Late in life to Camper Vans ... taking the first steps!!

Tricky Dicky

Tricky Dicky

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Over, Cambridgeshire
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Hello to all,

Was in North Devon last week, near Braunton and we hired a Camper van locally (ex Ox Campers conversion). Well I have always wanted one for the past 40 years and now it's a Carpe diem thing ... fantastic happy time and now need to find one!
Met Wayne last week and his lovely full spec Blue Cali and a great guy, appreciated his time showing me around his 'van'- recommended joining this Club too!
We are are family of 3 (plus the dog =4) living in Cambridgeshire and decided we need to find our van - but bewildered a little what's out there, so now starting the research and set our budget.
Thanks for reading
Richard and family
 
Hi and welcome. Have you looked on the classifieds on this site? That’s how I bought mine, from a fellow member on here :)
 
colintfcolintf said:
Hi and welcome. Have you looked on the classifieds on this site? That’s how I bought mine, from a fellow member on here :)
Click to expand...
Hello and thanks for the reply. Yes started looking and saw a very nice one in buggey but sold very quickly it seems. Fellow members seems the way to go but my wife was on about the Camper Kings, but that's part of getting to know Camper Vans .... I'm after a Cali to be honest!! Cheers
 
Best advice I can offer is to look at as many vans as possible and don’t fall for the first you see.
Get a feel for the layout, ask yourself how you would sit, eat, and sleep in it.
If possible try before you buy.
Good luck.
 
@Tricky Dicky remember the LWB T4, T5 & T6 is 14" (35.5cm) longer than a SWB and a high roof is a lot warmer and quieter to sleep in over night, not to mention the extra space available.
Unfortunately if you are a California fan VW only ever made one LWB, goodness knows why.
Not as though I'm biased...
1755245697541.png
I converted and used all three of these plus a few more.
 
rod_vw said:
@Tricky Dicky remember the LWB T4, T5 & T6 is 14" (35.5cm) longer than a SWB and a high roof is a lot warmer and quieter to sleep in over night, not to mention the extra space available.
Unfortunately if you are a California fan VW only ever made one LWB, goodness knows why.
Not as though I'm biased...
View attachment 139628
I converted and used all three of these plus a few more.
Click to expand...
Thank you for message and the Transporter converted by OxCampers was a LWB. Will look around and take time to see. Need to be patient and not get to over excited!!! Cheers
 
Hi @Tricky Dicky and good luck in your search for a van. They come in all shapes and sizes.
We entered the market just 3 years ago never having camped before so started with a converted T6. Well we were smitten. The van did everything we wanted, however, there were niggles.
The main one for me was how dark the van felt with heavily tinted windows. When it was overcast outside, it felt depressingly dark inside and we didn't want to exit the vehicle.
The bonus with our conversion was it was lightly fitted, ie no unnecessary bulk heads so we could fit boxes under the bed.
The reasons we chose the Ocean were, the light tint and plentiful windows, the heater (previously stuck in snow in Germany!), the electric roof, automatic gearbox, two swivel seats at the front and the sliding rear bench which helps the passengers to feel part of the group and not remote to any conversation.
We do not regret the move to an ocean and feel very at home in it.
I hope this helps but if you have any questions, please ask.
 
Hi @Tricky Dicky - You are not far from me, I’m near St Ives. Happy to show you around my Beach if you want. It’s been modified with a pod inside and may give you another perspective on van options.
 
Beach is the Swiss Army knife of vans, huge amount of space. No kitchen..but lots of different removable kitchen pods available that come with twin gas burner & sink. Rear seats are also more comfortable on long journeys in the 3 bench version as they shaped (Ocean / 2 bench beach has flat seats). Manual roof is trouble free long term.

Ocean seems great on paper, more suited for 2 people in terms of practicality when it comes to the bedtime shuffle. Electric roof can have issues over time.

Also worth looking at a Club Joker is ideal for 3 + dog, and it’s possible to cook whilst everyone are still asleep; + also has shower, separate wash basin, hot running water, intergrated mosquito screen. Residuals are super strong. Downside is that high roof can prevent access to some car parks.

