hi just a note don't forget to vent at the bottom of the gas bottle as gas lays at floor level when it escapes you need it to drop out the van floor, best wishes ken great build love you both a very nice couple enjoy......
It is good to see a nice young couple working together to achieve somthing, and they have made a very nice camper, I hope they have many happy times. well done
Thank you so much David. We really appreciate it. So kind of you to comment 😁 ... There are adventure videos on our channel from this year after our van build 👍🏻 ... Other than those, we will see you next year! 🤙🏻✌🏻
Really lovely couple, put a smile on my face watching you both doing a fab job fitting out Claudia. My wife and I look forward to watching your adventures :)
Awww, thank you so much Jeff. That is so kind of you to comment 😊 We really appreciate it. We have posted our adventure videos since this video, they are in our Cornwall, Scotland & Wales playlists if you haven't watched those already 😁👍🏻
Thankyou. Yes I had seen lots slide out the rear doors but due to the frame of our bed this wouldn't have been possible so had a thought about the space on our bonus sliding door and so far it has been quite practical 😀
Stumbled across your channel guys and have to say you've done an absolutely cracking job converting your VW van. Hope you have many great adventures using it. Have subscribed so hopefully will get to see a few.
Hi guys really enjoyed the video, and hope you both get some great trips, this is something I've been considering and after watching this I'm more eager to get started, thanks for the video and all the effort you put in to making it, atvb Ged and Shan 👌👍🚙🚙
Really Fab looking van guys....and an inspirational little video...its got me thinking that a Caddy could be just the size van I'm after....thank you 👍
Thank you so much Arthur. This is lovely of you to comment and has made us very happy 😊 We wish you all the luck and fun with your build when the time comes 👍🏻
You've done agreat job. Love the vinyl mosaic flooring. The outside space to cook useful, well done both and enjoy your travels. I will follow you both.
Sheila, you are so sweet! Thank you so much for your lovely comment 😊 .. You can find our adventures from between this video and now on our channel 😁 ... There will be more to come this year too. Thanks again Sheila.
At last! A relatable van conversion video. Too often I get put off/freaked out by amateurs doing wiring etc. I would have done the same as you and gone to the conversion shop for that. Can’t wait to see more from you two!
@@NathandHannah you didn’t know much about any of the conversion only what ideas you had in your heads,but you’ve done an absolutely amazing job, congratulations. I hope you have thousands of hours and thousands of miles of enjoyment out of Claudia.I’ll be doing the same before long.swop a focus st3 for a vow caddy anyone?well done
Seriously guys that was f epic! I've been wanting to get a caddy but all the videos of camperising them are rubbish, you managed to packed claudia with a lot of features while still maintaining a minimalistic look. Claudia looks fantastic!
Thankyou that means alot 👍 Yes we have hired 2 vans previously with different lay outs which has helped with building everything we wanted into our layout. It won't work for some but its perfect for usb
I've been in nz for the last few years. I'm now building a camper. Stumbled on this vid and the black country accent was a nice surprise. makes me miss home a bit.
Wow! NZ! Amazing 👏🏻 Are you on the North or South Island? .. We have been to the North Island and explored there in a Jucy Camper! (Wellington to Auckland) It was awesome and would love to go back to NZ some time and explore the South Island 😁 What camper are you building? Are you far along with your build? Awww, that's cool. It's not very often that the black country accent is described as a nice surprise haha! So thank you 😁
@@NathandHannah yeah I'm from upper gornal myself. Been out here on the south island for five years. Just started building a Ford transit into a camper. (Although weather has changed which is making doing the work difficult!)
@@thedukeofmoot7962 Wow. What a small world. Not gonna lie, slightly jealous that you are out there 😂 We've heard that the South Island is more beautiful than the North too. Good luck with your build, enjoy the process. All your hard work will pay off 😁 Take care.
Thank you Andree! So kind of you to comment 😊 .. We have no plan to get to get rid of her yet. We have plenty of adventures planned so keep an eye out on our channel to join in with us! 🤙🏻✌🏻 😁
Hi I'm new to your channel (got recommended from my brother Roy). Van looks great you have done a great job. Video was awesome so will be watching more ATB Kev
Hiya Kev! I (Hannah) have heard lots about you, all good things of course 😊 From what Roy tells me, you are a true vanlifer! It sounds awesome what you do 👏🏻 Thank you so much Kev for your lovely comment. Take care.
