm now looking to see if there are PVC or other more flexible alternatives. Suggestions welcomed.
On a good news note - They weighed the van when they were doing the DoE. 3300Kg on the back and 2500Kg at the front. The van is plated at 5500Kg and 2800Kg. So well under the limits and plenty of load capacity over the rear wheels.
I had a similar problem with the trim and used the flexible Sikaflex 512 to cure it. If you can get it in the crack it would be better, but if not on the top will do. I used masking tape to get a thin bead on the visible part only 3 mm wide and has stayed on. Down side is it only comes in white but it will accept paint if you need to cover it
mervifwdc
Adventurer
Brilliant stuff Ian, looks like your nearly there. The last bit of the way is the hardest though 
Did you get sorted with the diesel heater? Air in the lines is a pig to sort, even if there is water at the pump, it's not really strong enough to force water right round the system. If it's more than that, a mate of mine in Monastrevan in Kildare is pretty handy with them, I can give you his number if you want.
I was amazed to read how much water you can carry, but then I copped it's not just for 2 people.
We changed our hanging wardrobe to shelves, top to bottom. Leave your self a bit of scope there, and change your party dresses for mini skirts
Keep up the good work!
Merv.
Did you get sorted with the diesel heater? Air in the lines is a pig to sort, even if there is water at the pump, it's not really strong enough to force water right round the system. If it's more than that, a mate of mine in Monastrevan in Kildare is pretty handy with them, I can give you his number if you want.
I was amazed to read how much water you can carry, but then I copped it's not just for 2 people.
We changed our hanging wardrobe to shelves, top to bottom. Leave your self a bit of scope there, and change your party dresses for mini skirts
Keep up the good work!
Merv.
Merv - we did the same with wardrobe in the US camper when we did the "loop" of Central America and we'll probably do the same with at least half on the wardrobe in the new one. We do however have 8 Ikea boxes in the press beside the wardrobe.
BTW - The water capacity is based on 2-4 people (3 female!)
BTW - The water capacity is based on 2-4 people (3 female!)
The van passed the DoE test yesterday and it's now taxed and road legal. Horray!
It only took multiple visits to 5 different government offices. We sometimes complain about the bureaucracy in places like Africa. They're not a patch on the Irish civil service.
We are hoping to go on our first test run this weekend. But before that - here are some updated photos
This is the inside of the van as it looks now.
Here's the new cushions. There are 3 point seatbelts on three of the 4 seats.
Worktop with cooker & Sink. Cooker is currently running off a small Camping Gaz cylinder as I've not been able to get the fitted tank plumbed yet and I needed to get it through the inspection. A working cooker is required for a camper classification in Ireland.
Extractor - Warm LED lights
Floor - put down last night!
One of 5 vents for the Dometic HB2500 heat exchanger. Warm air in the cold, cold air in the heat. Believe it or not - I used it to keep me cool when I was working on the inside of the van during our Irish heat wave. It's been the hottest summer since 1975/
Control panel - still some stuff to be added. Gap below is for Microwave.
Roof lights. They don't look anything here but they're really cool. Sourced from Hettich. Pricey but nice. I'm going to wire in a dimmer for them.
It only took multiple visits to 5 different government offices. We sometimes complain about the bureaucracy in places like Africa. They're not a patch on the Irish civil service.
We are hoping to go on our first test run this weekend. But before that - here are some updated photos
This is the inside of the van as it looks now.
Here's the new cushions. There are 3 point seatbelts on three of the 4 seats.
Worktop with cooker & Sink. Cooker is currently running off a small Camping Gaz cylinder as I've not been able to get the fitted tank plumbed yet and I needed to get it through the inspection. A working cooker is required for a camper classification in Ireland.
Extractor - Warm LED lights
Floor - put down last night!
One of 5 vents for the Dometic HB2500 heat exchanger. Warm air in the cold, cold air in the heat. Believe it or not - I used it to keep me cool when I was working on the inside of the van during our Irish heat wave. It's been the hottest summer since 1975/
Control panel - still some stuff to be added. Gap below is for Microwave.
Roof lights. They don't look anything here but they're really cool. Sourced from Hettich. Pricey but nice. I'm going to wire in a dimmer for them.
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I also got the batteries fitted:
2 x 225Ah Bosch sealed Lead Acid units. Nearly broke my back manoeuvring them in:
I also fitted and got the Sterling Alternator regulator fitted
It comes with a remote panel which lets me monitor battery voltage, temperature and how many amps are going in. I've seen over 100Amps already!
Pic of back of van with lights and number plate properly fitted. I need to thing about a fender/bumper and hitch.
2 x 225Ah Bosch sealed Lead Acid units. Nearly broke my back manoeuvring them in:
I also fitted and got the Sterling Alternator regulator fitted
It comes with a remote panel which lets me monitor battery voltage, temperature and how many amps are going in. I've seen over 100Amps already!
Pic of back of van with lights and number plate properly fitted. I need to thing about a fender/bumper and hitch.
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Anton2k3
Adventurer
Hey Ian,
All looking great, so close to finished now. Just a couple of questions, what did you mount the seatbelts to? Did you re-use the ones in the van, or buy new ones?
Where did you get the cooker extractor from? Looks nice and compact, something I man be able to squeeze in!
Thanks,
All looking great, so close to finished now. Just a couple of questions, what did you mount the seatbelts to? Did you re-use the ones in the van, or buy new ones?
Where did you get the cooker extractor from? Looks nice and compact, something I man be able to squeeze in!
Thanks,
The seatbelts go into a steel frame which is mostly 50x25mm box section. See posts around 166 for some pictures. 2 of the 3 belts are new. I reused the one 3 point one from the rear seat of the original van. The extractor was from www.caktanks.co.uk. I think the code was SCHOMF.
NigelEvans
New member
Ian - Do you think you'll make it to Adventure Overland? I want a closer look at your truck, it looks fantastic in the pictures! You must be well pleased with the final build weight.
Overland Hadley
on a journey
I really like the interior. Nice work!