Camping in an Ambulance - Stacey's Camper Van Build | Van Life | GridFree Living

Have you ever though about camping in an ambulance? Over the course of a weekend, a decision and a handshake deal made Stacey and his partner, Maureen the proud owners of an ambulance with the plan to do a camper build and enjoy van life on the weekends. When they first picked up the van, it was an empty shell and that first weekend, they set out with just a mattress and chilly bin. Along the way, the process of their ambulance conversion had them keep this pace of travelling and figuring out along the way what they would need. This was four years ago and they've been situated on the Hibiscus Coast in New Zealand.
When they started thinking about their camper van build, Stacey didn't know much about fitting a solar panel to a campervan and described his research as "frying his brain." He stumbled upon GridFree NZ accidentally four years ago and the DIY solar panel kits made all the difference. They bought and set up the Weekend Warrior Kit of batteries and solar panels for a campervan four years ago and have been going strong ever since. "Our overall experience with Gridfree has been great. To be fair, we haven't needed them," Stacey said. "I'm definitely going back to those guys because of the package. What we have achieved on the basis of the Gridfree kit is an instant lifestyle change where at the drop of a hat, we can go anywhere we want, set up where we like. We've got everything at our fingertips as long as we want to stay there."
Ready to make each weekend an adventure? Learn more about our DIY solar panel kits, including the Weekend Warrior solar panels for a campervan and about fitting a solar panel to a campervan on the web at gridfree.store.
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[@threadsintime6379]

awesome job! Ive just bought an ex st john ambulance, 2008 in Otago - looking forward to converting into a camper. I'll check out the GridFree package.. cheers

[@GridFreeStore]

We'd be happy to help! Give us a call on 09 218 5533 if any questions pop up! 👌

[@andyheatherbridge5739]

Awesome build mate. Looks amazing. Interested how many kms has your exAmbulance travelled. Looking around in NZ for a camper van but seeing vans with pretty high kms for big money. Cheers

[@samhthomson-fenwick8141]

Hey. She's rolling up on half a million km. Was at around 460,000 when we got her back in 2017. The CDi motor, 3lt turbo diesel V6 [with EMS chip] is a pretty grunty power plant...I can understand how St Johns put a dozen in ditches every year 😂A Mercedes engine should be good for over 7500,000 if it's well looked after...and St Johns have to keep up their maintenance schedules...bit of a bad look if a bus conks out with a dying patient in the back! The engine bay was immaculate when we got her...which was straight from the decommissioning agent...almost looked like she'd had a new crate motor installed at 450,000. I queried with the St J maintenance centre but got no feedback. We paid $17,000 for her...basically every EMS wire and cable had been axed, anything that had flashed or blinked had been ripped [literally] out and the rear body was empty. I found a replacement rear attendant seat on trade me and put that back in [has an integrated seat belt so she's a legal 3-seater]. She's worth around $75,000 based on what's been added and installed...without factoring in my time doing all the install. You'll probably find a bunch of DIY builds at a price high enough for the seller to recoup their build hours [unlike a hot rod builder who knows he's going to lose money on any sale if he added up every dollar/hour spent]. My humble suggestion would be to look for a Merc power plant 2006 or newer and be prepared to rip out/start over with the accommodation build. 3 grand on a Kaboodle kitchen from bunnings will have you looking pro and everything else is just ply with a pretty covering. Then go absolutely nuts on the solar set up...coz you'll ALWAYS find things to soak up its amps [we're semi-rural and we starfish a heap of 50m extension cords out around the ambo to run us and the neighbours' when we lose power]. I was almost set to upgrade to the next bigger GridFree kit [4 panels and 2 lithium batteries...the current set was going to power the workshop and green house] when life got in the way and the funds had to be diverted elsewhere. Anyhow, check out facebook.com/MercAmboConversion if you have any other questions.