Peugeot Expert Camper Conversion - Part 17: Costs

[@pauljason2039]

Really enjoyed watching the build from start to finish. Great result for the total spend. Well done!

[@keepsmiling1484]

Really great summary Gayle and now leads me on to taking a look at your other videos - very professional no waffle summary - very much appreciated, as currently planning my own conversion 👍👍

[@Ocean-blue]

Hi Gayle, My wife and I have just purchased our ‘wheelchair tepee’ and are about to start our conversion.. I just wanted to say a big thank you for your really useful content... I am sure it will be referred to many times during our build !!! Happy adventures in your lovely van 😀

[@GayleEBird]

Thank you for the comment; I'm happy to know that some of my content has been of use. All the best with your build - I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

[@ollydogtravels9465]

exactly just about to do a micro wheelchair myself, usually do T5 or Boxers

[@utube271258]

Thanks Gayle have enjoyed this series, and found it very useful, I purchased an Expert a few weeks ago, and have commenced my conversion, not my first, the last one was a decade ago and a lot larger, I sold her on over the summer as it was time for me to downsize. Hope you have a lovely time and many happy memories to come.

[@GayleEBird]

Hope all goes well with your conversion, and very happy that you've found some of my content useful.

[@tomaszz.7462]

Very good job doing all that videos, very helpful !

[@ArtyVanHoming]

always like to reuse were possible ,ive got so much stuff to finally go into mine ,been collecting pieces for years ,ready to go , just waiting on vehicle to be delivered ,then its all go

[@richardh1650]

Hi Gayle, Now that lockdown has eased a bit will you be taking all your loyal followers on a (video) camping trip in Erica? Excellent build series, really enjoyed it!

[@GayleEBird]

Glad you enjoyed. Maybe we will film elements of a trip at some point, to show how we use her. Would have been quite interesting to have done so on the trip we took a couple of weeks back, where we proved quite how easy it is to make such a small space very messy in a very short time! I'm sure that issue will become better once we get to grips with where everything gets stowed; that's still a work in progress at the moment.

[@topoftheleague8814]

Hi Gayle... Really fantastic series, I've watched most, maybe all! I've also a Tepee and looking to make a day van out of it so your videos help to show general possibilities... we already have a big camper so we won't be going as far as you for that reason and that I want to carry my motorbike in it too... so ramp is staying, but we will box out each side and looking to make a bed between the back two windows, should I/We want the odd nights sleep. Currently doing sound proofing, insulation and researching for split relay, leisure battery, electrics and diesel heater... Slow progress but will get there! All the best, your build is valuable info and I'm sure I will be all over your videos several times and others too.... 👍🙂

[@GayleEBird]

Thank you - I'm glad something has been of use to you, and I wish you all the best with your build. I found the research and ordering stuff to be the most frustrating element of the build, although that's a reflection on me and the fact that I've apparently lost my ability to make decisions, particularly when it comes to choosing what to buy!

[@topoftheleague8814]

@@GayleEBird Thank you... never easy buying when the stuff at the right price can be viewed before you commit to buy! I'm just trying to lay foundations so that if I plan to further develope my tepee, it will be easier... so needing flexy conduet and wire and mouse lines in my conduet to make life easy if ever needed... this as well as trying to insulate as much as possible! I did live where shoes, socks n snuff were big industries, have a feeling that's not far from you.... 👍🙂

[@topoftheleague8814]

*Can't

[@mrc8216]

Hi Gayle, very interesting videos! Did you look into whether the wheelchair assisted modification invreased your insurance premiums? And have you found the extra height/depth useful? Thanks you!

