UK VW recognised converter recommendations?

[R_Sargeant_CH]

Hi all,

We (wife and I) are delighted with our Ocean 6.1 - except...

It has no (warm) shower and inside toilet, apart from the horrible Thetford kitchen cupboard or free-standing idea!

We are contemplating a trip of over a year, so the wifely ultimatum has been passed down - "a decent warm shower and loo"!

The long wheelbase T's might have room for a shower/loo at the rear. We live in Switzerland, so the current idea would be to obtain a (new/lightly used) T6 or 6.1, fund and register it in Switzerland, then drive it to the company to do the conversion.

Requirements; All possible extras, to at least our Ocean standards, which has pretty much all the boxes ticked. Accommodation for 2 adults, used to sleeping in the pop-up. Small fixed internal shower with warm water and toilet. Big Lith batteries, solar, etc. LHD is a must.

All wheel drive. DSG and 205 motor preferred. Budget not very important.

We like the T6's, and in our part of Switzerland no on-street parking is allowed. The T's fit in the height of our underground gagage and are OK as a second car to our Tesla.

I know there are some great VW approved builders in the UK. Can anyone point me at those, and opinions/ideas/experiences are welcome!

Thanks in advance - Richard and Gabriela, Switzerland

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Hymer Grand Canyon? …depending on garage height.

Most decent converters have longer lead times than VW. It’s worth chatting to below as they have have great knowledge of VW and other conversions. Their website has detailed info / layouts for a lot of ‘off the shelf’ options:

The Campervan & Motorhome Specialists

Campersales are official Westfalia, Autohaus and Hymer campervan partners with a wide selection of new and used campers for sale from our dealership in Burgess Hill, West Sussex.

www.campersales.co.uk

 

[Wildcamper]

We have a 2018 T6 LWB converted from new by Autohaus in Minehead Somerset. We have it as a High Top. We specified hot water, built in toilet, LPG underslung tank, heating and an external shower attachment. For showers we use a pop up tent and feed the shower hose into the tent. Autohaus have provided excellent customer service. We would purchase again.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Jerba Campervans, Hillside Leisure, Rolling Homes Campers and CJL Leisure are the VW-approved ones. If that wasn’t mandatory then I‘ve been super-impressed by Knights Custom Conversions, the finish is really good and I think it’s their Mountain Tourer model that has a fixed toilet and shower with hot water. Not the cheapest by any stretch of the imagination but could be worth a look. Little video of one here:

https://knightscustomconversions.co.uk/mountain-tourer-camper-van-conversion/

Good luck!

 

[R_Sargeant_CH]

Great suggestions everyone! Keep 'em coming please!

 

[2into1]

Bilbo have quite a bit of approval too. They do a high top lwb (lezan?). I looked today and their residual values are really good (Cali level).

 

[Wildcamper]

We have a 2018 T6 LWB converted from new by Autohaus in Minehead Somerset. We have it as a High Top. We specified hot water, built in toilet, LPG underslung tank, heating and an external shower attachment. For showers we use a pop up tent and feed the shower hose into the tent. Autohaus have provided excellent customer service. We would purchase again.

Autohaus are a VW approved converter. A new van comes with the full VW warranty and Autohaus give a 3 year warranty on the conversion with high quality after sales customer service.

 

[NessL]

ECO Wagon https://www.ecowagon.co.uk/ had a lot of happy owners displaying their vans at Busfest. Expensive, but very nice.

 

[Azteccamper]

Might the problem with uk converters be that they are set up for rhd vehicles? All the above mentioned have some cracking models, but not sure if they’ll personalise a lhd.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Just an alternative idea should you not be able to find someone to convert a LHD vehicle, WamBam Campervans are selling the ‘Ensuite2go’ which is basically a towable toilet and shower in a box (that can also double up as a motorbike transporter and additional storage!). It’s not cheap but could be worth a look if better ‘facilities’ is the name of the game, and it’d allow you to keep your Ocean. WamBam are my local converter and Martin that runs it is a very sound dude. You can view a video here (from 17 minutes):

Ensuite2Go – Mobile Ensuite Facilities

www.ensuite2go.co.uk

 

[Richard Love]

Hi, when you have the vehicle’s registration documents updated back in Sui after the conversion, do you need to consider type approval? When we registered our T6 LWB conversion in France it would have been almost impossible to do unless the conversion was type approved. If that makes sense.