Wednesday 22 November 2017

CTP 003: What does a van conversion cost? Bob-Lee Upgrades and Cost Version 1 & 2

Version 1 - June 2017

We are using this blog to try and keep track of home much money we have spent on the Bob-Lee's (our van) upgrades and repairs. Hopefully this will help anyone out that is looking into how much it cost to do similar road trips.


For our 2017 European summer road trip we bought a 2005 Ford Transit that came with MOT until February 2018, holds a 240-volt externally powered set-up, two rear seats that fold into a double bed, removable table, an internal sink with 12-volt water pump, roof racks, bike racks and a roof vent. Unfortunately, neither of us know much about cars and there's a chance we would have thought again before buying this one if we did. But all seemed well on the test drive and the assessment of the clutch and oil so we managed to talk the seller down about £300 to £2,700.


Our first problem arose when trying to purchase insurance for the van. As panel van insurance can be very expensive, one online company quoted almost £2,000! After searching the web and reading other blog posts, Zoe found Down Under Insurance, for £659.51 we got third party with theft and fire insurance. Still expensive compared to Australian standards ($1127 AUD) although it was the best we could find. 

Fold out double bed and 240-volt shore power system (Right-hand side)

Detachable table, two rear seats and sink


Costs

Total: £4,299.51

Version 2 - July 2017

We decided to do some modifications before heading out on our trip. We were lucky to be working at a high-school during this time so we had a a great range of tools and engineering teachers to assist. Special mention to the engineering tech Harry, if you have someone this talented to help out then half your battle is won!

Rear detachable curtain for extra space / privacy

Our primary concerns were adding privacy to the rear cab by adding in some curtains, making the storage compartments under the bed more accessible and adding in a 12-volt leisure battery system. I've linked in a video below of the leisure battery system and split charge relay.




For our first 'test run' we head to Manchester for the weekend to camp out the front of a friends apartment. After some hard rain during the night we noticed several leaks throughout the false roof in the van, the main one appearing to come from the roof vent. Following this, we removed the roof vent, cleaned it up and resealed it. All appeared good until there was a large down-poor which again lead to a lot of 'leaking' inside the cab (all over the new leisure battery system). To try and spot this continuing leak, Harry jumped on top of the van with a hose and put the roof vent to test. After about 5 minutes of continuous water, we failed to see any leaks inside the van. After thinking about it for a while we came to the conclusion that it was likely condensation during the cold weather leading to water building up above the false roof. To combat this we used an adhesive spray to stick some blue foam interlocking gym mats to the roof to act as the new insulation (pictured below).  





Upgrades

  • Remove and reseal sky light
  • Remove roof and insulate
  • Small carpentry modifications to rear and front storage
  • Curtains
    • Bulk head
    • Sliding door
    • rear doors
  • 12v Electrical system, inverter and leisure battery

    Costs


    Sub-Total:  £578.62

    Running Total: £4,878.13

    The biggest thing to consider was it worth buying this van?

    Accommodation

    During our road trip we were away for 54 nights, we payed for three nights at a camping grounds ~£80, one night in a hotel ~£35 (£115 AUD) and spent 13 nights house sitting. Which means we spent a total of 37 nights in the van. if we had to pay for campsites for each of these nights it would roughly come to £25/night = £925 [$1573 AUD]). 

    Transport

    The road trip lasted ~7,000 miles (11,200km), so to offset this I compared it against Busabout which quoted £318/person totaling to £636 ($1,081 AUD) for the same length of time. I also used an online fuel calculator to figure out how much diesel we used, it came to ~£630 for fuel cost ($1,071 AUD). 

    Calculations

    So in total we spent around £5623.13 ($9559.32 AUD) on the van and for travel expense (not including food). Then I've taken away the money we have saved by road tripping in the van, in total this means that it cost £4,062.13 ($6,905 AUD). Which is a saving of £1561 ($2,653.70 AUD). 

    Van cost £4,878.13
    Accommodation £115
    Petrol £630 
    Nights in van £925
    Transport £636
    -------------------------
    Total £4,062.13 ($6,905 AUD)
      



    I'll keep the post coming as we upgrade Bob-Lee.

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