Buying Denzel.......!

Denzel is the name we have given to our VW T5 campervan conversion because he is big, black and beautiful (just like his namesake, Denzel Washington!) My daughter loathes the name but, in the absence of any better ideas, he is for now, at least, called Denzel. Any other witty and amusing (but not rude!) names suggested by readers will all be considered and may even result in a name change!

We started looking into the whole idea of buying a campervan in February 2014. A friend of ours has a VW T4 which he has partially converted himself because he is good at that sort of stuff. We are not good at that stuff, so we had to look around for a company to do a conversion for us. A quick search of the Internet showed us that there are many companies out there offering this service so we narrowed down a few that were relatively local to us, whose websites impressed us and who seemed to offer the sort of conversion we had in mind.

We made the decision early on that we wanted a VW conversion because we had read a lot of articles that convinced us that, while they are more expensive to purchase, they retain their value well, have a better build quality and a superior drive, more like a large family car than a builders van. Most of these companies have links with VW dealerships and will happily source a vehicle for you. Often they are able to negotiate a better price because of the volume of used VW T5's they buy and they know what to look out for. This was the route that we took.

We decided that we wanted a long-wheel base, automatic, diesel with a tailgate, rather than barn-style doors. We wanted it to be no more that three years old. What we didn't realise was that this was going to dramatically reduce the pool of vehicles to choose from. Apparently only 5% of VW T5's are automatic transmission and the vast majority are fitted with barn doors because that is what the builders who buy them want as it is easier to access the rear of the vehicle if parked in a street with a car behind you (the tailgate requires greater clearance at the rear).

We chose to use a company called Camperking for our conversion. Before we went ahead, however, we took advantage of their 'try before you buy' offer. We hired one of their conversions for three nights and had a lovely long weekend in the Brecon Beacons. The cost of this hire was later taken off our final bill and it was definitely worth doing because it gave us a much clearer idea of what we did and didn't want. If you are thinking of buying a campervan I would definitely suggest that you hire one first to make sure that it really is for you. I would say that this is particularly important if you fancy a vintage van as they are very different to anything else you have probably driven - it might save a costly mistake.

It took about 4 weeks for Camperking, to source a van that matched our criteria. Unfortunately it was black and I rejected it immediately because I didn't want to drive around in something that looked like an undertakers vehicle! With considerable patience, Camperking continued searching until they found vehicle number two. This was also black and I said 'no' again! A few more weeks passed before the third vehicle was found that ticked all our boxes and was in good condition - it was also black! At this point the lovely people at Camperking suggested that, once we had added some optional extras to the van, it would look nothing like a hearse and so we took a leap of faith and agreed to go ahead.

Once we had the van, the next step was to choose the internal layout and other 'extras' that we wanted. We read a lot, listened to other owners and took advice from the staff at Camperking, all of whom use camper vans regularly (perk of the job I guess!). We also went to a couple of VW shows to talk to other owners and have a look at the huge range of vans and layouts there are out there. In the end we settled on Camperking's Grand Trek model which has, as standard:-

Full pop top roof with adult rated upper bed system

Rock n Roll bed  - the layout we went for gave us a wider than usual bed at the expense of some cupboard space - we think it was a choice worth making because we do get a good night's sleep without feeling restricted in any way

Double front swivel bench seat or single swivel captains chair

 Hob/Grill and sink unit

Waeco 50 litre Fridge unit

Twin coffee tables

Internal Touch LED lighting system

Power management system 12v and 240v

Water gauge and battery level indicators

Auxiliary 12v fuse board for future upgrades

Double 240-volt sockets

Additional 12-volt sockets

16 Amp battery charger unit built in

On board fresh water tank with electric pump (20 litres)

Gas cupboard, isolation taps and testing point unit

Multiple storage lockers

Rear boot space for storage

Full size spare wheel

12 month warranty

We opted for the single swivel captains chair up front instead of the double seat. Our experience with a double seat when we hired the trial van showed us that the double seats are much more difficult to swivel to face the rear of the vehicle. A further disadvantage of a double seat is that you cannot walk from the front of the van into the cabin area. Instead you have to get out of the front and enter the cabin of the van via the sliding door (unless you are prepared to clamber over the seats each time). We are so pleased that we went for this option because it makes the cabin feel very spacious and, especially if it is raining, you don't have to keep opening and closing doors.

