Sunday 2 December 2012

On hold for now...

So now it's December, we've owned Bertie for three months, spent nearly all of our first loan installment, and have done almost nothing...

I have had several sleepless nights about this - which is really not at all like me - but I am feeling the weight of the pressure. Buying Bertie was all my idea, and now it's completely up to me to make this work.

Anyway, I'm going to try to focus on other things through December and wait until after Christmas to make the next decisions about how to move forward. I have had an email back from 'Awesome', the company in St Ives, suggesting we come and see them to talk further and so we'll try to do that in the New Year.

The children have been having fun playing in Bertie though!



Thursday 29 November 2012

Conversion plans

Since september I've spent countless hours on the Internet looking at conversion companies and ideas. Sometimes I think we should buy all the bits and bobs and do it ourselves - I've been looking at secondhand seats, kitchens and stoves, and also new 'off the peg' campervan units - but then I remember how little time we have on our hands, and how few practical skills, and wish I could just give it to someone to do it all for us!
I think we'll probably end up with somewhere between the two, doing some of the work ourselves and using professionals for the rest.
There is a company in St Ives near Cambridge who look interesting. There seem to be a lot of campervan companies in the West Country and on the South coast, unsurprisingly I guess, but not much up here. I've been in touch with a company in Essex a few times, but I quite like the look of the things the Cambridge company have done - more bespoke and less modern-MDF-blandness. It's hard to tell from their website whether this is the sort of project they do - it looks like they're more on the upholstery and soft furnishing side rather than the welding and carpentry side - but I've sent them an email to see if they might be interested, and I guess I'll just need to see what they come back with. I also have no idea at all how much it would cost to get a company involved - some of the big modern VW conversions seem to cost tens of thousands of pounds, which is just not going to happen!
I've come up with a provisional layout plan which I think will work, but it would be very useful to get a professional opinion! I think we should have 4 individual seats, two forward-facing and two rear-facing - it's not really wide enough to get two seats next to each other anywhere without restricting the movement from front to back - how many times I have wished for a side door like most campervans, rather than the rear doors! The wheel arches are right in the way on each side too...
Anyway, in my grand plan, these four seats, plus the tables which will sit between them, will convert in some clever way into a double bed, a bit like the arrangement in a narrowboat with a dinette double bed (fond childhood memories of many of those...) Behind all this will be a kitchen area (sink, fridge and hob) and storage. However, at the moment I don't really have a plan for where the children will sleep - minor detail! I'm thinking maybe some kind of hammocks acrossthe width of the van in the rear kitchen area, or maybe in the front cab somehow.
It would be great to have a pop top/elevating roof one day, but I have no idea what that would cost or involve. It would give us more headroom and also some more space to fit bunks, but I doubt it will be in the budget for a while. I think we should probably have a go at using it in its current configuration before we make that commitment.


Sunday 25 November 2012

Getting my priorities right...

Oh my goodness, I just have so many ideas (and worries) running through my brain about Bertie! I'm beginning to get some ideas about how I would like him to look, style-wise - and have ordered some fat quarters of fabric I like - spending the budget on the important things!!
 These are my inspiration photos at the moment...


Sunday 11 November 2012

TV dreams

We've been watching a really good series on Channel 4 called 'Amazing Spaces', all about converting small spaces. Jonathan's Dad saw the first episode and alerted us to it, so we've been using 4OD to watch the series. So far they've looked at tree houses, beach huts, old caravans etc, but no proper camper for a family. So - I sent them an email with a picture of 'Bertie Blue' and a brief outline of what we're hoping to do - let's see if they like it!

This is my favourite project so far - and the source of lots of inspiration for me - a gorgeous old bus conversion.


Saturday 3 November 2012

A long job, and a new name

Well, it's been at Wooley's garage for rather longer than we expected, and has needed rather more work than we expected too...

We had to buy four new tyres straightaway, as even though the treads were fine, the side walls had cracked to the canvas as a result of sitting on concrete for all those years. It also needed new brake pipes, brakes dismantling and servicing, system bled, new (second-hand from a T2) silencer, and the battery. All of that, plus the MOT, and we are over £1000 further into our loan. Ouch.

While he's been there, I've been spending some time trying to figure out the layout. I drew the dimensions of him out on the kitchen floor with chalk - but quickly gave up because it seemed so unbeliveably small that I got rather worried. However, now he's back, so we can get back inside and wait for inspiration to strike!

The other thing that has happened since he's been away is that he has definitely become a 'he' rather than an 'it', and we are calling him 'Bertie Blue'. The BMC on the front, I have discovered, stands for British Motor Company - but we think of it as Blue Moon Camper, and Bertie seemed to fit in with this, and with his personality.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Here... and gone again

No sooner have we got the vehicle home, than he's gone again. After the issues with it starting, we knew we needed a new battery, so Jonathan was tasked with fitting it. A phone conversation with my Dad, some wooden tools from the kids tool box (don't ask!) and a lot of sparks later, and the new battery was in.

Jonathan then drove it a few miles down the road to a local VW specialist garage (on the reasoning that they would be more likely to know their way around an old engine than the average dealership) to have a good going over and an MOT.

Jonathan seems to be catching at least a little of my enthusiasm for this quirky old thing - the garage, on the other hand, told me in no uncertain terms that I am clearly mad!