Great video, loved the full walk through. Nicely finished off as well. Go outdoors 😉 the best shop around 😁 just in the process of converting my van.. Few videos up on the channel. Take care, Dave 👍
Thank you so much Dave! That's so lovely of you to comment 😊 We will have another campervan video uploaded soon as we have spent nearly a year on the road now, our "realistic van tour". It really is isn't it. You can get so carried away in Go Outdoors 😂 Good luck with your build and enjoy the process 👍🏻 You take care too Dave 😊
@@NathandHannah brill, I shall look forward to seeing that, Oh yes go outdoors has alot to answer for, our local one at Shrewsbury doesn't seem to stock roof boxes either 🤔 must try Kidderminster.... I've just subscribed as well 👍
@@DaveOutdoors Awww, Dave. You are a gooden'! Thank you for subscribing 🙏🏻 (You are local to us too👍🏻 Kidderminster is where we got all of our stuffs from)
I've got a blue caddy 13 plate, had it 4 years and used it for work.. Unfortunately because I live in London it wont meet the wider ulez scheme starting next month so I am getting a newer and more boring van.. Thought I'd just sell my caddy but after seeing this maybe I should keep hold of it and make myself a little camper!
Great stuff. We are glad our video has been of some use to you. Ye there great little vans. Not for everyone but we love ours and have had plenty of good weekends away in her, rain or shine. All the best with your future caddy plans 👍
Wow guys, what a challenge, thinking of doing something similar so really appreciate your video! We're also local (Redditch) so VanDoc may also come in useful! Kind regards, Simon and Elaine👍
Thank you guys, we really appreciate your comment 😁 Awww, no way. Small world isn't it?! We have actually been following your channel for some time now. We came across one of your fab Isle of Skye videos last October time when we hit the sub button 👍🏻... Fair play to you both for the amount of awesome adventures you both get up too 👏🏻
🤣 To be fair, having 2 sets of ideas works well. There's things we have done that make Claudia work well for us that if only one of us had made the decision on we wouldn't have her the way she is 😆
Please put a leg for the cooker when you pull it out, just one piece of wood would work. Then it will be more stable as it looks like it wants to break. Thank you for inspiring me to do my own caddy up
We did have a leg to prop up the cooker just no space to have it fixed to the draw. We refurbed Claudia earlier this year and re made the draw so we could screw the leg to the underneath and have the space to fold it away. This is in our realistic vantour. Thats great to hear, were glad you found some use of our video. I hope you get as much fun out of your caddy as we do with ours. Safe travels 👍🏻
@@NathandHannah ahhh brilliant, I'll go give that a watch and see what else you guys changed. After i commented i saw how old the video was and thought you guys probably modified a few things. The way you guys look while doing this I'll definitely be happy and have fun. Safe travels to you too.
Lovely use of space there folks. If you have not already done it, give a little consideration to securing that heavy timber worktop against shooting towards the passenger should you ever come to an instant stop.
Thankyou. Storage was our priority when designing the lay out as previous vans we hired everything just seemed to be on the floor. Ye the cuoboard is screwed into the floor about every 6" and into the plyboard across the top then a few L shaped brackets too. Not sure if its right or wrong but hasn't shifted yet.
Its been great watching you convert this Caddy Maxi Van. Is it possible for you to show more of the actual dimensions for the bed and cupboard unit that you built
Hi Ivor, thanks for this. Ye sure, I cant remember if it was this video or our realistic van tour that we included these in. Our bed is 160cm long and 60 cm wide (as a bench) and then pulls out a further 50cm to make a bed. We have built a cooker draw at the bottom of the bed which also extends the one side by a further 50cm. The cupboard i think is 135cm long 75cm tall and roughly 35cm deep. I hope this helps
Great job on Your conversion of Claudia. A thoroughly enjoyable watch from start to finish. Your attention to detail was amazing. Awning and 6 person living space gives You both so much extra room. 2 questions, how long did the whole conversion take? How much did it cost overall? I hope You both have many happy safe adventures
Thankyou for your kind words. It took about 3.5 months to complete. We tookour time just working on her on weekends (and the electrics & carpet been booked in) to make sure nothing was rushed. We have lost track on the price as we ended up adding loads of extras
This video is awesome, I'm only just starting to look into van conversions and this is definitely swaying me towards diving in. Would you feel comfortable sharing a breakdown of costs? Or perhaps the links to the bed frame, fridge, toilet etc?
