Ex BG Caddy conversion to Climbers Campervan

[peakrock]

Like many others I bought an ex British Gas Caddy, mine is a C20 Startline on a 13 plate. It's surprisingly pleasant to drive even with the 75bhp engine and the 70 mph restriction though I intend to have it remapped soon.

Anyway, my intention is to convert it to something I can sleep in on weekend climbing trips either on my own or with a friend as well as be able to travel four up to climbing walls etc. Mine came with an extensive racking system so first job was to remove it all. You can see in the photo just how much racking there was, this photo doesn't show the 12 large plastic crates I got and the digital scales..

[peakrock]

Having removed all the racking I then took out the headlining, the LED lights in the load space and the blanking plates over the side doors and rear panels. I wanted rear seats as although I mostly travel 1 or 2 up this is going to be my main vehicle and sometimes friends and family need a lift. After much deliberation I decided to get the seats fitted by Sirus Automotive as although I have a Mig welder and have done a fair amount of car restoration etc the certificate of fitting from them for the seats and seat belts gives peace of mind if I had an accident or decide to sell the Caddy in the future. I was able to buy some Caddy rear seats in really good condition with all the fittings and seat belts and Sirus agreed to fit them. They drilled out the spot welds in the load bay floor panel extension and welded in the new VW panel with the seat bracket mounts. They made a very neat job of it as you can see in these photos.

[dopeytree]

Nice! Sounds like your going for a similar set up as mine.

[peakrock]

The next few photos show the current stage of progress. Most of the van is insulated either with recycled plastic loft insulation in the doors and side panels or self adhesive, neoprene rubber with a foil finish. I got this from Kiravans as the price was reasonable, it's really easy to fit and you can stick multiple layers together so my roof has a total thickness of 21mm.

The floor is 15mm beech plywood laid on top of the existing rubber matting which I kept as it provides some insulation and sound proofing. It's held in place by recessed bolts that screw into some of the load tie down fixings and with self drilling self tapping screws.

I wanted to recycle as much of the old steel racking as possible for environmental reasons and to save money. Also, the steel frame for the seat/bed base is lighter than a plywood box and really strong. I modified the steel racking to provide a permanent structure down the offside of the van that holds 3 of the large plastic crates and which forms part of the bed base as well as the seat base.

The van came with a small laptop safe which you can see the back of in this picture. The next picture shows the bed base with plywood on top, this is going to be cut into two halves with long fingers such that it can be pulled across the van to form a double bed. The top half of the bed is formed by the lid of a plywood box that goes in place of the single rear seat and a plywood panel that goes over part of the folded rear seat.

The last picture is from the near side sliding door with the rear seat folded flat. I built a wooden storage box that goes in the space occupied by the single rear seat as I don't need more than 4 seats in total and this gives me extra storage as well as making up the top half of the bed. A small plywood panel fits above part of the folded rear seat to make a very generous sized single bed base.

[peakrock]

Although the snowy weather has made getting around difficult it hasn't stopped progress on the Caddy. Thermal long johns etc + enthusiasm for the jobs generates enough body heat + mugs of tea and cakes.

So I've been able to spend time in the garage cutting up plywood and time in the back of the Caddy which keeps the wind chill off making up the bed base and putting in storage shelves on the side panel. The bed base slides out and was cut from one piece of ply with a hand jigsaw. I had to swap blades using a narrow blade for the curves and a normal blade for the straight runs which have to be really straight otherwise the bed won't slide out easily. The supporting frame for the extending part is made out of yet more of the old steel racking..





The old climbing rope in the box came in handy for towing out my Focus which got stuck in the snow - Caddy was brilliant on it's Michelin Alpin S winter tryes.

[CaddyShack2k]

Alternatively you could have made the curves using a hole saw in a drill and making straight cuts up to the holes with a handsaw or circular saw, but you have made a really good job of it with your jigsaw. Well impressed

[Geardy1986]

Must say... you’ve done an absolutely brilliant job there mate, so impressive. Looks really professional and all that storage will be invaluable.
Wish I hadn’t just whipped the racking out the back of mine and given it away to the first person who showed interest now... mind you, I definitely don’t have the skills to replicate what you’ve managed!
Well done mate... look forward to seeing more progress pics


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[peakrock]

Thanks for the comments guys..

Some more progress today and just in case you all think I've got a nice big garage to do the conversion in then here's my current working conditions...



The observant amongst you will notice the sliding door windows fitted by Sirus and the roof bars which are made by Van Guard. I have to say this is a real quality product, each bracket is unique so that the line of the bars are flat and they are aerodynamically shaped extrusions as well. Reason for fitting them is for a roof box on long trips and because climbers (or more correctly boulderers) use special mats to jump onto when they're climbing without ropes but they're bulky, so they'll be going on the roof too.