Having taken a lot of advice we also opted for:-

An Eberspacher central heating system - this is brilliant, keeping the van at whatever temperature you set all night. Year-round camping is now possible!

Solar power - we have one panel on the roof and even in the UK it keeps the lights, 12v system and fridge going without electric hook up. This opens up more camping options including a spot of wild camping.

We had a Sat Nav installed that included a parking camera. This has proved very useful because the van is quite long and there is no rear-view mirror, only door mirrors.

Tow bar and parking sensors

Exterior styling package that included alloys and sidebars. This was very frivolous but it made a huge difference to how the van looked, reassuring me that it didn't look like a hearse!

 Rear mounted cycle rack.

We are very pleased with our van. We have had to adjust to being much tidier and more organised because we have less space than we do with our Outwell Montana 6-berth tent with front extension. However, the joy of driving onto a pitch, popping the top and putting the kettle on whilst watching people wrestling with huge swathes of canvas in the rain cannot be matched! When the holiday is over we just drop the top and drive away.

In the winter months the kids sleep 'up top'. I bought a cheap memory foam mattress topper from Argos that I cut to size (really easy with a pair of scissors) to provide a permanent mattress on top of the unpadded upper bed. Both of them can sleep comfortably up there. We have found that pillows tend to fall down in the night so I bought some fabric netting and some velcro and made a barrier that sticks to the lining on the bed area and keeps the pillows in place. When they need to come down in the morning, it simply peels back. Being made of netting it doesn't stop any heat from rising  in winter and it also serves as a 'bug barrier' in summer. During the warmer months we plan to boot them out into a tent (they don't know that yet!). I used some left-over netting and two magnetic strips to make a doggy barrier to keep the fat little spaniel inside when necessary!

We sleep downstairs and find the bed to be really comfortable. If we are not taking too much stuff with us we take our Duvalays which provide a memory foam mattress with a duvet attached. They are wonderful things but they do take up a lot of room. Otherwise, we use our sleeping bags and get a perfectly good night's sleep.

One of the 'features' of our van layout was a Porta Potti-sized cupboard under the bed. Obviously you don't have to have a toilet under your bed if you don't fancy it (it does feel a bit like the Middle Ages I'll admit!) but we have taken the option and I, for one, am glad we did. It turns out that enjoying large amounts of wine and having a bladder the size of a field mouse is not a good combination and I have never enjoyed trekking over a campsite in the middle of the night to use the toilets!

So, now that we have had the van for a little while, is there anything we would change? There are one of two things that niggle a little:-

• We really wanted a layout that allowed both front seats to swivel. Camperking could only offer this if we had chosen their short-wheel-base layout and installed it into our Long-wheel-base van. We did think seriously about this but this layout meant we had to have a narrower bed and we decided it was not a compromise worth making. It was frustrating to have to make that choice though and both seats swivelling would be my choice if we did this again and found a company that could offer both the wider bed and the swivel.
• The cupboard housing the gas bottle is located in the boot area. If you are on a journey and you stop and fancy a hot drink you have to empty the boot to gain access to the cupboard to turn the gas on. Not the end of the world I know but it would be nice if there was a solution. Other conversion companies may have found a solution, unfortunately we didn't think of this when we were at the looking stage.
• The position of our LED lights means that we cannot sit in the front seat at night and read. Obviously when you go looking at vans you look in daylight. We should have thought about that and given more thought to lighting positions.
• We have two small tables each with a pole that slots into a connection in the floor of the van. They are perfect for use inside the van but cannot be used outside. With hindsight I think a table that can be used inside or out would have made more sense and would have cut down on packing as I take an additional table for outside eating.

The features that we are really pleased with are:-

• The tailgate rather than 'barn doors' - If it is chucking it down when you are loading/unloading the van the tailgate offers protection from the elements.
• The solar panel - it is great to be able to go off-grid for days at a time and it keeps the cost down on sites too because we don't need electric hook-up. We haven't done any wild camping yet but we do fancy heading up to Scotland sometime to give it a go. Even with our unpredictable weather the solar panel seems to work well.
• The Eberspacher heater - it runs off the diesel, is completely silent once it gets going and keeps the van at whatever temperature you choose all night long. The freedom to go away in the depths of winter is worth the cost of the heater we think.

We find that we use the van as much for days out as we do for going away. We love packing up a picnic, driving off somewhere nice, popping the top and getting the kettle on. It was a fairly big expense and we did think long and hard about it but we are very glad that we took the plunge. So, go on, give it a go....!