[@GayleEBird]

I didn't look at the impact of the wheelchair modification on insurance price, in that the only insurance quote I got for a non-WAV Expert had other complications that would have likely impacted the premium too. So, sorry, I can't be any use on that subject. We briefly discussed the pros and cons of the lowered floor section in the 'One Year On' video, and didn't come to any conclusion as to whether, if we were to buy again today, we would go for the lowered floor or not. I do like having the extra internal height, as it allows for standing in a crouched position, rather than being fully bent over, but it comes at the cost of being more likely to ground the middle of the vehicle in severely pot-holed car parks. The other considerations that are worth thinking about are that the WAV version with the full length cut-out: 1) doesn't have the standard Peugeot Expert exhaust pipe; and 2) doesn't have anywhere practical to keep a spare wheel without taking up significant amounts of room inside the vehicle.

[@markclark9934]

Thanks for taking time to make the video’s and congratulations on finishing your build under budget. I’m maybe going to convert a Peugeot expert / dispatch of any of the other variants of the same vehicle. We hired one in September to tour Scotland and it was fantastic, currently keeping an eye on the hire company as they sell off their van each year or if I convert my own I want a L2 as I think the extra 300mm length is worth it

[@GayleEBird]

Sorry - missed your comment. I agree that the extra length in the L2 would be worth it. We managed to fit in everything we wanted, but it would have been less of a squeeze (particularly that gas locker!) with the L2. Good luck with your quest to find your vehicle 👍

[@markclark9934]

Maybe looking at one like this but a little younger facebook.com/1846282585446886/posts/4827657060642742/?d=n

[@edraket]

This motivated me to do a costing for my own Teepee project. Nearing the end now so I'm not expecting a lot of added costs. I bought the van for 4600. (Mine is a couple years older) And mine came down to 1406 for the conversion.The difference is probably that my electrical system is much simpler, no solar, and my kitchen unit is also very basic. I am planning to do a little tour video in response to this, as my layout is very different and I imagine it would be fun for you guys to see. Just got to get those last few details sorted. Which will be taking a while since my girlfriend just crashed it and it looks like it will be in repairs until after Christmas. I hope they don't declare it a total loss as I would well... cry. A lot. I did, out of interest, have a look around to see if another Wheelchair Teepee could be picked up, just in case, and there were a fair few all over the country, all for decent prices. I think it's definitely one of the more attractive vans to convert if you want something small. Like you, I had a look around for ready made campers but with this kind of budget you can really only get things that are at the stage where they guzzle petrol and are needing a lot of tlc. Besides, I had some very special requirements in terms of design so better to do it myself. Thanks for this series! It was wonderful to watch and helped me out on occasion. Wishing you a great journey!

[@GayleEBird]

Oh noes! I hope it's not a write-off (although if it is, at least you know that you can recreate what you've lost, which wouldn't necessarily be the case with a commercially produced camper!). I would like to see a tour of your van; I've subscribed to you, so I'll see when you publish it. All the best to you for the repairs, finishing the conversion and having many a good trip.

[@Theoriginalbigbrillo]

Hi I might have a low mileage 2010 expert 1.6 Hdi if your interested? Regards Paul

[@hazelwhite6177]

Thank you Gayle for all the videos on this. I have just bought an Expert Tepee to do some sort of conversion or boot jump on. My first question is: When you have a lowered floor, where do you keep your spare wheel?

[@GayleEBird]

Our spare wheel is currently sitting in our back garden ... which isn't particularly useful should we get a flat when out and about! The conclusion we've reached is that there's nowhere we can possibly put a spare (can't go underneath because of the lowered floor; can't go inside because it would take up too much room), so we've got one of those 'fill it with sticky sludge, pump it up' emergency tyre repair kits and some breakdown cover. Hope all goes well with your conversion!

[@mickglasto]

Hi , you’ve done a brilliant job. I’m thinking of buying a Berlingo and doing some thing similar . Just wondering if you have had any issues re - insurance. I’ve heard that it’s sometimes more expensive to insure wav vehicles. How has your experience been.

