Club 80-90 Forums

Hi.
I'm wanting to make my T3 into a bit more of a weekend camper.
It's got a full width rock-n-roll bed.
Wanting to fit a small cooker/storage behind drivers seat.
A water container/storage unit behind passenger seat.
And would like a high level storage unit above the rear engine bay.

Does anyone know of or used a company to get these type of units?
Or anyone even made their own for a professional look/build, where did you get materials?
Thanks in advance.

KarlT wrote:Hi.
I'm wanting to make my T3 into a bit more of a weekend camper.
It's got a full width rock-n-roll bed.
Wanting to fit a small cooker/storage behind drivers seat.
A water container/storage unit behind passenger seat.
And would like a high level storage unit above the rear engine bay.

Does anyone know of or used a company to get these type of units?
Or anyone even made their own for a professional look/build, where did you get materials?
Thanks in advance.

Cant recommend a company but i have a westy multivan that has a unit as you describe, it came with it but i have been modifying it along with the rest of the van, cant say its "professional" looking as it was built by previous owner, but it does the job(or it will do once finished), it has a sink and 2 burner hob in it with a fold down cupboard door that now takes a 4.5kg calor bottle in one side and other side has enough storage for food stuff's and pots, underneath that is a large sliding drawer which now houses my 3 way fridge that is a top opening type, i also cut it down 4 inches in size as it was too tall.

i am also in the process of covering it in a grey fablon along with an edging strip to match rest of interior as it is currently just marine ply, then i have to finish off the wiring and gas/water plumbing as i have changed that around from original owners specs, i now have the option to run fridge on gas where as i only had 12v or 240 before and will now add the sink drain out the bottom of the van, where as before it ran into a container under the sink, have also added a 12v "fridge" switch to the panel as mine doesnt have an option to switch from 12v to 240 on the actual fridge itself so dont want to be pulling plugs out everytime i want to switch it from one to the other, along with a volt meter and a 3.1 amp dual USB charging adapter/port, which will be getting added in the 2 circular holes you see, have polished the cooker top so it looks new along with the aluminium angle that the top mounts the cooker top.

before


and in the middle of modification

My advice would be sit and have a think about what you want in your "kitchen" and build it off that idea
as for the storage westy multivan cupboards would probably do you

Thanks for taking the time buddy.
Lots of good advice there.
Cheers. K

Personally I think the best place for the water and gas tanks are under the floor bolted to the bottom of the van, this way you can carry enough to not worry about refilling constantly and you don't loose any room inside.

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Hi Karl, I'm looking at doing th same at the minute so interested in what you go with. I have a small waeco chest style fridge behind the passenger seat, and will build a unit with either aluminium frame and clad it or ply. The difficulty is finding a Suitable light-weight work surface! I would like to make mine removable as I also use it as my daily, have you considered anything like that?
Budget wise I've seen some really nice brand new for upwards of £700!
I'm going to put leisure electrics under the passenger side and try to find some underslung waterfalls. But not sure if these need to be van specific or not?
I think the holy grail of kitchen units are out of mazda bongos. Oh and pintrest is great place to search for ideas!

Karl,
here is a link to a Samba post about my kitchen unit. Not quite the layout you describe but it works with a 3 seater rear bench.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... sc&start=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since I built it, the orange panels have been replaced using laminated lightweight ply with edge-banding to seal them.

Looks good and works well. Professional finish? Well, most people who see it think it is.

Really like your cupboard Gary, nicest ones I have seen so far. Look a bit more "rugged"

Out of interest, how heavy is the finished item, our van doubles as a..... van so I sometimes need to take the storage unit out?

Cheers,

MM

I haven't actually weighed it but two of us can easily lift it. Probably one could take the weight but it's too bulky within the confines of the van to do that without probably hurting yourself.

The fridge lifts out easily as do the two drawers. After that you need to disconnect the gas pipe, unplug the electrics and undo two bolts and two screws.

Gary that is a cracking design. Pretty much what I was planning on. The extra flange on the box section is a great idea. Will have to look at sourcing some of this.
I was hoping to use underslung tanks for the extra storage.

On an aside, were you over in Guernsey last year?

Yes we were.

Had a week each enjoying both Jersey & Guernsey. I guess you must have spotted the van?

Smosh wrote:I was hoping to use underslung tanks for the extra storage.

You could easily add under-slung tanks (I've used those from CAK at Kenilworth in a previous camper). On this occasion I wanted to avoid cutting holes through the floor pan since this could lead to water ingress when wading. I have also found that it is not necessary to carry large quantities of water with the type of camping we do. In any case I could always bring along a 20 litre jerrycan if I think I'll need extra.

Yes with a child, and not a syncro not certain we would be off the beaten path for long enough to need big tanks but the extra space would be nice, and no intention of wading in this van!

I havent got any pics yet as I am very busy at the moment but I will hopefully post up next week, I used a trolley from Ikea (dont laugh).

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30240348/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

£35 and surprisingly solid, I cut the width down, easy job, got some aluminium composite sheet, you can cut this with a sharp knife plasterboard style, fixed it to three sides on the inside of the legs. Made a door front from lightweight ply and stuck formica on top, again easier than you think with contact adhesive. Levelled all for legs and put 4 castors on. Borrowed some from an old office chair Cut a hole in the top so my camper hob will fit in. The wood from the hole made a nice flip up extension to the worktop. A gas bottle fits in the cupboard nicely and with plenty of storage. The Unit is then bolted to A fixed part of the interior whilst in motion and when at camp we have the choice of either cooking outside or inside. Normally we remove it and put it in the awning which gives us a lot more space inside and no nasty gassy things inside. Will try and post a pick up soon. Really it does work a treat and probably will outlast me, not too heavy cost with recycled materials around £50 and I think looks pretty good too.

As promised a few pics of Ikea cabinet mod cooker pod