Thankyou. I cant remember what everything costs but the bed kit is from www.vanfurniture.co.uk (they also sell on ebay) The toilet ect is from go outdoors. We got almost all our camping stuff from there. Hope this helps
Really good video! pity it doesn't still have BG logos on, would have made stealth camping easy (with some men at work signs put round) haha! I am drawn to the micro campers because they are as easy to drive as a car but all the ones I have seen can't fit a toilet which is downsized a step too far. You have managed to squeeze even that in so perfect.
Thankyou Rob that is much appreciated. You can still see the BG outline on our bonnet 🤣 but ye we don't really fit in the stealth category. Realisticly it is awkward but manageable with the toilet in the caddy. I suppose it depends how fussy you are. You can deffinenatly fit the toilet in no problem if building the furniture your self. To make it the easiest possible way would be to make the bed higher so it literally slides in and out in one piece.
Thankyou. The thermo wrap insulation & sound deading sheets are off ebay. The vapor resistance membrane was already in the van but I'm sure this can be purchased on ebay to. Hope this helps
Thankyou. We were looking at a newer vans with less milage and a 1.6 engine tbh but we drove past this one 1mile away from home, saw it was the 1.9 and ended up getting it as soon as we test drove it.
Thankyou. Its Specialist insurance rather than standard van insurance. Theres alot of info on different companies on self build camper facebook pages. So ours is insured up to a certain value as a van with camper conversion. Just got to keep reciepts and photos of the modifications to date.
Really cool conversion,was wondering what length bed you used so that you had space for the slide out cooker as I want to do something similar in my caddy,cheers :)
Fantastic video! Such a lot of thought and hard work! (Just could have done without the absolutely awful background music). Safe travels and enjoy your adventures! X😁😊
Thankyou. It sure was but it was nice to see our ideas work out. Yes, the sound tracks are just standard ones off the video editing app but there's a few we won't use again 😂
We have just found your video...First I have to say absolutely fantastic work on the camper by you both, its so nice and practical..What a great team you make. My hubby and I will be watching here from Ireland, safe travels and have a ball.
@@marykenna5778 sorry only just seen this. Thankyou for your kind comments. Yes Claudia is deffinenatly practical for us. Safe travels and adventures to the both of you too. Cheers 👍
So impressed, subscribe! Nice to see a conversion that isn’t trying to hide the fact she is now a fully fledged camper van! You should be very proud. Just a quick question, what sort of ballpark figure did the conversion cost? Kind regards from deepest Dorset 👍
Thank you very much Clive! We appreciate your kind comment 😁 Our conversion cost after buying Claudia cost us somewhere around the 5-6k mark but we have also added more tweaks since then which is on our realistic van tour video. We hope the price info helps you if you are thinking about doing a van conversion too 👍🏻 Thank you for the sub Clive 🙏 We will be posting more vanlofe adventures throughout the summer. Take care.
Hi Hannah and Nath. Thanks for the dimensions you posted. Just one other thing, what is the height of the bench [bed] from the floor to the top of the laths or did you just make the lower section to just fit over the wheel arch or did you buy the bed as a kit? Your advice is very welcome. Cheers
Hi Ivor, that's no problem, it is 35cm tall so it fits just above the wheel arch. We braught this as a kit thinking it would come ready built to speed things up. However the supports are in the wrong place for the wheel arches on a caddy so we had to cut alot off to modify it to fit. Also it comes flat packed. It took us 4hrs to build up. If you feel confident in doing a van build then we would recommend going for building a bed to fit the space your self. Thats what we would do next time after the experience with we had with the flat pack. Hope this helps. Nath & Hannah 👍🏻
Thankyou and no probs, We have a 2x2m pullout awning from Direct4x4 We also have the popular 2.5x2.5m 6 man living tent from Decatherlon as our drive away awning
@@NathandHannah Cool, I'll check that out. We camp with a roof top tent on our normal car and this looks like an awning that actually fits a normal estate car as well. Thanks a lot!
If cooker was round the other way the sliding door wouldn't cut into the room because the front door is sitting in probably what 4 inches more just a idea .o and I subscribed ☺.
Thank you. We have it sat that way round so we can stand & cook under the side awning. To be fair, half the time we take it out and cook on picnic tables. Cheers for the sub 👍🏻😁
Great video Nath & Hannah, i have a Fiat Doblo ex british gas van i bought from my dad. Planning to do similar idea as yours, what size bed/mattress is that?
Thankyou, great stuff, all the best for your build. Our bed is 160cm long (with an extra 50cm one side when we take the cool box out) bench is 60cm wide and the pull out part will pull another 50cm upto the cupboard. The mattresses were cut to size for both sections from efoam.co.uk hope this helps