[@GayleEBird]

Thank you! We didn't have any problems getting insurance. I called a number of brokers who specialise in self-conversions and they were all able to quote. As for whether it's more expensive to have a WAV, I'm afraid I can't say; we did get some quotes for a non-WAV that we tried to buy the day before we bought Erica, but I can't now remember whether they were cheaper or not (and the vehicle wasn't like-for-like, so it may not have been a fair comparison). Sorry not to be of more help on this question!

[@sunnymas2656]

My "crazy" calculation, to get a minicamper. Base car: 360 pounds (Opel Combo C, Diesel engine, made in 2006, ready to run.) Transportation to my home via Truck: 180 pounds. First budget, to become a minicamper: 360 pounds. ie car heater (diesel), second battery, solar power system, etc. Many material and campervan parts I already have. So I don´t need to buy it. Like wood, carpet, curtains, fresh water tank, tap with switch, water pump 12 Volt, roof window with vent 12 V., etc. The car has a trailer hook mounted, and I have a closed trailer for luggage (bought used for 29 pounds only.) It was an old pop up tent trailer, but now without the tent. (Made in Denmark.) I will sell my old car for 400 pounds. The new car is cheaper. Less costs for petrol, because Diesel engine. Less annual car taxes (germany), because registration as a truck. For car insurance, I have allready a huge discount = all cheap for me. (because no accidents.) Crazy project - but I like it soo much ! Greetings from germany.

[@GayleEBird]

Excellent stuff! Hope you have many a good night in your new set up.

[@sunnymas2656]

@@GayleEBird Yes - we will get it, with our camper cars. It will be not my first one - but my second. And it makes me happy, when I imagine, how well made my car will be. And what´s all possible with these cars. Yesterday I bought my carpet for walls and roof inside: 30 pounds total. Ten minutes ago, I bought an automatic vent for filling my water tank: 14 pounds. It stops the water, when the tank is full. But I understand and accept also people like you, who wants a good trouble-free vehicle. So it is more expensive at the beginning. But good, a long time. And even not so expensive, as ready made campers. By the way: I love to hear so good english speaking like yours. Also the poem and lyrics of William Shakespeare on stage, speaking in english. The best and greatest poet ever. We have Goethe from germany, but Shakespeare is better.

[@sunnymas2656]

@@GayleEBird Now in the News: The Corona Lockdown will go on, here in germany. So I keep my car looking like a boring business car for handcrafter - not as a a camper. If I look like a handcrafter, the police will pass me. In the last lockdown, only needed drivings were allowed. But no tourist-reason. ie for the job, for business, for getting food, medicine, etc - for the doctor or hospital. One car driver got fined here, because he went to a car washing to clean his car. And not on the shortest way back home. How crazy. (About the rules in the first Lockdown.) Now all restaurants are closed again. Only cooked meals with home delivery is allowed. But pickup services are forbidden. One has a good idea: He offers his meals by delivering to mobile homes, parking at his restaurant. It works ! And this fullfill the current rules in the current Corona Lockdown.

[@russellablewhite3580]

Hi Gayle, Hope you are still around here. I have the same van, 2009, with a disabled ramp that I need to get rid of. The issue I have is that the spare wheel is on the inside, on the right. I saw you had a spare wheel on the floor but you have never mentioned where you have it now. I want to get it out of the van and wondered if you have an answer to that question. Many thanks for this series/

[@GayleEBird]

Our spare wheel is currently sitting in our back garden ... which isn't particularly useful should we get a flat when out and about! The conclusion we've reached is that there's nowhere we can possibly put a spare (can't go underneath because of the lowered floor; can't go inside because it would take up too much room), so we've got one of those 'fill it with sticky sludge, pump it up' emergency tyre repair kits and some breakdown cover. Hope all goes well with your conversion!

[@matts7676]

Hi, interesting watching ya build, I’ve just bought one of these aswell, but for its WAV use, just out of interest did you keep hold of the winch and any of the back/rear seats? Also after a single passenger front seat seem impossible to find..especially close to me!!

