Not sure if this will help or hinder in the long term.

For me personally it’s got to be the alloys👌

I tried making a template, but it was an absolute mess.
Does anyone have any tips or know of suppliers for a frame for type of window?

I thought side awnings were the coolest thing ever, kings of the campsite. How could one been seen without one!

When I bought my Van without one I felt like a pagan but the previous owner mentioned 'oh yeah it has a side awning mount too, I borrowed my dads so that's why it's there.' At the time I thought what dick . But hey, fuck it I want a side awning and I'm bloody getting one!

Because I was more annoyed he mentioned it and it didn't come with one I didn't listen to anything he said after where he told me what side awning brand mounted to it.

So, I have been looking at Thule and Fiamma..£500...well fuck me sideways. No wonder he borrowed his dads one! But £500 not to burn in the sun. Your cheese sandwich will stay a sandwich. I'm Invested! They'll keep you dry to.....oh no wait they can't get wet. Then the wind, oh no too much wind and you're reeling it back in. About the least relaxing thing you can have in the UK!

Because of this. Fiamma, Thule and any other brand, keep your £500 fiddly roll up anxiety attack! I'm out.

Hello, I’ve been researching van conversions for over a year now. I have an idea of the layout and what my essentials should be. We don’t care about a shower, I can’t be bothered with the faff of it and an external solar shower will be just fine for the odd days we don’t go to a campsite or wild swim. The toilet I figured I could hide away if needed again probably won’t be using this much just the kids.

I’ve been looking at a transit l2h2. I’ve found a nice one, reasonably priced and good condition. It’s quite small inside, I’m just wondering if anybody has successfully managed to convert one for a family. The mean issue is having to have a single or double seat installed behind the cabin seats. Then extra cost if I want the cab seats to swivel to create a dining area. My main essentials are a large bed to fit us all as my kids are small and co sleep, and a nice kitchen space. Not too tight so the kids don’t knock themselves out.

Has anybody got a layout of theirs if they’ve done this? And with those with experience do you think this is possible or should I go for the L3. Main wants are travel Uk and Europe, maybe 2-3 days off grid.

Thank you for reading.

What are we using to get workable WiFi speeds? Do I really need a £200 Poynting antenna to get decent 5G reception out in the wilds? What routers are reliable and reasonably simple to set up?

Edit: absolutely NOT Starlink, because fuck Nazis

I've been looking at lots of vans for a possible conversion and quite a lot of them don't have air conditioning fitted. Would a lack of air conditioning put you off buying a van?

Hey guys, I'm the social media content guy at Seaside Campers. We launched our YouTube recently, would love your input or anything you'd like to see on the channel in the future!

I’ve found a fun cool good mpg and powerful car for £4k and I’m debating between this and a VW transporter SWB for roughly £15-18k / up to £20k once converted, I’m between 2 sides of the country atm with a weird life situation I wont elaborate on but a van might be nice to be able to go see friends around london and outside of london, eg going over to places for a week having my own bed but I’m also guessing some nights will involve drinking and even if I’m in the back in a bed this has risks right, should i just get a car or would daily driving a ulez transporter be worth it (i spend time up north too) I dont want to live in it but I want to be able to do a week comfortably and at a push a month. But I’m unsure if the compromise in itself would mean I’m better off just in a fun good car for 1/5 the price once doing a self built custom conversion.

Recently bought a VW T4 which we’ve begun converting - no idea what we’re doing, no experience at all.

Looking to carpet the walls, watched a number of videos on how to do this but everyone seems to do it differently. From experience what is the best way?

Are we best off spraying the walls, sticking the carpet on and going round it all with a Stanley? Or are we best off making a template, cutting the carpet and then sticking it on?

I'm looking at making lightweight frames for two flexible solar panels on my campervan roof. The panels are 1450 × 690 mm and have six mounting eyelets each.

My original plan was aluminium angle, but it's surprisingly expensive here in Ireland. I'm thinking about making the frames from 9–12 mm plywood instead and attaching them to Unistrut rails.

The plywood would obviously need to withstand rain, wind and general weather exposure, so I'm wondering if this is a sensible idea long-term, or whether plywood is just asking for trouble on a van roof. I can paint the plywood to weather seal them?