I've now finished off the shelving on the side unit and cut out all the holes in the front panel leaving a front sill on each one to hopefully retain the shelf contents when going round corners. I did think about fitting one of those plastic roller shutter doors that you can get for campers now (think they're called Tambour doors) but decided to go the cheap way first and just cut out holes to get to the shelves. One of the advantages of using the steel racking frame is that once it's fixed to the van, it gives a good reference point for measurements and it's fairly easy to attach things to it. For instance, the bottom shelf brackets are cantilevered off the frame uprights and so rigid that they don't need attaching to the van body. The front panel attaches with four bolts and can easily be removed if need be as the nuts are accessible from behind.



I used a holesaw to cut the corners first and then the jigsaw to cut out the rest. This is the initial panel fitting so it's a bit rough and ready but it's often best to get the major things right first. I'm not entirely happy with the panel fit near the rear door pillar but have some plans to improve it..

[CaddyShack2k]

If you do improve it make some templates for the bed and cupboards and build some from Vohringer ply and I reckon some members will buy them, invest in a router aswell

[geo.stronach]

I have just had a look at this and you have done your self proud. The attention to detail your going for I defo think you should get some good router and bits

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[the swan fiend]

Some very impressive work gone in to that mate Following this


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[peakrock]

Thanks again for the comments, I guess because it's a fairly modern van I'm happy to take the time to get it right, plus if you're living in it for days at a time then things will irritate you if they're badly done etc.

I'm happy to pass on any measurements or take photos of particular bits if people want or when it's finished produce some simple drawings with measurements of what I've done in case anyone wants to replicate it.

Having done a lot of DIY over the years I've now reached the stage where I do the best job I can rather than strive for perfection, as whilst you want something to look good and work well, you also want to use it to get the benefit of what you've done. In this day of CNC perfection you're never going to get the same results unless you're really highly skilled, but I think hand finished work has a character of its own and of course it's unique..

[peakrock]

Some more progress on the Caddy mainly around the left hand rear wheel arch. In keeping with the idea of reusing as much of the old steel racking as possible I decided to make up a steel frame the same height as the slide out bed but face it with aluminium chequer plate as it will act as a kickboard when sat on the sofa/bed and I'm probably going to put bikes etc down that side of the van so I wanted something robust. I insulated the wheel arch with one layer of the self adhesive foam and then used shiny bubble insulation once the frame was in place.

The top of the wheelarch is covered with 10mm ply held on with self drilling flat head screws so is easily removable as is the chequer plate which uses the same screws and some of the threaded inserts in the racking. Above the wheel arch is the start of the ply panelling and then a small shelf to hold mugs of tea in the morning - I hope!
I quite like the look of the steel and aluminium and leaving the fixings on display, not everyones taste I'm sure but robust and practical. There will be carpet higher up and on the floor I'm using carpet tiles as they stay in place but are easy to take out and clean/replace if needed. I've also cut down the stainless steel sill that came with the van with a thin metal cutting blade in the angle grinder which you can see in the left hand photo.
At the front of the wheel arch rather than waste the space I made a couple of little shelves and a cover for the seat belt mechanism. You can't get much in them to be honest but it was only bits of scrap ply and a couple of hours time so not a big investment and will hold a headtorch, batteries etc so will be useful.

The seat belt mech cover was a bit tricky as it had to be big enough to cover the mechanism but not foul the seat backrest. It's easy to get caught out when you're fitting out the van remembering that if you alter one thing it may have a knock on effect on something else..
Next job is to decide what to do with the space above the left hand wheel arch, easiest option is to carpet it all but maybe a small flat screen...?

[Ddraeg]

Excellent craftsmanship on this! I may steal all your ideas...

[peakrock]

It's been a while since I've posted on progress, mainly due to a long climbing trip but here's the first of several updates. So my van came with one of the spinning roof ventilators which I wasn't too keen on. I decided to fit a small roof skylight in its place as it would give me light, ventilation through a built in mozzy screen and it would be more secure than sleeping with the van windows open. For that reason I had fixed windows installed in the sliding doors. I bought a Dometic small Heki skylight as it would just fit between the roof braces at the end of the roof. I removed the spinning ventilator and was left with a round hole as you can see.

I had to make sure the skylight would go between the roof braces so after lots of measuring and checking I drilled 4 holes which corresponded to where I wanted them to be. I then cut out the roof panel using a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade - this was really noisy so not a job for a Sunday morning and it needed ear defenders for sure. I was then left with a square hole which needed cleaning up with a file etc..

The skylight was placed into the hole whereupon I drew round it with a pencil so I'd know how wide the band of sealant/mastic could be. I took the skylight out and ran masking tape along the pencilled lines so the mastic wouldn't get onto the paint. You can see that the roof is not flat - there are two shallow channels running longitudinally and there is a shallow curve across the roof too. I put on plenty of the recommended mastic and bedded the skylight down into it. Inside the van it was necessary to use a couple of pieces of wood to stiffen the roof and to pack it out for the inner frame as normally these skylights go into thicker roofs. I also made up some small metal brackets to fix the front and back of the skylight to the roof braces. This is what the skylight looks like fitted.