[@GayleEBird]

(Sorry for the delayed response. Seems I've completely missed some comments coming in.) The rear seats went up on Ebay almost the moment we had removed them, because we didn't have space to store them. The winch will be sold soon. We were so incredibly lucky finding that single front passenger seat, especially only a few miles detour from a journey we were going to be making the next day anyway. They certainly don't seem to come up very often (moreover at sensible prices), but hopefully you'll find one in the end.

[@leongoodfella6863]

I have a winch and two rear single seats for sale. I am near Glasgow

[@MyJon64]

Which auction did you get your peugeot van from? I think that was an excellent price considering it already had the lowered floor.

[@GayleEBird]

Sorry for the delay replying. We bought from British Car Auctions.

[@mrmister2554]

Sounds like a very good price for such a low mileage example. I was wondering - does VAT have to be added to the sale do you know? I am also looking at converting one but am not a wheelchair user and prices often seem to be all over the place!

[@GayleEBird]

It's a while now since I researched this last summer, so my memory is a little hazy. To the best of my recollection: there's no VAT if you're buying from a private individual (i.e. a non-business seller). If you buy from a business there will likely be VAT to pay - it should be made clear within the advert if VAT is on top (it's a bit of an annoyance than on Ebay listings the listed price is ex-VAT and you have to go into the full listing to see if VAT applies). BCA auctions have three categories of VAT in their listings: VAT Margin (essentially no VAT); VAT Qualifying (VAT is already included in the hammer price); and Commercial VAT (you pay VAT on top of the hammer price). Prices did seem to be all over the place when we were looking. We found vehicles of approximately the same age, mileage and spec being advertised for up to £5k difference in price (£7k vs £12k for essentially the same car). We literally spent days poring over ads and compiling lists for analysis.

[@mrmister2554]

@@GayleEBirdthanks for the reply! It seems I've a fair bit of research to do. I'm smitten on a wav adapted expert/dispatch for much the same reason as yourself (exterior height Vs maximum interior height) but a bit afraid as well with regards to how one might be different to a standard van ie if the mechanicals are the same under the van or if they had to be reconfigured to accomodate the lowered floor and if it might make sourcing spare parts morr complicated. I've seen photos of some where the exhaust seems to be relocated to the side of the vehicle for example. Happy camping!

[@GayleEBird]

It's a good question as to whether things have been relocated under the vehicle. My feeling is that the routing of the brake pipes and hand brake cable probably haven't moved, but even if they have it shouldn't be much of an impediment to future repairs as the former are made up to length and the latter can be too. Not sure about whether the exhaust pipe is modified; I passed an Expert van whilst I was out for a run this morning and possibly looked a bit daft as I did a circuit of it looking for the exhaust, but without stopping and kneeling down on the wet road, I couldn't see it!

[@mrmister2554]

@@GayleEBird I'm hoping they're quite reliable vehicles. Constantly browsing the classified and it seems those used as taxis manage to clock up some really high miles and still seem to be in daily use. As far as I can tell the only things to look out for are anti roll bar replacement and dual mass flywheels on the 2.0 variants (not sure if the 1.6 has that type of flywheel as well), don't seem to be any other issues.

[@leongoodfella6863]

Hi there, started watching your videos as i have the same vehicle but mine has a 10mm wood floor either side of the ramp. Can i ask if you have this too and did you just keep it there? I’n not sure whether to keep it there or try and take it out and insulate then put new 10mm back on. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks !

[@GayleEBird]

The floor either side of our wheelchair cut-out was formed of two layers of ply (off the top of my head, I think they were both 12mm) with industrial vinyl flooring on top of that. We decided to leave those sections as they were on the basis that almost the entirety of those sections are covered over (the whole of the driver's side, with the sofa and the toilet; almost all of the passenger side with the kitchen), giving an extra heat barrier from the main living area, so any gain from replacing a layer of ply with 12mm insulation would have been so marginal that it didn't seem worth it (particularly bearing in mind reduced amount of heat you'd expect to lose through the floor). The wheelchair cut out, on the other hand, was just vinyl flooring straight on top of the metal, so that was, we felt, worth insulating (albeit minimally, so as not to lose too much height).