Monday 17 September 2012

An entertaining journey

We went over to Norwich this afternoon and picked up our new vehicle. I was really nervous as it is the first time Jonathan has seen it - and seen what his crazy wife has really done! First impressions weren't helped by the fact that it didn't start... His face was a picture! However, with a set of jump leads, a bit of tinkering and a spare battery, the engine growled into life.

Dan was all happy, so we handed over a pile of cash in a brown envelope to the tattooed man in the lock-up... and hoped for the best!

The journey home was slow, heavy going and a lot of fun! I was following behind in the car with the children, and Jonathan was getting a lot of good reactions from other motorists! We needed to fill the ambulance up with petrol, but since it had been so difficult to get it started, we dodn't want to risk turning the engine off, so I had to go and fill a can up and then take it to Jonathan, who was sitting at the edge of the forecourt with the engine running. Dan had followed us that far, and then made his way home, leaving us to make the cross-county journey by ourselves.

Friday 14 September 2012

Nitty gritty

There have been various negotiations going on back and forth over the past few days, but it seems things are coming together. Reuben has agreed to finish replacing the broken windows, but we'll still need to get a MOT somewhere else.
I've organised the insurance, and also spoken to the DVLA. Apparently it needs to be officially classified as a campervan, but the man I spoke to was very helpful and led me to believe that this isn't a difficult process. Once the majority of the work has been done, and there are clearly functional beds and a stove and sink, we can send them detailed photos to apply for the change of status.
I've been doing a bit of research into seatbelt law too - or at least have been trying to. It seems there's quite a grey area when it comes to conversions of heritage vehicles. However, no matter what the law says, we know that we want seatbelts to keep the children safe.

 I'd never really thought it through, but side-facing seats are really unsafe and can't have seatbelts, so I'm going to have to come up with a layout that avoids these.

So - we've got to the stage of agreeing to go and pick it up on Monday. Our good friend Dan is going to meet us there and have a look over it before we part with the cash...

Monday 10 September 2012

We won!!!!!!

Aarrggghhhhh!!!!!  We won the auction  !!!

Did our usual e-bay technique of sitting at the computer and pressing the bid button with 3 seconds to go... and we won the auction, for considerably less than my maximum bid.

So, here's to the least sensible but potentially the most fun purchase I've ever made....

It's a silly idea

So, went to see the ambulance this morning. It took me a good half hour to find it - the guy selling had given me a street name but no number, so I assumed it would be obvious once I got there - but it wasn't! Anyway, after knocking on about half a dozen doors, I found it.

My first thought was, "Well, that was a fun idea but there's no way we'll take this on. It's a mess! Still, I'm here now so I'll be polite and have a look."

It's huge - really high - but doesn't have that much space inside - like a reverse tardis! Not great for our needs. I can stand upright in the back, just, but Jonathan won't be able to, and that was one of his prequistites for a camper. There's nothing really in the back, just ply-lining to the walls, but the cab is really messy - filthy and tatty and I have no idea what any of the controls might be for.

But, all of that notwithstanding, I was there for half an hour and I LOVE it! And although it's totally un-sensible (probably exactly because it's not a sensible idea) I am definitely going to bid for it....

Sunday 9 September 2012

Umming and Ahhing

It looks so sad, but so appealing. The listing has hardly any detail which is really infuriating, and a web search for the type of vehicle has hardly been more illuminating. It seems they're quite a bit rarer than any VW you could mention - certainly no consumer advice out there to help me decide if it's a good idea or a stupid one to even consider!

Still, I just can't get it out of my head. Pester might be too strong a word for what I've done to Jonathan all weekend, but it's probably not too wide of the mark! Keep thinking of all the reasons I don't want a vintage vehicle (mostly cos I want to enjoy my holidays at the destination, rather than by the side of a motorway waiting for the AA). And then I think how much more fun it would be to pile into this than into some modern, boring box...anyway, I'm going to go and see it, and see how I feel about it in real life, rather than in pictures.

Friday 7 September 2012

In the beginning

Once in a blue moon I do something totally impulsive. Usually I'm quite good at keeping my impulses in check, but this blog is a record of the journey resulting from one of those 'once in a blue moon' moments... It's the story of converting our camper-van dream into reality.

Over the summer, two camping holidays in the rain and two broken tent poles resulted in us talking wistfully about owning a camper van instead. The idea of being able to take off at the weekend with the kids, stop wherever we fancy for a hot drink, and then be able to sleep in a bed in a warm van rather than have to put up and put up with a tent is so appealing. The call of the open road - going where the whim takes us - exploring our own wonderful country and further afield - it's a powerful motivator.

As a child, we had a VW Bay window van named Big Yellow Lorry. Since I was a teenager I've dreamed of owning one myself, so this is where I naturally began my search for a van. However, neither Jonathan or I are terribly mechanically minded (although I would love to know more about engines than I do), and one of the main things I know about vintage VWs is that they take a lot of tinkering, loving and often cash to keep them on the road. I had a really good look into the idea of having one of the new Brazillian import T2 campers instead, hopeful that this would be a way to fulfil my dream without the maintenance issues. However, the incredibly high price-tag coupled with many forum posts detailing problems even with these new vans put me off.

So, I drove Jonathan crazy by spending hours on the Internet looking at different vans. And then I saw this one ....