Smaller Hymers with pop top also worth a look, but can be quite expensive.

…..tumbleweed moment; also take a look at a ford nugget, as has a different layout (swb&lwb available); Westfalia interiors are very sturdy/bomb proof!

Try them all, but remember to take all your family (inc dog) bags, camping gear with you and see which works best for you with all your kit when you switch to bedtime mode. Imagine it’s raining sideways, so try to do it with the doors closed without leaving the van….if you are all still smiling at the end, you have found your perfect van!
 
Last edited:
We’re only a couple of months into owning our first Cali Ocean. We spent a while beforehand watching loads of YouTube, California Chris, Campervan/california Time for hints and tips about good, bad and ugly etc. Also met a lovely couple in a car park who were more than happy to show us around their van when we said we’d like one.
The Ocean was the only one for us but even that has different options. It took us a while to find a top spec one with the alcantara seats, wood style floor, upgrade nav + others extras. Autotrader has plenty (use filter), we found ours 1.5yr old at VW Parkway Leicester quite a way from our home. Can’t say we got a magnificent deal but we got the Cali we wanted and absolutely love it so far! You will end up spending a fortune on all the extra bits and bobs you need but once you got them your sorted.
It’s a huge investment but not had any buyers regret.
 
Best advice I was given was to hire one for a full few days proper holiday first. Much cheaper than making a very expensive mistake.
 
The elephant in the room is the engine. It almost doesn't matter what you buy so long as the engine is reliable. For instance, the VW BiTurbo 180BHP can catastrophically fail (metal parts go into the piston chambers) leaving you with a £10-15k new engine invoice. Look up the engines on YouTube from a mechanics perspective. I have the 140BHP 2.0ltr TDI which I'm happy with regarding power and reliability.

And I bought my Cali because it was made in a VW factory by proper engineers with the correct wiring, safety circuit breaker (10mA RCD trip) and AGM batteries. I'm an electrical engineer by trade and worked with German kit for many years so these things are important to me.

Also there are apparently supposed good convertors out there that aren't as good as they say they are. See Staycation Lifestyle on YouTube for hints on what to look out for.

All the best. :)
 
Ch1pbutty said:
Beach is the Swiss Army knife of vans, huge amount of space. No kitchen..but lots of different removable kitchen pods available that come with twin gas burner & sink. Rear seats are also more comfortable on long journeys in the 3 bench version as they shaped (Ocean / 2 bench beach has flat seats). Manual roof is trouble free long term.

Ocean seems great on paper, more suited for 2 people in terms of practicality when it comes to the bedtime shuffle. Electric roof can have issues over time.

Also worth looking at a Club Joker is ideal for 3 + dog, and it’s possible to cook whilst everyone are still asleep; + also has shower, separate wash basin, hot running water, intergrated mosquito screen. Residuals are super strong. Downside is that high roof can prevent access to some car parks.

Smaller Hymers with pop top also worth a look, but can be quite expensive.

…..tumbleweed moment; also take a look at a ford nugget, as has a different layout (swb&lwb available); Westfalia interiors are very sturdy/bomb proof!

Try them all, but remember to take all your family (inc dog) bags, camping gear with you and see which works best for you with all your kit when you switch to bedtime mode. Imagine it’s raining sideways, so try to do it with the doors closed without leaving the van….if you are all still smiling at the end, you have found your perfect van!
Click to expand...
I admit it, I like the Nugget layout much more than I did my Cali. (caveat, I own neither now)
 
Ch1pbutty said:
I owned a club Joker last year for a year, but now sold. The Westfalia build was excellent.

That said will be buying a T5.1 Beach again next year..! Unless someone brings out a full EV Beach style van.
Click to expand...
This is very similar to where I am going. Get an older Beach.

Less £, no kitchen. Just a perfect weekend/surf bus.
 
JuanVecino2023 said:
This is very similar to where I am going. Get an older Beach.

Less £, no kitchen. Just a perfect weekend/surf bus.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. Gives you a lot of options. So easy to add a kitchen pod if you want to, or take it out if you need the space. Even replace the rear bench with single seats and turn it into an ‘executive’ sleeper with the Vanessa Arco system.
 
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