[@leongoodfella6863]

@@GayleEBird . mine is 2 at 12mm to. Yeah, that al makes sense. Can i ask you one last question? How did you get the roof lining off without damaging it?

[@GayleEBird]

Happy to answer questions: ask away :-) I feel that successfully removing the header liner was more luck than judgement, not knowing at the time exactly how it was affixed. It’s a pity I didn’t record that activity, having nowhere to mount my phone that wouldn’t be in the way, but to the best of my recollection the order of events was thus: We started by removing the head bumpers from above both sliding doors and the tailgate (you may have grab handles above the sliding doors rather than bumpers), then we released the liner from the rubber trim above both sliding doors. We then went to the rear and forced the middle of the liner down just far enough to be able to see what was holding it up. Using a chunky screwdriver we gently but firmly levered next to each of the mounting studs, and that successfully released them all. I then went to the cab end, whilst Mick supported the rear, and worked the liner out from first one seatbelt pillar then the other. That involved a bit of force and it did crease the liner, however the creases sprang back out once it was free. I was then able to work along the join between rear and cab, get my fingers behind the liner in the vicinity of each stud, and pull down to pop them out of their housing. We then discovered that there are some more studs in the middle of the roof (two, as it turned out) and there was no way we could get close to those, so we just pulled the whole liner down and thus freed them, albeit with the result that both mounting points tore off the rear of the liner so we had to glue them back into place before we refitted the liner. Once we’d got it down, we found that each stud mounting point on the liner has a slot in it, so theoretically it looks like, if you know in which direction they point, you could shove the liner in that direction and release them all without needing to apply any downwards force. However, we also couldn’t see how you could do that due to the lack of room to manoeuvre (i.e. you’d run into the side of the vehicle) - but I’m sure there must be a way and a knack to do that. We also found that there are dense foam spacing blocks attached to the liner and, because of the insulation we’d installed, we had to cut those down before reinstalling the liner. Hope some of that may be of use to you and that your removal goes smoothly.

[@leongoodfella6863]

Hi, thanks for your advice, mine is a 2007 model. Looks like my headliner is different however I did manage to slide it out eventually, thanks. Can I ask if you used 25mm Kingspan? I only have a 15mm gap between roof and headliner, and Kingspan minimum thickness is 25mm, so I wouldn't able to put the headliner on correctly. Just wondering if you had the same issue and how you resolved it? Thanks!

[@GayleEBird]

We did use 25mm Kingspan. Our initial measurement of the depth of the central rib (the one that runs across the vehicle, in the middle of the rear) was that it was just over 25mm deep. However, when we came to fit the insulation we found that because of the shape of the roof versus the flat inflexibility of the boards, the boards did protrude slightly beyond the depth of the rib, and we were concerned that it would mean the header liner wouldn't go back up properly. In the end, it didn't stop the header liner refitting. If you go to my video called 'Part 9: Solar and Insulation', at 6 minutes 15 seconds through you'll find the footage where I talk about (and show) the issue.

[@ollydogtravels9465]

think the Chinese heat choice is very poor, look at the issues everyone is having has due to poor build and risk of leaking and risk of poisoning

[@GayleEBird]

Time will tell, I guess (although hopefully, having mitigated the risk with a CO alarm, not by incurring some poisoning!). From all the research I did, the only reports I found of CO poisoning (in one recent case resulting in death) the issue was related to incorrect installation, rather than an inherent fault with the heater. There is undeniably a far higher risk of failure due to quality issues, and no warranty to fall back on, but the price differential proved, in our case, to be the persuasive argument there.

[@ollydogtravels9465]

@@GayleEBird yes when you dead, the build quality, quality of fit, quality of materials and reliability, hope i dont read obituary ,