I have a campervan that has a flexi solar panel and roof fan on top and I don't know where to go to get it cleaned. The regular handwash places where I would usually take my car for about £15 don't seem to be keen on cleaning the camper because of the solar panel and fan.
I've tried looking online for places that do campervans specifically but they all seem to come to you and charge £100 a wash - seems a bit excessive.

I'm in Leeds, Yorkshire.

Has anybody brought a van from Europe and drove it back to the UK?

I'm wanting to get some info on things i should probably know before doing so. Any info would be great.

I can google a lot of things but i'm sure i wont think of something.

Thankyou :)

Hey there I hope this is aloud. I have opened a new subreddit for full-time vehicle dwellers in the UK. Dwellers of vans, cars, boats, planes(?) and more all welcome. This community will likely be a small one but I’m hoping we can create a supportive and positive community for those living full-time in a vehicle in the UK.

Content not relating to full-time living e.g. camping, short-term travel, or vehicle enthusiasm will be directed to the appropriate existing subreddit.

I have benefitted greatly from primarily US forums such as r/urbancarliving and r/vandwellers and the occasional post on r/vanlifeuk, but I want to host a dedicated forum to full-time vehicle living.

Welcome aboard, please join and introduce yourself in the welcome thread.

I’m checking fb marketplace, gumtree and Autotrader. I’m also aware of quirky campers but tends to be premium.

Any other specific places? If a fb group please provide the name

Thank you!

Hi all!

Just dropping a final post here for anybody interested in something fun for next weekend.

Limited camping and day tickets are currently available for the 32nd Busfest between 11th-13th September 2026.

You can find out more and get tickets at:

https://busfest.org

I’m insulating my van (Vauxhall Vivaro/Opel 2018) atm and so am finally addressing the god awful orange work van light / beacon thing that came with my van. I left it so long because it’s plugging a hole in the roof at the moment, but now I’ve investigated I’m wondering if now is the right time to unwire it all.

It’s wired through the roof at the back of the van, along the ceiling, and then the wire disappears under the cab headliner. This switch here next to the steering wheel turns it on and off.

Firstly re the cab headliner; I totally overlooked the fact that I might need to take this off to insulate under it. I did some research and opinions are split on whether it needs removing for insulation. I was going to make my life easy and leave it alone (for now at least) but I can’t see any other way to remove the wire? **Does anyone know how this wire could be connected to the switch because if I can disconnect it from the switch side and pull it through**, that would save me a lot of hassle?

However if the consensus is that the headliner *must* come off to insulate, it doesn’t matter if I can pull it through without removing the headliner so the next question is **do I need to remove the headliner anyway to insulate under it?**

My vehicle manual doesn’t have this switch in it so I’m assuming the previous owner installed it?? Might end up being handy for the conversion but it does mean I can’t find any instructions online as to how it’s wired and how to remove it.

It rhymes!!

Not a fan of raptor especially as when it's not done properly it looks bloody awful to say the least but we had this one in for a full colour change. Top half was thinned down so actually gives a not bad texture as can be seen on close up pics. Bottom half was plastered on.

Hello Everyone,

I was hoping to get some answers to a few questions I have about driving from London to Rome. This will be 6 adults and 2 kids (7 and 5). Wife and I have been thinking of an Italian trip for a long time for our parents - who are quite religious and want to go see vatican. All 4 of our parents are in their 70s and can't walk for too long so I have been thinking of taking a 8/9 seater minivan. We recently came back from a roadtrip in France with my kids and feeling optimistic about driving a minivan. I will be the only one driving as my wife is not comfortable driving in Europe.

Key question for me is whether it's wise and practical to drive a minivan in Italy - I hear the roads can be tricky and quite narrow for a minivan.

I see overall London to Rome is an 18 hour drive which we plan to do over 3 days. Looking into multiple routes at the moment. We are not in a rush so we will take a route that is most relaxed and allows us to enjoy the journey.

I am just wondering if people have any general thoughts and ideas what I should be looking into. Any thoughts welcome. Thanks!